K — Inca Glossary

Ka-Ata-Killa

(n) A moon goddess in Inca and pre-Inca mythology. EFD

kacuni

(n) Massage and suction, two essential elements of surgical technique, were used freely in ancient Peru. Through these procedures they removed foreign bodies, thorns, arrow points, necrotic tissue, abscesses, and relieved local pain. Massage was carried out either with the bare hand or by means of magic objects. Even today [1974], in certain primitive areas of the Andes, we can see native healers using a procedure called soba del cuy, which consists of massaging the patient with a recently killed guinea pig which has been split open in the middle and whose warm and palpitating viscerae are rubbed gently against the ailing part. (Compare, limpia con quwi, which is a different, yet similar, procedure.) Different flowers, white and purple maize and coca leaves are also used in the same manner.

kacha

(adj) Silly, stupid. DYE

kaika

(n) A group of symptoms which consist of headaches, nausea, vomiting, general malaise and profuse sweating, besieging the patient in a mysterious manner after his visit to very high mountains or after attending a funeral. This acute illness is frequently followed by a prolonged malady characterized by weight loss, mental depression, lack of appetite and other signs of generalized organic imbalance. The kaika is usually cured through magical procedures, one of them being that of “paying to the earth,” which consists of magic passes and offerings of food to Pachamama. The origin of the term kaika is obscure. It may derive from the word Kai which indicates an invisible, all-powerful deity. It may also come from some local language now disappeared. DYE See, despacho, pago, and below pago, see, pago a la tierra.

kaipai

See, kallpay.

kaka haypicha

(N) Incorruptible unity of the luminous body. MBE

Kalasasaya

(n) A semi-subterranean temple at Tiwanako built in the ancient architectural style of the Yaya-Mama religious tradition. The projecting heads, seen in the picture, are, however, unique and not part of any other style. TAI

kallari

(n) Flow, changing, movement; one of the major organizing principles. (See, saiwa, munay, nuna, cheqak, yuya, ch’ulla, kawsay.)

Kallawaya

See, Kollahuaya.

kallpa

Power, strength; personal spiritual power. See, calpa and kallpay, below.

kallpachay

(v) To encourage; to give strength. RS

kallpasapa

(adj) Vigorous; strong; brawny. RS

kallpay

, kaipai, kaypai: (v) To make an effort; to try hard. RS (2) To always source from Pachamama, thus life force is fed. JLH (n) (1) Bio-energetic force. (2) Work, labor. HOI

kallpayoq

(n) A powerful person, powerful one. ANON1 Compare, sinchi.

kamak

(n) The supreme creative principle in Andean cosmology; i.e., Pachakamak is the creator of the world. KOAKA lord; god. RS The creation or bringing of order. PSPM

kamakuy

(v) Come into being. TLD

kamalonga

See, camalonga.

kamasqa

(n) A unique type of priest who receives the Kurak Akulliq initiation (fourth level) directly from Wiracocha. RS QNO Curing power was acquired in a vision or by making an unusually quick recovery from severe illness. They acquired their knowledge through supernatural secrets and methods taught by members of the same family, practicing their healing arts with the common people. They were men and women who never tried to cure without making offerings and sacrifices to the gods. MHP An Andean shaman-priest who received fourth-level kurak akulliq initiation directly from Wiracocha or an Apu; in Qhapaq Simi, kamasqa is the animating essence or force that gives life. ANON1

kamay

(v) (1) To spray a fine mist from the mouth of florida water by the Andean shaman in order to clear energy or to summon or inform; used to call or dispel. You can also use it in sending your spirit out. To kamay is to breathe life into, to invoke, usually done with oral spraying of florida water or alcohol. ES (2) To rule; to reign; to grasp; to take hold of; to create; to order; to govern; to command; to create. RSCreate, be responsible. TLD(n) (1) In the teachings of the South American shamans is the practice of kamay, breathing unity into something, restoring balance. There is nothing complicated or difficult about this process, and it is crucial to all types of healing. JP The practice relies on the connection between all living things. ES (2) A creative, vitalizing force frequently associated with running water. Sacred mountains were thought to be infused with an energizing force linked to the flow of water through springs and streams. Huacas were animated through the circulation of running water and the pouring of libations. Excavated sediments from the larger canals in the Putuni sector [near Tiwanako] were found to contain traces of elaborate ritual deposits, including pieces of sheet gold, fragments of sodalite and lapis lazuli, and large chunks of partially worked obsidian. Therefore, water circulating through the Putuni canals may have been intended to imbue the area and its inhabitants with kamay. TAI(3) Duty, obligation. TLD See, ch’alla for photo.

