One night in the countryside outside of Cusco, as I was tending the prayer fire's coals, I decided to lay down on the Earth and watch the mountains of Peru, quietly outlined in dark silhouette against the star's glittering, beaming brightness.  I lay there for some time, listening to the quiet crackle of the coals, thinking about the prayers that had been placed in the despacho prayer bundle earlier that day by the shaman we were traveling with, Don Francisco: people helping people wake up to self-realization; all of us remembering to care for mother earth as if she were our own mother--she is.  Everyone letting go of the judgements that keep us in the illusion of separateness, and focusing instead on where we are alike.  There was more, lots more, but my mind drifted to the stunningly clear, cool beauty of the Peruvian night sky...........

 

As I gazed at one of the nearby mountains, so black against the deep blue sky, I thought of the Quechua word 'Apu', which represents not so much the mountain itself, but the spirit of the mountain.  The Q'ero people believe that everything on the face of the earth has spirit within it.  They talk to everything in nature--the mountain, the wind, the river, the stones.......the fire.  I began to whisper to the mountain, so solid and somehow comforting, growing up from the very ground I was lying on.  I felt the physical connection, and thought I'd try a few words myself...

 

"Teach me, Apu.....help me to see and know as you see and know.  Remind me how to be so naturally grounded, so calmly and hugely alive."

 

Then, behind the mountain, a light flashed.  Lightning, I thought.......but no thunder......  It must be a far-off storm, I was sure.  More flashes, which lingered with a glow I had never seen before.  I watched for awhile longer, captivated by this phenomenon....

 

When I asked the locals about it later that night, they said "No, that was not lightning!  That mountain does that almost every night, several flashes every minute!  No one knows why........."

 

Apu........the spirit of the mountain?