An Inner Journey with don Manuel, Inka Elder,
and the Inka Sun Staff

“Whenever one ‘Friend of the Inka Sun Staff’ is living the Mission of the Staff,
all ‘Friends of the Staff' are present and participating.”

Offered by the Caretakers of the Inka Sun Staff as a heartfelt living memorial to don Manuel Quispe, your inner voyage with the beloved Inka Elder will begin in the early 1940’s when the joyous man, sometimes called “The Dalai Lama of the West,” is in his 30’s, living a simple, sacred life with his Q’ero people high in the Andes of Peru.  This voyage across time and space begins long before the birth of the modern Inka Sun Staff (ISS).  Yet the lives of this great Inka Shaman and the Great Golden Staff are intimately linked, as you will have the opportunity to experience first hand on your journey.

The Q’ero Nation, known world-wide as the “Last of the Inka” by the end of the 20th Century, is untouched by modern western civilization, living a stable, physically difficult and spiritually fulfilling existence.  But now there are whispers of change in the air. Winds whistling down the great mountain passes foretell a momentous shift.  There is talk of disruption and transformation in counsel meetings with don Manuel and the other Elders (see http://www.inkasunstaff.org/5thSun.html ). 

With the advent of the Pachakuti and signs of The Time to Come, the Q’ero Elders were now open to contact with modern people.  The mountain villagers were eventually found by anthropologists and other westerners keenly interested in an opportunity to observe and study Inka ways.  They discovered that these mountain people knew and lived the Ancient Ways each day in their simple, rugged existence in villages above 15,000 feet and were now willing and enthusiastic to share with anybody open to accept the teachings and rites.  Many of these observers, realizing their own personal hunger and their societies desperation for meaningful, sustainable lives, turned from objective scientist to eager students.  Don Manuel and other Elders will spend the last four decades of the 20th Century imparting their power, love, and wisdom to modern seekers of ancient wisdom and practice. 

The Caretakers of ISS have said that whenever one Inka Sun Staff is in ceremony, all Staffs join the sacred circle and pulse in harmony with the healing energies.  They also know that when one Friend of the Staff is living the Mission of the Inka Sun Staff, all Friends of the Staff are present and participating.  Join don Manuel, a great Friend of the Staff, just outside of chronological time and physical space for an experience that Friends of ISS, seekers just like you, already know deep within their bones.

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Journey across time and space in the eternal now to a freezing stone hut warmed only by burning llama dung and the warmth of gathered friends (see ruin behind modern high Andean hut at http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/South_America/Peru/photo93743.htm ). The ominous energy of the Pachakuti, the long awaited transition from the 4th to 5th Sun, is felt by everyone here in the fire circle.  Don Manuel drifts into a telling of the legend of the Golden Tear from Father Sun.  Listen thoughtfully as a vision of the introduction and explosion of sentient life on this plane unfolds. “Once upon…http://www.inkasunstaff.org/GoldenTear.html .” 

Now in the golden glow of a magical Gift from Father Sun, it becomes evident that everyone sitting around this fire knows the ancient lore in their hearts, their minds, and their bones.  Each person around this fire has lived the ancient ways and experiences the timeless Medicine Teachings in their daily lives.  Every person in the Q’ero Nation has lived their entire life with Great Apus (mountains) protecting them and has resolutely acted as guardians of the Pacha Mama, Mother Earth.  Every Q’ero child grows up hearing a version of the story of Inti Tai Tai’s Golden Tear of Love and thanks Him each day for the gift of life.  Sitting by the fire, or later while walking in mountain meadows under snowcapped peaks, actually hear the teachings, ponder the wisdom, feel the munay (love), and receive the Karpai (rites) of a people whose lineage is traced back thousands of years and across thousands of miles. 

Hear for the first (or is it the hundredth?) time about the Original Inka Sun Staff and the beginning of an epic journey when… http://www.inkasunstaff.org/First.html . 

Decades have passed now and you are walking with don Manuel and other Q’ero for days across some of the most beautiful mountainscape on this planet (http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/South_America/Peru/South/Cusco/photo75869.htm). Eventually Apu Ausangate looms in the distance, calling you with Its majesty and power (image at http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/South_America/Peru/photo107811.htm ). 

The party finally reaching this, the most holy mountain of the Q’ero (see http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/South_America/Peru/photo94016.htm ), a few short days before the Winter Solstice of the prophetic year 1995 (read second paragraph http://www.inkasunstaff.org/Telling.html ).

