Q'ero Teachings

Note: having been to four of their villages and been in ceremony with the Q'ero people, the author of this site believes there are some serious problems with the following article; however it is a start and later postings will elaborate upon his experiences.

Q'ero

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Q'ero (spelled Q'iru in the official 3-vowel Quechua orthography) is a Quechua community or ethnic group in the province of Paucartambo, in the Cusco Region of Peru.

The Q'ero became more widely known due to the 1955 ethnological expedition of Dr. Oscar Nuñez del Prado of the San Antonio Abad National University in Cusco, after which the myth of the Inkarrí was published for the first time. Nuñez del Prado first met the Q'ero on a festival in town of Paucartambo (about 120 km away).

Contents:

1 Geography and history

2 Myth

3 Language

4 References

5 Notes

Geography and history

The Q'ero live in one of the most remote places in the Peruvian Andes. Nevertheless, a hacienda was established there in colonial times. The hacienda's owners were banished in 1963, and since then the whole area has belonged to the Q'ero. The ground is not very fertile, and the Q'ero live in modest dwellings. They often live in one-room houses not larger than 20 m², made of clay and natural stone with roofs of hard grass. The area stretches over several climates, with elevations from under 1800 m to over 4500 m. Depending on the climatic zone, maize (corn) and potatoes may be grown, while in high areas llamas are kept. Fields are plowed with a type of foot-plow (chaki taklla).[1]

According to the 10-year census collected by the prvate U.S. Vanishing Cultures Foundation Inc,[2] there are 6 major Q'ero villages, the home for 600 people and an average of 6000 llamas and alpacas. The villages' distance range between an hour hike to a full 3-day travel between them.[citation needed] The two villages Hatun Q'ero and Hapu Q'ero are located above 4000 m in elevation and about a day's march away from each other. The lower areas of the community are inhabited seasonally, only to till the fields; therefore the housing there consists of temporary huts made of clay and branches (chuklla).[1]

Myth

The Q'ero believe that they are descended from the Inca and consider themselves the last descendants. According to tradition, their ancestors defended themselves from invading Spanish conquistadores with the aid of local mountain deities (Apu) that devastated a Spanish Army near Wiraquchapampa.[1]

The religion of the Q'ero is syncretic, consisting of a mixture of European Christianity with elements of the traditional religion of the Andes. Shamans of different levels (Altumisayuq, Pampamisayuq) still have a high reputation. They worship Mother Nature (Pachamama) as well as other mountain spirits, called "Apus", e.g. Ausangate (Apu Awsanqati), Salkantai (Apu Salkantai).[1]

Until now there were two great ages in the myth of the Q'ero that replace each other by big turning points in history (Pachakutiy) while a new age is still approaching.

During the first age (Ñawpa Pacha), the time of the first men (Ñawpa Machu), only the moon existed (Killa). Within the first big turning point of history the sun (Inti aka Wayna Qhapaq, young sovereign) appeared and dried out the Ñawpa Machu. The king Inca (Inkarri) was the son of the sun and father of the Inca and therefore ancestor of the Q'eros. When Inkarri founded the city Qusqu (Cusco) by throwing a golden rod he also created Jesus Christ. The current age (Kay Pacha) was initiated by the arrival of the Spanish and the violent death of Inkarri who afterwards raptured to the sanctuary Paititi. The time of the Incas is often referred to as the Kay Pacha which is also the age of the sun (Inti). This age will end with another Pachakutiy when Inkarri returns converting everything into gold and silver (Taripay Pacha). The sun will burn the world with bad people while good people will ascend to heaven (Hanaq Pacha). The return of the Inkarri is espected soon; a testimony of his mounting is for example the banishing of the Hacendados which so it is said were very cruel.[1]

There is no organized religion of the Q'ero. They say they live in balance and respect for all living things. The spirit of life around them is what they respect and honor. They understand the balance of nature, its power and beauty, otherwise they could not exist in such a harsh and difficult environment.

Only within the past few years has Christianity been introduced to the villages. The word Shaman does not exist in the medicine traditions of the Andes. The healers are called Paq'os. There are very few true medicine people still existing in the villages, the traditions are being lost due to the lack of interest in the young. They respect and honor Mother Nature (Pachamama) as well as other mountain spirits, called "Apus", e.g. Ausangate (Apu Awsanqati), Salkantay (Apu Salkantai).[1]

There are many myths of these people. They are simple farmers and magnificent weavers. Many of the stories being told are purely myths and fabrications exploiting these simple people, but others are complex mystifications of abstract reality explained in the form of fantastic stories that include secret codes about hidden sacred cities and riches that are passed on by generations orally in Quechua.

