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Posts on the Andean Cosmovision

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Glossary

August 28, 2016 / / Comments Off on Glossary

Glossary:  first draft posted on Aug. 28, 2016.  I plan to refine the definitions, add more links, and add more terms as time passes.  Many of the terms appear in multiple posts, I provide links to posts that are a good place to start if you would like more information on the term.

alto mesayoq: paq’os who have dedicate their lives to service to an Apu.  See also pampa mesayoq and the post Alto Mesayoq.

apocheta: literally a cairn of stones on the shoulder of an Apu, metaphorically a doorway into another energy (for example when you come around a curve on a mountain road and there, suddenly, are the plains stretching out as far as you can see).

Apu: a great spiritual Being who is a majestic mountain peak. See the post Andean Cosmovision: The Basics.

ayllu: a Quechua term not defined in the same way throughout the Peruvian Andes: in general it is a community defined by being kin, by being together geographically, or by sharing a common focus.

ayni: the principle of reciprocity. See the post ayni.

chakra: a small cultivated field (a daughter of Pachamama).

chullpa: a type of small stone tower found in the Andes; in some stories it is the home of the Machukuna (the ancient ones, the children of the moon).

despacho (Spanish origin): an offering, often made to the Pachamama or the Apus or some other Being of the Cosmos. See the post Giving Flowers to the Cosmos (and many other posts).

haywarisca: a Quechua term for a despacho of gratitude.

janaq pacha: one of the three levels of existence (along with the kay pacha and uju pacha), it is the consciousness found in the superior or upper world, and the future. See the post Pacha and the Three Worlds.

hucha: heavy, chaotic energy. See the post Hucha

kay pacha: one of the three levels of existence (along with the janaq pacha and uju pacha), it is the consciousness found in the surface world, where we live our lives, and the present time. See the post Pacha and the Three Worlds.

k’intu: a bouquet of three coca leaves, held at the fingertips. Your blow your filaments into the k’intu as part of a sacred ceremony.

llankay: one of the three centers of our Being (along with the munay and yachay). It is the center of our physical body and our ability to bring things into manifestation. The llankay is located a few finger breadths below the navel and a couple of inches inside the body. See the post The Three Centers of Being (Part 1)

Machukuna: the ancient ones (the children of the moon).  See the post Fate of the Machukuna.

Mama Killa: the great feminine Being who is our moon.  Also referred to as “The Mirror of the Shaman”.

Mama Tuta: the night, the void, the dark that holds the stars in her embrace.  See the post Mama Tuta Danced

mesa (Spanish for “table”): a woven cloth that is used to carry sacred objects such as quyas. The mesa is spread out on a rock or on the ground to provide a platform upon which the sacred objects are arranged as part of a ceremony.

munay: one of the three centers of our Being (along with the llankay and yachay). It is where we can sense our connection with the Cosmos and feel the underlying vibrational frequency of the Cosmic filaments, which is love. The munay is located in the region of our heart. See the post The Three Centers of Being (Part 1)

pacha: a term that combines space, time, and consciousness.

pachacuti: a space/time/consciousness of monumental cosmic transformation. The term also refers to one of the Inca rulers, Pachakuti (Pachakuteq) Inca Yupanqui, who ushered in an era of great change.

Pachamama: the great Being who is our mother the planet Earth.

pampa mesayoq: paq’os who have dedicated their lives to service to the Pachamama.

paq’o: Andean mystic, shaman, healer, diviner.  See the post Paqos: Shamans or Mystics?

phukuy: the act of gently blowing your filaments through a k’intu, usually with the intent of connecting your finest energies and those of the coca with the energies of the Pachamama, the Apus, and your community.

Q’ero: an isolated region in the high Andes of Peru and the people who live there.

q’uncha: an earth stove, a hollow mound of clay/earth with an opening on the side to feed the fire and holes on the top for pots to sit in. It is considered to be the heart of the wasitira.

q’uya: a stone with which you develop a special relationship.

