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Glossary of Terminology
of the Shamanic & Ceremonial Traditions
of the Inca Medicine Lineage

as Practiced in the United States

 

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APPENDICES
INDEX


ALPHABET:

A
B
C
Ch, Ch' & Chh
D
E
F & G
H
I
J
K
K' & Kh
L
Ll
M
N & Ñ
O
P
P', Ph
Q
Q', Qh
R
S
T
T' & Th
U
V
W
Y
Z
 

    NAVIGATION TIP:

    Use the Firefox browser with the CoolPreview add on. CoolPreview will give a magnifying glass icon at every link when you put your cursor on the link. Click on the icon and it will open a separate, smaller window with the definition of the term in it. You can either lock the window by clicking the padlock icon in the top bar of the little window, or move your cursor off the window and it will automatically close. This is almost as good as mouseovers.



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    hacha (AYM): (n) Tears. ASD

    hacha llullu mitha (AYM): (v) To shed tears. ASD

    hachatha (AYM): (v) To weep. ASD

    hach’u: (n) Wad of chewed coca. ROR (Also, kuka hach’u or khulla.)

    hach’u p’anpay: (n) The ritual burial of chewed coca. ROR

    hadas:(n) A type of elemental.

    hakakuna: (n) All the sacred rocks.

    hake mallkis: (n) The winged ones, spirits of the ancient ones, the masters who have become mountains and started the Lineage. JLH (See, mallqui.)

    halatha (AYM):(v) To fly. ASD

    hallpakusunchis: (phrase) Let us chew coca together. THLH

    hallpay: (n) Non-ceremonial chewing of coca.  Homecoming, coming to unity, to ayni; bringing conflicting elements in to sacred space. RS JLH KOAK ROR Hallpay carries a way of life with it. To do it properly according to traditional ceremony is to be a Runa, a real person. To chew coca leaves is to affirm the attitudes and values -- the habits of mind and body -- that are characteristic of indigenous Andean culture. (See, lo andino.) THLH

    hamawt’a: (n) Teacher, community leader. (adj) Wise. QP

    hampi, jampi: (v) Drug, medicine. QP

    hampicamayoc: (n) A medical doctor. TLD

    hampichiy, hampiy: (n) To heal; to cure. QP RS

    hampikamayoq, hampicamayoq: (n) Literally, remedy keeper. A doctor, a healer. ACA  Medicine man; healer; pharmacist; chemist; doctor. RS

    hampina wasi: (n) Hospital. QP (See, hampi, wasi.)

    hampiq: (n) Healer. QP

    hampiri: (n) Medicine man; healer; physician. RS

    hampiriy: (v) To be saved; to be remedied. RS

    hampiyuq wasi: (n) Pharmacy. QP

    hamppattitha (AYM): (v) Pray. ASD

    hampui: See, hampuy.

    hamppattitha (AYM): (v) To plead to God. ASD

    hampumuy: (v) Come! (See, hampuy.) JLH

    hampuy: (v) Command form of the verb  to come used by Andean Priests to call the spirit of a person, god, teacher, or a nature being: COME! QNO RS JLH AVO

    hamuy: (v) To come. QP

    hanan: (adv) Upper, the above; relationship of verticality with cekes. JLH (adj) Upper; high; elevated; superior. RS (See, hurin.)

    hanan and hurin: (adj/adv) Upper and lower, the two moieties or halves of the Andean duality. Similar in concept to the Chinese yin and yang, the division may be literal or symbolic. Mountains, man, day, sky, sun, and present are hanan (upper). Coast, jungle, woman, earth, water, night, and the past are hurin (lower). The division was based on various criteria, including topography, kinship, and mythology. It could be reversed under certain conditions. CSCR

    Hanan and Hurin Cusco: (n) Literally, Upper and Lower Cusco. The two social divisions of the city. Legend has it, the division was ordered by founding Inca Manco Capac. Having great cosmological significance, the division prevailed until the arrival of the Spanish. MAN (See, Appendix D for a more complete explanation, also, hanan and hurin.)

    hanaq: (adj) Upper. (adv) Above. QP  A variation of hanan.

    Hanaqpacha (Hanan Pacha), Hanaq'pacha: (n) Sky; heaven; the upper or superior world, defined by it's abundance of super-refined energy or sami. RS The Heavenly Underworld. Only righteous people could enter it, crossing a bridge made of hair. EFD Multileveled Upper World. IGMP (See, hanaq, hanan.)

    hani tucuychañami (AYM): (n) God without beginning and without end. ASD

    hanku haywa: (n) A raw offering. ROR

    Hanp’átu: (n) The name of the Dark Cloud Constellation of the toad. Its terrestrial counterpart is Bufo spinulosus, which tolerates dry altitude very well and breeds principally at the onset of the rainy season. Like Mach’ácuy, this toad burrows in the earth during the cold/dry season to reemerge with the warm/rainy season. The celestial toad rises into the sky in the early morning just after terrestrial toads have emerged from their long period of subterranean hibernation and just at the time of their most intense croaking and mating period. ACES (See, yana phuyu, pachatira.)


