Shipibo Shamanka Doña Leonilde

Photo Credit: José Garcia Ramirez

New Year (Magical) Ayahuasca Event Programme

30 December 2010 – 08 January 2011

An Awesome and Unparalleled Ayahuasca Retreat to Celebrate the New Year with *Real Magic*!!

Day 1

9:15 am: Meeting in Iquitos’ town centre.

9:30 am: Transfer to our shamanic retreat centre “Ashi Meraya”, in the Peruvian Amazon jungle.

11:10 am: Estimated arrival time in “Ashi Meraya”. Accommodation in private bungalows and single rooms. Shipibo welcome ceremony.

12:00 pm: Lunch.

2:00 pm: Cleansing ritual bath (Baño de limpieza) with Ayahuasca leaves. Individual consultation with the Shipibo shamans.

3:00 pm: Talk on the topic “Chullachaki caspi – the Great Mother Protector of the Rainforest. The Welcoming Ritual.” (Chullachaquin jato becanwe acai masha)

The Welcoming Ritual of the Chullachaki

After the talk we shall all drink a tea prepared with the bark of the Chullachaki caspi teacher tree. Then we shall begin – and take all part in – the Welcoming Ritual of the Chullachaki. This ritual consists in introducing oneself to the mother spirit (madre) protector of the selva, to ask permission before starting any shamanic activity in the rainforest. We shall also ask the spirit of the Chullachaki to grant our wishes, whilst we take part in different shamanic rituals, herbal/flower baths and ceremonies during our magical stay in “Ashi Meraya”.

6:00 pm: Dinner.

7:00 pm: Talk and participation to the Amazonian “Yora Niscanti” (Sweat Lodge) Ritual.

Day 2

8:00 am: Breakfast

9:30 am: Exploratory walk along the ethnobotanical garden circuit of “Ashi Meraya”, familiarizing with – and identifying – teacher plants.

12:00 am: Cleansing ritual bath (Baño de Limpieza) with Ayahuasca leaves.

1:00 pm: Lunch.

4:30 pm: Talk and Ritual: “Yora Payanti” (Ritual of Spiritual Purification)

6.30:pm: Talk by the shaman: “Toé, Great Mother of the shamanic music and eye of the occult science (ojo de la ciencia oculta).”

7:00 pm: Ceremony with the plant teacher Toé (Brugmansia suaveolens).

Day 3

8:00 am: Breakfast

10:00 am: Cleansing ritual bath (Baño de Limpieza) with the Rue (Ruta Graveolens) plant

11:am: Circle meeting with the shamans, exchanging experiences on the Toé ceremony of the previous night.

1:00 pm: Lunch

5:00 pm: “Yora Payanti” (Ritual of Spiritual Purification)

7:30 pm: Introductory talk and recommendations from the shamans on Ayahuasca ritual.

8:00 pm: Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day 4

8:00 am: Breakfast

9:30 am: Talk by the shamans followed by the Grand Ritual “Merayabaon Nashiti Masha ” (Magical Dance of the Merayas), to seal the pact with the invisible beings and sacred plant spirits.

1:00 pm: Lunch.

5:00 pm: Circle meeting with the shamans, exchanging experiences on the Ayahuasca ceremony of the previous night.

8:00 pm: Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day 5

8:00 am: Breakfast.

9:30 am: Exhibition-sale of Shipibo artifacts and textiles.

1:00 pm: Lunch.

4:00 pm: Talk by the shamans, followed by the taking of the Remocaspi tea and performance of the “Pacho yucati masha” (Remocaspi or Pacho) Ritual.

8:00 pm: Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day 6

8:00 am: Breakfast.

10:00 am: Cleansing ritual bath (Baño de Limpieza) with the leaves of the Piñon Colorado teacher plant.

1:00 pm: Lunch.

4:00 pm: Circle meeting with the shamans, exchanging experiences on the Ayahuasca ceremony of the previous night.

5:30 pm: Dinner.

7:00 pm: Talk by the shamans followed by the performing of the “ Merayabaon Chi pakeni” (The Magical Fire of the Merayas) Ritual.

Day 7

6:00 am: Ayahuasca preparation

10:00 am: Breakfast.

