Munay – (v) To love, to want, to desire. PSL QP (n) Unconditional, eternal, unreasoned love. Located at the heart center, it is the exercise of power for the shaman. (See, yachay and llank’ay.) One of the major organizing principles. The first of the Three Inca Laws. It is the law of love. Rather than an emotion, munay is seen as an attitude of respect and appreciation for everyone and everything. (See, saiwa, nuna, chekak, yuya, ch'ulla, kallari, kawsay.) JLH AVO We can speak many languages with the heart. We can communicate with all of the five kingdoms (mineral, vegetable, animal, human and Apukunas, or Light Beings).

Ki – ^ Love engaged and in Motion


The first principle of the Andean way is called Munay in Quechua. It means to love. I do not mean romantic love but a deep, abiding, impersonal love that comes naturally from the heart. This love does not expect anything in return, but simply radiates emotional warmth and caring. It is a love of acceptance. When one loves in this manner, thoughtfulness and kindness follow as a rainbow follows rain. I think of it as lovingkindness.

Munay not only means a nourishing, all-encompassing love, but also signifies tranquility and beauty and suggests a pleasant experience characterized by harmony, symmetry, correctness, and tranquility, within and without. Beauty is the outer wrapping of munay; inside is kindness and love. When you have these in your heart, you are peaceful.

Munay is inherent in nature. Not only does it manifest through nature as in a stunning sunset or a luscious fruit, it is also a quality within us. When both outer and inner worlds reflect love and beauty, one manifests benevolence in action and character.

To experience munay, we must cultivate it through conscious acts of kindness. Though one can work at clearing the heart, it is impossible to possess munay. When the time is right, munay manifests; like a hummingbird is attracted to blossoms, it comes when the field is fertile. It comes like grace.

When munay becomes an integral part of one’s character, it expresses itself spontaneously. For it to exist in this state, however, it is first necessary to clear the heart.

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The nine great rites of enlightenment, known by the Q'ero shamans as the Munay-Ki, have been available in many forms in different traditions throughout time. In some traditions rites are passed on when one has reached a certain level of attainment on the path. In the Inka tradition, these rites are gifted at the beginning of the journey, to awaken our capacities to heal and transform our luminous energy bodies. These rites have previously been passed from shaman to shaman or from spirit to shaman.



))) The Healer’s Rite connects you to a lineage of healers who assist you in your personal transformation. By receiving this rite, you acknowledge the spiritual journey you are embarking upon and awaken the healing power in your hands. Your impact on everyone you meet becomes clearer, as does your connection to those who have come before you and will come after you.

)))The Bands of Power are five luminous belts that are woven into your luminous energy field for protection. They act as filters, breaking down any negative energy that comes toward you into one of the five elements. These energies then feed your energy field instead of draining you.

)))The Harmony Rite allows the transmission of archetypal energies into each of the chakras. The first four chakras receive the serpent, jaguar, hummingbird and condor archetypes, connecting you to the earth energies, while the upper three chakras, receive guides to the realms of the unconscious, conscious, and super-conscious. Each archetype brings balance and harmony, helping to clear heavy energies and allow for the fullness of the Rainbow Body to shine forth.

)))The Seer's Rite enables you to embrace the fullness of your sensing capabilities. Pathways of light are installed that connect your visual cortex with your third eye and heart chakra. This awakens the “inner seer” and your ability to perceive the invisible world of energy and spirit. Moving more deeply into the heart, your shadow is illuminated.

The Foundation Rites prepare your luminous energy field to hold the vibration and growth available in the next five rites.

The Linage Rites

)))The Day Keeper Rite connects you to a lineage of evolved healers from the past. Day Keepers call on the ancient altars to heal and bring balance to the earth; they call on the sun to rise each day and tend to births and deaths in the community. This rite helps you to heal your inner feminine and fully awaken your nurturing gifts. Only when we embrace our feminine can we embody the masculine.

)))The Wisdom Keeper Rite offers the gifts of luminous beings from the past and future. This rite helps you to heal your inner masculine, step outside of time and become steeped in ancient knowledge and medicine. The Wisdom Keeper is the part of us that seeks our own council, the part of us that can bring great focus to our work and preserves wisdom for generations to come.

