- You are invited to join me for one week in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, for a deep immersion in the Native American tradition.
- Discover the timeless, transformational wisdom of the Pueblo peoples as you reconnect with the healing energy of this sacred land.
- Walk in the footsteps of Native American medicine women and men to reignite your shamanic power and anchor a new vision for a New Earth.
- Find your true purpose in the web of Creation, assisted by nature spirits, elementals, totems, Native American ancestors, and ascended masters including White Eagle and White Buffalo Calf Woman.
Dear Friends,
I have been drawn to the sunny Southwest for as long as I can remember.
When people ask me why I left the vibrant energy of New York City, where I lived for 22 years, to settle in Taos, a small mountain town in northern New Mexico, I say it was the clear, golden light and the vast expanse of land and sky.
I yearned for a quieter, simpler life closer to the earth. Here in the high desert—an area that native Pueblo people call the Dancing Ground of the Sun—I can access more fully the silence and slowness that feels so essential to my well-being.
No matter how often I stride out into the world, New Mexico always calls me home.
Please join me for this one-of-a-kind, sacred journey into the heart of Native America, where you will be enveloped by stunning natural beauty, powerful earthly and cosmic energies, “only in New Mexico” mystery and magic, and the loving embrace of like-hearted soul family.
We will honor the spirits of the ancestors as we explore picturesque pueblos, ancient ruins, and visit with authentic Native Americans. We will also discover the mystical land where noted painter Georgia O’Keeffe made her home, soak in hot springs, hike in pristine nature, enjoy local foods and culture...and more....
I hope to see you in the Land of Enchantment!
With Love,
Dana
We will take the scenic High Road, offering dazzling panoramic views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Rio Grande Valley. Feel the unbridled freedom and spirit of adventure so enduringly associated with the American West. Pass through sleepy Hispanic villages studded with artists'
Gather in the hotel meeting room for introductions and ceremony to support our sacred work and play. Dana will share esoteric teachings and practices from the Native American tradition to optimize our experience at the sacred sites of New Mexico.
Drive to the gorgeous Taos Pueblo, continuously inhabited for over 1000 years and the only living Native American community designated both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a National Historic Landmark. Today, there is still no running water, no electricity, no internet, for the Pueblo people are intent on preserving their native culture. Stories and traditions are passed down through generations orally by the elders.
Meet with Native Americans in their shops on the Pueblo featuring hand-crafted jewelry, leather goods, folk art, and other treasures. Lunch in Taos.
Afternoon visit to the breathtaking Taos Gorge, a smaller version of the Grand Canyon. Hike along the Gorge rim, with spectacular, otherworldly views. Walk the Medicine Wheel for deep healing. Connect with the sacred web of life.
Ground deeply into Mother Earth, rebalance, and reclaim your divine power. Honor the Pueblo ancestors with blessings and ethereal Native American flute music. Dinner in Taos. Overnight El Monte Sagrado.
Optional breakfast at hotel.
Morning walking tour of Taos Pueblo with a Pueblo guide.
Head west over the Gorge Bridge to one of northern New Mexico’s most alluring oases—Ojo Caliente Mineral Springs Resort & Spa. We will take a vision quest on this pristine land then soak in the springs and rejuvenate in the brilliant New Mexico sunlight, the ultimate indulgence.
Traveling the open roads between Taos and Ojo reveals gorgeous vistas of the vast mountain-fringed desert. The distractions of the wired world disappear in the startling yet welcoming silence.
Any residual stress instantly falls away upon arriving at Ojo Caliente, one of the oldest natural health resorts in the U.S. since 1868, whose healing waters have been held sacred by the native Pueblo people for millennia.
This secluded sanctuary, nestled in a cottonwood-dotted river valley, is the only hot springs in the world with four unique, sulfur-free mineral waters: iron, arsenic, soda and lithia. Sample fresh regional foods at the Artesian restaurant, enjoy a hot-stone massage at the full-service spa, and hike one of Ojo’s many scenic trails through Carson National Forest.
Lunch and dinner at Ojo Caliente. Overnight El Monte Sagrado.
Optional breakfast at hotel. Check-out.
Morning drive to the small village of Abiquiu, where the American modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe lived from 1949 to just before her death in 1986 at age 98. The awe-inspiring Abiquiu landscape, with red and yellow cliffs and mesas, expansive vistas, and winding desert roads, is an O’Keeffe canvas come to life.
Driving through the land that O’Keeffe so loved recalls her urgent need to capture what she called “the unexplainable thing in nature that makes me feel the world is big far beyond my understanding-to understand maybe
by trying to put it into form. To find the feeling of infinity on the horizon line or just over the next hill.” Reconnect with your creativity to create the outcomes you desire.
Visit storied Ghost Ranch, where O’Keeffe also had a home. This sprawling former Dude Ranch is now a Presbyterian Church-run conference and retreat center. Hike one of the many nature trails with stunning vistas of the desert landscape. In this serene sanctuary, still your mind, calm your heart, and refine your ability to be fully Present in every moment.
Lunch at Abiquiu Inn.