12:00 am: Cleansing ritual bath (Baño de Limpieza) with the leaves of the Mucura plant teacher.

1:00 pm: Lunch.

5:00 pm: Talk by the shamans and performing of the “Rau Cuin” (Smoke Medicine) Ritual.

8:00 pm: Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day 8

8:00 am: Breakfast.

10:00 am: Ritual Flower bath (Baño de Florecimiento).

1:00 pm: Lunch.

4:00 pm: Talk by the shamans and performing of the “Onanyabaon Masha” (Shamanic Dance) Ritual.

8:00 pm: Ayahuasca ceremony.

Day  9

8:00 am: Breakfast.

9:30 am: Ritual Flower bath (Baño de Florecimiento).

11:00 am: “Nanebetan Mashen Siquíti Masha” (Tattoos: Transferring Symbols of Power) Ritual.

1:00 pm: Lunch.

5:00 pm: Circle meeting with the shamans, exchanging experiences on the Ayahuasca ceremony of the previous night.

7:00 pm: Talk by the shamans followed by the performing of the “Merayabaon jone jonibo quenaquin ani” (Gran Ritual of the Merayas).

Day  10

8:00 am: Breakfast.

9:30 am: Final consultation with – and recommendations from – our Shipibo shamans.

11:00 am: Shipibo Farewell ceremony.

12:00 pm: Special group lunch, with the Shipibo family and all shamans.

2:00 pm: Free time to pack and get ready to go back to “civilization”!

2:40 pm: Transfer back to Iquitos airport (we recommend you to get the “Lan Peru” flight to  Lima, which leaves Iquitos at 5:50 PM and arrives in Lima at 7:25 PM).

INCLUDES:
Transfer from Iquitos town centre and Ashi Meraya venue in the jungle; Transfer from Ashi Meraya to Iquitos airport; full board with private accommodation throughout; Shipibo Welcome ceremony; Chullachaki Welcome ceremony; Plant materials; One Amazonian Sweat ritual; ALL MERAYAS (BANCOS) RITUALS detailed in the Programme; FIVE Ayahuasca ceremonies; One Floripondio (Toe’) ritual; Interpreter Shipibo-Spanish; Interpreter Spanish-English; Shipibo Farewell ceremony;…lots of *REAL MAGIC*!!

Click here to learn about the ancestral rituals of the Shipibo high-ranking shamans (the Bancos Merayas) featured during this Event.

Shipibo Master Shaman Don Hector

Photo Credit: José Garcia Ramirez

Our Shipibo Shamans

Don Hector

Resembling a Franciscan monk from the Middle Ages (!), Don Hector is a thirty-seven years old Onanya (master shaman), native of the Shipibo community of Roaboya. He began his first diet at the age of fifteen. With the exception of his only Shipibo teacher, Don Juan Cauper Sanchez, Don Hector maintains that his only maestros were the plant spirits (genios de las plantas) themselves. During his diets with plants, in complete isolation in the rainforest, he received in dreaming the visit of spirit beings that taught him his icaros (magical tunes) and revealed him the secrets of the shamanic healing. Don Hector is renown for being a very compassionate and serious teacher, for the outstanding beauty of his icaros, for withstanding the intoxication with Ayahuasca to levels rare even among other Shipibo shamans.

Doña Leonilda

A fifty-two years old shamanka, native of the Shipibo community of Roaboya, descendent of Shipibo Merayas, Doña Leonilda dedicated – uninterruptedly – the last thirty-two years of her life to shamanism. Her teachers were Don Lozano Mahua and Don Ilario Huayta Sanchez.

Don Armando (Reshin Beso)

Descendant – and disciple – of Shipibo Merayas, native of the Shipibo community of Roaboya, he initiated his first shamanic diet when he was only ten, under the tutelage of his father, Don Custodio. After having built up an impressive background of shamanic diets with many different plants teachers (like Shihuahuaco, Tamamuri, Capirona, Chiric sanango, Sanango, Chuchahuasi de Boa, Bobinzana, Chuchahuasi, Lupuna, Renaquilla, Coca, different varieties of Piripiri, Gorra de Murcielago, Planta de Gallo and Ayahuasca), Don Armando passed to spirit in Pucallpa, on November 28, 2010, at 4 AM, taking away with him the secrets of the Grand Ritual of the Merayas. The way he performed his shamanic ceremonies was the direct fruit of the teachings he received from his Shipibo Meraya (Banco) teacher.

