Pablo Amaringo - Book Foreword

Foreword by Pablo Amaringo, to the book 'Plant Spirit Shamanism'.

Pablo Amaringo was one of the world's great visionary artists. He was renowned for his highly complex, colourful and intricate paintings inspired by his visions from when he was an Ayahuasca shaman. He trained as a curandero or healer in the Amazon, healing himself and others from the age of ten, but gave this up in 1977 to become a full-time painter and art teacher at the Usko-Ayar school of Amazonian art which he founded. His book, Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman, co-authored with Luis Eduardo Luna, brought his work and the rich mythology of the Amazon to a wide public in the West.

Click to view a Photo Gallery of Pablo Amaringo,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hgcharing/sets/72157619964199982/

Pablo Amaringo - Foreword to the book Plant Spirit Shamanism

San Pedro - the Cactus of Vision

San Pedro - the Cactus of Vision

The use of San Pedro cactus and healing altars in the shamanic tradition of Northern Peru. Shamans from different cultures and traditions have been using psychoactive plants since the dawn of human emergence. These plants have been used traditionally for guidance divination, healing, maintaining a balance with the spirit or consciousness of the living world.

HOWARD G. CHARING & PETER CLOUDSLEY, talk with Maestro JUAN NAVARRO.

Article first published, in Sacred Hoop Magazine, Issue Summer 2004.

San Pedro - the Cactus of Vision

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Ayahuasca Shaman - Interview

Ayahuasca Shaman - Javier Arevalo Interview


Ayahuasca is the jungle medicine of the upper Amazon. It is made from the ayahuasca vine ( Banisteriopsis Caapi) and the leaf of the Chacruna plant (Psychotria Viridis). The two make a potent medicine which opens the doors to experiencing the energetic world which underlies the world of everyday.

Spirituality is at the centre of the Ayahuasca experience. Purification and cleansing of body, mind, and spirit in a shamanic ceremony can be the beginning of a process of profound personal and spiritual discovery.

Interview by Howard G Charing & Peter Cloudsley


Ayahuasca Shaman - Interview

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Pablo Amaringo - Foreword & Interview

Foreword by Pablo Amaringo, to the book 'Plant Spirit Shamanism'.

Pablo Amaringo is one of the world's great visionary artists. He is renowned for his highly complex, colourful and intricate paintings inspired by his visions from when he was an Ayahuasca shaman. He trained as a curandero or healer in the Amazon, healing himself and others from the age of ten, but gave this up in 1977 to become a full-time painter and art teacher at the Usko-Ayar school of Amazonian art which he founded. His book, Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman, co-authored with Luis Eduardo Luna, brought his work and the rich mythology of the Amazon to a wide public in the West.

Also in the package is an interview with Pablo Amaringo, by Howard G Charing and Peter Cloudsley.


Pablo Amaringo - Foreword to the book Plant Spirit Shamanism

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Ayahuasca Shipibo Shamans

This booklet contains original source interviews with three Shipibo ayahuasca shamans.
By Howard G Charing and Peter Cloudsley.

Shipibo Ayahuasca Shamans

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Visionary Art and Ayahuasca Workshop with Pablo Amaringo

A Visionary Art workshop and Ayahuasca Retreat in the Amazon Rainforest

THE AYAHUASCA VISIONS OF PABLO AMARINGO

July 25^th - August 5^th 2009

PABLO AMARINGO

Pablo Amaringo is one of the world's great visionary artists. He is renowned for his highly complex, colourful and intricate paintings inspired by his visions from when he was an Ayahuasca shaman. He trained as a curandero or healer in the Amazon, healing himself and others from the age of ten, but gave this up in 1977 to become a full-time painter and art teacher at the Usko-Ayar school of Amazonian art which he founded. His book, Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman, co-authored with Luis Eduardo Luna, brought his work and the rich mythology of the Amazon to a wide public in the West.

We are delighted to offer a rare opportunity to join Pablo Amaringo in a visionary art workshop with night time Ayahuasca Ceremonies

This special event consists of a ten day workshop and Ayahuasca retreat with Pablo Amaringo in the beautiful heart of the Amazon Rainforest at a dedicated Retreat Center in the Allpahuayo Mishana Nature reserve.

