The Life-Giving Forest

Indigenous cultures of the Amazon have for millennia lived in deep immersion with the rainforest. Contrary to the belief that the Amazon rainforest is a wild uninhabited green frontier, the Amazon rainforest has been populated in the past, home to great indigenous societies over thousands of years until they were nearly driven into extinction by disease and exploitation by foreign invaders. Even today, the forest is not only their home but mother and protector. In the prehistoric biome surrounding Santuario Huishtín and the Aguas Thermales Reserve the fierce Cashibo peoples once roamed and hunted.  Further into the bosque, you will encounter the shy Ashaninka forest tribes, once one of the most endangered and populous indigenous groups of the region. Deeper again to the East will bring you to the Sierra del Divisor, a huge unexplored region where there lives uncontacted Matses and Isconahua Indians as well some of the most abundant and rare flora and fauna of the Amazon.

For these peoples, the forest offers sustenance, medicine, shelter, and materials for crafting anything that is needed. Reciprocity with the rainforest is key to their survival.  The forest also offers the gift of knowledge. Through their keen observation the behavior of plants and animals, the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, the ebb and flow of rivers, indigenous wisdom keepers have developed a deep knowledge of the inner workings and infinite relations on which life on the planet depends. This type of knowledge demands close attention and a receptivity to the communication of other forest beings, human and non human.

The traditional apprenticeship is not for the faint hearted. The plants challenge you in unimaginable ways and bring profound gifts you can not receive any other way. However, keeping the strict diet in solitude can be a strenuous affair. Amazonian shamans that still practice the old ways lament that their traditions are dying as young people are not willing to keep the discipline of the diet. Don Guillermo Arevalo writes, “many who are interested in shamanism don’t want to submit themselves to diets. They prefer to have recourses to books on occult sciences.” [1] In the view of vegetalismo, studying from magic from books without practicing the diet, can lead you down the dark path to brujeria (sorcery).

One of the goals of the shamanic apprenticeship is to make contact, gain favor and receive protection from the spirits of nature. A vegetalista must learn how to dominar the genios (to summon the spirits of the plants and achieve their protection and power).  The genios (also known as doctores, madres, espiritu) are summoned with the icaro, an enchanted song that the healer learns directly from the spirits themselves while dieting their medicine in the rainforest.  The spirits of the plants that give their protection, however, can turn on the apprentice at a moments notice. They are believed to be jealous and vengeful if the diet is not completed correctly. Such “celosia” can potentially lead to illness, madness, and even death.

Maestro vegetalista Santiago Enrrique Paredes Melendez teaches that there are two paths to knowledge in vegetalismo: the path of light and the path of darkness. To follow the path of light, you must purify the mind, body and spirit. Even more importantly is the heart as an organ of light and knowledge. A pure heart brings clarity, truth, and power in the light. Only the authentic path of the diet in solitude in nature can provide the environment for this kind of cleansing necessary for this magical work.  The Amazon rainforest is a living pharmacopeia of millions of plant species, many of which possess phytochemicals that can as equally harm as heal. Some plants are very toxic and must be used with only the discretion of an experienced healer.  There are particular plants and trees in the rainforest that can be used to develop the powers of the brujo (witch). These are off limits and must be treated with respect.  Under the careful tutelage of an experienced shaman, you will be challenged, tested, and guided to the light with the loving support of the genios.

 

The Power of the “Dieta”

The Shamanic Apprenticeship requires a special kind of calling and dedication. A vocation that is ongoing and lifelong, the apprentice must adhere to the path, forgoing life’s immediate distractions in favour of a greater reward: the gift of spiritual knowledge and power. They must commit to years of study with their maestros, immersed in the forest and drinking the medicine of powerful maestras (plant teachers) in a series of dietas. Every plant and tree has its own protocol: its own restrictions and time lengths. With each successful completed dieta, the apprentices gains the special knowledge and protection of that plant. Often these dietas require complete isolation in tambo, a small thatched hut in the forest. They must remain there during the period of their diet with the human contact only from those who bring their simple meals of plantains, potatoes and rice that form the bland staples of the strict diet.  Only in this environment can the student receive the direct teachings of the plants uninterrupted in their full illumination.