Runakuna: quechua for “the people”, often used to refer to the indigenous people of the Andes who still live lives informed by the Andean Cosmovision.   See the post Fate of the Machukuna.

salka: undomesticated energy. See the post Salka.

salka molino: don Gayle’s house in the Andes, the “mill of undomesticated energy”.

salka wasi: don Américo’s house in the Andes, the “house of undomesticated energy”.

Tai Tai Inti: the great masculine energy who is our sun.  Also referred to as Inti Tai Tai. See the post Tai Tai Inti.

uju pacha: one of the three levels of reality (along with the kay pacha and janak pacha), it is the consciousness found in the lower or interior world, it is also the past. See the post Pacha and the Three Worlds.

yachay: one of the three centers of our Being (along with the munay and llankay). It is the center of the intellect from which our thoughts arise. It is located in the crown of our head. See the post The Three Centers of Being (Part 1)

yanantin: the complementarity of opposites. For example, the bringing together into harmony of male and female energy.  See the posts Yin/Yang of the Andes and  Warmi-Qhari (Woman-Man).

waiki: an affectionate way to refer to a fellow explorer of the Andean Cosmovision. It is an Anglicized version of a Quechua term for what a male calls his brother. Don Américo Yábar (a native quechua speaker), however, uses this term as an affectionate way to refer to people of both sexes. It has come to convey such a sense of acceptance and affection and that its use has become widespread among those who work with him.

wak’a: a sacred site.

warak’a: a woven sling used to throw stones, it also serves as a whip.  See the post Remember to Wave your Waraka’s.

warmi-qhari: (literally woman-man) the fusion by marriage of two different but interdependent beings, female and male, with their complementary skills and interests, into a unified whole from which something greater than the sum of the parts emerges.  See the post  Warmi-Qhari (Woman-Man).

wasi: house.

wasitira: an adobe house (literally “house-earth”) formed out of the living Earth. An adobe house is an extension of the Pachamama, and thus people who live in a wasitira live inside the Pachamama herself.

Hampi Taki: A Salka Project

July 1, 2016 / / 4 Comments

From a traditional song sung by the women of Peru.

I walk without shoes in the mountains.
My bare feet touch the mountainside.
The mountain takes pleasure in knowing my body.

Before I describe the hampi taki project I would like to touch again briefly two concepts I have covered in earlier posts, salka and ayni.

Salka is quechua (the language of the Andes) for undomesticated energy.  The wolf is salka while the dog is domesticated, the condor is salka while the chicken is domesticated, the deer is salka while the sheep is domesticated.  Salka is essential life energy, so it may not be quite accurate to say that some beings are more salka than others. It might be better to say that some beings are more domesticated than others.  In domesticated beings our domestication is like a veneer through which the light of salka must shine. The Andean meditations that I have shared in this blog and in my book help us get in touch with our salka, which in turn, brings into our awareness the mystery and beauty of our existence as living beings.  The Peruvian mystics Américo Yábar and Gayle Yábar are founders of the Poetic Salka Movement on the Planet, and they have been my mentors in my exploration of the Andean Cosmovision.  For more information on salka please visit this post.

Ayni is a quechua term for reciprocity. Ayni is the guiding principle of relationships within the traditional Andean culture. When you give you receive, and when you receive you give. Completing the circle of ayni elevates both parties, it is like a spiral, where every time the circle is completed the relationship moves to a higher level. The traditional Andean people live in ayni with each other, with their domesticated animals, with their land, and with the Cosmos.  Ayni is not a social obligation, it is a dance that enlivens both party’s sacred energy.  For more information on ayni please visit this post.

When I earn money from teaching the Andean Cosmovision–e.g. in my workshops or my classes or my book–I like to give half of the money to the people of Peru as ayni. This completes the circle of ayni between the Andean people (who have so open heartedly shared their Cosmovision with the West), and the people who have taken my classes or have purchased my book or have donated on my Salka Wind web page.  I don’t mean to come across as saintly in mentioning this.  Other people are doing things like this as well, and I am ridiculously pleased to be part of it.  In my mind’s eye I see great circles of ayni being formed across the continents, connecting the munays of many beings (organic and inorganic) on the planet.  From these circles of ayni the future may blossom in greater beauty.