Language

All age groups speak Quechua, specifically the Qusqu-Qullaw dialect, albeit with considerable influence from Spanish language in vocabulary and syntax. Spanish is taught in schools, so young Q'ero people are likely to speak Spanish, especially in Hapu Q'ero.[3] Because travel to the villages has been so difficult and the living conditions are so harsh, it has been difficult to maintain education in the Q'ero villages. For schooling, the young people must travel to towns or cities at lower elevations to learn spanish or be taught by family members who have already traveled and live there.

References

^ a b c d e f Thomas Müller and Helga Müller-Herbon, Die Kinder der Mitte. Die Q'ero-Indianer, Lamuv Verlag. Göttingen 1993. ISBN 3889770495

^ Vanishing Cultures Foundation Inc. http://vanishingcultures.org/

^ Factores que inciden en los procesos de conservación y cambio intergeneracional de la lengua quechua en dos comunidades q'iru, Cuzco, Perú (PDF)

Notes

Thomas Müller and Helga Müller-Herbon, Die Kinder der Mitte. Die Q'ero-Indianer, Lamuv Verlag. Göttingen 1993 (in German). ISBN 3889770495

Americo Yabar, Orlando Vasquez and Antonio Vasquez, Qero. Auf den Spuren der Q'ero-Indianer in die Magische Welt der Anden, Taschenbuch, Vier Türme GmbH, 2000. ISBN 3878685033

Denise A. Kinch, "A Walk Between Worlds,Truth is Beauty, the Q'ero", 2009, ISBN 978-1-4415-8817-3

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.

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MESSAGE of the Q’ERO


An Interview with Sharron Rose

By Randy Peyser
 
[Sharron Rose, MA.Ed, is a filmmaker, teacher, writer, choreographer and Fulbright Senior Research Scholar in World Mythology, Religion and the Sacred Arts of Dance, Music and Theatre. She is the writer/director of the feature length documentaries, 2012 The Odyssey and it's sequel, Timewave 2013, author of the award winning book, The Path of the Priestess; A Guidebook for Awakening the Divine Feminine (Inner Traditions), creator of the DVD Yoga of Light and producer of the Sacred Mysteries DVD Collection. She is also a contributing writer for the book The Mystery of 2012 (Sounds True, 2007). In addition, Ms. Rose has written articles for New Dawn Magazine and Evolve Magazine including Mary Magdalene; Apostle of the Apostles, Yoga of Light, 2012;A Time Odyssey and Tolkien at the End of Time; Alchemical Secrets of The Lord of the Rings (with Jay Weidner).

For the past thirty years she has worked in the fields of education, and the esoteric arts to investigate, integrate and impart the knowledge and wisdom of ancient and traditional cultures throughout the world. This work has taken her across the planet and has been disseminated through master classes lectures, workshops, live performance and film/video.

In 1999, together with her husband Jay Weidner, she founded Sacred Mysteries for which she has produced ARTmind with Alex Grey, Healing the Luminous Body with Dr. Alberto Villoldo, Secrets of Alchemy with Jay Weidner, Healing Sounds with Jonathan Goldman, Sound Yoga/Nada Yoga with Shanti Shivani, Alchemical Healing with Nicki Scully, the award winning Quantum Astrology with Rick Levine and her own instructional DVD, Yoga of Light.

Trained from childhood in the Classical Western arts of Ballet, Opera and Theatre, after receiving a diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Maryland and an M.A. in Education from George Washington University, Sharron became a member of New York City’s vital dance/theatre/performance art scene. She then moved to Boston where she became known for her innovative multicultural dance/theatre/video productions, which wove together the realms of psychology, technology, myth, history and social criticism. This work was supported by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, the Boston Arts Lottery and the Cambridge Arts Council. She began her studies in Classical Indian Dance, Music, Yoga, and Mythology in 1978.

From 1983-1988, with the assistance of a professional development grant from the American Institute of Indian Studies (1983-84), and a Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship (1986-88), she began extensive research into the art, culture and spiritual traditions of North India. During this time she was accepted as the first American disciple of India’s legendary Kathak dancer and early Bollywood film star, Sitara Devi and was initiated into a sacred tradition of the ancient feminine Yogic Arts that had been handed down from teacher to student for thousands of years.

