Irka Mateo — Akutu — is a Taíno elder, cultural and spiritual bearer, and ceremonialist rooted in the Taíno and Afro-Indigenous traditions of Kiskeya. Her life is shaped by ancestral lineage, decades of research, and a calling to renew Taíno spiritual memory in our time. For ten years, she served as the Taíno Lead Teacher at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in New York City. Her archival work in ceremonial music has been supported by the Grammy Foundation, preserved in the National General Archives of the Dominican Republic, and honored with Grammy album consideration.

Irka’s work moves through many channels — healing, ceremony, teachings, music, and ceramic art — each nourishing the other and carrying the voice and living memory of our ancestors. Her healing is guided by intuition and divination — an intimate dialogue with spirit . She offers shamanic divination, power animal retrieval, and pattern-breaking journeys to those called to explore their path of connection and restoration. Irka is currently welcome one-on-one clients to experience these practices in a personal, guided way.