Ali Rabjohns is a Transpersonal Arts Counsellor and Andean Energy Medicine practitioner whose work bridges creative expression and shamanic healing. Trained in the Q’ero lineage, she integrates art, energy work, and nature-based rituals to guide individuals on deep healing journeys. Through her Mystical Path programme, she empowers clients to clear energetic blockages, reconnect with nature, and step into their authentic power. In this interview for Mystic Mag, Ali shares insights into her healing approach, the role of creativity in transformation, and the wisdom she has gained from her shamanic path.
How do you integrate Transpersonal Arts Counselling and Andean energy medicine to support your clients’ healing journeys?
My healing approach is a unique synthesis of Transpersonal Arts Counselling and Andean energy medicine, creating a deeply immersive and transformative process for clients. By working with creative expression, shamanic practice, and embodied spirituality, I help individuals release emotional burdens, rediscover their inner wisdom, and reconnect with the living energy of the cosmos.
My integration of these two modalities follows four core principles:
1. Creative Expression as a Gateway to Healing
2. Shamanic Energy Work for Deep Emotional and Spiritual Clearing
3. Working at the Mythic Level: Symbolism, Storytelling, and Archetypes
4. Nature-Based Healing: Pilgrimage, Ritual, and Reciprocal Relationship with the Earth
1. Creative Expression as a Gateway to Healing
As a Transpersonal Arts Counsellor, I understand the power of creativity in uncovering unconscious emotions, fostering self-reflection, and integrating healing experiences. I use textiles, painting, natural dyeing, felting, and mandala work to help clients process their worlds.
One of the most significant ways I integrate artistic practice with shamanic healing is through creation of sacred objects, such as:
• Felted spirit dolls and transitional objects – to provide comfort, emotional grounding, a symbolic bridge between past and future selves.
• Mandala sand paintings – to externalise inner conflicts and visually process transformation
• Felting, Weaving and dyeing with natural materials – to embody the cyclical nature of life through healing, and personal growth .
My work with neurodivergent clients highlights the importance of sensory-based creative practices. Many neurodivergent individuals find emotions difficult to process, so I i metaphor, texture, and storytelling to help them engage with emotions indirectly but meaningfully. The process of creating a safe artistic space fosters self-regulation, resilience, and self-awareness .
2. Shamanic Energy Work for Deep Emotional and Spiritual Clearing
The foundation of my Andean energy medicine practice is based on my training with the Q’ero lineage, who emphasise that everything in the universe is either light or heavy energy. I helps clients navigate this energetic landscape by:
• Clearing heavy energy (hucha) and cultivating light energy (sami) through despa ceremonies, fire rituals, and energy work
• Guiding clients through shamanic journeying to connect with their personal Paqarina (birth water spirit) and Itu Apu (birth mountain spirit).
• Using khuyas (sacred stones) and mesas (medicine bundles) to support energy alignment and healing.
A powerful example of this integration are my own pilgrimages to Peru and to my birth river (Paqarina) and birth mountain (Itu Apu) in Devon. Through despacho offerings and dee meditation, I connected with an ancient feminine energy that helped me release old wounds and embrace my authentic self. I often facilitate similar pilgrimage experiences for my clients, help them forge relationships with the natural world as a healing ally
Bringing it All Together: A Holistic Path to Transformation
My integration of Transpersonal Arts Counselling and Andean energy medicine creates a multi layered healing experience. By combining
✅ Creative expression to externalise inner transformation
✅ Shamanic rituals to clear energetic blockages
✅ Sacred reciprocity (Ayni) to restore balance,
✅ Pilgrimage and nature connection to reclaim authenticity
I offer a pathway for clients to step into their true power—not just as a therapeutic process, as a way of life.
What drew you to study with the Q’ero lineage, and how has their wisdom influenced your approach to shamanic practice?
