# D — Inca Glossary

> From the Inca Glossary by Patt O'Neill (© 2007, 2008, 2014).
> Web page: https://incaglossary.com/d
> 39 terms. Each term heading links to that term's own Markdown file.

## [daño](https://incaglossary.com/d/dano.md)

(n) [Witchcraft](https://incaglossary.com/witch). [AYV]
Damage, loss, hurt, harm. [CEES]
Magical harm. [WOFW]  Daño
is a kind of soul loss. But, unlike [susto](https://incaglossary.com/s/susto.md), it
requires the intervention of sentient beings who orchestrate [soul capture](https://incaglossary.com/s/soulcapture.md) and thus
falls under the heading of sorcery. [GOL] *See*, [mal daño](https://incaglossary.com/m/maldano.md)*, daño por boca* (*see*, below), and *daño
por aire* (*see*,
below).

## [daño por aire](https://incaglossary.com/d/danoporaire.md)

Languages: Span

(n) Harm that is carried through the air and comes into contact with
the victim in this way. It will often be diagnosed as any number of
illnesses, none of which reflect the real, magical cause. If a doctor
follows up on the false diagnosis and treats the symptoms of daño with
ingested, or especially injected medicines, these medicines will have
an adverse effect on the victim, poisoning instead of curing. [GOL]

## [daño por boca](https://incaglossary.com/d/danoporboca.md)

Languages: Span

(n) Harm that is ingested by mouth (a potion or powder) and is usually
fatal. Daño por boca manifests itself without any perceivable cause.[GOL]

## [dark cloud constellations](https://incaglossary.com/d/dark-cloud-constellations.md)

(Eng) *See*,
 [Pachatira](https://incaglossary.com/p/pachatira.md), [Yana Phuyu](https://incaglossary.com/y/yana-phuyu.md)
and [Mayu](https://incaglossary.com/m/mayu.md).

## [dark matter](https://incaglossary.com/d/dark-matter.md)

Dark
matter is a mysterious hypothetical substance that is thought not to
interact with light photons and is thus invisible to current detection
instruments. Scientists first invoked the concept in the 1930s to
explain why fast-spinning galaxies with relatively little mass don't
break apart. The unusual solution: They contain a large amount of
invisible matter whose heft and gravity hold the galaxies together.
Scientists have since estimated that only about one-sixth of the matter
in the universe is visible, and that the rest is dark matter. The
cosmic web filaments are held together by dark matter, unseen stuff
that makes up 85 percent of all mass in the universe. [WSC5]

- Image: https://incaglossary.com/images/D_files/darkmatter.png — Astronomers have mapped the positions of vast, invisible isles of dark matter in the sky, within which normal "bright" matter galaxies are embedded like glittering gems. The three-dimensional map spans not only space, but also time, and stretches back to when the universe was only about half its present age. [WSC5]

## [datura](https://incaglossary.com/d/datura.md)

,
floripondio, misha, huanto: (n) A plant in the Nightshade Family. It
contains tropane alkaloids that are sometimes used as a hallucinogen.
The active ingredients are atropine, hyoscyamine and scopolamine which
are classified as deliriants, or anticholinergics. *Due
to extremely high risk of overdose, many deaths and hospitalizations
are reported from recreational use*. [WIKI] It can be
added to a San Pedro infusion to produce greater visual force. [WOFW]  (*See*, [toé](https://incaglossary.com/t/toe.md).)

## [Daytime Sun](https://incaglossary.com/d/daytimesun.md)

(n) (Eng) The sun as it passed across the sky from sunrise to sunset
was worshiped by the [Llacuaz](https://incaglossary.com/ll/llacuaz.md) lineage [ayllu](https://incaglossary.com/a/ayllu.md)
of [Cajatambo](https://incaglossary.com/c/cajatambo.md).
 [MAN]
(See,
[Huarochirí Manuscript](https://incaglossary.com/h/huarochirimanuscript.md), [Nighttime Sun](https://incaglossary.com/n/nighttimesun.md).)

