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caballo piripiri: (n) (Cyperus sp.) Whoever ingests this plant acquires great strength. It is prepared in a mixture with huito. The huito is mixed in exact proportions with the piripiri and in the morning it is poured over the entire body. One then avoids the sun, salt, sweets, garlic, liquor, and pig fat for eight days, while also abstaining from sex nor socializing with anyone who is sexually active. The day after this mixture is poured over the body, the skin will turn black as if dyed with black ink. By the eighth day this coloration is gone (sp). AYV
caca: (n) Mother’s brother; wife’s brother or father. ICC
cacakuna: (n) Male relatives of the wife and the mother. ICC
Cacha: (n) Ancient name of the current village of Raqchi, in which lies the Wiracocha Temple, built on a plan different from that of any other sacred building in Peru, of adobe rather than stone, in homage to the Superior Invisible God of Andean people, Apu Kon Tiki Wiracocha. After the appearance of a man who began performing miracles, the villagers decided to stone him to death. They found him kneeling with arms extended skyward and menaced him. Immediately, a fire rain fell. With remorse the men left him alone. The stranger went toward the coast and submerged into the ocean waters, disappearing forever. Thereafter, a shrine was constructed in his memory, as well as the sculpture of a stone idol. The pre-Incan origin of the site is evidence of the antiquity of the belief in Wiracocha. MAN (See, Wiracocha Temple for pictures.)
caja, cajón: (n) (Span.) Literally, box. A small drum. (Quechua, tinya.) ROR
Cajatambo: A town in the highlands of central Peru remarkable for the Idolotrías recorded there by the Extirpator of Idolatries in the 17th Century, that serve as an example of the intimate connection between Inca communities and their local huacas. MAN
cala (AYM): (n) Stone. ASD
cala hufnutha (AYM): (v) Bury(ing) a stone completely or partially for memory. ASD
calpa: See, kallpa.
calparicu: (n) Literally, those who bring good fortune or one who gives strength. Term used for a wizard or shaman specializing in divination. HOI
calpay: See, kallpay.
Calvario: See, Southern Cross, Mayu.
callarani pacha (AYM): (n) Beginning of the world. ASD
callari: See, qallana.
callarirucuguna: (n) Beginning times-places, embraces the period of transformation from unay to times of destruction and times of the ancestors. The future is thought of both as a continuation of the past and present and as a pending transformation of the initial chaos of unai. WCE
Callawaya: See, Qollahuaya.
callifaa (AYM): (n) Lightning. ASD
camahuakhlli (AYM): (n) Enemy of the peace. ASD
camalonguero: (n) A type of vegetalista specializing in the use of the seeds of a plant that has thus far defied identification. AYV
camay: See, kamay.
camayoq: See, kamayoq.
camac: See, kamak.
camelid: (n) A camel-like animal such as the llama and alpaca, common Andean herd animals, and the vicuña and guanaco, their wild cousins.
canca: (n) A maize bread or pudding used in ceremonies. ACA
cancha: (n) An enclosure that may contain several rooms. AEAA
canero (Amaz): (n) (Vandelia plazai.) A type of fish often invoked by evil sorcerers. AYV
cannibalism (Eng): (n) The eating of human flesh by other humans. The practice was widespread among rain forest tribes and was always ritualistic, rather than for nourishment. Cannibalism was either (1) exocannibalism, in which remains of an enemy killed in battle were eaten to humiliate the enemy and confirm the martial triumph, or (2) endocannibalism, in which a dead kinsperson’s bones were ground and mixed with local drink and consumed to preserve his or her essence and abilities within the kinship group. MAN (See, qhapaq hucha.)
canopa: See, conopa. Canopa is a minority spellling.
capac: See, qhapaq.
capa cocha, capacocha: See, qhapaq hucha.
Capac Raymi: (n) The December summer solstice festival honoring Inti that focused on initiating boys of the royal lineage. MAN (See, qhapaq.)
