AN•TAWA CEREMONIES 2 • Day 6 – We start our Ceremony at Laguna Qoricocha : The AN•visible

AN•TAWA CEREMONIES 2 • Day 6 – We start our Ceremony at Laguna Qoricocha

Nov 3 2022 in Blog by Solara

On Day 6, we traveled to Laguna Qoricocha ~ the Sacred Lake of the great Inka Pachacutec (He Who Overturns Time and Space). As we were descending down the hill to the lake, we heard the sounds of many Pututus (conch shell trumpets) descending down the opposite side of the lake. Someone else was making a ceremony here at the same time! Both groups arrived at the shore of the lake at the same time, as if perfectly synchronized.

We later discovered that the other ceremonial group was from Chinchero and were making a ceremony to bring the rain. Throughout our ceremony here, whenever we would play our Drums of AN or our Pututus, we would often hear Pututus answering us from across the lake. It felt very special to be aligned with them.

: On our sixth day, we visited Laguna QORICOCHA ~ the Sacred Lake of Gold.
Photo by Noa.

: ~ HERE WE ARE! ~
Greeting the Sacred Lake!
Photo by Noa.

: Sebastian prepares to descend to the Lake.
Photo by Tracey.

: When we arrived at the top of Laguna Qoricocha, we noticed that there was another group who had just arrived on the top of the opposite side of the lake! They had several pututus (conch shell trumpets) which they blew heralding their arrival.

: The old path to the lake was now enclosed by a fence, so we had to walk down the side of the hill on a rougher path.

: Everyone played their Drums of AN.
Photo by Sebastian.

: It was amazing to hear the Drums of AN coming ever closer to the Sacred Lake.
Photo by Leo, our driver.

: Meanwhile, the group on the other side of the lake also descended while playing their pututus.

: Our procession draws ever closer to Qoricocha. Everything felt so real and true.
Photo by our driver Leo.

: ~ Timeless True Ones ~
Photo by Ankasha

: There was a smaller group of four (TAWA) who had driven down to the lake in the car carrying supplies who now approached the main procession.
Photo by Leo

: Having our two processions meet felt momentous.
Photo by Ankasha

: Without any advance planning, the larger procession opened a space for us to walk through.
Photo by Ankasha.

: This merger hadn’t been planned, but it felt amazing, as did our alignment with the group across the lake from us.
Photo by Leo (our driver)

: We walked together as ONE to Laguna Qoricocha.
Photo by Leo.

: Photo by Leo.

: Here we greeted the Sacred Lake.
Here is a short video of our procession to the lake: https://vimeo.com/777699343/6e1893fb3f
Photo by Leo.

: This is when we discovered that there was deep mud on the shores of the lake, so we searched for a drier place to do our ceremony.

: Since the water level was very low, there was deep mud everywhere. Even so, we were stunned by the beauty of this Timeless True World.
Photo by Leo.

: Qoricocha was very happy that we had returned and welcomed us with great Love.
Photo by Leo.

: We were ready!
Photo by Ankasha

: Photo by Ankasha

: Javier meets Javier (the president of the community in charge of Qoricocha.)
Photo by Ankasha

: We all were fully present as Timeless True Ones.

: Photo by Noa

: Sebastian volunteered to test the depth of the mud by walking into the lake.
Photo by Tracey.

: We finally returned to our original location and sat in a circle with the lake. Our pututus heralded the beginning of our ceremony.
Photo by Leo.

: Honoring Qoricocha ~ the Lake of Gold and the Sacred Lake of the great Inka Pachacutec.
Photo by Sebastian.

: The sound of our pututus was answered by the pututus from the group across the lake.
Photo by Sebastian

: We discovered that this was a group from Chinchero, here to make a rain ceremony. It felt very special to have two simultaneous ceremonies on opposite sides of the lake.

: Clouds appeared and disappeared throughout our ceremony.
Photo by Sebastian.

: We brought out our special bottles of water from the Heart of AN as offerings to the lake. And as we did at the Sacred Lake of AN, we only put water into the lake and did not take any water from the lake back with us.
Photo by Sebastian.