This glossary is taken from Lessons of the Inca Shamans, Part 2 with additional terms added by Deborah Bryon and Tom Blaschko. Most of the paqos are referred to by just their first names. The glossary reflects that usage. Many paqos have the honorific title of Don (masculine) or Doña (feminine) added to the front of their names. The glossary reflects what Deborah Bryon calls each of these paqos. A new student of Incan medicine should find out what each of these paqos prefers to be called.

Mountains and apus are related to one another, but the best interpretation we have is that an apu is a spirit living on (in?) a particular mountain. This distinction means that the glossary has entries for both the spirit and the place. The spirit entries start with Apu.

Another excellent and more extensive source for the meanings of Incan words is www.incaglossary.org.

Adolfo — altomesayoq, mentor and teacher; his full name is Adolfo Ttito Condori

Adriel — Andean paqo and coca leaf reader

agua de sangre — sacred water, literally water of blood

Aguas Calientes — the town closest to Machu Picchu; literally hot waters

Alankoma — a sacred Andean mountain; keeper of the eagle’s nest, the place where eagles, condors, and falcons reside on its summits

Alca Cocha — rainbow lagoon, below Sigrena Cocha

ally — the intermediary or necessary conduit between the ego and otherworld experience

almakispichi — a disincarnate soul that has not been purified and is still wandering in the middle world

altomesayoq — the most highly respected of the paqos or mesa carriers, with the capacity to serve as gateways between ordinary and nonordinary reality. They each have membership with a particular mountain and speak directly to spirits of that location. These paqos source (derive) energy from the directors of the holy mountains, the apu spirits, by engaging in an active exchange with the energetic collective. Also called hatunmesayoq

Amaru — the mythic snake being of the lower world, Ukhu Pacha

Amaruina — literally serpent of fire; ancient spiritual lineage of wizards with special visions

anamisma — an energetic state where power implodes

Anasazi Indians — ancient Native American culture in Four Corners region of the United States and throughout all of Southern Utah

Andean Research Institute ( ARI ) — a non-profit organization in Maras, Peru, that supports the Andean and Amazon cultures and the wisdom keepers of those cultures with the intention of preserving the practices and technology of ancient Peruvian medicine for existing generations and for all those to come

anima mundi — Stanislav Grof’s term that describes the universe created and permeated by a superior creative intelligence

anthropos — the ancient idea of an all-extensive world soul, a kind of cosmic subtle body

apachetta — a pile of rocks built with prayers and intention to form a structure for healing

apu — the winged beings, the great collective mountain spirits. The apus of a mountain are an expression of the collective composite of Pachamama. The collective has different creative expressions that mirror the people of the land.

Apu Alankoma — the apu who provided Deborah’s first major experience of piercing the veil

Apu Aspo Kenta Rebacha —the apu that ensures the proper flow of water allocated to animals, plants, and people

Apu Ausangate — the observer that has the power to multiply alpacas, sheep, faith, health, intent, and power; second in command after Apu Salcantay

Apuchin — the mythic condor being of the upper world; the energy center of the Mind

Apu Chupícuaro — a collective mountain spirit from the mountains of Bolivia, the director of the altomesayoq Juanito’s mesa

Apu Corrichaska — from the fourth level, in charge of registering the stars in the sky. One star belongs to each individual that incarnates.

Apu Cruz Pata — an apu that visits Juanito’s mesa

Apu Everest — a sacred mountain that keeps the light of the world

Apu Huanacauri — an apu that visits Doña Alejandrina’s mesa

Apu Huascaran — the powerful benefactor of altomesayoq Doña Alejandrina’s mesa

Apu Kaylash — an apu of initiation bringing initiates to enlightenment

Apu Machu Picchu — a 1500 year old apu that visits Doña Alejandrina’s mesa

Apu Mama Simona — a feminine apu, located near Ausangate; involved with fertility and healing, married to the sun because she is the first peak in the region to receive the sun’s rays

Apu Misti — an Andean apu that visits Juanito’s mesa

Apu Nuevo Mundo (Apu Mundo) — an apu that visits Juanito’s mesa

Apu Pachatusan —the axis of local and collective pachas near Cusco; the axis for happiness, the energy that moves human lives

