The Munay-Ki are a series of nine rites brought to western society by Dr Alberto Villoldo, a medical anthropologist who has studied the shamanic healing practices of the Amazon and Inca shamans for over 25 years.

Dr Villoldo learned and studied the rites of the Inca Shamans with a number of mentors over a period of years living with them in the Andes Mountains of Peru ^[1]. As he describes in his book Shaman Healer Sage^[2] , he travelled for more than ten years with his first mentor Don Antonio Morales throughout the Andes and the Amazon to accumulate and distill the shamanic knowledge of these peoples. From this distilled knowledge, Dr Villoldo assembled the Munay-Ki as a series of rites derived from Inca traditions, but stripped of some of the elements of the cultures they came from intending respect. ^[1]

Dr Villoldo writes that the rites derive from the great initiations from the Hindus Valley that were brought to the Americas by the first medicine men and women who crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia during the glacial period some 30,000 years ago, and who were known as the Laika, the Earthkeepers of old ^[3]

The nine rites of the Munay-Ki were first given together and including the ninth rite, the creators rite in 2006.

The Munay-Ki rites are initiations, which Dr Villoldo says are intended to help the initiate become a person of wisdom and power ^[3].

Dr Villoldo describes how the Munay-Ki rites give us access to what he terms “luminous beings”, and which he notes Buddhists call Bodhisattva ^[4]. He indicates they are spiritual allies.

Initiates generally both receive the rites, and are taught how to pass them on and in turn teach them. Recipients are asked not to charge specifically for passing the rites on, though it is considered acceptable to recoup costs or to charge for coaching initiates through understanding the changes the rites bring to their lives. The rites are offered in workshops or 1:1 in most countries around the world.

The Rites

Chakras Diagram

The rites are grouped into three categories and are given in the order shown below ^[5]

• The foundation rites
  • 1 – Healers Rite
  • 2 – Bands of Power Rite
  • 3 – Harmony Rite
  • 4 – Seer Rite
• The lineage rites
  • 5 – Daykeepers Rite
  • 6 – Wisdom Keepers Rite
  • 7 – Earthkeepers Rite
• The rites to come
  • 8 – Starkeeper’s Rite
  • 9 – Creator Rite

The rites are said to plant seeds in the energy fields of the chakras.

Fire Ceremonies

Candles used in fire ceremony

Following receipt of the Munay-Ki rites initiates are encouraged to engage in fire ceremony rituals, to maintain and grow the gifts received in the rites. A fire ceremony is done for each rite. The initiate meditates with their focus on the fire from a candle, and drawing the warmth of the fire into the chakras that were the focus of the specific rite, while opening their heart and mind to the theme of the rite . It is recommended that initiates engage in the fire ceremonies for each ritual between daily and weekly to grow the gifts of the rites, ^[6]

The Energies

The various rites involve invoking a range of powers and energies including the following:^[7]

• The lineage of the Laika
• The power and medicine of the South, Serpent
• The power and medicine of the West, Jaguar
• The power and medicine of the North, Hummingbird
• The power and medicine of the East, Great Eagle
• Huáscar, Lower world and the subconscious
• Quetzalcoatl, Middle world
• Pachacuti, Times to come
• Daykeepers
• Wisdomkeepers
• Earthkeepers
• Starkeepers
• Spiritkeepers
• Earth, Pachamama
• Water
• Fire & Sun
• Wind & Air
• Light

The rites call these energies to move into various of the initiate’s chakras, with the energies and chakras involved varying from rite to rite.

• Shaman, Healer, Sage: How to Heal Yourself and Others with the Energy Medicine of the AmericasISBN 978-0609605448

  (hardcover);