Despacho ceremonies

Author: Madita Böer

Your relationship with Mother Earth

“Offerings” are often focused in TV documentaries when indigenous cultures and their customs are presented. However, those who delve deeper into the Andean shamanic tradition quickly understand that the act of giving represents far more than an appeasement of the gods or a reverent prayer.

In shamanic cosmology, the principle “Ayni”, which is the Quechua word for “interaction”, is the most important basis for a good life. The principle of interaction implies that everything on this planet is based on mutual interaction. Nothing and nobody can be independent – neither from other people, other cultures, nor from nature. From our Western perspective, we are plagued by the thought that we cannot achieve independence as we strive for freedom and individuality. These goals do not contradict the principle of interaction.

Rather, Ayni is a potential that we in Europe have not yet used because we have lost our connection to nature. For us, nature is a kind of environment, a resource and a habitat.

The shamans of Peru see the Ayni with nature as the basis for our spiritual development. From her perspective, the conscious and loving relationship with Pachamama, Mother Earth, is the basis for physical health and emotional stability and support in our life journey.

Mother Earth is not just an object, a space that can be viewed – she also perceives us. Anyone who thinks that perception is the privilege of a being with a brain is wrong. Trees perceive other trees via chemical messengers, microorganisms exchange electrons and perceive themselves in their DNA, and anyone who has a pea plant in their garden knows that the little spiral-shaped arms bend as soon as you touch them with your finger.

Nature perceives us humans. If we acknowledge this fact, then the next question to ask is: how is your relationship with Mother Earth?

What is the quality of your Ayni, your interaction with Pachamama?

Despacho ceremonies as an act of reconnecting with nature

A Despacho ceremony is a very clever act of reconnection because we are beginning an interaction with Pachamama that we have neglected for a long time.

By taking the time for a despacho ceremony, lovingly selecting the ingredients and devotionally blessing all the ingredients with our breath, we invest a huge amount of energy.

With this love and devotion, a Despacho ceremony becomes an offering to Mother Earth and all her aspects and forces.

In exchange, you will receive their powers and their love. You get their order, their light energy, their wisdom, and their perspective. Nature is authentic, in every moment – the more exchange you have with nature, the more authentic you become.

That’s exactly what we need. Our body depends on the elements of nature and nourishes itself with them. But our spiritual development is also closely related to Mother Earth. If we accept the idea that nature can perceive us as well, then Mother Earth is a powerful being who can oversee our lives far and wide. It was there before we were born and will outlast us for a long time to come. The shamans say that Pachamama weaves people’s paths – creating paths of light where we meet at important crossroads. We call this synchronicity or coincidence.

A Despacho ceremony brings you into a personal relationship with Mother Earth. You cultivate this relationship like a friendship. Of course, on a subconscious level, you are always interacting with Pachamama. But the quality of this exchange is entirely up to you. You can have a simple, powerless, and minimal relationship, or you can choose a loving and supportive relationship. That choice is entirely up to you. 

Various Despacho ceremonies

I regularly do Despacho ceremonies throughout the year to show my gratitude and love.

Special occasions are, for example, the equinoxes, solstices and the turn of the year. For these annual festivals, different Despachos are made, which follow a fixed structure. It’s all about your relationship with the forces, your appreciation of the sun as a source of light and portal to the soul, and your appreciation to all the great mountains of the world.

But also, every time I hike into the mountains, I take a Despacho kit with me to connect with Pachamama and the mountains high up. For me, hiking is always a pilgrimage – I dedicate my exertion to a topic and set my intention before I set off.

The variety of Despacho ceremonies is great.

The classic Ayni-Despacho is for reconnection and balance in one theme. You do the Ayni-Despacho to bring movement into a deadlocked topic. When it comes to solving our own problems, we often stir too much in our own soup. Here the Ayni-Despacho helps to influence our interactions positively with the returning forces of the earth. 

There are basic rules for a despacho. The knowledge of the meanings of the ingredients is common to most Despachos. Likewise the basic structure and the work with the K’intus. A k’intu is a set of three coca leaves into which you blow your prayers. The three leaves symbolize the three worlds and your three centers: head, heart and stomach. 

Once these basic structures are understood, it is easy to understand the structure of other despacho ceremonies. My online course “Despacho Workshop” includes a basic teaching and a video about the ingredients. Read this article to the end – there’s a gift waiting for you!

Your spiritual signature in Despacho

Each Paqo (that’s how Peru’s shamans are called) has its own Despacho signature. Some like it when the ingredients are arranged in small heaps in a circle, another likes it more delicate and distributes the ingredients. Still others use white cotton as a base and place all the ingredients on it, while others work on white paper.

Whether roses or carnations, whole flowers or plucked petals – your aesthetics are in demand here. You decide how your despacho expresses its beauty. The beauty of the Despacho ceremonies is that your aesthetic is expressed materially in the mandala.

You will be amazed at the beauty you carry within you, which then becomes visible on the outside.

Let’s go – Make your first Despacho

How are things going now?

If you have my book “The Call of Mother Earth”, Chapter 3 provides detailed instructions for Despacho ceremonies. If not, then I have a gift for you now!

I give you the free online course “Free Despacho Tutorial” that I made in Peru in 2016.

But not only that, I also give you the first part of the “big Despacho workshop” for free.

You are well equipped to start your Despacho ceremonies immediately.