Archetypes of Mountain Shamanism - Shamanic Yoga Institute

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The Serpent

The serpent is one of the most universal archetypes there is. We see serpent represented for example in the Bible, Hinduism, and Ancient Greece. In each instance they maintain a similar energy or meaning. In the Bible the serpent brought Eve the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. From Ancient Greece we have the legacy of two serpents coiled around a staff to represent Medicine and the power of healing. In Hinduism the serpent represents Kundalini, the dormant energy that lays at the base of our spines. It is this energy as well that connects us with samadhi, the true knowledge and remembrance of our divinity just like the Garden of Eden. If we think about a snake, it invokes a sense of fluidity, sexuality and fertility. This is because the serpent rekindles the memory of the creative force of life.

There are two serpents that are invoked when we call in the South direction. The first is Sachamama the Great Serpent, the mother of the life-giving waters. The second is Amaru. Amaru is a mythical creature, a two headed snake or dragon that is often depicted with the head of a bird and a puma or jaguar. This creature is said to be able to connect the spiritual realm with the underworld. We call on serpent in the South to teach us about letting go of our past, of our personal stories just as the snake sheds its skin. We also want to be able to embody this perceptual state, this way of being in the world, which is detached, non-emotional and able to see things just as they are. Sometimes having this vision is helpful in moving forward on our earth walk. The direction of the South also encourages us to walk in beauty, teaching us that by letting go of that which no longer serves us, we are able to reclaim our luminous form and help others also see their radiance.

Jaguar and Cougar

Otorongo (Jaguar) and Cougar (the jaguar in our lands) is our archetype of the West, the direction in which we begin to hunt the death which stalks us. Jaguar as the top of the food chain represents the cycle of life, death and rebirth. This is the cycle of transformation. Change doesn’t often occur when things are easy but when we are in crisis. Cougar is a representation of how this chaos is a critical part of our cycle and that after chaos comes order. She teaches us to wage this war in innocence, to track down what tracks us and transmute that heavy energy into light thereby recognizing that all energy is light, that it is all love. Fear is the absence of love, and we can be consumed by fear because we have forgotten this higher truth. A powerful course of action is to find that which makes us fearful and give it back to the light so that we walk courageously through our lives, knowing we have no enemies in this world or the next.

The perceptual state of Jaguar/Cougar teaches us even more about her nature. She is fierce and powerful, sexual and instinctual. Jaguar is all emotion, all feeling. He is the great tracker who can sense and feel the universe around him. In the state of jaguar things are more than they seem, they carry meaning beyond what can be observed in the literal.

Hummingbird

Siwarkente (Quechua) or San Sen (Squamish Nation) teaches us that we are enough. Each year this tiny bird flies an epic journey, crossing distances that seem impossible, to answer an ancestral call. Hummingbird represents that we too can answer those whispers even if it seems we do not have enough, know enough or believe we are enough. Hummingbird also shares her teaching of sweetness by drinking directly from the nectar of life. In the Squamish tradition he is believed to be the bringer of joy, friendship and a symbol of good luck.

Apus & Nustas MOUNTAINS

When we call in the North, we also call in the Apus, the grandmothers and grandfathers that live in the mountains. The sacred masculine teachers and the divine feminine teachers of the mountains, the mountain priestesses, the Nustas, and the mountain shaman, the alto mesioqs. The spirits in the Mountains hold space for our work and whisper the teachings to us. We source from all the mountains in all worlds. We build our mesas with a map relating to 12 mountains in Peru as well as 12 mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The mountains of Peru have had diligent, consistent prayer to them for hundreds of years. They are incredibly powerful, steeped in years of being venerated and loved. The mountains of these lands indeed have also been cared for however, the consistency disrupted by colonization. We have an opportunity to help continue to wake the mountains up and open to their teachings. Stawamus Ausangate

Eagle

Kuntur (Eagle), Apuchin (Condor) and the winds of the East teach us about our destiny and flying wing to wing with the Great Spirit. These great birds show us how to vision our destinies and see with the eyes of our hearts. Eagle has an incredibly discerning eye. From high in the sky Condor and Eagle have a great view of the whole picture but they can also see all the details, each and every piece that create the whole. This type of view reminds us to hold the vision and trust the process. It also teaches us that we make our lives. We place each seed, flower or tree, and either feed it or weed it out. Eagle asks us to discern with our hearts what we want to grow in the garden of our lives and challenges us to walk how we want to live. These great winged birds show us we vision our destiny and then create a life that takes us there.

Pachamama MOTHER EARTH

Pachamama is Mother Earth. She is Gaia. She is why we do this work, so that we may let go of our personal stories and come back to the collective story, the story of the stars. We ultimately do this work of healing ourselves so that we may heal her and all her creation. We do this work to walk more softly on her belly for she is the mother that never left us. We remember that we are deeply connected to all things, that we are truly all one and what we do to her we do to ourselves and what we do to ourselves, we in turn do to her. In this essence we are all her. Pachamama Quechua

Inti Ti Ti, Mama Kilia and Star Nation GRANDMOTHER MOON

When we call in the skies, we call in the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. The Inca believe they are descendants of the Sun, Inti Ti Ti. We also call in Mama Kilia, the moon, and the star nations. These are our ancestors; we are descendants of the stars. When we call in this direction, we pray to those who have kept our place in the long line of light carriers. We thank them for holding this space for us until we were ready to fill our medicine shoes. The lore around the skies is paramount in all cultures across time for the sky is where we can really connect to the universe, the great expansive cosmos where light was born, where we were born.

Huascar

Huascar is the lord of the underworld and the keeper of our medicine teachings. We will meet him in journeys. The vision of Huascar is unique to the individual and you will build a relationship over time. The underworld in which he lives is the Ukupacha, this is the place of all potential and where we can visit the collective unconscious. There was a Sapa Inca named Huascar who was particularly tyrannical. He was in power around the time that the Spanish arrived. It is difficult to find accounts of Huascar as a deity per se, however it is likely this Sapa Inca was named after him.

Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a feathered serpent. He was a prominent deity across Mesoamerica for hundreds of years. The ehecaicozcatl or wind jewel was a conch shell cut in a cross section worn by priests. Like many of the Hindu deities, because Quetzalcoatl was worshipped by so many different cultures across hundreds of years, he takes many forms and has many stories. He is most often known as the god of the wind, knowledge, Venus and related to merchants of arts and crafts.
Quetzalcoatl is the ruler of the middle world or the Kaypacha. He is the keeper of prophecies. From him and in this world, we learn about right relationship and things in the literal and nonliteral.

Pachacuti Inca

We journey to Pachacuti Inca in the upper world or Hanaqpacha. Pachacuti holds the seeds of our becoming and represents the superconscious and collective conscious. Pachacuti was the name given to the 13th Sapa Inca. He was the ruler who grew Cuzco into the Incan Empire by unifying the surrounding tribes into one great domain. He built Sacsayhuaman to fortify Cuzco and it is believed Machu Picchu was built as an estate for him. His name in Quechua means “he who shakes the earth.”