Apu Patapac — the apu benefactor of cattle thieves that takes the animals into an underground hiding place with large interior spaces

Apu Picol — the herder of people

Apu Potosi — an apu that visits Doña Alejandrina’s mesa

Apu Pukeen — in charge of constructing housing; brings the earth up to build a home

Apu Qariwanaku – an apu who visits Doña Alejandrina’s mesa

Apu Q’ollorit’i — “Snow Star,” gives vision, symbol of Christ

Apu Qullqi — an apu benefactor of Deborah’s mesa from the city of Cusco, close to the sacred mountain Pachatusan; an accountant, in charge of records of all births and deaths in Cusco

Apu Sacsayhuaman Cabildo — the keeper of knowledge and wisdom

Apu Salcantay — directs all mountains and holds the power of life and death, with power over the four elements

Apu Sawasiray — embodies the power of “eternal youth” through dreaming and brings dreams back into reality

Apu Senqa — the keeper of water of Cusco. He rules all rainwater, lagoons, and rivers. When this apu is cloudy, it rains in the city.

Apu Sinaq’ara — an apu that visits Doña Alejandrina’s mesa and directs the soul at death

Apu Sokllacasa — an apu that visits Doña Alejandrina’s mesa

Apu Towianami — honored in traditional Q’ero villages

Apu Wanakauri — an apu that visits Doña Alejandrina’s mesa; associated with a mountain in the area of Cusco

Apu Waquay Wilka – provides physical mesas for individuals to become altomesayoqs per Apu Salcantay’s instruction

archetypal or mythic realm — the third level existing outside of linear time, where synchronistic events are connected

assemblage point — a point of perception in the subtle body responsible for shifts into different states of heightened awareness

Asteonoku — the first peoples in the Americas that built the first temple cities and pyramids

Asunta — a female pampamesayoq who is Don Manuel Q’uispe’s daughter

atiynioq— feminine energy

atiy — ability

Ausangate — the mountain considered one of the holiest mountains in Peru, connected with one of the most evolved of the collective mountain apu spirits

Ave Maria Purisima — the ceremonial salutation to the apus during ceremony; Spanish words from the Catholic religion

ayahuasca — hallucinogenic medicine and the related ceremony of taking the medicine practiced in the Amazon basin; the jaguar who imbibes the plant medicine as the spirit of the Amazon

ayllu —community; may refer to a person’s village, group of mesa carriers practicing shamanism, or any other group formed for a common purpose

Ayllu K’anchaq Qoyllur (AKQ) —group formed to transmit the ancestral knowledge and the spiritual legacies of the Andean medicine people with the purpose of recovering, interpreting, and promoting spiritual treasures of the Andes in other parts of the world

ayni — the balanced state of reciprocity between all living things; being in right relationship

Birdman — Deborah’s spirit ally

Black Snake — the mythic being symbolizing the shadow period

brujo (feminine is bruja) — Carlos Castaneda’s term for a medicine man that follows the path of sorcery to gain personal power and knowledge; generally regarded as causing harm to others

Cainan — the powerful black jaguar ally Deborah associates with Chocachinchi and the Amazon jungle

Calas Asiah — an ancient pyramid in Asteonoku

cayangate — the two types of energy that are masculine and feminine, yanantin and masintin and of opposing dualities; fertility, fecundity, and multiplicity

ceke lines — existing energy lines that connect the energy meridians in the earth. These ceke lines intersect at wakas, places that are power spots infused with energy. By activating ceke lines in areas such as Peru, the veil becomes more transparent, allowing for a greater flow of energy and communication with the collective. Being in these power spots heightens a person’s perception, and it becomes easier to achieve expanded states of awareness. The Peruvian altomesayoqs enter into dialogues with the apus and work to open ceke lines in the mountains to promote healing in the earth.

celestial mesasmesas bestowed directly by the apus upon the highest altomesayoqs with the greatest capacity to hold the power

ch’aska — star

chi — life force energy

Chincheros —an Incan village between Cusco and Urubamba known for weaving, also a sacred site with wakas

