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THE SYMBOLISM OF THE STILL Wiphala

This essay on the Wiphala is unpretentious exhaustive. The company that deserves more this short article, but lack of time, I reserve developments fed more oral presentations, if you invited me. This post will still therefore an overview of the metaphysical and symbolic richness of the Andean world.

Wiphala The banner is made up of seven colors of the rainbow sky, repeated seven times. It is a checkerboard of 49 colored squares whose origin is very old. Its use was prohibited during the entire period of the colonies and republics, and it was restored in the last century. Great symbol of the resistance of indigenous people, along with a summary of his lifestyle and his wisdom, he has several variants, one of which is identical to the "gay flag". Peru is this version of the Wiphala found, mostly suspended from storefronts. In the Andean world, the presence of this banner rainbow sky no reports thus not a gay friendly establishment . More traditional rainbow flag that the Wiphala of 49 boxes is widespread throughout the Andes, although its routine use is rather the result of the Aymara world. Bolivia is the checkerboard colored is the most common, and it has even been institutionalized by Article 6 of the new constitution. It is hardly possible to speak of Wiphala as a single flag. Bolivians simply designate the by name: Wiphala. A flag, they say, is a rectangle. From the start, this implies an inequality between the different sides. In contrast, Wiphala is a square which represents perfect equality and a strong balance between the top and bottom, left and right, vertical and horizontal. The word Wiphala is composed of two terms Aymara. Wiphay means "go" is a cry of triumph and encouragement. The second term is phalaj that person means to float in the wind. The sound of the word imitates the sound of flapping banner. Also note that the prefix Wi means something sacred. It why the word begins with Wiphala Wi , as the name of god Wiracocha , or that of the "eternal city" of Tiwanaku, Wiñay Marca. In the Andean spirit, the Wiphala is a sacred symbol.

The construction of this symbol combines two elements: the rainbow and chakana. I have said on other occasions that chakana was crossing a bridge, a symbol of the inter-relationship of top and bottom, left and right, man and woman . Western philosophy is considering the relationship as being secondary in relation to gasoline, according to this perspective, for the existence a relationship, there must first two things, two substances to bind. In this sense, the essence always precedes the relationship. But wisdom Andean considering exactly the opposite. There is no in-itself, gasoline, substance clean. First is the relationship, and only then, the elements are connected into being. Western theistic terms, it would mean that neither God nor man are real in itself, but that alone is the relationship between the two. To the Andean man, what is true is neither subject nor object, neither observer nor observed. Only the act of observation and the relationship are essential, nothing else. Things are real the relationship, not in itself it could possibly be. Everything, every being that is crossing chakana. That's why, in the representation of cosmogonic Yamqui Pachacuti, the divinity Wiracocha - the great void - is not represented outside the cosmos, but at the heart of it. Similarly, chakana is a perfect symbol of the sanctity of relatedness. Its center ( Taype ) is empty, but there is relationship and welcome the top and bottom, left and right. The Andean cosmic vision returns back-to-back approaches dualistic and non-dualistic solidify one or the other side of life, or both. Only the current quantum, its fluidity, its openness makes all things possible, this lack of in-itself, this in-between misnamed beyond both gasoline than substance, but behind everything. This is the basic message of chakana.

At the symbolic level as well as practical, the chakana functions similarly to the Medicine Wheel of Lakota spirituality. It can be applied to divisions of the year, the divisions of space, all kinds of classifications. She also serves as a basis for the construction of temples, doors, staircases, fountains. Simply extend the lines of a chakana three degrees for a checkerboard of 49 squares 7 x 7, that is to say a Wiphala, which strongly binds these fundamental symbols of the Andean tradition. As for the rainbow sky , it is also a chakana and a bridge which unites heaven and earth. According to Garcilaso, it was the emblem of the Inca dynasty. For Yamqui Pachacuti, the rainbow appeared when Manko Qapac arrived in the Cusco valley and decided to install the center of the Inca Empire, the navel of the world. Of course there are a deity of the rainbow ( K'uychi the multicolored snakes with two heads, or the puma multicolor ) and many functions for the magic. Besides the above mentioned link between chakana and construction of Wiphala, note that if we glue together four Wiphala, we obtain a new chakana shaped structure, which once again links these two symbols Andean world so unwavering.

