Venturing Into the Realm of Mountain Spirits: A Cacao & Gong Shamanic Journey
The mountains have always called to me. Not just as landscapes to be admired from a distance, but as living, breathing beings — ancient spirits with their own names, their own wisdom, their own willingness to enter into relationship with us.
This journey was born from a trip to Peru, travelling up into the mountains to Machu Picchu and beyond, where the Q'ero shamans speak of the Apus — the mountain spirits. Not every mountain carries a spirit consciousness, but many of the peaks I visited had a name, a presence, a distinct personality. And what struck me most was this: approaching them is not about taking. It is about reciprocity. It is about offering yourself as a partner, a friend, a fellow being on this Earth.
In this ceremony, I weave together ceremonial cacao, live gong sound healing, and shamanic journeying to guide you into the realm of the Apus. You will travel — via your right-brain consciousness — to a mountain of your choosing, call upon a power animal as a guide, and meet the spirit of that mountain face to face. What you receive there is yours alone.
This ceremony can be done at any time of year. The mountains are always present. The Apus are always listening.
What Are the Apus? Understanding the Spirit Consciousness of Mountains
In Andean shamanic tradition, the Apus are the spiritual guardians of the mountains. They are not metaphors. They are not symbols. They are conscious beings — vast, ancient intelligences who have witnessed thousands of years of human life, who hold the wisdom of the land in their peaks.
The Q'ero and other Peruvian shamans believe that all the wisdom of the world is stored in the mountain peaks. When you journey to meet an Apu, you are not simply visiting a geological feature. You are entering into dialogue with one of the great keepers of Earth's knowledge.
The Apus can be encountered across all three layers of shamanic reality. In the lower realm — where we often meet power animals and the shadow aspects of ourselves — the mountain may draw you downward into caves and underground rivers. In the middle realm, you walk its slopes in a landscape that mirrors our waking world. In the upper realm, the mountain carries you into the celestial, into the space of higher consciousness, ancestors, and angelic beings. Where the Apu takes you will be unique to you and to the relationship you are beginning.
What makes this journey distinctive is that I leave the direction entirely open. I do not prescribe whether you go up, down, or remain in the middle realm. Your power animal will guide you. The Apu will reveal itself as it wishes to be known.
The Ceremony: How Cacao and Gong Sound Healing Open the Gateway
Before we journey, we prepare. Ceremonial cacao is our ally and our offering. I work with high-quality ceremonial cacao — not the sweetened drinking chocolate of the supermarket, but the raw, sacred preparation that has been used in ceremony for thousands of years across Mesoamerica and the Andes.
Cacao is rich in magnesium, theobromine, and phenylethylamine. She crosses the blood-brain barrier to gently activate the third eye and open the heart chakra. She balances serotonin and dopamine levels so that the nervous system softens and becomes receptive. When I drink cacao before journeying, I describe it as stepping into a warm bath — the muscles release, the mind quietens, and a quality of expanded, loving awareness begins to settle in.
The gong sound healing works alongside the cacao to vibrate every cell of the body. The low frequencies of the gong move through fascia, organ tissue, and the electromagnetic field around the body, shaking loose any energies that have become stuck. Together, cacao and gong create the ideal conditions for the shamanic journey — a state that is deeply relaxed yet vibrantly awake.
We begin by cleansing our luminous energy field using a Q'ero shamanic method — working through three layers: the outer protective shell of the energy field, the emotional layer, and the physical body. We then call in the seven sacred directions — East, South, West, North, Earth, Sky, and the Cosmic Realm — offering our cacao to each and invoking the qualities and spirit beings associated with each direction. Condor and Eagle for the East. Mama Snake for the South. Mama Jaguar for the West. Hummingbird and the ancestors of the North. This is how we create a sacred container — a medicine space held by the directions and by all our relations.
How Shamanic Journeying Works: Right Brain Consciousness and the Inner Landscape
People sometimes ask me: am I just imagining this? And my answer is always: yes — and that is exactly the point.
In shamanism, the imagination is not a lesser faculty. It is the portal. When we journey, we are using our right-brain consciousness — the part of the brain that does not know where we begin and end, that feels as vast as the universe, that connects into the spiritual and intuitive realms. The left brain is the narrator, the list-maker, the planner. The right brain is the dreamer, the sensor, the part that knows when someone is lying to you, even when the words sound plausible.
