About Tree of Life Temple

About Tree of Life Temple

About Tree of Life Temple

We are an earth-centered 508c1a religious organization devoted to the divine union of body, mind, and spirit. Through sacred plant medicines, somatic embodiment, and Andean shamanic wisdom, we guide you back to the intelligence of your body and the Earth. Both hold the medicine you've been seeking.

Emeline and Sonia holding sacred ceremonial drums in a jungle stream

Welcome to our digital home, we are glad you’re here.

Emeline is a shamanic practitioner, somatic guide, and space holder for those ready to come into deeper relationship with their body, the Earth, and the truth of who they are. She brings to her work both an extensive background in science and a deep initiation into Earth-based wisdom, holding space in a way that is both deeply practical and genuinely transformational. Her practices are rooted in Q'ero Andean shamanism, the Rose Lineage, modern and traditional somatic methods, and the living teachings of the redwood forest she has called home during the years she has been doing this work.


Emeline's path to this work came through necessity. Unprocessed childhood trauma had manifested as severe anxiety, depression, and a profound disconnection from herself that conventional therapy and medicine couldn't resolve. It was through sacred plant medicines and somatic embodiment work that things finally began to shift, and the synergy between the two became the foundation of everything she now teaches.


Initiated as a Pampamessayoc in the Q'ero Andean shamanic lineage and trained as a priestess in the Venusian Temple Arts of the Rose Lineage, Emeline's work is also informed by an extensive background in science and biotech, including a PhD in Genetics and Neurodevelopment from Baylor College of Medicine. She founded Tree of Life Temple to offer others what had transformed her own life: a space where plant medicine and somatic embodiment work together to help you reconnect with the intelligence of your body and begin living from genuine presence rather than the patterns and stories of the past. It is her deepest belief that the wisdom each of us is seeking already lives within us. Her work is simply to help create the conditions for it to be heard.

Emeline is a shamanic practitioner, somatic guide, and space holder for those ready to come into deeper relationship with their body, the Earth, and the truth of who they are. She brings to her work both an extensive background in science and a deep initiation into Earth-based wisdom, holding space in a way that is both deeply practical and genuinely transformational. Her practices are rooted in Q'ero Andean shamanism, the Rose Lineage, modern and traditional somatic methods, and the living teachings of the redwood forest she has called home during the years she has been doing this work.


Emeline's path to this work came through necessity. Unprocessed childhood trauma had manifested as severe anxiety, depression, and a profound disconnection from herself that conventional therapy and medicine couldn't resolve. It was through sacred plant medicines and somatic embodiment work that things finally began to shift, and the synergy between the two became the foundation of everything she now teaches.


Initiated as a Pampamessayoc in the Q'ero Andean shamanic lineage and trained as a priestess in the Venusian Temple Arts of the Rose Lineage, Emeline's work is also informed by an extensive background in science and biotech, including a PhD in Genetics and Neurodevelopment from Baylor College of Medicine. She founded Tree of Life Temple to offer others what had transformed her own life: a space where plant medicine and somatic embodiment work together to help you reconnect with the intelligence of your body and begin living from genuine presence rather than the patterns and stories of the past. It is her deepest belief that the wisdom each of us is seeking already lives within us. Her work is simply to help create the conditions for it to be heard.

Emeline Crutcher, founder and shamanic guide of Tree of Life Temple, standing in jungle holding a rose

EMELINE CRUTCHER, PhD

Founder & Shamanic Guide

Emeline Crutcher, founder and shamanic guide of Tree of Life Temple, standing in jungle holding a rose

EMELINE CRUTCHER, PhD

Founder & Shamanic Guide

Emeline Crutcher, founder and shamanic guide of Tree of Life Temple, standing in jungle holding a rose

EMELINE CRUTCHER, PhD

Founder & Shamanic Guide

Sonia Marie Salas, somatic and entheogenic healing practitioner, embracing her horse Corona

SONIA MARIE SALAS

Co-founder & Shamanic Practitioner

Sonia Marie Salas, somatic and entheogenic healing practitioner, embracing her horse Corona

SONIA MARIE SALAS

Co-founder & Shamanic Practitioner

Sonia Marie Salas, somatic and entheogenic healing practitioner, embracing her horse Corona

SONIA MARIE SALAS

Co-founder & Shamanic Practitioner

Sonia embodies the essence of the creative mother, balancing loving softness with a graceful strength. As a shamanic practitioner, somatic guide, and ceremonial space holder, her powerful presence inspires and empowers others to step into their full potential, through vibrant authenticity and awakening to the deepest truth of the heart.