    Bufo spinulosus, the animal basis for the Dark Cloud Constellation of the Toad.

    happattitha (AYM): (v) To praise God. ASD

    hapu: (n) Sacred couple, finest form of yanantin; a sacred couple who have both reached full development of the three human powers: mind, heart, and body (yachay, munay, llank’ay). RS The most powerful relationships are either hapu or ranti. Hapu is a relationship of yanatin qualities that together are ten times stronger and propel you. These are autonomous entities in relationship. JLH The harmonious union of two masculine energies. KOAK

    hapu ranti: (n) Right relationship.  (See, hapu, ranti.)

    haraweq: (n) Minstrel, bard. THIM

    harawi: (n) Poem, song. QP

    hark'ana, harkana, arkana: (n) A passive defense sung over someone in an ayahuasca session. AYV Barrier; obstacle. RS (See, tinguna.)

    hark’apay: (v) To protect. QP

    hark’ay, arkay: (v) To prevent. QP Obstruct, defend, detain, prevent, intevene in favor of another. TLD To block, to bar. AYV (See, hark’ana.)

    harmine (Eng): (n)  The alkaloid of the ayahuasca vine. AYV

    hasp’ikuy: (v) To itch, to scratch. QP

    hatha (AYM): (n) Lineage. ASD

    hatumpi ccatu: (n) See, despacho.

    hatun, jatun: (adj.) Big; tall; grand; high; large; great. (n) The Universe composed of Pachamama and Pachacamac. RS

    hatun awkicha: (n) Great-grandfather.  ROR

    hatun cocha: (n) Ocean.  (Also, mama cocha.)

    Hatun Inti: (n) The Divine Central Sun. God. IGMP

    hatun k'anchay: (n) Lightning. RS (See, chuqui illa.)

    hatun karpay: (n) The great or high initiation or transmission. JNP

    hatun layka: (n) Master shaman.  

    hatun madrina, hatun padrino: (n) Vertical sponsor, female or male, at a marriage (sp). ROR

    hatun paq’o: (n) Great healer who sources from the luminous body.  JLH

    hatun p'unchaw: (n) Holiday; feast day; solemnity. RS (See, Punchao.)

    Hatun Qeros: (n) High Q'ero. This town serves as the ceremonial center of the Q'ero Nation. RS

    hatun qucha: (n) Sea. RS

    hatun quyllur: (n) Planet. RS

    hatun rumi: (n) Boulder. RS

    hatun runa: (n) Literally, the great people, were the Inca commoners. They were of lower rank than the Panacas and lesser royalty, making up the majority of the population.  They were organized into tens of thousands of ayllus. Higher ranking ayllus of hatun runa were the Curacas, holding hereditary lordships and serving as imperial agents. The empire redistributed large groups of hatun runa as mitimaes resulting in economic and social stabilization. MAN

    hatun yaku: (n) River. RS

    hauira (AYM): (n) River. ASD

    hauira cata (AYM): (n) Mother of the river. ASD

    hayllalla, hayaya, jallalla: (interjection) Well-being, salvation. [Translates as salud! in Spanish. PGO] Triumph of the heart. JLH (See, haylli.)

    haylli: (n) religious, heroic or agricultural song; triumph; shout and or song of triumph; joy and glory; ovation. RS TLD The Inca were said to triumph over the earth by plowing it so it might yield crops. ACA

    haylliy, hayllikuy: (v) To shout in triumph. TLD

    hayaya: See, hayllalla.

    haywa, hayway: (n) A ritual offering, sacrifice. ROR QP

    haywarisqa: (n) (1) The Quechua term for despacho. NND (2) An ancient ritual that is designed to show the apu how much the people appreciate their herds and also how well they have taken care of them since the previous year. For the Andean herders, the survival and well being of their flocks are the very essence upon which their lives depend. The haywarisqa is a classic rite of intensification through which the future well-being of the herders’ alpaca flocks is addressed. WPMC