)))The Earth Keeper Rite connects you with a lineage of human beings who have lived beyond duality. Having fulfilled their divine feminine and masculine, the ego becomes fulfilled, and the soul begins to lead. As an Earth Keeper, you have an expanded view and see the earth in all its entirety and see yourself as part of all creation. You connect to the stars and sun, and begin to envision the most beautiful future possible for the earth and help bring it into being.

The Rites of the Times to Come

)))The Star Keeper Rite expands your being even further, to all places throughout all time. The rite brings forth a sense of stewardship for all creation, from the smallest grain of sand to the largest cluster of galaxies in the universe. It also propels you beyond linear time, enabling you to access your future potential now. As you begin to leave behind the patterns and stories that have held you back, you awaken the spirit of consciousness within you.

)))The Creator Rite was previously only transmitted from spirit to humans, and has only recently become available to transmit human to human. The rite awakens the God Consciousness within you. You are the creator of everything in your life and all that you hold dear is within your hands. The place of oneness you seek is within you, not without, and in seeing we are all one, you become free.

These are the Great Rites of Enlightenment, or Munay-Ki, as brought through the Q’ero shamans of Peru. The seeds of these rites can grow within anyone.


________

Text from;
http://www.incaglossary.org/m.html
http://www.munay-ki.co.uk/
http://www.andeancodex.com/excerpts.html

Thanks for that post, great read, sounds like a beautiful tradition.

I found The Andean Codex to be a wholly disappointing and somewhat troubling presentation of the Q'ero. There were a number of aspects of this ethnography that struck me as quite problematic.

Thanks for the review - i won't buy it now

Any other better recommendations?

Beyer's Singing to the Plants was really good, imo. I haven't read Rak Razam's book Aya: A Shamanic Odyssey, but Aya Awakenings, the documentary based on it was very good. Benny Shannon's Antipodes of the Mind is outstanding, if a little dry. It's a phenomenological look at the ayahuasca experience, with little snippets of ethnography/personal experience mixed in. Narby's The Cosmic Serpent and Intelligence in Nature were good if short/shallow examinations of ayahuasca and some interesting natural phenomena.

Regarding The Andean Codex...if I may go from brief to verbose:

An Analysis of The Ethnography, “The Andean Codex”

J.E. Williams’ “The Andean Codex” puts forth the argument that, in Q’ero culture, “there are five ethical principles that constitute the traditional Andean value system, which along with an Earth-based worldview [held by] the Q’ero, forms an ecospiritual philosophy based on balance and harmony built on a deep abiding love that emanates naturally from an open heart.” (Williams, 174) Williams uses the five principles of munay (love), yachay (knowledge or higher consciousness), Ilank’ay (physical and mental labor), kawsay (life or living energy), and ayni (reciprocity) as the titles of his “main” chapters and within each chapter, he focuses on how the specific value was apparent to him and lived by the Q’ero at various times during his study of them.

The first of the chapters that represent the core ideals of Q’ero is entitled “The Way of Love and Beauty” and represents munay through the retelling of Williams' initial ascent to the Q’ero village of Hatun Q’ero. In addition to using multiple quotes from his main informant, Sebastian, that contain the term munaychu, or “it’s so beautiful,” Williams provides an explanation as to the deep meaning of “love,” represented by this term. Rather than providing a dialogue as to what munay encapsulates, he provides his explanation and then uses the chapter to attempt to express the experience of ascending to 16,000 feet and the manner in which this stirred his own realizations and understanding of munay. He augments this with the retelling of his experience hiking to sacred areas with Sebastian, yet the reader cannot help but notice the lack of an authoritative Q’ero voice weighing in on the meaning and experience of munay.

The second chapter, entitled “The Way of Knowledge” deals with yachay and presents the authors first initiation into the ranks of the Q’ero shamans. The chapter opens with the author recovering from the grueling trek up the mountain. While he is dealing with this setback he is informed that when he is healthy he will be asked to participate in a karpay, one of the earliest ceremonies in a shaman’s initiation. While the author provides a very detailed account of the ceremony itself, there is never any clear explanation of how he found himself in such a position and the chapter suffers because of it. Williams receives several sacred objects for use in his new religious/medicinal role and gives much better descriptions and explanations of these artifacts than the social occurrences.

