facultyexplore advaya’s teachers
Explore advaya's faculty of teachers, scientists, practitioners, philosophers and storytellers, who share multidimensional, local and diverse narratives from across the world.
Bayo Akomolafe
Sophie Strand
Satish Kumar
Vandana Shiva
Veronica Strang
Manda Scott
Beloved Sara Zaltash
David Abram
Dr Andreas Weber
David Whyte
Helena Norberg-Hodge
Dr. Predrag Slijepcevic
Charles Eisenstein
Aisha Paris Smith
Brontë Velez
Isis Indriya
Born in Mesa, Arizona, Indigenous to and raised on the island of Guam, Isis Indriya dedicates her life in service to prayer, education, and community activism.
Born in Mesa, Arizona, Indigenous to and raised on the island of Guam, Isis Indriya dedicates her life in service to prayer, education, and community activism. She is an educator and founder of The Academy of Oracle Arts and Imaginal Community where she teaches many classes alongside other luminaries.
She offers classes in Ritual, Divination, Egyptian Cosmology, and Hermeticism, as well as a 9-month Apprenticeship program in Oracular Arts.
With the loss of her Mother, Deborah, at age of 4, her desire to commune with the Unseen, the Ancestors, and those on the other side has been at the forefront of her life and what led her to Ritual as a way of Life. At the age of 17 she moved to the US and began her studies in mythology & breathwork which led to the focus of Ancient Mystery studies, Sacred Sciences, and Earth Wisdom Traditions.
With cultivation of community at the heart of her offering, she has spent over 20 years in event production, ritual, and education as a way to create culture and share her passion for the sacred sciences of the Ancients, Indigenous wisdom, cultural exchange, and inner transformation.
Isis is also lead producer of The Compass at Lightning in a Bottle Festival, where she has hosted hundreds of thought leaders and entertainers from around the world.
As a community builder, Isis also leads powerful annual pilgrimages to Egypt and hosts community gatherings at her Temple in Northern California.
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Attuning to the Standing Ones
What does the sacred tree of life tell us about our telos on planet Earth? What secrets do the trees hold, and how do we listen to them and allow them to show us the way? Ahead of the advaya course curated by Imaginal, Tree of Life, the three course curators dialogue about attuning to the trees, this time of initiation that humanity is facing, and how we may be of service to the forests, as we so urgently need to do now. Special guest Shira Netanya also explores the Kabbalah and Tree of Life, and weaves the cosmological and ecological stories of unity from and with the trees.
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The Epic of Gilgamesh and restoring humanity's sacred relationship to forests
"This is a time of really building a sacred way of life, learning how to listen again." In the opening week of Tree of Life, our course with Imaginal, the three curators, Nat Kelley, Isis Indriya and Timo Granzotti, explore mythological, cosmological and ecological stories to understand why humanity (led by a certain kind of civilisation) lost its way.
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Yggdrasil and the interdependence of the nine realms
In the second week of Tree of Life, our course with Imaginal, Isis Indriya shares about the cosmovision around Yggdrasil and the nine realms. Seeing the ash tree as the axis mundi between the nine realms, we begin to uncover one of the ancient stories that show us how all realms of the world, and the cosmos, are connected.
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Water, forestry and indigenous culture in the Mesoamericas
In the third week of Tree of Life, our course with Imaginal, Timo Granzotti and Nat Kelley explore the highly advanced, and deeply rooted agricultural systems of Mesoamerica.
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The teachings of the inverted tree
In the third week of Tree of Life, our course with Imaginal, Isis Indriya shares the teachings of the inverted tree, from the Mayan traditions to the Hindu tradition: as the sap moves through the tree, so too do souls ascend and descend within the trees, connecting the material forms to the cosmic and infinite forms. What does it mean to connect to the infinite? Isis explains this by returning to the idea of the axis mundi. She also speaks to her own Chamoru culture, and how trees home and are themselves ancestral spirits and beings who need to be respected as such.
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The acacia, a tree through the ages and generations
In the sixth week of Tree of Life, our course with Imaginal, we learn about the acacia tree: a tree that witnesses and carries the passing of lineage, from generation to generation. Isis Indriya shares about what the acacia represents in regard to human souls, liberation and consciousness. Timo Granzotti shares about the concept of dream time, and the relationship between the acacia and Aboriginal culture and lore.
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Baobab, the Great Mother Tree
In the seventh week of Tree of Life, our course with Imaginal, Isis Indriya speaks about the reverence of the baobab across Africa, how and why it is regarded as a Mother Tree, and the different creation myths associated with the baobab, the upside down tree. Timo Granzotti speaks to the art, culture and stories associated with the baobab: images that are quickly disappearing.