Each day, Pablo will hold a hands-on Art workshop; participants will enjoy the unique experience of learning the art of visionary and nature painting with Pablo. This workshop is suitable for beginners as well as experienced and proficient artists.

Each night we offer traditional Ayahuasca ceremonies with Shipibo Shamans, Enrique Lopez, and an elder maestro - Benjamín Ochavano or Leoncio Garcia (depending on the number of participants). Also we will have available shamanic plants, plantas maestras, which enhance dream intensity and visionary and sensory perception, such as Guayusa and Ajo Sacha.

This workshop-retreat is also a journey of self-exploration through the medium of Art and Ayahuasca, with guidance from Pablo Amaringo and our Maestro Shamans.

Click to view Pablo's Video Invitation to this workshop.

PABLO ‘S WORDS ON THIS WORKSHOP - (transcribed from Video)

“Its a good idea because people would see something of Mishana as well as what lies ahead in their lives. In fact through drawing they can learn so much more from drinking the ayahuasca. It will help them to understand their environment and value it more, wherever they live”.

To learn to care for and respect plants, to look after the rivers, the water ..... as well as their homes and family. ... we should value animals too. For me as an artist, my concentration in the Amazon is of great value because the truth is, without plants and animals, we couldn't live”.

Question: "so its an invitation to anyone?"

So the invitation is for everyone who wants to appreciate more and know... in this case to learn how to learn.

Question: "how could the workshop help people in their creative process"?

“Ayahuasca teaches when people start to see colours and forms...... the motifs and composition of a plant, an animal or a person ..... or elements like the clouds...... they can learn to see the molecules of ayahuasca which themselves are based on colours”.

“When I do this work myself, I realise that every plant has leaves but they're all different.... each one a style of its own, they can never be the same, nature is full of wisdom! Its divine, the roots too are all different, branches, flowers. That's how I learned to paint - from nature - I never learned from books or teachers.... nature gives the structure”.

Pablo’s paintings represent a reliable testimony to how the indigenous people of the Amazon live in constant awareness of spiritual realms.

The Shipibo for example, have a strong presence in the region where Pablo lives and are one of the largest indigenous groups in the Peruvian Amazon having their own language, traditions and culture. Today they number about 20,000 and live in communities along the Ucayali River and around Yarinacocha, an oxbow lake near Pucullpa.

The Shipibo world is under laid by intricate geometric patterns of great complexity and is displayed in their art. This concept of an all pervading magical reality challenges the Western linguistic heritage and rational mind. The patterns are an expression of the oneness of creation, the inter-changeability of light and sound, the union or fusion of perceived opposites. It is an ongoing dialogue or communion with the spiritual world and powers of the Rainforest. The visionary art of the Shipibo brings this paradigm into a physical form.

Pablo's painting classes are a creative form of entertainment. Like story telling, they bring Amazonian legends and fairy tales to life. These consider cosmic questions such as the origins of human consciousness and the power of the imagination. Many legends speak of a 'time of the ancestors' when humans regularly communicated with the spirits, and sensed and moved like animals and birds with whom they could converse. This era occurred before the rational mind separated us from the mysteries of the cosmos, a loss sorely lamented to this day but which - thanks to Ayahuasca - can be reversed. These are some of the themes of Pablo's Amazonian School of Painting.

Mishana Private Retreat Centre

This programme will take place in the Mishana Private Retreat Centre. We have 57 Hectares (140 acres) of land with a lodge in the Allpahuayo Mishana National Reserve in the department of Loreto, Peru. Our lodge is located directly on the river, which is part of the 58,070 hectare nature reserve.

Due to a combination of geological factors and diverse soil types, the reserve supports a unique community of plant and animal species. It is the ‘jewel’ in the crown for bird watchers and contains dozens of species, which are unique to this area. The Reserve contains one of the highest biodiversities known in the Amazon basin. Our Lodge is located directly on the Rio Nanay, a tributary of the Amazon River. The mild acidity of its black waters are not popular with mosquito larvae and this means there are virtually no mosquitoes.

The journey to our lodge from Iquitos takes two hours in our power boat. We are situated in-between two bends of the river giving an amazing panoramic view. The boat is always available so trips can be made to some interesting, and extraordinarily beautiful places along the river.

We work with maestro Shipibo shamans Benjamin Ochavano, Enrique Lopez, and Leoncio Garcia. We will work with two of the shamans listed above on this programme.