Chocachinchay — the commanding jaguar spirit of the Amazon; in Incan cosmology, governs the middle world of Kay Pacha and is the symbol for physical manifestation

Choquetacarpo — a mountain in Vilcabamba; a plant that is good for lung ailments, growing at same level as the short grasses

ch’uyanchasqa — the shedding of what is

ch’uspa — a small woven bag with a strap used for carrying coca leaves

collya — queen, moon spouse of the sun king

conjunctio — the phase of union and transformation in alchemy, through what Jung called holding the tension of opposites resulting in the transcendent function

Cusco — the site of the historic capital of the Inca Empire

despacho — an offering to Pachamama, given through fire or buried in the earth. It is an arrangement of coca leaves (bay leaves are used in the United States), resembling a mandala — embellished with grains, candy, and other colorful objects that symbolize gifts to the upper, lower, and middle worlds. After carefully separating the coca leaves or k’intus into groups in three, the shaman transfers intent into the leaves using breath, and each group of leaves takes on a specific prayer or pattern to be let go of and given to the fire. The leaves surround a central symbolic object that is determined by the type and purpose of the despacho. Most despachos are gifts to Pachamama, although some are for releasing hucha or negativity, and some are visionary despachos, requesting blessings from the apus before initiation ceremonies.

Don Alberto Villoldo — the other person, besides Jose Luis who was taught by Don Manuel Q’uispe

Don André — a male pampamesayoq known for his big heart

Don Francisco — a male pampamesayoq who was president of the Q’ero nation

Don Hilario — a male pampamesayoq who is known for his skill at healing and reading coca leaves

Don Manuel Q’uispe — the great altomesayoq who prophesized that the next paqos would come from the West

Don Sebastian — a male Q’ero pampamesayoq who heals through despacho offerings

Doña Alejandrina — a female altomesayoqs. Apu Huascaran is the benefactor of her mesa

Doña Bernadina — a female pampamesayoq who works with herbs

Doña Maria — a female altomesayoq who works with an apu called Aspo Kenta Rebacha from the village of Kico, a remote area of the Andean mountains

dreamtime — a time and experiences experienced outside of ordinary reality; a term probably borrowed from Australian aborigines

energetic collective — the fourth level, the essential or energetic level of spirit or collectivity, corresponding to the unus mundi

Engady — the return of a new Incan order

estrella — the manifestation of an apu on a sacred path; receiving a summoning or calling to follow the path of an altomesayoq or pampamesayoq

faramya — the Quechua word for “pompous asses.”

Florida water — used for purification in ritual; flower essences in alcohol

fuego sagrado — “sacred fire” in despacho ceremony

gamen — merging that occurs when spirit enters the body

hallpay — ritual for coming to unity, to ayni; bringing conflicting elements into sacred space; types of hallpay: sapan, yanantin, masintin, yaqui

hampuy — the Quechua verb “to come” used by shamans when calling sacred space

hamut’ay — practice of connecting with the land and apus

Hanaq Pacha — the upper world

hanaq qawaq — a sage, teacher, or master that understands the ways of the land and articulates the medicine of the land though chewing like a condor half chews and gives that knowledge to its children

Hatun Karpay — the Great Initiation — collective sacred lineage of the Q’ero shamans passed down is the fourth level of initiation, which comes with the understanding of numinous experience and the energetic collective

hatunmesayoq — see altomesayoq and hatun paqo

hatun paqo — literally, big paqo; hatunmesayoq is another word used to refer to altomesayoqs that emphasizes multi-dimensionality

Huanca — a Quechua people living in the Junín Region of central Peru, in and around the Mantaro Valley

Huascaran — the tallest mountain in Peru in the Vilcabamba region; the home of the apu who is the director of the altomesayoq Doña Alejandrina’s mesa

hucha — negative energy

ikaro — words spoken by shamans during ceremony and ritual

illa — creation

Inihuatana — Hitching Post of the Sun entrance to Machu Picchu

inkari — the right side of the body governed by the masculine principle of linearity

Inkari — first man created

insuflar — literally “to blow”; that which something, such as energy, is blown into

