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Amazon Spirit
Ayahuasca Intensive Retreats,
Dietas with Plantas
Maestras and
Amazonian Indigenous
Entheogenic Shamanism
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"Ayawaska, for us, is not fugitive pleasure, venture, or seedless
adventure as it is for the virakocha. Ayawaska is a a gateway - not
for escape but for eternity. It allows us to enter those worlds, to
live at the same time in this and in other realities, to traverse
the endless, unmeasurable provinces of the night."
Cesar Calvo |
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An Invitation....
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We
invite you to experience first hand - in a supportive, friendly and
safe environment - the sheer power and beauty of the Amazonian
teachings of ayahuasca and plants teachers, with the native people
that for millennia have handled down this knowledge in an impeccable
way, developing a most intimate relationship with the jungle, almost
embedded in their DNA. Besides having a genuine direct exposure to
these ancestral practices and walk your personal path to vision,
knowledge and healing, your retreat in the Amazon will benefit in
many ways - and directly support - indigenous people's economy, and
will guarantee and encourage the continuation and transmission of
these ancestral shamanic practices. |
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The Centre and an overview of the Retreat
Onanyan Shobo literally means "The
Shaman's House", in the Shipibo-Conibo indigenous tongue,
and is a new centre that - wit a lot of patience and hard work, financial
investments, a good heart, vision and much trust - we have helped to create,
about one and half hours drive from the heart of the jungle town of Iquitos, the
capital of the vast department of Loreto, in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru. The
Jungle Camp is located near the Allpahuayo Mishana Natural Reserve, inside one
of Peru's rarest white sand rainforest, and - subject to availability - is open all year round,
including the Christmas, New Year and Easter periods.
All the people who run the centre are from the Shipibo-Conibo ethnic group, and
are renown for their great sense of hospitality and kindness. To say it with the
words of a past retreat participant, they are "grace personified".
The retreat begins with a ceremonia de bienvenida
(i.e. a "welcome ceremony" by the Shipibo family), when you will be
introduced to the centre and to the native and local people living there; you
will be explained about the schedule of your retreat and will have the
opportunity to introduce yourself too. On the first night of your arrival, you
will take part to a Sweat Lodge
cleansing ritual, led by the shaman.
This is a very
intensive Ayahuasca retreat with four healing sessions scheduled to take
place each week (read more below). You may watch
yourself how the sacred tea is prepared by
the shaman, pounding ("machacando") the woody Ayahuasca
(Banisteriopsis caapi) vine cuts first and
then boiling them for long hours over a traditional wood fire.
The main other plant additives employed in the
making of the Ayahuasca brew as prepared now in Onanyan Shobo
are:
- the fresh leaves
of the Chacruna (Psychotria viridis) green shrub
- the leaves of the Coca (Erythroxylon coca)
plant
- the leaves of the Toe'
(Brugmansia suaveolens) plant
- Mapacho (Nicotiana Tabacum),
i.e. black jungle tobacco.
At times, the fresh
leaves of Huambisa Chacruna (Diplopterys cabrerana) - also known by the
name of Ojo Yajé - are also used in the making of the brew, as
alternative (or supplement) to the Chacruna leaves.
The Ayahuasca so prepared is a very potent
brew,
and now one of the strongest in the region.
Depending on the
length and nature of your retreat, you may also learn (under supervision) how to prepare the ayahuasca
medicine yourself (this aspect of the training being more suited to long term dieteros).
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The Retreat in a Nutshell
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 One
Sweat ritual (on your first
night of arrival).
Four
Ayahuasca ceremonies
each week.
One
Toe' ritual each week.
Ritual cleansing herbal and clay baths +
flourishing, luck-bringing flower baths (traditionally used for wealth,
prosperity, love and friendship).
Day jungle
hikes along the beautiful ethnobotanical garden circuit of Onanyan Shobo
(where the shaman will show you the many plant teachers of the centre,
explaining their properties and traditional medicinal and shamanic uses).
Night jungle hikes with
the shaman - when you may be able to see the magical glowing of the area below
palos maestros (teacher trees) like the Chullachaki-caspi (Tovomita
sp.) and the Remocaspi (Aspidosperma excelsum), in total darkness.
A
bonfire
at
night, grilling home-made unleavened flatbread.
Swim in a natural swimming pool that is now
being created by extending and deepening the jungle creek that goes through the
Camp!!
