Archive | Despacho

Old Ways, New Prayers: A preview of Dr. Alberto Villoldo’s upcoming book

Alberto is such an amazing storyteller and teacher. I am looking forward to this latest book! Here’s a preview he sent in his newsletter.    Old Ways, New Prayers A preview of Dr. Alberto Villoldo’s upcoming book, The Heart of the Shaman: Stories and Practices of the Luminous Warrior To this day, Shamans practice the […]

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Elder’s Meditation of the Day – July 30

Elder’s Meditation of the Day – July 30 “You want to know who’s a real medicine man? He’s the one who doesn’t say ‘I’m a medicine man.’ He doesn’t ask you to come to him. You’ve got to go and ask him. And you’ll find he’s always there among his own people.” — Louis Farmer, […]

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The Despacho

Q’ero Elder Don Manuel Q’ispe, in a presentation at Canyon de Chelley in May 1997 (translated by Jose Luis Herrera), spoke of despachos this way: “The despacho is a gift–a giving back of what we receive everyday in our lives. We seek, through the despacho ceremony, to bridge the ordinary and non-ordinary realms; to establish […]

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To become a butterfly, you must be willing to give up being a caterpillar.