The
Source of the Rites of the Munay-Ki
Rites
of passage and initiation have been practiced for millennia by all peoples in
the Earth. The rites of the Munay-Ki are based on initiatory practices of the
Inka and pre-Inka shamans of the Andes and the Amazon. They are presented the
way that I learned them from my mentors, stripped of all trace of the cultures
they come from. I did this to respect the native traditions, and to avoid the
idea that persons from the West can become traditional shamans or Indians. I
offer these rites with full permission from my teacher, don Manuel Quispe, who
was the last great medicine man of the Q’ero Inka nation. Any fault or flaw in
their presentation is exclusively my own.
The
Seers rite is practiced in many different forms among the North Coast peoples of
Peru, (the descendants of the Chimu and Moche cultures), and by the seers and
trackers of the Amazon.
The
Harmony Rite comes from the lowland Q’ero, the Huachipayre people from the
edge of the Amazon. I learned it from don Alejandro Cahuanchi, a renowned
healer.
The
Bands of Power were transmitted by Juan Victor Nuñez del Prado, a friend and
colleague, whose father was one of the original discoverers of the Q’ero
nation.
The
Healers Rite is known as the Hampe blessing and comes from the highland Q’ero
people.
The
Daykeepers Rite is known among the Q’ero as the Pampamesayok, referring to the
lowlands and valleys of the ‘pampa’, and to the mesa or altar.
The
Wisdomkeepers Rite is known among the Q’ero as the Altomesayok rite, referring
to the high mountains of the Andes. Don Manuel Quispe was the last great
Altomesayok of Q’ero.
The
Earthkeepers Rite is known among the Q’ero as the Kurak Akuyek rite, referring
to the elder who ‘masticates’ the wisdom to nurture the young ones who
follow.
The
Starkeepers Rite is known as the Mosoq Karpay, which means the ‘new rite’ in
the Qechua language. This rite announces and prepares one for the ‘time to
come.’ The structure of Inka cosmology goes from the Earth (Pachamama) to the
Mountains (Apu) to the Stars.
The
Creator Rites are known as the Taitanchis rite. The word Taitanchis literally
translates as ‘God.’
These
rites are not only stages of initiation, but perhaps steps for the evolution of
humanity. As nations fight for bits of territory and battle over land, we must
find the wisdom to create peace among all peoples. As our space telescopes show
us images of a vast and immeasurable Universe, we must find a human story that
is inclusive of the stars. And as our ability to destroy the world increases, we
are called to step up to the task of assuming stewardship for all creation.
In
essence, the rites are about stewardship. They are not ego-awards or recognition
of any kind of achievement, nor do they make anyone special. On the contrary,
they make one uniquely unimportant. Only then, from a position of no-ego, can we
truly be of service.
During
their visits to the USA, the Inka pointed out that the rites were not for us
individually, they were for others, to be shared. It has been my experience that
they do not blossom unless we give them away with great munay, with love.
In
Munay
Alberto
Villoldo PhD
March 2007
The
Luminous Energy Field
We
all posses a Luminous Energy Field that surrounds our physical body and informs
our body in the same way that the energy fields of a magnet organize iron
filings on a piece of glass. Our Luminous Energy Field has existed since before
the beginning of time. It was one with the unmanifest light of Creation, and it
will endure throughout infinity. It dwells outside of time but manifests in time
by creating new physical bodies lifetime after lifetime.
Imagine
you are enveloped in a translucent, multicolored orb pulsing with blues, greens,
magentas, and yellows, enfolding you to the width of your outstretched arms.
Just above your skin, streams of golden light shimmer and flow through the
acupuncture meridians. Between your skin and the membrane of the Luminous Energy
Field swirl resplendent currents that fuse into whirlpools of light. This
reservoir of vital force is a sea of living energy as indispensable to our
health as the oxygen and nutrients carried by the bloodstream. They are the
energies of the Luminous Energy Field, the purest and most precious fuel for
life. When the vital reserves in the Luminous Energy Field are depleted through
illness, environmental pollutants, or stress, we suffer disease. We can ensure
our health and vitality and extend our active, healthy years by replenishing
this essential fuel.
