The Doorway Appears

An Andean healing ceremony and the beginning of a deeper pilgrimage

I wake up with the feeling that this day will change me forever.

I feel it in my bones. A sense of joy, excitement and a dash of anxiety all rolled up in one. For I am about to participate in a healing session with an Andean wisdom keeper visiting from Peru.

I stand in front of our beloved Tree House apartment here at Meditation Mount, gently gazing toward the Sun, towards the western sky.

The year is 2017. Springtime, when the Matilija Poppies begin to bloom and the scent of orange blossoms fills the air.

I lift my arms high towards the SUN and offer a prayer of gratitude for the journey I am about to embark upon. I pray for a graceful passage and for the journey ahead. I offer gratitude for the privilege of being here on this sacred land.

It’s late afternoon and the Sun is still relatively high in the sky, a few hours before Chief Peak turns pink and the Ojai Valley begins to settle into a soft evening glow.

I walk towards my beloved pickup truck, Garnet Pearl, and make my descent down the winding hill, through the gate and towards the valley floor.

Greeted by aromatic orange blossoms, avocado orchards and the spaciousness of the East End, I make my way through downtown Ojai and out towards Ventura Shores.

Arriving at my destination, I feel the excitement building. Partly for the joy of what may be revealed and partly from nervousness, as wires had crossed earlier that morning regarding an unintentional schedule mishap, placing a little pressure on the moment.

I ring the doorbell.

Cheryl opens the door and welcomes me in with a kind smile. Beside her stands Jorge Luis Delgado, an Andean wisdom keeper from the Lake Titicaca region.

Greeted with reciprocity, a smile and simple pleasantries, I am welcomed inside and led immediately to a small room to the right. Cheryl heads upstairs towards her main living space where the Shaman Circles regularly take place.

Don Jorge points me towards the healing table set up in the center of the room. He walks away for a moment, offering me time to land and settle into the space.

He begins to prepare our ceremony together.

I settle in, observe the space and wait for the session to begin.

Don Jorge walks into the room. He picks up his rattles and ceremoniously begins walking in circles around me. On about his third cycle around, he gathers a bottle and spritzes the room with floral water, blessing and welcoming in the space.

He begins to sing and offer prayers, welcoming the ancestors and offering gratitude for Pachamama.

His presence, voice and prayers enliven the space.

The small room with four walls I entered just moments ago has become a wide, multidimensional field of light.

The veils feel thinner here.

Imagination soars.

Don Jorge pauses.

Stops.

Silence falls upon the space.

He asks me to share what I would like to focus on for the healing today.

I share what is on my heart, a heaviness I desire to heal so that I can be lighter on my journey.

My request is listened to and cared for with absolute unconditional love.

Don Jorge begins to speak.

“Hucha. Hucha is heavy energy. We want to transform hucha into munay. Then to sami, which is Unconditional Love. This is the work we will do today.”

“Anything else?”

Yes.

“I feel a lot of joy around my travels and how I would like to continue my journeys to sacred pilgrimages.”

I notice a medicine bag beside the small table adjacent to the healing table I am lying on.

Don Jorge picks it up.

He invites me to choose several stones.

“Go ahead and gather the ones that speak to you.”

I gather seven.

He invites me to place the stones, one by one, on the areas of my body where I feel heavy energy, hucha.

“We carry hucha at times. Hucha is heavy energy. We replace it with sami, munay, love.”

One stone rests up

on my forehead.

Another on my chest.

Another on my stomach.

Several more are placed in between.

Don Jorge invites me to pick up each stone, one by one, bringing my awareness to my breath and allowing the heavy energy to transform naturally.

As the heaviness begins to soften and become lighter, he guides me:

“Blow directly into the stone.”

Through the breath, awareness is brought to the heavy energy.

The hucha begins to loosen.

To decompose.

To make room for lightness and love to shine through.

“Yachay, wisdom, arises when hucha is released so that one can return to the radiance of the inner Sun.”

Don Jorge continues to offer his prayers and songs.

Then he says:

“You have been blooming. Your garden is beautiful.”

His words land kindly upon my ears.

Don Jorge continues his prayers, his songs and his ceremonial ways.

As the ritual completes, Don Jorge guides me to come down from the table.

I lift off the table as if light as a feather and land my two bare feet upon the floor.

I feel lighter.

Brighter.

Transformed, really.

Don Jorge gestures towards the western corner of the room, in the direction of the setting Sun.

“Stand here,” he says with a wide smile.

He positions me towards what appears to me as a luminous portal.

An abstract archway appears.

The shape of a door emerges.

Don Jorge welcomes me to step towards it.

He speaks:

“AliSun… A child of the Sun comes with joy and gratitude for her life.”

He asks me to affirm my prayer and request so that it may be spoken to the Ancestors.

I affirm my prayer and speak my request into the space before me.

I feel lit up from head to toe.

I feel a sense of clarity on my path, one that I know will serve me in the days ahead.

Don Jorge offers a closing prayer on my behalf.

Thank you, Pachamama…

As the ceremony comes to a close, Don Jorge looks at me with compassionate eyes. The kind of look that somehow lets you know something in your life is about to change.

He gathers the Sun disk necklace from around his neck with a gentle sweeping gesture and places it around my neck as an offering.

“This is for you. This will support you in the coming days. Keep it close.

The ceremony completes and I stand there smiling and laughing.

The Sun disk rests against my heart.

Something has shifted.

And somehow, I know I have crossed a threshold into a life I cannot yet imagine, one still hidden from view.