I woke this morning from a really deep sleep, images from dreamtime are just out of my conscious mind’s grasp. Perhaps they will surface later on today. After breakfast, we gather at 8:30 to drive to Ollantaytambo — The Temple of the Winds — where we will hold ceremony. Enroute to Ollantaytambo, we learn that Inka Pachacutec conquered and began to rebuild the town of Ollantaytambo in the 15th century. He constructed agricultural terracing and an irrigation system. The terraces make up what is referred to at the Fortress or Temple Hill. The town became home to Inka nobility. |
Very faintly on one of the monolith stones is the inscribing of the Southern Cross motif, which describes the universal cosmology — Tiwantinesuyu — of Andean people. This four-fold map of consciousness is based upon four organizing principles:
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- Yanantin/Masintin — complementary opposites; mediate duality; ayni
- Three-partite Universe —
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- Movement of the Sun --
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As a side-note, he tells us that the Chavin (Jaguar) civilization, which arose north of Lima, were like the Tiwanacan people in that they also were builders of pyramids. There are remnants of the Chavin culture at Ollantaytambo. Jaguar represents the Kaypacha — Middle World: visible awareness.
The Inka cosmology speaks of four ages or epochs thus far, and that a fifth is beginning to emerge. They are:
- 1st Age Giants — pre-earthly beings that built the monolithic stone structures around Lake Titicaca, and later the Serpent people who built pyramids along the coastal areas of Peru
- 2nd Age Nelpa -Kuna—humans
- 3rd Age Wiracocha — great masters of high intelligence; messiah-like figures that are found in many cultural myths (e.g. Atlantis, Lemuria, etc.) The Moshe people (Lord of Sipan) held that a messiah-like being named Nilamp, like Wiracocha, taught them about civilization.
- 4th Age [Current epoch] Warriors; conflict and war
- 5th Age Taripay Pacha “Time when we will meet our [essential] selves again.”
- 1st World Phu Runa or Stone People — remember Creation; it is within this domain that medicine stones (kuyas) are connected;
- 2nd World Sacha Runa or Plant Spirits — this domain includes sacred plants such tobacco, San Pedro and Ayahuasca — it is within this World that shaman who work with plant spirits interact;
- 3rd World Uywa Runa or Animal Kingdom;
- 4th World Runa Kuna or Humans/Dolphins, Whales, Dogs and Frogs;
- 5th World Taripay Pacha or Next Stage of Consciousness — the time when we meet our transpersonal self; also realm of spirit guides and angels;
- 6th World Christ, Buddha and Ascended Masters — not known to any living human yet;
- 7th World Wiracocha — creation itself
The Inka created a very complex and highly organized “socialist” state whereby each 18 year old man was given the equivalent of 1.3 acres of land to cultivate. Upon marriage, the man would be given an additional acre of land — with the responsibility to create a child. The Inka learned to cultivate 4,00 or more varieties of potatoes and amaranth, the latter having the highest concentration of vitamins and minerals than any other crop.
They also developed a non-aggressive method of conquering other peoples (nitimays) by gifting one of the Virgins of the Sun to the conquered ruler and inviting that person to serve on a council of sorts.
As we walk around the site, we learn that Inka buildings have a 5-7.5% inward incline, which keeps them from collapsing in earthquakes. The stones also have interlocking “keys” that hold them in place without mortar, which also lowers their center of gravity. They learned to use a layering system of river stones, gravel and sand below the large stone foundations they erected, which shift when the earth moves allowing for building not to fall down.
Pointing beyond the military area at Ollantaytambo is the Temple of the Wind, Jose Luis tells us that this is a place of growth for shaman — a place where two major vortex, intersection of ceke lines. There are four niches that shaman stand within representing the four directions: |
- East (Collya Wyra) — reset; transform, heal, envision;
- West (Chinchay Wyra) — stepping from one pacha to another, elegantly in a way that you can “grow corn”;
- North (Anti Wyra) — wakening to the mystery; revelation; through breath of mentors and the power of mesa. when we have a hold on our personal cosmology, we can awaken to the fullness of the Universe;
- South (Konti Wyra) — these are the winds of Pachamama that feed us with inspiration, belonging, homecoming (heart, allyu or community, family).
