The following excerpts have been taken from the new book, Mending the Past and Healing the Future with Soul Retrieval, by Dr. Alberto Villoldo. It is published by Hay House (June 2005) and available at all bookstores or online at: www.hayhouse.com.
By Dr. Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D.
Chapter Two - Transforming Fate into Destiny
I discovered that in the end, science is only a metaphor for nature, not nature itself. It’s a metaphor that has replaced the old stories of the sky and earth gods. We no longer appease the lord of lightning or of wind—we can explain how low-pressure fronts cause tropical storms, but in the process we’ve lost the mystery and the wonderment at creation. We know why bees are attracted to flowers, but we forget to smell the roses or to be like the lilies of the field. . . .
I arrived at don Ignacio’s this morning, following the trail, two feet wide. Here everything is overgrown, tangled, and wet. He lives in a village, or rather a large family compound at the edge of the Madre de Dios, the Mother of God River. I ask a boy and he tells me the village is called “El Infierno,” or Hell. All around me are trees the size of office buildings. This is the land of giants. Parrots are hawking above, the river is flowing softly behind me . . . looks like paradise to me . Hell is where I come from, where concrete has overtaken nature.
El Infierno. “It’s because of the birds,” Ignacio would later tell me. “They squawk constantly, like missionaries.”
— from Alberto’s journal
Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, there’s a marked difference between fate (which is known as karma among Eastern traditions) and destiny (also known as dharma). Fate is a course that’s been predetermined by our family, our history, our genes, and our emotional wounds. We speak about the fate of nations with a sense of inevitability. We sometimes hear of two individuals meeting, or of a relationship breaking apart, and say that it was “fated to happen.” And in many native cultures, there are two kinds of illnesses identified by healers: those that come from God, and those that come from man. Even though they may have identical symptoms, if an illness is seen as coming from God, there’s nothing the healer can do other than alleviating the pain.
In other words, fate is the predetermined and seemingly inevitable series of events that happen to us. It seems unavoidable, and stalks us at every turn in our lives—for example, we leave one spouse, only to end up in the same relationship with another person. Fate is also deadly; in fact, it has the same origin as the word fatality.
Destiny, on the other hand, is the purpose and calling of a life, and it can be discovered and realized. Whereas the early Greeks believed that fate was spun from a certain thread, and that once it was woven into a cloth it was irreversible, they saw destiny as a force or agency that could intervene to reweave the cloth of fate. I believe that destiny can also happen without divine intervention—but it requires that you become conscious of your past wounds and respond to the calling you were born with, and you can then can steer the course of your own life.
Destiny allows you to transcend fate and to live free of negative emotional and genetic programming. By stepping into your destiny, you can free yourself from an inheritance of breast cancer or heart disease, or from an emotional history that causes you to continually remarry an updated version of an unsuitable spouse. Destiny allows you to navigate life instead of stumble through it. When you step into your destiny, you can participate consciously in your own growth.
***
Biologists and the Laika have different understandings of evolution. Biologists think that it happens only between generations—that is, our children may be smarter and healthier than we are, but it’s too late for the current generation to change. Science believes that our genes can’t be altered, and we’re all bound to inherit certain traits and tendencies from previous generations. So if a genetic predisposition runs in your family, your children’s fate has been sealed: The breast cancer you inherited from your mother is just waiting to express itself, and the heart condition passed down from your father will spring up like a jack-in-the-box down the road. But the Laika understand that evolution happens within generations, so you can actually uncoil the layers of your genetic code to reinform your DNA and change your genetic fate.
I believe that we can change our destiny so that our children will inherit the healed traits we develop in our lifetime, as we uncoil the genetic code another strand. Through journeying, we can track a destiny in which we heal and age differently, one in which we avoid manifesting the ailments of our ancestors or reliving our childhood traumas. Journeying can guide us to grow new bodies informed not only by who we’ve been in the past, but by who we’ll be 10,000 years from now.
The Quest of Parsifal
The 12th-century myth of Parsifal and his quest for the Holy Grail illustrates how we can search for and discover our own grails, thus transforming fate into destiny. Since this legend has been one of the most enduring and influential in our history, I’ve chosen to use it to help us understand the quest for destiny.
When the tale begins, Parsifal is a sheltered young boy. His mother, Heart’s Sorrow, has already lost her husband and two sons in battle. Fearful that Parsifal will want to follow in their footsteps and become a knight and die an equally horrible death, she raises him in the forest far from civilization. Heart’s Sorrow lives to protect her son from life.
One morning when Parsifal is playing in the woods, he comes upon a group of five knights dressed in shining armor and carrying long lances—and he’s irresistibly drawn to their world of adventure. He’s so taken by the gallant knights and their finery that he immediately decides to leave home and become a knight himself. His terrified mother pleads with him not to leave her, but Parsifal is determined to travel to the court of King Arthur and join his legendary Round Table. T he young man receives his mother’s tearful blessing, along with a simple homespun garment to wear. She tells him that he must respect all women, and he shouldn’t be curious or ask any questions. With these gifts and warnings, Parsifal sets forth upon his quest to become a knight and to fulfill his fate.