Don Alfredo

Master shaman Don Alfredo is from the Shipibo ethnic group of the Amazon and works permanently in Ashi Meraya. He is a maestro Toesero (a shaman specialised in working with the plant teacher Toé, i.e. the Brugmansia suaveolens), an Ayahuasquero, a Naturista (i.e. a master herbalist) and prepares a very potent Ayahuasca brew. 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 Meraya (or Banco, the highest possible rank that a shaman could achieve, in the Peruvian Amazon), Don Luis Cauper Guimaraes, also known as Don Lucho.

Foreword

Ayahuasca cooking in the jungle: a dense and concentrated earthly brew!!

Photo Credit: Francesco Sammarco

Guests doing the shamanic plant diet in Ashi Meraya will be given upon arrival a personalized calendar of their diet. This calendar will specify the days when the plant teachers concoctions may be taken, the days of break (whenever present) – called descanso, and also the days when the actual Ayahuasca brew may be drunk, as part of a shamanic ritual, in the context of the plant diet shamanic initiation.

Below we have provided a detailed and updated calendar of a typical three months shamanic plant diet as practised by Shipibo shaman Don Alfredo, which is a very important & practical help for those who intend to commit to the plant-based shamanic training. This may give you a more accurate idea of how the shamanic plant diet works, yet it might be subject to change, according to individual circumstances, the type of plants one is dieting with and the length of the diet itself. It might also change, depending on the particular style of the shaman one may be dieting with.

The shamanic diet is a sophisticated and complex process, if you think at all the possible plants combinations that can actually be involved, and when one dwells on the fact that many maestros are altogether illiterate. All this makes one wonder at the meaning of the words “sabiduría” or ”conocimiento” (knowledge), and on how this may be achieved without going to a Western university! This is the “School of Advanced Studies in Amazonian Shamanism”….a parallel university to our own Western institutions, that has its own laws, dynamics, and ways to knowledge. Here plants are the teachers and the “maestros” the traditional guides and the keepers of “la ciencia” (the science).

Basic vocabulary to get familiar with

Brebaje = Plant preparation, in liquid form.
Descanso = Spanish name of the break period given (by the shaman) to the apprentice doing the plant diet.
Dieta = Spanish name of the diet. The traditional plant-based shamanic apprenticeship.
Dietera = The female apprentice who is doing the plant diet.
Dietero = The male apprentice who is doing the plant diet.
Palos maestros = ”Teacher trees” (the Trees one may receive teachings from).
Plantas maestras = ”Teacher plants” (the Plants one may receive teachings from).
Preparado = The actual teacher plants concoction that one takes during a diet.
Prueba de dieta = Spanish name for the ”tester of the shamanic plant diet”.
Soga = Spanish name for ‘vine’ (like ayahuasca, for instance).
Toma/Tomar = Taking the plants of the diet and/or the Ayahuasca, in liquid form.

In the FAQ section below, you may find answers to the most common questions asked re. the dieta:

FAQ: Ayahuasca and the Plant Diet

1) ”Is it possible to take Ayahuasca during the diet?”

YES, that is essential part of the training for the shamanic initiation, even though the number of times one will take part to Ayahuasca ceremonies depend intrinsically from the length of the diet itself, and from the type of diet one is doing (i.e. traditional diet or pre-diet/’prueba de dieta‘). When one engages in the healing diet – however – the answer is ‘may be yes, may be not’, as it very much depends from the condition one is affected from. We DO NOT offer the healing diet in Ashi Meraya, ONLY the SHAMANIC PLANT DIET.

2) ”How many times do I have Ayahuasca sessions whilst doing the Shamanic Plant Diet?”