(Available from August 2008)
Chill out, read, write or simply relax in the newly built
Communal House!!
(Available from August 2008)
An
exhibition-sale of Shipibo artefacts and textiles
during the final ceremonia de despedida (i.e. the
goodbye ceremony)
with Shipibo surprise gifts...
Great food, with fresh
Amazonian fish
excellently cooked every day....will complement your ayahuasca retreat in Onanyan Shobo!!
Strongly recommended to anyone wishing to have a
deep, genuine, serious and supportive encounter with the ayahuasca
medicine with indigenous and local people!!
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There is an absolute minimum time of one week, for
ayahuasca healing retreats in Onanyan Shobo, and - currently - a maximum time of
sixteen weeks for
ayahuasca and shamanic plant diet retreats. Longer periods may be agreed on,
only for the most experienced, on successful acceptance of your application.
Reservations can only be made via El Mundo Magico and are subject to availability, acceptance and fulfilment of the
booking
requirements.
All individuals participating to the ayahuasca
retreat may stay in either one of the five spacious comfortable bungalows (Amazonian
thatched roof buildings, built on stilts) painted with Shipibo geometric
patterns, or else, in the huge communal bungalow - called "la Casa Grande" -
that has now been built (and is used mainly for groups), and can accommodate up to eighteen people at once.
People accepted for the shamanic plant diet, will stay in one of the four comfortable and
spacious individual wooden
bungalows, in a special ''wilder'' section, set apart from the main area of the centre, along the ethnobotanical garden circuit.
All bungalows (rustic by Western standards, super-luxurious by local people's
standards!!!) have private hygienic facilities (wash basin, private toilet and cold shower)
and are screened from insects with mosquito net.
With a retreat in
Onanyan Shobo you will have a direct, hands-on, practical exposure to
traditional Amazonian shamanism practice and culture at its best!!
By taking part to this special
journey, you will have the opportunity of a deep self-exploration through direct
exposure to traditional Amazonian shamanic plant medicine. You will also
benefit our indigenous shamans to maintain their traditional way of life,
increasingly threatened by impending modernization, globalization and
acculturation.
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The Sweat Lodge
The
Sweat - a unique feature of this retreat,
and almost unheard of in this area of the Northern Peruvian Amazon - is the
fruit of the living of
Don Alfredo
with Ashaninka and Cashibo tribes, both of whom have a tradition of
conducting these purification rituals, and has a special Shipibo flavour to it.
It is also the fruit of the staying of our dear
Don Mariano Silvano Sinuri
(Shipibo name: "Shawan Sani", a
palero
ayahuasquero and
previous shaman in the Centre) with Ashaninka tribes in his
youth. And, last but not least, the fruit of a cross-cultural exchange which we
have facilitated with a
visiting native Lakota ceremonialist,
Jonnie Windwalker.
Before the beginning and during the Sweat itself, the shaman will sing a song
of invocation to the Spirit of the Anaconda, in the Shipibo idiom. The dirt
altar set in front of the Sweat entrance symbolizes the Spirit of the Anaconda.
All plants used during the purification ritual are native Amazonian plants with
cleansing and aromatic properties. The
Sweat is done always on the first night of the retreat, before the sessions and treatment with
ayahuasca would begin.
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The Ayahuasca Journey:
This is an intensive
ayahuasca
journey which involves taking part to a good
four ayahuasca healing sessions each week. One
of the night rituals with the medicine may be done in the open wilderness, in a
special area cleared for the purpose of conducting ceremonies, and protected by
the oldest palo maestro (teacher
tree) of Onanyan Shobo, a massive and beautiful Remo caspi
(Aspidosperma excelsum) tree.
The
ayahuasca rituals take place in the jungle, at night, around eight pm, in almost total
darkness (exception made for candle or lantern-light, right at the beginning of
the ritual).
The
treatments and healings ("curaciónes") of the shamans will take place
during the ceremony regardless of whether you would be effectively taking - or
not - the ayahuasca. It's therefore of paramount importance to
attend all the sessions - a requirement to all - whilst the taking of the
ayahuasca tea proper is entirely voluntary.
