Eagle, Condor, and the Open Sky: A Vision Quest Embodied
As a Paqo and a teacher, I am so blessed that sometimes, it feels like my life is woven with sacred magic. The wind whispers to me, showing me which stories wish to be told. Recently, I was lucky to journey back to Peru and spend time with my Elders and teachers. Among the most profound sacred messages were those that appeared in Vilma Pinedo’s healing temple, and at Machu Picchu with Pampamesayoq and Kurakakulleq Don Agustin Machacca Flores—teachings with Eagle that have subsequently guided my journey, and connected me deeply to the soaring spirit of Condor.
Welcome to stillness, sacredness, and a time of majestic dreaming!
Sometimes, when we can only trust that the next step is for our highest good, Eagle can help us to see our situation or rebirth through a series of transitions. Eagle gives us the ultimate tool to let everything go. All our struggles and difficulties seem to shift when we rise with the majesty of an eagle’s wings and look at it from a different perspective. Eagle energy can help us take an issue up to the highest mountains and shift it at the source level. It can also help us to let everything go, flying fully into our highest destiny
The East direction of the medicine wheel helps us to see the archetypal and core behaviour patterns of our lives. These patterns may hold us back, but eagle helps us to look at them from a distance with the coldness and clarity of a bird’s eye view. Eagle also helps us to look at the minute detail of a difficult situation energetically, unravelling and dissecting the root of it.
Eagle is about our connection with the heart on a deeply spiritual level. We can understand our sacred contracts with other soul mates from this perspective, for example, even when in the physical realms, what’s happening cannot be explained. Eagle has helped me to step back and allow events to unfold for my highest good. He/she reminds me that when I start to desire an outcome or try to manipulate a situation for my benefit (rather than for the good of the whole), then I immediately go into a tailspin. I will lose the experience of that calm, collected flight among the airstream of the mountains. This exquisite energy can help us to dream a world into being that leaves no ripples or effects that may boomerang back to us in the future.
Vilma’s Story: Anointed by Condor
In the heart of the Andes, within Vilma Pinedo’s sacred space, I learned the story of her unique initiation, one that has become a touchstone for my journey. Vilma is a hampeq, a sixth-generation healer living in Huasao, Peru ( near Cusco). She is the granddaughter of Doña Natividad Challayku and Don Benito Qoriwaman, the famous teacher of Professor Juan Nuñez del Prado. She was raised by her ancestors, and has a deep connection with the Condor. Vilma Pinedo was born surrounded by the Apus, powerful mountain spirits from Cusco, Peru. Her initiation into the path of the healer arrived before she was even born. When her mother was pregnant with her, she was struck by lightning that almost killed them both. In the Andes, this is a strong sign of being called by the spirits; that’s why, from a young age, the eyes of her community expected her to learn the “curandera” way. Vilma grew up among her grandfathers and grandmothers, who taught her the traditional healing rituals. Since she was 12, she helped them, reading the energy in the coca leaves, gathering the natural elements to bring healing and offerings, and using her intuition to advise her clients. She comes from a lineage of renowned healers in Cusco, and by studying at the university, Vilma did something new for past generations, allowing her to learn different languages and gain an understanding of the Western mindset.
From left to right: Ali Rabjohns and Vilma Pinedo
Vilma’s Condor Vision: A Sacred Initiation
At just 12 years old, Vilma journeyed with her Mother to visit her father’s homeland high in the Peruvian Andes, to see her abuelos, her elders. After a 14-hour journey by truck, she was resting late at night in a canyon when she was suddenly swept into a profound moment of mystery. A powerful wind swept through, accompanied by an intense sound that she initially mistook for a truck or train. Then, everything fell still. Vilma looked up to see a majestic condor—an auki, hovering just meters above her —this was one of the most sacred birds in Andean cosmology, a spirit guardian and ancestral messenger. Vilma felt no fear—only calm, awe, and a deep spiritual resonance.
In that moment, she received an inner message: “The path is long, but it is safe. No matter what is happening around you, trust and follow me.” Its eyes were like red fire, penetrating her soul. The bird turned and revealed an indigo shimmer across its wings, showing her the path through the canyon.
When she later reached her family in the mountains and shared what had happened, the elders responded with reverence—they removed their hats, knelt, and kissed the earth before her. When she asked what they were doing, they explained that she had been visited by the Auki and had received a special Karpay—a sacred transmission or initiation. Though Vilma did not yet understand the full meaning, she soon began to sense that this moment had awakened a spiritual calling that confirmed the path she had already begun, supporting healers, witnessing births, and assisting in ceremony since she was a very young child.
The condor encounter became a pivotal moment in Vilma’s life—a blessing, a responsibility, and a confirmation of her deeper purpose as a wisdom keeper and healer in her community.
“Condor gave me the eyes to see with the heart,” Vilma shared. Her initiation was a testament to her courage and unwavering dedication to her people. Condor’s medicine is vast, demanding humility, courage, and a willingness to carry the prayers of many. Yet it is this very initiation that makes her temple a place where the veils thin and true healing can begin.
In the Healing Temple: A Dance of Energies between Earth and Sky.
Entering Vilma’s temple is like stepping into another world. The air sang with the energy of Condor and Vilma’s wise ancestors. I took a small group here for some healing work, and as we lay our Mesa’s on the floor, I knew that this session was going to be very special. As I blessed the mesas with alcohol that Vilma gave to me, in my mind’s eye, I saw the floor open like a portal to the underworld, so that the heavy energy from us all could be released into the lower worlds and eaten by the Great Serpent, Hatun Amaru.