## [deer](https://incaglossary.com/d/deer.md)

Languages: Eng

(n) The deer plays a vital role in the lore of modern shamans,
and is an important part of their therapy. Symbolizing swiftness and
elusiveness, the deer is used by the shaman to detect attacking spirits
and to exorcise spirits in cases of possession. [WOFW] This
fleet-footed animal has the power to drive away all that is unwanted
forever. [GOL]

## [delousing](https://incaglossary.com/d/delousing.md)

Languages: Eng

(n)
There is a custom which still can be seen in some primitive human
groups of the Andes. It consists of delousing another person and, while
doing it, killing with nail and teeth the captured lice, and swallowing
them thereupon. Recently, while examining the digestive contents of
Peruvian mummies, evidence was found that this custom is at least one
thousand years old in Peru. [DYE]

## [dental work](https://incaglossary.com/d/dental-work.md)

Languages: Eng

(n)
Dental surgery must have also been a common occupation of the healers
of that epoch, to judge from the ample evidence found in the ancient
graves. We can see the final, well healed effects of dental extractions
and even in some cases the replacement of teeth with metallic
prostheses. Cieza states that, in some tribes, “the chieftains stud or
fill their teeth with gold.” [DYE]

## [depilitation](https://incaglossary.com/d/depilitation.md)

Languages: Eng

(n)
Father Cobo says that all the Indians “pluck the hairs of the beard off
with copper tweezers” and Santa Cruz Pachacutic states that this custom
became generalized after an edict of Inca [Lloque Yupanqui](https://incaglossary.com/ll/lloqueyupanqui.md) ordered
that all noblemen would have their beards plucked out so that they were
hairless, as he was. The tweezers used in this manner were called *canipacho* or *tirana*, and were
used by both men and women. There is not one single mention [in the
chronicles] of their use as [surgical instruments](https://incaglossary.com/appendix/l) [as
forceps]. [DYE]

## [descuenta](https://incaglossary.com/d/descuenta.md)

, desmarco,
cierre de la cuenta (Span): (v) To send the power back out of the
mesa objects and close the ceremony, the [curandero](https://incaglossary.com/c/curandero.md)
“unaccounts” (through chanting or singing [*see*, [tarjo](https://incaglossary.com/t/tarjo.md)]) that
power by verbalizing the action of its return from the [mesa](https://incaglossary.com/m/mesa.md) to the enchanted place of origin (place
in nature) where that power resides. [GOL] This
[procedure] is the same as the opening [the account] ceremony. [WPH]*See*, [account](https://incaglossary.com/a/account.md), [encanto](https://incaglossary.com/e/encanto.md)

## [desgracia](https://incaglossary.com/d/desgracia.md)

Languages: Span

(n) Disgrace, misfortune. [PSL]

## [despachar](https://incaglossary.com/d/despachar.md)

Languages: Span

(v) (1) To send; to clear (at customs house). [SEES] (2) Orally
spraying [mesa](https://incaglossary.com/c/curanderomesa.md) objects with alcohol
or holy water to cleanse and to send noxious substances on their way
that have been extracted from patients during [limpias](https://incaglossary.com/l/limpia.md). [GOL]  (*See*, [kamay](https://incaglossary.com/k/kamay.md))

## [despacho](https://incaglossary.com/d/despacho.md)

Languages: Span

(n) A ceremonial offering composed of a wide variety of
elements, each with its own symbolic meaning. The elements are
intricately arranged on white paper, infused with [sami](https://incaglossary.com/s/sami.md),
bundled up and burned. Despachos are commonly used to attain [ayni](https://incaglossary.com/a/ayni.md)
and set things right ([kuti](https://incaglossary.com/k/kuti.md)). [Shamans](https://incaglossary.com/s/shaman.md)
use them also to feed their connections to the sacred. [KOAK]
The
traditional Andean offering of thanks or supplication sent to the
Nature Spirits. Despachos can contain up to 200 different ingredients
and are made in a ceremony performed by Andean Priests. This offering
is traditionally burned, buried, or sunk in a lake or other body of
water depending on the meaning and purpose of the offering. [Haywarisqa](https://incaglossary.com/h/haywarisqa.md)
is the Quechua term for the despacho. [NND]Unlike
the Q'ero, who do not watch the despacho burn [Pachamama is consuming
the offering and it is considered to be rude], the [Kollahuaya](https://incaglossary.com/k/kollahuaya.md) watch the
burning until it is complete. [IGMP] (See,
[Appendix J](https://incaglossary.com/appendix/j).)