Since that time of introduction and initiation she has consistently sought out other remnants of these teachings in traditional cultures throughout the world. From Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, Tibetan master of Tantra and Dzogchen, she was introduced to the Primordial Tradition of the ancients and learned the transformational practices created to purify the mind and body and awaken one to their true Divinity. With Dr. Robert Masters she investigated trance techniques, his Psychophysical Method of Neuro-sensory Re-education, the realm of healing and the Egyptian Mysteries. With Bengali tabla master, Shashank Bakshi, She studied Indian Classical vocal music and deepened her perception of the effects of sound and vibration on the luminous energy field. For the past ten years, together with her husband, hermetic scholar and filmmaker Jay Weidner, she has done extensive research into the Western Traditions of Alchemy, Gnosticism, and the Kabbalah.

During the past twenty years Sharron has also been active in the world of video production as director, actress, choreographer and producer. In the late 80’s she worked at National Video Industries in New York City under the tutelage of CEO Brian Kelly creating the visionary work “Lotus Mind” which premiered at the Madras Film Festival. While on her Fulbright she also wrote and directed a series on The Art of Choreography for Jamia Millia University in New Delhi.

Due to her knowledge and expertise in these ancient traditions, as well as her ability to assist in developing programs to foster harmonious dialogue between people of diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, she has served as consultant to the National Endowment for the Arts, created multicultural arts-in-education programs for Arts Horizons and Lotus Fine Arts in New York, as well as Young Audiences of Connecticut, New Jersey and Virginia. In addition, she has lectured and performed in numerous universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Columbia, as well as for cultural organizations and museums throughout the world.

Sharron is the writer/ director of the Sacred Mysteries film, 2012 The Odyssey and it's sequel, Timewave 2013. These feature-length documentaries explore the end date of the Mayan Calendar in 2012, the prophecies and mystic teachings from ancient traditions such as Alchemy, Ancient Egypt, Vedic, Christian, Incan, Native American, and other traditions as well as the nature of time and the major issues that are confonting us as we look towards the future.

Sharron Rose MA.Ed is the writer/director of Timewave 2013: The Future is Now, a film that explores the end date of the Mayan Calendar and the prophecies and mystic teachings related to the year 2012.

A Fulbright Senior Research Scholar in World Mythology, Religion and the Sacred Arts of Dance, Music and Theatre, Sharron was the first American disciple to study under Sitara Devi, India’s legendary Kathak dancer and tantric adept, where she was initiated into a sacred tradition of the ancient feminine Yogic Arts.

She is the author of the award winning book, The Path of the Priestess; A Guidebook for Awakening the Divine Feminine (Inner Traditions), and the producer of the Sacred Mysteries DVD Collection. www.SacredMysteries.com.

In Timewave 2013, which follows her film, 2012 The Odyssey, Sharron introduces viewers to the ceremonies and prophecies of the Q’ero, descendants of the Ancient Incas, who live in the high peaks of Peru. Without cars, blaring televisions, technology, or any modern conveniences, the Q’ero experience a rare clarity of perception that allows them to travel in time to see into the past or the future.

In Timewave 2013, the Q’ero share the Prophecy of Pachacuti (their ancient Incan prophet) as well as the Legend of the Four Holy Shamans, who they believe will come in 2012 to lead us into the next Age. The film also features brilliant commentary from such inspiring luminaries as Jose Arguelles, Jean Houston, Dr. Albert Villoldo, Gregg Braden, Riane Eisler, Jay Weidner, and others.]

                                        

Randy Peyser: Tell us about the Q’ero and the prophecies that are revealed in Timewave 2013.

Sharron Rose: The Q’ero are descendents of the ancient Incans, who left at the time of the Spanish Conquest and have survived for generations in the high mountains of Peru. Their work is documented by Dr. Alberto Villoldo, who has translated their ancient healing modalities to make them practical, scientific and contemporary for the western world. The Q’ero are profound shamans and healers who have the capacity to see beyond normal reality; they can see through time.

Randy: I loved Alberto Villoldo’s insight about how the Q’ero access time. He stated: “Our mythology says, ‘We own space. We can travel to any country. This is a foreign concept to the Q’ero. But it isthe indigenous people who can travel across time, which is foreign to us’.”

Sharron: The Q’ero shamans talk about the Prophecy of the Pachacuti, which they say will happen in 2012. Their belief is that at this time, the world, which has gone into chaos, will be turned right side up again, and a new human will be born. They call this new human... “homo-luminous.”


The Q’ero hold the teachings about the luminous body. The essence of their teachings has to do with understanding and healing the luminous body. The luminous body surrounds and informs the physical body, like a great matrix of light.


They say within the luminous body, everything is encoded — your past, your future, all your genetics and your karma. They have techniques by which one can learn to perceive everything that is encoded to heal oneself, bring the whole being into balance, and even become homo-luminous.