Indian
and Tibetan mystics who documented the existence of the Luminous Energy Field
thousands of years ago described it as an aura or halo around the physical body.
At first it seemed odd to find the same concept of a human energy field among
the jungle and mountain shamans in the Americas. Once I grasped the universality
of the human energy field, however, I understood that every culture must have
discovered it. In the East, mandalas depict the Buddha enveloped by blue and
gold bands of fire. In the West, Christ and the Apostles are shown with luminous
halos around them. In the mystical literature, the Apostle Thomas is said to
have gloved with the same radiance as Christ. Native American legends speak of
persons who shimmered in the night as if lit by an inner fire. The Andean
storytellers recall the ruler Pachacutek, considered to be a Child of the Sun,
who sparkled with the light of the dawn.
Every
living thing on Earth is composed of light. Plants absorb light directly from
the sun and turn it into life, and animals eat green plants that feed on light,
so that light is the fundamental building block of life. We are light bound into
living matter. Every living thing around us is made of light, bound and packaged
in different forms and vibration. Physicists studying subatomic particles know
that when you look deeply enough into the heart of matter, you find the entire
universe is made up of vibration and light.
Chakras:
The Anatomy of the Soul
The
Luminous Energy Field contains an archive of all of our personal and ancestral
memories, of all early-life trauma, and even of painful wounds from former
lifetimes. These records or imprints are stored in full color and intensity of
emotion. Imprints are like dormant computer programs that when activated compel
us toward behaviors, relationships, accidents, and illnesses that parody the
initial wounding. Our personal history indeed repeats itself. Imprints of
physical trauma are stored in the outermost layer of the Luminous Energy Field.
Emotional imprints are stored in the second layer, soul imprints in the third,
and spiritual imprints in the fourth and deepest layer. Imprints in the Luminous
Energy Field predispose us to follow certain pathways in life. They orchestrate
the incidents, experiences, and people we attract to ourselves. Imprints propel
us to re-create painful dramas and heartbreaking encounters, yet ultimately
guide us toward situations wherein we can heal our ancient soul wounds.
The
Luminous Energy Field contains a template of how we live, how we age, how we
heal, and how we might die. When there is no imprint for disease in the Luminous
Energy Field, recovery from an illness happens at tremendous speed. By the same
token, imprints for diseases can depress the immune system, and it can take an
extremely long time for us to regain our health during an illness. None of us
wants to spend months convalescing when we could have recovered in a matter of
days or weeks. When we erase the negative imprint that caused the onset of
illness, the immune system can rapidly eradicate the disease.
In
the outermost layer of the Luminous Energy Field is the membrane or “skin”
of the luminous body. This membrane serves as a defensive cocoon in the same way
the skin is the protective membrane of the body. The imprints of physical trauma
and disease are etched onto this membrane like designs cut into glass.
IMPRINTS
OF HEALTH AND DISEASE
Imprints
are formed when the negative emotions that accompany trauma are not healed.
Imprints
in the Luminous Energy Field can arrange strange and apparently unrelated events
in the outside world. They can orchestrate our meeting love partners who all
have the same toxic personality traits. They can strand us in the oddest places
to come upon someone we are destined to meet; they can program us to be in the
vehicle hit by oncoming traffic or in the one that just missed the accident.
The
healer is interested in draining the toxic emotional energy around an imprint
and then erasing the imprint itself. The first stages of the Healing the Light
Body training consists of a deep clearing or “scouring” of our Luminous
Energy Field. The student no longer identifies with her personal history. Thus
the Navajo medicine woman is able to say, “the mountain am I, the rivers am
I” Healers may have suffered loss, hunger, pain, and abuse, but they
understand that above all they are travelers on a great journey through infinity.
This
is the goal of healing through the Illumination Process. I am not very
interested in working within my client’s stories, the way the psychotherapist
is. I am interested in assisting clients to realize that they are not their
stories, not actors in a script written by their mother or father or by the
culture or time they happen to be living in, but storytellers. To do this I have
to access the underlying imprint in the Luminous Energy Field.