The third core chapter deals with Ilank’ay and is called “The Way of Action”. This chapter provides the reader with the author’s observations and reflections on the time he spent working in the fields alongside the Q’ero. This chapter is by far the most detailed with regards to Williams’ own fieldwork. Here he details his experiences working in the fields alongside the Q’ero and uses these experiences to expound upon their work ethic and the manner in which it includes creativity as well as labor. Even though he presents the least condensed observational period in this chapter, it is impossible to tell how much time he actually spent working out in the fields in such a manner, and to what degree his claims about Ilan’kay are informed by his own observations or by talking with the various Q’ero.

The fourth main chapter is entitled “The Way of Life” and addresses kawsay. This chapter contains very little concrete evidence, eschewing fieldnotes or discussions with Sebastian for Williams own meditations on kawsay, as well as a brief discussion with Sebastian on the effects of globalization on his people. This chapter felt completely shortchanged; either the author did not fully grasp the significance of kawsay or he did not have any considerable information or interaction on the topic. As the reader is given no clue as to how Williams’ research was conducted, no conclusions can be drawn other than the fact that it feels like something very significant was omitted.

The fifth principle chapter, “The Way of Reciprocity” is about ayni and focuses on Williams partaking in the hair-cutting ceremony (a ritual through which he becomes the compadre or godfather of Sebastian’s brother, Lorenzo’s, daughter). In this chapter, Williams admits that he did not realize what he was getting into when he first agreed to partake in the ceremony, stating, “I agree, but at the time do not realize the importance placed on this ritual by the Q’ero.” (Williams 128) This statement is the most prominent admission of ignorance throughout the whole ethnography. The fact that Williams could be ignorant to the degree of importance in such a significant ritual, yet so authoritative as to what the Q’ero worldview is, casts considerable doubt onto his assertions about the Q’ero. Without fieldnotes or any real discussion of his actual methods and experiences, his ethnography lacks a thickly descriptive quality that could potentially lay these concerns to rest

While Williams’ ethnographical method allows him to paint a very vivid picture of his understanding of the Q’ero culture, he very obviously filters their culture through his own lens of understanding and interpretation. While this may be beneficial in that the author’s influence in creating this knowledge is readily apparent, it carries with it several potential issues that must be examined. One problem with this is that, while Williams is clearly a subjective, participant-observer within this culture, the manner in which he presents his understandings of the culture as complete and homogeneous lends an air of omniscience to his ethnography that does not seem to be realistic. At the very least, it leads one to question how he has come to have such a perfect understanding of the Q’ero customs, traditions and worldview, given that, at the end of his last year of researching this ethnography, Sebastian states, “You already speak Spanish and are learning Quechua.” (Williams, 173) Williams has already introduced several figures who speak only Quechua near the beginning of his writing, but they essentially vanish into the background as he proceeds through recounting his time with the Q’ero. One of these figures is an altomeyasoq, the highest level of Q’ero shaman, and the exclusion of details or information from this shaman is incredibly significant to the validity of this ethnography. Again, this points to potentially significant omissions of cultural knowledge and viewpoints.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of “The Andean Codex” is the fact that it omits practically all of the author’s rough field-notes and observations in favor of a continuous narrative. While the narrative seems to be organized similarly to certain Q’ero concepts of time, the smooth and almost story-like progression of the ethnography is, at the very least, an indicator that this recounting has been heavily edited between the field notes and its publication. The narrative is told in the present tense, but the author makes use of writing styles whereby he jumps forward or backwards in time while remaining in the “present”. For example, while discussing one of his initial spiritual journeys with Sebastian, Williams breaks from the narrative of “presently” occurring events to state, “As we become good friends and he trusts that I am receptive, attentive, and respectful of his advice, I find that he often qualifies such moments with observations on how energy interacts with between people and the environment.” Williams then returns to narrating the specific events of their journey to the “Cave of the Heart.” By utilizing the present tense in a non-linear format, Williams is able to create the feeling of developing alongside and in relation to his Q’ero guide, without ever presenting precisely articulated explanations of the actual dynamic between them or the methods in which he gained the vast majority of his knowledge on the Q’ero, or the trust of these incredibly reclusive shamans.

