Hello from Cusco, where the streets are laid out like a puma and hawkers offer massages on every corner. I've been thinking about Huáscar, the last true Sapa Inca, who willingly took sacred knowledge into the underworld until the time was right for its return.

What if the strange convergence we're witnessing - the grimoire revival, the sudden value of grandmother's recipes, and yes, even the rise of what I'm calling "orthodank" online - are all manifestations of the same archetypal energy? Things coming up from below, returning from the shadows at this precise moment in time. The question is: which returns will we embrace?

Chapters

The Temple City of Cusco - Exploring the ancient capital and how authentic experience lurks just beneath tourist traps
The Tale of Two Brothers - The story of Waskar and Atahualpa, the civil war that weakened the Inca Empire, and how Waskar preserved sacred knowledge
Three Stories of Waskar's Fate - Drowning, beheading, or escape: tracing the different narratives through history and oral tradition
The Return of Waskar in the 90s - Alberto Violdo's observations and the rising indigenous pride in Peru
The Fortean Dominant - How things pushed into the underworld are returning in our time
Conservative Returns - The relationship between rising conservatism and the return of things worth conserving
Grandmother's Foods - How millennials became the generation that values heritage foods and traditional ways
Magic's Return - The grimoire revival and the return of ancestral magical knowledge
Shadow and Integration - How to navigate the darker aspects of what returns from the underworld

Stephen J. McNamee

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