Inti — the sun

Inti paqos — wizards, visionary paqos

Jose Luis Herrera — student of the high mountain, Amazon, and coastal medicine traditions of Peru who has studied under the most respected medicine people of Peru; leader of the trip to Peru described in Lessons of the Inca Shamans, Part 2

journey — shifting into an otherworld state of consciousness to retrieve information

Juanito — a male altomesayoq whose benefactors are from Bolivia

Kabbalah — a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal, and mysterious Infinite and the mortal and finite universe (God’s creation)

karpay — the shamanic initiation rites given when the shaman’s body of knowledge and the power of the shaman’s ancient lineage pass to the apprentice through the mesa. The karpay is integrated by the paqo into conscious awareness through a process of recapitulating and remembering through the body by working with the mesa.

kausay — the energy of creation that is often experienced in the body as a vibration or in the heart as a feeling of universal love towards everyone and everything, not attached to any person or outcome; life force

Kausay Pacha — collective energetic realm; spirit world

Kay Pacha — the middle world, the world of consensual reality

khuya —a rock, crystal, or stone that is part of a shaman’s mesa that energetically carries the shaman’s medicine body or capacity to hold power. (sometimes spelled q’uiya)

k’intu — a group of three coca leaves carrying the energy of direct intent

Kujawami — an apu mountain in the Q’ero region of the Andes

Kundalini — powerful fire energy; the serpent goddess at the base of the spine

Lake Titicaca — the largest lake in Peru, in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia

lipka — linden tree or basswood; sometimes translates as lime tree, but it is not the same as the citrus lime; an alkaloid obtained from the tree that increases the effectiveness of the coca leaves when they are chewed for energy and to mitigate altitude sickness at higher elevations

literal level — the first level, normal awareness and existing in the concrete world of every day, out-in-the-world experience

llank’ay — the energy center located in the Belly, anchoring in the body

luminous body — the energetic container that holds the totality of psychic experience, between consciousness and the collective unconscious, that extend beyond the physical body

luminous energy field — a record of personal and ancestral memories that surrounds the physical body; an archive of past life events, including former lifetimes

lupuna — teacher tree; a giant tree found in various parts of the Amazon; one of those beautiful giants of the Amazon, grand, imposing, and well rooted in the jungle’s soil

Machu Picchu —“ancient peak;” the Lost City of the Incas in the Cusco region of Peru

Madonna of Candelaria — Black Madonna

Madonna of Copacabana — the Madonna shrine located in Bolivia near Lake Titicaca; “one who looks at the precious stone.”

Mama Cocha — mother of the waters

Mamacha Virgin Mary — the healing water emerging from the earth at Pachatusan

Mama Quilla — mother of the moon

manta — cape or blanket

Maras — a town in the Sacred Valley where ceremonies with the apus took place

Mariano Turpo — the late transcended paqo whose spirit will return on June 24, 2014, to Sigrena Cocha

masintin — the hallpay ritual of bringing similar energies together

mastana— a traditional cloth that holds the mesa

mesa — a collection of individual stones (khuyas) assembled over time, a living representation of the paqo’s medicine body. A full mesa is usually comprised of about twelve stones, wrapped in a mastana cloth, which is a square piece of material that carries the stones. The mesa is the carrier’s connection to the collective energetic realm and the world of consensual reality. It serves as a bridge or gateway, linking the paqo to lineage of ancestors from the past and children of the future. (Spelled misa in Quechua.)

mesa carrier — a person who works with a ceremonial medicine bundle consisting of sacred objects that are usually stones or crystals that have been collected and worked with over time; the objects that hold energy for that particular individual in Q’ero shamanism

Mesa Verde — archaeological sites of cliff dwelling homes and villages built by the ancestral Pueblo people, sometimes called the Anasazi

mesayoq — paqo who acquires power through a mesa

mijo — a term of endearment for a son

mink’a — communal labor done for communal good; service; mutual work given for returned work; collective ayni

misa — see mesa

Mocha — a culture of people in the region of the Pacific Ocean

mona — herb that brings clarity and vision

montera — wide-brimmed hat

mosoq — a stone or crystal that holds energy for vision; a new rite of passage that occurs through reconnecting with ancestral lineage and the cosmos

