Encounters with Power: Adventures and Misadventures on the Shamanic Path of Healing - José Luis Stevens 2017
The Power of Communion: A Magical Andes Wedding
Inspiration—Ceremonialist-Healer
As usual, the list of travelers for our seventeen-day trip through the Peruvian Andes changed many times prior to our departure as various people signed on and then dropped away and others on the waiting list took their place. Nevertheless, although we did not consciously plan it, we ended up with exactly the perfect group: twelve men and twelve women, eight couples, thirteen Canadians, ten Americans, Lena and me, and one Australian. And what a wonderful mix we were!
The trip began in Lima, and our first destination was Cusco (Qosqo), the place the Peruvians call the navel of the world. We acclimated to the eleven-thousand-foot altitude and enjoyed the town’s colonial ambiance while visiting the powerful local temples. We saw the uniting of the Condor and the Eagle, the ancient prophecy about the eventual meeting of North and South America, documented in pre-Incan carvings of the stone temples. The next part of our journey took us through the Sacred Valley of the Incas to Pisac, the Temple of the Condor, Ollantaytambo, and the Temple of the Lama and the Earth. Early in the trip we prepared a despacho, an offering representing each of us that we would take along and finally burn on the Island of Amantani in Lake Titicaca. The stage was set for understanding the important Incan relationships among the condor of the upper world, the jaguar of the middle world, and the serpent of the lower world, representing truth, love, and energy, respectively, the three building blocks of the universe. With our guide Puma’s assistance, we clearly saw the vision and power of prophecy of the pre-Incan seers and the extraordinary understanding with which they approached their world.
At Machu Picchu, a Canadian couple, Tony and Susan, decided to get married and asked me to perform the ceremony, which I gladly did. That is another wonderful story all its own. However, the tale I want to focus on comes when we traveled to Lake Titicaca.
After the group arrived in Puno on the shores of the lake, two of our members became ill, so we arranged for them to stay behind in the hotel while the rest of us traveled to Amantani by boat. On the way there, a most extraordinary event took place. By this time we had come to realize that this was no ordinary trip to the Andes. While I was down below in the boat explaining the chacana, the Andean cross, to some of our travelers, Lena and others in our group were on the roof of the boat when they saw fire in the sky. It looked like something was falling into the lake, trailing rainbow-colored flames behind it. No one knew what it was just then, but it was big; it could have been a rocket, a piece of a space station, or a meteor. On the island, all the inhabitants were talking about it. Several days later we discovered that it had indeed been a meteor that hit the ground near the shores of the lake, creating a crater and causing an international incident. Apparently, the meteor punched a hole in the aquifer, which then gave off such malodorous odors that it caused many people and animals in the area to become ill.
We contemplated the odds that our group would see a meteor fall and hit the earth during the day. We also discussed Lake Titicaca as the new spiritual center for the planet, which had shifted from Tibet, a masculine center, to the lake, a feminine center in the world. For this reason, Tibetan lamas, including the Dalai Lama, had recently visited this area; they had been exchanging information and passing the baton to the Incan priests in the Andes. The Dalai Lama had also suggested that his next incarnation may be born in Peru, another sign that a shift had occurred, as the Dalai Lama is considered to be the same incarnated soul each time. It is believed that no prior Dalai Lama has ever been born outside Tibet. Now a very visible meteor lands next to the lake in full daylight. Most interesting.
On Amantani we did our ceremonial climb to the temples of the sun and moon on the twin peaks of the island, accompanied by many members of the families we stayed with, including a little band with flutes and a drum. The townspeople had dressed up Susan in traditional garb, so she took the hike in festive native attire. After visiting the temple of the sun, which was locked, as usual, we crossed the island to the temple of the moon, which to our amazement was open, though it had been closed on many prior visits. Our guide Gabriel, a local paqo, contemplated a moment and then, because it was open, invited us inside the circular temple. In we went to perform a ceremony.
We set up an altar and called in the eagle and the condor to preside, and as Lena began a beautiful song, a towering dust column formed just outside. Like a mini tornado, it jumped the wall of the temple and swirled among us, blinding everyone with blowing coca leaves, dust, and everything from the altar. I watched my vest sail a hundred feet into the air to disappear somewhere outside. Amazingly, Lena had the presence to continue singing as if nothing was happening, and suddenly the tornado was gone and all was calm. Everyone was stunned by this phenomenon. Gabriel said it was a most auspicious sign. So we put the altar together again and called up one of our travelers to honor her on her fiftieth birthday. After everyone hugged her, we called up the Canadians Tony and Susan to honor their relationship.
