Peru is the third largest country by area in South America (1'285,000 km2), after Brazil and Argentina.
Peru has 3 very distinct climatic regions: a very arid Western coastal zone, a Central High Mountainous zone (Andean region), and a humid Tropical Jungle zone (dense Amazonian rain-forest) to the East.
With its population concentrated in the dry coastal zone, the availability of water is critical to the local population as glacier retreat has become extensive.
The Andes control Peru's climate; Atlantic air masses, blocked by the mountains, provide a warm, humid climate in the East, and the cold Humbolt Current creates a dry climate along the Pacific coast.
The annual oscillation of the inter-tropical convergence zone causes annual dry (May to October) and wet (November to April) seasons.
Nearly all the water that is available in the coastal region comes from Rivers of glacier origin on the Western slopes of the Andes.
The Saint River (Rio Santa) Basin is located in the Ancash Region of Peru about 400 km North of Lima. Its source is the Lake Conococha (4,080 above sea level), which is fed by small streams of the Black mountain range (Cordillera Negra) and Lake Macar in Tuco River originating in the glaciers of Tuco Nevado in the White mountain region (Cordillera Blanca). It has the second largest flow of the Peruvian coastal rivers. Twenty of the twenty-three tributary streams arise from the glaciers.
The water from the Saint River supplies a large area of mostly agricultural activity between 2,000 and 4,000 m elevation; a hydrolelectric plant representing 5% of Peru's total energy production capacity; a large scale of intensive commercial agriculture in the coastal area; and a large part of the drinking water to 2 major urban areas on the coast, Chimbote and Trujillo.
The White mountain range, located approximately 180 km from the Peruvian coast where the Nazca plate dips below the South American continental plate, is relatively a recent intrusion. Large-scale uplift has produced the current White and Black mountain ranges with the Huaylas Aisle in between them forming the Saint River Basin. Mount Huascaran has a height of 6,780 m rising 2,500 m above the Saint River Valley in less than 15km. This great height, plus global cooling periods, has led to major and repeated glaciation of the region. Variations in climate affect glacial advance and recession and the length of the seasons
The Saint River (Rio Santa) runs North from Lake Conococha between the White and the Black mountain ranges (Blanca and Negra Cordilleras), forming the Huaylas Aisle (Callejon the Huaylas).
Further downstream, after passing the Duck Canon (Canon del pato), at the confluence with the Rio Manta, the River turns West and finally arrives at the coast near the city of Chimbote and outlet at the Pacific Ocean.
The White mountain range (Cordillera Blanca) is the most extensively glaciated tropical region in the World with more than 30 peaks in excess of 6,000 m above sea level. The Highland areas of the Saint River Basin feature extensive rural subsistence farming and grazing. The middle Basin supports irrigated farming and is home to the Duck Canon (Canon del Pato) hydroelectric facility, one of the largest in Peru. It is one of the hardest hit regions of the World in terms of Floods from glacial Lakes and large ice avalanches.
The glacially-dominated Saint River Basin now faces unique challenges in adapting to recent and continuing climate change, including projected reduced dry season flows and increased threats of glacial lake Floods. As glaciers have melted in the Andes, new glacier lakes have been created or enlarged presenting the risk of glacial lake outburst Floods.
The White mountain region has a long history of glacier-related catastrophes that has been recorded since 1725. A notable example is the 1941 Lake Palca'Cocha disaster in Huaraz, Peru that killed nearly 6,000 people within minutes. Events such as the 1941 prompted the creation of the Glaciological Unit in Huaraz that has developed methods to successfully drain and control 35 Lakes throughout the range.
Nevertheless, these precautions have not fully addressed the threat of glacial lake outburst Floods.
On April 12, 2010 following an extremely warm year, an ice avalanche the size of several football fields, fell into a Lake and caused extensive flooding downstream, destroying at least 50 homes.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Friday, March 24, 2017
THE ANDEAN SHAMAN.
The Andean Shaman is known as an individual who never are in the position of demanding power; doing so would arouse the anger of the elemental spirits that dwell in the whole cosmos.
A Shaman without the protection of the laws controlling them is nothing. However, if a shaman works in a respectful union with the laws wields a power rivaled by few.
The Andean Shaman is the mortal mediator between the volatile elemental energies of the planet and the forces acting in the whole universe, binding altogether. He works hard to keep the elementals pacified, by talking to and dealing with them, thus ensuring they do not cause trouble in the World. Its main goal is to maintain the balance between the World and the elementals that dwell upon it.
Elemental spirits are by nature chaotic and destructive, but also capable of reasoning and clever actions.
They care nothing of the battle between Order and Chaos and have a passing interest in the conflict of good and evil. Their role is one of cosmic balance in order to keep the World as a place of dwelling for mortals and for them.
The Andean Shaman does not demonize or pervert the essence of the elementals. The planet earth is distinctive because of its fiery nature marking its landscape with strange pattern of transformational power marked by the familiar energy lines that distribute the cosmic energy within its landscape.
The Andean Shaman is very familiar with these energy lines seeing the fiery vortexes of such power as it runs in a straight line making them a reminder of the power structures within the landscape. He obeys the ancient guidance of the elemental beings and will listen inwardly to their call. The seed-planting calendar with the certain days, and even hours, are in direct contact with certain constellation of stars and planets because their magnetism enhance the growth of plants. The elementals mediate life processes between heaven and earth. It is in their domain to signal the right sowing times. The purpose is to make the Andean farmers less susceptible to the reasoning of their minds, and rather to trust the ancient ways and language of nature.
The Andean Shaman is able to perform extractions. An extraction is the removal of an object from a person's aura and energetic body. He must find the soul of the person in the world of the living and then find the source of trouble. He can quickly diagnose the patient's illness by seeing the symbolic image of the disease on the person's body. Problems with the throat area appear as a cursing dart hindering the person's breath. Stomach problems are seen as dark, viscous masses attacking a person's center and spreading like miniature explosions. Tumors are viewed as solid, black masses in the person's energy field. After the problem is detected, the shaman then works to restore vitality of the damaged area. If he encounters a cursing dart, he simply pulls it out, removes any residual poison with his mouth, spits it out and then uses his fingertips to fill the area with gold healing light. The process is almost the same for stomach disease. He will find the black area, isolate it, compact it into the shape of a small ball, and then pull out the sphere. He then throws the mass toward the center of the Earth. The disease is neutralized as the universal light in the center of the Earth's core breaks down the dark components.
The Andean Shaman knows no limitations in terms of using energy healing to attack the disease. The healing is instant, possible, and exceptional.
The Andean Shaman then works to increase a person's aura and energetic field, which is a projection of a person's energy, thoughts, consciousness, and general well-being. He gently envelops the patient with the universal energy field from the great source and then fuses this golden energy onto the body using his own life force and the universal fountain to accomplish the task. When the energetic healing is complete, his final step is to pass on a message that usually is a secret whispered in the patient's ear. It could be advice, a message of hope, etc. Once the soul piece is retrieved, the shaman returns with it to our waking World. Then the shaman emerges from his cave, slowly stirring as his consciousness rejoins normal reality. If the shaman travels to the lower world for guidance, then he travels to the upper world for revelation. When the shaman comes back to ordinary reality after journeying the upper world, some of them cry profusely or even go through periods of depression. This happen because he has left a place of cosmic Love, a zone of such pure Love, that returning to the problems of the waking world is tragic.