kamayoq

(n) (1) A shamanic level in which Pachamama becomes your mesa; derived from kamay, the kamayoq has mastered form and no longer needs a mesa. Kamayoqs have medicine of the left, of the magical. It is a way of being when you are able to regain your luminous nature. JLH

(See, mesayoq.) (2) Guard; watchman; spokesman. RS Author. WAO “He with command,” a title given to many types of Inca officials. CSCR A specialist. SLI

kananga

(n) (1) A cologne based on a foundation of the essential oil of ylang ylang. Kananga water, like florida water, is used in various rituals including spiritual cleaning, and appeasing the spirits of the dead. Its use is particularly common among people of the African diaspora. WIKI Used for cleansing the subtle energy. JLH The red perfume that symbolizes the purifying fire of Purgatory used in exorcisms. WOFW (2) Cananga odorata is a tree valued for its perfume. The essential oil derived from the flowers is used in aromatherapy. WIKI

kanchai, kanchay

See, k’anchay.

kanku

(n) The elongation of the energy center outward to the poqp’o; opening of the three energy centers, like long bell-like flower. The kanku is an antenna. JLH

kantuta

See, qantu.

kañu hucha

AYM

(n) Literally, dirty, filthy sin. Dishonesty. ASDSee, hucha.

kapak, kapaq

See, qhapaq.

kapilla

(n) Shrine. QP

kapukiri

, kapuri, kaupuri [Amaz]: (n) The word comes from archaic Quechua kiri, meaning that which stinks. (1) A substance that comes from rotting leaves, that is almost like a dark brown vapor. It is that which has decomposed from living things in order to give strength to other lives. There are beings which inhale these substances. Evil shamans use it to bring harm. (2) The disease believed to be caused by this substance. It is cured by means of the icaro del kapukiri and the leaves of catahua negra. If one doesn’t know the icaro, the patient will not heal. There are several kinds of this disease. That produced by the puka-lupuna, the ajosquiro, the catahua negra, and the huairacaspi. It is considered very powerful lowland magic. (See, each term for a description of its particular form of kapukiri.) All these trees are very rigid regarding their cleanliness, and they punish those persons that mock them. One should not urinate nor defecate on their leaves. One should not use their leaves as paper to clean oneself. One should not play with the leaves, nor cut these trees for the mere sake of it, nor should one use them as lumber. These trees are generating substances that other beings use as their nourishment. If one urinates and defecates on the tree, the tree will then emit something harmful to these beings. That is the reason they are very defensive. AYV

kaqch'a

kaq’cha, kakcha: (adj) Blinded or stupefied by a brilliant light; in mystical terms this light usually refers to the light or living energy of anothers’ soul. RS(n) The state of being blinded or stupefied by a brilliant light. In mystical terms this light usually refers to the light or living energy of another’s soul. QNO ANON1

kaq'lla

See, qhaqya

karaka

See, curaca.

karkay unccoy

(n) Asthma. DYE

karma

Sanskrit

(n) This is the machinery through which Divine Intelligence works. DCGB The total effect of a person’s actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person’s existence, regarded as determining the person’s destiny. DRC

karpay

(n) Energy initiation or transmission; rite of passage. Gift of the power of the ancient lineage. RS KOAK Transmission or initiation; rite of passage; coronation or crowning. ANON1 (See, hatun karpay.)

kasaraku

(n) Wedding (sp.). PSL

kasarakuqmasi

(n) Fiancé, fiancée (sp). QP

kasarakuy

(v) To get married. (n) Wedding (sp.). PSL

kastillasimi

(n) Castillian Spanish. QP

kat'a

AYM

(n) Dawn. ASD

katachillay

(n) Southern Cross.

