Q’ero: masters of energy
Being back in NYC feels strange right now. As I return to my familiar corner desk in my apartment and use my laptop again, I can’t believe that not long ago I was in a place 4,300 meters above sea level (around 14,107 feet), high in the Andes of Peru, receiving my first Karpay under the Q’ero lineage.
I had waited for this moment for a long time, and it was as special as I imagined and beyond.
Learning and working with shamanism and energy is never boring. Nothing is set in stone; everything is always shifting and transforming. One thing leads to another, always an aha moment, followed by a new portal and a new page in the amazing book called my life.
I will say this: It wasn’t like one day I suddenly decided to study shamanism with indigenous elders. It has been a slow process of following signs and synchronicities.
How it all started
It happened during an Ayahuasca ceremony—I saw a rainbow, but not a traditional rainbow. The rainbow was inside me, growing within me, and around me. I could see streams of neon rainbow colors flowing all over my hands and body. The message was always the same: you are nature, you hold the rainbow.
Back then, I didn’t understand what that meant, but it made a deep impression on me and planted a seed that soon began to sprout.
After that ceremony, it took almost two years until I truly understood the rainbow vision —and why I was destined to learn from the Q’ero.
The Q’ero Nation
The Q’ero are an Indigenous culture from high in the Andes. They live in remote areas close to the Apus (mountain spirits). They have been practicing shamanism and living in harmony with Pachamama (Mother Earth) and the spirits of nature for millennia (since the beginning of time).
Some stories say that their teachings were transmitted directly from Tayta Inti (Father Sun). Others say that after the second ice age, beings from other worlds came to Earth to help humanity evolve. They taught us about architecture, astrology, energy and vibration, about the Earth and the body—and those teachings traveled around the globe, moving from the Middle East to Europe, Asia and the Americas, where they rooted in the Andes.
The Q’ero refer to those beings from other worlds as our “first ancestors,” and even today, they are depicted in their beautiful textiles—honoring those beings of light.
The energy of their practice
In their teachings, my maestros speak about energy and how the energetic world works within their cosmovision—their way of seeing the world.
For the Q’ero and other shamanic lineages, we humans are part of all creation. We are not separate from nature, animals, plants, stones, or trees — we are one with them. Everything has a spirit, and the world around us is always communicating with us. There’s a sense of reciprocity (ayni) and cycles of giving and receiving, which allow everything to flow in harmony and balance.
With my background in energy facilitation and energy healing, it was fascinating to realise that many of the concepts I learned from Access Consciousness and Reiki were actually ancient teachings within shamanism.
For the Q’ero, there is no right or wrong, no good or bad — only orderly and disorderly energy (also called light and heavy energy). Energy is perceived differently depending on the resonance we hold within our energy field and physical body. What feels heavy to you might feel light to me, or vice versa.
The Q’ero taught me to pay attention, to silence my mind, and to learn from the spirits of nature — including animal spirits — just as the Shipibo have also taught me.
You can recognise the Q’ero by their distinctive textiles and their earth-based ceremonies.
Despacho offering to the land, Pachamama
The Andean cosmovision
For the Q’ero, our world is divided into three realms of existence:
The Uhju Pacha — The Underworld, realm of the serpent (Amaru), the subconscious, the hidden, the shadow, the parts of ourselves we often don’t want to see.
The Kay Pacha — Our earthly world, realm of the puma (Otorongo), our physical life, our bodies, the Earth itself and all creation.
The Hanaq Pacha — The Upper World, realm of the condor and eagle, of nature spirits, mountains, high-vibrational energy (sami), beings of light, rainbow bodies, galactic beings, ascended masters, and angelic realms.
Everything is about duality and balance, masculine and feminine, death and birth, darkness and light so even our ceremonies reflect this duality.
I learned that no matter where I live or which city I visit, animal spirits are always communicating with me. I only have to pay attention and let the land know I’m there. Even though I live in NYC and there are no condors around, I connect with the energy of the eagle and the hawk. Or instead of the puma or panther, I might connect with the fox or bear. Wherever I travel, I connect with the animals that inhabit that land.