I am trained in the Tibetan Dzogchen and Tantric traditions, and the Masters in my teacher, Namkhai Norbu’s lineage, accomplished this transmutation. Some of my teacher’s relatives became what they call “rainbow bodies,” where at death, their bodies dissolved into light and rainbows appeared in the sky. All that remains were their hair and fingernails.


This transmutation of the human body into light as the ultimate goal of the human endeavor is documented in alchemical teachings, the Kabbalah and in many traditions. I wrote about this in The Path of the Priestess. An Indian princess named Mandarava was a consort of Padmasambhava, the great spiritual leader who brought tantric teachings to Tibet. They lived in caves and realized these teachings on immortality together. At the time of her “death” Mandarava gave her final teaching to her disciples and dissolved into light. Amazingly, her students turned into light, too.


Once one turns into light, as the teachings say, he or she can remain in the luminous realms and work from those realms, or be born on other world systems besides our own, or come back here and continue to work in whatever form one chooses.

Randy: How do you think this transmutation occurs?

Sharron: Since the body is made up of elements and the elements are essentially light, what happens is that the elements reverse back into their true nature. This is the essence of the Tantric teachings, the alchemical teachings and the Tibetan teachings. It was extraordinary to find the same teachings in Peru with the Q’ero. Alberto would tell you there is a connection between the Q’ero and the Tibetans. He says they came across the land bridge from the Himalayas.

Randy: What kind of experiences did you have with the Q’ero?

Sharron: The first time I met Dona Bernandina, a Q’ero shaman, she gave me a blessing forehead to forehead. In the East, you would call it ‘shaktipat,’ a leap of knowledge, of light from the teacher to the student, of the Buddha to the disciple. When I had this experience this energy leapt from her head into mine. I felt this great opening in my visual capacity. When I would go into meditation, I would become a great eagle and fly over different landscapes, while perceiving from an eagle-eye perspective. I had never experienced that kind of shamanic, Earth Keeper kind of transmission before.


The Q’ero are completely connected to the natural world, to the plants and the animals. They are the Earth Keepers. During the interview for Timewave 2013, the Q’ero performed a Despacho ceremony to help release negativity. The construction of a Despacho is similar to that of a Tibetan Sand mandala. It is formed with symbolic objects of beauty, endearment and humor to the Q’ero.


During the ceremony all of our negative thoughts, feelings and emotions were placed inside the objects of the mandala. We also blew our prayers into coca leaves to send them out into the world. Coca leaves are a very mild stimulant. In addition to helping with altitude sickness, the coca leaf itself contains that energy of clarity. When you blow your prayers into the coca leaf, the essential energy of the coca leaf itself is blended with your own energy and sent out into the world.


Sitting with the Q’ero in ceremony was extremely powerful. They have a strong sense of presence and an ability to be totally focused in the present moment. Their intention during the Despacho ceremony reminded me of what it was like to sit with the Tibetan masters, the Rinpoches. It was an experience where I felt completely connected to all. I went into a state of complete bliss. Even though the ceremony was about bringing up and releasing all of one’s negativity, it was performed from such a place of grace and openness that I could not help but be at peace.

Randy: When the Q’ero talk about awakening the luminous body, does that mean we are all going to die?

Sharron: No. It really depends on us. We are at this crucial moment where we have a choice. As we have placed our focus on materialism we have lost the capacities we have always had and that are natural to us. In Tibet, for example, they still have practices where they go outdoors, sit in the snow and use their inner heat to melt the snow.


Legends tell us that human beings once had the ability to use sound to affect matter. Some say the pyramids were built in this way. We lived on light. Even today there are practices taught for maintaining optimal health by ingesting light. These ancient secrets have been kept by the Earth Keepers. That is their role, to hold and transmit these very precious teachings.


Today, all the lies and darkness, and the pain and suffering in Western civilization is coming up to be distilled so we can now purify and come into a new Golden Age of Light and recover our lost capacities. In every moment we have a choice to live in fear or in right action. The human race has to choose right now. From one perspective, it looks as though the human race is trying to commit suicide. We are engaging is war, polluting the planet, drugging ourselves, etc. In this greediness, in this desire to dominate, we have lost our hearts.

Randy: In your film, Jean Houston states: “We have lost the hearth where we sat with our grandparents who told the stories. We have replaced the hearth with the television set. No hearth, no heart. No sense of continuity. No sense of the great connectivity. No sense of the great chain of being between generations without which civilization perishes.”


Sharron: Jean impacted me with her eloquence, and her search and openness to look at so many cultures throughout the world and find their commonalities. This is also my work — finding ways of bringing people together in peace and harmony.

