Lawsuit: Shaman is said to have sexually abused woman at Galisteo retreat

May 18 – A woman who says she took an “energy medicine” training at a retreat center in Galisteo last year is suing the center and the company that ran the course, claiming she was from one “shamanic master” was sexually abused.

The woman – identified in the lawsuit only by the initials MG – says she paid $10,800 to the Four Winds Society and another $6,300 to the Chi Center, both of which are listed as defendants, before the March 2023 training .

The lawsuit, recently filed in state district court, says the Four Winds Society promoted the course as one that offered participants the opportunity to become a certified energy medicine practitioner with “an extraordinary life of health, purpose and inner leadership.”

Participants were told they could begin their own careers as master healers, the lawsuit says. It accuses the defendants of negligence, breach of contract and liability and seeks unspecified damages.

The Chi Center did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Four Winds did not respond to an email seeking comment Thursday, and a woman who answered a phone call Friday hung up when asked to comment on the lawsuit. No one responded to a subsequent call.

Four Winds’ Facebook page lists an address in Florida, but its website says the company is based in Chile and offers training in the United States, Germany and Chile.

The plaintiff’s attorney declined to comment.

The lawsuit says about 25 students, three teachers and a man said to be a “shamanic master of energy training” gathered at the Chi Center, a 150-acre retreat. Four Winds offered students individual healing sessions with the shamanic master for an additional $250 an hour, the lawsuit says, and encouraged them to attend the sessions to “further their own learning.”

The plaintiff says she arranged a session with the man and told him that she had been sexually abused as a child; According to the complaint, the man stated in Spanish that he understood something and then left the woman lying on one of the beds in his room.

It is alleged that he then used the healing session for “his own personal interests or gratification.”

The New Mexican is not naming the man accused of sexual assault because he is not accused of a crime. Several online sources identify him as a Peruvian healer and “wisdom keeper.”

At least two other women had a similar experience with the man, the lawsuit says.

The day after the plaintiff’s session, she and another student reported their experiences to a senior teacher, who told her, “What was done to her was not a standard part of the healing session.” He reported the incident to the owner of the Four Winds Society, Alberto Villodo. reported, the lawsuit says.

Reports from a criminal investigation into the incident by the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office indicate that the plaintiff may be from out of state. According to one report, she was unable to complete a sexual assault nurse examination because she “had left the state and was waiting to report the incident by telephone from California.”

A deputy spoke with the woman and a chi center employee but was unable to contact other alleged victims or the shamanic master, a report said.

The investigating officer wrote in his report that he learned through a law enforcement database that the shaman left the United States on March 17, 2023, flying from Houston to Panama.

The official wrote that he was placing the case on hold “until further information can be obtained.”

Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday that the criminal case was “challenging” because the accused shaman is from out of state. The sheriff’s office also had a difficult time contacting the victims to obtain the evidence needed to file charges, Mendoza said, adding the agency planned to try to reach them again.

“I hope we can re-establish contact with the victims and close this case,” he said.