Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Discussion of the different types of witchcraft and pagan paths.
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GroundedDancer
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Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by GroundedDancer »

Hello all, I hope this finds you in good health and spirits.

I recently had a tarot reading done, one which included meditation on both my end and the reader's end, and so much was revealed to me in the session that I'm still reeling from all the information. None of it was really new, because I had come to more or less draw the same messages through dreams. However, a new aspect did present itself that surprised me. I am a good chunk Native American/indigenous and it seemed that the cards and my meditations were pointing me down a path of spirituality that was born from indigenous practices through ancestral knowledge. That being said, I don't know much about my indigenous background other than the general locations. My indigenous roots can be traced back to New Mexico and Central Mexico, but I clearly got the specific location 'Andes Mountains' in the meditation. It was weirdly specific. The tarot reader told me that she felt what she thought were ancestral beings of mine trying to send me a message, but that I wasn't receiving it so they passed it to her. Problem was, she couldn't decipher it because it was meant for me.

Some of the other cards seemed to hint that I needed to visit indigenous practices in order to connect with this ancestral knowledge and move my spirituality more meaningfully to a place where I feel comfortable and understand it. My question is, does anyone know of any indigenous practices? I have no idea what to look for, or if any such practices still exist since colonization must have trampled on a lot of the knowledge.

Any help would be much appreciated
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by planewalker »

Please give "Hello Palefaces" under Shamanism/Types of Witchcraft, a quick look. Advise me if you'd like to pursue it in the topic or by PM. Either works for me, it's just what your comfortable with.
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by SpiritTalker »

This gives a lot of tips for associated words to look up.


http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Quichua


With a population around 2.5 million, the Quichua of South American are the largest of any indigenous peoples in the Americas today. Aymara-Quechua languages (which have many spoken dialects) are collectively the most widely spoken of all indigenous languages in South America. The Quichua are also the only people to have migrated both south along the ridges and valleys of the Andes mountains and east into the rainforest of the Amazon Basin. This early divergence in their migration paths has created distinct mountain- and jungle-Quichua identity and culture.

The Quichua were among the earliest peoples to be conquered by the Inca empire. Ironically, the Inca empire itself consisted mainly of people who spoke the same Quechua language! It wasn't until Spanish colonization, though, that their population level fell drastically. One of the most important dates in history is associated with this decline. November 16, 1532 marked the capture of the Inca Emperor, Atahuallpa, by the Spanish conquistador, Francisco Pizarro. This blow to the Incas was the single biggest factor in allowing further Spanish expansion in the region, bringing with them the diseases that would eventually wipe out millions of native peoples.

Today we must distinguish ethnic Quichua from speakers of Quechua. The latter total somewhere around 10 million, since many speakers of what are now extinct languages later adopted Quechua as their language. Numbers are impossible to confirm, but some have suggested that there are more Aymara-Quechuan speakers in South America today than when the Spanish first arrived.

Spanish colonization has, over the past five hundred years or so, created interesting mixtures in Quichua culture. Before the Spanish arrived, the Quichua were pre-literate — having no true writing system. However, they developed an interesting way of recording events by tying knots in cord. Inter-marriage with the Spanish was practiced from the early days, creating "Mestizos" who are virtually counted as a separate ethnic group! One has to venture into remote communities these days to find majority "pure-blood" Quichua. While Roman Catholicism is today widespread following the efforts of (mainly Spanish) missionaries, pagan and Animist tradition happily co-exists alongside it.

For example, some of the photographs on this page were taken at the annual two-day La Virgen de las Mercedes festival (known locally as the Fiesta de la Mamá Negra) in Latacunga, Ecuador. Officially a Roman Catholic religious celebration, as you would expect, local alcohol bars are closed on the first night of the festival. The second day begins with a traditional mass; it is easy to believe you are in Rome itself. Immediately after mass, a statue of the Holy Virgin is carried through the streets. Locals throw garlands at the statue in hopes of receiving blessing and good favor. Then, just as the day before, cross-gender dressing and masked-costume street dancing form the bulk of the activities. The public parade of sacrificed, butchered pigs, adorned with other dead animals as well as packets of cigarettes and bottles of wine and liquor are also to be seen. Men wear these ritual, pagan offerings to the spirits like a backpack as they accompany the dancers and musicians through the streets. I know of no official comment on this "Roman Catholic" festival from the Vatican, but it surely must not approve!