The Inca Empire was divided into four regions, hence the name given to it in Quechua ( Tawantinsuyu ) or in the Aymara language ( Pusinsuyu ), which means "the four regions of sun. Of course, there is a relationship between the four elements and the four regions of the Andean world. At each of these areas is a particular color. The Chinchay Suyu north, corresponds to the color red, Colla Suyu south, corresponds to white, the Anti Suyu east is green and Cunti Suyu located west, corresponds to the color yellow. There are two ways to represent each region. The simplest is a united banner, the color corresponding to the designated area. The other way is to represent this region by a central diagonal Wiphala which corresponds to the color of the region. Formed a single color, the diagonal of the Wiphala is called "Road Wiracocha" or Qhapaq Nan, "path of the righteous," "powerful way". It is also found on chakana where it is useful to understand the sacred geography of the Andean world, if we project it on a map. When you place the center of the chakana on the city of Cusco, sacred alignments appear on this Qhapaq Nan , ranging from cities such as Cuzco, Potosi and Tiwanaku on the same axis. This shows that the foundation of these holy places following a geography whose chakana is the key.

Wiphala Each color has a specific meaning. The white represents time and the ongoing transformation, the yellow symbolizes strength and energy, the orange represents the culture and heritage of wisdom, red is the color of both mother earth and man. The purple symbolizes the political expression of power Andean Community. The blue represents the space where cosmic embodied celestial systems, producing its natural effects on Earth. Green symbolizes ecosophy Andean and production, its natural resources.

There is also a question Wiphala 8 x 8 cells, considered a symbol warming, but probably more representative of the entire American continent or Abya Yala. The Abya Yala includes the entire Native American world, from north to south. He directed the famous prophecy of continental union of indigenous peoples, symbolized by the meeting of the eagle and the condor. Currently, meetings are held annually continental America. I attended the most recent was held in Tiwanaku. It brought together some 450 shamans and medicine men of various traditions and ended with Evo Morales, the Bolivian president. Note that on this occasion, unlike to recoveries pseudo-shamanic western meeting of the eagle and the condor, the continental assembly would give rise to any metaphysical or ritual syncretism. It fully respects the idiosyncrasies of each tradition represented, without any confusion. It does not find a Lakota sweat lodge mixed with mesa Andean and Amazonian mistresses making plants. It does not propose any mixing of symbols saying, for example, that the condor is the right brain of man and the eagle in his left brain. The meeting of the eagle and the condor does not endorse this kind of nonsense and is more focused on achieving a celebration intercultural and spiritual respectful of all its components. Anyway, the Wiphala mainland is a square 8 x 8 squares, that a checkerboard of 64 items. I selected this variant Wiphala to show how the Incas could use this symbol as a table of calculation. Thus, if we assign a number to each color, and we consider the Qhapaq Nan , the diagonal white as zero (or 9. Maybe I'll explain another day for the equivalence of 0 and 9 in the Andean symbolic), the entire Wiphala can use multiplication table. Eg use the numbers at the top, starting from the left and those on the left from the top. First box, top left, 1 x 9 = 9 (0). Descend to the second box and take the result on the sides of the Wiphala: 2 x 9 = 18. Are shifting to the third box and take the result: 3 x 9 = 27. Descend again in the fourth box and see the result: 4 x 9 = 36, etc..

I can not develop all the computations allowed by Wiphala and the reader should for now be content with this small example, I have not chosen randomly, because the world Andean, the number 9 has a great symbolic importance. It represents the symmetrical structure of the cosmos and the access door that, in the west, the Rose + Cross once called " the other half of the world that the world does not know . In the spirit of the Andean man, the cosmos is twofold. It includes not only the visible part that everyone knows but the other half, invisible, that is the source and origin of the visible world. As such, the principle of symmetry can symbolize the dual structure of the cosmos, and therefore adopted the Andean cultures to represent the number 9. The multiplication table by 9 that the Aymara call llatunka is indeed structured symmetrically, as if to suggest the cosmic mirror. The site of the community Sariri shows some examples of these symmetries, recognizable even in textile art, since the famous Andean poncho is constructed from two symmetrical pieces sewn to each other.

Traditional wisdom teaches that the Andes most men and women do not stick to the surface of things and beings. One thinks of the effects without really thinking them originally located inside, and therefore, under the invisible. Both inner and outer reality are complementary and it is therefore perceive the universe in its entirety, both in its materiality in its immateriality. Deprived of this integral vision, our situation becomes difficult. We no longer have the keys that are in the shadows of things, in their interior.

The message of what the cosmic mirror Llatunka expressed in our ability to go back to the origin, move to the other side of ourselves in the mirror to read. You can have a better understanding of what happens in our lives when we periodically generates a first condition: The Inner Silence (in Aymara Amuka ). This silence can help to address the level of causation that is buried within us. In the Andean world, the interior is linked to the underworld or the world from below ( Uku Pacha ). This is where lies the invisible interiority, origin. The outside world and the visible effects is itself meant the world to here or Kay Pacha. To collect on our own we Uku Pacha, in connection with our Kay Pacha to understand the link between invisible and visible source and manifestation, we, the Andean shamans, the ceremony celebrating the Amuka , which induces and nourishes the inner silence. This ceremony cultivates two attitudes. First, we stop talking for a while. This action allows a return to calm and clarity. The facts appear to our consciousness as they are, rather than as we want and arrange to see them. Then, we will not issue any ruling, which means we'll just watch and observe what is happening. In this way, we free ourselves from self-interest to enter the live well common ( Sumaq Kawsay ).