Included in the program are individual personal healing or consultative sessions with our shamans, based upon your personal needs. The maestros will also provide teachings about the fascinating medicinal and psycho-spiritual properties of the local plants.

For full details and a 22 page downloadable PDF programme, visit our website;

http://www.shamanism.co.uk

The Visionary Art Workshop with Pablo Amaringo is a post event workshop of the 5th International Amazonian Shamanism Conference: July 11th - 18th 2009.

Cl.ick to Visit the Conference website:

Ayahuasca is declared a national cultural heritage in Peru

EL COMERCIO (LIMA) Sunday July 13^th 2008

DECLARATION TO PROTECT THE TRADITIONAL RITUAL USE AND SACRED CHARACTER of AYAHUASCA

Ayahuasca declared a national cultural heritage

This plant is considered an essential part of the identity of the Amazonian peoples of Peru.

The knowledge and traditional uses of Ayahuasca practiced by the Amazonian indigenous communities, was declared a cultural heritage of the nation by the Institute of National Culture (INC). This announcement was made yesterday in the publication of Directorial Resolution 836 by that body, in the official gazette "El Peruan".

According to the declaration, the ritual use of Ayahuasca is one of the fundamental pillars of the identity of the Amazonian people. It's ancestral use in traditional rituals, with therapeutic benefits directly related to the qualities of the plants, has guaranteed its cultural continuity.

The provision states that the measure seeks to protect the traditional use and the sanctity of the ritual of Ayahuasca, and to differentiate between this and Western commercial and consumer interests.

The Ayahuasca is a plant species that has an extraordinary cultural history with it's psychotropic qualities as it is an essential ingredient of a brew in conjunction with the plant known as Chacruna. In the indigenous Amazonian world this plant brew is regarded as wise teacher.

ORIGINAL SPANISH TEXT

El Comercio Domingo 13 de julio del 2008

BUSCAN PROTEGER USO TRADICIONAL Y CARACTER SAGRADO DEL RITUAL

Declaran patrimonio cultural de la nacion a uso de la ayahuasca

Planta es considerada parte essencial de la identidad de los pueblos amazonicos del Peru. Los conocimientos y usos tradicionales de la ayahuasca practicados por las communidades nativas amazonicas fueron declarados patrimonio cultural de la nacion por el Institiuto Nacional de Cultura (INC). Ello se dio a conocer ayer tras la publicacion de La Resolucion Directoral 836 de esa entidad en el diario oficial “El Peruan”.

Segun se consigna en el texto, la practica de sesiones rituales de ayahuasca constituye uno de los pilares fundamentales de la identidad de los pueblos amazonicos. Su ancestral uso en los rituales tradicionales, vinculado a las virtudes terapeutics de la plants, ha garantizado su continuidad cultural.

La disposicion establece que la medida busca proteger el uso tradicional y el caracter sagrado del ritual de ayahuasca, con el fin de differnciaro de los usos occidentales descontextualizados que tienen propositos comerciales y consumistas.

La ayahuasca es una especie vegetal que cuenta con una extraordinaria historia cultrural en virtud sus cualidades psicotropicas, ya que es ingrediente esencial de un brebaje asociado a la planta conocida como chacruna. En el mundo indigena amazonico se la considera una planta sabia o maestra.

Ayahuasca and Yoga Retreat Centre - Google Earth Satellite Photographs

Ayahuasca and Yoga Retreat Centre - Google Earth Satellite Photographs

It's been a rainy day today, so being browsing around on Google Earth, and have saved some satellite photos of our Retreat Center at Mishana.

Located in protected national reserve, our centre has a panoramic vista of two river bends of the Rio Nanay. A beautiful and tranquil venue to hold an Ayahuasca, Yoga, or Spiritual Retreat programme. Please contact me If you are interested in hiring our Retreat Center.

Mishana Retreat Centre in the Amazon Rainforest, Peru

Mishana Retreat Centre – Amazon Rainforest, Peru

Ayahuasca and Yoga Retreat Center

We have 57 Hectares (140 acres) of land with a lodge in the Allpahuayo Mishana Nature reserve. Our lodge is located directly on the river which is part of a 58,070 hectare nature reserve.

