The first time I met Kachora, I was told that I was going to meet a Yaqui who was a healer and a seer. Looking at him, I thought he was in his late sixties. I found out as we spoke that he was 86 years old. That was ten years ago. Our first meeting was not only memorable, but magical as well. I have thought of Kachora many times throughout the years. I remember asking him to what he attributed his longevity. With a twinkle in his eye, he responded, “Well I eat snake meat as often as possible. I walk on the earth in my bare feet everyday–we need the energy of the earth. And I always keep humor in my life.”
I have not ingested any snake meat, but I walk as often as possible with my bare feet on the earth. Fast-forward ten years to when my friend and colleague Ken Small invited me to meet with Kachora. We drove down to his compound south of Tecate with Small’s friend and interpreter, Milton Ramirez.
Talking to Kachora and meeting his family, I was reminded of my time in Europe, Asia, and South America. Remembering that good manners require me to stop and say hello, I resisted rushing past these people to find out about the family and what has happened since I last saw them. I had to be mindful to slow down and just enjoy the day. Plants and animals abound near Kachora’s house. The pyramid gleaming from the top could be seen from the distance.
Before I tell you what we talked about, I want you to know the amazing history of this man. He walked from a small town in Sonora, Mexico to live in
Tijuana. Small, who has studied many shamans and has a book entitled The Toltec Dream Matrix, offers this in his chapter on Kachora:
“Kachora Guitemea has served his life of more than 80 years as an herbalist, healer, and traditional spiritual leader of the Yaqui people. From Rio Yaqui, Sonora, he has come to share these special sacred teachings of health and healing, to help bring humans and Mother Earth into unity and a more harmonious balance. In Kachora’s view, ‘the way to the spirit is through the appreciation and knowledge of plants’ and ‘the way to the infinite is through the experience of this harmonious whole.’
Small says, “He reminds me of the Dalai Lama; he has the same ageless being and a joy so tangible, it leaps from his physical body to all who encounter him. He is a man of few words, but of knowledge, truth and a presence so great that it is transmitted without words, without effort and without a doubt as to their veracity.”
I first asked Ken Small, before I had met him, what Kachora was like and he said, “he has the clearest intent of any person I have ever met. In Kachora’s lineage, the fundamental motivation to heal parallels the Bodhisattva vow of Mahayana Buddhism ‘to save all sentient beings.’ This motivational power is the inner force in the Yaqui wisdom that transports one to the Infinite: ‘Nature is the guide to the Infinite, to Chamahua. Nature is the ‘good spirit’ that guides us and shows us the harmony and balance to follow in order to enter the path to the Infinite. Follow this path and all life prospers and you will attain the ultimate Realization.’
“Kachora’s father’s people were Yaqui, and settled in the Sonoran Desert of Mexico. According to Kachora, his ancestors lived in the north and built runes at Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon in the United States, and Casas Grande in Mexico. Kachora’s mother’s people were Lacandon Mayan from Chiapas, Mexico,” Small concluded.
Kachora has always had people come to him for their health, their finances and their sanity. He has helped whether they had money or not. He is the center of a strong community of people who wish to help, heal and keep our earth and her people well. With great appreciation, I present to you Kachora.
http://www.visionmagazine.com/archives/0812/feature_Kachora.htmlVision Magazine: How do you create community?
Kachora: Our traditions are vast and wild. Everyone should study with the children so that the next generation will have no pollution and a pure environment, making sure it will be good like in the years before.
Globally it’s too hot. It’s possible that there will be blood [shed] for a drop of water in the years to come. Because of pollution, there is now fire loose in the world. There needs to be an economy that is in harmony with world peace. We can create a lot of jobs with respect for the Indian communities, for the trees, the animals, humanity, and the whole of Mother Earth. It is possible to live that way and to keep good health throughout the environment.
In Mexico, our government helps. Before it didn’t. Now it is aiding the economy, as well as the schools, roads, land and water. This is required to live better than before. But for the sons of the sons, we need no more war.
VM: Do you still help people with illnesses?
K: Through the plants and medicinal herbs in my garden comes the knowledge of their secrets and the virtues for humanity.