THE
ANATOMY OF CHAKRAS
Regardless
of where they were born, everyone has a skeleton with the exact same number of
bones. In the same way, we all share the same luminous anatomy, which includes
the chakras and the acupuncture meridians. The chakras are swirling disks of
energy. The word chakra means “wheel” in Sanskrit. They spin three to four
inches outside the body and link to our spine and central nervous system. The
chakras are a direct pipeline to the human neural network. They rotate clockwise,
in the same direction that the spiral arms of the galaxy revolve. Each chakra
has a unique frequency that we perceive is one of the seven colors of the
rainbow. The chakras in a newborn child display their pure color, from red in
the first chakra to violet in the seventh. As we grow older the color in our
chakras becomes dull. The trauma and loss in our lives leave their toxic
residues behind. The sludge that adheres to a chakra does not permit it to
vibrate at its pure frequency, and physical aging is accelerated. When a shaman
completes her healing process her chakras become clear. They spin freely and
vibrate with their original purity again.
The
Amazon shamans believe that when you clear all your chakras you acquire a
“rainbow body.” Each center vibrates at its natural frequency, and you
radiate the seven colors of the rainbow. According to legend, when you acquire
the rainbow body you can make the journey beyond death to the Spirit world. You
are able to assist others in their healing, and you can die consciously since
you already know the way back home. The jungle shamans believe death is a great
predator that stalks each and every one of us. They say that many illnesses are
caused by the death that festers within us. These medicine people believe that
death (or lifelessness, as I prefer to think of it) claims us little by little,
until one day we realize that we are more dead than alive. I’ve seen it happen
to many persons, and I believe this condition is rampant in America today. When
your chakras are clear you are no longer stalked by death. You are claimed by
life, and therefore you can never by claimed again by death. The flag of the
Inka nation is the rainbow, which holds a very special place in their mythology.
You can see it flying over the rooftops of Cusco even today.
The
Earth Chakras
The
five lower chakras, from the root to the throat, are nourished primarily by the
Earth. Imagine a tree whose roots go deep into the ground. The nutrients it
draws from the Earth are carried up the trunk to the highest branches. The
sunlight it absorbs through the leaves is turned into energy that in turn is
transferred all the way to the roots. The four upper chakras are fed primarily
by the energies of the Sun, our star. The sky-god religions emphasize the
development of the upper chakras to the neglect of the lower. The sky-god
civilizations perfected technology, reason, and logic. The Earth-goddess
religions emphasize the lower chakras to the neglect of the upper ones. These
civilizations remained agrarian cultures with little interest in Western-style
progress while achieving advancement in astronomy, philosophy, and architecture
(the Chinese discovered gunpowder but used it only for fireworks; it took the
Europeans to use it for warfare). I believe that today we must develop the gifts
of both the Earth chakras and the sky chakras.
Like
the organs in the body, each chakra performs a unique function. The first and
second chakras digest emotional energies, churning them over to draw out
nutrients.
When
the first chakra is disconnected from the Earth, the lower centers are unable to
expel emotional wastes. There is no exit channel. These wastes turn into toxic
sludge that adheres to the walls of a chakra and slows its spinning. When sludge
builds in our second chakra (where the fight-or-flight response resides) we
interpret the world as hostile and aggressive. The solar plexus, heart, and
throat chakras (third, fourth, and fifth) are nurtured by the finer energies of
love, compassion, and empathy. They are not equipped to digest emotions of any
kind. (We get in trouble when we try to digest heavy emotions and feelings with
our heart chakra –we get emotional heartburn.) The sky chakras are fed by the
subtlest spiritual energy.
THE
FIRST CHAKRA
The
first chakra is located at the base of the spine, between the anus and the
genitals. It is the gateway to the feminine, extending luminous filaments down
our legs into the biosphere. Like a taproot reaching into the moist, rich places
in Mother Earth, the first chakra supplies us with essential nutrients.
When
we become disconnected from the Earth, we begin to get our life nourishment from
the surface. As a result, we become like a tree whose shallow, widespread roots
cannot keep it from toppling during a storm. We lose our stability, our
foundation, and our security.
When
the first chakra is disconnected from the feminine Earth, we can feel orphaned
and motherless. The masculine principle predominates, and we look for security
from material things. Individuality prevails over relationship, and selfish
drives triumph over family, social and global responsibility. The more separated
we become from the Earth, the more hostile we become to the feminine.