See the Elders sitting in silence preparing for the long awaited ceremonies on the shortest, “darkest” day of the year.

Sit in a circle with the elders who will soon be throwing and reading coca leaves with majestic Apu Ausangate at your back.  Drink in Q’ero friends banter about the past year and their anticipation and enthusiasm about the Destiny Readings. 

Observe the throwing of leaves for connection with the Oracle, the silent contemplation of the messages, and finally the animated discussion of what is intuitively received.  Eventually don Manuel declares two prophecies that seem to bear profound implications for everyone present, all humanity and the entire planet (see http://www.inkasunstaff.org/FirstProphecy.html and http://www.inkasunstaff.org/SecondProphecy.html ).



Turning to the left, look into the face of fellow pilgrim Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D., a Cuban American medical anthropologist and trainer of modern, western shamans. He is one of the early seekers of ancient ways in Peru and has studied intensively with the Q’ero for decades.  He counts Q’ero Elders don Antonio and don Manuel as two of his mentors.  Alberto softly shares an idea inspired by the reading of the prophecies.  His vision manifests later this year in the birth of the modern Inka Sun Staff (ISS) (see http://www.inkasunstaff.org/Modern.html ).





A year later, find yourself traveling with don Manuel, ISS, and Alberto in the United States.  A blur of ceremony and cities, rigorous travel and joyous hard work culminating with a glorious ceremony in St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York City.  This journey is in service of introducing the Pachakuti foretelling the 5th Sun, the Two Inka Prophecies, and the Inka Sun Staff to North America and modern westerners (as described at http://www.inkasunstaff.org/5thSun.html) .


Even though 90 years old, don Manuel continues his teaching and travels, touching the lives of thousands of eager, appreciative modern western people.  As one of those enthusiastic contemporary humans, you may choose to receive the Kurak a Kayak transmission (the Star Rites) from him in Northeast Arizona while camping on the floor of Canyon de Chelly at the base of Anasazi cliff dwellings in 1997 (image at http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/gallery/deshe003.htm ).  Treasure the meteorite don Manuel carted from Peru as a gift, feeling the cold, heavy “star stone” in your hand.  Follow a luminous thread that traces this sacred stone's path back to the Andes and don Manuel’s village, through the Earth’s atmosphere, out of our planet’s gravitational pull, through our local star’s solar system and back into deep space. 


In 1998 at Valle Sagrado, the Sacred Valley of the Inkas
(see images at http://www.destination360.com/peru/sacred-valley-ol.php ), you deepen your relationship with the tireless Inka Elder at a worldwide shaman conference. Drink in his love and wisdom and fill with appreciation and awe as he offers you an exquisite old hand made mastana cloth for carrying your sacred objects. Later, on a warm summer evening in 2000, high on a bluff in Malibu, California, feel him cleansing and blessing your body front and back with the sacred Despacho he lovingly crafted.  Travel with him wherever you wish, to any world you choose.  He is master of the three worlds, and beyond.  He is your teacher.  He is your friend.

Don Nasario, the Keeper of the Lagoon, cleanses and blesses the Staff and the group with incense, Aqua de Florida, and red wine (the “Blood of the Mother).   He and his son prepare a Despacho, calling the People of the Mountain, “Yapan Apu Kuna” and the First Beings and the Beings of the Time to Come, “Yapan Mayku Kuna.” Breathing is quick and labored here where ancient lore says the “veil between the worlds is the thinnest.” And yet connection with Spirit comes so easy. See with the vision of Don Manuel.  Think with the wisdom of the Elders.  Be with the Presence of the People of the Mountain.  Feel the powerful presence of the Ancient Ones and the Beings of the Time to Come.  Find your rightful place somewhere within this gathering of Spiritual Beings and Embodied Spirits. Take as long as you want. At this altitude, eternity coexists with the moment.  This is ceremony, this is life, on the other side of time and space.











Descending 5 miles to a mere 14,000 feet at Pachanta Pampa is a welcome downhill hike.  There is so much to ponder and assimilate.  And tomorrow it is said that a new Destiny Reading, updating the prophetic 1995 readings of eight years ago, will unfold. For now, enjoy the pastoral scenes, including the grazing llama and alpaca, and digest your experience.











