John Kimmey Biography

John had an innate characteristic of a visionary/community developer. John’s family includes 13 offspring including 2 great grandsons. John is a practitioner and teacher of Hanmi Esoteric Buddhism.

Kimmey arrived in the Southwest in 1965 in Santa Fe. John and a group founded the American Church of God, a chapter of the Native American Church of North America. This chapter has been successfully active for the past 48 years assisting thousands on their own spiritual paths.

Graduating from the College of Santa Fe in 1967 as a certified elementary school teacher, John and another teacher founded the Santa Fe Community School in 1968. This was New Mexico’s first alternative school and swiftly became a model for numerous educational experiments.

In 1980-81 john was a tribal planner at taos Pueblo. In this position he conducted a survey of the adults of the Pueblo and that became an important planning instrument for years of future community development.

While still living in Santa Fe in the seventies John became acquainted with the elders of the Hopi village of Hotevilla, Arizona. he became a student and traveling companion of the late Hopi Prophet and village leader, David Monongye. At the elders’ request John came to live in Hotevilla to assist them in a communication effort which reached out to the United Nations and many other world leaders. While fulfilling their request, John also taught and created curriculum for the independent Hotevilla-Bacavi Community School.

While residing with the Hopis John was urged by the elders to return to Santa Fe and found an organization to collect and conserve native food crops of the Southwest. John founded Talavaya center, a non-profit educational and research center which established a community seedbank of over 600 varieties of native cultivars. In 1984 talavaya Center received the United Nations Environmental Programme Award for its successful efforts in the conservation of genetic diversity of important germplasm and the farming lore of the ancestral cultures of the Southwest.

In 1987 John returned to Taos to found and direct the Sustainable Native Agriculture Center (SNAC) in the Hispanic village of Arroyo Hono. These efforts, in two years time, created a community seed bank and grow out program for many gardeners and farmers in the valley. John completed his project by leaving over one thousand pounds of seed for the rural communities of Arroyo Hondo and Embudo, New Mexico.

John traveled extensively in the Northwest for several years, including southern British Columbia, Canada where he delivered to native bands numerous strains of native foodcrops of the Southwest. At that time he also delievered the wisdom of the Hopi Prophecies and conducted workshops. He also studied the skills and techniques of community facilitation and was called upon to facilitate for several Indian bands in British Columbia, as well as serving to facilitate cooperation between residents of the Colville community in making preparations for possible collapse of services associated with the Y2K crisis.

While in the Northwest Kimmey wrote a book, LIGHT ON THE RETURN PATH. This book has been described by some as the best overall synopsis of the pertinent aspects of the Hopi Prophecy and its associated instructions for this time.

In 1999 John was called to deliver the Hopi Prophecies in New Zealand. He traveled for three months, being initiated into 20 Maraes, or Maori tribal centers, where he was welcomed by the wisdom keepers.

In 2004 Kimmey moved to Hawaii where he learned Huna ceremonial practice and Buddhist healing practice. He presently continues healing and teaching in Santa Fe, NM.