“We tepahtiani healers are the current generation. And these are our elders, to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude and service, as we do to the ancestors who worked before them. Our commitment is to walk in their esteemed footsteps. Thanks to them, we continue this everlasting, important human work into the future.”
This ancient living tradition has been passed on, intact, from elder to apprentice since long before the conquistadors landed and the land now called Mexico was colonized by Europeans.
Our Elders
Don Lucio Campos Elizalde (1906-2005) was our lineage’s original Maestro and Caporal Mayor (ceremonial leader and teacher). He was a well-known and highly respected Weather Worker (Sp. granicero; Nahuatl quiapaquiz) and healer from the village of Nepopualco in Mexico.
In his early 20’s (circa 1936), Lucio was struck by lightning and slipped into a coma that lasted three years. During this time, his spirit traveled to the heavens where he was taught many things about people, the earth, healing, and the “beings who brought the rain, wind and clouds.” When he finally awoke, he was infused with a deep commitment to the living forces of Nature to serve his community in the time-honored Nahua lineage of Weather Work and healing. Lucio apprenticed to venerable weather worker don Felipe Garcia and dedicated his life to the work of this ancient line of quiapaquiz workers and healers. Throughout his life, weather work maestro don Lucio Campos de Elizalde benefited the many people who sought him out for his ceremonies, eloquent wisdom and transformative healing work.
Don Lucio’s Vision
While in his coma, don Lucio was given a prophetic vision in which he was shown that, far into the future, because people would no longer be performing weather gratitude ceremonies in their different lands, the weather would turn destructive with drought and storms. However, he was also shown that people with a soul-calling to be Weather Workers would be called to this tradition from the “four corners of the world.” These people would bring the Nahua Weather Work tradition and healing to the lands and people where they live to rekindle connection to divine weather forces and address the extremes of weather.
Several decades later, people from Mexico, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom arrived at don Lucio’s consultorio, having been mysteriously called to this path.
Don Lucio’s name for this group of dedicated Weather Workers was “el grupo precioso” – the precious group.
In the 90s, the first one to arrive was David Wiley from the United States. Guided by spirit, David traveled to the remote village of don Lucio who immediately recognized him as one of the workers from his prophetic vision. David was soon initiated as a Quiapaquiz, and after years of dedicated work, he became don Lucio’s olochtli huei amatlacuilo (group chief) to provide leadership and support of those who would come later. The Nahua path of service beyond the traditional villages had finally begun, and don Lucio’s vision was coming to fruition at long last.
Today, there are devoted Weather Workers of this lineage from around the world and el grupo precioso continues to grow as more and more people are called to this path.
Shortly before his death, after many years of guiding David in the practice of conducting ceremonies, traditional healing, counseling and confirming others to the work, don Lucio passed the responsibility of the lineage over to David.
To this day, don David Wiley continues to fulfill don Lucio’s sacred dream as the Maestro and Caporal Mayor of our Weather Work lineage.
The group of tepahtiani healers listed in this directory are a part of that vision.
In addition to their healing calling, the healers listed here also work with the forces of Weather for the benefit of the people of the land where they live.
