The Shaman, or healer

This guy is a shaman, or healer or medicine man. I forgot his name as well. He has been practicing his art in this area of the rain forest since he was a young man. The shaman are extremely interesting individuals, and this shaman was no exception. He was extremely cordial, and open to any question we wanted to ask him. From what we could gather, much of the practice of the shaman revolves around the use of the Ayahuasca, a tea made from the mixing of several different plants that has some kind of hallucinogenic properties. The shaman apparently learns how to use the psychedelic properties of the ayahuasca to help divine the needs of his patients. These needs are both spiritual and temporal, but all of which include physical symptoms. That is, the person is sick, but the cause may be because someone cursed them or because they have a disease. Much of the curses, he said, come from jealous family members.

This shaman was very cool. He told us how he cared for his patients and helped them to deal with their sicknesses. If, after all he could do, he could not cure them, he sent them to the the closest hospital, recognizing that there are some things that the shaman's art simply cannot help.    



















He asked us if we would like to see a demonstration of what he would typically do with a patient when they arrived at his lodge. He asked for a volunteer, and Jorie stepped up to the plate.
















He had an apparatus made of a lot of dried plants, that he shook vigorously and lightly struck Jorie's head and shoulders, all the while chanting and singing. This went on for several minutes. It was very interesting, and Jorie thought it was pretty cool.
















When it was all done, he explained more about what he does, including how he prepares jungle plants that have medicinal properties for healing his patients. He explained that the knowledge gained over thousands of years about these medicinal properties was only oral. He spent years listening to his teacher shaman and memorizing the plants and their various qualities. This takes a ton of time and there are not a lot of people around who still want to do it. Hopefully there is someone who can help to catalog all this before it is lost. This guy was a stud.