Mosoq Karpay — “new initiation”; the inscription of code from sacred crystals given by the apus into the luminous body, creating a shift from physical to energetic expression at the fifth level of sacred work

munay — the universal feeling state of love connecting us to the land and every living thing around us

naranga water — purification water used for clearing hucha energy

ñawin —“the eye”; a fountain in nature that is a place of manifestation from the energetic into physical

nigredo — an alchemical term that applies to the shadow phase of transformation that occurs at the beginning

Nilam — the name Mocha people use for Tanopa, the child of the sun and the moon

nivela — level

numinous experience — an energetic state of ecstasy and connection to all living things

Ocongate — a district in the southern highlands of Peru

oferendas — present for fire ceremony

Ollantaytambo — an Incan archeological site in the Sacred Valley of Peru

pablitos — from ukukos pablitos, the “bear people” who carry out sacred pilgrimages for their villages on Snow Star

pacha — a period of time and space; an era; a world, as in the upper, middle, and lower worlds; an Inca map of consciousness referring to the structure that contains kausay in Andean cosmology. In every person’s life there are significant events occurring at specific times and places that shape personal fate and destiny. These pivotal points on one’s life journey are considered to possess greater amounts of kausay.

pachakuti — a time of upheaval and transformation, such as we are living in when visions become seeds

Pachakuti Amaruina — Doña Alejandrina’s child

Pachamama — Mother Earth

Pachatusan — a sacred mountain on the outskirts of Cusco

pampamesayoq — “keepers of the earth”; paqos who are in a reciprocal helping relationship with Pachamama

paqarina — feminine place of emergence associated with water and caves; a fountain of manifestation from the lower world into the middle world of Kay Pacha

paqo — a mesa carrier following the Andean medicine tradition

parlero — a midwife of the dead who moves souls from one phase of time to the next

phukuy — the ritual act of blowing an intention three times into the leaves of a k’intu in order to establish an energetic connection linking the three worlds; the process of germination, moving into states of fruition

Pisac — “Temple of the Visionary;” a village in the Sacred Valley on the Urubamba River

Pocatan — the lineage of the Polcatambo nation whose role is to clean up after the Q’ollorit’i pilgrimage

Polcatambo — (see Pocatan)

Pomacanchi — the village next to a sacred lagoon that is Adolfo’s birthplace; a place of ceremony next to natural sacred fountain of energetic manifestation

poq’po — energy body

Punko — “silver doorway;” the ancient name of the Apu mountain Qullqi Cruz

phururuna — sentient beings who watch over birds and animals; perhaps from the Purun Runa, an ancient people who were one of the first civilizations in South America

qantuta — national flower of Peru; Cantua buxifolia

Qariwanaku— the place where you set the record of cumulative effects of reenactments straight; the fifth level of the sixth mountain equal to the sixth brother of Ausangate; a healing place with underground springs

Q’ero — one of the lineages who are descendants of the Incas in the Andean mountains

qollari — the feminine principle governing the left side of the body associated with formlessness

Q’ollorit’i — an annual sacred festival overseen by Apu Q’ollorit’i; (also spelled Q’oyllur Rit’i)

Quechua — the language spoken by the descendants of the Incas living in the Andean mountains

Q’uispe Conchi — the village where paqo Mariano Turpo was reborn on June 24, 2014

Qullqi — the night quality of silver, a place of mystery in dreamtime

Qullqi Cruz — “silver doorway”; changed to “silver cross” by Spanish culture; has to do with abundance; a highly regarded mountain in the third dimension

recados – items placed in a despacho

Rio Vilconata — a segment for the Urubamba River in the Sacred Valley

romero — rosemary plant

rose water — water used in purification rituals associated with heart feeling

ruda — rue; a plant used in ceremonies to change luck

Sachamama — Mother Tree, the rainforest counterpart of Pachamama

Sacred Valley — also known as the Urubamba Valley; in the Peruvian Andes

Salcantay — the mountain associated with the most powerful sacred apu, where a celestial mesa is buried

salka — wild and undomesticated

sami — the refined light energy of plant spirits

saminchasqa — the act of blowing prayers into a coca leaf in order to establish an energetic connection linking the three worlds