Through the practice of the Amuka , we begin to listen more to the sounds of the body-mind. We discover, we resouvenons, and we can understand many things. The practice of Amuka allows, the next step, to collect another magical silence, and that of the surrounding space. In Aymara, the other is called the silent Chuju . It is strongly linked to the outbreak of the world from above ( Hanan Pacha ) and he ventures further that the only causality. It is as if we entered a temple and all lit at once, instantly. We just listen interiority and his own mind, but it's the environment that becomes pure listening and mirror. There is an intimate union and indivisible between the visible and invisible, material and immaterial, conscious and unconscious. The Chuju brings a different perception of life. Free self-localization, we experience the community ( Chuju ). Even the greatest problems - that are perceived as well as from the individual perspective - they lose their importance by being seen from the perception or scenic community.

It occurs in Tiwanaku phenomenon which, to date, I have not read or heard. The builders of the holy city had, as we know, a very understanding depth of acoustic technologies. I had to make at least a dozen times on the site. Like everyone, I am amused to whisper words into the Kalasasaya temple, while a person is placed on the other side of the north wall, about 50 yards from me was to her astonishment, hear everything what I said, listening through a hole in the wall, pierced by a canal. But what is more surprising still, and nobody notices, so it is reluctant to listen to the environment is that it reigns over the whole site a sort of silence and palpable hardware, as well the shouts of schoolchildren fail not clear. Just, the noises are superimposed on the palpable silence does not disappear. If you ever visit this place, pay attention to this astonishing silence, this silent and continuous vibration of air. This is the Chuju , the technological genius of indigenous Tiwanaku managed to make surprisingly palpable.

To conclude this post that has already largely deviated from its original purpose, I would revisit the issue of the halves of the world and cosmic mirror. Its role is extremely important in medicine Kallawaya. There is not content just to treat symptoms or effects, but we always try to ascend from cause to cause, to the origin of evil plaguing the subject. One of my first patients Western called Emmy. It was in Bolivia for several months and suffered constant physical problems. Sprained ankle, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, headache, etc.. Symptoms had little connection between them and not enough to explain the unfortunate synchrony hit often. We speculate that other causes physical harm to her. Grover and I could have just one to one to treat the problems of diarrhea and other plants because there are very effective for that. However, when we interrogeâmes, Mama Coca advised to practice a soul retrieval and thus, treat all these evils from the other side of the world in the field of the invisible. Sacred leaves indicated that the patient suffered from a loss of soul, because of the death of his grandmother, occurred at the beginning of his trip to Bolivia. Was grafted on the death of another lost soul, caused by a fall during a trip to Machu Picchu. My Western mind was somewhat skeptical about the effectiveness of the operation. If I felt it necessary, I imagined it would be insufficient and should be completed by taking medicines Kallawaya. I was not planning to treat a disease from a ritual only and I would have favored a mixed solution combining ritual and herbal remedies. I also had in mind the restriction posed by Ina Rösing about the effectiveness of what she calls "symbolic healing". To operate effectively a symbolic healing, the therapist and patient, according to the author, share the same symbolic universe. But that was not the case for Emmy and Kallawaya. Yet I have witnessed the symbolic healing fastest and most effective of all my life, no other remedy than the ritual. No only the soul retrieval worked perfectly, but by the end of the ritual, all the symptoms suffered by spectacular Emmy ceased, even as we come down, running and laughing at the sacred mountain. More diarrhea, more headaches, nothing. This shows that in specific situations, rituals can alone cure certain diseases. This also highlights the potential importance in the Andean world, exploring the invisible and underground things.

On the sacred place of my family Kallawaya Icallurin which has custody, Emmy makes a challah or "libation". It supply of alcohol using a shell and a carnation. It does so at the spirit of sacred mountains or Machula, and the Pacha Mama.

Totally immersed in the ritual, Emmy is now offering a cigarette Machula Tata Akamani. She speaks with him, while the maestro Grover prepares my jacket on the first elements of a mesa or "offering".

The souvenir photo of Emmy, along with the doctor Kallawaya Grover Quispe Tejerina.

Back in top form, Sagarnaga street in La Paz (Bolivia). A reward that smile ... The photos are reproduced with the permission of my friend Emmy.