Healing can take place in many different fashions whilst one is journeying with
the "Vine of the Soul" (or "Rope of the Dead", as the word
Ayawaska may
also be rendered in Quechua) and may well take the form of auditory - or even
silent - revelations, sudden emotional unblocks, cleansing of negative feelings
and - on the material plane - simply the expelling of toxins and/or parasites
through bodily purges, and a sense of having been cleansed thoroughly.
Each
participant is invited to focus on his/her own healing and/or concentrate on the
revelatory and visionary elements
that may bestowed upon one when accessing the realms of the "Vine of the Soul".
Don Mariano recommended that one of best ways to go to the appointment with the
ayahuasca is to beg the spirit of the medicine - in total humbleness - to
grant you visions. The North-American Indians tradition of "crying for a vision"
may easily be adopted to the way one should approach the ayahuasca
experience. All
will benefit, in one way or another, sooner or later, from this experience. Ayahuasca - when taken properly, under the guidance of a respectable shaman,
and when the necessary dietary restrictions are observed - can heal our hyper-loaded neurons, and can give sense, direction and purpose to our
lives.
You
are strongly invited to carefully read - to
ascertain full compatibility -
all the
guidelines and health notes
above, and to
follow and abide to the required dietary prescriptions, before, during and after
taking the powerful ayahuasca medicine. We always endorse and support
safety and responsibility when it comes to journeying with shamanic plant
medicine, and for as much as we respect the attitude of 21st century psychonauts
engaged in individual quests for inner exploration of consciousness via the use
of entheogenics, the frame within which we operate and our innermost
predilection is instead that of a sober, traditional shamanic journey, in
traditional jungle settings, with wise native healers as our guides.
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The Toe' Ritual
On top of the four ayahuasca weekly sessions, there will be each week -
depending on the length of your retreat - between one to two nights dedicated to
Toe' (Brugmansia suavolensis) rituals. The ceremony - (only done
in Onanyan Shobo among all other retreat centres we know in the region) -
has been practiced by the Shipibos since immemorial time, essentially for
divination, and consists in smoking a cigarette made entirely by a rolled
Toe' leaf (no paper and no tobacco in it), inhaling the smoke. This takes
place in the same ceremonial area dedicated to the ayahuasca ceremonies,
at night, around eight, whilst the shaman sings his icaros, in total
darkness. The actual ritual lasts between one and two hours, after which time
the participants - to whom will be given two Toe' leaves - will return to
their bungalows and rest in bed, whilst laying a leaf on their forehead, and
another one across their head. Thus they should remain, waiting for the Toe'
to favour
deep sleep and profound visions.
In the economy of a one week retreat, with the first night taken by the Sweat,
and four others taken by the ayahuasca, there will be usually only one
night focused on a Toe' ceremony, whilst for periods from two weeks
onwards, one may take part to up to two Toe' rituals each week (you may
opt out from taking part to two Toe' rituals per week, and only have it once a
week, if you prefer). As with
the ayahuasca ceremonies, the Toe' rituals are done on a purely
voluntary basis of participation. To enhance the visionary effects of the
experience, one should fast for the night when Toe' is smoked. Fasting is
recommended but not compulsory for those not doing the plant diet. Both
retireros (people attending the ayahuasca retreat) an dieteros
(those who are doing the plant diet) can take part to the Toe' rituals.
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The Shamanic Plant Diet
Those who wish to deepen their understanding of Amazonian shamanism and are
prepared to a long-term commitment in a disciplined setting, may also engage in
the proper shamanic training via the
plant teachers diet. The plant diet is
mostly suited to those who have been previously exposed to the ayahuasca experience in the jungle and who preferably speak
Spanish.
Click here
to read more
about the plant diet. We do not cover everything here in relation to the
dieta: more specific, daily and individual indications will be entirely at
the discretion of the shaman, depending on your circumstances (i.e. health
status, age, degree of experience, etc.). Navigating through the links below,
you will anyway be able to have a thorough idea of the general guidelines that should be
observed during the plant diet:
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Shamanic Plants Diet:
The "Way of Wisdom":
Click here
Shamanic Plant Diet and Ayahuasca:
Click here
Restrictions, Food, Plant Teachers and the Shamanic Diet:
Click here
List of the Plant Teachers of the
Shamanic Diet:
Click here
Further info on the Shamanic Plant Diet:
Click
here
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The Shamans
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Don Alfredo Cairuna - whose
native name Sinamano means ''very brave man'' - is from the
Shipibo ethnic group of the Amazon and is currently the main master shaman
in the centre. He is a maestro toesero (specialized in working with the plant teacher Toe', i.e. the
Brugmansia suavolensis), an
ayahuasquero
and a naturista (i.e.
a master herbalist). Don Alfredo - who started his first diet at the
age of fifteen - had the great privilege of being in his youth a disciple of the
last Shipibo banco
(the highest possible rank of a shaman),
Don Luis Cauper Guimaraes, also known as Don Lucho.