We have ceremonies and healers and there’s no charge. If people give donations, they help to provide for the wood, the gas and the food because food is for everybody who goes to ceremony.
VM: How often do you have ceremonies here?
K: Every month there is a purification ceremony to cure illnesses—both internal and external. The grandfathers and grandmothers are there to help along with the healing properties of hot volcanic rocks. Many people help. The ceremony is big and lasts as long as four days. In the spring, near the 21st of March, we dance with the sun. During the year, there are ten sweat lodge ceremonies with a break from them and more silent time in winter. My home is your home.
VM: Do you have hope for the world?
K: Hope for the world is possible but humanity must change for the world to change. For the world and humanity to live in harmony, we should protect the environment. If humanity doesn’t respect the environment, we are finished, along with the world.
VM: Do you have a message for President-elect Obama?
K: To be alert! We have hope for him, for humanity, for the world and the economy. I help and support the young people of tomorrow, so please, I ask for no wars—only peace!
VM: Do these students carry on your work?
K: It’s a sacred tradition that is passed from father to son. It comes from the grandfathers, the great grandfathers and beyond. It’s an infinite path of Mother Nature.
Before Christ, there were traditions of many religions and they were all respected. Everyone chose their religion through their traditions and this should always be respected.
If we go to the mountains, we receive energies. We find our spirit when we meditate and ask the spirits that are found in Mother Nature to tell us the secrets of the mountains.
VM: How can you explain the spiritual sickness of many people in America?
K: We should get out of the pollution and into nature. In the cities, there are always too many drugs and too many negative energies. That’s why there is sickness. It’s good to meditate on top of the mountain and to walk in Mother Nature. The energies are always in Mother Nature herself, under the trees, which give us pure air. Without them, we would not be living because it is the air that purifies our lungs to live.
VM: To what do you attribute your longevity?
K: No bad habits. In the past, I used to walk a lot with donkeys and horses in the mountains carrying 120 kilograms on my back. I never drink wine or smoke cigarettes. I have no specific diet, but I eat a little of everything—fruit, vegetables, and all kinds of meat: snakes, rabbits, and birds, whose lives are needed to maintain our balance for health and vitality.
VM: Is there a wisdom tradition from the Yaqui heritage that you can offer to our readers?
K: There are many traditions and secrets found in language, plants, nature, and the universe. I know the uses of more than 4,000 plants. There are places where every plant is filled with vitamins and minerals. There are plants to relax the mind, and it is important to know what the meaning and purpose of these plants are. If you learn from a book, it’s not as good, because you don’t know the plant. You must know the plant directly by sight, taste and smell.
Be the person that can find community in Mother Nature. Invite people to know Mother Nature and respect our land. Ask Mother Nature’s permission to walk on the earth. Learn and see—not look but see—Mother Nature. Talk with the trees and taste the secrets and the virtues that she has. This way, young people will wish to come out of bad environments and live to know her.
When people don’t respect Mother Nature, when they don’t pray or communicate with the spirits—that’s why bad things happen. Huge volcanoes erupt and hurricanes and tornadoes roar; they cannot bear everything they find in their path because of the bad treatment that humanity has done to our natural world. We should always pray and ask the spirits for protection and offer them something so they know us.
VM: What would be a typical offering?
K: Tobacco, praying, and having a lot of respect for water, air, land, and fire. Every single one is a sacred spirit. We teach the search of vision through meditation, the plants and the trees. It is following the path of Mother Nature.
VM: What is one thing people could do to change their lives for the better?
K: It is simple. Come and believe in Mother Nature and have respect for the earth. If people are [under the influence] of drugs, bad habits, or alcohol, they will learn from the others in the city. They need to learn how to grow again in Mother Nature.
VM: What do you think the future holds?
K: I pray for the future but I live in the present, always. I give thanks to the Creator for the new day that He gives us, for giving us food and water everyday. Nobody can cast the future—they don’t know it, and we don’t know it. Really there is no future; there is only the present for us to give thanks for every new day.
For more information on Kachora and his work please email kensmall@earthlink.net.