Next, we head back down the steps towards the entrance to the site. Off to the side is an area I have not previously visited on trips to Ollantaytambo. Moving to the Pachamama Stone, Jose Luis tells us, that this stone replicates the contours of the surrounding mountains to access that apu’s power here. Many sacred sites in this area have representations of Cuzco and Wyna Kauri, a sacred mountain that all regional shaman visit once in their lifetime. |
- Ollantaytambo was known as Pacaraktambo — “dawning place of tomorrow.” Andean mythology holds that this is the birthplace of the first Inka. And though Lake Titicaca is the primary paqarina (place of emergence; source of pure illya), another important one is here at Ollantaytambo.
- Whenever we are in ayni with “life,” we are in apuchine (condor consciousness) that allows us to "see" the story of life in all things.
- There are two spiritual lineages Andean shaman — pampamesayoq (source primarily from Pachamama (earth energies) and altomesayoq (source primarily from mountain spirits or apus). The latter lineage receives their Rites of Passage at Ausangate and Salkantay, the holiest of masculine and feminine mountains, respectively.
- The Inka knew earth (Pachamama) as a “round” sphere floating in the cosmos, and our source for nurturing and sustaining life. As such, Pachamama is considered feminine and is also represented in the heavens as the great Milky Way. Her counterpart is Wiracocha, creator of all that is seen and unseen, responsible for the cosmic dance of the earth and solar system, as well as the connectivity (web) of life. Wiracocha is depicted as an “elliptical” shape.
- Ceremony, is considered a primary (kollana) engagement, and conducted around sound (rattle, whistling, breath, ikaro or medicine song), These sounds re-enact or mimic the wind by calling on apu spirits (winged mountain spirits). Shaman believe that sound carries more information than sight (visuals), which is why an Andean shaman will ask a person to blow into a kuya, so they can hear and discern the state of vibrancy that will open their heart. Sound transmits kausay (energy) of Pachamama. Similarly, the Moshe people used whistling vessels that were filled with chicha (corn beer) and attuned to various healing frequencies. They also built the largest adobe complex in the world with sound chambers where one can hear the ocean 35 miles away.
Next, our attention is turned to the gravity-fed aquaduct system beside where we are sitting. This water system, we are told, feeds into ritual baths. After being reminded that illya, the purest form of energy, is found in water, Jose Luis poses a question: “How do we engage in the activity of living; who are we Becoming?” He reminds us, too, that there are four functions to live by:
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Standing in front of the Nuest’a Sacred Bath, we are instructed to open our three energy centers — llankay (belly), munay (heart) and yachay (third eye), and bring some of this sacred water into each center, while deeply breathing in this essential (kollana) expression of illya. When we are done, we close each energy center. My body tingles from both the coldness of the water and a sense that these molecules are merging and purifying my own. By the time I come back into normal consciousness, everyone is moving towards the site’s exit. Feeling peckish, thankfully it is time to drive back to Urubamba for a buffet lunch at the Hotel San Agustin. |
So, with a very full and satiated belly, I wait outside in the sunshine for my coca leaf reading with Adrille. Among the many things he tells me are: I will have contact with apus; though I want to do many things, I must be selective; my husband has problems with his belly energy center — have him see a doctor; I will resolve my health problem; I need to acquire more experience, which will be important for a book I will write; keep doing healing work for others; be constant in your own embodiment of this work; don’t doubt my ability to heal or help others heal; my life will be filled with abundance; be careful before coming back to Peru with another, who may not be physically healthy; angels (apus) want to work with me.
Dinner is back at Hotel San Agustin in Urubamba. Afterwards, we head to St. Peter Apostle Catholic Mission, where we participate in a Pachamama and Apu despacho ceremony for ourselves, our families, and Don Manuel. It is a beautiful despacho — half constructed using red flowers (Pachamama) and half using white ones (Apu).
Afterwards, we are told that this medicine tradition honors and feeds Pachamama on August 1, when the new pacha (annual cycle) begins. At this time, we also need to ask for her protection and abundance. Then, Adrille did a coca leaf reading on how best we should honor Mother Earth. He tells us to do kaypay to create stronger resonance: right-relationship: ayni.