A Shaman without the protection of the laws controlling them is nothing. However, if a shaman works in a respectful union with the laws wields a power rivaled by few.
The Andean Shaman is the mortal mediator between the volatile elemental energies of the planet and the forces acting in the whole universe, binding altogether. He works hard to keep the elementals pacified, by talking to and dealing with them, thus ensuring they do not cause trouble in the World. Its main goal is to maintain the balance between the World and the elementals that dwell upon it.
Elemental spirits are by nature chaotic and destructive, but also capable of reasoning and clever actions.
They care nothing of the battle between Order and Chaos and have a passing interest in the conflict of good and evil. Their role is one of cosmic balance in order to keep the World as a place of dwelling for mortals and for them.
The Andean Shaman does not demonize or pervert the essence of the elementals. The planet earth is distinctive because of its fiery nature marking its landscape with strange pattern of transformational power marked by the familiar energy lines that distribute the cosmic energy within its landscape.
The Andean Shaman is very familiar with these energy lines seeing the fiery vortexes of such power as it runs in a straight line making them a reminder of the power structures within the landscape. He obeys the ancient guidance of the elemental beings and will listen inwardly to their call. The seed-planting calendar with the certain days, and even hours, are in direct contact with certain constellation of stars and planets because their magnetism enhance the growth of plants. The elementals mediate life processes between heaven and earth. It is in their domain to signal the right sowing times. The purpose is to make the Andean farmers less susceptible to the reasoning of their minds, and rather to trust the ancient ways and language of nature.
The Andean Shaman is able to perform extractions. An extraction is the removal of an object from a person's aura and energetic body. He must find the soul of the person in the world of the living and then find the source of trouble. He can quickly diagnose the patient's illness by seeing the symbolic image of the disease on the person's body. Problems with the throat area appear as a cursing dart hindering the person's breath. Stomach problems are seen as dark, viscous masses attacking a person's center and spreading like miniature explosions. Tumors are viewed as solid, black masses in the person's energy field. After the problem is detected, the shaman then works to restore vitality of the damaged area. If he encounters a cursing dart, he simply pulls it out, removes any residual poison with his mouth, spits it out and then uses his fingertips to fill the area with gold healing light. The process is almost the same for stomach disease. He will find the black area, isolate it, compact it into the shape of a small ball, and then pull out the sphere. He then throws the mass toward the center of the Earth. The disease is neutralized as the universal light in the center of the Earth's core breaks down the dark components.
The Andean Shaman knows no limitations in terms of using energy healing to attack the disease. The healing is instant, possible, and exceptional.
The Andean Shaman then works to increase a person's aura and energetic field, which is a projection of a person's energy, thoughts, consciousness, and general well-being. He gently envelops the patient with the universal energy field from the great source and then fuses this golden energy onto the body using his own life force and the universal fountain to accomplish the task. When the energetic healing is complete, his final step is to pass on a message that usually is a secret whispered in the patient's ear. It could be advice, a message of hope, etc. Once the soul piece is retrieved, the shaman returns with it to our waking World. Then the shaman emerges from his cave, slowly stirring as his consciousness rejoins normal reality. If the shaman travels to the lower world for guidance, then he travels to the upper world for revelation. When the shaman comes back to ordinary reality after journeying the upper world, some of them cry profusely or even go through periods of depression. This happen because he has left a place of cosmic Love, a zone of such pure Love, that returning to the problems of the waking world is tragic.
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
THE TEMPLE OF CHAVIN DE HUANTAR.
The archaeological site of Chavin gave its name to the culture that developed between the 15th and 5th BC in this High Valley of the Peruvian Andes, in the Province of Huari, Department of Ancash, 250km North of Lima, Peru.
At 3,150m/10,330ft in elevation, the religious centre sits between the Eastern (Snowless or Black) and Western (Snowy or White) ranges (Cordilleras) of the Andes, near to the site are the 2 of the few Mountain Passes that allow passage between the desert coast to the West and the Amazon Jungle to the East. It is also located nearby the confluence of the Huachesca and Mosna Rivers, a natural phenomenon of two joining one that symbolically was seen as a spiritual and powerful phenomenon.
Chavin was a ceremonial and pilgrimage centre for the Andean religious World and hosted people from different latitudes, distances and languages, becoming an important centre of religious, ideological, and cultural convergence and dissemination around a central worship that spread over a wide territory of the Andes, as far as North, Central, and South coasts, the Northern Highlands, and High Jungle of Peru.
Chavin is one of the earliest and best known pre-Inca sites and represents the more important expression of the arts, decorative, and construction techniques of its time.
The visual legacy of the ceremonial and cultural nature is evident in its architectural, technological, and symbolic creation, which is characterized by coated quarried stone buildings and artificial terraces around plazas, in which an internal gallery system with an intricate network of vents and drains is designed to function without windows to the outside world.
The Temple complex that stands today comprise 2 building phases: -the U-shaped Old Temple, and the New Temple, which expanded the Old Temple and added a rectangular sunken court. Walls and Floors are composed of roughly-shaped stones in many sizes. Finer smoothed stone was used for carved elements. From its first construction, the interior of the Temple was riddle with a multitude of tunnels. While some of the maze-like tunnels are connected with each other, others are completely separated. All the tunnels existed and functioned in complete darkness -there are no windows in them, although many smaller tunnels that allow air pass through the structure functions as vents. The acoustics of these structures are extremely high that may have projected sounds form inside the Temple to the outside world. The location of Chavin seems to have helped make it a special place. The decoration of buildings and plazas used anthropomorphic and zoo-morphic symbolic iconography of extraordinary aesthetic synthesis, carved in bas-relief on tomstones, columns, beams, and monolithic stone sculptures.
The Chavin Spear (Lanzon), the Stela, the Obelisk, the Faconidae Gate (Portico), the Circular Plaza, and the Tenon Heads, among others, are evidence of the outstanding and monumental Chavin art and make the archaeological site a unique monument of universal significance.
The deity for whom the Temple was constructed was represented in the Chavin Spear (Lanzon), a notched wedge-shaped stone over 15 ft tall, carved with the image of a supernatural being, and located deep within the Old Temple, intersecting several tunnels. The name Great Spear is en reference to the stone's shaped figure, that would be the representation of the digging stick used in traditional Highland agriculture. The shape indicated that the deity's power was ensuring successful planting and harvest.
The supernatural being carved in the Spear depicts a standing figure with a very large round eyes looking upward. Its mouth is also large, with bared teeth and protruding fangs. The left hand of the figure rests pointing down, while the right hand is raised upward, encompassing the Heavens and the Earth. Both hands have long, talon-like fingernails. A carved channel runs from the top of the Spear to the figure's forehead.