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Ancestral Pueblo people carved dwellings and petroglyphs into the cliffs, and their handiwork persists today. View ancient petroglyphs (carved drawings) and the rarer pictographs (painted drawings) in this 33,000-acre preserve with a rich natural ecosystem. Connect with your Native American roots.
Drive to Santa Fe, the colorful capital of New Mexico. Dinner in Santa Fe. Overnight at the Old Santa Fe Inn.
Breakfast at hotel. Check-out.
Free time to shop and visit Santa Fe’s world-class museums, including the Museum of American Folk Art and Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, featuring a host of Native American archeological, ethnographic, and fine arts objects, along with rare artifacts from excavated sites across New Mexico.
Nestled in the majestic Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the southern Rockies, Santa Fe is the oldest—and, at 7,000 feet, highest—U.S. capital city, founded by the Spanish in 1619. This stunning high-desert city has long attracted artists captivated by its natural beauty. Among the notables who flocked here were painters Georgia O’Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and John Sloan; photographer Ansel Adams; and novelist D.H. Lawrence.
“The moment I saw the brilliant, proud morning shine high up over the deserts of Santa Fe, something stood still in my soul, and I started to attend ... and the old world gave way to a new,” wrote Lawrence in 1931.
First inhabited by the Pueblo Indians centuries ago, Santa Fe boasts an ongoing cultural tradition as multi-faceted as its Native American, Spanish, and Anglo roots. Also known as The City Different, it ranks consistently as one of the top travel destinations in the U.S and claims the country’s third largest art market.
The intimate scale of Santa Fe—with its old winding streets, hidden courtyards, adobe-style architecture, and beautifully preserved historic landmarks—makes it ideal for exploring by foot.
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Browse the shops surrounding the Plaza for Native American pottery and baskets, boldly colored Navajo blankets, Hopi kachina dolls, and Spanish colonial-inspired folk art called santos and bultos—painted and wood-carved representations of saints.
For a taste of New Mexico’s art history, visit the nearby New Mexico Museum of Art, a masterpiece of Pueblo Revival architecture, to admire a top-notch collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and European art, with an emphasis on artists working in the Southwest.
The light-infused New Mexican landscapes and portraits of Native Americans by early Santa Fe artists Gustave Baumann and Will Shuster, and Ernest Blumenschein and Victor Higgins, who settled in nearby Taos, are reminders of the art colonies that flourished in northern New Mexico in the early 1900s.
A must-see stop on the Santa Fe art circuit is the nearby Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, showcasing the iconic art of the early twentieth-century painter who immortalized the New Mexico landscape. In the summer of 1929, O’Keeffe made the first of many trips from New York City to northern New Mexico. The southwestern landscape and culture inspired a significant shift in her art as she experimented with new colors, forms, and compositions.
Drive to Chaco Culture National Park for a tour with a guide followed by time on our own for the rest of the day.
Chaco Canyon served as a major center of ancestral Puebloan culture. The ancestors of the Pueblo people are known as the Anasazi: a Navajo word that means "the ancient ones."
Remarkable for its monumental buildings, distinctive architecture, astronomy, and artistic achievements, Chaco Canyon served as a hub of ceremony, trade, and administration for the Four Corners Area— unlike anything before or since.
The Anasazi left behind evidence as to the extent of their advanced culture. Without the use of the wheel, they laid hundreds of miles of roads. Their innovations in managing water sustained an agrarian lifestyle.
Dinner in Farmington. Overnight at Best Western Hotel Plus The Four Corners Inn.
Morning drive to Zuni Pueblo, located in a scenic valley surrounded by enchanting mesas. The Zuni are known for their high-quality silver and turquoise jewelry, baskets, beadwork, animal fetishes, and pottery.
We will take a guided tour of the historic Middle Village, considered the oldest part of Zuni Pueblo. Like other Pueblo Indians, the Zuni traditionally built large houses with several stories using blocks of sunbaked clay, called adobe. The Zuni grew corn, squash, beans, and sunflowers.
Spanish explorers first encountered Zuni Pueblo in 1540 during their search for the legendary Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola. Instead of gold, however, there was an abundance of precious turquoise and silver at the pueblo. A tribal count places Zuni's population at more than 10,000, making it one of New Mexico’s most populated pueblos.
Visit with the Zuni people. Shops within the community sell Native American arts and crafts, including Zuni creations. Lunch at Zuni Pueblo.
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Afternoon drive to Acoma Pueblo, south of Albuquerque. Perched on a 357-foot-tall mesa and called the Sky City, Acoma is the oldest continuously inhabited city in North America.
Walking tour of Acoma with a Pueblo guide.
The pueblo's lofty, isolated location made it virtually impenetrable throughout the precontact period, which allowed the village and its people to flourish and develop distinct cultural traditions, many of which the Acoma community still honors today.
Acoma remains a rich mix of cultures-Native Pueblo, Spanish, and Anglo. The Acoma people have continued their traditional festivals, sacred ceremonies, and pottery-making. Acoma oral history tells of an ancient city called the "place that always was." Legend says the Acoma people have lived on the mesa forever, though archeological evidence places the pueblo's origins at 1,100 CE.