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    haywariky aklly: (n) a very sacred form of haywarkuy. WCH

    haywarkuy, haywakuy: (n) (1) A festival every August known as payment to Mother Earth, in which coca leaves, food and beverages are offered. QP (2) The offering made by the shamans to the spirit. WCH

    haywasqa (n) An offering. TLD

    hayway: (v) To give, to offer. TLD

    hechicería (Span): (n) Sorcery. CSE

    hechicería marupa (Span): (n) Marupa sorcery; the manipulation of certain animals -- insects, snakes, scorpions, bats, rays, toads, etc. -- which the sorcerer keeps in his mariri and which he uses to do harm. The victim might feel an urge to go to a certain place where she will meet the marupa , which will attack her. AYV

    hechicero (Span): (n) A sorcerer. CSE

    hihuatha (AYM): (v) To die. ASD

    hila ñayra huahua: (n) Firstborn son. ASD (Note: huahua -- or wawa -- is Quechua for baby.)

    hiporúru, iporuru (Amaz): (n) (Alchornea castaneifolia (Willd.) Juss) A plant whose leaves are macerated in alcohol to form a tonic that expels weakness of the blood and heart, overcomes diabetes, and returns sexual vigor to old men.  THIM

    Hiporuru.

    hiska hauiri (AYM): (n) Brook or small river. ASD

    hoocha: See, hucha.

    huaca, wak’a: (n) (1) Sacred site, empowered place, shrine. Idol.  HOI There was a logic to prestige categories of Kollana, Payan and Kayao that divided the system of shrines around Inca Cusco. WEA On the coast, huaca is applied to ancient temple mounds. (2) A number of gods of nature, found in the shape of rocks, mountains, trees, lakes, etc. GM Incan spirit being, the exaltation of a natural object such as a rock or place of importance. EOG (3) The sacred energy of people, places and objects. IEBJ Anything that incited religious wonder. Other focuses of devotion were large or oddly shaped stones. IAWS Precious. Impregnated with a magical or religious power by virtue of its symbolic shape or its origin.SVI (See, huaco, huaquero.)

    Huaca Wilka, Guaca Bilca: (n) To the Spanish, this was a demon who corrupted the people of Cusco who would have otherwise believed in the one true Christian God. MAN However, it seems to simply mean a local deity. (See, huaca and wilka.)

    Huaca el Dragon: A funerary compound northwest of Chan Chan; it bears well-preserved Chimu (a pre-Incan civilization) images, including staff-bearing figures and double-headed rainbow serpents. MAN Also known as Huaca del Arco Iris (Span. for rainbow.”) WILT

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    huacapú: See, palero.

    huaco, guaco: (n) The generic name given in Peru mostly to earthen vessels and other finely made pottery artworks found in pre-columbian sites such as burial locations, sanctuaries, temples and other ancient ruins. Huacos are not mere earthenware but notable pottery specimens linked to ceremonial, religious, artistic or aesthetic uses in central andean pre-columbian civilizations. The word huaco derives from the term huaca. WIKI

    huachancana: (n) One of the euphorbia plants, also known as spurges (from Middle English espurge meaning purgative). WIKI  A root used as a purgative. Taken in the form of an infusion, the patient would sit in warm sunlight until overcome by sickness and vertigo, coupled with a tickling sensation all over his body. Soon a violent evacuation from both ends occurred during which parasites or poisons were gotten rid of. After a while the sickness wore off and the patient felt himself to be bursting with rude health and extremely hungry. ACA

    huachuma, wachuma, achuma: (n) Indigenous name of the San Pedro cactus (trichocereus peruvianis or trichocereus pachanoi) used ceremonially as an entheogenic. The association with Saint Peter is interesting because he is the keeper of the keys to heaven. CSCR

          droppedImage.pict                   droppedImage.pict

    A ceramic pot from the Chimú

    culture of Peru. The owl-faced female

    holding huachuma on this vessel is

    an herbalist and shaman. The owl

    is associated with these women. BOA

    huachumero: (n) A San Pedro shaman. BOA (See, huachuma.)

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    huaira: See, wayra.

    huairacaspi: (Cedrelinga catenaeformis) Also called el tornillo. It is good for chronic diarrhea, hepatitis, arthritis, broken bones, and cold in the body. As a teacher plant it is good for disorientation, and sense of being lost. After drinking you need to take a shower as it makes you sweat out all the toxins. AWC The kapukiri produced by the huairacaspi is the most frightening form of the disease. The person feels as if he is walking in slow motion, as if in the air. It generates pain in the ears, and the skin turns grey, as if burned. It acts quickly, and the persons dies after three to five days, with heavy vomiting. AYV

                   

    Leaves of huairacaspi.       Trunks of huairacaspi marked for logging.

    huaira-cucha: (n) According to the practice of the vegetalistas, a huairo-cucha is a being from a distant galaxy with skin as white as paper. Probably related to Wiracocha, a term used by some tribes to refer to white people. AYV (See, wayra.)