Two key elements characterize the deity: it is a mixture of human and animal features, and the symbolic representation favors a complex and visually outstanding style that may create a sort of confusion to the ones not familiar with the Andean religion beliefs. The fangs and talons indicate associations with the Jaguar and the Caiman, representing the power invested in them that comes from the jungle lowlands and they are seen elsewhere in Chavin art and in Andean iconography. The eyebrows and hair of the figure have rendered as snakes, making them red as both bodily features and animals.
Further visual complexities emerge in the animal heads that decorate the bottom of the figure's tunic, where 2 heads share a single fanged mouth. This technique, where 2 images share parts or outlines, is called contour rivalry. Chavin art creates a dual and visually complex style that is deliberately confusing, creating a barrier between believers that can see its true form and those who cannot.
While the Spear itself was placed deep in the Temple, the same iconography and contour rivalry was used in Chavin art on the outside of the Temple and in portable wares that have been found throughout Peru.
The serpent motif seen in the Spear is also visible in a nose ornament. This kind of nose ornament, which pinches or passes through the septum, is a common form in the Andes. The 2 serpent heads flank right and left, with the same upward-looking eyes as the Spear. The swirling forms beneath them also evoke the sculpture's eye shape. An ornament like this have worn to show not only the power invested in the individual but allegiance to their beliefs.
Metallurgy in the New World first developed in South America before traveling North, and objects such as the nose ornaments that combine spiritual wealth and physical approach to it are among the earliest known examples. This particular piece was formed by hammering and cutting the gold.
At 3,150m/10,330ft in elevation, the religious centre sits between the Eastern (Snowless or Black) and Western (Snowy or White) ranges (Cordilleras) of the Andes, near to the site are the 2 of the few Mountain Passes that allow passage between the desert coast to the West and the Amazon Jungle to the East. It is also located nearby the confluence of the Huachesca and Mosna Rivers, a natural phenomenon of two joining one that symbolically was seen as a spiritual and powerful phenomenon.
Chavin was a ceremonial and pilgrimage centre for the Andean religious World and hosted people from different latitudes, distances and languages, becoming an important centre of religious, ideological, and cultural convergence and dissemination around a central worship that spread over a wide territory of the Andes, as far as North, Central, and South coasts, the Northern Highlands, and High Jungle of Peru.
Chavin is one of the earliest and best known pre-Inca sites and represents the more important expression of the arts, decorative, and construction techniques of its time.
The visual legacy of the ceremonial and cultural nature is evident in its architectural, technological, and symbolic creation, which is characterized by coated quarried stone buildings and artificial terraces around plazas, in which an internal gallery system with an intricate network of vents and drains is designed to function without windows to the outside world.
The Temple complex that stands today comprise 2 building phases: -the U-shaped Old Temple, and the New Temple, which expanded the Old Temple and added a rectangular sunken court. Walls and Floors are composed of roughly-shaped stones in many sizes. Finer smoothed stone was used for carved elements. From its first construction, the interior of the Temple was riddle with a multitude of tunnels. While some of the maze-like tunnels are connected with each other, others are completely separated. All the tunnels existed and functioned in complete darkness -there are no windows in them, although many smaller tunnels that allow air pass through the structure functions as vents. The acoustics of these structures are extremely high that may have projected sounds form inside the Temple to the outside world. The location of Chavin seems to have helped make it a special place. The decoration of buildings and plazas used anthropomorphic and zoo-morphic symbolic iconography of extraordinary aesthetic synthesis, carved in bas-relief on tomstones, columns, beams, and monolithic stone sculptures.
The Chavin Spear (Lanzon), the Stela, the Obelisk, the Faconidae Gate (Portico), the Circular Plaza, and the Tenon Heads, among others, are evidence of the outstanding and monumental Chavin art and make the archaeological site a unique monument of universal significance.
The deity for whom the Temple was constructed was represented in the Chavin Spear (Lanzon), a notched wedge-shaped stone over 15 ft tall, carved with the image of a supernatural being, and located deep within the Old Temple, intersecting several tunnels. The name Great Spear is en reference to the stone's shaped figure, that would be the representation of the digging stick used in traditional Highland agriculture. The shape indicated that the deity's power was ensuring successful planting and harvest.
The supernatural being carved in the Spear depicts a standing figure with a very large round eyes looking upward. Its mouth is also large, with bared teeth and protruding fangs. The left hand of the figure rests pointing down, while the right hand is raised upward, encompassing the Heavens and the Earth. Both hands have long, talon-like fingernails. A carved channel runs from the top of the Spear to the figure's forehead.
Two key elements characterize the deity: it is a mixture of human and animal features, and the symbolic representation favors a complex and visually outstanding style that may create a sort of confusion to the ones not familiar with the Andean religion beliefs. The fangs and talons indicate associations with the Jaguar and the Caiman, representing the power invested in them that comes from the jungle lowlands and they are seen elsewhere in Chavin art and in Andean iconography. The eyebrows and hair of the figure have rendered as snakes, making them red as both bodily features and animals.
Further visual complexities emerge in the animal heads that decorate the bottom of the figure's tunic, where 2 heads share a single fanged mouth. This technique, where 2 images share parts or outlines, is called contour rivalry. Chavin art creates a dual and visually complex style that is deliberately confusing, creating a barrier between believers that can see its true form and those who cannot.
While the Spear itself was placed deep in the Temple, the same iconography and contour rivalry was used in Chavin art on the outside of the Temple and in portable wares that have been found throughout Peru.
The serpent motif seen in the Spear is also visible in a nose ornament. This kind of nose ornament, which pinches or passes through the septum, is a common form in the Andes. The 2 serpent heads flank right and left, with the same upward-looking eyes as the Spear. The swirling forms beneath them also evoke the sculpture's eye shape. An ornament like this have worn to show not only the power invested in the individual but allegiance to their beliefs.
Metallurgy in the New World first developed in South America before traveling North, and objects such as the nose ornaments that combine spiritual wealth and physical approach to it are among the earliest known examples. This particular piece was formed by hammering and cutting the gold.
Friday, March 17, 2017
THE INCAS AND THE FORCES OF NATURE.
The Incas were aware that tremendous streams of energy from the Pleiades reached our planet earth and were the vital source of life.
The Incas believed that every living soul was influenced by the energy outflow of the planets and the solar systems around us and its universal energetic circulation that keeps alive and relates planets and systems were similar to the function of the blood in the human body that its circulation connects and keeps alive all its parts.
At every full moon in the month of June over 300,000 Andean people go on mass pilgrimage into the snowcapped Mountains of the Andes, to a holy spot some 5,500 meters high. The important Festival is connected with the appearance in the skies of the stars of the Pleiades with its tremendous streams of energy linking our planet with the stars and it is this fact that bring all those people together in a highly spiritual attitude to thanks for the blessings received from the soil and everything around and appease the negative interaction that is produced by foreigner forces that destroy the harmony of the interaction.