Katoylla

See, Illapa.

katziboréri

Amaz

(n) Sorcerer, wizard, curandero. A general ethnic medical practitioner. THIM (See, shirimpiáre.)

kausay

See, kawsay.

kawak

See, qhawaq.

kawal

(adj) Perfect. RS

kaway

See, qhaway.

kawiri

(n) A lookout. DYE See, qhawaq.

kawsachun

(phrase) Live long! Viva! “Kawsachun Peru” would mean Long live Peru.

kawsay

(n) Life force, energy that animates the universe: it comes from the collective, from genetics and from spiritual energy. Sami and hucha are its two manifestations. Life. Everything is energy; one of the major organizing principles. The energy that permeates all of Creation on various vibrational levels. (See, saiwa, munay, nuna, chekak, yuya, ch’ulla, kallari.) RS KOAK JLH IGMP Much like chi, kawsay permeates all things in the living universe. Kawsay feels warm dense, and magnetic, and is comparable to gravitational energy in that its essence draws you to the Earth. It is used to heal physical illnesses as well as material conditions in one’s life. Maintaining an energy body replete with kawsay is deemed indispensable in shamanic preventive medicine. PSPM (v) To live. ANON1

kawsay kanchai

(n) Light. It feeds the luminous and physical bodies. JLH

kawsaykuna

(n) Food; seed. RS

kawsay pacha

(n) Energy in time and space; creative life force of Pachamama, feeds the physical body. World of life; the world of living energies; the energy universe. RS KOAK Nature. QP The realm of all living energies; the mystical equivalent of a biosphere of the universe. ANON1

kawsay poq'po

(n) The bubble of living energy around a human, plant, animal, town, mountain, or nature being. RS(See, poq’po.)

kawsay wayra

(n) Air, feeds the physical body; brings heaven and earth together. JLH

(See, wayra.)

kay

(v) To be, to exist.PSPM To mean; to have. RS (n) This. PSPM

kaya

wiracocha, number one in numerology. JLH

kayao

(n) (1) Tertiary ceke of the cursory outcomes of energy congruent with nature: e.g., fruition, seeds, firewood. Smallest, at the individual level, application, form. (2) A term for categorizing the importance of things, in this case, least. (See, Appendix F, huaca, kollana and payan.) JLH

Kaypacha

(n) (1) This world. (2) The current age; present era. (3) The world of material consciousness. (4) The middle world, filled with both heavy and refined living energies, typically symbolized by the puma; this physical world. RS Our world is a manifestation of another reality that exists in the Cosmos. This is the place where we remember who we are. (See, taripay pacha.) The Kaypacha is interconnected with the different worlds of vibration and energy. We are here to experience, not to judge. This is the world of the puma. Different realities exist within this middle world of experience. IGMP In the highlands of Ecuador, the Kaypacha and Ukhupacha are regarded as mirror images. ACES It was here, on the surface of the Earth, that the sun’s light and the damp soil created an environment in which the implanted seed could grow. It was here that the encounter between male and female engendered a new generation. It was here also that forasteros (outsiders) and natives met and confronted the changes produced by their meeting. This encounter was called tinku, the dialectical and generative power of creation. Here the dialectical forces come together (sometimes violently) to create new life, biological as well as social. GOL The Quechua word kay means to be, to exist, and this. It is the world we are born into, having a linear space/time quality to its lessons and is the collective, multi-sensorial experience of humanity. It also includes realms that exist beyond these ordinary states, containing both seen and unseen sources of guidance for shaping our world. Inhabitants, both seen and unseen, are always present to instruct us in learning how to interpret Spirit in the form of underlying symbolism and universal patterns. PSPM This world, the realm of consensus reality; rather than being simply the material world, the kaypacha is physical reality and how we perceive it and also includes many unseen spiritual forces that reside here with us (for example, the awkikuna, mallkikuna, etc.); presided over by the Puma and Otorongo, who are the masters of operating in this world; associated attribute is llank’ay, or sacred industriousness. ANON1

kaypachiswaychis

(phrase) Empower us, give us strength, vision, everything we need to propel us into manifestation. Burst us forth from our cocoon. JLH

kaypai

See, kallpay.

kente

See, q’enti.