When the boy arrives at King Arthur’s court dressed in his mother’s homespun garment, he asks to be knighted, and the country lad is laughed out of the hall. But Parsifal insists again and again, until he’s finally granted an audience with the king. Among the members of the court is a lovely maiden, who hasn’t laughed or smiled in six years. Legend has it that she’ll only laugh again when the finest knight in the world appears. Upon seeing Parsifal, she bursts into delighted laughter, startling the court. Who is this boy who’s done what no other could? Can the foolish and untested Parsifal truly be the knight for whom they’ve been waiting?
The king tells Parsifal that to join the Round Table he must battle and defeat the Red Knight, the most fearsome warrior in the kingdom. He also tells the lad that he can have the Red Knight’s horse and armor if he wins them from him in battle. Parsifal challenges the dreaded knight and, despite his inexperience, kills him with a stroke of luck. Victorious, Parsifal puts the Red Knight’s armor over his homespun garment—and Arthur grants him his knighthood.
***
Parsifal’s next task is to find the Holy Grail and return it to King Arthur’s court. A wise old man, Gournamond, provides him with valuable instruction to guide him in his quest. Gournamond is stern in his advice: If Parsifal should ever find himself within the Grail Castle and come upon the holy relic, he must ask the question, “Whom does the Grail serve?”
Before embarking upon his knightly adventures, Parsifal decides to visit his mother to show her his accomplishments—but when he arrives at her door, he learns that she died of grief upon his departure. Torn apart by guilt, Parsifal continues on his way and soon finds Blanche Fleur (White Flower), a beautiful damsel whose castle is under siege. She implores Parsifal to save her, and he charges into battle, valiantly defeating her attackers and winning back her kingdom. After the battle, he spends a single chaste night with Blanche Fleur, and in the morning, he continues on his hunt for the Holy Grail.
One day while seeking lodging for the evening, Parsifal comes upon some peasants who tell him that there’s no shelter for 30 miles. But soon he finds a man fishing alone in a boat on a lake. The fisherman invites Parsifal to stay at his home nearby, gives him directions, and sends him on his way. To the young knight’s surprise, the fisherman’s home is actually the legendary Grail Castle. When Parsifal crosses the moat, he finds himself in a sumptuous, dreamlike setting, with a court of 400 knights and ladies surrounding the Fisher King, who lies in pain upon his litter, suffering from an unhealed wound to his thigh incurred much earlier. Parsifal realizes that the man he mistook for a simple fisherman was actually the Fisher King.
A great banquet is under way, during which the Fisher King gives Parsifal a sword. As part of the festivities, the Holy Grail is brought out and passed around the court. Everyone drinks from it and is granted a wish, except for Parsifal and the Fisher King, who can’t drink from the Grail until his wound is healed. All through dinner, Parsifal sits silently, heeding his mother’s warning not to ask any questions. The entire court observes him keenly, since they’ve been waiting a long time to see their prophecy fulfilled—legend has it that one day a naïve youth will appear at the castle and ask the Grail a question, thereby finally releasing its power and healing their king.
But Parsifal never speaks, and the next morning he finds the castle empty. He continues on, his new sword strapped to his side, as the Grail Castle vanishes behind him. Over the years, he pursues a long series of knightly accomplishments—slaying dragons, conquering enemy knights, rescuing fair maidens, and fulfilling the greatness that King Arthur saw in him. Parsifal’s reputation for knightly prowess spreads, and word gets back to King Arthur, who asks to have the knight brought back to his court. A great festival and tournament are held in Parsifal’s honor, and he’s accorded the highest prestige and respect of any knight. However, at the height of the celebration, a hag appears. In front of everyone, she recites a litany of Parsifal’s many sins, faults, and misdeeds, the most egregious of which is his failure to ask the Grail question when he had his opportunity.
Humiliated and humbled by the hag, Parsifal sets off once again in search of the Grail Castle, but all he finds are more battles and more hardship. One day in the autumn of his life, he finally comes upon a group of pilgrims who berate him for wearing his battle armor on Good Friday, one of the holiest days of the year. They lead him to an old hermit living deep in the forest who, just like the hag, chastises the knight for his failure to ask the Grail question.
When Parsifal strips himself of his armor and removes the homespun garment that he’s worn for so many years, the old hermit finally directs him to the Grail Castle. Now, at the end of his years of adventure, he’s finally given another opportunity to prove himself in the most important of his tasks.
Parsifal finds the castle, and he steps forth and asks the magic question (“Whom does the Grail serve?”). At long last, all rejoice. The Holy Grail is passed around, the Fisher King is able to drink from the cup, and he’s finally healed.