I use some of this money to help fund the  “hampi taki project”.  Hampi taki is quechua for singing medicine. Over the years the beautiful, traditional, songs that have linked the Andean women to the Cosmos (e.g. the barefoot in the mountain song at the beginning of this post) have been slowly replaced by laments about how hard life is in the post Spanish conquest society. In the hampi taki project Américo has revived the traditional songs, and  teaches the women how to create a flow of healing energy as they sing.   He pays the women for learning this way of signing.  After they master it, he then pays them to teach other women.  In this way the singing medicine is spreading from village to village, and now has a strong presence as far away as the jungle and Bolivia.

To me this is such a beautiful way to use money to nourish salka. Western society is sweeping through the high Andes like a tsunami. The associated material benefits are available for those who have money, which usually involves them having to step away from their traditional culture.  In the hampi taki project the women have a way to earn money by stepping more deeply into their traditions.  They are also receiving a clear but implicit message that their traditional culture has things worth holding on to…plus there is healing involved…and salka.

I have included below some photographs (compiled from various visits) of women who have sung to me and my friends as ayni for our support of the project.  I particularly love seeing the children there, knowing that they are watching their mothers being valued for the beauty of what they are offering to the West.

Photos by Karen Cottingham and Barbara Mahan © 2013 by the photographers, all rights reserved.

Text and all other photos in this post © at time of posting, Oakley Gordon , licensed under a Creative Commons License — some rights reserved.

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Sparkle with the River

March 25, 2016 / / 0 Comments

IMG_0622While the Andean (salka) meditations can be done indoors they are so much juicier when done out in nature.  Now that spring is here I can with a big sigh of relief  go up the local canyon and sit by the river to meditate.   I would like to share a river meditation that I have been exploring and enjoying this spring.   It was written by don Americo and translated into English by Pia Ossorio.  I have changed it a little, but please know that its beauty comes from don Americo’s words (and Pia’s translation) .

Sit by the riverside. Take a few full breaths, and be exquisitely aware of your breathing as you do so.  This helps set the stage for shifting into another way of experiencing the world.

Remember that all of the salka meditations are accomplished through intent (sincere pretending).  The words of the meditation have no power on their own, they instead help us shape our intent, and it is the intent that has the power.  Pause between each step and phrase below, noticing and savoring the effect it has on you, before moving on to the next.

AmericoWater

Don Americo Yabar

  • Begin the meditation by using your intent to open up your energy field and let your filaments commingle with the filaments of the river…
  • Greet your waiki (friend/brother/sister) the river.  Then say…
  • Waiki, please send your energy washing through me and over me…
  • Take away the knots in my thinking…
  • Open my heart…
  • Speak to my heart…
  • Teach me to flow…
  • Teach me to sparkle in the light…
  • Teach me to flow around obstacles…
  • Teach me to move without aggression…
  • Teach me your quiet persistence…
  • Thank you…
  • Thank you…
  • Thank you…

When you are finished you might want to give the river a little despacho (perhaps a few drops of alcohol or a few flowers) as  ayni and to express your gratitude and to nourish your relationship with the river.  The river can be a beautiful companion as you walk your path.

Remember that the effect this meditation has on you is the only real ‘meaning’ of the meditation, so notice the effect, perhaps explore this meditation several times, and then decide whether or not to include it in your repertoire of steps for dancing through life.

This is the second river meditation I have shared on this blog, the earlier one was called Connecting with the River.

 

© Oakley Gordon at date of posting. Contents licensed under a Creative Commons License — some rights reserved.

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Initiations

November 4, 2015 / / 1 Comment

The Andean Cosmovision cannot be described or encompassed with words. It can, however, be experienced and thus it can be explored. The two essential pieces of this exploration are; the various meditative processes that take us into that territory, and the special relationship with nature and the Cosmos that this path nourishes. That is all you need. The meditations, and the relationship, open a portal into profound, new, unbounded territory. Your life and the Cosmos become a great mystery that you will never solve. The path leads nowhere. It doesn’t make sense to try to go as far as you can. The beauty and the value are in the walking of the path. Distance traveled fades in favor of making our walk through life a work of art.

