Marakame
The Huichol view the marakame as a spiritual leader who is an ambassador to the gods. The marakame is an integral link between the people and the unseen realms of the sacred. Marakame is translated as one who knows, singer or shaman.
After many years of pilgrimage, when the Gods feel you are ready, they call you to stand before the altar of initiation.
Don Jose Sandoval de la Cruz led the ceremony of my initiation to become a Marakame. He sang all night by the fire at the sacred lake, calling on the Gods, Goddesses, Deities, all that is.
He prayed, asking, listening to hear if they would agree to open the portal, create the bridge and support my initiation. The answer was yes and as dawn lightened the sky the bull sang to its ancestors.
They answered, singing him home and the bridge was made, the portal opened.