Like many of us, being in nature speaks to my soul and helps me to breathe internally and externally. Tuning into a world of natural living energy helps me to balance any overwhelming anxious feelings, especially in a post pandemic world. My Father gave me a gift of deep connection with the land, and through his enthusiasm, he taught me to cherish the sovereignty and the sacredness of our planet. Spending my childhood in Wales and Dorset helped to spark a golden thread, a wonder and curiosity about the natural world, which I continue to follow
In my thirties, a healing journey helped me to learn about the Andean Mystical teachings of Q’ero and the Paqos in the High Andes of Peru. These wisdom keepers originate from the Incas, with their ceremonies and rituals. A Paqo is the term for a person who is an Andean healer. They bring Munay: which is love imbued with will, Yachay: their wisdom and the physical aspect of work into balance called Llanq’ay.
In 2009, A pilgrimage with my teacher Pampamesayoq (Earthkeeper) Don Agustin Machacc Florez to his sacred mountain Huaman Lipa in Q’eros, gave me the determination to carry an share these teachings in the world with great respect and honour. It also showed me the value of pilgrimage and what I learnt from this trip, took me ten years to fully process. My experience of Don Agustin, is that he channels the energy of the nature beings and his allies directly into whatever he focusses on, whether it’s a despacho, a healing, a blessing or an energy transmission.
How does creativity, particularly your work with natural colours and textiles, play a role in the healing process for you and your clients?
Creativity is a profound tool for self-discovery, healing, and connection in my practice. My with natural dyes, textiles, and weaving is not just an artistic expression but a spiritual p that mirrors the cyclical rhythms of nature and the healing process itself.
By working with natural fibers, sacred objects, and artistic ritual, I offer my clients a tangible way to integrate their healing journeys. Whether it’s through creating a Sachamama stick (a sacred staff representing personal transformation) or using textiles to represent key life experiences therapeutic creative work serves as a bridge between the seen and unseen worlds, helping clients process deep emotions and align with their authentic selves.
In The Steiner Curative Education curriculum, Rudolf Steiner recommends that the therapeutic activity of felting can stimulate the rhythmic system and “the feeling realm of our hert” being able to choose the colours that speak to us, feeling the different qualities of each fleece we use can really help us to move out of our heads and into our own hands. A very important part of my practice or ethos is the theme of sustainability. I prefer using natural materials and dyes wherever possible – walking softly on the earth and leaving the smallest footprint I can for our children’s children.
The one constant element that inspires my artistic practice is my own connection to nature, which is becoming more of a need for sacred space in nature. It’s a subtle, slow process that helps my artwork to evolve. I use this therapeutic approach to felting and watercolour painting, in order create my own sacred space. Whether it’s macro or micro vision, nature in all it’s forms and seasons speak to me through my own experience of them.
This creative process mirrors the healing journey, helping clients set their intention, express emotions, integrate experiences, and rediscover their intuitive wisdom, or power through a sacred natural connection
I align my creative work with the principles of Ayni (sacred reciprocity), an Andean philosophy that emphasizes giving and receiving in harmony with nature. Through natural dyeing, felting, and weaving, I embody this reciprocity—working with the seasons, planting dye plants, and using local, sustainable fibers to create textiles that are both beautiful and energetically alive.
My artistic process helps me and my clients reconnect with the land, the elements, and their inner rhythms. For example, the meditative act of weaving, allows for deep reflection and a of grounding. The Q’ero concept of Pukllay (sacred play) is also central to my approach—creativity is a playful yet sacred act that helps open the heart and awaken intuition.
My tapestry weaving and felted altar pieces serve as sacred objects, anchoring spiritual insights gained from shamanic journeying . My artistic practice is deeply connected to nature, sustainability, and seasonal rhythms. I work with plant colour, felting, journals, and watercolour seeing them as a way to ground myself and my clients. By using materials like fleece from local farmers and growing my own dye plants, I connect to the intrinsic cycle of nature.
My aim is to express my experience of ‘Walking between the Worlds’ like a Paqo. Through my experience of shamanism and previous travels to Peru, I enjoy using my shamanic skills and my drum to help me to journey to the roots of those painful and joyous moments I’ve experienced in this sacred gift called life. Then, when these roots have been uncovered, they can start to emerge in my art work. I gain clarity and nourishment from what some people call ‘The invisible realms’ and I enjoy watching these worlds of the unconscious and conscious arrive in my artwork. It takes a certain level of trust and courage to do this but that’s the wonderful thing about felt or painting I’m never quite sure how it’s going to turn out. Some experiences are unconscious and mysterious, needing further unravelling through sketchbook work, journaling and pieces of art. These deep experiences have then informed my way of working with my clients.
