Is There End To Cubefield?

INTRODUCTION WHAT IS A MESA?

Mesas noten

The word mesa in English means "table". In the Andean shamanism, we can distinguish two families of mesas :

1 / mesa altar, made in the northern Andes, especially Peru. In the northern Peruvian Huaringas, this mesa is best known for the ritual form that most often accompanies the taking of the sacred drink of the four winds ( huachuma ). This a beverage extract from the San Pedro cactus, plant the fabulous lady who grows in the Andes. But far from the commercial hype Huaringas whose rites are being and causes, moreover, a loss of soul in many Peruvian traditions, there are Bolivia, northern Argentina, in the southern Ecuador and Chile, other variations on traditional ritual in San Pedro. Immune to the greed of esoteric tourism and its aggressive marketing , these variations, discrete, remain inaccessible. Until now, to speak only of my dear Kollasuyu (1), even if one finds easily Ayahuasca and San Pedro in all the shops of Market Street Linares witches in La Paz, it is always very difficult to meet the men of knowledge who have mastered the use, especially if you are a foreigner. Yet these men do exist. But by the shamans did not succumb to the siren song of the dollar value and are perfectly able, with great virulence sometimes protect themselves from the temptations which have fallen in some Peruvian traditions. The Mesa Nortena Peru, "Northern Table" as they call it, is the most famous ritual traditions related to San Pedro. She is also the most prone farms commercial, and probably not for this same reason, most effective, as it has become a common product of tourism consumption, directly accessible from the local travel agencies or foreign. The fact is that the mesa is designed as an instrument of power or an altar concentrating forces invoked. Flanked by swords and other weapons, it is a tool for fighting against demons and other spirits, sources of disease. In the region of Huaringas, where the 14 major holy lakes, each of which has special healing properties, the mesa Nortena is systematically associated with purifying bath ritual in the cold waters of the lake. But in addition to its healing properties, the San Pedro is also a plant master can communicate powerful teachings. Christianized his name indicates that, like St. Peter, the huachuma, or agua Kolla, has the ability to open the gates of paradise. This plant therefore holds the keys to access the spiritual worlds. From a German site , the pattern reproduced at the top of this article is a typical representation of the mesa Nortena, the best known example of the mesas of the first family, that is to say , mesas constitute a form of altar. The picture, meanwhile, exhibited a substantially different. The Mesa Nortena based on symbols and syncretic forces primarily male, like the San Pedro cactus hallucunogène, whose powers are male. Bellicose and representative of a whole arsenal warrior, this mesa is all verticality and momentum towards the sky. In comparison, another plant that is the centerpiece Ayahuasca, from Amazonia, is of feminine nature, which is why we often speak of the goddess Ayahuasca.

2 / mesa-banquet is the second type of "table" that we encounter in Andean shamanism. Rather, it is practiced in southern Andes, for the Aymara, Quechua, shamans of the Cuzco region or Kallawayas, who know at least three uses: the white mesa, the mesa mesa gray and black, the latter being most often kept secret, so that it denies its use, sometimes negative and applied to the rituals of death. However, it is necessary to remember that even the black mesa obeys the sake of healing. In this virtual culinary design of the mesa, which is actually the most common in the Andes, is not seen at all the ritual and the arrangement of objects in front of the shaman as an altar or a receptacle of cosmic forces. Instead, the mesa is no more or no less than divine banquet offered to the goddess, gods, ancestors or spirits. The ritual is a kind of divine cuisine and the mesa is also served with calm and reluctance, in order that the August guests have the time to enjoy and appreciate all the dishes prepared. In a book entitled Testimonio Kallawaya who is online on google, Don Severino, one of my friends from the street Sagarnaga in La Paz, Kallawayas among the best known and respected, gives several examples details of this mesa-banquet. As The Mesa Nortena , this practice is marked by syncretism between Catholicism and indigenous religion. It invokes the gods and goddesses of our pantheon sacred and the holy and Catholic saints. It acts in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We see no gene in praying to God and the Pacha Mama and often our amulets are blessed by both the priest and the shaman. The mesa, or bet, in its second sense, is the offering that the shaman does so at their deities. It is a symbolic feast in miniature contains everything that the individual would serve as great, if not limited by economic means. There are small figurines of stones that are all amulets ( Illas ), like miniatures of metal called Chiuch . Esoteric symbols made of sugar are also arranged in a specific order. They are called Misterios or "mysteries". Also included in the composition of the mesa various kinds of seeds, colored cotton, herbs, healing land, incense, and to repel spells and curses others, products of crops, bits of starfish and shells, pieces of fabric, leather and fat of some animals, especially llama and feulles gold and silver, flower petals, not to mention the consecration alcohol, red wine, white wine and coca leaves encircling the sacred offering, all of which are by varies according to the divine banquet of the intentions of the offerer. Thus is, for example, the color of cotton and wool: Wool white for Pacha Mama, her husband and Tata Mallku Kunu. Black wool for sortillèges and malignant deities, red wool for the Taikai and Pacha Mama. Yellow for wool and Mallkus Achachilas. Wool orange for Achachilas the Awicha and Illapu. Green wool for the Pacha Mama, the Mamas and the Taikai. Color of lead spells detrimental to health. Coffee color for wrathful deities and the evil eye. Blue for the Mama Qota Lake Titicaca and for souls, etc.. The banquet is the mesa-type mesa that Kallawayas yatiris and employ the most in the exercise of their profession as doctors of souls and bodies.

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NOTE:

(1) Kollasuyu : From Kolla, healer, doctor, shaman, and Suyu , Earth. The word means so Earth Shaman and it is the old native name of Bolivia.

Mesa blanca