Our Team
Sacred Stewards of the Merkaba Field
A Circle of Devoted Facilitators
At Merkaba Retreats, our team is more than a group of facilitators—we are a spiritual family, each walking our own path of healing, remembrance, and service. Together, we co-create a sacred container where transformation unfolds with safety, integrity, and love.
Meet the souls who hold space, guide ceremonies, and walk beside you on your journey home.
Christopher Shaw
Founder, Lead Facilitator, Psychotherapist, Spiritual Guide
Christopher is the visionary behind Merkaba Church & Retreats and Lumara Social Network—a licensed psychotherapist, mystic, and ceremonial guide whose own healing journey through addiction, trauma, and spiritual awakening informs every aspect of his work. Blending 17+ years of clinical expertise with deep spiritual insight, Christopher creates a grounded yet expansive space for profound transformation. Read more...
512-981-9807
Aeon Archer
Co-facilitator, Integrative Healing Arts Shamanic Practitioner, Spiritual Technologist
Aeon Archer is a transformational guide whose own journey through trauma, addiction, and recovery has forged a sacred foundation for his life’s work. As a co-facilitator at Merkaba Retreats, Aeon brings a grounded, heart-centered presence rooted in lived experience and spiritual awakening. A certified Yoga Instructor, Reiki Master, Hypnotherapist, and Spiritual Wellness Coach, he integrates ancient wisdom with modern modalities to support deep healing and embodiment. His work draws from the sacred arts of shamanic practice, using breath, movement, sound, and guided journeying to help others reconnect with their essence and activate their inner medicine. Read more...
Andrea Hope
Alumni Assistant & Integration Specialist
Andrea is a devoted practitioner of holistic healing and somatic therapy whose work is rooted in deep presence, compassion, and feminine wisdom. She skillfully blends breathwork, meditation, and trauma-informed body-based practices to support personal transformation. Andrea holds space with grace—inviting each individual into deeper embodiment, emotional release, and soul remembrance. Her presence at Merkaba Retreats brings a grounded, nurturing feminine energy that honors both the sacred and the practical in every healing journey. Read more...
Richie Shivanada
Advisor, Mentor, Facilitator
Ceremonial Musician
Medicine Man
Richie Shivananda is a devoted servant of the heart, bridging the ancestral wisdom of the Vedic and Anahuac traditions. A pilgrim of sacred sound and hermetic knowledge, his path has been guided by the great deity Xochipilli—Lord of sacred trances and noble flowers. For over a decade, Richie has shared the medicines of Kambo, Bufo, and Monkfish across Latin America, Europe, and Asia, rooted in devotion to Great Grandmother Nawake and the fertile lands of Aldea Nawake retreat center. Through music, ceremony, and prayer, he offers a portal into remembrance, guiding others into deep states of healing and union with the eternal self. Governed by his devotion to Lord Shiva, Richie weaves ancient lineages into a living transmission that brings each seeker home to the sacred gift of their own divinity. Read more...
Sa'rellan (Dale Rowse)
Alumni Assistant, Integration Specialist, Author, Speaker, ChannelCreator of Conscious Cinema
Sa’rellan (Dale Rowse) is a paradigm-shifting author, visionary filmmaker, and spiritual storyteller whose work bridges trauma and transcendence through soul-activating narratives. A former performer with Celine Dion’s Las Vegas residency, he brings theatrical presence and heart-centered wisdom to every space he enters. Sa’rellan is the author of Journey of a Dark Shaman (currently being adapted for film), along with transformative nonfiction on sacred medicine and sustainable living. As an artist and guide, his presence awakens, inspires, and catalyzes lasting inner change.
Tej
Vedic Astrologer
Tej is a seasoned Vedic Astrologer, yoga educator, and sound healer whose work is rooted in over a decade of experience guiding others through transformation, embodiment, and energetic alignment. As the astrologer for Merkaba Retreats, Tej offers participants a sacred mirror through the lens of Jyotish—the “Science of Light.”
Her approach blends ancient wisdom with modern insight, helping retreat participants validate their inner journey, recognize soul-level patterns, and integrate their experience with clarity and purpose. With warmth, depth, and intuitive precision, Tej’s readings illuminate the unique rhythm of your soul’s path—and offer practical guidance for your next evolution.
