Viracocha: The Great Creator God of the Incas

Viracocha: The Great Creator God of the Incas

Considered the supreme creator god of the Incas, Viracocha (also known as Huiracocha, Wiraqocha, and Wiro Qocha), was revered as the patriarch god in pre-Inca Peru and Incan pantheism. His name was so sacred that it was rarely spoken aloud; instead replaced with others, including Ilya (light), Ticci (beginning) and Wiraqocha Pacayacaciq (instructor).

This reverence is similar to other religious traditions, including Judaism, in which God’s name is rarely uttered, and instead replaced with words such as Adonai, Hashem, or Yahweh. Viracocha is part of the rich multicultural and multireligious lineage and cosmology of creation myth gods, from Allah to Pangu, to Shiva. A brief sampling of creation myth texts reveal a similarity:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. Now the Earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” (Genesis 1:1)

When heaven and Earth began, three deities came into being, The Spirit Master of the Center of Heaven, The August Wondrously Producing Spirit, and the Divine Wondrously Producing Ancestor. These three were invisible. The Earth was young then, and land floated like oil, and from it, reed shoots sprouted.” (Kojiki, the Japanese “Record of Ancient Things”)

In the beginning, there was Chaos, the abyss. Out of it first emerged Gaia, the Earth, which is the foundation of all. Next came Tartaros, the depth in the Earth where condemned dead souls to go to their punishment, and Eros, the love that overwhelms bodies and minds, and Erebos, the darkness, and Nyx, the night.  Erebos and Nyx made love and from their union came Aether, the air, and Hemera, the day.” (“Gaia,” Theogony)

These texts, as well as most creation myths (regardless of origin), are centered on the common idea of a powerful deity or deities creating what we understand to be life and all its many aspects. Legendary Viracocha, the God of Creation of ancient South American cultures, and a symbol of human’s capacity to create destroy, and rebuild, and is firmly rooted in creation mythology themes.

THE LEGEND OF VIRACOCHA

Legend tells us that a primordial Viracocha emerged out Lake Titicaca, one of the most beautiful and spiritually bodies of water in the world and located next to Tiwanaku, the epicenter of ancient pre-Hispanic South American culture, believed location of spiritual secrets found in the Andes. Viracocha is intimately connected with the ocean and all water and with the creation of two races of people; a race of giants who were eventually destroyed by their creator, with some being turned into enormous stones believed to still be present at Tiwanaku.

He re-emerged from Lake Titicaca to create the race most associated with humans as we understand them today. Satisfied with his efforts, Viracocha embarked on an odyssey to spread his form of gospel — civilization, from the arts to agriculture, to language, the aspects of humanity that are shared across cultures and beliefs.

While written language was not part of the Incan culture, the rich oral and non-linguistic modes of record-keeping sustained the mythology surrounding Viracocha as the supreme creator of all things. Now much-visited ruins, the distinct structures, and monoliths, including the architecturally stunning Gateway of the Sun, are testimony to the powerful civilization that reached its peak between 500-900 AD, and which deeply influenced the Incan culture.

viracocha

THE INCAS AND CIVILIZATION

The Incas were a powerful culture in South America from 1500-1550, known a the Spanish “Age of Conquest.” Rich in culture and complex in its systems, the Inca empire expanded from what is now known as modern-day Colombia to Chile.

The significance of the Viracocha creation mythology to the Inca civilization says much about the culture, which despite being engaged in conquering, was surprisingly inclusive. A rival tribe’s beliefs, upon a victorious conquest, were adopted by the Incas. As well, enemies were allowed to retain their religious traditions, in stark contrast to the period of Spanish domination, requiring conversion on pain of death.

The Incas, as deeply spiritual people, professed a religion built upon an interconnected group of deities, with Viracocha as the most revered and powerful. Stars and constellations were worshipped as celestial animals; and places and objects, or huacas, were viewed as inhabited by divinity, becoming sacred sites.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF VIRACOCHA TODAY

Viracocha’s story begins and ends with water. He emerged from Lake Titicaca, then walked across the Pacific Ocean, vowing one day to return. The messianic promise of return, as well as a connection to tidal waters, reverberates in today’s culture. For many, Viracocha’s creation myth continues to resonate, from his loving investment in humanity, to his the promise to return, representing hope, compassion, and ultimately, the goodness and capacity of our species.



