About Being Struck By Lightning
2013-05-24
One way people traditionally become shaman in Peru is to be struck by lightning. The resulting opening and downloading of information marks the beginning of transformation to being a Paqo, or shaman in the Quechua language. When you are high up in the Andes and realize how close the clouds are to you, and how easily one can be struck by lightning, I wondered how the experience would be.
An answer was provided through an interview on CBC radio with a man who had been struck by lightning. He was a teacher, and was leading a baseball practice in a schoolyard in Eastern Ontario. A storm was beginning to brew, and he told himself, as he held up an aluminum bat, that he should be getting the students under cover in case of lightning.
At that moment, he felt the hair on his head being pulled straight up, energy rising up through his feet, and then he was surrounded by a bright orange light. He was forced backwards by a blow from nowhere.
The next thing he knew he was surrounded by the students, helping him to get up. Getting to his feet with some effort, and telling the kids to get inside, he was able to run into the school, where he collapsed again. He received medical attention, and was still in the process of regaining his strength several days after the event. He was told that although the strength of a lightning strike is many hundreds of times greater than the electricity running through wires, it was the brief length of time of a lighting strike that saved him.
He felt his life had been changed. His perspective on what it meant to be alive changed also. In Peru he would be on his way to being a Paqo, Earthkeeper.
