rainforest centre
Ayahuasca Mestizo Shaman Javier Arevalo in the Amazon – Part 1
Javier was interviewed by Howard G Charing and Peter Cloudsley in Peru, Selva Amazon 2000. In this interview Javier discusses his involvement with the shamanic Plant medicines of the Amazon, and Ayahuasca in particular.
Healing is at the center of the Ayahuasca experience. Ayahuasca not only has a powerful and profound effect on the mind and spirit, but also in the physical body. This type purification of body, mind and spirit in a Ayahuasca ceremony can be the beginning of a process of profound personal and spiritual discovery. This process can continue indefinitely, even if one never drinks Ayahuasca again.
Ayahuasca is the jungle medicine of the upper Amazon. It is made of ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi) and leaf chacruna plant (Psychotria Viridis). Both are a potent drug that opens the door to experiencing the energetic world which underlies the world of everyday life. The vine is a inhibitor which contains harmala and harmaline among other alkaloids, and the leaf contains vision inducing alkaloids. Like all natural medicines, is a mixture of many alkaloids that makes their unique properties
Ayahuasca is a name derived from two Quechua words: Aya means spirit, ancestor, deceased and media Huasca vine or rope, for what is known as the vine of the dead or vine of the soul. It is also known by many other local names, as yajé, caapi, natem, Pinder, daime, mihi, and DAPA. Plays a central role in the spiritual, religious and cultural traditions of indigenous and mestizo (mixed) poeple of the Upper Amazon, the plains of Orinoco and the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador.
Our view is that looking seriously at the way Ayahuasca is used we can improve our life experience and benefit more from this medication.
Since late 1990, we have worked extensively with Javier Arevalo and had many discussions about the role of the shaman Amazon and the use of ayahuasca. Javier comes from Nuevo Progreso, a community of 50 families in the Napo River, Loreto, Peru. Several generations of his family before him have been shamans and already at the age of 17 years, I knew this would be his future. However, it was not until he was 20 years old when his father died of a "virote" (A poisoned dart in the spiritual world) sent by a jealous brujo (witch) who felt obliged to follow the arduous five-year apprenticeship to become a shaman.
Javier, what is the role of a shaman?
He learns everything about the forest and uses that knowledge to heal his people and who have no money for doctors Western style. He uses Ayahuasca to discover in his visions, which plants will be effective for that disease.
How do you see this?
Spirits or plant doctors tell us. Since they are pure, they are happy when we are too, so we must diet in order to attract them. That means you should not eat salt, sugar or alcohol, and abstain from sex. The spirits come and say, for example, which is cured in two months if the patient has a particular plant. Then the shaman will look to the plant.
It is said that every room has the necessary plants to heal people?
Yes, every plant has a spirit, the shaman enters the forest as part of his apprenticeship and spends two years taking plants and roots. He takes Ayahuasca too and the spirit tells him that heals. Then the shaman is another plant, each time you remember why disease is cured.
About the Author
Howard G. Charing, is an international workshop leader on shamanism. He has worked some of the most respected and extraordinary shamans & healers in the Andes, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Philippines. He organises specialist retreats to the Amazon Rainforest. He is the author of the best selling book, Plant Spirit Shamanism.
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