In an ideal world, we move fluidly between both. Journeying is a practice in which we consciously shift into right-brain awareness — using sound, breath, and intention — and allow that expanded state to access the information, guidance, and healing that the ordinary waking mind cannot reach.
During the journey, I guide you to send your consciousness out through your crown chakra as a tiny point of pure white light. You travel in this form — scooped up in a protective golden mist — across the landscapes of the Earth to the mountain you have chosen. There, your power animal greets you. And there, you will meet the Apu.
What comes through may be visual — images and scenes like a waking dream. It may be felt in the body as sensation or emotion. It may arrive as knowing, as a sudden understanding. The mountain beings sometimes give tasks — practical, earth-based actions they ask of us. They may ask us to visit a particular place, to plant something, or to speak a particular truth. Come with an open mind and a humble heart.
Reciprocity: The Most Important Principle When Working with the Apus
This is the teaching I carry most strongly from my time in Peru: reciprocity.
In Andean tradition, when you approach a mountain spirit, you do not arrive empty-handed. You bring a despacho — a ceremonial offering. In the physical world, this might be flowers, coca leaves, Coca-Cola, beer, or other gifts that hold meaning for the Apu. In our journeying practice, the offering is carried in spirit form. You may already know what you wish to give. You may need to ask the Apu directly: what would you like from me today? And they will tell you.
The principle of reciprocity runs through all shamanic work. We are not consumers of spirit — we are participants in a living, breathing web of relationship. When I work with plant spirits, mountain spirits, and power animals, I am always in dialogue. I am always asking: how can I serve you, as you serve me? How can this exchange be equal?
The Apus are powerful beings. They do not need us. But they are willing to be in a relationship with us — and that willingness is itself a gift. When we honour it through reciprocity, through showing up with sincerity and offering something of ourselves, the connection deepens over time. The journey you take today is the beginning of a relationship that can continue to unfold in dreams, in synchronicities, in the moments when you stand before any mountain and feel that ancient presence regarding you in return.
Integration: Bringing the Mountain's Wisdom Back Into Your Life
Returning from a shamanic journey is its own art. I always bring participants home the same way they left — via the crown chakra, following the same path back, ensuring that all of your consciousness returns fully into the body. This is the one rule in shamanism: we always come home.
Once back, the most important thing you can do is write. Immediately. Before the left brain has had a chance to dismiss, rationalise, or simply forget the images and impressions of the journey. Write everything — however fragmentary, however strange. The mountain may have given you a task. Write it down. The power animal may have shown you something you do not yet understand. Write it down. Meaning often surfaces when we read back what we have written.
Integration is the process of weaving what the right brain has received into the lived understanding of the left brain. This is where the real transformation happens — not in the altered state itself, but in the days and weeks that follow, as you watch for synchronicities, as you act on the tasks the Apu gave you, as you feel the relationship between yourself and the mountain world begin, slowly, to deepen.
Be open to receiving messages beyond the ceremony itself — in dreams, in moments of stillness, in the feeling that rises in your body when you see a mountain on the horizon. The Apus are patient. The connection you have awakened today will continue to evolve.
How to Prepare for This Journey
Prepare your ceremonial cacao in advance — allow 20–25g of raw ceremonial cacao per serving, blended with hot water, a pinch of chilli, and a sweetener of your choice.
Find a comfortable, quiet space where you will not be disturbed for the duration of the ceremony.
Use the best headphones or speakers available — the gong frequencies carry most powerfully with good sound quality.
Have a journal and pen within reach for integration writing immediately after the journey.
Set a clear intention before you begin — this can be open ("I am ready to meet the spirit of the mountain") or specific ("I am seeking guidance about a particular decision or challenge")
Choose your mountain in advance if you wish — a peak you have climbed, a mountain you have always felt drawn to, or simply one that arises in your imagination.
Know that this journey works whether or not you have done shamanic work before — trust what comes through, however it arrives
Ready to Go Deeper?
If this journey has awakened something in you, I would love to support you further. You can explore live cacao ceremonies, work with me through shamanic healing sessions, or join The Shaman's Way — my ongoing programme for those called to walk this path more deeply. Free resources, including guided practices and my ceremonial cacao recipe book, are also available at the links below.
Cacao Ceremonies | Shamanic Healing | The Shaman's Way | Free Resources | All Therapies
