TRUST AND THE HORSE THAT SAVED MY LIFE

Early in the Day

 Several years ago, in the midst of intensive shamanic training in Peru, I learned a powerful lesson about trusting Spirit, regardless of what form Oneness chooses to appear.

Before leaving the USA, I had an intuition that something quite profound would happen involving horses. This became more real than I ever imagined,

We were participating in two sacred plant medicine ceremonies with an Andean shaman. These were done in very powerful places, and great transformative effects were being felt in the lives of all 20 participants

Late Afternoon - Approaching the Pass (we thought)

                          Between the two ceremonies, we traveled together on horseback over a 16,000 foot (5,300 meters) pass high in the Peruvian Andes.

It was an incredible experience for all of us. The Andean mountain scenery was spectacular and the weather was beautiful.

However, due to a major delay in starting we had to cross this pass at night, and it became very cold and dangerous. The ecstatic adventure of the day turned into a harrowing & life threatening event.

We were exhausted from long hours in the saddle, suffering from the very high altitude, and some of us were becoming hypothermic.The Peruvian guides with us confessed that they were lost, and the only being with us that knew the way was a donkey. 

Somehow the horses instinctively knew to follow the donkey but as it became darker It was increasingly difficult for even the horses to see, and people started getting hurt. Several fell from their horses - some into icy cold streams that we continually had to cross. Many of us began to see visions of ghostly spirits riding with us.
  

In my own case, I was exhausted, extremely cold, and afraid for my life. I knew that I could do nothing but trust in Moro, the horse I was riding. Without him, I might not survive.

By the grace of Spirit and the mutual help we gave to each other, everyone made it, even though it seemed for a time that some of us might be injured seriously or even die.

We were immensely grateful to the great Apu (mountain god) for allowing us passage, and to our horses for carrying us to safety.

 I owe my life to Moro, and I thank the great Horse Spirit for my time with him. I am deeply in his debt.

As the saying goes "All is well that ends well". Later in retrospect, we all realized that our harrowing journey across the mountains was yet another step in the great transformative process of our learning together.

Han & Moro

And more importantly, I learned a most valuable lesson in trusting Spirit, this time in the form of a horse named Moro.

Robert "Han" Bishop (9-15-14)

The Great APU (Mountain God)