The air shimmered with possibility. I asked for help in embodying my vision, for the courage to speak my truth, and for the grace to let go of what no longer served me. During my time there, Vilma guided us to speak our prayers, releasing our fears and doubts to the wind. As I surrendered to the process, I felt the presence of Condor —my chest expanded, my mind cleared, and I felt a sense of limitless possibility. The veils between the worlds thinned; I was both witness and participant in a lineage carrying deep ancestral medicine stretching back through time.
Vilma’s story is a living, breathing teaching. On the wall, as you go into her sacred space, there is a huge stuffed condor, when everyone else had left after the healing session, she invited me to place my third eye onto the forehead of the condor “Condor sees with the heart,” she said, “whereas Eagle sees with the sharpness of the mind. Together, they bring wholeness.” In that moment, as my forehead touched the head of the condor, my vision exploded—not just to see what was before me, but to feel the interconnectedness of all things. In an instant, I was shown the pathway that I needed to take towards Lake Titicaca and beyond; I just had to trust myself. My work with Eagle has become richer since that day, grounded in gratitude and guided by the lessons of Condor’s heart.
Condor Temple, Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu and Don Agustin: A Vision Quest Confirmed
My journey took another profound turn at Machu Picchu, where I had the honour of working with Don Agustin, a respected Q’ero elder. Machu Picchu is a place between the middle and the lower world, and connects us to Hatun Amaru, the Great Serpent. Within the sacred Condor temple at Machu Picchu, I experienced a profound connection to the spirit and the energy of the Condor. We received the Kurakakulleq Karpay in the Condor Temple in Machu Picchu. In ancient times, people would receive the Kurakakulleq Karpay in Machu Picchu, or Q’eros, at a pre-Inca site that looks like Machu Picchu, which is much smaller than the real thing, like a small mountain, like Wanu Picchu.
Kurak means elder, kurakakulleq karpay means master healer initiation, and originates from the Pre-Incan times. As Don Agustin guided me through this, and as I rested my forehead on the cool stones of the temple walls, I sensed Condor’s wings beneath me, carrying me higher and deeper into my vision quest, through the valley and beyond to a place of light. The kurakakulleq is the wisdom of divination, how you can divinate, to help yourself and others.
Here are four ways that the Kurakakulleq Karpay can help:
- Chewing coca leaves. It is described as the divination between the tooth and the tongue
- Throwing or reading coca leaves.
- Reading a person’s pulse.
- How to divinate or feel the energies of others. For example, if people are carrying a lot of heavy energy, this Karpay can help us to protect ourselves, so that the heavy energy doesn’t affect us anymore. The karpay can help us to become more self-aware by feeling into and observing the energies surrounding us.
Eagle Woman by Susan Seddon Boulet
Eagle’s Medicine: Vision, Voice, and the Courage to Soar
Working with Eagle or Condor isn’t always easy. Much of the healing journey, for myself and others, is spent clearing heaviness—working through the energies of serpent and jaguar before we can even glimpse the lightness of the upper world. But when we do, there’s a sense of beauty and possibility that’s like gold dust. Eagle teaches me to embody my vision, to ask for help in manifesting it, and to trust that guidance is available if I’m willing to listen.
If you’re finding it hard to connect with Eagle, know that you’re not alone. For many of us, the energies of vision and expansion take time to integrate. But with patience, practice, and a willingness to release the old, Eagle’s gifts become available: clarity, courage, and the freedom to speak—and live—your truth.
Ali at Machu Picchu
The Breath of Transformation: Releasing the Ancient Silence
Our work begins with our breath and our connection with Tayta Wayra, the wind spirit that breathes life into all existence. I guide my students through the Andean sacred centres: Siki Ñawi (Tailbone), Cosco Ñawi ( Belly), Sonqo Ñawi ( Heart), and Kunka Ñawi ( Throat), inviting them to inhale and exhale the very essence of life. When our breath reaches our throat, the seat of our voice or Remay (Remay is the power of our voice and our soul’s expression). I encourage a release—a bellow, a shout, or even a silent scream—to break free from the silence that binds us. The act of voicing, of releasing what has been held, creates space for new vision to emerge. Working with the wind is cleansing and transformative; it can bring us clear messages from the Great Spirit, whether they are in the form of whispers, a feeling, or a knowing inside that we can no longer ignore.
Gratitude and Ongoing Practice
I’m learning that connecting with Eagle is an ongoing process—a practice of gratitude, breath, and willingness to release what holds me back. Whether it’s through ritual, meditation, or simply standing on a cliff and letting the wind carry my prayers, Eagle reminds me to open my heart and my voice, to see with clarity, and to soar beyond self-imposed limitations.
Blessing for Your Journey
May you, too, find the courage to speak your truth, to embrace your vision, and to allow the spirits of Eagle and Condor to guide you on your path, feeling the embrace of Condor’s ancient wings. May your heart be open, your spirit be free, and your wings be strong. The spirit of the condor has been with me since my journey to Peru last year, helping me to trust what unfolds. I will continue the story of my journey to Lake Titicaca (and beyond) very soon.
With reverence for Vilma Pinedo, Don Agustin, Santos, my initiation with Condor, and all those who carry the medicine of the sky.
Pampamesayoqs Don Agustin and Santos at Machu Picchu