Kechwa

See, Quechua.

kero

See, q’ero.

kilki

See, killki, below.

killa

(n) Month; moon; the female living energy or consciousness of the moon, often referred to as Mama Killa, mother moon. RS

killa chinkay

(n) moon on the wane. RS

killa hunt'a

(n) Full moon. RS

killa hunt'asqa

(n) Full moon. RS

killa nanay

(n) Menstruation. RS

killap himpun

(n) Moonlight. RS

killapura

(n) Full moon. RS

killa p'unchaw

(n) Moonlight. RS

Killarumiyoc

(n) Literally, stone of the moon. A sacred site near Cusco. The whole area is 5000 sq. meters, much of which was buried some time ago by an avalanche. The site consists of the following: a huge terrace system done in the same style as Sacsahuaman, Chinchero and the upper parts of Ollantaytambo; a precise and intricately carved symbol on one of the larger rocks; an echo stone or small replica of one of the apus which shadow the site; a cave that at one time was completely lined with carved stones that fit together perfectly without the use of mortar. PKC

killa wañuy

(n) New moon; lunar eclipse. RS

killa wañuy mit'a

(n) Period of new moon. RS

killka

See, qillqa.

killki

(n) Angel. RS High-vibration, transdimensional spirit being. ANON1 Elemental, fairy; keeper of the huacas. JLH

Killo-runa

(n) The anthropomorphization of the murui-huaira, also known as the Golden Man. AYV

Kimat

(n) A nymph, the queen of the underwater world who is called upon by curanderos as a defense against evil sorcerers. It is said that when she emerges, tremendous tempests are produced. She rides upon the back of the pambamuri. AYV

king vulture

See, condor.

Kinsa Intikuna

(n) The Three Suns; the understanding of the existence and alignment of three solar principles: Ukhupacha Inti Tayta (one’s inner Sun or particular embodiment of the solar principle, an inner sun seen as located in the brow, the solar plexus, or the heart, depending on the tradition) [see, rupay], Kaypacha Inti Tayta (the Sun of this world, the sun of our solar system)(see, kaypacha, above), and Hanaqpacha Inti Tayta (the Sun of the superior realm). ANON1

kinti

See. q’enti.

kintu, kintui

See, k’intu.

kipu

See, quipu.

kisuar

, kiswar (Quechua), kiswara (AYM), quisoar (Span), quishuara, colle: (n) A sacred tree. JLH Buddleia incana. Indians use an infusion of the terminal branches to expel viscose and cold humours. Crushed, mixed with urine and heated over a fire, the same part of the plant is used as a cataplasm to relieve aching molars; it is applied internally and externally. Some people employ the buds to colour food. REPC The leaves are used in folk medicine against toothache and as diuretic. WIKI

Kiswarkancha

(n) Wiracocha Inca’s palace in Cusco. Literally, corral of the sacred tree. RSSee, kisuar.

Koa, K'owa, Ccoa, Qoa

(n) Being from the fifth world with feline features, glowing eyes from which come lightning bolts. Represented in the mesa by ocelot fur. JLH Cat of the apu, the harbinger of hail and lightning. ACES To the present day, Andean peasants consider the hail-cat (Ccoa), seen with hail running out of his eyes, a beast to be reckoned with. SIMA(See, chocachinchay.) One of the three classes of spirits associated with the Andean shaman’s practice. (See, awki and gentiles.) Striped cats, whose phosphorescent eyes emit hail. The koa selects the shaman and gives him power by striking him with lightning. These are the main tutelary spirits of the pampamesayoq. WOFW

kochutha

AYM

(v) Sing. ASD

Kolla

(n) Aymara. RS (See, Kollasuyu.)

