Text: Prophecies of the Q'ero Incan Shamans [From a Report by Brad Berg] The light of idealism gleamed in his eyes as Dr. Alberto Villoldo described how an earthquake in 1949 underneath a onastery near Cuzco, Peru, had rent the ground asunder, exposing an ncient Incan temple of gold. This fulfilled a sign that the prophecies f Mosoq, the "time to come," were now to be shared with the modern orld. Dr. Villoldo, a psychologist and medicinal anthropologist, has ived among and trained with the Q'ero shamans and has played a key role n bringing their ritual and prophecy to the awareness of the modern orld. The Q'ero are the last of the Incas -- a tribe of 600 who sought refuge t altitudes above 14,000 feet in order to escape the conquering onquistadors. For 500 years the Q'ero elders have preserved a sacred rophecy of a great change, or "pachacuti," in which the world would be urned right-side-up, harmony and order would be restored, nd chaos and disorder ended. The Q'ero had lived in their villages high in the Andes in virtual olitude from the world until their "discovery" in 949. In that year, Oscar Nunez del Prado, an anthropologist, was at a estival in Paucartambo, in southern Peru, when he met two Indians peaking fluent Quecha, the language of the Incas. The first Western xpedition to the Q'ero villages then occurred in 1955. Four years later, at the annual Feast of The Return of the Pleiades aking place in the Andes, the gathering of 70,000 pilgrims from South merica were awed, and the crowd parted to let the Q'ero, unannounced nd wearing the Incan emblem of the sun, make their way forward to the ountain top to make known that the time of the prophecies was at hand. hey were welcomed by the assembly and were told, "We've been waiting or you for 500 years." Recently, Q'ero elders journeyed to North America in fulfillment of heir prophecies. In November 1996, a small group of Q'ero, including he tribal leader and the head shaman, visited several cities in the US, ncluding New York, where they performed a private ceremony at the athedral of St. John the Divine. The shamanic ritual had ot been performed for 500 years. But in the very home of those who ymbolized the former conquerors of their Incan ancestors they shared heir ritual and knowledge, not only with interested Westerners who were earning their ways, but also with the Dean of the great cathedral, hereby symbolically and spiritually linking the two ontinents of North and South America. According to ancient prophecy, this is the time of the great gathering alled the "mastay" and reintegration of the peoples of the four irections. The Q'ero are releasing their teachings to the West, in reparation for the day the Eagle of the North and the Condor of the outh (the Americas) fly together again. They believe that "munay," ove and compassion, will be the guiding force of this great gathering f the peoples. "The new caretakers of the Earth will come from the West, and those that ave made the greatest impact on Mother Earth now have the moral esponsibility to remake their relationship with Her, after remaking hemselves," said Don Antonio Morales, a master Q'ero shaman. The rophecy holds that North America will supply the physical strength, or ody; Europe will supply the mental aspect, or head; and the heart will e supplied by South America. When the Spanish conquered the Incas 500 years ago, the last pachacuti, r great change, occurred. The Q'ero have been waiting ever since for he next pachacuti, when order would emerge out of chaos. For the past ive centuries they preserved their sacred knowledge, and finally, in ecent years, the signs were fulfilled that the great ime of change was at hand: the high mountain lagoons have dried, the ondor is nearly extinct and the discovery of the Golden Temple has ccurred, following the earthquake in 1949 which represented the wrath f the sun. The prophecies are optimistic. They refer to the end of time as we know t -- the death of a way of thinking and a way of being, the end of a ay of relating to nature and to the earth. In the coming years, the ncas expect us to emerge into a golden age, a golden millennium of eace. The prophecies also speak of tumultuous changes appening in the earth, and in our psyche, redefining our relationships nd spirituality. The next pachacuti, or great change, has already begun, and it promises he emergence of a new human after this period of turmoil. The chaos and pheaval characteristic of this period will last another four years, ccording to the Q'ero. The paradigm of European civilization will ontinue to collapse, and the way of the Earth people will return. ven more importantly, the shamanic elders speak about a tear in the abric of time itself. This presents an opportunity for us to describe urselves not as who we have been in the past but as who we are ecoming. Pachacuti also refers to a great Incan leader who lived in the late 300s. He is said to have built Machu Picchu and was the architect of an mpire the size of the US. For the Incas, Pachacuti is a spiritual rototype -- a Master, a luminous one who stepped outside of time. He as a messiah, but not in the Christian sense of the only son of God, eyond the reach of humanity. Rather he is viewed as a symbol and romise of who we all might become. He embodies the essence of the rophecies of the pachacuti, as Pacha means "earth" or "time," and cuti eans "to set things right." His name also means "transformer of the arth." The prophecies of the pachacuti are known throughout the Andes. There re those who believe the prophecies refer to the return of the leader achacuti to defeat those who took the Incas' land. But according to Dr. illoldo, the return of Pachacuti is taking place on the collective evel. "It's not the return of a single individual who mbodies what we're becoming, but a process of emergence available to ll peoples." The Q'ero have served as the caretakers of the rites and prophecies of heir Inca ancestors. The prophecies are of no use unless one has the eys, the rites of passage. The Star Rites, or "Mosoq Karpay" (The Rites f the Time to Come), are crucial to the practical growth described in he prophecies. Following the "despachos" (ritualistic offerings of esa, or medicine bundles) at the recent ceremony in New York City, the hamans administered the Mosoq Karpay to the individuals present, ransmitting the energies originating with the ancestors of their ineage. The transmission of the Mosoq Karpay is the ceremony representing the nd of one's relationship to time. It is a process of the heart. This rocess of Becoming is considered more important than the prophecies hemselves. The Karpay (rites) plant the seed of knowledge, the seed of achacuti, in the luminous body of the recipient. It is up to ach person to water and tend the seed so that it can grow and blossom. he rites are a transmission of potential; ne must then make oneself available to destiny. The Karpays connect the person to an ancient lineage of knowledge and ower that cannot be accessed by the individual -- it can only be ummoned by a tribe. Ultimately, this power can provide the impetus for ne to leap into the body of an Inca, a Luminous One. That person is onnected directly to the stars, the Incan Sun of cosmology. The Q'ero believe that the doorways between the worlds are opening again - holes in time that we can step through and beyond, where we can xplore our human capabilities. Regaining our luminous nature is a ossibility today for all who dare to take the leap. The Andean shamans say, "Follow your own footsteps. Learn from the ivers, the trees and the rocks. Honor the Christ, the Buddha, your rothers and sisters. Honor the Earth Mother and the Great Spirit. Honor ourself and all of creation." "Look with the eyes of your soul and engage the essential," is the eaching of the Q'ero.

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