Machu Picchu ~ A Place of Pilgrimage

In A Time of Prophecy

Article published in Open Exchange, April, 2006,  by Ana Jones

Machu Picchu: A Place of Pilgrimage In A Time of Prophecy

By Ana Jones

    Ana Jones is an interfaith minister and holistic healer/ teacher living on the slopes of the sacred Mauna Kea mountain in Hawaii.  She is  a well respected intuitive and mystic who has spent her life delving deeply into sacred wisdom teachings and prophecies, and taking modern day pilgrims on soul journeys to places such as Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes (article printed in OPEN EXCHANGE MAGAZINE).

    Machu Picchu, the famous sacred city of the Inkas, was ‘rediscovered’ by Hiram Bingham in 1911 after being ‘lost’ for almost 400 years.  The timing of its reappearance is significant, not only for Peruvians, but for the world at large.  According to Dr. Alberto Villoldo, a trained psychologist and medical anthropologist for over 25 years, the period between 2000 and 2012 is crucial to those people of the Andean culture and for the world.  In a 1995 meeting at the 23,000 foot Mt. Ausangate with Andean spiritual leaders, Villoldo was told about the Inka Prophecy of the “End of Time”, and a “pachakuti” process (when the earth is turned upside down and/or set right side up) which would culminate in the year 2012.  This timeframe coincides with that of the Hopi and Mayan prophecies.  

    The elders said that they had observed from the mountains the denigration of the earth and civilization since the last pachakuti initiated by the Spanish conquistadors 470 years ago, but now are coming down to ask everyone to prepare for this special transitional period.  One of the elders said, “We have been the keepers of a body of processes, of rites of passage, that usher in who we are evolving into as a planet.  These processes are not only for the Indians, but for the whole world.”

    Sacred sites of pilgrimage and transformation such as Machu Picchu have always played a significant role in the evolution of humanity by helping to awaken us to remember who we are and why we are here.  Now, these places of power and grace are calling to us with even more urgency as we move toward a time singled out by many great civilizations of the past as a major turning point in human and earth evolution. 

    Why do people go on pilgrimage to sacred sites?  Generally we may feel a sense of a world too absorbed in itself or too disconnected from spirit that we ourselves begin to lose touch with our own inner compass. Pilgrimage to a sacred site is an opportunity to let go of material absorption for a time in order to find clarity and alignment with the bigger picture.  The stages of pilgrimage throughout history remain important when we feel this strong inner urge to get back to our center.  First, we separate from our conventional world and way of seeing in order to purify and prepare ourselves for transformation.  This period of separation, also known as preparation or purification, starts with the decision to go on pilgrimage, the choice to let go of the day to day affairs for awhile, and the beginning time period of the journey itself to a sacred site. 

    Once we arrive at a sacred site such as Machu Picchu (or Jerusalem, Mecca or Vrindaban in India) we can then enter this ‘holy ground’ in a state of purity, prepared for the grace which is available more fully at such places.  The second stage of pilgrimage is transformation.  We open ourselves to the rarified energy of the sacred site, and allow ourselves to be led into a deeper and truer part of ourselves which will be needed in such a time of crisis.  The final stage of pilgrimage is integration.  This stage may last for several weeks following the pilgrimage and ultimately can extend into the rest of our lives, as we take back the grace and wisdom we have experienced and integrate it.

    Pilgrimage is in itself an opportunity to make ourselves ready for the transformations necessary to survive and thrive (and indeed to participate in) through the upcoming panchakuti which wise elders all over the globe are heralding as an opportunity for new beginnings and rebirth. Pilgrimage and Rites of Passage are the ancient tools for us to use in modern prophetic times to develop the peace, compassion, and wisdom needed to co-create our individual and collective destiny.

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