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The Andean Codex
 INITIATIONS AND ADVENTURES AMONG THE PERUVIAN SHAMANS
By J.E. Williams

     The ayahuascero has returned to his chair. He has been softly chanting icaros, melodies considered by Amazonian shamans to be magical. They are said to be the songs the spirits of the plants sing. He stops, and after several minutes of silence he says, “The spirits have arrived. Listen.”  
 I am not sure what he means, but as I listen, I hear footsteps circling the hut so faint as to be barely audible. “Tigre,” he says.
 A jaguar prowls the perimeter of the hut. It circles as jaguars do, closing ever so imperceptibly the distance between the prey and itself. Then it stops behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck and arms stands up, my muscles tense, and I become acutely alert. Then it leaps.
  Instead of landing heavily on my back as I expect, its body fluidly merges with mine. My hands become its paws and my neck its powerful muscular neck. Then the jaguar -- me-- running on all fours at an incredible speed, leaps over a precipice and enters a strange new world. …
          Among my last thoughts is that this is an ancient shamanic place, the parallel universe that Indians talk about, a separate reality on the other side of normal human consciousness.

     The Andean Codex recounts Williams’ adventures with the Q’ero Indians, and guides readers step by step through journeys to the Andean sacred sites of Machu Picchu, Cuzco, and Moray, and the esoteric meanings of their ruins. Incan cosmology, Andean ethics, shamanic initiations using the mind-expanding ayahuasca and the sacred coca plant, and colorful photos all foster inner discovery and the experience of the Andean sacred way.

     This adventure story takes us to mysterious isolated areas in the Peruvian Andes.  We accompany the author on his visits with a handful of shaman-priests who preserve the ancient knowledge of how the natural world operates. A codex refers to a classical work of spiritual scripture, and in that spirit, author J.E. Williams has given us a book representing Andean spiritual life that gives the tradition the respect it deserves.

August 2005 ● Shamanism • ISBN 1-57174-304-9 • Trade paper • $15.95