Capac Toco: (n) Literally, rich window, one of the caves at Tambo Toco. MAN The cave of bounty. NFL Represented as a chamber in the Ukhupacha where the shaman goes to find riches and gifts for the client; what is necessary for the client to live fully; promises and their fulfillment. JLH (See, Cave of Refuge, Sutic Toco, Maras Toco and Tambo Toco.)
Capac Yupanqui: The legendary fifth Inca emperor, probably ruling sometime in the first half of the 13th century. MAN
Capac Yupanqui, drawn by Felipe
Guaman Poma de Ayala.
Carachupa Mama: (n) One of the mythical beings believed by some Amazon tribes to be responsible for the river reclaiming huge pieces of land. AYV (See, mama, yangunturo.)
cargo (Span): (n) Community office. THLH The burden or duty that members of an Indian ayllu assume in order to serve their community [i.e., membership on a planning committee]. (See, mat’i.) ROR
carguyoq: (n) Someone who holds a cargo (sp). ROR
casarakuy: (n) Church wedding. Also called runachakuy or warmichakuy.
casha-cushillo: (n) A porcupine of the Amazon from whose quills virotes are made by sorcerers. AYV
Catachillay: (n) (1) The name of a sacred spring on a ceke running from the Coricancha in Cusco, past two stone pillars on the western skyline. These pillars were used for observation of the April setting of the Pleiades; thus (2) Catachillay is an alternate name for the star group, a constellation near Lyra that represents a llama and her lamb. MAN AEAA: (3) Pre-Spanish name for the constellation of the Southern Cross. ACES (See, also, Mayu.) [The name confusion between the Southern Cross and the pachatira constellation of the Llama seems to stem from a lack of clarity in historical sources and the fact that the Llama is very near the Southern Cross as seen from the ground. - Patt]
catahua, catahua negra: (n) Hura crepitans, a tropical tree with a spiny trunk and spreading branches. The grey bark is covered with conical spines. It has red flowers and secretes a yellowish milky juice used to poison darts. The juice contains two lectins, which have haemagglutinating activity that inhibits protein synthesis. The pumpkin-shaped seedpod explodes with a loud bang so that the flat seeds are dispersed over a wide area. These seeds are emetic and, when green, very purgative. Oil extracted from the dried seeds are also used as a purgative. The leaves are also used against eczema. TCH Catahua is considered to be a very strong and even dangerous plant teacher. It is possible to learn from this tree if a few milliliters of its latex are consumed after a good vegetalista has cooked it carefully and sung a powerful icaro during the preparation. A strict diet of several months is required, otherwise the tree can kill the person. Even emanations from the fermenting latex are said to be the sources of illnesses. The kapukiri produced by this tree gives the person a very dry mouth with cracked lips. The nerves contract and the person shrinks. There is fever and a stutter develops. AYV (See, catahuero.)
catahuero: (n) A type of vegetalista who specializes in the resin of catahua (Hura crepitans). AYV
Catequil: See, Apocatequil.
Cave of Refuge (Eng): (n) The name of Capac Toco, the cave from which the Inca ancestors emerged. (See, Tambo Toco.)
Cavillaca: In pre-Inca and Inca legend, a female virgin huaca wooed by Coniraya Wiracocha, as related in the Huarochirí Manuscript. MAN Virgin goddess who became pregnant from eating a fruit made from the sperm of the Moon God, Coniraya. GM When she gave birth to a son, she demanded that the father step forward. No one did, so she put the baby on the ground and it crawled towards Coniraya. She was ashamed because of Coniraya's seemingly low stature among the gods, and ran to the coast of Peru, where she changed herself and her son into rocks. WIC
ccachu puma (AYM): Puma. ASD
ccana (AYM): (n) Light. ASD (See, illa and k'anchay.)
ccanau ri (AYM): (n) New moon. ASD (See, killa.)
ccantata pacha (AYM): (n) Hour, or time. ASD
ccapkhomi haccha ttalla (AYM): (n) Queen. ASD
ccarinocatha (AYM): (v) Dismember. ASD
Ccoa: (n) The Kauri spelling of Koa.