Santa Catalina — the sacred mountain of the shepherds that deals with abundance; the keeper of wild and domestic animals

santa tierra — a feminine spirit that works with Pachamama; comes up from the earth through the floor during ceremonies with altomesayoqs

Santa Tierra Belen — a santa tierra that visits Doña Alejandrina’s mesa

sapan hallpay — a ritual with coca leaves between an individual that involves opening the energy centers as a means of connection

Sawasiray — also known as Qullqi Cruz. A sacred mountain near Chincheros

sayak — benefactor

Señor de Huancaa spirit associated with the chapel on Pachatusan; the Christian manifestation of Pachatusan

sephiroth — one of the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which The Infinite reveals himself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms

shadow —Jung’s term for hidden unconscious aspects of one’s self; sometimes refers to the “dark” elements

shamanism — Eliade described shamanism as a “technique of ecstasy.” Webster’s dictionary has defined it as “excessive joy” and a “kind of cataleptic trance.” Michael Harner described shamanism as “a great mental and emotional adventure” and wrote, “Ultimately shamanic knowledge can only be acquired through individual experience (pp. xiv-xv).” These definitions reflect that understanding energetically beyond words does not occur in the Mind, it can only occur in a state experienced through the body, primarily the Heart and the Belly.

Sinaq’ara — mountain in Peru that produces the Sinaq’ara Glacier

Singrena Cocha— a sacred lagoon on Ausangate

Snow Star — the mountain Q’ollorit’i, which has become a symbol of Christ

sonqo — Heart center

Surimana — a lineage of medicine people living in the Andes

symbolic level — second level experienced through dreams, metaphors, and images. This corresponds to Winnicott’s transitional space of the imaginal realm between fantasy and reality. Jungians have described this as the imaginal realm where inner dialogue using the technique of active imagination can occur.

Tanopa — the child of the sun and moon in the Incan creation myth who founded cities and taught the people how to live

Taripay Pachaencounter with the universe, a new era of human experience, the age of meeting ourselves again when humanity will have the chance to consciously evolve in an era of harmony; a time of choosing that the individual can choose for himself or herself

Taytacha Temblores — lord of the earthquakes: refers to the Black Christ icon paraded through Cusco believed to have had the authority to stop powerful earthquakes

temenos — sacred psychological container that holds experience

Temple of the Winds — (Ollantaytambo) sacred Incan site overlooking the Sacred Valley

the land — what the Q’ero shamans refer to as the collective expression of Pachamama

Timolinamarketed in English-speaking countries as Thymoline, a commercial alkaline mouthwash and gargle containing thyme oil, eucalyptol, menthol, and pine oil, dissolved in alcohol, similar to Listerine. Used as a liquid with a very pungent smell that you rub on your body to ward off evil spirits, particularly when you are panicky or you are in distress.

Tinqui — a city near Cusco in Peru

tinquy — the first level of relationship in touching energy bodies

Titicaca — lake in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia

tukuy — complete

tukuy munayniyoc — all-encompassing unconditional love from the third level of energetic relationships

tupay — a warrior’s way to resolve conflict through working with the mesa, the one who challenges and is willing to meet one’s Self; the second stage or relationships

Ukhu Pacha — the lower world

ukukos pablitos — the bear people, half bear and half man who make the sacred pilgrimage to Snow Star

unkuna — traditional blankets that hold the mesa medicine bundle

unus mundus — the deepest level of the collective unconscious and the place or state in which matter and psyche merge into one world; a composite universal Self that exists beyond time and space

urpichallay — “sweet dove of my heart”

Urubamba — the river valley in the Sacred Valley of the Andes

Vilcabamba — one of the two sacred mountain areas where a celestial mesa is buried (also spelled Willkapampa)

Viracocha — the great creator god in the pre-Inca and Inca mythology in the Andes region of South America

waka — a power spot in nature

Waquay Wilka — “sacred tear” one of the seven sacred mountains in the Andes

wilka — sacred

yachay —the Mind, one of the three main energy centers; clear vision and wisdom

yanai — clear vision

yanantin – balancing masculine and feminine energy

yaqui hallpay — the energetic connection in community

yarrow — sacred

yuya — the organizing principle of wisdom