They had planned a wedding in November back home in Canada, but after witnessing their friends’ wedding in Machu Picchu, they were so moved and inspired that they wanted to do some kind of ceremony for their own engagement on this trip. Tony had sidled up to me the night before and asked if we could do something on the mountain the next day. So we called them up to stand in front of everyone, Susan looking most beautiful in her native attire and Tony with a native scarf; they looked just like a local couple about to get married. Suddenly a local woman jumped to Susan’s side and Gabriel jumped to Tony’s side to be the maid of honor and best man, and all the local women and men jumped up because they saw that it was a wedding — or perhaps they just wanted it to be one.
We honored the couple and everyone cried, and our friends got exactly what they had asked for. Once again I performed a wedding in a most wonderful place. After everyone congratulated them, we filed out and, at thirteen thousand feet, had a big traditional dance in the field outside with the band playing and the fabulous blue Lake Titicaca shining in every direction. Then the townswomen prepared a big feast of tubers, potatoes, fish, corn, and beer that they had lugged up the mountain on their backs almost as if they knew there would be a grand celebration. We were all more than amazed, and everyone had to admit the trip was just getting better and better and better. It was possible to be happy day after day after day without the usual grumpiness and complaining that happens on long trips to foreign lands. In great joy, we danced our way down the mountain holding hands with our Andean hosts. Later they told us this was one of their most wonderful and powerful traditions.
After leaving the island we flew to Arequipa for the final leg of our journey: to Colca Canyon to witness the flight of the condors. We took a bus to Chivay, and on the way, crossing the pass at fifteen thousand feet, we got out to add our personal touch to the thousands of cairns left for good fortune over the years by countless travelers. We were surrounded by snow-covered peaks in every direction, mountains held sacred by the Incan people.
At Chivay, a wonderful mountain village, we visited beautiful hot springs and soaked away some travel weariness. Upon arriving at our hotel in a wonderful mountain village, we were greeted by villagers celebrating a fertility festival and were immediately drawn into dancing and music all over again. The hotel boasted views of all the major apus (sacred mountains) all around and we once again feasted.
The next morning saw us up early to catch the bus to witness the condors as they circled up the thermals to fly over the cliffs. This is an event that simply cannot be described adequately. The condors circled up by the dozens, so majestic, so full of power and grace, blessing everyone in the hushed crowd of observers from every nation. It is hard to explain how the flight of these birds can bring one to tears but my deepest emotions came to the surface. After the great birds had gone, we drove back to the village for rest and free time and that night celebrated yet again with a feast and music, singing, and much laughter. Yes, it’s true: Canadians are a wild bunch, and all it takes is one additional Australian to make an outstanding party. Sprinkle in a few Americans to appreciate it all and to get a little permission to be bad, and voilà — you have the makings of a truly good time.
The next morning, now addicted to the grand birds, we decided to swing by and watch the condors again on our way back to Arequipa. We also spotted an eagle and several hawks, and some giant Andean hummingbirds balanced out the scene. This day the condors put on an even better display than the day before, spiraling and gliding around and around our heads and coming close enough that we could hear the wind whistling in their feathers. Twice blessed and grinning from ear to ear, we boarded the bus and everyone promptly went to sleep on our long journey back to Arequipa.
The next day, after flying to Lima, everyone said fond farewells, marveling at the trip we had just completed. Lena and I embarked on a quick three-day trip to the jungle for a visit with Herlinda and Enrique. The jungle heat was so intense after the cold of the Andes that we could barely move, so we underwent a short diet and quietly lay in hammocks, integrating all that had happened.
On this trip to the Andes we ate, talked, danced, drank, shared, did ceremony, saw new sights, and enjoyed meeting the local people. We celebrated, shopped, prayed, sang, and supported one another in countless little ways. As our guide Puma said over and over again, it’s not the way you arrive that matters so much, it’s the way you leave that really matters. We left truly happy.
POSTSCRIPT
When real power is truly present, certain signs are unmistakable. One is that weather phenomena are clearly synchronistic with the events taking place. In this case it was the meteor sighting and the great column of wind and dust in the temple just as we began ceremony. You could dismiss these things as mere coincidences but after a while you just cannot dismiss all of them, especially when they are extremely rare events. Another sign that power is at hand is the tendency for everyone present to become telepathic with one another and anticipate and naturally know what to do next. This is hard to explain but is illustrated by the connectedness of the villagers to the moods and intentions of our group when we visited the feminine peak. Nothing was actually announced ahead of time, but somehow everyone knew what was going to happen and how to respond.
EXERCISE
Pay close attention to every little weather phenomenon for the next couple of days. For example, notice what you were thinking just before a sudden breeze came along. What were you saying just as you heard a roll of thunder in the distance, when it started to rain heavily, or when a cloud passed over the sun? See if you can notice a relationship between the natural environment and what you are thinking and feeling.