WAKAN is a spiritually based, non-profit organization & shamanic studies community dedicated to the sacredness of life.

The word "Wakan" means "sacred" in the Lakotah language and "heart of the sky" in the Mayan language. The guidance to start Wakan came through Dr. Tom Pinkson on Christmas Eve, 1983. Since then, a community has grown together through seasonal retreats, pilgrimages to places of power, vision quests, sweat-lodges, workshops, shamanic practice groups, educational publications from Wakan Press, Drumming-Prayer Circles, and ceremonies honoring life passages (birth, coming of age, marriage, elderhood, and death).