Read more about Don Alfredo...
Depending on the number of
participants - and when there are groups - there will be
also
Don Eriberto Pacaya Taricuarima,
a sixty-seven years old maestro, from the Cocama ethnic group of
the Amazon.
Read more about Don
Eriberto...
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Power Plants
It is important to note that the
traditional view of indigenous and mestizo shamans alike in
the Peruvian Amazon is that each power plant - which is often, but
not always, also a plant with psychoactive/psychotropic properties -
has its own "madre", an entity that has - when dieted properly - the
capacity to actualize teachings, reveal things, heal, lend power,
give protection and guide one's life.
Some of these mother-spirits are seen
in vision by the shamans, and may have different anthropomorphic or
theriomorphic aspects. The
Puka-lupuna (Cavanillesia sp.) tree, for instance, is said to be
a "great magician that developed in other dimensions and came to
possess this tree". (Luna,
Berkeley 1999: 108)
The Amazonian shamans maintain that the longer
the diet and the more the teacher plants, trees and vines one has dieted with,
the more wisdom and knowledge is attained directly from the plant spirits.
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Herbal, Clay & Flower
Baths
Like in traditional tribal
communities, in modern days society the function of the shaman still
remains that of a medium of equilibrium in the world. Those attending the ayahuasca healing retreat, and/or doing the shamanic plant diet in Onanyan
Shobo, will be offered
special cleansing and luck-changing ritual baths all prepared by the
shamans, and known respectively as baño de limpie, baño de barro and
baño de florecimiento.
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The Herbal Bath (Baño
de Limpie)
Baño
de limpie means
literally "cleansing bath" and is a purifying herbal bath aimed at the
dissipation of negative energies/thoughts that may have penetrated the auric
field and/or the body of a person, creating a situation of unhealthy emotional
imbalance.
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The Clay Bath (Baño de
Barro)
The baño de barro is is
done after the baño de limpie, with pure refined rainforest clay!
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The Flower Bath (Baño
de Flores or Baño de Florecimiento)
Baño de florecimiento means
exactly "flourishing bath", and has the purpose of attracting
good-luck, wealth and prosperity into one's life. The baños de
limpie are always done first, and the baños de florecimiento
always come after and are done towards the end of the retreat
(exception made for dieteros, i.e. people doing the plant diet, who
may receive their flower baths more often). There will be up to two
cleansing herbal baths, one clay bath, and two flower baths that
each participant may receive as part of the treatment in the
ayahuasca retreat.
The main ingredients of the baño de
florecimiento are Albaca (Ocimum sp. - possibly Ocimum
micranthum), Rosa cisa (Tagetes erecta) and Ajos sacha (Mansoa
alliacea). Through these ritual baths, the spirits of the plantas
maestras are believed to enter more easily in contact with the
person. There is no pre-fixed number of times for doing baños de
florecimiento for those doing the plant diet: the shamans will
prepare each dietero/a according to his/her own specific
needs. In a weekly ayahuasca retreat, one should expect to
have two "cleansing baths" (baños de limpie, on the second
and third day), followed by a "clay bath" (baño de barro, on
the fourth day) - to specifically clean the skin from toxins - and
two "flower baths" (baños de florecimiento), on the fifth and
sixth day, at the end. When it comes to longer periods of staying,
the number of herbal baths one may have are multiplied by the
corresponding number of weeks.
A period of 15 days
of celibacy should be observed after doing a baño de florecimiento, or a
baño de limpie. This time may vary for dieteros. Plant spirits are
believed to be jealous of human sexuality!
One should also avoid being under the rain
(keeping especially the head covered/dry) for three days, after having done a
flowering bath. It is important not to shed off the flowers from the body, after
having done a baño de florecimiento. The flowers should be left on the
body for as long as possible (to retain good luck), and you should simply wait
for them to fell down, with the natural movements of the body.
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