    Huallallo Carhuincho: (n) Principal god of the native peoples of the Huarochirí region.  A fire-breathing, volcanic god, he is featured in pre-Incan creation myths. Believed to be a cannibal, he decreed that couples could only have two children, one of whom had to be sacrificed to him for a meal. At the beginning of the Huarochirí Manuscript, he was challenged and defeated by Pariacaca, fleeing to the country to the north known as Antis (Antisuyu). MAN

    Huaman Lipa: (n) (1) Falcon that protects ceremonies, midnight falcon, visionary.  (2) One of the sacred mountains. The mountain of the Q’ero.  JLH

    Huana Cauri, Huanakawri: (n) One of the sacred mountains, located near Quirirmanta. It is from this place the Inca ancestors first viewed the Cusco Valley. MAN The cradle of the Inca state where the golden rod thrown by Manco Capac sank effortlessly into the ground. Historic chroniclers say that the first temple of the Inca Empire was located on the hill called Huanacauri, in the Southern part of Cuzco. CDN Leaving this place [Tambo Toco] they [Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo] came to a hill at a distance of two leagues, a little more or less, from Cuzco. Ascending the hill they saw a rainbow, which the natives call huanacauri. Holding it to be a fortunate sign, Manco Ccapac said: "Take this for a sign that the world will not be destroyed by water. (See, Uñu Pachacuti.) We shall arrive and from hence we shall select where we shall found our city." HOI

    huanaco: See, guanaco.

    Huanaypata: (n) Final stopping place of the Inca ancestors where the center of Cusco was established and Ayar Auca turned into a huanca.  (See, Manco Capac.) MAN

    huanca, wanka: (n) (1) Golden staff, planted in ground. A vertical anchor to Pachamama in the form of a stone stele or rod. Column (stone); pillar. Statue. (2) Rite of fertility, creation. (3) Sacred song. RS (4) A type of huaca that was an especially large and prominent boulder believed to incorporate the essence of ancestors of one or more local ayllus. MAN (See, Señor de Huanca.)

    huancahui (Amaz): (n) The laughing falcon (Herpetotheres cachinnans). This bird is a predator of snakes. It’s icaro is good for stunning a snake and defeating it, leaving its bite without effect. AYV

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    huaní (Amaz): (n) (1) A steel bow and a little crystal arrow which are kept in the armpit. (2) A type of sorcery performed with the huaní. The sorcerer puts the bow in his mouth and blows the dart into his victim, which pierces him and then returns to the armpit of the sorcerer. The victim will feel very tired and go to sleep. When he wakes up he will begin to vomit blood until he dies. No vegetalista can cure this kind of sorcery. Only God can save the victim. AYV

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    Huaní. Detail from a painting by vegetalista Pablo Amaringo from one
    of his ayahuasca visions.
    AYV

    huaquero: (n) Looter of sacred site (sp). CSCR A person that digs in ancient pre-columbian ruins illegally in order to get valuable pieces of artwork, usually destroying the structure (sp). WIKI (See, huaca.)

    huarachicu, huarachicuy, waracikoy, huarachico: (n) Literally, breeches ceremony. A coming of age ritual at which the teenage male attained adulthood and was given his permanent name. ACA (See, quicuchicuy.) HOI

    huara huara (AYM): (n) Star. ASD

    Huari: (n) The principal deity of the Guari ayllu of Cajatambo. MAN

    huarmi: See, warmi.

    Huarochirí Manuscript: (n) Post-conquest Inca document composed circa 1608 detailing pre-conquest religious belief among the hatun runa in the Inca empire, most likely compiled along with the Idolotrías at the instigation of Francisco de Avila, the Extirpator of Idolatries. MAN

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    huasi-ukulluco: (n) The little house lizard, a mariri used in marupa sorcery as well as by healers to convey messages. AYV (See, wasi.)

    huasca, waska: (n) (1) Luminous fiber extending from the luminous body connecting it to nature. (See, definition and image at ceke.) (2) Rope; whip; cord. RS

    Huascar: See, Waskar.

