Over the years, I've been studying the energy medicine of the Americas--mostly the form still used by the shaman, currandero, and curandera of the high Andean mountains of Peru. The Q'ero--the descendants of the Inka--have been practicing their medicine ways almost undisturbed for millennia, and largely bypassed the destruction meted out to the rest of the indigenous population by the Spanish colonialists and conquistadors by simply living in isolation in the harsh environment at altitudes hovering around 16,000 feet.

They don't have a written language--they speak Quechua--and their tradition is an oral one, passed down from generations. It's also an experiential tradition; the lessons are ones that you learn by doing, not listening to a lecture.

I'm a paqo, a walker of this spiritual path. There is no apprenticeship, no trial period; one is or isn't a paqo.

On this path, one grows into one's powers by living in one's integrity, walking upright without deceit (even to oneself), fearless, and in a right, balanced relationship with the Earth and all of its creatures.

As my work deepens, I find myself shedding the layers of "stuff" that has accumulated during my life. For years I misunderstood this path of power. I never wished to have power over anything or anyone; and in this path I don't need to.

What it comes down to, I finally understand, is love. And that love is expressed through service.

I think it was Whitman who wrote: What's simple is true.