Farewell Dinner in Albuquerque. Overnight Hilton Garden Inn Albuquerque Airport hotel, with free shuttle service to the airport.
Taos
Surrounded by waterfalls, ponds, and towering cottonwood trees against the backdrop of the Sangre de Christo Mountains, this serene, luxury resort/spa is noted for its outstanding design features.
Santa Fe
This cozy hotel, within walking distance from the historic Plaza brimming with shops, galleries, and museums, encompasses the Southwestern charm and culture-rich essence of “The City Different.”
Farmington
Located in the San Juan River Valley, this hotel is our best choice for easy access to Chaco Canyon National Historic Park.
Albuquerque Airport
Dana’s latest book, the novel The Third Muse, is a metaphysical, time-travel mystery set in the international art world that celebrates the divine feminine wisdom of the Magdalene Order and the healing power of love.
Her spiritual travel memoir Sojourns of the Soul: One Woman’s Journey around the World and into Her Truth—a gold winner in the 2013 Nautilus Book Awards—was inspired by her travels to many of the world’s most sacred sites. Both books offer a heart-centered message for our time.
Dana has also enjoyed a decades-long career as a widely published journalist writing about culture, travel, and spirituality for The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Town & Country, Spirituality & Health, and many other well-known publications.
Dana’s work carries a multidimensional healing vibration that ignites deep shifts in consciousness, expanded awareness, and recognition of your soul’s purpose. With grounded clarity and compassion, she assists you in accelerating a fearless journey toward wholeness, joy, and fulfillment.
Based in Taos, New Mexico, after many years in New York City, she continues to travel widely in sacred service as an ambassador of the New Earth consciousness.
Sessions include Shamanic Soul Retrievals and Extractions, Reconnective Healing and The Reconnection, Spiritual Counseling.
For more details, visit DanaMicucci.com
Contact Dana directly to set up an appointment:
Email Dana or call 575-758-8504
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C.N.
"Dana presented a lot of in-depth spirit-ual wisdom in an easy-to-understand, accessible way that was also fun. I found it incredibly interesting, and it was great to be in such a supportive environment surrounded by the beauty of New Mexico. It was a wonderful, perfect retreat and I thoroughly enjoyed every magical moment!"
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La N.
PA
"The retreat was just astounding and a gentle way to open my heart, spirit and mind to the lessons and paths that are so sublime and profound...I will forever be grateful for the NM awakening journey and rebirth that I experienced with Dana and each of our awesome group members!!!!"
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Betty S.
PA
"What an amazing workshop!!! I felt altered for days afterward. Thank you so much for sharing your insights and wisdom. I was captivated with your stories, tranced out with the exercises, and transformed as a result of being there. It was so interesting, please come back!!!"
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Leyla P.
NY
"Dana's workshop was a dynamic experience, rich with ancient knowledge, personal wisdom, and techniques to activate the energy centers in the body and awaken the consciousness. I enjoyed sharing this unique experience in a group setting with other individuals dedicated to growth under Dana's guidance. She is an engaging storyteller and a skilled facilitator for group learning. She creates a beautiful example of someone bravely stepping into a new age with the ancient teachings as the wind at her back on a journey of discovery."
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Martina C.
NM
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Cathy H.
CA
"Dana managed to achieve an exquisite balance of simplicity, profound depth of exploration, silence, laughter, and of course, Love. It takes a special teacher and Muse to inspire this in others."
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A. B.
CT
"Dana's workshop has brought an amazing transformation in my life. It has helped me to connect peacefully within, enlightened my senses, and encouraged me to manifest my deepest desires."
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Debi B.
"Your talk today was exceptional. Most of us have experienced some of what you described, but you are so incredibly articulate, and are able to express feelings and ideas beautifully. I am just in awe of what you have done, and feel so blessed that you have shared it all with us through your book and talks."
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Alison
NM
"Many thanks for the amazing and enlightening New Mexico retreat, the perfect background to contemplate and internalize the practices and message for this spiritual journey. I truly was touched in many dimensions as Dana's light and energy surrounded my entire being."
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Elizabeth B.
PA
Take an excursion to Ghost Ranch in the small town of Abiquiu, where Georgia O'Keefe lived and painted many of her masterpieces. Make a reservation for a guided visit, or explore the hiking trails and labyrinth.
On the drive to Albuquerque airport, take in the Turquoise Trail, stopping along the way to see the historic mining villages of Madrid and Cerrillos, now home to eclectic shops, galleries, and artist's studios.
There is nothing quite like the Land of Enchantment!
What's Included
✓ Contact with Native Americans, including Pueblo guides
✓ Accommodations
✓ Meals listed in italics in the itinerary
✓ Transportation to and from Albuquerque airport and throughout the retreat
✓ Entrance fees to sites
What's Not Included
✓ Beverages
✓ Tips
Retreat Fee
Single supplement $300
Space is limited.
Should this retreat need to be postponed due to world events beyond my control, including pandemic, epidemic, political unrest, civil strife, international travel restrictions, etc., you will be able to apply all monies paid to the newly rescheduled New Mexico retreat or to any of Dana's other events/services.