The Incas had 3 major commandments, as the basis of their reasoning to life: -Search for the Truth;
-Work hard in your pursuit of Truth; -Respect every Form of Life.
When the Europeans came they brought opposite principles and an illusion of knowledge about the World, but their influence rewrote the history of the Andean people. They adopted the same principles, but in their negative aspect: -Do not lie; -Do not be lazy; -Do not steal. This adoption formed a complete different attitude, since there is a vast gap between the positive search of Truth and the negative 'do not lie.'
Searching for the Truth is related to an inner attitude, because it contains the insight needed to in order to find the secrets of life within own nature.
The Inca reasoning allowed two levels of knowledge, one for the people of the sea level and one for the highlanders. The highlanders had a natural way of understanding Truth due to the geographical position in which they developed their every day life. Their instruction was different that the one received by the sea level people. Different forces were manifested in each level and their task were to observe the manifestation of each one of them in order to unified them according to its level.
The leading class who descended from the ancestral line were instructed with the knowledge pertaining to the nature of life, cosmic relations and the secrets of the universe, and the level of responsibility as holders of the forces pertaining to the universal laws demanded a very hard training involving spiritual, mental and physical tests needed to achieve the level that as custodians of such forces it demanded.
The sea level class on the other hand were instructed by the leading class with knowledge pertaining to the forces of the earth itself acting in every living being, and since everything function as one body, they needed to work hard in their pursuit of knowledge about agricultural matters, community interrelationship, helping each other in survival matters and maintaining in this way the harmony needed for the preservation of life. The two connected acted as the spiritual and the non spiritual energies or forces acting in each vessel that had life in itself.
The ancestral knowledge came to them from very old times. It guided the people of Cuzco to become the founders of a vast empire with a correspondingly high level of civilization in which scripture and other sort of writing skills were nor necessary since their pursuing of Truth developed from the insight out doing its best for the sake of the universal laws.
They built a commonwealth of Andean communities under the leadership of Cuzco, stretching and empire in the Andean Mountains from South Colombia in the North to central Chile in the South, from Argentina in the East to the Pacific Ocean in the West. In this inhospitable mountain landscape area 23,000 kilometers of roads were built that provided transportation for materials needed for survival. They never felt the necessity of an establishment of a commercial market involving selling and buying and did not have any sort of currency because they use a form of bartering in order to provide for themselves whatever they lacked due to their position in the surrounding environment.
They pursuit their spiritual growth instead of material wealth. They offered to the Creator the best that the land can produce in order to maintain its blessing over it.
The European way towards Christian philosophy has never understood the ancient wisdom underlying the old Andean concepts, and simply adopted some aspects of Inca traditions. And then the easy way of justifying their own way towards the Christian Faith was to label the Andean people as "pagans," who worshiped the sun. To this day, this superb Andean philosophy of life is judge by comparison to the illusion of life that the Europeans think is just and honest, making the Andean people looks like something inferior and superstitious. The Inca priests and his ancestral line, however, did not at all believe that the sun was a god. They believed in one and universal GOD and Creator of all things, and they called HIM "Pacha Yachay" meaning "Universe" and "To Organize"respectively.
GOD, for the Andean people, is the magnetism, the linking force, in the whole Universe, the energy that holds everything together. In its very essence it is the ENERGY OF LOVE, with the Fire as its symbol. Everything that exist manifests itself as energy and are the representation of this Fire of Love throughout the Universe like the living blood that circulates in our human body. The divine energy are focused in power centers, fountains, streams, symbolized by the sun, moon, stars, galaxies, etc. and are to be understood as an expression of that divine energy that is GOD HIMSELF.
The Incas believed that every living soul was influenced by the energy outflow of the planets and the solar systems around us and its universal energetic circulation that keeps alive and relates planets and systems were similar to the function of the blood in the human body that its circulation connects and keeps alive all its parts.
At every full moon in the month of June over 300,000 Andean people go on mass pilgrimage into the snowcapped Mountains of the Andes, to a holy spot some 5,500 meters high. The important Festival is connected with the appearance in the skies of the stars of the Pleiades with its tremendous streams of energy linking our planet with the stars and it is this fact that bring all those people together in a highly spiritual attitude to thanks for the blessings received from the soil and everything around and appease the negative interaction that is produced by foreigner forces that destroy the harmony of the interaction.
The Incas had 3 major commandments, as the basis of their reasoning to life: -Search for the Truth;
-Work hard in your pursuit of Truth; -Respect every Form of Life.
When the Europeans came they brought opposite principles and an illusion of knowledge about the World, but their influence rewrote the history of the Andean people. They adopted the same principles, but in their negative aspect: -Do not lie; -Do not be lazy; -Do not steal. This adoption formed a complete different attitude, since there is a vast gap between the positive search of Truth and the negative 'do not lie.'
Searching for the Truth is related to an inner attitude, because it contains the insight needed to in order to find the secrets of life within own nature.
The Inca reasoning allowed two levels of knowledge, one for the people of the sea level and one for the highlanders. The highlanders had a natural way of understanding Truth due to the geographical position in which they developed their every day life. Their instruction was different that the one received by the sea level people. Different forces were manifested in each level and their task were to observe the manifestation of each one of them in order to unified them according to its level.
The leading class who descended from the ancestral line were instructed with the knowledge pertaining to the nature of life, cosmic relations and the secrets of the universe, and the level of responsibility as holders of the forces pertaining to the universal laws demanded a very hard training involving spiritual, mental and physical tests needed to achieve the level that as custodians of such forces it demanded.
The sea level class on the other hand were instructed by the leading class with knowledge pertaining to the forces of the earth itself acting in every living being, and since everything function as one body, they needed to work hard in their pursuit of knowledge about agricultural matters, community interrelationship, helping each other in survival matters and maintaining in this way the harmony needed for the preservation of life. The two connected acted as the spiritual and the non spiritual energies or forces acting in each vessel that had life in itself.
The ancestral knowledge came to them from very old times. It guided the people of Cuzco to become the founders of a vast empire with a correspondingly high level of civilization in which scripture and other sort of writing skills were nor necessary since their pursuing of Truth developed from the insight out doing its best for the sake of the universal laws.
They built a commonwealth of Andean communities under the leadership of Cuzco, stretching and empire in the Andean Mountains from South Colombia in the North to central Chile in the South, from Argentina in the East to the Pacific Ocean in the West. In this inhospitable mountain landscape area 23,000 kilometers of roads were built that provided transportation for materials needed for survival. They never felt the necessity of an establishment of a commercial market involving selling and buying and did not have any sort of currency because they use a form of bartering in order to provide for themselves whatever they lacked due to their position in the surrounding environment.
They pursuit their spiritual growth instead of material wealth. They offered to the Creator the best that the land can produce in order to maintain its blessing over it.
