DANCING WITH THE PACHAMAMA

One of the joys of getting older is the experience of seeing one’s life as an unfolding story. In my story there have been experiences that I will simply term prophetic. I will share one such experience and bring it into the present.

This little tale goes back to the mid 1980’s. I was teaching middle school art in Texas. A tough yet oddly rewarding job for sure. We had a very tight knit faculty that for the most part helped keep each other sane. We shared therapeutic laughter at the end of most days, played around joyously doing talent shows and supporting one another in more serious ways. I went through a divorce in those years and others also experienced some of the more challenging aspects of life. But this story really begins with our parties. I’m not mentioning any names to protect the innocent. We celebrated Halloween and other random occasions. We shared conversation, food, music, dance and ample amounts of tequila. Serious amounts of tequila! At one of these gatherings someone thought it would be a good idea to place their red shoe on top of their head. We all, in a substantially altered state, decided this could become a new ritual. I had recently viewed a PBS video about shamanistic healing in the Andes. There was some really spooky footage of a Bolivian Shaman sending back an evil spell. There was another part describing a Peruvian “mesa” which was a type of alter. It was used to balance the forces of nature that exist in the Pachamama, Mother Earth. After my divorce, my former wife got to keep the Episcopal Church and I got my life back. I felt abnormally liberated from all that and my mind was wide open. So, during this Red Shoe ritual I began to chant Pachamama-Pachamama. I went into some sort of Dionysian Tequila trance and we danced around with the red shoe. At later gatherings, at the peak of our tequila sacrament we re-enacted the Red Shoe Ritual and eventually each had our own pair of red shoes. This was great fun and I assume very amusing to non-participants. What I likely kept to myself was my connection with the Divine Mother. I met her through Paramahansa Yogananda. He shared that in India God was often seen as the Mother as her love was unconditional, whereas a father could be displeased and even disown his child. So, for me the Pachamama was much more tangible and I was just loco enough to dance and play with her and my tequila inspired colleagues. All of this was great fun and still great memories. Many of us, if not all, are retired by now and don’t hit the tequila quiet as hard if at all, but I have to say ,I cherish all of those Red Shoe friends and think of them often.

So, now the present. I have some friends here in San Miguel de Allende who use their lovely home for a wide variety of spiritual and artistic events, resulting in a fairly loose community of fascinating people. About three years ago my friends hosted a Q’ero Paqo named Don Humberto. A Paqo is similar to a shaman but is actually more of a priest or holy man. My partner Ana and I had a couple of sessions with him resulting in some healing for us both. Then a year later another Paqo named Don Jorge and his wife Anita came to visit. Ana and I arranged to receive and initiation from them called a Karpay. This lovely ceremony connected us energetically to the Pachamama. This time no red shoes or tequila. During this initiation ceremony I was on the floor and Anita was chanting Pachamama-Pachamama;Apu Picacho-Apu Picacho. The Apus are the energetic consciousness of the mountains. The Picachos surround San Miguel. At one point I began to feel the presence of my Mother and all of my Grandmothers, and I felt a warm, loving presence filling my heart. Later we had Don Jorge and Anita conduct a blessing ritual for some land Ana has out in the countryside. This was a very joyous and loving experience with singing, drumming and dance. Red and white wine were offered to Pachamama, poured onto the ground, but no tequila! And the altered state was completely natural.

Since my early encounter with the Andean spirituality I have learned much more. The Q’ero are the descendants of the Inka. They were the only indigenous community to avoid the Spanish genocide. Partly because they live up to 14,000 feet up in the Andes. They are highly respected by the various other Andean spiritual paths. Along with the Pachama and the Apus there is Mama Killa, the moon; Inti, the sun and so on. All of nature is a conscious, intelligent system. There is a 4th level initiation called the Hatun Karpay. This is a level of realization wherein we see the limitation of the impermanent ego self and begin to perceive God in everyone and every thing. An energy seed is planted and one is aided in their full realization of unity consciousness. The focus of this path is to become conscious of a living cosmos; to begin to live much more in the heart and much less in the intellect. There are two forces, Sami and Hucha that flow and interact within a field of conscious energy, the Kawsay Pacha. The Sami force is light, clear, refined and pure, relating to the pristine quality of nature. Like crisp, clean, fresh mountain air. Hucha is heavy, discordant and out of balance. This is the world resulting from human imbalances and the abuse and misuse of nature. The work of the Paqo and those on the Andean path is to rebalance the forces of Sami and Hucha, in both the external and inner worlds.

I hope you can recognize the similarity between the way of the Q’ero Paqos and the essence of Taoism as well as the parallels with non-duality. And, if we go a bit further we can see a commonality with many global indigenous spiritual views.

I often wonder what the world would be like today if the European invasion of the Americas and other cultures, had resulted in a merger of the Europeans and the Native Peoples. If they had learned and shared the view that the Earth is sacred and conscious; if they had cultivated a deep love and respect for nature a developed a “civilization” based on these sensibilities. I feel it deeply obvious that the Earth was not given to humanity to do with as we please. I also feel very deeply that the Earth Mother and the Celestial Father both will and do teach us through nature. Take some time and find a really detailed anatomy book. Look at the complexity of cell structure, the millions of synapses in the brain, the magnificent architecture of the skeleton, and more. Or just really look closely at a flowe. The action of an intelligent consciousness is, to me, beyond obvious. And, so it is with all living things, plants, rocks and minerals. I will never understand how anyone can see this and not see the sacredness of it all. One life force, one breath, one spirit, one consciousness, one love. Not Two.

Call on the Pachamama. Don’t be surprised if she answers you and asks you to dance!

Don Jorge, Q'ero Paqo

Don Jorge blessing Ana and I

Don Jorge and Anita

The First layers of the Despacho, all layers symbolic

Don Jorge and Anita, burning the Despacho offering to Pachamama