The Q'ero are a Quechua speaking Andean tribe living high in the mountain plains of Peru. The Despacho ceremony is one of the primary ways their Pacos (shamans) communicate with the natural world.
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Did you know that Curiosity is one of the keys to healing and transformation? Are you curious in your life and about what you really can create? Or do you go along with a set of beliefs that keep you in a constant struggle or fear of change?
Einstein is a great example of someone who lived a life led by curiosity. He constantly asked questions of life and his relationship with the Divine, living life as a Divine Conversation.
If you live life with curiosity, your life will reflect and flow based on the questions you are asking.... giving you more than you expected you could receive. Your curiosity opens your imagination and the world of Spirit, or the Quantum field, to respond to you. Your curiosity creates a conversation with the Divine!
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Most people are familiar with the traditional image of Father Christmas (aka Santa Claus). The 1823 poem of Major Henry Livingston Jr, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'1 crystallised this image, and countless Christmas cards reinforced it. Father Christmas appears as a rather plump, white-bearded old man, dressed in red clothing with white buttons and trimmings. Such imagery also frequently depicts him:
Prior to a recent shamanic pilgrimage to ancient, sacred lands in Mexico I sat in my studio and inwardly connected to the ancient shamans and peoples who have for centuries walked this land in ceremony and ritual. I asked for a vision and guidance to prepare me for my journey. An image (to the left) began to flow onto the canvas, and I began to feel the guidance of a great shaman. He was a Master, fully awake and filled with Light, Wisdom and Love. Though male in presentation, I experienced an androgynous sense of this Being, completely balanced in the male and female energies. He told me he is a Huichol Mera 'kame.... or shaman of the Huichol peoples. He is a teacher and is here to bring more light through his imagery and messages. He came to prepare me for my journey to Mexico. He told me I would only paint part of this painting now, and then finish the painting upon my return from the pilgrimage I was about to set off on.
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As life flows in its ups and downs it seems like all we can do is sit down, tired from all the change, sometimes from struggle, and other times from the experience of great heights. In my journey of late, I have had amazing experiences on my shamanic path, feeling so very connected to Spirit and my guidance, with my one foot in the Spirit world, and the other in the physical world. And at times it seems challenging to traverse the physical world that wants to be linear. Yet, the magic of my shamanic path has reminded me all I have to do is "just take one more step..." and to look for the magic in the journey.
Have you ever wondered if you could learn how to dream the future? With the struggles of the 21st century, the bp oil spill, global warming, financial upheaval and an uncertain job and housing market, can you really affect your future in the big picture? Even if you aren’t confident in affecting such large issues, can you dream your own little future? The Secret and other metaphysical concepts have been revealed the past few years with great interest from the masses, yet, how do you really change your course and create a more certain future filled with all the good stuff you really would like to happen?
I am just home from Peru, the Amazon and the jungle. What an adventure!! Truly, a place of beauty, many creatures large and small... even the small creatures are large though! I had the great fortune to join some dear friends dedicated to personal growth through shamanic practices, and to go on an adventure into the wilds of the jungle at the top of the Amazon river in Peru.
I arrived in Lima, Peru Oct. 16, 2009. The plane flights from Denver to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Lima proved to run several hours late this particular trip. Luckily, we arrived a day early so we could aclimate before the next leg of the journey into Iquitos. After 13 or so hours of travel, delays and all, about half our group gathered at the airport in the early morning hours. After all our luggage was retrieved, we took a van to our hotel in Mira Flores (a district in Lima near the market downtown.
Life is but a dream... yes really. Shamanic traditions from around the world will tell you that we are living a a dream. So, if this is true, are you dreaming a good dream?
In this dream, our world is made up of vibration, and patterns of light expressing as color, form and sound. We are all born within the perfect patterns of Creation. When we struggle, are in pain, illness and suffering, our patterns become tangled and we are disconnected from the perfect patterns of Creation and Source expressing through us.
In the Amazon the shamans vision ceremonially and see and hear the patterns of Creation in beautiful light and sound. To heal people who are ailing from distorted patterns, they sing Icaros (healing songs) into their bodies. These Icaros or songs, will also be painted in visionary art, or woven into clothes and jewelry to be worn or used in the home to bring the healings.
Katherine Skaggs - as published in the Healing Path Magazine 2008
In November 2007 I had no plans of going to India — until after I had said a series of prayers on Thanksgiving Day. I surrendered to Spirit and asked in the depths of my earnest heart to allow me to live only in love and to release karma or suffering. I chanted Om namah shivaya and tucked myself into bed to read for the day, alone and away from gatherings of family and friends. As I was reading, I realized that I wasn’t alone. Up to my right above me was the elephant-headed god looking down upon me. I couldn’t remember his name, but I knew who it was and said “Hi.”
