An account of an initiation into
ancient Andean spiritual traditions
during which we learn to tap into
and work with the natural energies
of the earth and the universe.
Hatun Karpay Initiation in Peru
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Musings on Amazonian & Andean Myths,
MAY 3, 2001
In May, 2001, I wrote the following email to several women, two of whom have been trained in the Eastern Cherokee shamanic tradition, and two of whom are healers with expanded powers of observation into the subtle vibratory aspects of our universe.
"I'm reading a fantastic book in which I'm getting a glimpse or two of the Peruvian Amazonian people's un-mind sets or minds un-set:"The Three Halves of Ino Moxo: Teachings of the Wizard of the Upper Amazon." by Cesar Calvo (in Spanish, 1979 - Engl transl by Kenneth Symington, 1995) Inner Traditions. ISBN: 0-89281-519-1 "Calvo is a poet and writes prose poetically. A wonderful book to read, if only for his descriptions of the Amazonian jungles. The story flows from the points of view exposed during an ayahuaskha journey - or 2 or 3 or - -
"At first it didn't make much sense to me, but allowing myself to go with the flow, I now perceive the interweavings of "past" and "future" interflowing, whirlpooling amongst, yet supporting, the "present." Simultaneously "there/here" and "not-there/here." Sprouting from the void back into the void; "ashes to ashes and dust to dust."
"Calvo's ayahuaskha experiences allowed him to observe/participate in ancient rituals and myths down through timeless time until all "new" experiences in his waking-state "now" are interwoven with the now-visible-to-him warp and weft of the fabric/theory of continuous creation!
"He didn't make the above claim - I DO!
"I've often wondered about the Andean/Amazonian myths, if they also, like so many other myths worldwide, support the ancient knowledge of continuous creation - as opposed to the Big Bang theory, which allows for only half, at best, of the creation process. And now I'm convinced that these Andean/Amazonian myths do inform us of the process of continuous creation - if only we have the eyes/ears to see/hear. If only we un-set our Western mind-set.
"What's left now is for me to again read LaViolette's book in which he explains what he has come to understand of the rest of the world's myths - but he didn't know anything about the South American indigenous myths."Paul LaViolette, "Beyond the Big Bang: Ancient Myth and the Science of Continuous Creation." Park Street Press (div of Inner Traditions International), 1995. ISBN: 0-89281-457-8 (hardcover) "Anyone who wants to do psychic archaeology at Machu Picchu will have her/his perceptive horizons greatly expanded by reading Calvo's book. (Unless the person is a shaman!) Yes, it does interweave some of the Andean myths, so it's applicable. It supplies different names for the names we know of certain "dieties" and gives a broader interpretation of the origins of the Andean-Amazonian people who became the ancestral descendants of these initiating spiritual forces. These descendants I call ancestral also, because they are the ancestors of the present-day Q'ero, Ashaninka, Yora (Amawaka), etc, nations.
"The languages of the Amazonian indigenous peoples are alive, flowing like liquid air into the wells of the sounds behind the "words" and emerging changed, and changing "reality" around them. Not static like English, Spanish and other modern Western languages.
"These Amazonian languages are power-sounds that affect the physical and non-physical worlds. Their icaros (songs) heal, bring and dispense information and can move/change the 3rd dimensional world and/or our perceptions of it. Like the sounds the ancient Andeans used to move the boulders to build their temples. All the Amazonian shamen know this is true about those temples, because they have shared knowledge of all things and un-things with all the Andean shamen during their journeys through the "air" - the astral realms.
"And so I leave you with a "koan" of sorts that popped into my head this morning. This must be pronounced aloud for its permutations to be heard/cognized:"What is the sound of eyestalking?" "Blessings from an expanded Flo who is flowing more freely through the fabric of our fascinating world"
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Shaman-Priests and Medicine Shamen
An email I wrote in response to a question from a reader about the difference between a shaman-priest and a medicine shaman:
"Hi, Joyce - as I understand it, a shaman is one who travels between the worlds or to other dimensions to learn whatever he/she needs to know to help the sick person or the whole village. A shaman may or may not have training in healing methods, athough a lot of them do.
"A medicine person, curandero/curandera, (they have different names, depending on the language of their people), is the healer - but also may be a shaman, traveling first to ascertain what it is that the sick person needs, then applying that along with the other healing modalities.
"The shamen-priests of the Andeans were those who "held the Light," did the power work, the initiations, the ceremonies, etc - even the astronomy/astrology to determine when the time arrived for the planting of certain crops. They communicated with the beings of the subtle energies, too.
"In the Andean tradition, the shamen-priests that Elizabeth met in the first half of her book were of the third level and still traded in fear-based rituals. Their perspective was from a base of fear.
"When people come to realize that a lot of their fears are senseless and are ready to drop them, then they're initiated into the 4th level. This is the level of the Hatun Karpay initiations.
"The 3rd level priests see the apus and nust'as as terrifying and demanding - much as the early Hebrews considered their god, Jehovah, to be a demanding and jealous god. A lot of the ceremonies at the 3rd level are to appease the various powerful "jealous" beings.
"But those at the 4th level can relate to the apus, etc, as being friendly, even loving, and can then work in cooperation with the power of those aspects of the subtle energies.
"In each tradition worldwide, there exist priests at the 3rd level of fear and the 4th level of cooperation. I feel, from my own experiences and those of others, that these subtle energy beings mirror to us what we need to further our spiritual growth. If we're still fear-based, then that's the mirror they hold up to us.
"In the Egyptian tradition, the goddess Sekhmet (lionness-headed) is seen by some as extremely jealous, ferocious, etc - but others see her as very loving. She represents the energies of transformation, change - which for those not ready to change can seem mighty fearful indeed.
"The Australian aborigines were not a fear-based people. They knew how to take care of their territory, by walking the "song lines" and singing, using the power of their voices and the chants/songs to help maintain the environment. These songs were their currency for passage into another tribe's territory. When a man desired to travel outside his tribe's territory, he went to the boundary and waited until one from the 2nd tribe came. They taught each other their songs. Thus, the first man could enter and help maintain the vibrations of the 2nd tribe's territory, while the 2nd man could then enter the territory of the 1st tribe.
"This is a tad off the original subject, but it's all related to energy work.
"When you finish reading my journal, you'll also find an annotated Bibliography that can keep you in reading material for a few years :-) I just wish I'd read a lot of those books before going to Peru. I'd have had a much better understanding. But all I had read was Elizabeth's book, and of course, that's almost a necessity."
"Blessings, Flo"
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Page Nineteen
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Index ~
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Rainbow Rock
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Travel Tips
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Links 2 ~
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19 - Musings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Florence W. Deems
© February, 1999;
revised May, 2002; November, 2002;
May, 2003; March, 2004; February, 2008;
September, 2008; July, 2010; July, 2012
March, 2014
August, 2016, all rights reserved
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