Kollahuaya

(n) (1) Province of Antisuyu (now in Bolivia), whose inhabitants are crafty herbalists. RS (2) On the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, the high Andes are the home of the extraordinary lineage of healers known as the Kollahuayas. They were the doctors to the Inca kings and ruling class. For thousands of years they have traveled throughout South America healing and gathering knowledge of herbs and ceremony. The Kollahuayas are able to see into the patterns of many aspects of life, such as work, worship, health and relationships; where there is imbalance they can repattern through the focus of ceremony. SHC Special healers from the region of Charazani in Bolivia who are known for their great knowledge of the healing power of herbs and their extensive travel to perform healings. Kollahuaya means the one who carries the medicine. IGMP (See, Kolla.)

kollana

(n) (1) Primary cekes; sacred code of information; the innate program of the creation of existence. Connected to major cities and mountains. (2) A term for categorizing the importance of things, in this case greatest. (See, Appendix F, huaca, payan and kayao.) JLH

kollari

(n) See, collari.

Kollasuyu

(n) The southeast and largest quadrant of the Inca empire, encompassing the entire Lake Titicaca Basin of modern Bolivia and Peru and the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. From Cusco in the northwest, it stretched south beyond modern Santiago in Chile. Its eastern and western limits were the jungles of southern Amazon drainage, the high pampas of northern Agentina and the Pacific Ocean. MAN Mythically, it has to do with emergence, awakening, return to source of creation. Winged beings with lightning bolts. Fly, journey, return home with the vision. Corresponds to East direction of a medicine wheel. JLH The southern quadrant of the Inca Empire created when the Inca conquered the Aymara-speaking Kolla and Lupuka chiefdoms and significantly reorganized their political structure, economy, and settlement pattern. The Inca successfully harnesed the immense productive potential of agriculture and pastoralism in the Titicaca Basin to make Kollasuyu the empire’s wealthiest province. TAI It means the nation of the medicine. IGMP*See, Tawantinsuyu, Kollahuaya,

kolla.*

kollyor

See, qoyllur.

Kon

See, Con.

kon

Thunderstone. SIMA See, Con.

konti

(v) To reset. RS The setting sun; the dusk aspect of Inti. ANON1

Kon Ticci Wiracocha Pachacamak

(n) The orderless polytheism of the empire was no minor preoccupation in the minds of some of the Incas. Pachacuti was so sad to find in every land he had visited such a diversity of sects, beliefs and worship that he held a conclave at the Temple of the Sun [Qoricancha] in Cusco and the most important priests and magicians of the empire were present. The Sun [Inti], the Thunderbolt [Illapa], the Mother Earth [Pachamama] and other heavenly bodies, in this specific order, were to constitute the highest deities. Before this was to be consecrated as dogma, the Inca spoke strongly against the Sun. As emperor, he said, the Inca could do as he pleased. But not the sun. The brilliant king of the sky could never change its course and was bound to unvarying rules which he could not avoid or modify. Man had to accept therefore that there must be an invisible almighty authority who overruled all the heavenly bodies. Kon Ticci Wiracocha Pachacamac (a name of compromise between the different regional traditions) was the invisible creator of all the universe. This resulted in the construction of a Temple to the God of Gods a few blocks away from the Temple of the Sun [Qoricancha]. The present Catholic Cathedral of Cusco is built upon the Temple of Wiracocha. A secondary church, the temple of Santo Domingo was built upon the Temple of the Sun. DYE

Kontiki

The name of a divinity. Kon, meaning Divine Energy, and Tiki, meaning Earth Energy. The name signifies the connection of the two energies. Kon is the Cosmic Gatherer energy and Tiki is the Cosmic Mother energy. IGMP Tiki is a fertility God who appears in South Pacific mythology. Tiki is the first man and is strongly associated with the origin of the procreative act. WIKI (See, tiqsi.)