First-chakra
drives are primary and instinctual. We seek shelter. We forage for food. We
strive to survive even under the most adverse situations. We procreate. These
urges are fundamental instincts.
The
four instinctual drives – fear, feeding, fighting, and sex- are mirrored in
the agendas of the lower two chakras.
An
individual operating out of the first chakra is in a state of primary fusion
with the world. He is absorbed by the senses and engages the material world
exclusively. He believes that the world owes him something and that those around
him should recognize that he is special. He becomes self-centered and
narcissistic.
There
are remarkable positive attributes of the first chakra. Its survival instincts
ensure the continuation of the species: They drive us to mate and bear children,
and allow humans to persevere under the most adverse of conditions.
THE
SECOND CHAKRA
The
second chakra is located four fingers below the belly button. It is linked to
the kidneys and to the element water.
The
second chakra metabolizes energy nutrients in the Luminous Energy Field. All
forms of energy represent food to this chakra. It processes the Earth energy
taken in through the first chakra and digests emotional energies in the nervous
system. When this chakra is functioning properly, it can shed negative emotions
such as anger and fear and expel them through the first chakra as waste.
Chronologically,
this chakra corresponds to the ages between eight and fourteen. Adolescent
longing for romantic adventure originates with the surge of activity in the
second chakra. The chakra is erotic, full of lust and fantasy, propelling
high-adrenaline romance.
The
negative expressions of the second chakra are anger and fear.
Dysfunction
in this chakra can lead one to confuse sex with love. The great task of the
second chakra is to transform sex into love, romance into intimacy. This is no
easy task, as the negative drives of this chakra are a need to control others
through money, power, and sex.
THE
THIRD CHAKRA
The
third chakra is located at the solar plexus and is associated with the pancreas.
This gland is the energy banker of the body.
The
third chakra is the power center in the luminous energy system. Its power can be
used constructively, to manifest our aspirations in the world. When used
destructively, it can repress our primary nature or libido.
The
feminine power of the first chakra and the primordial sexual energy of the
second chakra are transformed into a fine fuel that the third chakra employs for
the fulfillment of our dreams. This chakra replenishes the reserves in the
Luminous Energy Field. When we awaken the power of this chakra, we experience
fearlessness and a resolve that cannot be deterred by adversity. Obstacles in
our path crumble.
The
function of the third chakra is to translate vision into reality
The
fire element that rules it provides the fuel to manifest dreams.
The
key word for this chakra is service.
THE
FOURTH CHAKRA
The
heart chakra is located at the cardiac plexus, in the center of the chest.
Freedom,
joyfulness, and an abiding peace become the hallmarks of a person who dwells in
his heart center. It is the center from which we form our families and
discover love with our soul partners and our children.
The
love of the heart chakra is neither the affection that we exchange with each
other nor the romantic love we “fall” into. The heart chakra thrives on the
love of Creation. This kind of love is not object-focused, nor is it dependent
on another for its existence. It is not sentimental. It is impersonal. Christian
theologians call it agape. The
Inka call itmunay. This kind of love is not a means to an end. It does not lead
to marriage or relationships. It is an end in itself.
One
of the negative expressions of this chakra is an infatuation with the self. A
balanced heart chakra allows us to commit to intimacy in love. It integrates the
masculine and feminine principles within us, and we no longer seek our
“missing half” outside ourselves.
THE
FIFTH CHAKRA
The
fifth chakra is located at the hollow of the throat and influences the thyroid
gland, the temperature regulator in the body.
The
fifth chakra is our psychic center, responsible for clairvoyance, clairaudience,
clairsentience, and the ability to communicate without words. A dysfunctional
fifth chakra can result in unwanted psychic experiences. Sleep disorders are
common when this chakra is out of balance. When the fifth chakra is clear, we
begin to achieve recognition in our fields of endeavor and acquire mastery in
our chosen profession. The fifth chakra gives us the ability to envision
possible futures and to act on our vision. You imagine who you can become and
feel the freedom of infinite possibilities. The fifth chakra allows us to look
within, to become aware of our inner processes.
