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www.shamansociety.org 15 within. The reason is simple. The Qero have come down from the mountains into modern ways of living. Their homes no longer have to be made out of stones and thatch. Now they have gas stoves and glass in their windows. They can educate their kids in schools. So a lot of the Qero do not want their kids living way up on the mountain under such harsh conditions and removed from the world. Bryon What do we lose when we lose the Altomesayoqs as gateways How does that affect us today Herrera The Altomesayoqs are the only one who have the capacity to bring the Apu spirits into physical manifestation. They materialize talking spirits from holy moun- tains. These Apus are known as benefactors of fertility health and advise humans. Without the Altomesayoqs the people lose the opportunity to speak directly with the mountain spirits and the old technology becomes forgotten. The Altomesayoks are a dying breed of shamans. Bryon Could you speak more about Don Manuel Quispes vision Herrera Don Manuel Quispe has become an important icon among the Qero. He said When I come down from the moun- tains I am going to do what is needed to keep the tradition alive even if my own vil- lage does not agree. He disseminated his knowledge to a few people. Thats it. A few individuals beneted from Don Manuels teachings including myself. Im not Qero. Im from the city and in my case I had to learn the Qero ways. Don Manuels vision was that the new shamans would be emerging from the West. Individuals who need to integrate the old and the new at a higher level. The new shamans have to be well educated in modern ways but also have an under- standing of existence beyond the physical realm beyond the timespace continuum of ordinary reality. This was Don Manu- els vision and now it has become mine. In order to get there Don Manuels understanding was that his people needed to merge with the city with the process of industrialization with the process of culture. Perhaps a few Qero survivors along the way if their medicine or their calling is strong will be able to integrate that new and the old at a higher level. Meanwhile there are not too many that are willing to go to that length. Don Manuel always spoke about the newly emerging cross-pollinators individuals who would weave the modern technologies with the ancient ones. He envisioned highly educated individuals who are self-realized and willing to be the bridges for a new unfolding human cosmology. As Don Manuel envisioned and I agree maybe the people from the West are the ones. Don Manuel envisioned a new shaman one that emerges victorious from the battles of human scarcity and suffering. Individuals who realize that their true identity has always been the land and the collective that populates it individuals who source from the long- standing lineage of the earth stewards and mountain spirits. Maybe there are individuals who have gone through the dark night of the personal and collective soul who understood their personal and collective journey and perhaps these individuals are highly cultured educated and have already healed individually. They no longer source from a cultural paradigm of limitation and scarcity that is currently so prominent is the West but rather from a different context of reality. These are the new shamans. That is the reason Don Manuel started giving this medicine free to people. In my case I worked with him since the early 90s until he died in December 2004. He lived in my house and was like a grandfather. A lot of his stories his teachings his traditions his way of seeing the world had to be learned from a Qechua perspective. How a Qero person sees the world is different from how you see it or how I see it. It is one thing to hear the words and another thing to eat to be to live inside the culture. There is old saying in order to learn a language you need to live in that culture so you know the language. Otherwise it is just a translation or a conceptualization. I had to learn to see differently. I had to learn how he thought how he felt how he saw the world. It was not an easy task. Photograph by Deborah Bryon _____________________________