The healing ceremonies described here are a synthesis and interpretation of ancient healing practices. I do not claim that they represent a particular body of traditions. These ceremonies are adaptations of practices that I have learned from a number of teachers and from my own investigations of other ways of knowing, during my training as a shamanic practitioner. The sources of my teachers’ knowledge were the energy medicine of the Americas, north and south; the nature mystic traditions of Europe; and the practices of the Laika, the last Inka shaman/priests of the Q’ero nation, Peru.
Illumination
The Illumination ceremony, adapted from ancient practices of the Inka mystics
of the high Andes, opens and holds a sacred space to bring in the “kausay”
energy, the living energy of the cosmos, to a wounding or imprint in the
luminous energy body. Invoking the protection of the unifying principles
of the universe, the shamanic practitioner brings the light of the Sun, the
exploding star from which all matter comes, into your luminous energy body,
bringing light, movement and an experience of infinity.
Divination
Divination
is a means for re-membering our right relationship (ayni) with all that
is, now and in the time to come. It may open doors into the hidden reaches
of the soul and allow you to remember the knowledge you hold in your body,
but have forgotten. Remembering is the gradual unfolding
of spiritual essence. It comes into consciousness when you are fully alert,
aware of all that has come before, of your rightful place in creation and
the choice of paths that spirit gave you. And then, as Jamie Sams puts
it; “…
then the Ancestors Spirits tell the awakened human how to accomplish their
tasks in life, through use of their own good medicine.”
Clearing heavy “hucha”
The
universe is benign and will order itself to conspire on your behalf when you
are in proper relationship with it. ("Mending the past and healing the future
with Soul Retrieval", Alberto Villoldo PhD.) Indigenous Americans do not perceive
“good” and “evil” energies or spirits. They see that everything is made of
energy, and that in the mountains, where there are few people and we are closer
to the Sun, the energy is light, or “sami” In the towns and cities, wherever
there are many people, there is heavy energy, or “hucha”. Humans create hucha
wherever they are, and hucha can enter our energy fields wherever we have an
affinity for it. Many simple ceremonies and practices may be useful for clearing
and releasing hucha back to the Sun, where it can be transformed into nourishment
for all that lives on the Earth.
Soul Retrieval
In
a Soul Retrieval ceremony, the shamanic practitioner goes fishing in the
deepest waters of the psyche, having first set a conscious intention and
received permission from the guardians of the lower world. Guidance and protection,
acceptance of all that unfolds, and surrender of the will to spirit are essential
companions on this journey. The shamanic practitioner, with the aid of the
spirits of all creation, will seek out soul parts that have left you and
gone into hiding. And, if spirit is willing and the shamanic practitioner
is fearless enough to follow the currents into the deeps of the lower world
to search for those aspects of your psyche that have been hiding for so long,
she will bring them back to this world. She will return the lost soul part
to your luminous energy body. And then, your work will begin, for the lost
soul parts who have followed you home will make you set your life in order
again.
Despachos
The purpose of a despacho is bring about “ayni” (balance, reciprocity, right
relationship) with all of creation, through giving back to the Earth some
of the treasured gifts she has bestowed upon us. Intentions and blessings
are breathed into leaves and placed on a beautiful assemblage of food and
offerings. They are wrapped into a bundle and returned to the Earth through
fire or burial, with thanks and love. A despacho may be done for many reasons,
from a blessing on a new venture to a “Prayers for the Earth” ceremony to
bring healing to the planet.
The ‘Munay Ki”
Dr Alberto Villoldo has adapted the initiations or transmissions of the
Munay Ki, from the practices and prophecies of the Inka and other medicine
people of the Americas. They are transmissions for those who are becoming
healers, teachers, sages; those who are becoming the dreamers of the next
world and the co-creators of the world we want our children’s children to
inherit – the Earthkeepers.
The nine seeds of the Munay-ki are planted into the luminous energy field.
There are four stages to the process of transmission of the seeds of the Earthkeepers:
Until recently, these initiations would have taken a lifetime of study and practice to achieve. In 2004, the Laika, shaman/priests of the Q’ero, began giving the Mosoq rites, the rites of stewardship of the time to come, to their students in America and Europe. Last year, for the first time, the ninth rite, the Creator rite, was passed from person to person for the first time. The instruction given was to transmit these seeds to all who are ready to receive them, in munay and ayni.
Nurturing of the seeds through fire follows each of the transmissions. Fire is an alchemical process and the path of fire is a rapid path. The seeds must be germinated with light. Through the process we heal the balance between the feminine and the masculine in ourselves and in the world, we heal the earth; the future and we heal the old ones; the past
“The rites are not only stages of initiation but also steps in the evolution of humanity.” Alberto Villoldo.