    Huascarán: (n) The name of Peru’s tallest mountain at 22,205 feet (6768 meters). Respecting the origin of its name, more than one theory exist: In the map of Ancash made by the explorer Antonio Raimondi (1873), the mountain appears with the name Huascán, which would mean attractive or tempting. Raimondi also sustains that near the mountain existed a ranch called Hacienda Huascarán, though he doesn´t state if the place was baptized following the mountain´s name or vice-versa. Others attribute the origin of the name to the Inca Huascar [Waskar]. WAH

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    huata: (n) Year. AEAA

    huatanruna: (n) Literally, people that tie. Snake people who spiritually dismember the vegetalista. AYV (See, dismemberment for an image)

    huauque (AYM): (n) Friend. ASD

    Huaya, Manuel: The commander of the Aceropunta. He was a great shaman with dominion over the yaku-lancha, yakuruna, mermaids and other subaquatic beings. Living about 350 years ago, he was either Shipibo or Piro. He wears different clothes depending on the person who invokes him. AYV

    Huayna Capac, Wayna Capac: (n) The 12th Inca emperor who ruled from 1493-1526. He died suddenly from smallpox along with his heir apparent, Ninán Cuyúnchic, leaving the country to face a ruinous civil war between his remaining sons, Atahualpa and Wascar, that left the empire weakened and open to the Spanish conquest. MAN Other accounts give the history as Huayna Capac survived and divided the empire between Wascar and Atahualpa.  FAE This quotation illustrates how Huayna Capac foretold the end of the Inca Empire: "Our father the Sun disclosed to us a long time ago that we should be twelve Incas, his own sons, to reign on this earth; and that then, new, hitherto unknown people would arrive; that they would obtain victory and subject all our kingdoms to their Empire, as well as many other lands. I think that the people who came recently by sea to our own shores are the ones referred to. They are strong, powerful men, who will outstrip you in everything. The reign of the twelve Incas ends with me. I can therefore certify to you that these people will return shortly after I have left you, and that they will accomplish what our father the Sun predicted; they will conquer our Empire, and they will become its only lords. I order you to obey and serve them, as one should serve those who are superior in every way; because their law will be better than ours, and their weapons will be more powerful and invincible than yours. Dwell in peace; my father the Sun is calling me, I shall go now to rest at his side." (from Garcilaso de la Vega) Omens of doom started circulating throughout the empire. The Sapa Inca's wise men prophesied evil because an eagle fell out of the sky and died after being attacked by buzzards during the Feast of the Sun. PBS

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    huayño: (n) Very high traditional song. WBT The huayño originates mainly in the area round southern Peru and northwestern Bolivia. WDPO

    huayruru: (n) See, wayruru. ROR

    huayusa: See, guayusa.

    hucha, jucha: (n) (1) Heavy, dense, black energy.  (2) In common usage, it means guilt; fault; sin; crime. RS KOAK AVO  Hucha means sin, business (or affair) or plea; hucha is sin only when preceded by a noun in the genitive case, such as runaphuchan (a man’s sin).  When referring to gods or kings, it can only mean business, not in the sense of commerce but in the sense of affairs and secrets. SIMA Heavy energy.  Mistranslated by the Spanish as sin. QNO (See, sami, qhapaq hucha.)

    huchachay: (v) To accuse, to make guilty. PSL

    huchallikuy: (v) To sin, literally, to carry sin. PSL

    hucha mikhuy, hucha mikuy: (n)  The eating and digestion of heavy energy with the spiritual stomach; this is the central spiritual practice of the Andean priest. RS

    huchasapa: (adj) Guilty. PSL

    huchata pampachay: (v) To forgive sin. PSL

    huchayuq: (n) Sinner; guilty one. PSL

    huicungo:(n) Astrocaryum vulgare. The spines of this palm are the favorite and most potent darts shot into the human body by malevolent spirits to cause sickness and misfortune. AYV See, virote.

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    huinioch rumi: (n) Growing rock, refers to the living energy and changing nature of rock. QNO

    huiririma: (n) Astrocaryum jauari, a jungle plant used to create virotes. EMM

    droppedImage.pict

    Huitaca: See, Chia.  

    huito: (n) (Genipa americana) Medicinal fruit which is a curative of respiratory diseases. THIM (See, caballo piripiri.)

    droppedImage.pict

    huizo oni (Panoan): (n) Ayahuasca dark in color, one of three kinds of ayahuasca distinguished by the Shipibo according to color. AYV (See, oni.)

    huk k'ata kay: (n) Literally, being only one. Unity. WODO

    humihua: (n) A narrow-necked container for water used in ceremony.  SAI

    hunguráhui: (n) An oil distilled from the fruit of a palm tree of the same name which is said to grow hair on bald heads. THIM

    hup’a: (adj) Deaf. QP

    huqnirayay: (v) To change into something, to become. QP

    hurin, urin: (n) Space in which space/time come together and life happens; relationship of horizontality with cekes. JLH (adj) Lower; inferior. (adv) Below; down; south. RS (See, hanan.)  

    Hurin Cusco:  See, Hanan and Hurin Cusco.

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