The fieldwork that is present within the ethnography is represented in a very neat and orderly fashion. By clearly using his own experience and narrative as the driving force behind this ethnography, Williams is able to present a coherent and seamless presentation of his view of what Q’ero religious culture consists of. However, while this style of writing makes for easier reading than raw fieldnotes, and presents the Q’ero as more relatable to the reader; it seems to contradict much of what is understood to take place in the field. The only unfortunate occurrences or setbacks to his research that Williams provides the reader with are two physical injuries, one of which limits his ability to take action on his desire to explore the highest mountain peaks that surround the Q’ero’s mountain of residence, which he presents as an experiential lesson in yachay and laying aside his personal desires. The other is turned into an examination of the brujo or sorcerer and the different relations between shaman, sorcerer, and typical Q’ero. Given the author’s less than perfect mastery of Quechua and the fact that he only spends limited time each year over the course of eight years in the Andes (and only during a single visit in his last year does he actually travel to the Q’ero dwelling of Hatun Q’ero) it seems unlikely that these two “setbacks” were the greatest hardship he had to overcome or the most relevant obstacles impeding his research. However, without his fieldnotes or any other rough-hewn documentation of his investigatory methods or procedures, there is no way for the reader to comment on or fully comprehend the manner in which the author did or did not struggle with cultural assimilation or understandings.

Williams presents his initial fortuitous encounter with the Q’ero shamans as the result of “synchronicity” rather than “mere coincidence”. By following his introduction (which is an ayahuasca ceremony that reveals to him that he needs to study the Q’ero as part of his own spiritual/educational path) with an explanation of synchronicity as the tie between him and the Q’ero shamans, Williams immediately seeks to present the reader with a view of himself as less of an outsider; an atypical Westerner with the foresight and knowledge to intimately acquaint himself on a deep level with the Q’ero. Williams provides no real explanation of how he was invited to be within this traditionally closed and secretive group. Instead, he presents the reader with the initial turn of events that put him and these shamans in the same space-time and then goes on to present his joining the group as a result of some relatively bland yet suspiciously Hollywood-esque turn of events.

After initially meeting the Q’ero shamans at Machu Pichu and helping them interact with some Buddhist counterparts, Williams encounters the Shamans on the platform for a completely overbooked train. As the result of several realizations on the part of Williams, he is able to get the shamans on the train and inadvertently secures his own passage. From this point on his happenstance encounters with the Q’ero are attributed to “synchronicity” and the reader is given no explanation as to how or why he continues to encounter and engage these shamans, merely that he does. While this in and of itself is not overwhelmingly suspicious, Williams makes numerous references to his studies with various indigenous shamanistic and religious leaders throughout a variety of cultures. However, when he does this it seems that he is doing so to state his own credentials and legitimacy rather than drawing on any of the relevant experiences or specific knowledge one would surmise he gained while working within these societies.

The author clearly draws on participant-observation for this ethnography and that is perhaps its most redeeming quality. Whatever the reason may be, whether it was his past studies of shamanistic traditions, some inherent spiritual power, or simply blind luck, the Q’ero shamans not only allowed Williams to study them, but also initiated into their shamanistic tradition. Once again, this fact calls into question either the style of the ethnography or the accuracy of the events being reported. As there is photographic evidence that supports the claims the author makes (assuming he has given valid and culturally-relevant descriptions of what is going on), it would seem that for whatever reason, the author chose to sacrifice a gritty and potentially slow-paced retelling of the events leading up to his original initiation for a fast-paced action-adventure-novella style ethnography. This is troubling because, while it no doubt means that a wider audience will potentially read his book, it robs it of many necessary details and crucial pieces of information that would allow for it to be examined as accurate or inaccurate (or at least as a wide or narrow view) of the Q’ero culture. As it stands, there is far too much first-hand information missing to assess whether or not the author engaged in sloppy fieldwork or to what degree he even relied on interviews or observations and the manner in which these various methods were combined and used to make sense of the culture in which he was immersed.

