The resurgence of the thinking of Aymara "amautas" or shamans about nature, the collective welfare of society and the defence of life is now a political project in Bolivia led by left-wing President Evo Morales.In the view of Pascual Pachaguaya, a 54-year-old amauta, Morales' unprecedented victories - he took nearly 54 percent of the vote when first elected in December 2005, and was reelected with over 64 percent in December 2009 - marked the start of a lengthy period of change called "Pachakuti".
Pachaguaya, whose skin is weather-beaten from the unforgiving sun of the Andean highlands, wears a broad smile and chews coca leaves as he talks to IPS in his small house in the city of El Alto, a vast working-class suburb that overlooks La Paz.
He is one of the spiritual guides of the 51-year-old president, an Aymara Indian who is a former leader of the country's coca farmers.
The amauta belongs to a group of survivors of several centuries of persecution and even selective killings of Aymara priests and shamans.
The interview takes places at a table covered with a woven Andean cloth where the wise man scatters coca leaves to read the future. On the walls are pictures of the Kalasasaya temple in the ancient pre-Incan city of Tiwanaku near the shores of Lake Titicaca, 70 km southeast of La Paz.
On Jan. 21, the day before Morales began his second term, Pachaguaya led a traditional indigenous spiritual ceremony at the ruins of Tiwanaku, where the president was once again proclaimed Apu Mallku or "supreme leader" of the Aymara.
The amauta says he is a "representative" of Pachamama or "mother earth", and was chosen after being hit by lightning, which left a mark on his shoulder, and witnessing, on another occasion, an explosion followed by intense flames - two events he describes as the "cosmic force" and the source of his wisdom.
Q: How did the Jan. 21 ceremony arise, and what meaning does it have in the Andean indigenous people's worldview? A: Pachamama entrusted me to bring new things (ceremonial rites) out of Taypi Kala (the original name of Tiwanaku that means "the stone at the centre of the world"), because although they look like old, dead ruins, the roots of our culture are alive there.
The cycles of life are described in the sacred writings on the Puerta del Sol (Gate of the Sun), and we hold a ritual for people from the Andes highlands and the Amazon jungle, because no one should be excluded because of their race or skin colour. Everything is harmony, and no one can be isolated.
We gave our brother Evo positive energy for him to govern and have good relations with humanity.
more:
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2010/04/morales-is-guide-in-long-period-of.html">Bolivia Rising
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