This festival is probably the best known of all Quichua celebrations — it is certainly the best known indigenous peoples' festival in Ecuador. Venturing outside Ecuador's major cities, one comes across more sober, yet equally traditional Quichua festivals. Many of these festivals are often off-limits to outsiders. In a tiny, remote Andean mountain village I was able to attend the local oratorio festival; a celebration of village unity that, although not strictly off-limits, outsiders are seldom encouraged. An all-day festival, as early as six o'clock in the morning the villagers are to be seen in their finest clothes heading for the village square. Songs (sung in Spanish these days) proclaim and celebrate traditional Quichua values and beliefs. The whole song cycle is well planned and, by the look of it, well rehearsed, as the men and women, who stand in separate groups, know when to sing their verse and when to gesture their acknowledgement of what the opposite sex is singing to them!

In the afternoon, once school has ended, the villagers reconvene for light-hearted fun and games that carry yet symbolic meaning. Women pair up — are even roped together — in a sort of "mad hatters'" competition. The aim is to see which duo, combined, can wear the most number of hats! Of course the significance is not in the winner so much as it is in the symbolic message carried by participating in the contest, which is that any one villager will help shoulder the burden of the others. In another display of unity, the women of the village remove their ponchos and lay them alongside each other on the ground. A group competition, the aim is to tie all the ponchos together into a single "string" of ponchos faster than they achieved at the previous festival.

In these more remote communities the visitor gets a sense of what life must have been like for the earliest Quichua settlers. Subsistence agriculture, a constant battle for survival against the elements, the domestication of wild, indigenous animal species, spiritual beliefs transcending their migration route all the way from Africa and a pioneer attitude to continue their exploration despite the challenging mountainous terrain have all contributed to a Quichua culture that survives today. Although they live in countries, which today are "officially" Spanish-speaking, the visitor is well advised to avoid a mistake I first made; before attempting to communicate with very young children or elderly adults in Spanish, consider the "international sign language" as a better option! It will take a few more generations yet before remote, isolated Quichua communities adopt Spanish en masse as their first language.

Set in more modern times, yet changed little over the centuries, a centralized, weekly marketplace gathering of outlying Quichua communities is a place to witness a part of their history that has changed very little. The man pictured left carries a table weighing more than himself to market in hopes of selling it. In times gone by he might have carried a heavy animal. But if he doesn't sell it this week, he'll be back next week.

The lady pictured above right sells food at market. I was fortunate enough to capture a photograph of her during a moment when she had no prospective customers. She was offering a prayer — perhaps to ask for more customers — which she then blew out to the winds. Her action may appear to represent a "primitive" belief to Westerners. Yet the Quichua have believed in this kind of spiritual contact for many generations.

Many Quichua migrated east to the Amazon Basin. Because of the different landscape, climate, indigenous plants and animals their culture developed separately from that of their southward-migrating cousins. Rainforest Quichua have remained more isolated from the historical forces that have shaped the northern parts of South America. Rivers, not roads, are the primary means of transport. Electricity is provided, if at all, by solar panels. Spanish is spoken much less than in the mountains. Only the larger communities have schools. As the one pictured right shows, facilities are very basic. For many of these rainforest Quichua communities their primary contact with the outside world is by battery-powered radio.

Even in the rainforest life is slowly changing for the Quichua. Volleyball and soccer are the sports of choice today. Western style clothing has all but replaced traditional dress. Missionaries have achieved a high degree of religious conversion. In one rainforest Quichua village, I witnessed a wedding anniversary. Looking very Western, the couple, celebrating their 15th year together, held a very traditional, Catholic gathering, much like we might have attended ourselves. The village itself has electricity, is majority Catholic and is close to and accessible by road from a large Ecuadorian community. Still, despite all the changes brought about because of these factors, this same village has a traditional shaman trained in ancient rainforest Quichua practices of magic and healing. To this day, for example, he prepares tea from the ayahuasca (roughly translated from the Quichua into "vine of the spirit") plant, an hallucinogen used by many rainforest peoples for ritual clairvoyance, healing and spirit worship.

The single biggest change affecting the rainforest Quichua today is the encroachment on their land by oil companies. Although this has been happening for the past forty years — and it affects other indigenous groups in the region too — the Quichua are among those impacted most recently. Due to lack of education, many do not realize the potential long-term impacts on their traditional livelihood. Only very recently have they been able to form organizations with enough size and unity to begin bringing their cause to World attention. See Web Links below for more information.

Photography copyright © 1999 - 2018, Ray Waddington. All rights reserved.
Text copyright © 1999 - 2018, The Peoples of the World Foundation. All rights reserved.

Citation and References
Waddington, R. (2003), The Quichua People. The Peoples of the World Foundation. Retrieved February 9, 2018, from The Peoples of the World Foundation.
<http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Quichua>
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by Lord_of_Nightmares »

^That's South America. Not Central America.