What can participants expect from your Mystical Path programme, and how does it help to step into their power?
Participants of The Mystical Path Programme can expect a deeply transformative journey that empowers them to step into their personal and spiritual power through Andean energy practices, creative exploration, and self-discovery. The Mystical Path is a structured train Andean energy medicine, offering both personal transformation and practitioner certification.
What Can Participants Expect:
• Shamanic journeying, working with the three worlds (Ukhu Pacha, Kay Pacha, Hanaq Pacha)
• Creating a mesa with sacred stones
• Energy clearing techniques such as despachos (offerings) and karpay (initiations)
• Shadow work and ancestral healing
• Connecting with guiding spirits and Pachamama (Mother Earth)
• A Journey of Self-Discovery:
The first year is designed to inspire and empower participants to truly meet themselves developing an intimate relationship with nature and creating a heart-centered life.
• Healing & Personal Growth:
Participants will clear limiting beliefs and behaviors, helping them step into their path and walk with beauty and confidence
• Sacred Connection to Pachamama
Through energy practices and ceremonies, participants will connect with the living energy of the cosmos, fostering a deep reciprocal relationship with the Earth
• A Safe & Supportive Space for Transformation:
A structured yet nurturing environment enables participants to uncover and clear the root of personal challenges without trauma or drama.
The programme empowers participants to clear limiting beliefs, trust their intuition, and uncover their highest potential. It offers a pathway to becoming a Paqo (Andean healer) and includes direct guidance from Q’ero elders via Zoom.
How Does It Help Participants Step Into Their Power?
1. Empowerment Through Energy Work
◦ Participants learn how to bring coherence to their energy body and develop resilience.
◦ They create a personal mesa (sacred bundle of stones) imbued with living energy to keep them grounded, centered, and strong
2. Practical Tools for Healing & Balance
◦ Engaging in daily practices, rituals, and shadow work to release heavy energy (Hucha) and bring in light energy (Sami).
◦ Learning soul retrieval techniques to reclaim lost parts of themselves and integrate past wounds.
3. Living with Intention & Reciprocity (Ayni)
◦ Participants align their intentions with their actions, learning to release heavy energy into the earth and co-create a balanced life.
◦ Understanding and applying universal reciprocity (Ayni) brings peace and unity consciousness into their daily lives.
4. Ancestral & Mythic Wisdom
◦ Working with the Four Allies (Serpent, Jaguar, Hummingbird, and Eagle) for guidance and transformation
◦ Exploring Andean cosmovision and shamanic journeying to the upper, middle, and lower worlds to access wisdom.
5. Pathway to Becoming a Practitioner
◦ Those committed to deepening their journey can enter the second and third years which include case studies, extractions, and healing work with direct support ◦ Training with Q’ero Elder Don Agustin Machacca Flores through Zoom workshops receiving energy transmissions from an authentic lineage.
Final Thoughts
The Mystical Path Programme is more than just training—it is an awakening into one’s own medicine and a deeper understanding of the universe. It provides the tools to walk confidently in the world as a healer, artist, and empowered being.
Can you share a transformative experience where shamanic work helped a client uncover and clear the root of an issue?
One of the most profound transformation involved a client’s healing journey through shamanic work. S (the client) over several years, experienced deep ancestral healing, trauma release, and personal empowerment through her engagement with the Mystical Path Training, ancestral work and energy healing practices:
1. Facing Physical and Emotional Pain: The Healing of the Ribs
S had experienced chronic pain in her ribs for over three years. This pain persisted until significant breakthrough during a shamanic journey in Glastonbury, where she confronted her deep-seated fear of death. During this process, the pain intensified, reaching its worst point three weeks after returning home, she realised that the pain had completely disappeared. She recognised that this was not just a physical issue but an emotional and energetic release, deeply tied to her fear of mortality
Key Shamanic Element:
The shamanic journey and facing death in a ritualistic space helped her clear the root of the pain allowing her to move forward with renewed strength and clarity.