The European way towards Christian philosophy has never understood the ancient wisdom underlying the old Andean concepts, and simply adopted some aspects of Inca traditions. And then the easy way of justifying their own way towards the Christian Faith was to label the Andean people as "pagans," who worshiped the sun. To this day, this superb Andean philosophy of life is judge by comparison to the illusion of life that the Europeans think is just and honest, making the Andean people looks like something inferior and superstitious. The Inca priests and his ancestral line, however, did not at all believe that the sun was a god. They believed in one and universal GOD and Creator of all things, and they called HIM "Pacha Yachay" meaning "Universe" and "To Organize"respectively.
GOD, for the Andean people, is the magnetism, the linking force, in the whole Universe, the energy that holds everything together. In its very essence it is the ENERGY OF LOVE, with the Fire as its symbol. Everything that exist manifests itself as energy and are the representation of this Fire of Love throughout the Universe like the living blood that circulates in our human body. The divine energy are focused in power centers, fountains, streams, symbolized by the sun, moon, stars, galaxies, etc. and are to be understood as an expression of that divine energy that is GOD HIMSELF.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
THE ANDEAN MENTALITY.
Andean people, considering in first place those who were conquered by the Incas, during the period of time in which the Inca Empire extended from Ecuador in the North, over Peru and Bolivia to Northern Argentina and Chile in the South. They did not leave any codices -religious, astronomical, historical or any "dated" monuments. Nor did they have any sort of script, which could have been deciphered.
Although we are able to relate representations left by the Andean people in relation to the realities they faced, but we are not able to understand the symbols for what they stood and the gods and mythical beings where they are represented.
Due to the physical and spiritual isolation of the Andean civilizations, in which the Western influence at the point of contact provoke a huge disruption in this South American continent than anywhere else, the only way to understand the ancient Andean way of life is through the study of modern Andean religion is therefore of great importance in order to understand why and how these people achieved so much power through the unified mentality of its subjects.
Because of its ancestral system, religion was intimately interwoven with its political and social system, and no understanding of the one is possible without the understanding of the other.
The primary concept on which the Andean people based their social organization was "conquest." The conquerors considered themselves to be of heavenly origin, or from fruits of trees dropped on earth with a purpose or mission to handle, whereas the ancestors of the conquered ones had come out from the ground or of the earth, and needed to be taught about the rules of existence.
The central religious concept was that of the Creator, the invisible creative power of which all the other deities were only aspects , represented as his sons and descendants. His best known name was that of Viracocha -Foam or Fat of the Sea - describing how his power to create the earth (priestly power was symbolized by fat on water boiling in a pot) floated like the earth itself on the unlimited waters surrounding it.
Viracocha was the first to rise after the recurring floods out of the water having dominion over it and to create the world, the Sun, Moon and Stars, the plants and animals, and mankind, for which reason he was called Pacha'Ya'Chachic. He was the real, living, and invisible Sun, male and female, his place in earth was on the slopes of the pyramid, symbolizing the Cosmos, as his place in the interior of the earth was the dirty, low base (Tiesi) of the world and as such was Pacha'Camac (Lord of the Earth) the responsible or originator of the earthquakes in the interior of the earth.
In a more mythological way, Viracocha was said to be born in Lake Titicaca, symbolically, the highest navigable water in the earth (as in heaven so in earth), creating there the Sun and the Moon and the souls of different peoples of mankind whom he sent first underground to their respective localities.
Viracocha had 3 sons or servants. One was bad, reversing all the creation laws of Viracocha by making lakes into mountains and mountains into lakes. He was sent away and so became the underworld power of destruction, causing earthquakes and landslides in the raining seasons with the purpose of obtaining the souls and bodies of those serving the dark power. He was also the god of death and fertility, of the time when the seeds are in the ground.
The other 2 sons of Viracocha represented the 2 forces in the society, that of the conquerors and that of the conquered. On the basis of this understanding were also built all those beliefs of particular clans of people in which the local chief represented in society the same position of power as Viracocha held and still has in the whole Cosmos. The 2 chief's sons were those, one by a woman of his, the conqueror's family and the other by a woman of the conquered. Just as the Sun was created in Lake Titicaca to travel from there through the skies to the West, so Viracocha went West to through the Mountains to Ecuador to create mankind, in order to bring the different souls of peoples out of their caves. His 2 sons also travelled West, but one to his right, along the slopes of the Andes, where he created the rivers and plants, especially the useful ones, and the other to his left creating the same at sea level on the coast.
They all came together on the Coast in Ecuador where they disappeared, again like a foam, on the waters of the Ocean.
The Sun and the Moon, the visible ones, were the Children of Viracocha. Generally they were considered to be his son and his daughter in the physical plane. Just as in Cuzco Manco Capac, the ancestor of the Inca emperors, was related there to the conquerors as son of the sun and his wife to the conquered as daughter of the moon, so these two were also related to conquerors and conquered. The moon was the brightest, but the sun threw ashes in her face and since then the sun was the brighter and more powerful one.
The Andean people used their cosmological model also as a conceptualization of their own social hierarchy and in this the emperor and the queen were related to the sun and the moon. The secondary children of the emperor by foreign women or those of conquered people were related to the Children of the Sun and the Moon. As such were considered Venus -the Morning Star being their son and the Evening Star their daughter- and the Thunder and all the conquered huacas. These were the heavenly deities although in the lowest of these -Venus or the Thunder- in connection with the earthly deities.
The highland peoples identified themselves with the heavenly deities whereas the lowland peoples were connected with lowest plane of gods in the Cosmos. To the highland people the responsibility of maintaining the balance between the forces of the Cosmos and of the earth was a major responsibility and their training was very severe, whereas the people at the sea level held a different weight of responsibility that dealt with the level of deities in charge of it. Everything was built with the purpose of maintain harmony as a whole regardless the challenge that the land itself represented having people in mountains, people in the jungle, and coastal people, it really was the training camp of the highlanders.
The coastal people and those of the Eastern slopes made of their deities their major ones because of their connection. On the coast the major temple and pyramid was that of Pacha'Camac, Lord of the Earth, 30 km South of Lima, Peru. He was venerated as creator of the earth and made earthquakes. He was represented in an animal form as the spirit of a fox in contrast to the spirit of a wolf that by nature is territorial and cunning, and his female counterpart was the skunk that acted as his wife, both the lowest of their class according to its kind. To the mountain people, this lowest of all deities was Pacha'Mama (Mother Earth), who was also represented as the Amaru, a mythical dragon, originated in the Eastern Lowlands. The Amaru was the archetype of all the low and powerful animals, especially serpents, felines, and pigs. Pachamama or the Amaru was a priestess and sorceress, who slept with all men.
The Amaru lived under earth and in the rivers, and just as Thunder and Lightening were the destructive power of Viracocha descending from heaven, so Amaru manifested itself in earthquakes, in a lightning that goes upwards from earth to heaven, in the fire that erupts from volcanoes, and in the landslides occasioned by the overflow of water and mud during the raining season.
Of this undivided chthonic force, we must consider Pacha'Mama and Mama'Cocha (Mother Sea), as the two subdivisions just like the sun and moon were those of Viracocha. The sea was the most important god of the Chimu, whereas they related the sun to their huacas. Venus was to them a child of the sea. To the Incas the wells were subdivisions, children of the sea and they have a strong female character.