GroundedDancer, I know a lot about Aztec practices. Try looking at nagualism/nahualli and curendo. You can PM me for more details.
I am the Earth, The Sun and the Stars
And I am the also the Moon
I am all animal and birds,
And I am the outcast as well, and the thief
I am the low person of dreadful deeds,
And the great person of excellent deeds
I am Female. I am Male and I am Neuter.
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GroundedDancer
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by GroundedDancer »

SpiritTalker wrote:This gives a lot of tips for associated words to look up.


http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Quichua


With a population around 2.5 million, the Quichua of South American are the largest of any indigenous peoples in the Americas today. Aymara-Quechua languages (which have many spoken dialects) are collectively the most widely spoken of all indigenous languages in South America. The Quichua are also the only people to have migrated both south along the ridges and valleys of the Andes mountains and east into the rainforest of the Amazon Basin. This early divergence in their migration paths has created distinct mountain- and jungle-Quichua identity and culture.

The Quichua were among the earliest peoples to be conquered by the Inca empire. Ironically, the Inca empire itself consisted mainly of people who spoke the same Quechua language! It wasn't until Spanish colonization, though, that their population level fell drastically. One of the most important dates in history is associated with this decline. November 16, 1532 marked the capture of the Inca Emperor, Atahuallpa, by the Spanish conquistador, Francisco Pizarro. This blow to the Incas was the single biggest factor in allowing further Spanish expansion in the region, bringing with them the diseases that would eventually wipe out millions of native peoples.
That's actually really interesting and gives me something to kind of get into the boat with in the incredibly huge journey I've decided to take on. I really appreciate the info! I'd never heard of the Quichua before, but it seems like they were already a conquered people even before Spanish colonization, very interesting.
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by GroundedDancer »

Lady_Lilith wrote:^That's South America. Not Central America.
She probably referenced it because though I can trace my ancestry to Central and New Mexico, there may be a chance that my native blood goes back further than science or public records can trace since during my meditation I clearly got the specific location "Andes Mountains". And it says in the info provided that these peoples migrated into along the Andes.

Tracing heritage can be so crazy!
Lady_Lilith wrote: GroundedDancer, I know a lot about Aztec practices. Try looking at nagualism/nahualli and curendo. You can PM me for more details.
Oh, thats amazing. I will do a little digging on these and definitely get back to you in a PM. Thank you for the response, it'll definitely help me out!
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by Lord_of_Nightmares »

South America vs Central America are two different ball games, is my point. :-P

Yeah, hit me up. If you use the search button on nahualli, I made a few topics about it I think.
I am the Earth, The Sun and the Stars
And I am the also the Moon
I am all animal and birds,
And I am the outcast as well, and the thief
I am the low person of dreadful deeds,
And the great person of excellent deeds
I am Female. I am Male and I am Neuter.
- Devi
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by Firebird »

I was going to say look for an Aztec gathering near you. The Aztec nation is very active in my area, could be that we have a large Mexican population here in L A...makes sense. :lol:
A couple blocks away there is a meeting place, frequently I here the conch being blown and the sound of drumming wafting across the rooftops, it's really pretty nice to hear.
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by planewalker »

Archeologically, there is a great amount of trade between {and probable intermarriage with} the Aztec and the four corners peoples.
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by Shekinah »

The Magick Circle is indigenous to every culture. Cast your Circle and open a portal to Akasha for insight into whatever you wish to know. Also in Central and South America archeology finds (T) shaped "doorways to nowhere" excavated in the side of rock surfaces. You might envision such an astral doorway and project through it as the ancient native Shaman did.
Truth and Reality are highly guarded secrets. Nothing is as it appears. "The ONENESS sleeps in the stone, breathes in the plant, dreams in the animal and awakens in man" (Indian proverb)
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by Lord_of_Nightmares »

Shekinah wrote:The Magick Circle is indigenous to every culture.
No, it's not.
I am the Earth, The Sun and the Stars
And I am the also the Moon
I am all animal and birds,
And I am the outcast as well, and the thief
I am the low person of dreadful deeds,
And the great person of excellent deeds
I am Female. I am Male and I am Neuter.
- Devi
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by planewalker »

The classic Greek and Roman priests, priestesses and diviners didn't use circles. I don't believe the Chinese religions use them either.
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Re: Forms of witchcraft with indigenous roots?

Post by Doktor Avalanche »

If what you are seeking is to find a Shamanistic practice close to your Central American roots, much is adopted and similar to what was documented in Michael Harner's The Way of the Shaman as a universal approach uncovered by most Anthropologists to date.
You can find much of the same practices for Pathworking and Trance work is the same across most of the world, including within the original Shamans of Eastern Asia.
"We are of the gods, but we are not ourselves gods,
We reflect the Divine, but we are not Divinity itself"
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