Symbolism of the Chakana or Inca Cross

by the Colca Specialist

Symbolism of the Chakana or Inca Cross

Worldwide, the circle is a recognized symbol of completeness. Autochthonous populations used the circle in an attempt to organized and relate to the Earth and to Nature. The circle is a means of creating a framework to access and assess the fundamental attributes of Earth and Nature, to which our physical bodies are inextricably bound.

We, in the latter days of linguistic adaptations, call this organized relationship The Medicine Wheel. The circle is a four fold path to discovery. An initiate travels the circle in a carefully choreographed dance of discard and uptake.

The dance begins and ends in the center. The south is the first destination and its represented by the serpent. The serpent is the quintessence of the south.
In an act of discard and renewal, the initiate sheds their skin, their mind set, their judgements and mis-judgements.

It is not possible to dance beyond the south if any pre-conceived ideas regarding the order of the world are retained. Shedding a past that no longer serves us, or that inhibits us with distress or trauma, cannot be done piecemeal. It needs to be done all at once, as an act of power.

In the west lives the cougar. Here, the initiate rides upon the back of the cougar to the barrier between realities. Through the act of altering perception, the initiate dances into non-ordinary reality and meets death and physical knowledge.

Rebirthed, into the ordinary world, the initiate claims life, physical and spiritual. The cougar is the embodiment of the warrior, living without fear, without the need of enemies. The warrior, living in full awareness of the moment and with purposeful intent.

Reaching the north, the ancient ones have left teachings for the initiate to utilize. hummingbird’s power is encountered here. The north is a place of mysteries, a place of knowing and of the unknowable, of the doable and that which cannot be done, but is by the hummingbird.

By aero dynamical measure, the hummingbird should not be able to fly, but they migrate long distances and can change directions in impossibly sharp angles. Hummingbird is the source of unknowable and undoable. It is said that for those who listen with more than their ears, hummingbird can impart great knowledge through its sweet song.

In the east, the initiate learns to soar on the wings of the condor. The east is vision, magic, translation, and emergence. In the east, the visionary translates visions into actions, bringing gifts to the world.

The energy is the power of the condor. The condor who soars above the clouds, whose visions extends above and below the horizon, who sees beyond linear time and space. The condor carries the initiate’s dreams to places of magical powers to be brought into everyday existence.

Center, without center, there are no directions, no above or below, front, back, left or right. You, the center and your resultant six directions create space. It is how each of us creates space. The agreement, that we all hold, allows for the negotiation of space between us, so that we can maintain the appearance of sharing the same physical universe.

The physical universe is composed of space, matter, motion, and time. We have agreements on each of these components. We agree that matter is solid, and that it can move from one point to another. When this movement occurs we say that time has passed.

Furthermore, we subdivide time into present, future and past. We assume that there is but one Universe. In the process of dancing the circle, we discover that the physical universe is paralleled by alternative realities.

Stand in the center of the circle. Above you is an imaginary point that represents your mind, an accurate record of all your experiences in the three universes. You take your mind with you from lifetime to lifetime.

You acquire a new body each lifetime. To the north is your shield, your front. To the right is the east, the rising sun, your weapon. Behind you, the south is your bag of tricks, the knapsack that contains all that is behind, to the rear. To your left, in the west, is the counsellor, the one who whispers truth to you, your ally. Standing in the center, visualize lines connecting your six directions. You will have created an octahedron, an enclosed space of spiritual completeness.

When the circle has been traversed in its entirety, and the lessons understood, the initiate has become a person of knowledge. The journey, to becoming a person of knowledge has touched all 22 locations in the circle, your dance has been successful. I am an immortal spiritual being, living lifetime after lifetime, in the physical universe. Dancing and laughing around the circle gives definition and degree to these lifetimes, being in the ever-present moment.