The connection between Heaven (spirit) above and Water (mind or soul) and Earth (physical body) below was established by the Milky Way and the Rainbow, the female and male aspects of the same concept. They both were the protectors of the world from flood, especially in the dry season, by drinking its excess of water. But because of this ability they are also very dangerous. Once they abstain from doing this, the earth will immerse again in the water just as in the beginning during the flood.
Only a well integrated and stable society, keeling the established order of things, can keep the Milky Way and the Rainbow functioning in harmony. But war and not living by the laws of nature can make the flood or other phenomena recur again.
These were the basic elements with which the Andean peoples built their knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, mental and physical laws that govern the Cosmos.
Although we are able to relate representations left by the Andean people in relation to the realities they faced, but we are not able to understand the symbols for what they stood and the gods and mythical beings where they are represented.
Due to the physical and spiritual isolation of the Andean civilizations, in which the Western influence at the point of contact provoke a huge disruption in this South American continent than anywhere else, the only way to understand the ancient Andean way of life is through the study of modern Andean religion is therefore of great importance in order to understand why and how these people achieved so much power through the unified mentality of its subjects.
Because of its ancestral system, religion was intimately interwoven with its political and social system, and no understanding of the one is possible without the understanding of the other.
The primary concept on which the Andean people based their social organization was "conquest." The conquerors considered themselves to be of heavenly origin, or from fruits of trees dropped on earth with a purpose or mission to handle, whereas the ancestors of the conquered ones had come out from the ground or of the earth, and needed to be taught about the rules of existence.
The central religious concept was that of the Creator, the invisible creative power of which all the other deities were only aspects , represented as his sons and descendants. His best known name was that of Viracocha -Foam or Fat of the Sea - describing how his power to create the earth (priestly power was symbolized by fat on water boiling in a pot) floated like the earth itself on the unlimited waters surrounding it.
Viracocha was the first to rise after the recurring floods out of the water having dominion over it and to create the world, the Sun, Moon and Stars, the plants and animals, and mankind, for which reason he was called Pacha'Ya'Chachic. He was the real, living, and invisible Sun, male and female, his place in earth was on the slopes of the pyramid, symbolizing the Cosmos, as his place in the interior of the earth was the dirty, low base (Tiesi) of the world and as such was Pacha'Camac (Lord of the Earth) the responsible or originator of the earthquakes in the interior of the earth.
In a more mythological way, Viracocha was said to be born in Lake Titicaca, symbolically, the highest navigable water in the earth (as in heaven so in earth), creating there the Sun and the Moon and the souls of different peoples of mankind whom he sent first underground to their respective localities.
Viracocha had 3 sons or servants. One was bad, reversing all the creation laws of Viracocha by making lakes into mountains and mountains into lakes. He was sent away and so became the underworld power of destruction, causing earthquakes and landslides in the raining seasons with the purpose of obtaining the souls and bodies of those serving the dark power. He was also the god of death and fertility, of the time when the seeds are in the ground.
The other 2 sons of Viracocha represented the 2 forces in the society, that of the conquerors and that of the conquered. On the basis of this understanding were also built all those beliefs of particular clans of people in which the local chief represented in society the same position of power as Viracocha held and still has in the whole Cosmos. The 2 chief's sons were those, one by a woman of his, the conqueror's family and the other by a woman of the conquered. Just as the Sun was created in Lake Titicaca to travel from there through the skies to the West, so Viracocha went West to through the Mountains to Ecuador to create mankind, in order to bring the different souls of peoples out of their caves. His 2 sons also travelled West, but one to his right, along the slopes of the Andes, where he created the rivers and plants, especially the useful ones, and the other to his left creating the same at sea level on the coast.
They all came together on the Coast in Ecuador where they disappeared, again like a foam, on the waters of the Ocean.
The Sun and the Moon, the visible ones, were the Children of Viracocha. Generally they were considered to be his son and his daughter in the physical plane. Just as in Cuzco Manco Capac, the ancestor of the Inca emperors, was related there to the conquerors as son of the sun and his wife to the conquered as daughter of the moon, so these two were also related to conquerors and conquered. The moon was the brightest, but the sun threw ashes in her face and since then the sun was the brighter and more powerful one.
The Andean people used their cosmological model also as a conceptualization of their own social hierarchy and in this the emperor and the queen were related to the sun and the moon. The secondary children of the emperor by foreign women or those of conquered people were related to the Children of the Sun and the Moon. As such were considered Venus -the Morning Star being their son and the Evening Star their daughter- and the Thunder and all the conquered huacas. These were the heavenly deities although in the lowest of these -Venus or the Thunder- in connection with the earthly deities.
The highland peoples identified themselves with the heavenly deities whereas the lowland peoples were connected with lowest plane of gods in the Cosmos. To the highland people the responsibility of maintaining the balance between the forces of the Cosmos and of the earth was a major responsibility and their training was very severe, whereas the people at the sea level held a different weight of responsibility that dealt with the level of deities in charge of it. Everything was built with the purpose of maintain harmony as a whole regardless the challenge that the land itself represented having people in mountains, people in the jungle, and coastal people, it really was the training camp of the highlanders.
The coastal people and those of the Eastern slopes made of their deities their major ones because of their connection. On the coast the major temple and pyramid was that of Pacha'Camac, Lord of the Earth, 30 km South of Lima, Peru. He was venerated as creator of the earth and made earthquakes. He was represented in an animal form as the spirit of a fox in contrast to the spirit of a wolf that by nature is territorial and cunning, and his female counterpart was the skunk that acted as his wife, both the lowest of their class according to its kind. To the mountain people, this lowest of all deities was Pacha'Mama (Mother Earth), who was also represented as the Amaru, a mythical dragon, originated in the Eastern Lowlands. The Amaru was the archetype of all the low and powerful animals, especially serpents, felines, and pigs. Pachamama or the Amaru was a priestess and sorceress, who slept with all men.
The Amaru lived under earth and in the rivers, and just as Thunder and Lightening were the destructive power of Viracocha descending from heaven, so Amaru manifested itself in earthquakes, in a lightning that goes upwards from earth to heaven, in the fire that erupts from volcanoes, and in the landslides occasioned by the overflow of water and mud during the raining season.
Of this undivided chthonic force, we must consider Pacha'Mama and Mama'Cocha (Mother Sea), as the two subdivisions just like the sun and moon were those of Viracocha. The sea was the most important god of the Chimu, whereas they related the sun to their huacas. Venus was to them a child of the sea. To the Incas the wells were subdivisions, children of the sea and they have a strong female character.
The connection between Heaven (spirit) above and Water (mind or soul) and Earth (physical body) below was established by the Milky Way and the Rainbow, the female and male aspects of the same concept. They both were the protectors of the world from flood, especially in the dry season, by drinking its excess of water. But because of this ability they are also very dangerous. Once they abstain from doing this, the earth will immerse again in the water just as in the beginning during the flood.
