The Sacred Village

The Sacred Village is a soul-rooted exploration of spirituality, community, and expression through the eyes of storyteller and ceremonialist Mark A. Lewis. It’s more than a podcast— This project is about honouring that which is sacred. With reverence for Indigenous wisdom, the poetry of cinema, the subtle ache of trying to speak what feels unspeakable, and the raw truth of lived experience. Each piece returns to the tether point—the Sacred Village— a place for real talk, a space for stories, for teachings, for questions without answers—a place where we reconnect with what is soulful and true. It’s a place we return to when we get lost in the noise, when we need to remember why we’re here.

What you will find:

  • Reflections and conversations on spirituality, relationship, reconciliation, community-living and healing (transformation) while also honouring the realms of creativity, art and expression.

  • Stories from Mark’s own journey in partnership, fatherhood, creativity, and spiritual practice.

  • Discussions and musings on Indigenous teachings and ceremonial life (shared with permission and deep respect) and how this wisdom can be incorporated into our lives.

  • Honest dialogue around what it means to walk a good path in these times

“Even though there are negative aspects to it, the wild psyche can endure exile. It makes us yearn that much more to free our own true nature and causes us to long for a culture to match. (And) if she cannot find the culture that encourages her, then she usually decides to construct it herself. And that is good, for if she builds it, others will mysteriously arrive one day enthusiastically proclaiming that they have been looking for this all along."

-Clarissa Pinkola Estes (Women Who Run With Wolves)

My name is Mark. A partner. A father. A Ceremonialist. And story-teller. I am also a lover of community and discovering the spirit within all things.

This podcast grew out of a longing—one I think many of us carry—to return to a more sacred way of being. I’ve spent decades in the world of film and story, and nearly as long learning from Indigenous elders and spiritual teachers. Somewhere along the way, I began to understand that the real work isn’t out there—it’s within. In the internal village.

In Shipibo, “jema” (pron: hema) means village—but it also refers to an internal structure, an inner energetic ecosystem that exists within each of us. In a way, we each carry the energetics of rivers and forests and sky within - including all plants, the wildlife of the earth, the birds and the Angelic and Saintly Spirits of the sky (Carl Jung would call these archetypes).

The Sacred Village is my attempt to offer what I’ve been given. It’s a space to reflect on our soul’s path, grief, healing, identity, creativity as expression and the great mystery of Creation. It’s a way to give thanks. To remember. To offer truth, as I know it, back into the vast and beautiful soup of consciousness as individuals and as a collective.