Randy: Help us to understand more about the transmutation of human beings into the luminous light body. Is this what is referred to as ascension? Do we come and go out of physical form?

Sharron: The transmutation into a luminous light body is a purification or distillation process in which we rid ourselves of darkness. On a psychological level, our emotions — such as anger, lust, jealousy, ignorance and pride — are transmuted through meditation and through working on ourselves. The work begins on the inner levels. The whole change of the world has to start with you, so if you want a world of beauty and connectivity, you have to start with yourself.


This is a process of going in, bringing up all of the darkness and freeing it. It is all energy. When anger is transmuted, it becomes clarity. When jealousy is transmuted, it becomes all-accomplishing wisdom. When pride is transmuted, it becomes equanimity. When ignorance or lethargy is transmuted, it becomes a sense of spaciousness. When lust is transmuted, it becomes discernment.


The transmutation process frees people from their cravings. It is a path of freedom. As you release darkness you will feel lighter and become clearer. You will begin to have the capacity to interact with lighter levels of reality, the luminous levels. It is not like you will fly off to some other realm.


You will be firmly grounded in the material world, and from this place, bring your expanded knowledge and perception into your every action in this world. As you bring this expanded energy into your physical body, your whole body will begin to become lighter. You will heal. This is what they mean by enlightenment.


In the Tibetan teachings to which I am connected, all of the luminous beings are still around. There is a Bodhisattva vow of compassion that says when you achieve enlightenment you stay around to assist all others. They hang out. Some come back. That is why they have the whole reincarnation system in terms of the Lamas, like the Dalai Lama.


They are waiting for us to call upon them; when you become a student of these traditions, you receive what is called a transmission or an initiation that opens the doorway to perceive these beings or these realms. Then you can connect with them and move into the next phase.


As you go through this process toward enlightenment, your latent capacities, which are not being addressed in the material world right now, will increase. As an example, every woman has the capacity that we call woman’s intuition, but we are taught to not trust it. Everybody has the capacity to travel in their dreams and have visions, but all of that has been suppressed. It is coming back now, but in the general world it is not what people are focused upon.


As you clear the darkness, you free yourself from what Alberto calls the “Cultural Trance.” Jose Arguelles calls it the “Dream Spell.” Riane Eisler calls it the “Dominator Trance.” As you free yourself from this mindset, which is the signature of the modern world, then these capacities start to come back to you.

Randy: You say, “The ancients say the body of light can only be achieved through love. Compassion and forgiveness are the path toward true liberation.” To me, these qualities represent the Divine Feminine.

Sharron: We have to return to the ways of the feminine. In ancient times, women were the healers, the spiritual leaders, the caretakers, the initiators of mysteries concerning life, death and sexuality. In patriarchal times, these roles were squashed. With feminism we came into the marketplace to work alongside men. But we were taught to emulate men and not recover our true feminine power.


Part of my work is to assist women in understanding they have this feminine power and that they do not have to emulate men. The feminine power, in its true nature, is very inclusive; it is warm, motherly, compassionate and incisive. However, since we were taught to deny our true nature and to emulate men, we think that in order to compete in the marketplace we need to be even tougher than men. This is a generalization but it often happens when women become leaders of corporations.


In our domination of the world, our materialism and the patriarchal process, we have lost the heart. In Timewave 2013, when Don Umberto talks about America, he says, “America has great brilliance and a great mind, but now that brilliance must be brought down to the heart. Without the gifts of the heart we will not be able to think our way out of the problem.”


Our survival is at stake, and to survive, we must come back to the ways of the heart. The path of the heart is the path of the Earth Keepers, of the indigenous people, the path of healing. Now it is time for us, the Baby-Boomer generation, to stand up and align ourselves with our highest goals. Now we are the elders. We can reshape the world into one that our children and grandchildren will be able to live in and survive and thrive.


The Q’ero say, “We must come back to the ways of the earth, to the ways of the feminine. We must come back to the Mother.”

Timewave 2013 is currently being screened in hundreds of venues throughout the United States and Canada, including Unity Churches, Centers for Spiritual Living and New Age book stores. Timewave 2013 will be released to the general public at the 2012 Conference in San Francisco on November 1, 2008. Visit: www.SacredMysteries.com to arrange for a screening, or for more information.

Randy Peyser is the author of “The Power of Miracle Thinking,” www.MiracleThinking.com. She also helps people write and publish books. See: www.AuthorOneStop.com.

2012 The Odyssey (2006)



2013 Timewave The Odyssey (2009)