Love & Light and everything bright...

FROM URUBAMBA, PERU

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Day 6: Visit to Chinchero; Conversations with Spirits #1

MT. URUBAMBA, Peru, July 3, 2008 - The drive to Chinchero took us again up the twisty road from the Sacred Valley.

And the vistas were as beautiful as ever on this crystal clear morning.  The most prominent peak in the left shot is Waikai Willka, as you might remember by now from the Moray trip (two left frames).  Chinchero is an old sacred Inka site where the Spanish conquistadors built a church on top of an Inka holy place ("uaca").  The entire site is an engineering feat, built in the shape of a pyramid (not unlike the Egyptian pyramids).  It's just when you are on top of a pyramid, as we were here, it is hard to see it in its shape entirety.  Alas, no helicopter and bird's eye views for us this morning, though you might get some idea of its shape from the right photo.  But there were plenty of merchants ready to sell us their colorful handcrafted wares in the church courtyard, as you can see from the second photo.

Remember James, the young man who had lost his legs?  The right three shots are a perfect example of the esprit de core and teamwork that permeated our little group.  See that pretty tall skinny girl?  That's Dawn, a shaman from St. Albany, England.  The Pampamesayok Inka shamans had helped James get from the bus to the plateau where the Chinchero church stands.  And then Dawn dropped her backpack and carried him into the church on her back.  That's the way it has been at every site we had visited.  We all took turns in an unspoken order helping James experience the trip as fully as any of the rest of us.

Just how much of a golden heart Dawn has can be seen from the following video clip that she has just sent me, with request that I post it and distribute it further:

A Lion's Heart Story (YouTube, 2:28 mins)

Pretty incredible, isn't it?

Uncharacteristic of many medieval Catholic churches I have seen around the world, this one has many beautiful frescos on its interior walls, as well as around its entrance (frescos as an art form are typically found in Byzantine and Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries).

The Chinchero site is full of natural uacas that are brimming with energy (above).  The Inkas have carved in altars, benches and other designed into these rock formations that were their natural "churches."

That's what we also did.  We formed a circle at one of the uacas where we held our morning ceremony.  This was the first day Don Adolfo joined us (the man in a brown shirt and a black hat in the left three photos).  He is an amazing Altomesayok (high priest/shaman) who stayed with us the rest of the trip.  He and Donna Maria (the elderly lady in the middle right shot) facilitated later on this evening out first of a number of Conversations with Mountain Spirits that took place at Maras three nights in a row (July 3-5).

"Altomesayoks are evolved beings who are said to have become that way by being hit by lightening - twice," explained Jose Luis, our expedition leader.  "The first strike kills you; the second reassembles you.  When you wake up, you find you've received a gift of (celestial) power.  That's when you need to find a teacher."

Don Adolfo said he sensed power, focus, good hearts and dedication in our lot.  But he felt we were "dispersed" as a group.  He spoke about the need for all of us to come together and source from a collective rather than the individual strength.  That is especially important before we go to the mountains (Mt Ausengate), he said.  For, mountain spirits do the same.  Collective comes before individual.

"The mountain spirits also have villages," he said.  The big, earthbound, evolving spirits are called "aliys." "There are also different spirits not in human vibration," he added. 

There are three different villages of feminine earth spirits that carry out different missions.  The aliys also have specialties. Any of the three levels of mountains can be doorways for mountain spirits to come to us.  They choose a doorway.  They look at what resides in our bodies to see how available we are.  A "good host" is a person with a strong psyche.  The mountain spirits also look at the pathway ahead of you.

"If you are chosen, that's how you return to your own nature," Adolfo said.  "There is so much energy that comes through my head and heart that I don't quite understand what's going on." 

These are invisible energies. "Sometimes they inflame me; make me sweat," he added.  You regulate them with your intent and prayers.

"Once upon a time, we (human race) used to live among the mountain spirits," Adolfo continued. "It used to be widespread.  That's what the Apus (spirits) have told me."  "

"The Apus are now retreating because we (the people) have forgotten to speak the nature's language.  We have forgotten that we are the children of the land (Pacha Mama - Mother Earth). "But I have been told that a lot of their (spirits') power is stored in hiding."

"Everyone has access to the wisdom of creation," Adolfo said.  "The Apus have selected you (the 38 'Gringos').  So now it's pretty much between you and the mountains.  Exercising gratitude and appreciation is what will allow you to be embraced by the mountain spirits... appreciation for yourselves and compassion for others.  The best wisdom already resides in you.  You just have to find a way of unlocking it.  And the mountain spirits can help you if you open your heart to them."

Most of us became very emotional at this point. As I looked around the circle, many people, not just this writer, were sobbing quietly.  And no wonder.  How often do we get to hear messages from the Creator?

After Don Adolfo, Doña Maria spoke briefly.  She is the elderly shaman seated to the left of Don Adolfo in the above photo.  "The Apus (mountain spirits) are wonderful," she said.  "If your heart is suffering, they'll come and clear it.  But they also check up on the quality of my love for them."

Jose Luis said that the Apus have told them that it is time to create a new breed of shamans that will come from the West.  "Take (Mt) Ausengate with you and create strong ceke lines to it.  You can be connected to the Apus wherever you are."

After the ceremony, we each picked out own uaca for some solo mediation in preparation for the encounters with mountain spirits.

My notes from those conversations have been placed in a special private and confidential section of the web site for which you will need a User ID and password.  If you already have it, you can use it to access them.  If not, let me know by e-mail that you would like to read them and I will give it to you (assuming we know each other, of course, as friends or family; for, these notes are not for the uninitiated).  Here's a preview of my notes about that first session:

For now, it will have to suffice to say that this evening we spent over two hours conversing with almost a dozen winged mountain spirits (i.e., angels - in Christian nomenclature).  It was like a town hall meeting with the spirits during which they gave us many pearls of wisdom. 

We were blessed by four of them, including one female spirit (Santa Tierra).  Sprinkles of holy water materialized out of nowhere in a closed room and fell on our faces and bodies like rain.  One of them hit my forehead.  I wiped it off with a finger and licked it off - the first TRUE COMMUNION with God I have ever had.  I felt SO blessed and privileged to be a part of only 38 human beings on this planet who were chosen by the Spirits to take part in this ceremony and journey.  The presence of spirit inside of me was so strong that I cried (for joy) and laughed almost all the time.  I have never felt more loved in my entire life.  Later I found that other people, both male and female, had the same reaction. 

We also sang songs for them while they did something for that was so extraordinary that I don't even want to write about it now.   Suffices to say that my heart and soul feel purified as they have never been before.  And that's just the beginning.  The Ausengate Spirits (that's the Holy Mountain we will be climbing next week), welcomed us to their home and promised us more cleansing and learning when we get there. 

Overall, it was just an overwhelmingly incredible experience, even for someone like yours truly who has had as rich and varied a life as almost anyone.  In short, I have a feeling that this may be a life changing experience, of which what happened today was the first step.  One of the most marvelous things about it is that you, my friends and family, not only understand that, but had the prescience to know that I was "having a beautiful spiritual experience."  And so will you after you read my detailed notes... 

And now, to go to the actual detailed notes, click on Conversations with Mountain Spirits #1.

And that's all she wrote from this Day 6 of our Peru adventure.

Love  Light 

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