The rich heritage and spiritual power of the Andean civilization is only now being properly acknowledged, after 500 years of darkness. This Article examines some of these traditions. Howard G Charing and Peter Cloudsley hold retirement programs in the Andes and the Amazon, where we work with most shamans and traditional healers.
The Mesa Nortena is a particular ceremonial tradition best conserved in the region of 'Las Huaringa' high and remote sacred lakes in the northern department of Piura.
It is likely that only a few good maestros who continue this ancient tradition to Peru today. The rest simply work with the externalities of the mesa, while giving their clients minimal doses of the visionary cactus San Pedro. Originally more importance was given to medicine, which must be in the organization of participants and the Maestro for power flow. The mesa was then used to intensify the power plant.
An altered state of consciousness is required to enter the symbolic universe of objects on the mesa (the word refers to the altar and the ceremony itself). The abundance of macerated plants, perfumes and scents employed in the Mesa to move the feelings associated with memories. At a deep level, sensations are translated into vibrations which the medicine brings to consciousness so that associated hurt and the pain can be "re-membered 'again and a new attitude can emerge.
The singado or absorption of macerated tobacco juice through the nostrils involves another medicine, energy is used to intensify the San Pedro at regular intervals. The direction of the maestro to pour up the left nostril or the right reflecting the notion of duality found in shamanic disciplines all over the world: masculine and feminine, hot and cold world above and the earth, expansion and contraction, flow and stagnation. The disease results from one of these polarities lose balance. Singado The word comes from the Quechua word singa meaning nose and is perhaps a notion Andean Pranayama!
The trend towards commercialization of a tradition associated with urbanization and see things for their usefulness and companies. For example mesas are sometimes held so that lawyers win legal battles. Piles of documents are placed on the mesa so that the power works on them and they win their case. In this way a shamanic ceremony is degraded to folklore. We can try to reconstruct the original tradition of how He was in pre-Columbian times and remove the images of Sarita Colonia and the other saints, crucifixes, pictures, etc., that have accumulated over centuries and evolved the mesa into the mestizo tradition which survives today. Left behind are the ancient stones, magic plant brews and the enchanted waters Lakes Las Huaringa, being the original elements, which have survived underneath.
Ofrenda
An 'ofrenda' is the most important ceremony used by Andean Indians to relate with Mother Earth. The ofrenda is a symbol of reciprocity with nature and purpose is to teach us to reproduce this attitude. Through it, we talk back to nature saying we understand the message and concord.
The ofrenda which is also known in Spanish as a 'pago', is not
'payment' to nature as the Conquistadores saw it, implying a sinister pact with the nature spirits. In addition, they accused the Indians of being miserly because they preferred to pay rather than symbolically with money real!
An ofrenda is an expression of gratitude, no debt or obligation. It is not selfish to want things for ourselves as some see it even today. He now is true that urban people in Peru have begun to ofrendas for reasons such as wanting their businesses prosper, but good can also mean good health, and harmony in the community and the natural world.
In a realities of the Andean Community are closer to the earth that are in the city, it is more important than cattle do not die, to have more private possessions. Thus, in the country, there is a better understanding of the meaning of the shamanistic ceremony, restoring the relationship to nature. It is why we need a little preparation, so that change brings with it new on the Earth (Pachamama). Each Pachacuti is a era of time approximately 500 years. The last Pachacuti occurred with the conquest of the early 16th century, and Q'ero (Inca) priests have been waiting for the next era, when order would begin to emerge from chaos. The current Pachacuti refers to the end of time that we understand the purpose or the death of a way of thinking and a way of being. A new relationship with the living earth, and an appearance in a golden age of peace. There many indications that changes in human consciousness is underway, but there is still a long way to go. Traditional methods can inform us and show how we can reconnect with the sacredness of life and earth if we can participate more fully in the new Pachacuti.
About the Author:
Howard G. Charing, is an international workshop leader on shamanism. He has worked some of the most respected and extraordinary shamans & healers in the Andes, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Philippines. Together with Peter Cloudsley he organises specialist retreats to the Amazon Rainforest. He is the author of the best selling book, Plant Spirit Shamanism.
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Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The Sacred Traditions of the Andean Culture of Peru