The
fifth chakra gives voice to the feelings of the heart.
A
negative expression of this chakra is the intoxication with your own knowledge.
These people do not listen to others in a conversation. Being right is more
important than being understanding. The danger of the fifth chakra is its
tendency to turn spiritual insight into dogma.
The
Sky Chakras
In
the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth chakras development becomes transpersonal.
We explore increasingly subtle domains.
Stepping
beyond death was the attribute of the sixth chakra; mastery of time was the
attribute of the seventh; invisibility the attribute of the eighth; and the
ability to keep a secret was the attribute of the ninth.
THE
SIXTH CHAKRA
The
sixth chakra, or third eye, is located in the middle of the forehead. In the
Hindu traditions it is thought to be the third eye of Shiva, who grants
knowledge of perfect truth and nonduality. We express the divine within
ourselves, and we see the divine in others. You realize that you are an eternal
being inhabiting a temporal body.
When
the sixth chakra is malfunctioning, the individual confuses information with
knowledge. He feels he has attained great spiritual truths, when all he has is a
collection of facts. Shamans know how to make it rain without being able to
explain that water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Spiritual
materialism is an endemic dysfunction of the third-eye chakra.
An
awakened third eye allows the shaman to know who he is. It gives him knowledge
of the past and future and allows him to envision alternative destinies.
THE
SEVENTH CHAKRA
The
crown chakra at the very top of the head is our portal to the Heavens, in the
same way that the first chakra is the portal to the Earth. Luminous threads from
this center reach up to the stars and to our destinies. The Earth protects us
and nurtures us with her life force, and the Heavens propel us toward our
becoming.
The
lesson of the seventh chakra is mastery of time. When we break free of linear,
causal time, we are no longer in the tyrannical grip of the past. Today is no
longer the result of an earlier incident, and we experience freedom from cause
and effect. Whereas in the sixth chakra, the healer acquires knowledge of past
and future events, when she awakens the gifts of the seventh chakra she is able
to influence those events.
The
negative expression of the seventh chakra is spiritual regression masquerading
as enlightenment.
In
our culture of instant gratification, spiritual seekers often want to leapfrog
over the work of the lower chakras.
Those
who have mastered the seventh chakra attain unusual powers including remembering
ancient memories belonging to the collective consciousness of humanity.
THE
EIGHTH CHAKRA
The
eighth chakra is the wiracocha,
or “source of the sacred.” This chakra resides a few inches above the head,
and when awakened shines like a radiant sun inside the Luminous Energy Field.
The
information fields in the eighth chakra act as the template to create the
physical body. This chakra is like a carpenter who builds a chair (the physical
body) and later burns it in his fireplace. The carpenter feels no loss, as he
knows that he can simply build another out of new wood. The eighth chakra is
unaffected by the death of the body. If an imprint of disease exists in this
chakra, it is like a design flaw that is replicated with each new chair.
The
negative expression of this chakra is cosmic horror, such as is experienced by
those caught between the worlds of spirit and matter.
The
attribute of the eighth chakra is invisibility. In this center we become aware
of the Beholder (known in Buddhism as the Witness)-a self that has been present
from the beginning of our spiritual journey. Now disengaged from the mind, it is
able to behold the mind with all of its dramas without subscribing to them. The
Beholder witnesses our life unfolding, and understands that all of the stories
we use to describe ourselves are only stories. Beholder perceives everything but
cannot itself be perceived, because it cannot be turned into an object of
perception. The Beholder is invisible because it cannot be beheld.
Eventually,
the Beholder will begin to reveal its own source, which is Spirit, or the ninth
chakra.
The
eighth chakra resides within the Luminous Energy Field. It hovers above the head
like a spinning sun. It is our connection with the Great Spirit, the place where
God dwells within us.
We
see this chakra illustrated as the light surrounding Christ and as the fire that
descended upon the apostles at Pentecost, when they received the gift of the
Holy Spirit. When we die, the eighth chakra expands into a luminous globe and
envelops the other seven chakras in a vessel of light. After a period of
atonement and purification, the eighth chakra manufactures another body, as it
has done again and again over so many lifetimes. It leads us to our biological
parents, and to the best life (not the easiest!) to acquire the experience we
need to grow spiritually. The charged traumatic memories of our previous
incarnation are transfused into our next body as imprints in our Luminous Energy
Field.