Only a well integrated and stable society, keeling the established order of things, can keep the Milky Way and the Rainbow functioning in harmony. But war and not living by the laws of nature can make the flood or other phenomena recur again.
These were the basic elements with which the Andean peoples built their knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, mental and physical laws that govern the Cosmos.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
THE INCA RULES.
The Inca's sophisticated and organized government was called the Tahuantinsuyo. It was a kind of monarchy ruled by a single leader called the Sapa Inca, which means "Sole Ruler." He was the holder of the most powerful force invested in his physical and spiritual body. His principal wife was called "Coya."
When the Europeans arrived in Peru the Inca Empire was huge. It stretched for over 2,000 miles from the North to South and had an estimated population of 10 million people.
The Incas imposed a set of 3 Laws on its citizens : -Ama Sua "Do not steal,"Ama Llulla "Do not lie," Ama Quella "Do not be lazy." Through these 3 Laws the Inca government promoted peace among its people, because these laws were based on a set of supernatural beliefs, customs and practices that were transmitted to all people by the Sapa Inca himself or his representatives.
Laziness was considered a very serious crime because it was understood as an action against the Sapa Inca because the lazy ones deprived him from the energy that their work represented in the supernatural force that measured it.
Regional leaders had the power to decide in matters of these Laws, however when the penalty was mutilation or death, the authority handling this transgressions had to be higher. Since the purpose of the Inca Law was to teach how transgressions affected the normal distribution of power to the offender and prevent re- occurrence by any member of the society, mutilation of the corrupted one and the death penalty were frequently applied. Rebellions, homicide, adultery, drunkenness, theft, laziness, breaking state possessions or going into rooms of the Chosen Women were all punished to death by stoning (symbolizing that the vessel that carried such negative energy was destroyed), hanging or pushing the person off a cliff, depending on the weight of the transgression.
The social stability then was achieved by the teaching, understanding and application of the Laws in a very strict way in order to maintain the moral values that in turn formed a disciplined society in both worlds, the spiritual and the physical.
The Laws were severe and any kind of transgression was considered an action against the spiritual power behind it, hence the transgression was considered an action against the divinity force in charge of that specific power, and the transgression was severely punished. The upper class was suppose to set an example to others, so they would be punished more severely than the common class.
Since the punishment was executed in the spiritual realm, there were no system of imprisonment and the reason is that offenders were punished according to the weight of the transgression as an exemplary to the rest of the population. If a person made a mistake for the first time, a scolding was issued by the government, but if the person had a recurrence then it was punished by death. Survivors of the harsh punishments were forced to tell their stories for the rest of their lives. Those interested in listening would provide food to them so basically their survival was based on how engaging and compelling their stories were.
Penalties were collective or personal, according to the weight of the crime, in a range that went from simple mass repressions to the isolation of entire villages.
When the Incas conquered new territories, their local Laws continued to be applied since they had another divinities in charge of them as long as they did not oppose or enter in conflict with Inca Law.
If the leader of the newly conquered territory opposed to the new Inca set of rules, he would be executed and a new royal leader would oversee and secure loyalty among the population. This new leader was usually transferred from another territory along with his family and entourage.
So everyone in the Inca Empire had specific jobs and everyone was aware about how the Inca Law worked in the invisible and visible worlds.
When the Europeans arrived in Peru the Inca Empire was huge. It stretched for over 2,000 miles from the North to South and had an estimated population of 10 million people.
The Incas imposed a set of 3 Laws on its citizens : -Ama Sua "Do not steal,"Ama Llulla "Do not lie," Ama Quella "Do not be lazy." Through these 3 Laws the Inca government promoted peace among its people, because these laws were based on a set of supernatural beliefs, customs and practices that were transmitted to all people by the Sapa Inca himself or his representatives.
Laziness was considered a very serious crime because it was understood as an action against the Sapa Inca because the lazy ones deprived him from the energy that their work represented in the supernatural force that measured it.
Regional leaders had the power to decide in matters of these Laws, however when the penalty was mutilation or death, the authority handling this transgressions had to be higher. Since the purpose of the Inca Law was to teach how transgressions affected the normal distribution of power to the offender and prevent re- occurrence by any member of the society, mutilation of the corrupted one and the death penalty were frequently applied. Rebellions, homicide, adultery, drunkenness, theft, laziness, breaking state possessions or going into rooms of the Chosen Women were all punished to death by stoning (symbolizing that the vessel that carried such negative energy was destroyed), hanging or pushing the person off a cliff, depending on the weight of the transgression.
The social stability then was achieved by the teaching, understanding and application of the Laws in a very strict way in order to maintain the moral values that in turn formed a disciplined society in both worlds, the spiritual and the physical.
The Laws were severe and any kind of transgression was considered an action against the spiritual power behind it, hence the transgression was considered an action against the divinity force in charge of that specific power, and the transgression was severely punished. The upper class was suppose to set an example to others, so they would be punished more severely than the common class.
Since the punishment was executed in the spiritual realm, there were no system of imprisonment and the reason is that offenders were punished according to the weight of the transgression as an exemplary to the rest of the population. If a person made a mistake for the first time, a scolding was issued by the government, but if the person had a recurrence then it was punished by death. Survivors of the harsh punishments were forced to tell their stories for the rest of their lives. Those interested in listening would provide food to them so basically their survival was based on how engaging and compelling their stories were.
Penalties were collective or personal, according to the weight of the crime, in a range that went from simple mass repressions to the isolation of entire villages.
When the Incas conquered new territories, their local Laws continued to be applied since they had another divinities in charge of them as long as they did not oppose or enter in conflict with Inca Law.
If the leader of the newly conquered territory opposed to the new Inca set of rules, he would be executed and a new royal leader would oversee and secure loyalty among the population. This new leader was usually transferred from another territory along with his family and entourage.
So everyone in the Inca Empire had specific jobs and everyone was aware about how the Inca Law worked in the invisible and visible worlds.
Thursday, March 2, 2017
THE ANDEAN WORSHIP OF THE LLAMAS.
The Incas, whose empire at its height stretched from Ecuador to Chile, paid reverence to the Llama (Yacana) because of its unique identification in relation to the Milky Way, a life-giving River in the Heavens, called 'Mayu' by them, the Quechua word for 'River,' with its earthly counterpart -the Vilcanota River in the Sacred Valley, high up in the Andean Mountains, in Peru.
The centre of the Milky Way -the spiral Galaxy of which our Solar System is part of, and of which we can only see the central part from earth -contains the highest quantity of stars. It is the brightest part of the Milky Way, and it comprises several stars constellations in addition to other deep-space objects, such as interstellar clouds of gas and dust, called 'yana phuyu' by the Incas, which means 'black clouds.'
The Inca Sky -as brilliantly lit as it was- had more notoriety for its dark spaces between the stars, in which they often found their constellations, as the place where ancient legends, animals and spirits resided and were visible from their daily lives. They grouped constellations in 2 different types -dark and luminous (were seen as inanimate sparkling stars depicting geometric forms).
