Shamanism
Vickie has been studying with the Healing the Light Body School with the Four Winds Society since 2005.
Shamanism
I began studying with the Healing the Light Body School with the Four Winds Society in 2005. As part of this teaching, I have traveled to Peru several times. While I was in the Amazon jungle on a recent trip to Peru, I received direct instruction from the Q’uero shamans that it is time to step out as a shamanic practitioner. As part of my journey in Peru I did ayahuasca under the stars and moon of a beautiful night sky. Ayahuasca is psychoactive brew made in part from this vine, whose active ingredient is harmine, which allows one to be guided beyond the realms of death. Aya is the Quechua (native language of the Q’uero people, descendants of the ancient Incans) word for death. Huasca is rope or vine. Ayahuasca is a sacred medicine of the jungle shaman, has been used for ritual and visionary purposes since prehistory, and it is said that one experiences death and rebirth with it. The magic of Ayahuasca rests in its ability to find, focus, diagnose and heal the causes of one’s personal problems or illness as well as the symptoms. The cleansing and healing is deep, to the core, and is therefore likely to have a lasting, positive effect on the person taking it. To me, it is plant spirit medicine at its best.
Vision Quest – Transformation!
During my first ayahuasca experience I had visions of hard plastic-looking brightly colored geometric shapes (especially triangles) and designs swirling and floating all around me. They looked like pegboards because they had many beads of color close to each other all over the shapes. They made me rather dizzy and yucky feeling from their constant movement. Then some strange looking people appeared. One looked like a New Orleans jazz musician in a dark suit and fedora-like hat. Another, a woman, had long stiff-looking bright red clothing. None of them felt dark or threatening and they were all motioning and calling to me to “Come this way….” I had no idea what this meant and was a little miffed that I was not receiving a death and rebirth right there on the spot. It started to gently rain and I felt cleansed and purified from the experience. As many of you know, I use water in my work as a tool for cleansing, purifying, and as a carrier of intent and energy especially from sacred sites around the world. So it seemed appropriate to me that it would rain providing water for these purposes. Later, I remarked to others who were also doing ayahuasca how much I enjoyed the refreshing gentle rain. Everyone looked questioningly at each other and I was informed that it had not rained. But I could feel it; it was real to me!!
I also saw a film or grid of energy above me when I opened my eyes. It looked like snake skin but felt very protective like a shield keeping me safe and secure. I remember seeing what I sensed as snake skin during a previous ceremony with the Four Winds Society when I was gifted the bands of power during one of the Munay Ki Rites while studying the direction of the South. The snake skin looked like the gemstone Malachite with swirling patterns, only beige and brown in color. It kept moving and getting compressed and then uncompressed. The snake skin grid which appeared during the ayahuasca ceremony was white and I could see the stars and sky through it. The energy felt the same. In the Incan tradition the winds or direction of the South are represented by the archetype of the serpent, Sachamama, who travels across the Earth with her belly to the Earth, receiving the energy of the Earth, teaching us to shed our past as she sheds her skin. Serpent is the life force of union and creation. A reminder to me to shed old stories and to create new creations.
Several days later I visited the Incan ruins near Pisac, the Temple of the Falcon, where I received the rites of the Starkeepers from a shaman named Don Pasqual. This rite anchors you safely to the time after the great change that is said will occur on or around the year 2012 and you acquire stewardship of the time to come and all future generations. Your physical body begins to evolve into that of Homo Luminous (people who will be informed from their innate luminosity and luminous architecture), the aging process is slowed down, and you become resistant to diseases to which you were once vulnerable. You begin to live and process the events that occur in your life at the level of Spirit.
As Don Pasqual administered my rites I flashed back on my ayahuasca journey days before in the Amazon. Don Pasqual was wearing the traditional beaded hat and poncho typically worn by the Q’uero shamans. They are brightly colored and have triangles of beadwork all over them. His poncho also had a pattern of triangles. I realized that this is what I had seen while doing the ayahuasca! The shamans were inviting me into their world, encouraging me to “come this way.” Many of the Peruvian women wear hats introduced by Europeans to the men of Peru. The men didn’t like them, but the women did. This was the fedora-like hat that I had seen. And ponchos are usually red and appear as stiff-looking.
So, I had my transformation after all! I received confirmation that it is time to shed the past unwillingness to step fully into the role of shaman and that it is time to recognize that we all need support and help as we evolve from Homo Sapiens to Homo Luminous.
Following this direction, I am now available to administer despachos to individuals or to groups.
Despacho Ceremonies
A despacho is a ceremonial offering composed of a wide variety of items, each with its own symbolic meaning. The items are intricately arranged on white paper, blessed by the shaman performing the ceremony, bundled up and burned, buried, or sunk in a lake or other body of water. Despachos feed our connections to the sacred and can have many purposes. There are several types of despachos that can be performed by a shaman.
The ayni despacho is a way of establishing reciprocity, right relationship, balance and harmony with the Universe. If you give you will receive and if you receive you must give back. It is an honoring of the cycle of abundance and gratitude. This despacho brings many blessings and can be done for specific purposes such as creating harmony, good will, munay (love, respect), marriage, etc. This is an excellent way to promote abundance in a business endeavor or increase co-operation on projects. The beginning of a year is an excellent time to do an ayni despacho. See image below.
The aya despacho or the death despacho is performed to break connections or to soothe the transition from one situation to another. It is used after divorce, ending of a relationship, ending of a job or career, loss of a loved one, etc. The ending of the year is an excellent time to do an aya despacho.
The cuti despacho is used to release sorcery against a person. If someone is psychically attacking you or you are feeling immersed in hucha (heavy energy) that connection is released by the cuti despacho. This is only used in rare circumstances and must be done carefully.