The
eighth chakra’s source is the ninth chakra, Spirit. The ninth chakra resides
outside the Luminous Energy Field and extends throughout the cosmos. It is the
heart of the universe, at one with the Great Spirit. The eighth chakra is where
God dwells within us, and the ninth chakra, the part of us that dwells within
the Creator.
The
eighth chakra corresponds to the Christian concept of the soul, which is
personal and finite. The ninth chakra corresponds to Spirit, which is impersonal
and infinite.
THE
NINTH CHAKRA
The
ninth chakra resides at the heart of the Universe, It is outside time and space;
it extends through the vastness of space and connects to the eighth chakra by a
luminous cord.
The
ninth chakra is the Self that has never been born and will never die. This Self
is prior to time, and it never enters the river through which time flows. It is
prior to space and existed before the Universe manifested. This is the self that
never left the Garden of Eden.
ARCHETYPES
The
great archetypes of our tradition are organizing principles of the Universe.
They are the forces that we call to create sacred space and they are the Energy
Beings that have been planted as seeds in each of your chakras. It is
important to remember that you have received them as seeds, they are pure
potential - it is your own engagement with them and your relationship with them
that will grow them into the powerful forces that inform your chakras in new
ways. That is why you do the fire ceremonies, to grow these seeds with
fire. Take the two weeks after each fire ceremony to source yourself from
the archetype in each chakra, see your world from that perspective, so that you
get your own sense of connection to each archetype. Instead of being
exclusively informed by our histories and by our cultural prescriptions, these
organizing principles of the Universe, begin to organize our energy centers.
Serpent:
Mother of the Waters; archetype of the healer throughout many cultures; the one
who teaches us to shed our personal past the way she sheds her skin -- primary
life force, the one who dives deep, deep - who knows the way into the deepest
places inside of ourselves - the One who walks with beauty on the belly of the
Mother – the One who knows the way back to the Garden, the place of innocence.
Jaguar:
Mother-Sister Jaguar who knows the way across the rainbow bridge to the world of
mystery – the One who swallows the dying sun, teaching us to step beyond fear,
violence and death. The archetypal connection to the life force of the
jungle, everything that is green; steward of the life force – Luminous Warrior
who has no enemies in this world or the next – represents the Life/Death
principle and renewal.
Ancient
Ones and Hummingbird: The place
of the ancestors, Grandmothers and Grandfathers, ancient memories, ancient
wisdom – the Ones who have stepped outside of Time but slip through the
curtain to help us remember the ancient ways – the way of the Hummingbird, who
drinks directly from the nectar of Life -- not built for flight yet undertakes
and accomplishes the impossible journey.
Condor
or Eagle: The great archetype of the East, the place of the rising Sun,
the place of our Becoming -- principle of seeing from high perspective, vision
of clarity and beauty, the great wings of the condor hold the heart, teaches us
to see with the eyes of the heart – the One who pushes us out of the nest to
spread our own wings so that we may always fly wing to wing with the Great
Spirit.
Huascar:
Lord of life; Lord of death. Historically, one of two sons of Pachakuti
Inka (the Inka who read the prophecy of bearded men with sticks that spoke with
fire who would turn the world upside down). Huascar was the keeper of the
medicine teachings; he was killed by his brother who then negotiated with the
Spanish. He became the harmonizing principle of the Lower World – the chaotic
dark place of all creative potential. He/she is the renewer of the Earth
and our own personal need of renewing our own earth, fields that are fallow,
places that need aerating. The gift of Huascar is to harmonize our relationship
with our Shadow.
Quetzelcoatl:
Lord of the morning/the dawn; the Day Bringer, Morning Star; -- Quetzel is a
beautiful jungle bird and coatl is serpent, reptile, a feathered, winged serpent
that has acquired flight - the organizer of the middle world, brought irrigation,
medicine plants and stonework, walked the Americas, brought stability, music,
dance, flutes, drums - though it has been lost in our culture, we can call on it
individually, an animistic knowledge of the ways of the Earth - organizes your
relationship with the Middle World - when you come into relationship with
Quetzlcoatl you don't have to micromanage your life.