2. Ancestral Healing: Releasing the Cord to Her Father
One of the most powerful moments in S’s healing journey was a river ceremony following her father’s passing.
•She held onto a sacred stone that had belonged to her father for many years. • During her Mystical Path training, in a special shamanic ceremony by the river, she release the stone into the water, symbolising the letting go of ancestral ties and emotional burdens
• She described the experience as “cutting the cord” between them, setting them both free
• The process allowed her to make peace with her father, something she felt she could not have done anywhere else. The power of the group held her in a container of gentle singing as she did this.
Key Shamanic Element:
Through ritual, offerings to nature, and the symbolic release of the stone, S was able to hear ancestral wounds and free herself from past emotional entanglements.
3. Releasing Family Trauma & Finding Strength
S had been carrying unresolved ancestral trauma, particularly related to her grandmother’s sister who had possibly died by suicide.
• During one of the shamanic sessions, I sensed the presence of this ancestor. • I performed a soul-clearing ritual to help the spirit transition and bring peace to the family line.
• S felt an immediate sense of relief, as if a massive weight had lifted
Key Shamanic Element:
The practice of ancestral healing and spirit release provided S with profound emotional relief a sense of completion
4. Moving Beyond Trauma: Gaining Control Over Her Life
S initially struggled with deep trauma, which often caused dissociation.
• At the beginning of her healing journey, she would disengage from the process, often leaving the space when the emotions became too overwhelming
• Through continued shamanic practice, group support, and deep introspection, she was able to stay present, process emotions, and navigate trauma with awareness
• She developed an inner voice of awareness, a constant guide that helps her navigate emotions and pulls her out of self-destructive patterns
• Now, she recognises that she has choice and control over her responses, rather than being at the mercy of trauma.
Key Shamanic Element:
By working with grounding practices, connecting with the Earth, and engaging in ceremony, S able to reintegrate fragmented parts of herself and reclaim her inner strength and autonomy.
5. A Shift in Identity: Stepping Fully onto Her Soul Path
S expressed that she had always wanted to work on the land and be of service to others, but lacked clarity and confidence in her path.
• After the Mystical Path training, S quit her job and started working with a community Wales (Ysbrydol – “Spirit Land”), seeing it as a continuation of her spiritual training
• She acknowledged that her path had now become clear, and she described it as “falling in love with life in a way I never thought possible.”
• The shamanic work gave her the courage to take action, make changes, and trust in the journey ahead.
Key Shamanic Element:
Through shamanic initiations, ancestral healing, and stepping into the unknown, S was able embrace her true calling and move forward with confidence.
S could appreciate that Shamanic healing was an ongoing process, and her story demonstrates that each phase of healing reveals deeper levels of transformation and potential. She is working on fully embodying her vision, offering her own healing and wisdom to others.
Conclusion: A Life-Altering Shamanic Transformation
Through shamanic work, S experienced profound shifts in her life, including
✅ Healing deep-seated trauma and fear that had controlled her life.
✅ Releasing ancestral burdens, particularly her father wound and family trauma
✅ Transforming chronic pain by confronting her fear of death
✅ Claiming her spiritual gifts and stepping fully onto her soul’s path
✅ Gaining emotional resilience and control, moving beyond dissociation into empowerment choice.
Her journey is a testament to the power of shamanic healing, showing that when we confront our deepest wounds, we create space for joy, freedom, and purpose.
Final Reflections: The Role of the Shamanic Practitioner – Ali
I played a vital role in S’s journey, offering:
• A structured but gentle approach, allowing S to heal at her own pace.
• Energetic tracking & guidance, identifying ancestral blockages and trauma patterns.
• A balance of compassion and firmness, knowing when to push for deeper transformation
• Sacred tools & ceremony, empowering S to release, integrate, and evolve.
S’s transformation highlights the true essence of shamanic healing—not just as a spiritual practice but as a lifeline to reclaiming one’s authentic power and destiny
For more information about my practice, or to book a discovery call, please contact [email protected] or visit my website: https://alirabjohns.com/.
You can also find me instagram or facebook.
SPECIAL OFFER to Mystic Mag readers: 10% off any two hour online session if you book before end of February. Please quote ‘Hummingbird10’, in Munay, Ali
