Salka Wind Blog

Posts on the Andean Cosmovision

Welcome (start here)

Oakley Gordon, Ph.D.

Oakley Gordon, Ph.D.

Hi, welcome to the Salka Wind Blog.

Salka is a Quechua (the language of the Andes) term for “undomesticated energy”.  Salka is like a wind that blows through consensus reality from beyond, bringing us into contact with the great mystery and beauty of existence.  It is a fundamental aspect of the Andean Cosmovision.

The Andean Cosmovision is a way of perceiving and interacting with reality that is found in the indigenous culture of the high Andes. It is fundamentally different than the Western worldview. This Cosmovision is not a set of concepts or beliefs. It cannot be described or encompassed by words. It can, however, be experienced and it can be explored. This exploration is carried out through meditations which serve as portals for exploring new facets of ourselves and the Cosmos. These meditations also nourish a more loving and mutually-supportive relationship between ourselves and nature. Within this relationship we begin to blossom into the essence of who we each uniquely are.

For the past 22 years I have been exploring the Andean Cosmovision under the tutelage of my friend and mentor don Américo Yábar of Peru and Gayle  Yábar .  In my trips to Peru don  Américo has also arranged for me to work with numerous other indigenous paq’os (Andean mystics/shamans) and healers in Peru. I have shared with my culture what I have learned through papers and workshops at regional and international academic conferences (I am a professor of psychology). I have also written a some articles and have taught several hundred Andean (salka) meditation classes and workshops.  After many years of studying, writing, and teaching I finally felt prepared to write a book about the Andean Cosmovision.  I created this blog as a place where I could share rough drafts of the material that would eventually become my book.

My book has been published and I love it.  For more information on the book please see The Andean Cosmovision: A Path for Exploring Profound Aspects of Ourselves, Nature and the Cosmos.  I have decided to keep the rough drafts of the chapters available on this blog.  The book is better; I selected the best chapters for inclusion, rewrote them, added some more chapters, and put them in an order that makes (poetic) sense to me, but it is  important to me that this information remains available for free on the blog.  I also use this blog for other reasons, mainly to nourish the spread of salka on this planet.  I have started to post material that may be included in a second book.

So where to begin?  I have several suggestions.  As I write the posts I select what to write essentially based upon what I feel I can write at that time.  They are not in any logical order, although they may be in an intuitive order.  Some of the later posts assume you have read some of the earlier posts.  Here are some options:

  1. Start at the next post and just keep going forward through time.  If there is a post you are not interested in then skip it and read the next one.  Each post, including this one, has a “next post” link at the bottom so you can start here and work your way through them all.
  2. Start with the posts that are in the “Introduction” category.  The categories are listed in the menu on the right side of each post.  When you click on the category if shows you all of the posts that fall within the category.
  3. I have recently written a Table of Contents where I have organized the posts into topics.  You can use that to play around with what to read.  Within each topic the posts are listed in chronological order, so when visit a topic read the first post you haven’t read yet.  The Table of Contents is also availablein the menu that is  on the right side of each page.
  4. Sorry to plug my book again, but the book presents the information in an order that makes (artistic) sense to me.

For more information about Salka Wind, the origin of my work, recommended readings, links to interesting sites, longer articles I have written, and so on, please visit my Salka Wind Web Site.

I hope that this blog serves you well as a guide for exploring the Andean Cosmovision.

Oakley

Share... Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

9 Comments

  1. Karen Cottingham

    June 17, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    Happy to be on board!

  2. Thank you for this blog. I am so happy to find it.

  3. Greetings, I am from Colombia but was adopted and then raised in Connecticut. However, nothing has ever resonated with me into I started reading about indigenous people especially from Colombia. I am now 35 years old and I want to reconnect to my indigenous roots. I don’t have anything in common with those around me because I feel so alone in wanting to care for our Earth and all its inhabitants. I’m told to do the extreme opposite by all those around me and its truly killing my spirit my soul. The only thing that keeps me going is my toddler and my love of the Earth but now I want to reconnect with like-minded people especially spiritually connected indigenous people from my country and place of origin. Can you possibly help me with this great endeavor? Thank you.

    • Oakley Gordon

      May 31, 2016 at 1:30 pm

      Hi, well one thing I can do is to “approve” this comment so that others can see in on the blog site below the post and they may choose to reply to you as well and connections can be made. From my experience it really helps to have people in my life who are interested in similar paths to mine, or are at least supportive of my walking my path. Also, don’t discount how much support you can receive from nature, by finding a “salka” place and sitting there, and wandering around there, and talking to the Pachamama and the river and the stars. I hope the information I have posted on this blog can assist you in that.

  4. Thanks for this blog, and your book which I’m reading now. I love its clarity and humor.
    Myself, I have a Belgian veneer with a strong heart beating for Pachamama. I’ve always been active in ecology and Indian (Eastern) spirituality. I also teach about ecovillages and organise an experience festival with lots of workshops and rituals. I’m only 13 pages into your book but it already feels like coming come. 🙂

  5. Radiating so much respect for the Q’ero Waikis, honoring the Yábar family – don Américo, Arilu and Gayle, along with Tom and Bobbi Best & other early pioneers who were dedicated to protecting yet revealing the wisdoms and energetic mastery of these people of the high Andes.
    PLUS gratitude for you, Oakley and your courage and perseverance during your 20+ years of traveling to Peru – immersing, risking, feeling, then writing, so simply and clearly from your heart. Mucho Mahalo for the blog, the podcast, your wonderful book on Andean Cosmovision… and the photos from your Third Trip, so awesome… made me Laugh/cry.
    Reading the Pascualito’s Watch story from Tom Best, I was transported to seeing Tom so clearly, hearing him tell that story and chuckling, feeling the delight he exuded anytime he told those stories, and so many more of Peru, the Apus, Salk’a Wasi, the Waikis… of Mother Maui, Big Mama, the ‘Birth Canal’. Deeply thankful to his memory and to you for bringing it back to Life ! !

Leave a Reply to Oakley Gordon Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

*

© 2024 Salka Wind Blog

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