The meditations are great and wonderful. They have effects that are apparent immediately. They are new steps in our dance with the Cosmos. The real magic, however, comes from our relationship with nature and the Cosmos. When we connect to the Pachamama, or to the Apus, or to the stars, or to Mama Tuta in a relationship of ayni, directed by our munay, and stop our “doing” and begin to “not do“, then everything changes. If the time is right, then a deep facet of our own Being gets into cahoots with the Cosmos, and we change. It is an initiation, not in the sense of joining a club, but in the sense of being initiated into another way we can be in the world.

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Spring Blossoms

April 27, 2015 / / 1 Comment

The snow lies only on the top of the mountains by my home, although it does advance down the sides of the mountains when a spring storm visits, it just as quickly retreats the next day. Here in my home town we can once again go into the mountains and sit by the side of the canyon streams to meditate. While there is much we can explore with the Andean salka meditations during the winter, meeting indoors, working with our energy and exploring more of who we are, the foundation of the path is our relationship with Nature and the Cosmos. It is a beautiful time to be outdoors, in salka, getting in touch with Nature as she gushes (in slow motion) into new life. We can connect to that.

I would like to encourage you to get outdoors now that it is spring (at least in this part of the world) and explore the Andean Cosmovision through the various meditations I have shared in this blog and in my book (or from other sources you may have). There is no moral imperative within the Cosmosivion that people follow its path. I am, instead, speaking from two personal places. The first is that I get so much out of the meditations that I would like to encourage you to explore them as well in case you get as much out of them as I do (keeping in mind the post Fallacies). The second place from which I speak is my own set of values. I believe that the integration of the Andean Cosmovision with the Western world view holds the possibility of healing our relationship with Nature, I hope before our species destroys all the beauty of this world (see the post The Crazy Ape). That motivates me, plus my preference for a path of heart over a path of power.

To walk this path, you do not need to believe any specific set of beliefs. Actually you need to unbelieve some things, including the belief that any beliefs about reality have much to do with reality itself. Your mind will evolve from being your prison guard to being your ally in an exploration of a Cosmos that is more mysterious and wonderful than your thoughts can possibly encompass.

My first suggestion on how to proceed is to connect with the Pachamama on a regular basis using the Touching the Pachamama meditation. This takes only a couple of minutes, really, there is room for this in our daily lives. Complete the circle of ayni with the Pachamama by expressing your gratitude to her and through occasional, simple despachos. This is enough, this is walking the path of the Andean Cosmovision, you will change. Many small steps will eventually take you far. And…there is also more to explore if you desire.

There is a lot to be said for getting rid of our hucha on a regular basis. If you would like, do the Releasing Hucha meditation after the Touching the Pachamama meditation. Again, this takes just a minute or two. The two meditations will take you far. And…there is more if you wish to explore further.

After you have gotten in touch with the Pachamama and have released your hucha, select another meditation or two to explore. Try all the various meditations at least a few times to get a sense of their effect on you. Rely on your own deep sense of what is good and beautiful and loving, and evaluate each meditation from that place. Add the ones you like to your repertoire of ways to face the mystery of your existence. When you meditate, pick the one that feels right for you today.

And remember to complete the circle of ayni with the Pachamama, the Apus, Mama Tuta, with all the waikis of Nature and the Cosmos.

You can meditate on your own, perhaps everyday, and that is beautiful.

You can also get together with other waikis to meditate, perhaps on a weekly basis. There is an enhanced effect of several people doing a meditation together.

You might consider starting a salka meditation class. There are no gurus on this path, there are simply waikis who have been exploring the territory longer than others and who can help as a guide. For more information on teaching a salka meditation class please see the post Running a Salka Class.

Don Américo Yábar and don Gayle Yábar have founded the Poetic Salka Movement on this planet. When we meditate we slowly blossom in salka, when we meditate together we become a garden. It is happening all over the planet.

Some of this post was adapted from my book The Andean Cosmovision: A Path for Exploring Profound Aspects of Ourselves, Nature, and the Cosmos.

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