- Image: https://incaglossary.com/images/D_files/despacho.jpg — An unwrapped despacho to Pachamama. [IGMP]

## [Devil's Doorway](https://incaglossary.com/d/devils-doorway.md)

Languages: Eng

*See*, [Gateway of Amaru Muru](https://incaglossary.com/fg/gatewayofamarumuru.md).

## [diet](https://incaglossary.com/d/diet.md)

Languages: Eng

(n) The literal translation of the Spanish term *dieta*.
It refers to [shamanic](https://incaglossary.com/s/shaman.md) apprenticeship
training as it is done in the Amazon. It is much more than just a
"diet." Along with the implicit food restrictions (no salt, sugar,
spices, oils, fats, alcohol, stimulants, pork meat -- and in some cases
no chicken or red meat too ), there are other specific conditions to
respect, among which two are very important: sexual abstinence and
physical seclusion. The altered state of consciousness needed to
access the plant spirit world is achieved by these restrictions while
being alone in the forest with the shaman/teacher. That is the
traditional way. During the period of the diet, the apprentice must
also refrain from entering in contact with menstruating women, at any
level (including having his/her clothes touched/washed by, or having
his/her food prepared by a lady in this condition). Traditionally, it
is only the shaman who should attend the apprentice during the
time of his/her diet, and should bring/prepare food. [EMM]
Of paramount importance is the necessity of keeping a very strict diet
and total sexual abstinence during the period of apprenticeship. It is
through the diet that the plants reveal themselves to the initiate,
either in visions or in dreams. The length of the diet will determine
his knowledge and his strength. In some cases the spirits themselves
will appear and prescribe the duration and character of the diet. Even
after the shaman has withdrawn from the isolation required during
apprenticeship, and starts his shamanic practices, periods of diet are
recommended, especially when treating difficult cases and/or when
preparing certain medicines. It is quite common to keep the diet for
one or several days after the ingestion of [ayahuasca](https://incaglossary.com/a/ayahuasca.md) or other [plant teachers](https://incaglossary.com/p/plantteachers.md), if used
only for the purpose of curing. When learning from the plants the
diet's duration may be of several months and even up to several years.
The "ideal" diet consists of cooked plantains, smoked fish and
sometimes *carne de monte*, the meat of certain jungle animals.
Rice and manioc seem to be accepted by some [ayahuasqueros](https://incaglossary.com/a/ayahuascero.md). No salt,
sugar or any other condiments, fats, alcohol, pork, chicken, fruit,
vegetables or cold beverages can be ingested. The food must be prepared
either by the shaman himself, or by a premenstruate girl or a
postmenopausal woman. The maintenance of some sort of altered state of
consciousness seems to be part of the learning process. [MSIN]

> **Editorial note**
>
> **In
> some cases it is clear that by ingesting and following the diet for a
> plant, the shaman is trying to participate in some of its qualities.
> Many of the plant teachers are very tall trees, that resist heavy
> rains, winds and inundations. The shaman will then be able to withstand
> the elements in the same way.** [MSIN]

## [Diosa huayuthuayunocathaa](https://incaglossary.com/d/diosa-huayuthuayunocathaa.md)

Languages: AYM

(v) To call to God for help (sp). [ASD]

## [Diosana camachita aropa](https://incaglossary.com/d/diosana-camachita-aropa.md)

Languages: AYM

(n) Law of God (sp). [ASD]

## [Diosman kutiriy](https://incaglossary.com/d/diosman-kutiriy.md)

(v) Literally, *return
to God*.
To repent (sp). [PSL]

## [Diosmanta mañakuy](https://incaglossary.com/d/diosmanta-manakuy.md)

Literally, *to
ask of God*.
(n) Prayer. (v) To pray (sp). [PSL]

## [Diospa atiynin](https://incaglossary.com/d/diospa-atiynin.md)

(n) Literally, *God's
power*
(sp). Priesthood. [PSL]

## [Diospagarasunki](https://incaglossary.com/d/diospagarasunki.md)

(phrase) Literally, *God
will repay you*.
Thank you (sp). [PSL]

## [Diospagaray](https://incaglossary.com/d/diospagaray.md)

(v) To thank (sp). [PSL]

## [dismemberment](https://incaglossary.com/d/dismemberment.md)

Languages: Eng.