The dark cloud constellations were contained within the dark blotches of the Milky Way (Mayu) and were considered living forms, representing animals the Incas knew. These dark patches represent the silhouettes of animals that came to drink from the waters of the Celestial River, obscuring the heavenly glow of the Milky Way (Mayu). These can be observed while looking at the dark regions of the Milky Way. They are extremely visible because they contrast with the relatively background of Galaxy's Star Field.
One of the most important dark cloud constellation was the Llama (Yacana) which rises above Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incas, at the centre of the animal constellation in the Milky Way. It consists of 2 llamas -the Mother Llama, seen as a dark spot between Scorpio and the Southern Cross, and the Baby Llama, underneath, and upside-down suckling at her mother's breast. Although the Llama is a dark cloud constellation, the eyes of the Mother Llama -called llamacnawin by the Incas- are its only bright part made of 2 bright stars from the constellation Centauros. One is Alpha Centauri, which is the 3rd brightest star in the night sky (to the naked eye it appears as one star, but is in fact a binary star system), and the other -Beta Centauri, is a trinary star system.
The prominent position of the Llama in the Sky mirrors itself in Inca religious ceremonies, in which Black Llamas were sacrificed to appease the universal forces or entities in charge of them.
Another dark constellation is the Serpent (Machacuay) -a wavy black ribbon between the star Adhara, in Canis Major, and the Southern Cross. It appears above Cuzco in August and sets in February, when its earthly counterparts become visible and more active in the area. The Serpent (Machacuay was in charge of all snakes and vipers on Earth, and offerings were made by the Incas to protect themselves from snake bites.
A Bird's Nest is visible near the Southern Cross, with 2 black spots representing the Andean ground partridge (yutu) and a toad (hanp'atu). These two keep a safe distance from the constant threat of the Snake (Machacuay), in the East, and from the Fox (Atoq), in the West. The Fox blazes at them through its red burning eye -the star Antares.
To the Incas the Llama and the Black Clouds were believed to be in charge of their species. They paid respect to them, and forbade their subjects from harming their earthly images. All the animals and birds had their analogues in the Sky, who were responsible for their procreation and the augmentation of their species. They were the celestial blueprints of every living thing on Earth. Similarly, the Milky Way (Mayu) is the celestial blue print of the terrestrial Vilcanota River, that rises in the Andes to the South East of Cuzco, near Puno in Peru, and flows North West for 724 km before joining the lower Apurimac River to form the Ucayali River. The Milky Way (Mayu) flows in the same direction as its terrestrial equivalent.
This connection between Heaven and Earth is at its most significant moment during the Inti Raymi celebration. Just after the June solstice, the Inca himself presided over the most important ceremony of the year, the Solemn Feast of the Sun. All Inca noble class were required to come to Cuzco for this ceremony, and all the people -nobles and commoners alike- were encouraged to participate.
The ceremony, which is still practiced, is a 'centering of the universe' around the Inca in the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco. The 'timing' of the Inti Raymi in the ritual calendar coordinates with the Milky Way (Mayu) -the Galaxy that the Earth itself is part of- aligning with the Vilcanota River, when Heaven and Earth come together as the Sun rises and sets in the Milky Way (Mayu).
The centre of the Milky Way -the spiral Galaxy of which our Solar System is part of, and of which we can only see the central part from earth -contains the highest quantity of stars. It is the brightest part of the Milky Way, and it comprises several stars constellations in addition to other deep-space objects, such as interstellar clouds of gas and dust, called 'yana phuyu' by the Incas, which means 'black clouds.'
The Inca Sky -as brilliantly lit as it was- had more notoriety for its dark spaces between the stars, in which they often found their constellations, as the place where ancient legends, animals and spirits resided and were visible from their daily lives. They grouped constellations in 2 different types -dark and luminous (were seen as inanimate sparkling stars depicting geometric forms).
The dark cloud constellations were contained within the dark blotches of the Milky Way (Mayu) and were considered living forms, representing animals the Incas knew. These dark patches represent the silhouettes of animals that came to drink from the waters of the Celestial River, obscuring the heavenly glow of the Milky Way (Mayu). These can be observed while looking at the dark regions of the Milky Way. They are extremely visible because they contrast with the relatively background of Galaxy's Star Field.
One of the most important dark cloud constellation was the Llama (Yacana) which rises above Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Incas, at the centre of the animal constellation in the Milky Way. It consists of 2 llamas -the Mother Llama, seen as a dark spot between Scorpio and the Southern Cross, and the Baby Llama, underneath, and upside-down suckling at her mother's breast. Although the Llama is a dark cloud constellation, the eyes of the Mother Llama -called llamacnawin by the Incas- are its only bright part made of 2 bright stars from the constellation Centauros. One is Alpha Centauri, which is the 3rd brightest star in the night sky (to the naked eye it appears as one star, but is in fact a binary star system), and the other -Beta Centauri, is a trinary star system.
The prominent position of the Llama in the Sky mirrors itself in Inca religious ceremonies, in which Black Llamas were sacrificed to appease the universal forces or entities in charge of them.
Another dark constellation is the Serpent (Machacuay) -a wavy black ribbon between the star Adhara, in Canis Major, and the Southern Cross. It appears above Cuzco in August and sets in February, when its earthly counterparts become visible and more active in the area. The Serpent (Machacuay was in charge of all snakes and vipers on Earth, and offerings were made by the Incas to protect themselves from snake bites.
A Bird's Nest is visible near the Southern Cross, with 2 black spots representing the Andean ground partridge (yutu) and a toad (hanp'atu). These two keep a safe distance from the constant threat of the Snake (Machacuay), in the East, and from the Fox (Atoq), in the West. The Fox blazes at them through its red burning eye -the star Antares.
To the Incas the Llama and the Black Clouds were believed to be in charge of their species. They paid respect to them, and forbade their subjects from harming their earthly images. All the animals and birds had their analogues in the Sky, who were responsible for their procreation and the augmentation of their species. They were the celestial blueprints of every living thing on Earth. Similarly, the Milky Way (Mayu) is the celestial blue print of the terrestrial Vilcanota River, that rises in the Andes to the South East of Cuzco, near Puno in Peru, and flows North West for 724 km before joining the lower Apurimac River to form the Ucayali River. The Milky Way (Mayu) flows in the same direction as its terrestrial equivalent.
This connection between Heaven and Earth is at its most significant moment during the Inti Raymi celebration. Just after the June solstice, the Inca himself presided over the most important ceremony of the year, the Solemn Feast of the Sun. All Inca noble class were required to come to Cuzco for this ceremony, and all the people -nobles and commoners alike- were encouraged to participate.
The ceremony, which is still practiced, is a 'centering of the universe' around the Inca in the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco. The 'timing' of the Inti Raymi in the ritual calendar coordinates with the Milky Way (Mayu) -the Galaxy that the Earth itself is part of- aligning with the Vilcanota River, when Heaven and Earth come together as the Sun rises and sets in the Milky Way (Mayu).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)