The Transformational Power of the Viking's Runes

The Transformational Power of the Viking’s Runes

The Birth of Runes

The Viking runes came into being when Odin brought them forth from another world. Historians from the National Museum of Denmark explain that Odin ruled over Asgard, which contains Valhalla, “the hall of the slain.” Half the warriors who died in battle were collected by his female handmaidens, the valkyries, who belonged to him. As such, Odin was the object of worship by kings, warrior chieftains, and their people. 

In a mythic Viking tale, Odin wounds himself with his own spear before hanging himself from the Yggdrasil—the world tree in Norse culture—for nine nights, drawing wisdom from the Depths of Urd, just below it. From there, Odin sees the runes that existed even before his own coming into being, “a time before time.” 

Just as he’s about to die, Odin gathers up the runes and shares them with all of creation and an array of supernatural entities and human beings. Eventually, the runes were given their shapes and phonetic values by subsequent tribal elders. They were carved on weapons, tools, jewelry, amulets, bones, pieces of wood, memorial stones, church walls, and other hard surfaces.

Ancient peoples of the Germanic lands knew the runes to be beyond the time and space with which most people are familiar. Some experts suggest that they were never really “invented,” but are instead eternal, pre-existent forces that Odin discovered through his aforementioned superhuman ordeal.

Historians have linked the runes to areas with a history of Germanic-speaking peoples, including from Iceland to Scandinavia, throughout England, and into Central Europe. Even Constantinople is home to the runes, showing that ancient seafaring cultures had made their way into what is now modern-day Turkey. 

Reading the Runes 

We may use the metaphor of a tree to assess how the runes are read. Historian Emma Groeneveld noted that “they are generally made up of vertical lines — one or more — with ‘branches’ or ‘twigs’ jutting out diagonally (and very occasionally horizontally) upwards, downwards or in a curve from them. They can be written both from left to right and from right to left, with asymmetrical characters being flipped depending on the direction of writing. 

Each rune represents a phoneme (a speech sound) and had a name, made up of a noun, that started (and in one case, ended) with the sound the rune was mainly associated with. Lots of regional and temporal variation existed in the shapes of the letters.” 

Experts of Norse mythology explain that, on the surface, runes seem to be letters. However, they are much more, because each one is a symbol of a cosmological principle or power. The very act of writing a rune called upon unseen spiritual forces. In every Germanic language, wrote historian Daniel McCoy, the word rune comes from the Proto-Germanic word that means both “letter” and “mystery.” 

The Eternal Magic of the Runes 

The runes have been used to link the natural and supernatural worlds, and this gives them the power to enact spells for protection or success. Still, said Olsen in an exclusive Gaia interview, according to archaeological and historical evidence, runes were used as magical tools for healing, transformation, building wealth, and for making the world a better place. 

The power of the runes is in their sound vibrations, teaches Olsen. Each runic character represents a letter so that it can be combined with others to form words. The runes are also magical symbols, and each character has its own name and symbolic meaning. 

Norwegian historian Marit Synnøve Vea explained that runes are not limited to their carved signs, but are also applied in certain songs, magical formulas, secret skills, and for secrets hidden in Skaldic (Old Norse) poetry. Vea noted that runic magic was used to foretell the future, as a form of protection, to cast spells, to cure illness, to bestow love, and much more. 

But where there is power, there is a warning. In the wrong hands and minds, runes carved by unskilled persons could represent risky business. Vea cites a poem from the Old Norse Egil Saga that serves as an ancient warning for the modern generation: 

Runes none should grave ever
Who knows not to read them;
Of dark spell full many
The meaning may miss.
Ten spell-words writ wrongly
On whale-bone were graven:
Whence to leek-tending maiden,
Long sorrow and pain 

The history of the runes is the history of timelessness, a paradox among paradoxes. Often regarded as tools for parlor games, serious historians have found the deeper meaning in ways the runes can be read and applied for the betterment of life on this planet and the invisible worlds.

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