The word healing has ancient roots. The word hailjan, in proto-German, means to heal, TO MAKE WHOLE.
The word HOLY also comes from this root word. To heal, to make whole.
So I started to think….. Of all the wisdoms, of all the traditions that I have sought out throughout my life, the ones I resonate with the most speak of the Divinity, the Holiness, that is each one of us. We are holy. Some religions pervert the word holy and use it as a weapon, a weight, to hang over our heads, to control and to subvert. They say Holy means to be good. It is something to strive for. It is something only special people are. Right now, in the United States, there is a whole culture that has grown out of recent failed political lines that flaunts holiness as something achieved only by following certain political ideologies.
But if we look at the original meaning of the word, we each, in our own self, are a completely whole and holy self. We were created as whole, entire microcosms of individual delight. And then I look at us all collectively. Together, our separate individual delights make one greater whole. Any changes to this whole will affect our entire balance.
And then my gaze shifts even farther in this direction of wholeness and I see that my bubble, my world, my individual wholeness, is also affected not just by the people who are in it but the plants, the animals, the living energies of the land and the waters and the elements themselves. Together we make an even greater, fuller, wholeness.
How big can my wholeness extend? How big can I grow my bubble so that I can feel, see, sense and love everything in it? Even the people that frustrate and anger me? Even the microbes and the germs that I cannot see but may fear and loathe?
And by acknowledging the inherent wholeness that everything was created with and holds within, should I just ignore the pieces that stick out with jagged edges or the missing pieces that leaves holes in my heart?
Or should I engage the action word of wholeness and strive for healing? And acknowledge that somewhere along the way, my wholeness has become less complete, and my holiness less full? What is healing if not to make whole again?
Some healers would say that healing is something you do for others. Some healers like to fix and mold. I say instead, to heal is to bring back together the wholeness that is within.
There is a lot of self-love engaged in that one sentence that many people are not ready to commit to. In order to commit to bringing yourself back to wholeness you must love who you are at your very core. You must consider yourself holy enough to be whole. and restored.
The Q’ero of Peru, an Andean spiritual community that is still committed to the healing ways of their ancestors, have a wonderful practice of bringing holiness (wholeness) to the people of their community on a regular, even daily basis. It is their belief that even the slightest trauma, a skinned knee, a broken bone, an argument with a dear friend, can fragment our spirit. They believe the earth holds these fragments that are lost from us due to trauma. And so, starting with the moment of birth, they perform ANIMO WAKHAY to restore each community member back to wholeness. They call and command those tiny missing bits of self that can be shaken away from our core holiness back from the earth and place them into our cells, letting the pieces integrate and attach once again. The Animo Wakhay is performed for the mother enduring the trauma of giving birth and for the child enduring the trauma of birth itself. The Paqos of the community and even the community themselves will blow these pieces back into each other whenever a trauma or stress occurs. Isn’t this amazing? When I think of the beauty of someone acknowledging every stress I have and willing me back to the wholeness (and holiness) that they believe I am, my mind goes Woaaa!
Now, that is LOVE.
Training with the Q’ero has taught me and continues to teach me so much about the beauty and simplicity of whole and complete love. For self. For others. For the planet. I am excited and honored to be able to train in the traditions of the Andean Masters by the Andean Masters themselves and to be able to offer some healing (wholeness) to others!
