Not long after I returned from my Peru journey, I went off on another adventure to India to study with some of my yoga teachers.
After almost 5 months of study, I went to spend time in Tiruvanamalai, a town in Tamil Nadu that is built around a very powerful mountain called Arunachala. This mountain was home to a very famous sage named Ramana Maharishi for 50 years. This is a very holy pilgrimage site where pilgrims come in throngs every Full and new moon to perform Pradakshina which means to circumambulate around the sacred mountain.
At this point in my journey, I was trying to decide whether I was returning home back to Toronto on my scheduled flight or whether I was going to extend my stay. I promised myself that within 2 weeks I would make a decision.
I had visited Arunachala mountain a few years before and had an extraordinary experience meditating in one of Ramana’s caves, so I felt called to return. I was travelling with my good friend Catherine and an hour after our arrival we found ourselves renting a brand new house for a month with a unicorn on the door and a spectacular view of Arunachala!
Soon we had 2 other Canadian friends join us in the magical house. One day we all decided to walk around the mountain on the inner path, which is a trail around the bottom of the mountain rather than the outer path, which is along the road. As I walked, I had a strange feeling of being in the Andes even though Arunachala is a small mountain surrounded by flat landscape in Southern India. One of our friends who had spent a lot of time in the Andes also had a similar feeling. I found it intriguing!!
Later on that day I went to a café and started speaking with a woman about this experience. She told me that Ramana Maharishi believed there was a connection between Arunachala and Machu Pichu! I was absolutely stunned! It had only been 6 months since my time in Peru where I had gone to Machu Pichu mountain to receive a message! Apparently there was more to going to the mountain than I realized!
That evening, as I walked alone across a large field at sunset with the magnificent Arunachala mountain bathed in orange and golden light, I had a flash that a ceremony was in order to honour the connection between the Arunachala and Machu Pichu. I saw a vision of a ceremony happening at Arunachala and another that Hebert, the Medicine Man in Peru could perform at Putacusi mountain which is directly across from Machu Pichu and is the crystal mountain powering the energy of Machu Pichu. I thought, I better call Hebert in Peru to coordinate this!
I then remembered that Mandaza’s (the shaman from Zimbabwe that invited me to go to the Mountain in the first place) original message was that once I came down from the mountain, I needed to ask a male shaman for a vision quest. After that my life would change. Interesting that I completely forgot that detail until that moment! In “the flash” I saw that once I completed this mountain ceremony, which would signify a coming down from the mountain (or in my case 2 mountains!), I was to ask Hebert for a vision quest.
I was floored! The clarity then came as promised, that I did need to return to Toronto on my scheduled flight to go home and make money to go on the vision quest in Peru!
The next day, I tried to call Hebert in Peru to coordinate the ceremony from my vision but when I spoke with his wife, she amazingly replied. “Hebert is not here. He is in Toronto!” What are the chances? She gave me his number and I tried to call him before our ceremony but was unable to reach him.
One of my friend’s from our house and I carried on with the ceremony to honour the connection of the two mountains: Arunachala and Putucusi. I realized going to the mountain was about embodying the sacred marriage of the male and female within me. Arunachala represented the masculine. It is believed to be in Hinduism a physical representation of the Hindu God Shiva while Putucusi represented the feminine holding the feminine frequencies.
Our ceremony was potent and magical as we consciously worked with the energies of the 2 mountains for several hours. The ceremony was epic and transformative and it even poured rain in the dry season! Before the end of the ceremony, a stone called out to be taken to Peru to complete the ritual. I knew I would be taking this stone to Putucusi mountain which I had yet to climb. This was the mountain I had meditated on from Machu Pichu mountain. In fact, Hebert had told me that it would be important for me to climb it next time. He said, “you need to have complete focus and attention to climb this mountain”.
The next day I called Hebert in Toronto and told him about the connection of the mountains and our ceremony. He was very happy. It turned out he would still be in Toronto upon my return. I was thrilled. I asked him if I could get him anything. He wanted a dorjee, a Tibetan healing tool.
I found a beautiful dorjee and a week later was back in Toronto and able to gift it to Hebert as I asked him for a vision quest. Hebert thought about it and then excitingly said, “we will do the vision quest around lake Titicaca”. I was ecstatic and we agreed to meet 6 months later in Cusco for an 8 day Vision Quest. I also knew I would soon be able to climb Putucusi mountain and offer the stone in a ritual to complete my “mountain journey.”
Stay tuned for Part 3!
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