October 28th thru November 2nd 1998
Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Lydia Ruyle came on a visit here to check the Goddess journeys we
were offering. I mentioned the beautiful ceremony we do for the Day of
the Dead each year and she said "I always dreamed of having women
reconnect with their mothers and feel it is very important for women to
reconnect with five generations of women in their family. The Day of the
Dead celebrated in Mexico would be a perfect time to do this. Especial
since Ixchel is the Goddess of life and death." We began to dream and
plan our journey.
In ancient times millions of Maya women came from all over
Mesoamerica, in canoes or walking the sacbes to the shores of Puerto
Morelos and surrounding area. They prepared themselves in sacred
ceremony by cleansing and purifiing of themselves in sweat lodges and
cenotes. They prayed for a safe vogage to the islands to honer her. They
would cross over the waters in large canoes, hundreds at a time to Isla
de Mujeres where the priestesses of Ixchel lived to further prepare
themselves for the Great Mother. Then the final journey to the temples
of Ixchel on the Island of Cozumel. The women had waited for this moment
since they were little girls when their mothers began the teachings of
Ixchel. Every Maya woman made this sacred pilgrimage at least once in
her life so she could ask the Goddess to bless her with a fertile
marriage, easy child labor and good fortune. Many would offer their life
in service to the Goddess and become her priestess.
We will begin reopening the sacred path of Ixchel the first day by
going to a Mayan Village, Central Vallarta, meeting Mayan women and from
there to the Temazcal for sacred ceremony asking Ixchel permission to
make the journey and cleansing ourselves in the sweat lodge and swimming
in a pristine cenote for purification and asking Ixchel permission to
make the journey.
The second day we will travel to Isla Mujeres and go south, to the end
of island where we will dress in our Goddess huipiles and walk to
Ixchel's sancuary where we will sing and dance in honor of her. We will
have a group meditation and ask Ixchel for the healing of abused
children, battered women, broken families of the world, and ask the
great winds to carry our light and love around the world.
The third day we will journey to Cozumel where we will visit the great
ruins of San Gervasio and walk down the sacbe to Ixchel's temple where
we will have sacred ritual and askIxchel to heal and empower us once
again with her divine feminine energy. We will bury our personal offerings
to her and ask her to help us reconnect with our mothers.
In the evening we will celebrate Noche de Brujas and recognize our power
as healers of the world. We will honor the millions of women who were
tortured and murdered because they were recognized witches, and feared
for their powers of casting spells and healing.
The morning of the fourth day we will prepare the Altar for ceremony in
the evening. The Maya women will show us how to make the traditional
food of tamales to be offered. We will be meeting "Los Concheros" who
will be participating in the ceremony in the evening.
In the evening we will ask Ixchel to be present with us as we begin the
sacred cermeony of the dead. We will ask the souls of our mothers and
five generations of women in our family to come and join us and
celebrate with us. We will offer flowers, song, incense and candles and
food to
them and we will open the path of light so their souls will
find us. And the magic moment will come when we reunite with our
mother's soul.
The fifth day can be spend integrating and relaxing
GODDESS JOURNEY IXCHEL
Day of the Dead Journey, Oct. 28th to Nov.2nd
PUERTO MORELOS, QUINTANA ROO
Group Leader: Lydia Ruyle
The Maya Mysteries School and Maya Echo want to welcome you
on this special journey. Only those who have been called have come.
You have chosen to come and honor the Great Mayan Mother Goddes Ixchel.
She has called us to heal and love ourselves, our personal mothers and
the Great Mother. She is the Goddess of rebirth, so we will ask her to join
with us as we invite our mothers to return once again and celebrate in
ceremony andritual the Day of the Dead. As both birth and death is
perhaps the most important events in our lives, we will honor both with
the Goddes.
Hostesses
Emilia Menedez , a massage therapist living in Cancun for 15 years has
been involved with sacred ceremonies and rituals for 33 years. At 17
years old was received in sacred ceremony of Quetzalcoatl in Coastepec ,
Veracruz with shaman Maria Sabina. She was in communion with
the gods in Sierra Mixteca, Oaxaca and has lived with the Yaquia indians
in Sonora and has participated in ceremony with the Tarascon indians
of Michoacan and the Huicholes of Nayarit. She has traveled extensively
in Latin America particpating with the Yanonmitas indians of the Amazon
and the Macumbas in Brazil.