(n)
The candidate will gain [shamanic](https://incaglossary.com/s/shaman.md)
powers during a visionary experience in which he or she undergoes some
form of death or personal destruction and disintegration at the hands
of divine beings, followed by a corresponding resurrection or
reintegration that purges and gives a qualitatively different life to
the initiate. [WMYS]
A common motif in shamanic initiation in several parts of the world:
the neophyte undergoes a symbolic death and resurrection by being
dismembered and then restored to a higher physical and psychical
condition. [AYV]
Dismemberment allows the shaman to become more transparent. This death
dismantles the old (false) self, allowing a new [(authentic) self](https://incaglossary.com/a/authenticself.md) to emerge. This
dismantlement of the self is a necessary part of the shamanic awakening
process. [PSPM]

- Image: https://incaglossary.com/images/D_files/dismemberment.jpg — A [vegetalista](https://incaglossary.com/v/vegetalista.md) experiencing dismemberment. [AYV]

## [divination](https://incaglossary.com/d/divination.md)

Languages: Eng

The act of divining; a foreseeing or foretelling of future events; the
pretended art discovering secret or future by preternatural means. An
indication of what is future or secret; augury omen; conjectural
presage; prediction. [DRC]The
 [calparicu](https://incaglossary.com/c/calparicu.md) used a
bewildering variety of techniques to predict the future. Charcoal fire
ashes, cobwebs, dreams, [scrying](https://incaglossary.com/s/scrying.md) the
inflated lungs of sacrificial animals, casting lots with ears of maize,
beans or pebbles, the movement of giant spiders kept in tightly lidded
jars, or even the flow of saliva spat into the palm of the hand. [IAWE] Divination
is really seeing predispositions. It comes out of stillness and love. [AVO] In
divining with [coca](https://incaglossary.com/c/coca.md) leaves, different shapes
indicate health, money, love and relationship, the weather, good and
bad fortune, animals, and natural events. [ACAI]  [cocadiv.pdf](https://incaglossary.com/pdfs/cocadiv.pdf)

- Image: https://incaglossary.com/images/D_files/droppedImage-552.jpg

## [Diyus](https://incaglossary.com/d/diyus.md)

(n) God (sp). [QP]

## [Diyus kaynin](https://incaglossary.com/d/diyus-kaynin.md)

(n) Deity (sp). [QP]

## [Diyuspa wasin](https://incaglossary.com/d/diyuspa-wasin.md)

(n) Church (sp). [QP]

## [doctora](https://incaglossary.com/d/doctora.md)

Languages: Span

(n) Another term for [shaman](https://incaglossary.com/s/shaman.md).
 [EMM]

## [doctorcitos](https://incaglossary.com/d/doctorcitos.md)

Languages: Span

(n) Literally, *little
doctors*. Spirits
that work with [vegetalistas](https://incaglossary.com/v/vegetalista.md). They
present themselves during visions and dreams. They show how to diagnose
the illness, what plants to use and how, the proper use of tobacco
smoke, how to suck out the illness or restore the spirit to a patient,
how the shamans defend themselves, what to eat, and, most important,
they teach them [icaros](https://incaglossary.com/i/icaro.md), magic
songs or shamanic melodies which are the main tools of shamanic
practices. [MSIN]

## [doctores](https://incaglossary.com/d/doctores.md)

Languages: Span

(n) Plant
teachers (*see*).  [MSIN]

## [dog](https://incaglossary.com/d/dog.md)

Languages: Eng

(n) The guardian of and the only creature allowed to accompany
the [vegetalista](https://incaglossary.com/v/vegetalista.md)
while he is gathering and preparing his psychotropic brew. The dog
keeps away other animals, humans and malevolent spirits. The dog can
see spiritually better than its master and can warn him. Some Amazon
tribes give [ayahuasca](https://incaglossary.com/a/ayahuasca.md)
or [datura](https://incaglossary.com/d/datura.md)
to the dog to enhance its powers. [AYV]

## [don / doña](https://incaglossary.com/d/don-dona.md)

Languages: Span

(n) (1) Gift, talent. [GOL]
 (2) One
with the gift for healing. [PSPM]

## [don de la vida, el](https://incaglossary.com/d/don-de-la-vida.md)

Languages: Span

(n) Literally, *the
gift of life*. The spark
of divinity within each one of us. [GOL]

