On Rainbows and Dancing Llamas

November 2000
New Moon Article

As we stepped from the green grass onto the charred earth, I looked around with awe at the blackened mountains around me. Three weeks earlier, a fire leapt across canyons and rivers to burn all four sacred mountains that surrounded Machu Picchu. On the north side the flames had swept all the way to the very edge of the city.

On this day, three years ago, two friends walked with me through the burned vegetation, just west of the sacred mountain Waynu Picchu. It was our day off, and though I longed to sleep, I had agreed to join them in exploring the ruins.

Kneeling to touch the earth, I picked up a stone near my feet. Tiny crystals completely covered the large, oval shaped rock in my hands. As I held it, I felt the worlds open and time shift into neutral. In an instant there was no past or future, only my energetic body, the energy of the tiny-crystals rock, and the living being of Machu Picchu. All three merged into one for a shimmering moment, and then I dissolved back into myself.

I looked up at my companions, blinking. “We have to bury this rock,” I said slowly. “Not bury it, no we have to ground it.” They walked over and watched me curiously as I began to dig with my hands in the black earth. I placed the stone upright in the hole, about one quarter into the earth. I didn’t understand what I was doing, and neither did my two friends, but we all were soon blessing the rock with water, tying a purple ribbon around it, and sending it energy.

“Okay, two more to go.” In my body I sensed that there were two more rocks that we needed to plant in the earth. We began walking south, moving off the main trails once we reached the edge of the city. We soon found the second rock on a terrace overlooking the Urubamba river below, and planted it in the earth, watered it, and said blessings.

The third rock was more difficult to find. We headed east, and I felt my way along energetically, listening with all my senses.

“There it is!” one of my companions called. It was much larger than the other two rocks, but had the same elongated, soft triangular shape. We carried it over to a window ledge, which framed it perfectly. Once we had blessed it, I felt the energy that had been directing me begin to dissipate.

As we walked the city one more time, I wondered where the center of the triangle was. Why were we asked to set the stones in this particular configuration, and what were they holding energetically? There was one very curious, huge stone, lying down in the middle of a grassy field, that felt like it might be the center.

That night as I fell asleep I felt the stones connecting energetically. White light streamed between them, linking the north, south and east stones in a beautiful triangle. I understood that I would be back to help facilitate another phase of this energetic process. I didn’t need to question why or how.

I remembered all of this as we toured Machu Picchu last month. I was co facilitating a group of twelve people in Peru. A month before we left I beamed a message to the spirit of Machu Picchu: I’m coming back. If you need anything, let me know. And I immediately felt an answering tug and smile.

During our second day in the city, my teaching partner Francis came up behind me and caught my hand. “I just talked to Jorge, and he pointed out two sets of stone triangles that link energetically,” he said. My heart bloomed. (Jorge Delgado is our shamanic guide and dear friend in Peru.)

That night I prayed and asked to be of service to Machu Picchu. I’ve always felt a great kinship and homecoming when I am in Peru, and I felt this journey had been planned for much longer than I knew. The apus, or mountain spirits in Peru, had called each person to be a part of a much greater mystery. I prayed to be a clear channel to facilitate magic.

Two days later, the vision of our ceremony vibrated into my cells. We were to use the seven colors of the rainbow, and link each triangle into the center stone in the plaza. A guide from Machu Picchu had told us that this stone used to stand straight up, and was a center point of the city. It had been pushed over years ago to allow helicopters to bring dignitaries into the city (to avoid a long train ride and serpentine bus ride up the hill.) There was some talk by the archeologists of re-erecting it, but in the meantime it had been covered partially in dirt.

We stood in a circle around the six-foot long stone, grounding and centering ourselves. As I began to explain the ceremony, three lamas came running into the grass courtyard, tossing their heads, prancing around us. They settled around the perimeter of the area, and we knew the magic had begun.

Since we were doing a fairly complicated ceremony, we spent time modeling it and working out the staging. I felt how the overall energy was suppose to connect, but not all of the details. Ritual improvisation at its finest. I walked around the circle and picked female/male pairs, putting one pair with one of the seven rocks (Two triangles, and the center stone.) We had seven perfect pairs, and as I placed the last one I realized I would not be a part of the ceremony. And I smiled to myself when I turned and saw the flute player Jorge had invited specially to play for us today. Eight female/male pairs, with myself and the flute player the witnesses.

