I had the wonderful and amazing opportunity to spend a full day with some visiting Shamans…I listened, I learned and I carried so much with me when I left.
I sat in the room with 30 others, seeing these beautiful people of Peru. They were peaceful and warm. Their smiles were full-bodied and genuine. They exuded love like I had not known before. They truly had never met any of us but really loved each person to the core.
Don Marco translated for the other four, Don Julia, Don Martin, Don Isabel and Don Olinda.Two of them had come from the North of Peru and the others from the South. And, although their medicine was different, their purpose and philosophy was the same.
The day began by hearing stories of simplicity and tradition. They spoke of the richness of their culture. They told of how they became shamans, the incident in their lives that was of the ‘Divine’. Life had become devoted to healing. They worked 12 to 14 hours every single day, without break, just to help people. Their labor was energy work, that which is invisible, that which most of us shun or choose not to believe. Their stories were of miracles, amazing healings, and magic.
Don Julia began and spoke of her little education. Her inclination was to be around the wise ones rather than be in school. She would hide amidst the elder shamans as a child to learn their ways. They spoke of the plants and the animals, the wind, water, earth, and fire…the voice of each. She talked of Pachymama, ‘Mother Earth’, and how she provides so much for us. She spoke of giving blessings back to the Great Mother in gratitude. Don Julia recounted the day, as a young girl in the mountains of Peru, collecting plants for the other Shamans, when all of a sudden they began to speak to her. She was able to hear their voices and they spoke of medicine and how to heal. One plant in particular called out to her. She went to it and it asked of her to be plucked. It was not a plant she had seen before and she did not know what its use was but did as told. Upon arriving back at the village, a small child had been brought. All of the elders were away so no shaman was available to help him. He was gravely ill. The plant called to her again and directed her in how it should be prepared and given to the small boy. Three days later, the boy rose. Today he is a medical doctor. She recounted many miracles that day.
Don Olinda and Don Isabel were know as ‘the twins’ even though they were not related; nor did they look alike. However, the worked together. Don Olinda was a seer. She could discern the ‘Luminous Body’, the invisible overlay that surrounds our bodies as a sheath, also known as the energetic body. She could see the dark spots, tears, and holes caused from physical dis-ease, emotional pain, and other trauma. Don Isabel was the healer. Don Olinda would describe the area, its density and coloring and Don Olinda would know what to do to heal it.
Finally, Don Martin spoke. He seemed as if he was of the earth, yet also kept a foot in another world, one that surrounded all of us…watches over us and knows only peace. He spoke of his love for us and how there was so much work to do because so many people are in pain: physical, emotional, mental, and most of all spiritual. As he took his mesa, full of cocoa leaves, he shook it around and breathed deeply into it, revealling a prayer asking for the words we all needed to hear and take back. I was moved by his faith…his integrity…but most of all his trust.
His eyes were slightly parted, his face shone upward toward the ceiling, his words came forth lovingly but firmly as if we were being spoken to …through him. He talked of the magic in the world and how unconscious most of us are of it. He said that there is only magic, either light or dark…no other force. What did we choose to live in…what did we choose to dominate our lives? Could we lift the veil that blinded us from seeing what is real…what truly matters…what is of light? He spoke of simplicity. He spoke of a time when people revered and listened to Mother Earth…a time when medicine was solely from the Great mother. he talked of disease that does not exist in Peru, yet is so rampant elsewhere…Why? He spoke of the peace and happiness of indigenous peoples of the world and their reverance for one another…for earth…for life. He spoke of living in the moment and not grappling into the past or pushing… running toward the future because those two actions stem from ‘fear.’
He spoke of living in the ‘NOW’…living from the heart center. “The greatest disease of all is the epidemic of closed hearts that abound this planet.” He spoke of how the dark magic of marketing, television, progress, drugs, prescriptions and alcohol only serve to deaden our senses. “They are a tool of the dark. They keep you from the silence…from knowing what you feel, what you want…and who you are.” Their convenience takes you away from nature…the source of all knowledge, wisdom, and connection.”
This was an extremely powerful meeting for me. I walked away looking at life differently. Although many of their thoughts resonate with my consciousness, I was able to grow even more. How often do we live from fear, staying stuck in the past or projecting into a future that has not even happened yet? How often do we choose television, ipods, computers, medicine, alcohol and the like to escape? How often do we make the excuses to have those things just because we are afraid to sit in our silence and see what comes up? How often do we choose ‘dark’ over ‘light’?
They both exist…
It is time to acknowledge their presence within life. It is also time to acknowledge that there is always a choice…
Each and every moment…
You have a choice between ‘dark’ and ‘light’…
Between ‘fear’ and ‘love’…
Until the next…Fashion Emergency!!!
Warmest regards,
Simran Singh