About Maria Mandarino, MSEd, MSAc, Dip Ac (NCCAOM), LAc, BFCP, CSD
For more than 20 years I have been in service to others, supporting and guiding clients on the journey of health and wholeness.
I began my own spiritual journey in 1996 with the unexpected loss of a childhood friend. One year after that, I faced my own mortality when I was in a multi-car accident caused by a drunk driver, only days after losing my grandmother.
In the years that followed I learned to navigate chronic pain and ultimately found my way back to wholeness in body, mind, and spirit through holistic medicine. I became a licensed massage therapist, a Reiki Master Teacher, and a craniosacral therapist. I studied T’ai Chi and Qi Gong. I was introduced to Zen meditation and yoga. I studied Myofascial Release with John Barnes and still specialize in that work. Some years later I obtained my master’s degree in acupuncture and I integrate that work with somatic bodywork.
Some years after obtaining my acupuncture degree, while living in Denver, I was asked by a friend to consider becoming a spiritual director. I spent the next two years at Benet Hill Monastery studying the ancient art of spiritual direction and Benedictine spirituality. It was at Benet Hill where I was first introduced to the Enneagram. I have since gone on to complete my studies in the Enneagram with The Narrative Enneagram and became a certified Enneagram Practitioner.
My experience with the Enneagram deepened my love for sacred geometry and pattern-based wisdom traditions. But it the 2020 pandemic that awakened my passion for mythology, which I’ve had since childhood. Trying to find order and the expression of the Divine in a time of superb chaos, I became a serious student of astrology, formalizing my training in modern astrology first with Steve Judd and then in Hellenistic astrology with Adam Elenbaas.
As an Enneagram 5w6 with a Virgo Sun, Scorpio Moon, and Capricorn ascendant, I weave ancient wisdom and modern insight to guide my clients toward clarity, growth, and greater self-understanding.
Originally from Long Island, New York, I have also lived in Denver and now make my home in the Phoenix Valley.