peruvian

In July I conducted a series of three audio interviews with Denise Kinch, Pachamama Healing Center, practitioner and teacher of the Andean Healing Traditions. It is not well known, but Denise is the only western shamanic teacher to have had the privilege of staying at Don Manuel’s village year after year, hosting him in her home with her family, and in the process learning the truth about the Q’ero and this wonderful lineage that we share.

Not long after the interviews, Denise surprised me with an advance proof of A Walk Between Worlds, Truth is Beauty, The Q’ero, a book that took her nearly 18 years to write and which contains 200 full-color professional photographs documenting her time with the Q’ero, and with Don Manuel. A book that was written to honor his dying request — sharing the truth of the Q’ero, their history and their traditions; clearing up the myths and misconceptions that are so prevalent today among students of his tradition.

Eagerly I read her book cover to cover in one sitting, at times moved to tears. When finished, I sat, filled with the warmth of Don Manuel’s energy and words once again. The book brought him, his village, family and traditions to life for me.

In reading I reconnected with the feelings that had inspired “A Shaman’s Legacy,” concerning Don Manuel’s last visit to the U.S., receiving clear validation of the beauty and simplicity of the Q’ero tradition. A tradition that has been complicated and distorted by overlaid Western ideas and practices that often did not resonate with me.

Reading Denise’s book also changed how I taught the last class of four classes to my Spirited Living students, inspiring me to reach deeper during the weekend of teaching that followed, and fueled more of my own personal healing.

While I had been to Peru, I had never visited a Q’ero village. Seeing the stark simplicity of their lives set amongst the breathtaking and harsh reality of life at 17,000 feet put the entire tradition into perspective and placed it in context. Filled with photos of Chua Chua, the village where Don Manuel Quispe and his family lived, and with stories about community and the Peruvian shamanic traditions, Denise takes you into the heart of the village and shows you exactly what daily life entails.

The following is an excerpt from the book’s description:

“The Q’ero people do not ‘have’ a spiritual tradition, they ‘are’ their spiritual tradition. Living at such high altitudes they are completely dependant on their relationship with each other and their environment. They understand that every element is an integral component of the whole picture, a necessity for survival. That to live in balance with their land they must be in ‘ayni’ with all their relations. Ayni is a Quechua word for reciprocity. To come into Ayni with something means to be in an equal exchange of energy. Don Manuel Quispe embodied this tradition, incorporating it into his healing work and his teachings. Reminding us that we are not separate from spirit, that we do not need a ‘go-between’, and that we too are a part of the whole picture.”

Thanks to Denise Kinch’s quest to discover the roots of the healing tradition she was studying in the U.S., readers can walk alongside her on a personal journey that is often physically and emotionally wrenching—a journey guided by faith and Don Manuel.

This book is a gift beyond price—not only is it a window into a world and tradition that is quickly disappearing, it also affords us loving and humorous glimpses of a very special relationship between a determined woman who followed where Spirit led, and Don Manuel Quispe, one of the most respected and revered elders of the Q’ero nation, thought by some to be the last of the great Altomesayoks.

A Walk Between the Worlds, Truth is Beauty, The Q’ero is one book that every student of the Andean Medicine Tradition, indeed of any shamanic tradition, should have in their personal collection.

Note: You can order a signed and personalized hardcover copy of A Walk Between the Worlds, Truth is Beauty, The Q’ero from Denise Kinch at Pachamama Healing Center. The book is also available at Xlibris.

Rose De Dan, Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing LLC, is a mesa carrier and Pampamesayoq in the Peruvian Q’ero tradition. In addition she is also a Reiki Master Teacher, animal communicator, artist, and author of Tails of a Healer: Animals, Reiki and Shamanism.

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