Wake and I walked a lot of miles in the sacred mountains of Peru with Don Francisco and his wife Dona Juanita. We typically went to Peru in May or June, their winter, when the weather was warm and dry. Don Francisco often played his flute while Dona Juanita sang along in Quechua, in her very high pitched, playful voice. Juanita would gather flowers from the bushes we passed and tuck them into her hat-band until she had a wonderful nest of blossoms. It wasn’t unusual to see and hear a hummingbird humming, or a few bees buzzing around her head.

Being with the Q’ero in this casual way, walking on the land of their ancestors, was quiet and intimate. I could feel their love and connection to the land, as well as their commitment to her, Pachamama, and to life. They created simple ceremonies, ways to say I love you to the earth, sweetly each day. Everywhere we went, and for every meal we had, I remember seeing Don Francisco take a small part of his food and drop it onto the earth, his water – a few drops to the earth. When we were sitting in a restaurant, where there was no ground close by, he would look around for a potted plant, or even the vase with a flower on our table to make his offering. Always remembering that Pachamama was taking care of him, being in communion with him.

While hiking, we’d come upon a waterway, Don Francisco would be the first to go off the path and down to the water’s edge. Wake close behind. Juanita would lay out a big cloth and we’d hang out with the men as they searched the shore and the stream. They never tired of finding medicine stones, Khuyas. Don Francisco would search for a pair of stones that felt good together to him, often a black and a white stone. Then he’d look at Wake and say Yanantin Masintin, referring to the Q’ero understanding of complimentary pairs. Each half of the pair in relationship to the other. Neither could exist alone. Like black and white, masculine and feminine, day and night. All existing – not in opposition to each other – but in a continuum of energy together, different and the same at the same time. Before leaving the waterway, Don Francisco would bow and thank Mamacocha, the great waters, for her gifts.

I am so grateful that Wake and I were able to spend so much time walking with these two gentle Q’ero, and for each experience with Don Francisco and Dona Juanita. I’m grateful for hearing the lively conversations between Francisco and Wake: Don Francisco speaking in Quechua and Spanish, using his hands and arms, and Wake speaking in English, tracking and intuiting the meaning from Francisco’s manner and mixture of languages. I’m grateful for the lessons I’ve learned, walking quietly on the earth.

Stories From the Journey:
Transforming Sacred Space, by Kinlen

From the very beginning of my shamanic journey, I remember loving the act of opening Sacred Space, calling in the Directions. I loved feeling the energy of support and vitality all around me. I practiced with others in my classes as we worked together on each new bit of medicine we learned. We called to the winds of the South, the West, the North, the East, Pachamama (Mother Earth), and IntiTaita (Father Sky). We faced each direction in turn, held up our hands, sprayed our Florida water into the air and whistled to each. We made our invitation for the archetypal energies of Serpent, Jaguar, Hummingbird, and Eagle, to join us on our journey, to protect us, to help us grow in our skills and relationships.

Over the years, Wake and I became more fluid in how we called in sacred space. Instead of following the words from the paper we had first been given, we called in energies specific to the ceremony or work we were doing. I brought in prayers I had learned from fellow shaman that Wake and I had worked with as we taught classes around the world. I loved practicing the wonderful way the Q’ero shaman open sacred space. Instead of turning to face directions, the Q’ero started with their hands extended up, they called in the energy of Wyracocha (the source of the sacred spring), stars and galaxies, the sun and moon. Then opened their hands wide and invited in the energy of lightening, rainbows, and the great Apus (holy mountains). They stretched their hands out, fully open, as they called to the trees, animals, all creatures. And then, they reached down to lovingly touch the earth, and called in their most precious connection – Pachamama. They opened an all-inclusive, full circle of life-giving energies.

After years and years of opening sacred space and then closing it again, week after week, for meditation after meditation, class after class; I began to realize that I had built relationships with all of the energies I was calling in. The elements and archetypes, Earth and Sky lived within me. I realized that I was now walking in sacred space all the time, whether I opened it intentionally or not. I realized that all that practice, all those openings and closings, were helping me to absorb the awareness that the energies of creation and life, the very Love Plasma of the Universe were with me all the time, have always been so. It had taken all those repetitions for me to really grok that I am inextricable from the sacred space I sought.

I still love calling in sacred space. It centers me, settles my mind before starting a meditation, a session with a client, or a ceremony. It reminds me that everything I do in a day matters, that it is sacred because I am part of the sacred web of life and creation.