Ccoto (AYM): The Pleiades. IGMP See, Collca.
cchiuu (AYM): (n) Shadow. ASD
cchukhtataqui (AYM): (v) To listen in silence. ASD
cchulu (AYM): (n) Shell. ASD
ceke, ceque, seqe: (n) (1) Line of living energy running through the earth, or between two ritual sites. QNO Sacred energy lines that connect places, people and things. Also called ley lines or axiotonal lines. There are three kinds of cekes: kollana, payan and kayao. JLH The cekes were an Inca concept interwoven with myth, astronomical oservation, architectural alignment and the social and geographical divisions of the empire. There were 41 cekes emanating from the Temple of the Sun in the Coricancha, uniting 328 huacas and stations equal to the number of days in 12 lunar months (328/12 = 27.3 days, the lunar cycle. Cekes were grouped as to hanan and hurin -- upper and lower, respectively -- Cusco and thus to the Tawantinsuyu. One example of the Coricancha-ceke-huaca system is the spring of Catachillay. The qhapaq hucha sacrifices also followed these cekes; the sixth ceke of Antisuyu on which lay the sixth huaca, known as the house of the puma was where the mummy of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui was kept and children were sacrificed to him. Even the movements of Mayu (the Milky Way) were linked to the ceke system and Tawantinsuyu. MAN Each of the 41 cekes was the responsibility of a clan that was expected to tend the huacas along the ceke and offer sacrifices on appropriate occasions. The attendant to whom the duties were delegated were usually old people past more active work. They could explain the significance of their particular huaca, acting as a kind of oral memory-bank. They knew the correct formulas for making sacrifices and the offerings that were to be given and would promise prospective worshippers good luck. IAWS (2) Alignment. CSCR (See, Appendix F and the amazing artwork of Alex Grey.)
Artist Alex Grey’s visualization
of a human body surrounded by
the poq’po and connected to the
universe by the filaments of
many cekes.)
ceke rumi: (n) Stone of living energy lines. QNO
Ceke Rumi: (n) A sacred shrine in Hatun Q’eros. QNO
chakra (Pali): (n) A word from the Hindu life energy system meaning wheel. These are energy centers; there are seven major chakras on the body in this system. The first three chakras would be encompassed by ll’ankay. The heart chakra is munay. Yachay encompasses the fifth, sixth and seventh chakras. PGO JLH (See, ñawi.)
chaos (Greek): Typically (and erroneously) referred to as unpredictability. The word χάος did not mean "disorder" in classical-period ancient Greece. It meant "the primal emptiness, space." (See, tiqsi.) Due to people misunderstanding early Christian uses of the word, the meaning of the word changed to "disorder." Chaos in physics is often considered analogous to thermodynamic entropy. WIKI
cielo ayahuasca: (n) Banisteriopsis caapi. Literally, sky ayahuasca (sp). Also called yellow ayahuasca, this is the type of ayahuasca most commonly used by contemporary mestizo curanderos in Amazonian Peru where it is widely cultivated. It is a relatively gentle but powerful healing plant capable of vivid and highly transformative visions. It is considered to be the best type for initiation. BOA Also known as lucero ayahuasca. AYV EMM
ciencia vegetalista (Span): (n) Literally, science of the vegetalista. In the old days it was known as alquimia palística, the lore and formulas of the vegetalista. AYV
cities: (Eng): Beautiful, fantastic cities are common visions during ayahuasca sessions. They are often places of learning where shamans are instructed in various disciplines by very advanced spiritual beings, they consist of subtle and purified matter. These cities can be located in outer space or underwater, particularly at the confluence of two rivers. AYV (See, picture at yakumama.)
Citua: See, Situa.
