Sacred Roots
A 7-day immersive pilgrimage in the sacred lands of Guatemala — weaving Mayan ancient wisdom, sacred cacao, nature, and spirit.
FEBRUARY 18-24 2027
Sacred Roots Retreat
This is more than a retreat — it’s a pilgrimage of remembrance.
Sacred Roots was born from a longing to create spaces that move beyond extraction-based wellness culture.
Rather than offering transformation as a commodity, we gather around practices that restore relationship:
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Relationship to the Earth
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Relationship to Indigenous wisdom and biocultural heritage
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Relationship to the body and emotions
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Relationship to community
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Relationship to spirit
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Relationship to reciprocity and stewardship
Every part of this experience is rooted in integrity, intentionality, and care for the lineages and lands that make this work possible.
This retreat is an extension of Heart to Earth’s greater vision: To help reweave a culture rooted in reverence for life.
From the volcanic depths of Lake Atitlán to the crystalline waters of Semuc Champey, you are invited to reconnect to the Earth, awaken your inner guidance, and commune with spirit, anchored in the ancient wisdom of the land and her biocultural heritage.
You will be held in:
• Ceremonial cacao journeys guided by ancestral tradition
• The ethnobotany of cacao — plant as teacher, medicine, and ally
• Wisdom teachings from Indigenous Maya elders
• Sacred Maya Fire Ceremony — ancestral offering and prayer
• River and lake immersions for cleansing, grounding, and connection
• Teachings on the Maya worldview for deepening your bond with Earth
• Integration circles, storytelling, and stillness — space for weaving it all within
Why Guatemala
At the roots of cacao.
Guatemala holds some of the oldest living relationships with cacao on Earth.
For thousands of years, cacao has been honored as a sacred bridge between humans, nature, and the cosmos.
Sacred Roots invites you into direct relationship with these lands through:
Visits to ancestral cacao regions
Encounters with local growers and wisdom keepers
Ceremonial practices rooted in respect and context
Immersion in living ecosystems and sacred sites
Conversations around regeneration, culture, and the future of our planet
This pilgrimage is about listening deeply, walking humbly, and remembering that we are part of nature — not separate from it.
A unique journey into the heart of nature where Earth wisdom, Ix Cacao, and ancient Mayan spiritual teachings converge.
Lake Atitlan
Lake Atitlán, often called the Belly Button of the Earth, lies cradled within the Guatemayan highlands. Surrounded by majestic volcanoes —San Pedro, Atitlán, and Tolimán— and vibrant traditional Mayan villages, it sits atop an immense bed of obsidian, the sacred volcanic glass. This unique landscape forms a potent energetic portal, inviting healing, deep transformation, introspection, and a profound connection to ancestral wisdom.
Semuc Champey
A hidden gem tucked deep in the Guatemayan jungle — where turquoise waters cascade gracefully over ancient limestone bridges, forming a natural stairway of crystalline pools. This sacred river is a site of deep purification and spiritual communion with the water spirits. For the Q’eqchi’ Maya people, it holds profound spiritual significance. Countless ceremonies and ancestral rituals have been performed in these sacred waters, honouring both the spirits of the land and those who walked it before.
The Spirit of Cacao
Cacao is far more than a drink or a passing trend in the wellness world — it is a revered plant teacher, a sacred bridge to the heart, and a potent ancestral medicine.
On this journey, you will be guided through deep cacao ceremonies and teachings rooted in Maya cosmology. Together, we’ll explore the ethnobotany and origin story of cacao, connecting with it not merely as a substance, but as a living spirit — one that has walked with humanity for generations.
You’ll learn to work with cacao as a powerful ally for emotional healing, heart awakening, and spiritual connection, honoring the ancient wisdom she carries through time.
Held with integrity and reciprocity, this experience is deeply woven into the worldview of the Indigenous peoples of this land, whose sacred relationship with cacao is both ancestral and alive today.
From seed to cup, you will have the opportunity to connect with cacao’s full expression — from her fruit and leaves to her ancient ceremonial drink — a vessel of myth, memory, and medicine. This is a journey into the mystical origins of her spirit, and the shamanic practices that reveal her enduring significance for humanity.
WHAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE
What Sacred Roots weaves together
Ceremonial Cacao
Experience cacao within its ancestral and relational context — not as a trend, but as a sacred plant ally that invites presence, openness, and connection.
Earth-Based Ritual & Practice
Daily practices rooted in embodiment, nature connection, meditation, movement, sound, and ritual.
Regenerative Living
Explore the relationship between personal healing and collective regeneration through conversations around animism, spiritual ecology, and reciprocity.
Storytelling & Myth
Reconnect with the deeper stories that shape how we relate to life, the Earth, and one another.
Sacred Sites & Nature Immersion
Journey through lakes, forests, waterfalls, and sacred lands that awaken awe, reflection, and reverence.
Community & Kinship
Gather in intimate circles with people who are seeking a more rooted, meaningful, and conscious way of living.
As part of our commitment to aligning words with actions, we travel with intention and responsibility. This journey is designed not only for personal transformation but also to support the land and communities that welcome us.
As such, a portion of your contribution goes directly toward impact tourism initiatives — supporting local regenerative projects, Indigenous-led efforts, and environmental restoration, ensuring that our presence nurtures rather than extracts.
*Not included: Flights to/from Guatemala, personal travel insurance, tips
Please Note:
We are not including the shuttle from the airport to Lake Atitlán, as participants will be arriving from different locations at different times.
However, if you’d like assistance arranging your transport from the airport, feel free to contact us directly — we’re happy to help coordinate it for you!
Sacred Roots Retreat
This retreat is for you if…
- You long for a deeper connection with nature and spirit
- You are seeking grounding beyond performative spirituality
- You feel called to remember slower, more reciprocal ways of living
- You are navigating transition, healing, or personal transformation
- You want to experience cacao in its cultural and ecological roots
- You are a creative, healer, leader, or seeker wanting to align your life with deeper integrity
- You value authenticity, depth, and meaningful conversation
You do not need prior experience with ceremony or spiritual practice. Only openness, humility, and willingness to listen.
Charlotte Nieuwenhuis
Charlotte is an Earth guardian, regenerative systems designer, and biocultural philanthropist, as well as the founder of Heart to Earth.
She has dedicated her life to bridging the ancient with the emerging, cultivating a deeper bond with the Earth, and reestablishing the sacredness of life through reciprocity, integrity, and responsibility.
Over the past decade, Charlotte has journeyed across four continents, living among Indigenous communities whose wisdom and ways of life have profoundly shaped her. These experiences have led her to embrace a worldview rooted in animism — where all of life is seen as sentient, interconnected, and worthy of reverence.
She holds a deep reverence for plant spirits, and through Heart to Earth, she upholds a vision where the biocultural heritage of cacao is preserved and its ancestral seeds honored and celebrated.
She brings this pilgrimage to light as a way to share the deep heritage of cacao, in the hope of inspiring greater respect for this plantcestor and honoring the cultures and peoples who have shaped her path.
Doña Elsa y Don Hector
Doña Elsa and Don Hector are stewards of an ancestral lineage rooted in the sacred relationship between cacao, Earth, and community. As Maya wisdom keepers and dedicated cacao growers, their life’s work is a living expression of cultural revival — tending to the seeds of tradition while guiding others back into connection with the land and the heart.
During this Sacred Roots pilgrimage, they offer teachings that awaken our awareness of the web of life we are part of — deepening our sense of interconnectivity with nature and inviting us to remember our sacred role within it. Through their grounded presence and ancestral wisdom, they remind us what it means to walk this Earth in right relationship — in reverence, humility, and reciprocity.
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