Pachakuti:
Historically, the Inka king who was given the prophecy that the world was
turning over (coming of the Spanish) the keeper of the possibilities, organizing
principle of the Upper World; - embodies the concept of circular time, stepping
outside of linear time - makes time stand still - brings order, heavenly order -
coming into relationship with Pachakuti allows us to recognize what can be
changed and changing it before it is born
You
must develop your own relationship with the archetypes and your descriptions
should come from your experience.
The
Power
Animals
SERPENT
Each
of the archetypal animals exudes a different flavor of energy. In the South
serpent symbolizes knowledge, sexuality and healing. Perhaps the most universal
archetype, serpent has always represented the healing power of nature. The staff
of medicine, or caduceus, is formed by two serpents intertwined around a rod. In
the East it is the coiled snake of the Kundalini energy.
Serpent
represents the primeval connection to the feminine and thus is a symbol of
fertility and sexuality. It symbolizes the essential life force that seeks union
and creation. We can summon the creative principle by calling on the archetype
of serpent. When I work with a client who has lost her passion for life, who has
exhausted her energy and enthusiasm, I connect her with the energies of the
South and send her home accompanied by the spirit of serpent. I know that this
will rekindle her longing for life.
JAGUAR
The
animal of the West is jaguar. It renews and transforms the life of the rain
forest. Where serpent represents the power of healing, which is gradual and
incremental; jaguar stands for sudden transformation, fire and death. It might
seem odd to us that the transforming force in the Universe is also associated
with death. That which endured was always changing and renewing itself. That
which remained unchanging perished. The Ancient Americans recognized that chaos
and order, expansion and contraction, were the natural cycle of life.
We
can transform our bodies so that they heal more rapidly and age more elegantly
by embodying the forces represented by jaguar. I have grown to believe in the
metaphor that we have nine lives, like cats. When we reach the end of one of
these lifetimes (other people would call them stages or phases in one’s life),
it is important to give the old self a decent burial, and then leap like a
jaguar into who we are becoming. Otherwise, we can spend years patching and
fixing an old self that we have outgrown.
When
I work with a client in crisis, who may feel his life is beyond repair, I send
him home with jaguar. Often my client thinks this is only a metaphor. I know
that the life-and-death principle represented by the jaguar will assist him to
allow those parts of himself that need to die to do so, as well as to regain
hope and bring new balance from chaos.
HUMMINGBIRD
In
the North direction, hummingbird represents the courage required to embark on an
epic journey. Hummingbirds migrate over the Atlantic, traveling every year from
Brazil to Canada. When I work with a client who is embarking upon an epic
life’s journey, I help her to connect with the energy of hummingbird. Once
touched by the energies of this archetype, we are propelled on our own epic
journey that eventually leads us back to our source, where our spirit was
spawned.
The
North energy helps us embark on great journey despite tremendous odds. When
there is not enough time, money or know-how for what you are attempting,
hummingbird can provide the courage and guidance necessary for success.
EAGLE
The
East direction is represented by eagle and condor, who bring vision, clarity,
and foresight. Eagle perceives the entire panorama of life without becoming
bogged down in its details. The energies of eagle assist us in finding the
guiding vision of our lives. The eyes of the condor see into the past and the
future, helping to know where we come from, and who we are becoming.
Eagle
allows us to rise above the mundane battles that occupy our lives and consume
our energy and attention. Eagle gives us wings to soar above trivial day-to-day
struggles into the high peaks close to Heaven. Eagle and condor represent the
self-transcending principle in nature.
HEAVEN
AND EARTH
The
final two directions - above and below, represent the masculine and feminine.
The shaman summons it to preserve and perpetuate, while understanding that life
is a delicate balance between the changing and the unchanging. The Inka believe
that the soul has three parts. When people die, one part of their soul (the
changing) returns to the Earth, to be reabsorbed into nature and become one with
all life. Another part (their power and wisdom) returns to the sacred mountains,
and a third part (the unchanging) returns to the Sun.