In this book, ethnography is presented as the story of the ethnographer, while the ethnographer is seen as a person who inserts himself into a foreign culture. Despite having “over 30 years” of field experience, the manner in which the author presents his ethnography creates an incredibly simplistic conceptualization of his study (the study of the Q’ero through the journey of the ethnographer, rather than the study of the Q’ero as presented to the ethnographer by the Q’ero and examined in relation to the ethnographer’s journey). Williams presents himself almost in the style of Indiana Jones, a Western doctor who has travelled the world and spent so much time with a multitude of cultures that he has no trouble inserting himself in a new culture with minimal friction (be it physical, social, or mental) and almost immediate and universal acceptance by those within the culture.

Ethnography, in this case, seems to be much more about the author presenting what he has learned as “true” or “fundamental” to the Q’ero way of life than presenting the evidence of what the Q’ero say to be essential to their own religion and way of life. This is apparent in that, all of the lessons and teachings of what the Q’ero worldview is come directly through Williams, with only the occasional hand-picked quote to support his arguments. There is no presentation of a question and answer session (or any other in-depth discussion of indigenous culture) with any of the individuals Williams was studying. There is not even any sort of indication given as to who gave the author the information he is presenting as representative of the Q’ero way of life. This is troubling as there are marked differences between the shamans Williams initially encounters, yet nowhere in the text is there any indication of differing viewpoints or ideologies. Sebastian is understood to be the main informant, but nothing is ever directly credited as Sebastian’s view; it is presented as the Q’ero view. Everything that the author presents about Q’ero life is presented as true of the entire culture; understood by and acted on equally by all cultural members.

According to Williams, in the Q’ero society, the relationship between culture and religion is a complete fusion. There is no separation of religious and secular events or understandings as their religion is not so much in addition to their daily life as it is a manner for living their daily life. Animism, spiritual beliefs and practice are essentially woven into every facet of life. The Q’ero conceive of space-time in a manner that is “[m]ore like quantum physics than Newton’s paradigm of a finite static universe,” (Williams, 35) a holistic and interrelated model of religion and spirituality enmeshed in the cultural fabric of daily life. As their spiritual beliefs are intertwined with their physical perspective, all of Earth-space-time is considered sacred by the Q’ero. With this understanding, they do not see dichotomies between events or beings in the same manner as the typical Westerner. This in turn informs their understanding of religion and, given this understanding, it is quite apparent why there is no separation between the religious and secular; “the mystical dimension touches the physical dimension…spirit dimension and the material world are interlaced…there is no separation of body and mind…nor is there the fragmentation of intellect and emotions…[l]ife and death are different aspects of one continuous interwoven experience.” (Williams, 35) Everything contains at least the most basic aspect of life within it which is in turn tied into their religious views and practices. Thus, it could be said that the Q’ero do not practice religion so much as they practice life.

Overall, while Williams presents a fascinating look at Q’ero life through his own eyes and ultimately shows that his thesis applies to their cultural worldview, the manner in which he manipulates his field experience in order to present his ethnography makes for an account that makes for engaging reading, yet lacks the necessary details and explanations that would allow the reader to critically analyze his interpretation in the context of Q’ero culture. As a result of Williams turning his fieldnotes into a seamless narrative that attempts to explain the Q’ero worldview, the reader is presented only with the knowledge created by the ethnographer and therefore must take Williams’ word that things are really as he says. The fact that the Q’ero’s voices have been drowned out by the ethnographer’s raises questions as to what he was aiming to achieve by writing such ethnography and what ignorance, confusion, or incongruencies were allowed to fall by the wayside in his attempt to create a polished, wholly coherent and continuous-narrative ethnographic account.

This was my intuition upon skimming over the post for like 30 seconds..never read all of it but it sounds suspect to me..like new ageized andean traditions.

Thanks for that reply SnozzleBerry. They all sound primarily Aya related though and i was trying to expand my mental vocabulary about the q'ero ,Andean and other inca knowledge.
I figure i have more to learn directly from Aya than from books about Aya at the moment but the rest of the Andean and Inca universal view and belief systems are something i wan't to find out more about.

I really want to find a book that covers as much as what is listed in this gloassry link but maybe it's too much of a wide area and i should pinpoint it some more >

http://www.incaglossary.org

And Jamie, while the Munay-Ki rites do sound a bit new ageized like you say, at the very least they point to the 'old' age transcendentalist side of what they're about.

The core essence of what they represent has it's roots in authentcity , but perhaps slightly repackaged to be more accessible to a wider audience inclusive of the 'new agers' i guess. It is what it is.