SETTING THE WORLD IN BALANCE
The Ways of the Eastern Andes as Taught by the Hetakas
Ka Ta See is a tribal way of life that has been lived and protected for tens of thousands of years. As an oral tradition, the teachings and tools of Ka Ta See have been passed along generation after generation through story and ceremony, apprenticeships and healing arts, and learning through first-hand experience.
Chea and Domano Hetaka, elders and lineage-carriers of Ka Ta See, made their way from Peru to North America in the 1970s. They were on a quest to find a student with whom they would share their traditional medicine ways.
The elders understood the world was spinning out of balance, that people were buried in stress, judgments, addictions, and fears. The elders trusted in our ability to wake up, to remember the beauty and truths of our humanness, to live in heart-centered ways and create a heart-centered world.
When translating their ways to English language, the elders chose the word “Song“ to describe one’s genuine beingness, the true self, the knowing of who and what you really are. Everyone has a unique individual Song, a unique energetic vibration – every human, every tree, every rock, every grain of sand. Everything is alive. Every Song is connected in the vast web of life on earth and far beyond.
Remembering your Song, living and being your Song, is at the heart of the Ka Ta See ways.
The Hetakas found their student, Kay Cordell Whitaker, who then apprenticed with the elders for thirteen years. Since 2000, I have had the privilege of apprenticing with Kay to learn and live the ways of the kala keh nah seh – medicine storyteller, weaver of webs of balance, healer, teacher, and ceremonial guide.