Ciyuwayis: (n) Medicine people between Lake Titicaca and Bolivia who bring medicine to the different villages. (See, Kollahuayas.)
clavohuasca: See, palero.
coca, kuka: (n) The sacred plant of the Andean shamans. (Erythroxylum coca) Used by almost everyone to counteract the effects of altitude and in ceremonies, especially despachos. (See, k’intu.) Andeans have always used it for divination, as do some Amazonian sorcerers. If the coca bolus tastes sweet, expect good fortune and continue on your path. If the coca bolus tastes bitter, this is a bad omen and you should postpone your path. THIM It would never occur to mourners to visit a grave without bringing coca leaves. They say it protects them from the machu wayra and comforts them in their grief. Chewing coca together, they are drawn as a group into a shared communion with Pachamama, with the Tirakuna and with the machula aulanchis. THLH
Cocamama: See, Mama Coca, mama.
coca mukllu, kuka mukkllu: (n) Literally, coca seed. ROR
cocha: (n) A high mountain lake or lagoon. ROR Lake, lagoon, pond or ocean. THIM
cochas bravas: (n) Isolated lakes in the jungle where there are enormous beasts (sp). AYV
Cocha Supay: (n) Literally, devil’s lagoon. This is a power spot in Aucayacu in the Amazon. (See, ayahuascero and supay.)
cochineal: (n) (1) Cochineal bugs are parasites that feed on cactus. They look like dusty white ladybugs. (2) A red dye from this insect. Cochineal was a valuable export to Europe. The uniforms of the British Redcoats were dyed with cochineal. Cardinals’ robes had been purple before the discovery of cochineal red. Even in recent times, dried cochineal has sold for $120 per kilo. WFH
colla (AYM): (n) Poison. ASD
collacamana (AYM): (n) Surgeon. ASD
collaña (AYM): (n) Surgery. ASD
collari, Collari: (n) (Qoya rey, Inca queen) keeper of life and death; feminine principle, formless. The left side of the body. JLH The first woman in the Inca creation myth. MAN (See, inkari.)
Collasuyu: See, Kollasuyu.
collca, qollqa: (n) A storehouse or granary.
Collca: (n) The Inca name for the Pleiades, one of the star groups within Mayu, the Milky Way, and believed to be the guardian of stored seeds and agriculture. MAN Many creation myths of indigenous cultures relate that humanity originated in the Pleiades and shamans are still in contact with beings from this region of space. PGO The Pleiades are one of the finest and nearest examples of a reflection nebula associated with a cluster of young stars. The cluster itself is a group of many hundreds of stars about 400 light years away in the direction of the northern constellation of Taurus. A handful of the brightest stars cluster together in space and have been recognized as a group since ancient times. All the visible stars of the Pleiades are in reality much more luminous than the Sun. WAGA
compadrazgo (Span.): (n) Fictitious relationship for the purpose of ritual. ROR Literally, copaternity. A system of ritual coparenthood that links parents, children, and godparents in a close social or economic relationship. 2B
Con, Kon: (n) An early creator-god whose name later became Pachakamak. MAN The god of rain and wind that came from the south. EFD He is the son of the supreme god Inti and Mama Killa, and brother of Pachakamak. The latter drives him back to the north from which he came. However, with his withdrawal, Kon takes the rains back with him and this causes the land to wither. WPO The god in this creation myth is named Kon Tiki (or Con Ticci) Wiracocha. Thor Heyerdahl's voyage from Peru to Polynesia on the balsa raft Kon Tiki was intended to demonstrate commerce between the two cultures, as tiki is a term used by both the Polynesians and the Peruvians for "god." In the most ancient of times the earth was covered in darkness. Then, out of a lake called Kollasuyu, the god Con Ticci Wiracocha emerged, bringing some human beings with him. Then Con Ticci created the sun (Inti), the moon and the stars to light the world. It is from Inti that the Inca, emperor of Tawantisuyu, is descended. Out of great rocks Con Ticci fashioned more human beings, including women who were already pregnant. Then he sent these people off into every comer of the world. He kept a male and female with him at Cusco. Another story is that Con, the Creator, was in the form of a man without bones. He filled the earth with good things to supply the needs of the first humans. The people, however, forgot Con's goodness to them and rebelled. So he punished them by stopping the rainfall. The miserable people were forced to work hard, drawing what little water they could find from stinking, drying riverbeds. Then a new god, Pachakamak, came and drove Con out, changing his people into monkeys. Pachakamak then took earth and made the ancestors of human beings. AMH As a child of the sun and the moon, he was brother to Pachacamac. IAWS
condenados: See, kukuchi. ROR
condor (Span), kuntur: (n) The Andean condor is a raptor and the largest bird capable of flight. It is also known as the king vulture. DAJG (See, Apuchin.)
