East, and the fire
Gratitude
The first years, and the ground the other three stand on. It arrives with humbleness.
Church of Yachay Apus
We walk in the mountains to give thanks, for ourselves and for all our relations.
The circle is open to whoever comes to it sincerely. Reach out and tell us what brings you.
Who we are
A lineage carried south into the Andes, and the people who keep it.
Church of Yachay Apus, Inc. (“COYA”) is an Arizona nonprofit religious corporation that gathers in prayer to honor the Earth and all the relations. Our prayers are rooted in Gratitude, Clarity, Unity, and Love. We are a community first. Together we look after one another, care for the land and traditions we have been entrusted with, and continue learning from the teachers and lineages that came before us.
Our lineage was carried south out of North America into the Andes, and what we practice now is what those teachers handed us: the prayer staff, the gourd rattle, the offerings of tobacco and cedar, the structure of the Four Altars. We hold it as it was given.
What we hold to
These four carry every day we spend together. Each opens one direction and holds one season of a life.
The first years, and the ground the other three stand on. It arrives with humbleness.
Youth, and the seeing that belongs to it: ourselves as we are, our relations as they are, the ground in front of us without the story we tell about it.
Seven generations stand behind each of us and seven ahead. We pray as one body with them, with the land, the waters and the mountains. Nothing in creation is outside the circle.
Elderhood, and what the whole map is for. What we were given is not ours to keep.
What we are taught
The map we pray on.
Four doors are opened in order: east, west, north, south. Behind each one stands an element, an animal, and one stretch of a human life.
Between them they cover a whole life. Every day we hold is walked through all four.
The Four Altars
Where we gather
A Spirit Walk is a full day out in the mountains. A Spirit Circle is a night beside a fire that is tended without break until morning. Both are held outdoors, whatever the weather.
We go up because that is where the Apus are.
How we gather
Most of the year
We are out on the land only a few days in any year. Everything the lineage hands down is meant for the rest of them: how a prayer is aimed, what to do with the anger that turns up on a Tuesday, why the person you cannot forgive is where the practice actually is.
Our Practice
Three steps
Everyone who sits with us has come the same way, and it begins with an email.
Tell us who you are and what brings you.
Somebody from the Church writes back, and you will speak with us before anything else happens.
A health and safety questionnaire, read by the Spiritual Director and an authorized Screening Facilitator and by nobody else. It is long, and it asks about things people do not usually write down.
Next
We welcome people of all backgrounds and beliefs, of every ethnicity, national origin, race, gender identity, age and faith tradition. What we ask for is sincerity.
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