Arriving in camp in very late afternoon, the Mayku Karpai, the Rights of the Time to Come, will take place after a hot meal. Nourished and rested, enter the tent and marvel at the simple beauty of the altar with the Great Staff lying at the front.  The Despacho is tenderly, lovingly and joyfully prepared.  Blow your prayers and intentions into the three coca leaf bundle you so carefully selected.  Add your prayers for the Earth, Humanity, your family, yourself to the Despacho.  Accept the Apu Ausangate stone that Don Umberto offers.  A treasure of the day, the mountain, the elders, the piece of the Holy Mountain is holding the experiences of the entire journey under its crystalline covered surface.  Bring the stone to your heart.  Bring your heart to the stone. 

Take a stroll under millions of stars, the celestial home of the Star Beings who originally populated this planet who legend says are also the Beings of the Time to Come.  Don Manuel and the Q’ero Elders trace their lineage to the stars.  Trace you lineage back in chronological time?  Where is your spiritual home?  From where do you source your life and your being?  Allow the dreams, this cold, clear night, to inform and vitalize.



A cold sunny morning is warmer now after a hot breakfast and a walk out of camp.  The Destiny Readings, 2003. The Great Staff is planted in a place of honor and blessed with red wine and Aqua de Florida.  The Q’ero shamans lovingly pray with ISS and for its Mission, infusing It and all Inka Sun Staffs with the power of the Inka Medicine Lineage. During the Ceremony, the presence of your sister group trekking 100 miles North on the mountain of the “undomesticated Feminine,” Apu Salkantay, is strongly felt and appreciated.  The dual treks reflect one aspect of the Mission of the Inka Sun Staff that features the great dance between Universal Feminine and Universal  Masculine, between Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) and Inti Tai Tai (Father Sun) and among women and men.  The dual treks presage and embody our destiny of diversity, harmony, and balance here on Planet Earth (see “Commentary” at http://www.inkasunstaff.org
/SecondProphecy.html .)





Unfortunately Don Manuel is too weak at 98 to join the gathering.  Today, and at each ceremony on this ISS roots journey, he is honored and remembered, his presence palpable and appreciated.  Not physically present, and yet it is as if he personally blew your soul into the stars on Machu Picchu, hiked at your side to the Rainbow Lagoon, and conducted the Mayku Karpai last evening.  You and ISS will never see him again in the physical body.  Thankfully, he lives on in the Work of the Staff (see http://www.inkasunstaff.org/Dedication.html) and in your heart, mind and soul.

The Destiny Despacho is lovingly closed and wrapped.  Dona Bernadina, a beloved Q’ero Elder and marvelous embodiment of the Pacha Mama, blows her prayers and the spirit of don Manuel into the completed Despacho.  Don Mariano walks over and offers you a sacred cleansing with the sacred bundle. Receive these blessings and the healing of the Sacred Offering from don Mariano, dona Bernadina, don Manuel, and the entire Inka Medicine Lineage into your heart. Feel your body and soul respond as the Despacho is rubbed and patted over your entire being.












In a paradox that colors the daily existence of the modern western shaman, your journey with Don Manuel and ISS is both completed and just starting.  Prepare to bid “hasta pronto” (see you very soon) to don Manuel, Apu Ausangate and the Elders and reflect on two weeks of healing, adventure, mystery and spiritual connection. Engage in an animated dialogue with don Francisco about the mystery, magic, and healing of this journey. Show him the Ausangate stone that was gifted you last night. Tell him about the trek to 17,000 feet and parting the veil between the worlds at Azul Cocha. And becoming new and clean again at the Jaguar Lagoons. Share the experience of your first glimpse of Apu Ausangate and the wonder of the ruins at Machu Pichu. And dying next to ISS on the Death Stone. And the ceremony on Apu Machu Picchu peak. And soaring with the condors on Apu Waynu Picchu. Let don Francisco hold and bless your "star stone" from don Manuel. Share the story of the birth of the modern Inka Sun Staff and its parent, the original Golden Staff. And silently feel together an abiding appreciation for Inti Tai Tai's Golden Tear of love and life. Hear don Francisco's ancient Quechuan words. "Your inner and outer experiences on this journey are forever available and can inform your life and the lives of people around you as you return to your village. Feel the Inka Medicine people in and around you. Feel the Inka Sun Staff in your heart. Take this baby Staff and keep it in your mesa, with your sacred objects. Know you have touched the Inka Medicine Lineage and tasted the Essence of Life."













This Journey with Don Manuel comes on the wings of Condor,

From the spirit of a person from whom ISS and all Friends of the Staff can draw inspiration, wisdom and power, and

With the love of a great teacher we sit with for eternity.