It depends on the type of diet one is doing and from the shaman with whom one is dieting with. In the traditional plant diet the apprentice (dietero/a) may begin his/her first Ayahuasca session with the shaman, typically only from the tenth day of his/her own apprenticeship. Meanwhile, the shaman will prepare with icaros and other protections the physical and energetic body of the apprentice and only him or her (the shaman) will start to drink from the second night of the first week of diet. Click here to have an idea of how many times – in the context of a detailed calendar for the traditional 3 months shamanic plant diet – one may partake to Ayahuasca sessions.

In the case of the ‘prueba de dieta‘ – that is the tester of the diet, or ‘pre-dieta’ (an introduction to the plant diet proper, which goes from an absolute minimum of two weeks onwards) – one may not take Ayahuasca for the first week of the retreat, especially – but not exclusively – if dieting with strong ‘palos’ (teacher trees). Beginning with the 2nd week of the pre-diet training, one may normally take part to four Ayahuasca sessions each week, as for the Ayahuasca retreat. However, please note that these are guidelines only, and *might* be subject to change, at the discretion of the shaman, and/or according to the degree of experience one may have, to the length of the ‘pre-diet’ and/or to the types of plants and/or ‘palos’ one may be dieting with.

FAQ: Length of the traditional shamanic plant diet

3) ”What is the average length of the traditional shamanic plant diet?”

Guidelines may vary from shaman to shaman, even from within the same ethnic group. Some shamans (the more strictly traditional) do not call a proper shamanic diet anything that is less than three months in length, to begin with. This is – mind you – the minimum period one should engage with, not the maximum, that can otherwise last several years. To become a fully developed shaman, one would normally require a full five years of dieta (including periods of break). The absolute basic is learnt in the first three months, and one can consider himself (or herself) advanced in the apprenticeship after having completed a one year training.

4) ”What is the average length of the shamanic plant diet tester (‘prueba de dieta’)?”

From an absolute minimum of two weeks onwards, and usually anything between two weeks up to eleven weeks.

FAQ: Temporary breaks of the diet & communication with the outside world

In a three months diet (more specifically, from two months up until three months and three weeks), one may only go to town after having completed the first phase of the training. This period – more or less – coincide with the end of the first month and half of drinking the plant concoctions prepared by the shaman. Times may vary from person to person, depending on individual energy, and response times to the shamanic diet. In a six months diet, a dietero/a may go to town only after – or from – the end of the third month of diet. That is, only after having completed the first period of the diet, taking the plant concoctions.

If needed, you may be able to communicate with the outside world using the battery-operated long range cordless phone in Ashi Meraya, in the jungle. You need to come equipped with a “Hola Peru” international phone card, available from most Airports in Peru.

A Typical Three Months Shamanic Plant Diet

Below is a description of how a typical three months/12 weeks (84 days) shamanic plant diet will work, with a calendar of the days you will be taking the plants and the nights you will be having Ayahuasca ceremonies with the shaman. Plants may vary, also (and especially) according to the length of the apprenticeship. In the time frame of a three months shamanic diet you will be dieting with nine different plants (three palos maestros and six plantas maestras), and will take part to Ayahuasca ceremonies, as follows:

Plant Diet – Stage One (Day 01 to 09)

Day 1: Sweat Lodge
Day 2: First toma of Remo caspi
Day 3: Second toma of Remo caspi
Day 4: First toma of Chullachaki caspi
Day 5: Second toma of Chullachaki caspi
Day 6: First toma of Bobinsana
Day 7: Second toma of Bobinsana
Day 8: First toma of Toe’
Day 9: Second toma of Toe’

Ayahuasca Ceremonies – Stage One (Day 10 to 44)

Day 10: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 12: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 14: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 16: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 18: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 20: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 22: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 24: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 26: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 28: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 30: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 32: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 34: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 36: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 38: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 40: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 42: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 44: Ayahuasca ceremony

Plant Diet – Stage Two & Final (Day 45 to 54 )

Day 45: First toma of Huaira caspi plant
Day 46: Second toma of Huaira caspi plant
Day 47: First toma of Ajos sacha
Day 48: Second toma of Ajos sacha
Day 49: First toma of Piñon colorado
Day 50: Second toma of Piñon colorado
Day 51: First toma of Piripiri
Day 52: Second toma of Piripiri
Day 53: First toma of Motelillo
Day 54: Second toma of Motelillo.