National Geo footage of Andean condors. There is more video at puma.
Condor Concha: (n) Another name for Machu Picchu.
condor misha: (n) An herb that contains the essence of a sacred lagoon. JLH
Coniraya, Coniraya Wiracocha: (n) Inca moon god. MAN Trees, animals, plants, humans -- life sprang from everything he touched. WGC (See, Cavillaca.)
conopa, canopa: (n) A llama figurine with a hole in the back, covered with llama fat and red dirt. Imprinted conopas are put in corrals for fertility. Only the fat from a white llama or alpaca’s chest goes in the hole. The figurines are carried up on the glacier during the Q’ollori’ti festival by the Bear Clan (Ukukus). JLH Conopas are devotional objects that have cavities carved into their backs where offerings of llama fat and coca leaves are placed. Before the Spanish conquest and even to this day, these stone figurines are charged with protecting the house and bringing good luck and prosperity to the people living there. LCL Llama, alpaca and sometimes flowers carved from stone or crystal. They were and continue to be placed in prominent locations in the home as a protector. IGMP An amulet. TLD (See, napa.)
conscious death: (n) A spiritual art form that utilizes the death process to transform consciousness toward enlightenment. DIA (See, nierika.)
consensual reality: See, tonal.
Contisuyu: See, Kontisuyu.
Con Ticci Wiracocha: See, Con.
Contiti Wiracocha Pachayachachic: (n) Name given to Wiracocha by the people of Cacha. It means god, teacher of the world. MAN
Copacati: (n) Lake goddess whose worship was centered in Tiwanako near Lake Titicaca. WMO
coqueo: (n) The Andean practice of extracting the juice and flavor of coca leaves with saliva. MAAM
Coricancha, Qoricancha: Literally, the corral of gold. The Inca Temple of the Sun, located in the Pumaq Chupen (Tail of the Puma) area of Cusco. The most important temple in the Inca empire, dedicated primarily to Wiracocha and Inti, the Coricancha also had subsidiary shrines to the Moon, Venus, the Pleiades, and various weather deities. Additionally there were a large number of religious icons of conquered peoples which had been brought to Cusco, partly in homage and partly as hostage. Reports by the first Spanish who entered Cusco tell that ceremonies were conducted around the clock at the Coricancha and that its opulence was fabulous beyond belief. The wonderfully carved granite walls of the temple were covered with more than 700 sheets of pure gold, weighing around two kilograms each; the spacious courtyard was filled with life-size sculptures of animals and a field of corn, all fashioned from pure gold; the floors of the temple were themselves covered in solid gold; and facing the rising sun was a massive golden image of the sun encrusted with emeralds and other precious stones. (All of this golden artwork was quickly stolen and melted down by the Spaniards, who then built a church of Santo Domingo on the foundations of the temple.) The temple was also the centerpiece of a vast astronomical observatory and calendrical device for precisely calculating precessional movement. Emanating from the temple were forty lines called cekes, running arrow-straight for hundreds of miles to significant celestial points on the horizon. Four of these cekes represented the four intercardinal roads to the four quarters of Tawantinsuyu, others pointed to the equinox and solstice points, and still others to the heliacal rise positions of different stars and constellations highly important to the Inca. WMC (See, cancha.)