## [double](https://incaglossary.com/d/double.md)

Languages: Eng

(n) An aspect of your psyche that exists outside of space/time in
symbolic form. The double becomes real for you when you live your
unconscious process, get around doubts and hesitations, take
responsibility and live what you perceive and experience, regardless of
what others might think. [TSB]
(*See*,
 [jaguar](https://incaglossary.com/j/jaguar.md),
 [shapeshift](https://incaglossary.com/s/shapeshift.md).)
Once it has learned to dream the double, the self arrives at this weird
crossroad and a moment comes when [the self] realizes that it is the
double who dreams the self. [TOP]
The *dreaming
body*,
sometimes called the *double* or the *other*, because it is
a perfect replica of the *dreamer*
's body, is inherently the energy of a luminous being, a whitish,
phantomlike emanation, which is projected by the fixation of the [second attention](https://incaglossary.com/s/secondattention.md)
into a three-dimensional image of the body. [TEG]
(*See*,
 [nagual](https://incaglossary.com/n/nagual.md).)

## [dream interpretation](https://incaglossary.com/d/dream-interpretation.md)

Languages: Eng

See, [musquq](https://incaglossary.com/m/musquq.md), def. (2)
for a short list of symbols and their meanings.

## [Dreamtime](https://incaglossary.com/d/dreamtime.md)

Languages: Eng.

**:** (n)
[Originally a construct of the Australian first people, the Aborigine.]
During the world-creating epoch called *the
Dreaming*, the [Ancestors](https://incaglossary.com/a/ancestor.md) moved
across a barren, undifferentiated field. [*See*, [Appendix I](https://incaglossary.com/appendix/i).] The
Ancestors, traveled, hunted, made camp, fought and loved, and in so
doing they shaped a featureless field into a topographical landscape.
Before their travels, they would sleep and dream the adventures and
episodes of the following day. In this manner, moving from dreams to
action, the Ancestors created the world and its creatures. These things
were created simultaneously and each could transform into any of the
others. Transformations occurred as the adventures of the Dreamtime
stories required. Everything was created from the same source -- the
dreaming and doings of the Ancestors. There is a universal and psychic
consciousness to every living thing and to the earth and primary
elements, forces, and principles. Each component of creation acts out
of dreams, desires, attractions, and repulsions. Therefore, the
entrance into the larger world of space, time, and universal energies
and fields is the same as the entrance into the inner world of
consciousness and dreaming. The exploration of the vast universe and a
knowledge of the meaning of creation is experienced through an internal
and external knowledge of self. [VTFD]

## [duktur](https://incaglossary.com/d/duktur.md)

(n) Doctor (sp). [QP]

## Sources

- **ACAI**: The Andean Codex, J.E. Williams
- **ASD**: *Vocabulario de la Lengua Aymara*
- **AVO**: my notes from Alberto Villoldo, various writings and lectures
- **AYV**: *Ayahuasca Visions,* Luna
- **CEES**: Source not listed on the original Text Sources page.
- **DRC**: dictionary.reference.com
- **DYE**: Source not listed on the original Text Sources page.
- **EMM**: www.ayahuasca-shamanism.co.uk/
- **GOL**: *The Gift of Life*, Glass-Coffin.
- **IAWE**: Source not listed on the original Text Sources page.
- **IGMP**: *Andean Awakening*, Delgado
- **KOAK**: *Keepers of the Ancient knowledge*, Wilcox
- **MAN**: *Mythology of the American Nations*, Jones and Molyneaux
- **MSIN**: conference paper *The Concept of Plants as Teachers among four Mestizo Shamans of Iquitos, Northeastern Perú*, Luna
- **NND**: www.netnaturdoktoren.dk/ordbog.htm
- **PSL**: www.geocities.com/phillott/Bolivia/Dictionary02.htm  Bolivian Quechua
- **PSPM**: *Pachakuti Mesa*, Magee
- **QP**: *Quechua Phrasebook* , Coronel-Molina
- **SEES**: Crowell's Spanish-English and English-Spanish Dictionary
- **TEG**: *The Eagle’s Gift*, Castaneda
- **TOP**: *Tales of Power*, Castaneda
- **TSB**: *The Shaman’s Body*, Mindell
- **VTFD**: *Voices of the First Day*, Lawlor
- **WIKI**: en.wikipedia.org (no www)
- **WMYS**: www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/scripts/shamanism.html
- **WOFW**: Source not listed on the original Text Sources page.
- **WPH**: Eduardo el Curandero, Calderón
- **WSC5**: www.space.com/3319-astronomers-create-3d-map-dark-matter.html