Since the rocks were spread out across the city, we role-played around the center stone, each pair standing in the direction of their rock. “Okay, Gini will begin with violet, sending a violet ray to Francis.” Gini and Gary held the center stone, Francis was to stand at the first rock, called the hitching post of the sun. “Francis, you catch the ray energetically, and pass it through the stone to Beth. Beth, you’ll then take white light and send it to Tim.” Tim receiving the energy and connecting to his rock and to his partner Sattie, Sattie sending yellow to Jordan, Jordan sending the energy into the third rock, and Jan sending yellow to the first rock. We connected the first triangle this way, women sending, men receiving.

Violet (tinged with indigo) was the color for the center stone, with the first triangle connecting white, yellow, red. After the first triangle had connected, Gary was to hook into the first triangle and send violet energy to the first rock in the second triangle. Then the polarity wanted to flip on the other side: This time the male received, male sent. Mary Beth received the energy, connected it through the rock to Simon, who sent it on across the city to Ellen. Ellen connected the energy with the rock, and her partner Jorge sent his color to Linda. Linda received, Allan sent green back to the first rock. Pink, blue, green.

After practicing and setting up code words to help everything flow, we created an altar on the center rock and each said a prayer. Then we dispersed, each pair heading for their rock.

I wandered around as everyone hiked to their rocks, wondering if this crazy ceremony would work. As I walked back to the plaza, all doubts were erased. The plaza was completely empty, except for Gini and Gary at the center rock. Two lamas guarded the area: one was literally sitting on the south path, the other on the north path. Gini told me she watched as a child tried to get the lama to move, and it refused. The third lama remained nearby, eating grass.

I climbed up the steep steps to my place. The flute player smiled at me, and I took some deep breaths. I was to give the signal to Francis to start the energetic chain. He stood across the plaza, many levels above me. Francis was the only person who had a view of every pair and every rock, and he would be my eyes for the ceremony. As a seer, Francis would be able to monitor the energy and help make adjustments.

Just as I started to give Francis the start signal, hordes of people flooded into the plaza, laughing and chatting. They gathered around Gini and Gary, and our empty plaza was suddenly buzzing with beings. I laughed and nodded to Francis to begin.

I watched the ceremony through Francis’s face. I was the one who gathered and orchestrated, and now I ignited the spark for it to begin. I am sometimes blessed with being able to perceive energy, but when my part of the ceremony was completed, I was cut off from seeing or feeling anything. All I could do was have faith, and watch Francis’s face change as he watched the energy begin to move around the triangles. It was working. When I knew that each of the triangles were connected to the center and the colors were flowing, I gave a second signal, for everyone to send the full spectrum of rainbow colors through the triangles and to the center stone.

Everything around me disappeared for a moment, and I knew it was complete. I signaled Francis again to close the energy, and headed down to the center rock to gather with the group. The flute player closed the ceremony with El Condor Paso.

We sat in silence for a long time around the center rock. Beth sang us a song in a voice so pure that I cried and wiped my tears on the rock. I still didn’t know what we had done, but I knew it was complete. And then the lamas gracefully galloped out of the plaza.

At the beginning of the ceremony, all the tourists around the hitching post of the sun went silent and watched. Afterwards, strangers came up and hugged us and gave thanks.

One thing we learned was the power of intent. Even though there was some false starts, and uncertainty in the group, the energy only needed a slight connection and the channel opened up and flowed on its own. Francis watched in amazement as the energy between people fluttered at first, and then in each case a brilliant ray of the color locked in. As the energy moved from the first triangle to the second, it passed through the center stone in an infinity sign, and then became a mobius strip as the polarity shifted from the first triangle to the second triangle.

All we need to do is set our intent to serve, and the universe will work through us to create magic. The Seth books say, “Magic is nature unimpeded.” When we make this link to nature, the energy can speak through us to create miracles. Perhaps the spirit of nature is always invisibly calling, waiting for someone to hear and take action. We can then become conduits for a deeper connection to the earth. We become divine helpers, magicians connecting the earth and the sky and all the colors of the rainbow.

As Jorge and I headed back to the hotel later in the day, he said, “Next year, we can connect the Temple of the Sun as well. And I’ll bring water from Lake Titicaca for each of the rocks!” Yes, I agreed enthusiastically. I’d already started to think about next year as well.

We are listening, I whispered to the rocks, smiling.

Read the November 2000 moon’s meditation to deepen your inner connection...


Thanks to Wes Bailey and the Masters for the spark that reminded me of the importance of looking within....