Circular wall of the Coricancha, The Golden
Enclosure, which housed the Temple of the Sun,
is an early example of Inca rectangular masonry.
cosco, qosqo: (n) (1) Stomach, navel area. (2) The energy center which is the origin of llank’ay; the center through which we push the kawsay. In mystical terms, it refers to the energy center located near the physical navel. It’s function is to eat and digest living energy. (See, mikhuy.) QNO (3) Dried up lake bed. TLD (See, waynu.)
Cotahuasi Valley: The deepest valley in the world, 11,600 feet, rich in minerals and soil for agriculture, was isolated enough to escape the worst of the Spanish Conquest. Hunting and agricultural use by humans can be traced back 12,000 years. JAR
coto-máchacuy (Amaz): (n) Mythological giant serpent with two heads which inhabits the bottom of large lakes. THIM
coya: See, Qoya.
creey: (v) To believe. (n) Belief, doctrine (sp.)
Crucero: See, Southern Cross, Mayu.
Cruz Calvario: See, Southern Cross, Mayu.
Cruz Velakuy: Held mainly in early May, when the Southern Cross is at its zenith, the Festival of the Cross (La Fiesta de las Cruces or Día de la Chacana), is celebrated with all-night fiestas in the mountain villages, as it has been for centuries from pre-Incan times. This is really a festival of the Southern Cross, the bridge from one side of the Milky Way to the other side. It is a point of departure during this lifetime for the spirit and also a point of transition into the next life (sp). IGMP (See, Mayu.)
Cruz Velakuy in a Bolivian village.
cuicamama: (n) Literally, mother worm, a mariri used in marupa sorcery as well as by healers to convey messages. AYV (See, mama.)
Cuichu: (n) Inca god of the rainbow. MAN (See, k’uychi.)
cumpa-supay (Amaz): (n) One of the birds used in the science of the vegetalistas. AYV (See, supay.)
-cuna: See, -kuna.
Cuntisuyu: See, Kontisuyu.
cunununu: (n) Thunder. SIMA (See, Con, Illapa, raio.)
curaca, kuraka: (n) Members of the Inca nobility who collaborated with the Spanish in their attempt to root out idolatry. The second Manco Capac was said to have been the son of a curaca. MAN The Spanish continued to rule the Indians through the curacas until the great Tupac Amaru revolt of 1780, in which many curacas took part. CSCR (See, Idolotrías.)
curakakulleq: See, kurak akulliq.
curandera, curandero (Span): (n) Female/male healer. ROR
curanderismo (Span): (n) The science and practice of the curandero. A holistic system of Latin American folk medicine. This type of folk medicine has characteristics specific to the area where it is practiced. Curanderismo blends religious beliefs, faith, and prayer with the use of herbs, massage, and other traditional methods of healing. It can be defined as a set of traditional beliefs, rituals, and practices that address the physical, spiritual, psychological, and social needs of the people who use it. The Spanish verb curar means to heal. Therefore, curanderismo is translated as a system of healing. The goal of curanderismo is to create a balance between the patient and his or her environment, thereby sustaining health. FACA
Cusco, Cuzco: (n) The name of the capital city of the Inca Empire. (See, Appendix D for more information.)
cusco cara urumi, : (n) Literally, uncovered navel stone. The mythical site of the foundation of Cusco, located in a swampy area with a sweet-water spring. At the cusco cara urumi, Manco Capac hurled the tupayauri into the marshy ground, and it disappeared, signifying the end of his search of a suitable location to found a great city. SIMA
Cusco Huanca: See, Ayar Auca.
cuti, kuti: (n) A returning, turning over, setting right. AVO A turn, a moment. DQ
cuticuti: (n) Plant that grows over 14,000 feet and intoxicates llamas; seeds are added to wiska despachos. JLH (See, napa.)
cuti despacho: (n) A despacho used for direct sorceric attack. It has a circular energetic action that deflects the assailing disruptive energies and has a cleansing function as well. (See, Appendix J, wiska despacho and cuti.) JLH
cuya: See, khuya.
cuyaiki: (phrase) I love you dearly. (See, khuya.)
cuyiki: (n) Ceke lines that inform the khuya.
Cuzco Huanca: See, Ayar Auca.