The Power of the Andes

The Power of the Andes

Why we go there and what it does to us

There is an area in the world where the mountains speak and the nature talks back, where the wind prays beside you and the earth breathes under your feet – the Andes. This great mountain range is not only the longest on planet Earth; it is a living organism, a teacher, an ancient temple above the earth. Every one of our visits to the Andes is far beyond a physical travel. It’s a calling, this rapture of the deep inner knowing that tells us who we are.

In a world that constantly bombards us with its speed, information and expectations, many of us feel called to slow down and re-attune with nature, ourselves and something divine. It is a calling that often emanates from deep within the human soul, and it often takes us to the Andes.

The Andes are calling us; for there the spirit still is alive and there we also walked and lived with these mountains in some other lives and forms.

The Andes are alive, not as an abstract idea but in the everyday, in the soil, in water, in people. The old knowledge, the wisdom of our Inca ancestors is still kept there that which has not been forgotten, but rather lives in the everyday: rituals and ceremonies, the relationship with Pachamama and the Apus, Mother Earth and the Mountain spirits.

Traditional and healing medicine

Our travels to Peru, Bolivia and other Andean locales are not a tourist jaunt, they are life changing. These are the paths where we are graced by the guardians of the tradition – the Andean priests, healers who, generation after generation, transmit wisdom that is not generated from books, but from the heart of the Earth and the heavens.

Esoteric herbs like Ayahuasca, San Pedro, and Mama Coca have their place in the world and they are taken in a ceremonial way as sacraments – with reverence and under the guidance of experience curanderas and maestros. These are not plants that are there to “heal something” that occurs outside of us, they are there as spiritual teachers. Each of them has a spirit and a message and the way of working.

Ayahuasca – Wine of the soul

Ayahuasca, the “liana of the soul,” is a sacred medicine from the Amazon. Ayahuasca offers access to the shadow as well as the light of our world, and in capable shamanic hands, a door can be opened to an inner world in ceremonies. It walks us through purification, confrontation, healing and returning to the source. It is not always an easy road – but it is a very real one. Ayahuasca shows us how to go beyond illusion, beyond ego-tissue, to touch something that feels deeper in our being.

San Pedro – City at the Heart of the Andes

San Pedro or Huachuma is a gentle but very deep medicine of the cactus variety. Its spirit is vigorous, solar, intelligence of the mountains and the light of the peaks. San Pedro takes us into love, into Mother Earth, into communion with all that lives. With it tends to come an increased sense of awareness, compassion and gratitude. In the Andes, the ceremonies with San Pedro takes place in sacred spots – by rivers, stone altars and at the foot of mountain spirits.

Mama Coca – An Ancient Ally

Mama Coca may not be a “visionary” plant of the order of Ayahuasca or San Pedro, but no less sacred is its power. The coca leaf in the Andes is a sacred plant, an everyday life-companion, and one of the core elements of Andean civilization. It is a tool for ritual, and for work, and for pilgrimage. It offers strength, connectedness, clarity and wisdom. We learn from the rituals of “qintu” (in which three coca leaves are dedicated and presented to Pachamama and Apu) the essence of giving and receiving with respect. Mama Coca is teaching us how to have a reciprocal relationship with all that surrounds us.

What goes on in us as we walk these hallowed paths?

Something is changing – that which should no longer be. And something new is born: a memory of what we have always been. People regularly tell me that “something shifted” after returning from the Andes. They no longer forget to say thank you for the small things, they do not flee from their personal space as much and are stronger to face life’s challenges, they have a different perspective and everything is seen with a greater happiness, curiosity and eagerness.

The Andes teach us modesty. They teach us how to listen. How to be. And how to serve – not just ourselves but Life.

With Flor del INTI, we bring groups to the journey of life through Peru, Bolivia, Himalayas and other parts of the world where the spirit of tradition continues to flourish. Every Journey is meticulously designed to ensure safety, depth, and true interaction with local teachers, power places, and one's own being.

These trips are probably not for everyone. They are for those who are called — and who have the courage to answer. For those who seek to live from the heart. For anyone who understands that there is no straight path to healing, only a spiral.

If you’re reading, and something has touched you … Perhaps the time has come for you to take a step.

The road is calling you. Are you ready?