 

Sonia first came to plant medicine while seeking guidance through the grief and chaos that followed the end of a traumatic relationship. The medicine took her far deeper than that moment, revealing a deep pattern of attracting poor relationships. She began to see that this pattern was rooted in low self-worth, one that was both personal, carried from childhood, and ancestral, woven through her lineage.

 

Initiated as a Paqo in the Q'ero Andean shamanic lineage, Sonia has dedicated her life to living in right-relationship with herself, the Earth, and all of life. As a devotee of the Earth's living wisdom and the awakening of the Sacred Feminine, she brings the depth of her experience to her work as a guide and mentor. She weaves Somatic Embodiment, Feminine Mysteries, and Sacred Sexuality practices through the path of the Venusian Priestess. She’s a Biodynamic Breathwork practitioner and she holds space for others to meet all parts of themselves, shadow and light, with love and compassion, so that true transformation can take root.

 

Horse medicine is a core pillar of Sonia's work. Through dynamic partnerships with horses, she creates a playful and authentic space where the horse's natural groundedness mirrors our own vibration, allowing a deeper connection to felt sensations and emotional states. This work helps others access personal power, deepen self-trust, and cultivate a greater sense of self-love and safety.

 

Sonia is devoted to holding space with gentleness, strength, safety and kindness.  One of her deepest desires is to guide others into connecting to their authenticity and creating a life full of pleasure, love, play, abundance, and beauty. 

Sonia embodies the essence of the creative mother, balancing loving softness with a graceful strength. As a shamanic practitioner, somatic guide, and ceremonial space holder, her powerful presence inspires and empowers others to step into their full potential, through vibrant authenticity and awakening to the deepest truth of the heart.

 

Sonia first came to plant medicine while seeking guidance through the grief and chaos that followed the end of a traumatic relationship. The medicine took her far deeper than that moment, revealing a deep pattern of attracting poor relationships. She began to see that this pattern was rooted in low self-worth, one that was both personal, carried from childhood, and ancestral, woven through her lineage.

 

Initiated as a Paqo in the Q'ero Andean shamanic lineage, Sonia has dedicated her life to living in right-relationship with herself, the Earth, and all of life. As a devotee of the Earth's living wisdom and the awakening of the Sacred Feminine, she brings the depth of her experience to her work as a guide and mentor. She weaves Somatic Embodiment, Feminine Mysteries, and Sacred Sexuality practices through the path of the Venusian Priestess. She’s a Biodynamic Breathwork practitioner and she holds space for others to meet all parts of themselves, shadow and light, with love and compassion, so that true transformation can take root.

 

Horse medicine is a core pillar of Sonia's work. Through dynamic partnerships with horses, she creates a playful and authentic space where the horse's natural groundedness mirrors our own vibration, allowing a deeper connection to felt sensations and emotional states. This work helps others access personal power, deepen self-trust, and cultivate a greater sense of self-love and safety.

 

Sonia is devoted to holding space with gentleness, strength, safety and kindness.  One of her deepest desires is to guide others into connecting to their authenticity and creating a life full of pleasure, love, play, abundance, and beauty. 

Why Tree of Life Temple Exists

Tree of Life Temple was born from our own healing journey, and from witnessing what happens when plant medicine opens people profoundly but there is nothing in place to help the wisdom and magic of those experiences to become embodied. We built the container we wish had existed for us. One that honors both the expansiveness of the experience plant medicines gift us and the physicality of the body that is having the experience.

