With mother’s day fast approaching many of us are looking for ways to celebrate or remember our own mothers, or celebrate ourselves as mothers. A Sacred Journey to Peru with Puma Quispe Singona celebrates our universal earth mother and introduces us to ways we can connect spiritually with Pachamama as well as practical ways to help young mothers and women living in this sacred land.

In Inca mythology, Pachamama or Mama Pacha is a fertility goddess who oversees planting and harvesting. She is also said to take the form of a large dragon who has the power to cause earthquakes! Although we often see Pachamama translated as Mother Earth, “Mother Universe” is considered a more accurate translation, as her power extends beyond the earth to the entire cosmos.

Puma Quispe Singona, our guide for September’s Heart of the Pachamama journey, has a profound understanding of Pachamama and is expert at sharing his wisdom with others so they can experience for themselves the power and energy of Pachamama in the Peruvian Andes today.

Puma was trained by his grandfather from the age of 6, and has been walking the path of a traditional Andean Medicine Man for many years. Puma is a recognized holder of ancient knowledge, and, as one of the past travellers on this journey puts it, he “possesses ancient wisdom traditions, reverence for our Mother Earth, the healing abilities of a Medicine Man along with a playful and humorous nature [that] was a joy to experience!”

On this incredible 2013 journey, Puma will lead participants through two entrances to Machu Picchu – most tours would only spend one day at the sacred site – including a special day to celebrate the Spring Equinox with a dedicated ceremony honouring and celebrating the life-giving force of Pachamama.

In Peru the spiritual is so often connected to the practical, and Puma’s own mother runs the Ayni Ayllu Weaving Cooperative to preserve the ancient Andean traditions of weaving arts, while inspiring women and children to manifest their inner light through the practice of weaving. Workshops are offered to teach and renew the ancient ancestral Incan wisdom and spirituality so that the traditions can be carried forth with the new generations. Workshops on family and childcare are also offered to help impoverished families so that they may receive the tools necessary to create a safe space for women and children, while teaching them important skills to help them find more opportunities for work and self sustainment.(1)

For Mother’s Day, I hope you have the opportunity to combine the spiritual with the practical in a way that celebrates nature’s birthing miracles. Be it planting seeds in the garden, gifting your mother a sacred journey, donating to the Ayni Ayllu Weaving Cooperative, or simply spending a few moments meditating on the energetic powers of Pachamama, enjoy this spring celebration of fertility and compassion.

~ Kim Bridgett

(1) All information about the Ayni Ayllu Weaving Cooperative is taken from the Sacred Earth Journeys website – read more about this wonderful initiative here: https://www.sacredearthjourneys.ca/current-tours/heart-of-the-pachamama-with-puma-quispe-singona/tour-description