Kontisuyu

(n) The southwest and smallest quarter of the Inca empire comprised a triangular region whose borders diverged from a point in Cusco to points in the Pacific coast in modern central and southwestern Peru. MAN Mythically, it is the ability to adapt, reset, undergo and comprises the South direction on a medicine wheel. JLH West. ROR(See, Tawantinsuyu, konti.)

koro-kallu

(n) He who does not know or cannot speak. Derives from koroni (amputate) and kallu (tongue). DYE

kuchuna

(n) [Possibly from Spanish cuchillo = knife.] Knife; shears; scissors. RSSharpened condor or llama bone used for ceremonial cutting. SAI (See, napa.)

kuchuy

(v) To cut. QP

Kuelap

(n) A fortress associated with the Chachapoyas culture consisting of massive exterior stone walls containing more than four hundred buildings. The structure, situated on a ridge overlooking the Utcubamba Valley, is roughly 600 meters in length and 110 meters in width.

kuka

See, coca.

kuka mukkllu

See, coca mukllu.

kuku

(n) Ghost, spirit. PSL

kukuchi

(n) Dead people that must do penance. ROR (See, susuwa.)

kulli

(adj) Purple; dark purple. RS

kulli chunpi

See, chunpi.

kumaraña

AYM

(n) Health. ASD

kuna

A suffix that makes the noun plural.

kunka

(n) Throat. RS

kuti despacho

(n) A despacho used for direct sorceric attack. It has a circular energetic action that deflects the assailing disruptive energies and has a cleansing function as well. (See, Appendix J, wiska despacho and kuti.) JLH

kunka ñawi

See, chunpi.

kunphiyay

(v) To trust. QP

Kuntumamani

(n) Animistic representation of Pachamama. Also, the spirit of your house. JLH

(See, mama.)

kuntur

See, condor.

kura

(n) Priest. QP

kuraka

See, curaca.

kurak

(n) Superior; elder. RS Elder; don who knows the village history and pachas. JLH

kurak akulliq

(n) A shaman who has completed physical manifestation, has charted all her pachas. They are shapeshifters; they have separated from ordinary reality to hold space; great chewer of coca leaves, this term refers to a fourth level priest, currently the highest level of the altomesayoc path. RS KOAK The kurak akulliq has become her wayqi. JLH In curanderismo, the term refers to the curandero, who, through the development of deep intimacy with both campo ganadero and campo justiciero, has attained the highest level of shamanic mastery currently attainable in the paq’okuna tradition. PSPM

kurak junta

(n) High council (sp). PSL

kuri-toro

(n) From Quechua qori, gold, and Spanish toro, bull. The icaro of this animal is used to cure manchari. In some instances the bull has become a substitute for the great snake living in the bottom of lakes, but changing in character from a ferocious monster into a beneficial golden animal. AYV

kurku

(n) Body. QP The physical [human] body. PSPM* See*, runa kurku and runa kurku k’anchay.

kurus

(n) Cross. [Possibly from Spanish cruz, which means cross.]QP

kusa

(interj) Nice, right. QP

kusa kusa

(adj) Marvelous, wonderful. QP

kusi

(n) Happiness. PSL

kusikuy

(v) To be happy, have fun. PSL QP

kusisqa

(adj) Happy. PSL QP

kuska

(adv) Side by side, together. QP

kuskachakuy

(v) To join. QP

kuti

(n) (1) A returning, turning over, setting right. AVO (2) A turn, a moment. DQ. Turn, circular movement, rotation, revolution; “times” in the mathematical sense (e.g., tawa cuti means “four times”). ANON1 An occasion. RS

kutichiy

(v) To answer; to send back; to give back; to return something; to make return. RS (n) (1) A process of recapitulation whereby you locate and send back all of the energy to the people with whom you have had relationships, continuing until you are left with only your inner self. This is followed by a kutichiy despacho. UNK (2) In the Quechua and Aymara world, kutichiy expresses a “contraoperation” practiced to counteract the effects of daño. Kutichiy is restoration, return, answer. In the Peruvian Amazon, the term cutipar is used to refer to the reaction or response of shamans, people, plants or animals to daño. In the Amazon, the cutipado takes three forms, one of which, revenge, lies with the newborn son of the deceased person. ins.gob.pe

kutichikuy

(v) To defend oneself when attacked. RS

kutimunaykama

(phrase) See you when I come back. RS

kutipuy

(v) To become. PSL

kutirikuq

(n) A convert to a new belief. RS

kutirikuy

(v) To recover; to convalesce. PSL RS

kutirimpuy

(v) To be reborn. RS