Due to a combination of geological factors and diverse soil types, the reserve supports a unique community of plant and animal species. It is the ‘jewel’ in the crown for bird-watchers and contains dozens of species which are unique to this area. The Reserve contains one of the highest biodiversities known in the Amazon basin. The Lodge is located directly on the Rio Nanay which is a tributary of the Amazon River.

Our lodge is situated in-between two bends of the river giving an amazing panoramic view. We have our own boat so trips can be made to some interesting, and extraordinarily beautiful places along the river. The lodge is a 2 hour river journey from Iquitos by power boat.

Our accommodation is in comfortable traditional cabins or tambos (dieting huts), a leaf roof supported by poles and with open sides (the most intimate way to sleep in the jungle). The beds benefit from a comfortable mattress and fly nets when necessary. The tambos are spread out to assure privacy and minimum disturbance from others. Participants have a choice of using either the cabins in the 'Casa Grande' annex or tambos for their retreat.

During the day when there are no activities, there will be hammocks to relax in, and you can read, or wander into the forest, or swim in the river (there is a small sandy beach). Our ceremonies and meeting will be held in either the Casa Grande with an open platform on stilts directly on the river with a magnificent view of the rainforest and star filled sky. or our maloca (ceremonial temple), a large circular tambo made of natural materials and shaped like a womb. We will eat our meals in the lodge, the traditional meeting place, where food is cooked on a wood fire.

Single Accommodation

One of the unique characteristics of our Retreat Centre is that we offer single accommodation. This ensures that participants can obtain the maximum benefit from their encounter with the plants. The Diet really needs to be taken in solitude and personal retreat without distractions. This is a defining characteristic of this programme. Typically other programmes do not offer this and dormitory / shared accommodation is usually the rule. Our Tambos (individual accommodation huts) are all different and are spread out, some with more isolation than others and we also have individual accommodation rooms in the wing of our Casa Grande for those who would prefer being close to the main facilities.

Available for Group Hire - Email Howard for details.

Andean Shamanism Retreat - Web Album

Andean Shamanism Retreat - Peru March 2008

This week expanded on our work with the shamanic tradition of the Andes. Working with San Pedro Maestro Shaman Juan Navarro, and Coca Leaf Diviner & traditional Healer Doris Rivera Lenz. This is an opportunity to experience the rich and powerful spiritual legacy of the Andean civilization which is only now being properly recognised after 500 years of obscurity.

For information about our Retreats and the shamans we work with, visit our website:

The Incredible Art of the Shipibo People - Part 2

A Video of Shipibo craftswoman Teresa, showing traditional painting (Part 2).

Soul Companions - Video

Karen Sawyer, the author of Soul Companions, has posted up a very nice video about her book;

The incredible art of the Shipibo people - Part 1

The incredible art of the Shipibo people - Part 1

Shipibo craftswoman Teresa, showing traditional painting. In this video Teresa starts with a blank piece of cotton and within an hour and a half completes a fascinating example of the traditional art of the Shipibo people of the Upper Amazon in Peru.








For a detailed article on the world of the Shipibo;

http://www.shamanism.co.uk/Articles/shipibo.pdf

Ayahuasca Retreat - the view by the River at Mishana

Taking it nice and easy on the deck of Mishana Retreat Centre looking at some boats on Rio Nanay. Mishana is in a national reserve. Video from Eagle’s Wing Ayahuasca Retreat.


Visit our website for info on our Ayahuasca and Yoga Retreats in the Amazon

Ayahuasca Shipibo Shaman - invokes Ayahuasca

Shipibo Shaman Enrique Lopez blesses and invokes Ayahuasca after brewing. Video taken at Eagle's Wing Ayahuasca Retreat March 2008.
Click for details of our Retreat Programme

San Pedro and Coca - Shamanism Retreat, Peru March 2008

San Pedro and Coca - Andean Shamanism Retreat, Peru March 2008.

A video collage of our week in the Andes, which expanded on our work with the shamanic traditions of the Andes. Working with San Pedro Maestro Shaman Juan Navarro, and Coca Leaf Diviner & traditional Healer Doris Rivera Lenz. This is an opportunity to experience the rich and powerful spiritual legacy of the Andean civilization which is only now being properly recognised after 500 years of obscurity.

