WHOLE LIVING JOURNAL
Interview with don Oscar Miro-Quesada
by Kathie Martin Ossege,
editor of Whole Living Journal
March 7, 2006
ABOUT OSCARHow do you describe yourself?
As a passerby, a Soul engaged in an incarnational sojourn as a human being upon the planet who is dedicated to helping others experience a deeper sense of reverence for the Great Sacred Hoop of Life, of creation itself. I do this as a teacher of kamasqa curanderismo, a highly adaptive form of cross-cultural shamanism born of the ancestral healing arts of Peru.
What is a curandero?
The origins of curanderismo derive from the Chavin culture that flourished in the north-central Peruvian Andes between 3500 to 100 B.C.E. A curandero is responsible for the ritual creation and management of a mesa or banco, a ceremonially consecrated healing altar in which various sacred artifacts are carefully arranged in a specific order that allow an embodiment of the raw forces of nature (encantos) and spiritual powers (virtudes) present in the geophysical region where the mesa has been assembled and activated. These sacred artifacts and power objects, known as los artes, are masterfully used in a dramatic transformational group participatory ceremony that fosters an experience of interpersonal wholeness and transpersonal harmony with Mother Earth. And this deepened experiential awareness of our interdependence with both seen and unseen dimensions of life, in turn provides a tangible foundation for the emergence of heartfelt earth-honoring sacred community among all those present.
How did you become a curandero?
Born in Lima, Peru, I spent my early years living in very remote rural areas where my father was stationed as a physician working with the National Institutes of Public Health. Having been primarily exposed to Peru's indigenous soul during my formative years, I was more identified with native reality than the Western acculturated mind-set that characterized life in the capital city of Lima. I felt much more connected to the animistic traditions of the Amazon and Andes than those of the modern Western world.
As a child, I suffered from chronic asthma. At age 10, while living in the Central Andes area of Chosica, one night I stopped breathing due to a severe asthmatic episode and experienced my first shamanic awakening in the form of a Near-Death-Experience. Suddenly, I heard my name being called out-loud, and upon opening my eyes saw three wizened luminous men standing at the foot of my bed. These white-robed "Ancient Ones" began to telepathically communicate with me. One of them placed his lips on my chest and literally "extracted" my experience of suffocation by sucking it out; I've never suffered from asthma again. During this episode they told me many things concerning my future that I promptly forgot.
In the spring of 1969, at the age of 18, I traveled to the northern coastal city of Chiclayo to meet one of Peru's most renowned huachuma curanderos, Don Celso Rojas from Salas, who became my primary mentor in curanderismo. In a healing session with sanpedrito the first night we met, the three Ancient Ones from my earlier experience "emerged" out of the center (campo medio) of Don Celso's mesa, which he (Don Celso) immediately brought my attention to, helping me remember the message they had revealed to me 8 years earlier. This turned my world upside-down and I began a quest to explore non-ordinary states of consciousness in order to attain spiritual growth focused on a path of healing service.
THE AREA
Tell me about the energy of Serpent Mound.
Serpent Mound is an effigy mound designed as a serpent swallowing an egg. Like most sacred sites around the world, during cyclical convergence times between earth and sky, at specific juncture points or astronomical nadir locations within the serpent-like geoglyph, a heirophany occurs-a "drawing down" of cosmic power from celestial realms into Mother Earth's bio-etheric template.
What is energetically happening during your June 16-18 event at Serpent Mound?
Seven days before and after any major cyclical period of astronomical harmonization, such as the upcoming June Summer Solstice, a window of opportunity is provided for humankind to harness and commune with the spiritual forces within Creation. And the proper enactment of earth-honoring ceremony at ancestral places of power, such as Serpent Mound, becomes the equivalent of inserting alchemical acupuncture needles throughout the meridian pathways in the body-except on a macrocosmic scale.
How is the energy accessed?
By performing ritual "feedings" (mihushanku) and consectated offerings (haywarikuy despachos) to the spirit world at ancient places of worship (Wakas) and natural landscape shrines (Apus), one is able to access and send benevolent transformational "energies" into our planetary ceque system-Gaia's geomagnetic grid and bio-etheric matrix. In essence, this ceremonial "unblocking" and trans-dimensional activation of allpakawsay (vital life force), or planetary Qi, is intended to foster the emergence of an eco-spiritual awareness throughout the world as our legacy for the Seven Generations.
What is the energetic message of the upcoming solstice?
On the planet, a critical mass of human consciousness is being harnessed in the form of a resonant field, as a "womb" or birthing ground, for the expression of a compassionate earth-honoring global culture. In other words the medium is the message. By energetically enacting in ritualized metaphor the cyclical sojourn of Inti Taita (Father Sun) as a physical presence without and above us, we simultaneously awaken the life-affirming properties of the Solar Archetype within us and below-ushering forth a "new ray of dawning" upon Mother Earth.
What do the spirit energies of these places whisper to you and to us?
Ancient temples and sacred ceremonial sites around the world are much like hyperspace portals or wormholes talked about in astrophysics. They enable all heartfelt pilgrims gathered upon their ancestrally consecrated ground access to multiple dimensions of being. They help us understand our own immortal Self through a direct experience of the sacred in life. The creators of these earthen sanctuaries, like Serpent Mound, were linked by a terrestrial network of similar geoglyphs and ceremonial temples that functioned like a mirror or "looking-glass," predictably reflecting the heavenly movements upon the Earth plane-helping re-member ourselves as a united planetary culture with a common celestial origin in the Milky Way.
THE EVENT
What is the purpose of the June 16-18 Gathering?
Awakening the Cosmic Serpent: An Apprenticeship in the Multidimensionality of Earth Stewardship is a didactic and experiential workshop open to people from all ethnospiritual traditions and earth-honoring paths. As an inherently group participative experience, the apprenticeship is designed to embody the self-transformational powers unleashed during the Summer Solstice that are regionally contained within the bio-etheric matrix of Serpent Mound. It also offers training in the cross-cultural tradition of shamanism known as Pachakuti Mesa Curanderismo. Newcomers to this earth-honoring shamanic work should plan to spend half a day with Denise Bigelow and Jeff Cobb to learn the core principles and basic ceremonial practices of the Pachakuti Mesa tradition.
What types of activities will people take part in?
Apprenticeship will involve the use of sacred geometry, hampicamayoq breathwork, the art of ceremonial invocation and evocation, the ritual management of "medicine power" within sacred artifacts, viaje con sombra (shamanic magical flight), and various other techniques that will collectively harmonize our shared vision of earth-honoring service upon our beloved Pachamama (Earth Mother), and individually help deepen our soul's progress as we embrace these epic transformational times in our planetary history. Early Saturday afternoon we will pilgrimage to Serpent Mound to ceremonially honor and commune with the ancestral Spirit World of this most sacred site.
Is there anything more that you would like to share?
My deep sense of gratitude for the work you and your magazine are doing to keep this information available to the public at large. I also am reminded of a poem by:
Gary Snyder, For the Children
Stay together
Learn the flowers
Go light
For additional details, workshop registration, and information about receiving the pre-event introduction to the Pachakuti Mesa, please contact Denise Bigelow at noqa_kan@shamansmarket.com or Jeff Cobb at Mazzaroth09@gmail.com.
Find out more about Oscar Miro-Quesada at: www.heartofthehealer.org
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