In 1977 she joined the group "La Corporacion de Concheros
de Mexcio" and is now the representive here in the state of Quintana
Roo. She has the permission of the chiefs in Mexcio to perform the sacred
ceremonies of Ixchel.
Sandra Dayton , president of Maya Echo , cofounder of Maya Mysteries
School Ixchel and cofounder of the non-profit organization Lu'um
K'aanab in Puerto Morelos has been living in Mexico for 20 years working
with the
indigenous people. She began dancing with "Los Concheros" 6 years
ago learning the
sacred Pre-Hispanic dances and ceremonies. Through her
work with the Mayan women and
medicinal plants she heard Ixchel's call and
is now in her service. In the Spring of
"95"while in a mediatation circle with a group of women she had a vision
of modern day women in Pilgrimage and then went to Cozumal to Ixchel's
sanctuary where
she heard Ixchel's call. She had a vision of the Goddess
Journey and realized what
her soul's purpose was and began her life's work
Hunbatz-men , a Mayan spiritual leader in the Yucatan, heard about her work
and came to visit her last winter. In a sun rise cermony he gave her
permission to began Maya Mysteries School Ixchel and perform sacred
ceremony.
Sandra is now putting all of her energy into a creating a Maya Women's
Center in the jungle to support the Maya women in the area.
Ana Luisa Aguilar Almada , owner of Amar Inn, President of Lu'um K'aanab
non profit organization and co founder of Maya Msteries School Ixchel is
using her feminine energy to protect the natural resources of our area. She
was key to stopping the building of highway through our precious mangroves
this
summer. Her dedication and fearlessness is empowering and inspiring to us
all. Ana
Luisa will be hosting two dinners, the Welcome dinner and the Noche de
Brujas in her
home.
Doņa Julia Montoya , a Mayan woman, lives in a small community in the
jungle. She has shared her knowledge of the forest with the many tourist
who
have come to visit. She is a healer , and works with the medicinal
plants of the jungle and is the matriarch of her family. She has helped
create
a small cottage industry of hand embroider for her and the women in her
family.
Doņa Julia will be our hostess at the cenote where we will be
participating in the >Sacred sweat lodge ceremonies.
Laurel O'Gorman (Moonglo) came to Puerto Morelos in "95" on a Yoga
retreat and has come back every year since. She has donated time and
work in support of Lu'um K'aanab and the Goddess Journey. She was with
Sandra when she had her vision and went to Cozumel with her. She will
joining our Goddess journey and will be helping Ana Luisa to prepare for
the Noch de Brujas and the Day of the Dead preparations.
The Maya Mysteries School Ixchel
Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico
The Maya Mysteries School was founded Feburary 10, 1998.
Elder Hunbatz-men, Mayan spiritual leader, heard about the work we
were doing with the Maya women and Ixchel and came for a visit last winter.
We talked to him at great length about Ixchel and showed him the hand
embroidery
of the Maya women, which included hand embroidered images of Ixchel. We
explained to him Ixchel came to us through the plants and embroidery
work and the Mayan women were being reawakened to their Ancient Mother
Goddess. She was calling. We told him about the great feminine vortex of
energy that is here in Puerto Morelos and the work that needs to be done
to reopen the sacred path of Ixchel.
A week later, we received an email from Hunbatz-men saying
that we could join the Maya Mysteries Schools and we could call our school
Ixchel. On
Feburary 7th we organized a conference with 50 people participating. He
introduced our school that evening and named Ana Luisa Aguilar and Sandra
A. Dayton,
priestesses of Ixchel. The following morning in sacred sunrise ceremony
our school was concencrated and we were ordained to do the work of The
Maya Mysteries School Ixchel.
Founder Maya Mysteries School Ixchel
"Honoring the Talents, Abilities, and Uniqueness in Each of Us,
as Strengths that can Benefit All of Us."