Visit our website for info on our Peru Shamanism Retreats

UN wants to ban ancient Andean traditions of chewing coca

UN wants to ban ancient Andean traditions of chewing coca This month the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board recommended a ban on coca chewing and the use of coca in mass-consumption products such as tea in Peru and Bolivia. This is part of an attempt to crack down on cocaine production. Both Andean countries have defended the use of coca which has been used for medicinal and religious purposes for centuries and is part their cultural identity.

The Peruvian and Bolivian governments criticised the UN report for only concentrating on coca cultivation as the basis for cocaine production and that it lacked respect for indigenous cultures. To protest against the UN recommendations, dozens of Peruvian Congress members chewed the coca leaf publicly. Indigenous activists led by the Congress woman Hilaria Supa also gathered in central Lima to raise awareness about the spiritual and cultural uses of the coca leaf.

Click to view aticle on Andean Shamanism and Traditional use of the Coca leaf.

Visit our website for info on our Andean Shamanism Retreats in Peru

Booking internal Flights in Peru - Caution

I'm currently in Peru, and the other day I wanted to book a flight from Pucallpa to Lima. As it was raining (a lot) so avoiding a hike into town, I logged on to the LAN Peru website (www.lan.com), and discovered when I tried using my UK credit card, the price was UK Pounds 88, looking at what it would cost using a US$ credit card the price was $88. So the UK price was DOUBLE....I could also assume that it would be similar for the Euro Zone......so Caveat emptor!

So if you are planning to book internal flights before you arrive in Peru, you would save a heap of money by doing that when you get to Peru.

Good Luck

Howard

Click for information on our Ayahuasca and Yoga Retreats in the Amazon, Peru

Ayahuasca and Yoga Retreat - March 2008

Ayahuasca Retreat - Amazon Rainforest, Mishana, Peru. March 2008

A video collage of Eagle's Wing Ayahuasca Retreat at our dedicated centre in Mishana.

Ayahuasca, Moses, and the Ten Commandments - Plant Spirit Shamanism of the Bible

"Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher"

The world wide media interest in Benny Shanon's paper about Moses and entheogens, is encouraging us to take a good and hard look at the roots of religions and the notion that they were based on fertility cults, and shamanic practices such as Entheogens (or hallucinogenic) plants as a source of spiritual communion with the universal consciousness, or the mind of God.

John Allegro, in his book “The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East”, postulated through the etymology of words and relates how the development of language indicated that the roots of the religions emanating from the Middle East were based on fertility cults, and shamanic practices such as Entheogens (or hallucinogenic) plants as a source of spiritual communion with the universal consciousness, or the mind of God..

Back in the 1970's the reaction against these ideas was so strong that it destroyed Allegro's career, the book was not published in the UK as it was regarded as blasphemous, and blasphemy was still a crime. It's good to think that we have made some progress in recent years.

Allegro’s theory was visionary and ground-breaking. He was the first to propose in some detail that two major religions Christianity and by extension Judaism were entheogen-oriented and that the entheogen was Amanita Muscaria. His book was published at a time when there was little or no awareness about the use of entheogens, and was indeed a courageous act to publish this book.

Another great explorer and pathfinder in human consciousness was Terence Mckenna, in his book “Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution”, proposed that hallucinogenic plants, in this case Psilocybin mushrooms, were the cause of the astounding and unexplained rapid evolution and development of the human brain within the evolutionary time scale (just 500,000 years from the hominids). In other words how we developed from our ape relatives . His theory also encompasses the development of linguistics , and human civilisation itself


JERUSALEM (AFP) - High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week.

Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

"The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a clasic phenomenon," he said citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to "see music."

He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon forest in 1991. "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations," Shanon said.

He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree, that is frequently mentioned in the Bible.

source: Yahoo News.

Paper originally published in:

Time and Mind:
The Journal of Archaeology Consciousness and Culture
Volume I—Issue I, March 2008

TiTLE: Biblical Entheogens: Speculative Hypothesis

pp. 51–74

Benny Shanon is Professor of psychology at the Hebrew university of Jerusalem (Israel). His main foci of research are the phenomenology of human consciousness and the philosophy of psychology. His publications include The representational and the Presentational (1993) and The Antipodes of the Mind (2002). At present, he is working on book devoted to a general psychological theory of human consciousness.

View original article by Benny Shanon

plant spirit shamanism