An Extremely Beautiful Despacho

In the simplest terms, a despacho is an offering. It contains prayers, prayers for Pachamama, Santa Tierra Madre, Mother Earth. And the prayers are released by burning or by burying the despacho in the earth. In metaphorical terms, a despacho is an entire Universe. It contains the four directions, the sky, the earth, the Apus, everything in our cosmos. And it holds our dreams and our prayers and our intentions for peace, healing, abundance, love, beauty and community.

The making of a despacho is an ancient ceremony from the Andes. Prayers are blown into all of the symbolic objects. And a beautiful universe is slowly constructed from leaves and material and food and all kinds of other materials. In this Universe there is respect and care for Mother Earth, sweetness, and abundance, and wealth, and health, and the mountains, the stars, the forests, the clouds, the sun, the ocean, the entire world, the entire galaxy, and all of us. The completed despacho is sealed and tied and ultimately offered through the fire, releasing the prayers and intentions.

It is a lovely ceremony. These words must trivialize it: a ceremonial despacho is not about words, it's about intention and energy, the unseen, our feelings and intuitions, and spirit. But there is a video, with a beautiful despacho made by Don Mariano, who is a Q'ero from Peru:



I love the video. And the despacho is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I find myself playing the video over and over and over again. I hope you enjoy it.