The fifth-fourth day will be the last day of taking plant teachers (i.e. this will be the last toma of the plants), and then the shamanic diet will continue taking the Ayahuasca brew, together with the shaman, any other day (except the last):

Ayahuasca ceremonies – Stage Two & Final (Day 55 to 83)

Day 55: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 57: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 59: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 61: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 63: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 65: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 67: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 69: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 71: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 73: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 75: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 77: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 79: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 81: Ayahuasca ceremony
Day 83: Ayahuasca ceremony

Your diet will terminate with a special Ayahuasca ceremony and your retreat will end on the last day of the twelfth week, in the afternoon.

During your shamanic apprenticeship you will get also to learn how to prepare cleansing herbal baths, clay baths and baños de florecimiento (ritual floral baths, to increase luck and prosperity) as well as singing icaros on a plant remedy, and even treat a patient affected by “susto” (fright), among other things.

PLEASE NOTE:

Candidates applying for the traditional shamanic plant diet may be screened for suitability and should ideally – but not necessarily – be able to communicate in Spanish.

We offer a SPANISH-ENGLISH interpreting service, for up to three months in a row, available as an optional extra to guests without Spanish skills…

There are no limitations in terms of freedom of movement/going to town, for the Ayahuasca retreat (even though we invite you to make the most of your retreat time in the jungle!!). However, in line with traditional rules, these limitations may remain in place for guests doing the traditional shamanic plant diet, at the discretion of the shaman.

Photo Credit: Ignazia Posadinu

“Why shamanism, why magic? We need them both.”

Nevill Drury

El Mundo Magico Mission Statement

• To support, promote and raise awareness of sustainable, earth-honoring shamanic traditions, through journeys, seminars and workshops, aimed at the preservation of the natural habitat of the Amazon Rainforest of Peru and its traditional cultural and religious lore, with special regard to indigenous and mestizo shamanic practices.
• To be a seed for change in a dramatically globalized world – increasingly dominated and manipulated by occult forces and corporate Illuminati – and promote life changing opportunities that may bring forward a quantum leap in consciousness.
• To offer international participants the opportunity of first-hand exploration of the rainforest heritage, through transformative journeys and expeditions focused on traditional cultural, shamanic and healing practices.
• To develop creative projects aimed at the protection, dissemination and conservation of indigenous cultural, religious, shamanic and ethno musical traditions and practices in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru.
• To deepen the understanding of medicinal and healing practices of the indigenous and mestizo communities of the Peruvian Amazon, with emphasis on the need of preserving their traditional plant lore, so intimately linked with their pharmacopoeia and cultural-religious traditions. Indigenous and mestizo rural healers in the Amazon are the depositary of a wide-range knowledge of the rainforest environment and their cultural and physical survival is crucial in the maintenance of an equilibrium within the rainforest fragile ecosystem itself. In lieu of this rooted, ancient, mutual relationship between shamanic healers and the rainforest, we actively seek to promote the immediate protection and conservation of wilderness and natural areas.
• To sustain indigenous communities of the Amazon, in particular the Shipibos, through the facilitation of special-interest journeys, investigating their rich shamanic and ethno-cultural lore.
• To strengthen links of association and cooperation with local organizations devoted to the conservation, protection and dissemination of Traditional Amazonian Medicine and cultural heritage.Francesco Sammarco before a giant Lupuna blanca (Ceiba sp.) tree in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest
  
  Photo Credit: Ignazia Posadinu
• To acquire rainforest land to protect its magical biodiversity and guarantee its long-term preservation and conservation. The rainforests of South America retain the highest concentration of visionary plants (“Teacher Plants”) on the planet and, at the current rate of habitat destruction (actively promoted by corporate Illuminati), they will be brought to the verge of extinction in just a few decades. Teacher Plants have been used – in a sacred manner – by Amazonian shamans since immemorial times and in our view they may hold the key to a much needed radical shift of consciousness on the planet.
• To develop alternative strategies for the safeguard of endangered plant and animal species of the Amazon Rainforest.