Andean mysticism agrees that all people are born with the Inka seed, the innate capacity to reach the highest spiritual level. Most spiritual traditions convey the same idea—that all humans carry within themselves the potential of complete self-realization; that we are all infinite beings walking the Earth in a finite human body.
After 17 years of sharing the rites of the Munay-Ki with thousands of people, I often prefer the metaphor of many seeds rather than just one seed for our infinite potential. This is because we tend to grow and mature certain aspects of ourselves, while other aspects remain ignored. Accordingly, the energetic transmissions of the Munay-Ki either awaken the seeds of our greatest potential if they are dormant, or empower the seeds if they are already germinating and growing.
The Munay-Ki constitute an embodied path, meaning that the rites encourage us to cultivate the seeds in our day-to-day lives, instead of waiting for the wisdom to sprout on its own without any personal effort. This comes about by practicing three key principles from the Andean tradition:
- Yachay – Clear vision and calm thinking
- Munay – Unencumbered love and feelings
- Llankay – Right doing or love in action
I recognize that this may be easier said than done. For this reason, the Munay-Ki are not isolated seeds that came to be like a miracle without any connection to anything else. Of course not! Just as the seeds of nature come from ripened plants or trees, the seeds of the Munay-Ki come from the already mature blueprint of the potential they hold. As you continue reading, you will discover how each karpay, or rite, has a clear origin that ripples and trickles toward its destiny, in the psyche of the people who receive the initiation and beyond—through the yachay, munay, and llankay of the practitioner.
While many spiritual traditions preach the importance of transcendence and merging with the unitary light of consciousness, the Munay-Ki guide us to also cultivate an empowered relationship with the dark—understanding it not as something negative, but as the fertile grounds from which true power, compassion, and wisdom arise.
People who have journeyed deepest into the land of depression, terror, or death, and have managed to return to the light (by not remaining stuck in suffering) tend to exude great compassion, gratitude, ease, and often joy. In this sense, the Munay-Ki empower us to connect with all aspects of ourselves—not only with the lightweight luminous parts but also the heavy and difficult. The seeds of the Munay-Ki take root at the core of our being, in the fruitful darkness of our personal unconscious, in order to nudge us toward a conscious evolution.
The Munay-Ki awaken within us the codes to see, feel, and act in sacred ways, while guiding and empowering us to self-realization—from our most infinite and transcendental nature to our humblest and earthiest essence. The rites also serve as a compass that helps us to participate in and even direct the evolutionary quantum age known in the Andes as the Taripay Pacha (which translates to “golden age”), prophesied to someday manifest in this terrestrial plane. Rather than simply waiting for the Taripay Pacha to come, we can be audacious and nurture the seeds of our destiny. We can embody and become the new humans our planet needs.
(excerpted from my new book The Sacred Andean Codes)
Marcela Lobos
