I have studied in the spiritual tradition of the Q'ero people of the Peruvian Andes off and on since 2014 with teacher and healer, Lucinda Brogden.

This past spring, I reentered my relationship with the Ñust'as through a class on the global Ñust'as with Lucinda. As part of the workshop, we received initiations known as Karpays, connecting us to each of the global Ñust'as. This painting was inspired by receiving Karpay with the Willka Ñust'a, the sacred feminine nature being associated with Water and Black Light.

In the painting, she appears at the right, facing the Apu, the divine masculine energy of Peru's mountains. Droplets of water fall from her, pooling and flowing through her form. Wilka Ñust'a cradles his face in her hand, and by way of Karpay, blows into the center of his forehead, transmitting her healing and purifying energy in an exchange between the feminine and masculine that sits at the heart of the piece. Spirals move across both their faces — a shared current, circling through feminine and masculine alike. Below them, daisies of the mountain bloom in receiving the transmission.

Above them, a rainbow descends, showering the two in light. This rainbow references the Kanchis Ñust'a Karpay, the initiation of the Seven Goddesses. These seven initiations were gifted by the Q'ero medicine people via Don Mariano Quispe, who carried these teachings beyond the Q'ero community and into the United States, sensing it was a place in need of balance and to support the healing of the Earth. Each of the seven rainbow colors channels the distinct frequency of one of these divine feminine forces, and together they form a bridge between these healing energies and the world.

What keeps me returning to this path is its beauty. It is gentle and tender, yet it nurtures healing in a deep way. Each time I return, I receive new capacity to love. Its core teachings include Munay, or love — cultivating a compassionate heart that sees the sacredness in all things — and Ayni, sacred reciprocity, along with balance, particularly in uniting the divine feminine and masculine energies within oneself and in the wider world.