Believe me when I say that once you understand shamanic principles, there’s no going back to a “traditional” lifestyle (whatever that means for you).
At the beginning of the Paqo path (Q’ero apprenticeship), the maestros tell us to expect animal spirits to start visiting in dreams and visions (yep!). It’s only when it actually happens that you truly believe it. My senses started to heighten, and I began to pay close attention to everything that crossed my path, even a tiny spider.
Munay Karpay Initiation
Studying with the Q’ero is nothing like attending a structured school. There are no textbooks. We simply listen to the maestro speak, take notes, and ask questions. They teach from the heart, sharing wisdom that has been passed down from their parents and elders. It’s up to us to interpret, understand, and apply these teachings in daily life.
After completing the first part (of three) of the teachings, the student receives an energetic initiation, the first usually at Apu Ausangate in the Andes. There’s no set timeline—the student decides when they feel ready.
So I embarked on my journey to Ausangate mountain — three hours’ drive from Cusco and then almost a three-hour trek up the mountain until we reached a sacred site surrounded by small lagoons. There, I received Munay Karpay with Maestra Marqueza Apaza followed by a week in isolation for energy integration.
During the apprenticeship with the Q’ero, we receive three Karpays in a specific order:
Munay — “To love.” Connected to the heart. Love and compassion.
Yachay — “To know.” Connected to the belly center, the power of intuitive knowing.
Llankay — “To work.” Connected to the crown of the head, the strength of our light body and spirit, to be able to support others.
The purpose of the Q’ero path and Initiations
In my opinion, a shamanic path is a way of being — a lifestyle that chooses you more than you choose it. It feels like a calling that comes from the deepest part of your soul.
During shamanic training, we learn to manage energy, understand subtle energies from others, and our environment. We learn to create ceremonies and rituals for Pachamama and the Apu spirits, all grounded in direct experience with the living spirit of Nature.
During integration time, in isolation in Pacchanta, Cusco.
A notable difference between the Q’ero and other Peruvian shamanic lineages, like the Shipibo-Conibo, is that the Q’ero don’t use plant medicines to connect with the spirits. Instead, they cultivate a direct connection. We learn to enter deep meditative states to shift consciousness and access information—that’s why, to me, the Q’ero are truly Masters of Energy.
Living the prophecy
When the conquistadors arrived in the Andes in the 16th century, the Q’ero retreated high into the mountains to protect their teachings. It’s said that the spirits of nature and the first ancestors warned them.
It wasn’t until the late 1950s that they came down from the high mountains to share a prophecy—that the world was transforming and it was time to share the earth wisdom they had safeguarded for centuries, to help humanity evolve, to awaken the rainbow body, and to reconnect with the Earth.
The Q’ero speak of the Prophecy of the Rainbow Warrior and of the Condor and the Eagle—both connected to humanity’s shift in consciousness and the rebirth of unity between Indigenous and modern worlds. These prophecies remind us that the future of humanity depends on the balance of the feminine and masculine energies and our reconnection with ancestral wisdom and the living Earth.
Returning to the city life
It’s been a few weeks since I received my Karpay initiation, and being back in New York feels like stepping between two worlds. The city is so different from the stillness and slowness of the Andes—yet the teachings of the Q’ero continue to live within me.
I often find myself pausing in the middle of my day and just remembering the mountains, feeling the presence of the Apus and the rhythm of Pachamama even here, surrounded by concrete.
Here, is where the real work happens. As my maestros have said:
—It’s very easy to be at peace and connect with spirits in solitude and surrounded by mountains and silence, the real work is bringing that energy to where chaos is, where that high vibrational energy is needed and being able to hold space for others.
It’s about bringing the sacred into the everyday—carrying those teachings into our relationships, our work, my clients and the way we create and move through life.
Inner alchemy
The Q’ero path has deepened my understanding of energy, reciprocity, and flow—and it has completely transformed how I hold space for others. In my coaching sessions, I weave together shamanic principles, energy awareness, and practical tools to help others find alignment and clarity on their unique path.
If you’re feeling called to explore your own transformation, to understand where you are on your inner journey and how to move forward with more awareness and purpose, I invite you to click below and explore possibilities.