Two women in sacred ceremony outdoors surrounded by rose petals and ceremonial objects

Heaven on Earth Isn't a Fantasy

Heaven on Earth Isn't a Fantasy

We believe humanity living in harmony with the Earth and each other isn't some distant utopia, but our birthright. It begins with individuals coming into right relationship with themselves, and it ripples outward from there.

We believe humanity living in harmony with the Earth and each other isn't some distant utopia, but our birthright. It begins with individuals coming into right relationship with themselves, and it ripples outward from there.

Multiple hands reaching upward together in jungle setting

We're Building This Together

We're Building This Together

This isn't about following a guru or outsourcing your authority. This is about remembering the wisdom that already lives in your body, reclaiming your sovereignty, and joining a community of others who are doing the same so we can co-create the New Earth together.

This isn't about following a guru or outsourcing your authority. This is about remembering the wisdom that already lives in your body, reclaiming your sovereignty, and joining a community of others who are doing the same so we can co-create the New Earth together.

Person lying in surrender in dark water during plant medicine ceremony

Plant Medicine Needs Somatics

Plant Medicine Needs Somatics

The medicines open you to infinite possibilities. Somatic practices give you the grounded presence to actually shift how you experience reality. Without embodiment work, peak experiences fade. With it, transformation becomes permanent.

The medicines open you to infinite possibilities. Somatic practices give you the grounded presence to actually shift how you experience reality. Without embodiment work, peak experiences fade. With it, transformation becomes permanent.

Rooted in Ancient Wisdom, Devoted to Sovereignty

Rooted in Ancient Wisdom, Devoted to Sovereignty

Rooted in Ancient Wisdom, Devoted to Sovereignty

The lineages we've been initiated into have taught us how to be in right relationship with the earth, the body, and the living intelligence of the natural world. The Q'ero Andean shamanic path has deepened our connection to the land and the energies that move through it. The Rose lineage has guided us into the wisdom of the body and the mysteries of divine union. Together they shape how we hold space, the reverence we bring, the quality of presence we hold, and our knowing that we are in service to something much larger than ourselves. What gives life to our work is not credential or tradition alone, but the lived commitment to helping you remember that the medicine you've been seeking already lives within you. We are simply guides on the path home.

The lineages we've been initiated into have taught us how to be in right relationship with the earth, the body, and the living intelligence of the natural world. The Q'ero Andean shamanic path has deepened our connection to the land and the energies that move through it. The Rose lineage has guided us into the wisdom of the body and the mysteries of divine union. Together they shape how we hold space, the reverence we bring, the quality of presence we hold, and our knowing that we are in service to something much larger than ourselves. What gives life to our work is not credential or tradition alone, but the lived commitment to helping you remember that the medicine you've been seeking already lives within you. We are simply guides on the path home.

Emeline tending a sacred altar with flowers and offerings in the forest
Somatic practitioner performing healing bodywork in an outdoor ceremony space
Sonia standing with her horse Corona in a sunlit field

We Teach What We Live

We Teach What We Live

Neither of us arrived at this work seeking spiritual enlightenment. We came because life as we were living it was no longer sustainable. Through plant medicines, somatic practices, and years of devoted inner work, we've walked the path from disconnection and self abandonment to embodied sovereignty, and we continue to walk it daily. What we offer you isn't theory or borrowed teachings. It's lived experience, grounded clarity, and the kind of presence that only comes from doing your own work first. We hold space for your becoming because we've honored our own.

Wildflowers as ceremonial offering on a forest floor
Person with fern leaf shadows across their back in nature
Woman in peaceful surrender with eyes closed
Woman in red dress seated on river rocks in the jungle
Wildflowers as ceremonial offering on a forest floor
Person with fern leaf shadows across their back in nature
Woman in peaceful surrender with eyes closed
Woman in red dress seated on river rocks in the jungle

THE TEMPLE AWAITS

THE TEMPLE AWAITS

Step Into Sacred Ceremony

Our seasonal retreats are filling now. Limited to 10 participants per retreat, these containers offer the intimacy and devotion your transformation deserves.

Our seasonal retreats are filling now. Limited to 10 participants per retreat, these containers offer the intimacy and devotion your transformation deserves.