I AM MARIA HASWELL
Filipina mystic. Healer. Ceremony holder. Born in the Philippines, raised Catholic in California, and called — from childhood — to something older and deeper than any single tradition could hold.
I WAS BORN KNOWING
I grew up in the Philippines, and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at age 7. From the beginning, I heard voices and sensed presences that no one around me could explain. Unfortunately, I was told I was wrong. So, I learned to be quiet about it. For years, I pushed those gifts down and lived the life that was expected of me.
Then in 1996, I lost my father suddenly. That loss cracked something open. In the grief, I found I could reach him and communicate with him — and others. The door I had kept shut for so long swung open, and I walked through it.
That was the beginning of thirty years of seeking. Not in one place or one tradition, but across many. Sitting with spiritual elders, healers, mediums, psychics, and indigenous teachers who each handed me a piece of something larger.
MY TRAINING
In 2011, I traveled to Peru and trained with three Q'ero elders in the Andes — the people who carry one of the oldest unbroken healing lineages in the Americas. I also studied with a mystic shaman in Bolivia. Those teachings changed how I understand energy, the earth, and the relationship between the living and the unseen.
In 2020 and again in 2023, I returned to the Philippines — my motherland — to reconnect with the land I was born into and to learn from its healers. I sat with indigenous practitioners, studied babaylan healing traditions, and learned sacred practices like Suob and Tawas that have been passed down through generations of Filipino healers.
I do not practice as a Q'ero paqo or claim the babaylan title. What I carry is my own — an integrated practice shaped by these teachers, these traditions, and thirty years of working with real people at real turning points in their lives.
WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE
Your body and soul hold more information than your mind can access. Your ancestors are not gone — they are present, available, and invested in your healing. The answers you're looking for are not 'out there' somewhere. They are already inside you, waiting for the right conditions to surface.
My work is to create the conditions for you to access this wisdom. Through tarot, energy healing, ceremony, and sacred practices rooted in Filipino and Andean tradition — and drawing on thirty years of training across many healing modalities — I help you hear what's already speaking to you, and act on what you find.
As the founder of Kapwa Wellness, I also show up every week as a teacher and community holder. Every Thursday, I lead Spiritual Circle — a weekly gathering where students develop and deepen their own intuitive gifts. Every Wednesday and Friday, I offer Sound Healing & Meditation — and on the first Wednesday and Friday of every month, I hold Healing Night: an evening of sound healing where each attendant receives individual healing from me personally. Because healing is not just something that happens to you in a session. It is a capacity that lives in you — and can be cultivated.
WHY KAPWA?
In Filipino, kapwa means 'fellow humans' — indicating a shared identity that recognizes we are all walking this life together. It is the understanding that your humanity and mine are not separate. That we are, at the most fundamental level, in this together.
I named my wellness center Kapwa Wellness because this word captures everything I believe about the space I've created. When you walk through our door, you are not a client coming to be fixed. You are a fellow human bringing your full story — your ancestors, your gifts, your questions, your wounds — and together we do the work.
Kapwa is also my homecoming. It is a Filipino word, rooted in the culture I was born into and spent decades finding my way back to. It reminds me every day why this center exists.
Q'ero elders, Cuzco
Trained in Andean healing with three Q'ero elders in the Andes. 2011 - Present
Babaylan & Indigenous Healing
Studied with indigenous healers rooted in Babaylan tradition in the Philippines. 2020 & 2023.
Mumbaki elder
Ifugao · northern Luzon, Philippines
A fellow Paqo whose teachings continue to inspire through story
and wisdom. 2019 - Present
Rainbow Mystic
Mystic elder · Bolivia · 2011
Gifted me ancient meteorite stones from a healing lineage that spans hundreds of generations.
Certified Hypnotherapist
Past life regression and personalized guided meditation sessions. 2007
Mama Ayahuasca
Santo Daime lineage · 10 years
Worked as a guardian holding space for ceremony and assisting with energetic clearing — honoring the plant medicine as my teacher. 2016 - Present
Ordained Interfaith Minister
Doctorate of Metaphysics, ULC. Registered in California. Performs weddings in 50 states. 2008 - Present
30+ years across many traditions
Trained across many healing traditions and modalities — all integrated into my own practice.
1996 - Present