Resembling a Franciscan monk from the Middle Ages (!), Don Hector is a Shipibo Onanya (master shaman), native of the Shipibo community of Roaboya.
Shipibo shaman Don Hector

Photo Credit: José Garcia Ramirez

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 Shipibo shamans.

Doña Ercilia by a Lechecaspi teacher tree in Ashi Meraya

Photo Courtesy: Isabel Grau

“Doña Ercilia [...]  is an amazingly powerful shaman who is a constant generator of unconditional love and acceptance.  I felt healed, supported, loved and encouraged.  It was profoundly beautiful! At every moment and in every ceremony Doña Ercilia was an impeccable, wise and powerful shaman.  She is not caught in the “ego trip” so common to medicine men and women of her calibre.  This is simply “her work” and she does it all with love, honour, humility and respect.  I witnessed her create and hold sacred space that was filled with energy and love.  Her ability to cast a shield of protection is beyond compare.  Once inside sacred space with her, she tunes into your journey and your energy.  She knows exactly what you need.  Her icaros are capable of soothing, energizing, transforming, purging or accompanying depending on what you need at the moment she tunes in to your body and spirit.  In an ayahuasca ceremony she also knows when you need help or energy and moves from person to person as required.  I was also able to witness her profound personal healing powers.  I was privileged to observe her conduct two extractions on one of the guests.  No “fan-fair,” no ego, no show. . . just good, clear, amazing healing work.  In our western world it is not every day you see a shaman suck foreign objects out of the human body.  The procedure was successful, simple, and quick; leaving no exit wound.  Ashi Meraya has always attracted the best shaman to work with and it is clear that Doña Ercilia is continuing that tradition of quality and care.  I wish everyone could spend some time with her and experience the true Shipibo healing with love.”

J. P. Fischbach, Shaman, & Film Director, Victoria, AUSTRALIA

Maestra Doña Ercilia preparing a ritual flower bath in Ashi Meraya

Photo Courtesy: Isabel Grau
Doña Ercilia – a most genuine indigenous shaman curandera from the Shipibo-Conibo ethnic group of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest – began her first diet with plant teachers at the age of 10, and has so far accumulated a cumulative work experience of 31 years in the field of Amazonian shamanism. She apprenticed under the tutelage of Shipibo master shaman Don Jorge Ahuanari (her own father) first, then, respectively, with Don Iologio Brito Fasanando (her grandfather) and Don Antonio afterwards.

She committed and distinguished herself in following very disciplined and impeccable long shamanic diets, with dozens and dozens of different teacher plants and trees, including – among many others – Ayahuasca, Azucar Huayo, Aya Uma, Remocaspi and Chullachaqui caspi, as well as different varieties of shamanic perfumes and Fuego de Capirona.

Doña Ercilia burning a virote extracted from a patient in Ashi Meraya

Photo Courtesy: Isabel Grau

Her shamanic specialization – in Shipibo tongue – is oyushun yube tsecati, meaning “extracting virotes“. Virotes are a very mysterious thing, specific of Amazonian shamanism, witchcraft and sorcery. They are magical darts which can take – in the physical world – the form of a black spine, a thorn or a sharp object intended to cause harm on to an intended target. Indeed, guests who attended our retreats and had the privilege of seeing Doña Ercilia in action, have seen with their eyes her shamanic extraction capabilities, and have directly witnessed the extraction of solid objects like small dark/blackish stones, a black dart/thorn – and in one instance – even a whitish worm-like live thing from the body of patients.

She specializes in dealing with *impossible cases*, where sorcery (brujeria), witchcraft (hechiceria) and/or black magic (magia negra) may have been at play in affecting the health of a patient.
Her teachers thought her many healing arts alongside defensas (i.e. warding off malevolent attacks from brujos or hechiceros).

Doña Ercilia is a very traditional and powerful indigenous shamanic healer, who has simply left behind her ego. She had *no previous contacts with Westerns before May 2011*, and we feel very privileged to have established a deep bond of shamanic fellowship with her.

A gem of genuinity coming from the heart, she has a humble, gentle, pragmatic, very down to earth and reserved nature. A true rarity our days…

In line with the Shipibo tradition, Doña Ercilia prepares the Ayahuasca brew employing ayahuasca vine cuts and the leaves of the chacruna bush.

Don Walter  (Shipibo name: Chono Tsoma), originally from the native community of Nuevo Loreto, in the Ucayali region of the Peruvian Amazon. He is a Palero Ayahuasquero and a master herbalist (naturista). Don Walter has distinguished himself for doing his work with much love and enthusiasm.

Shipibo master shaman Don Walter (Chono Tsoma), in the jungle surroundings of Ashi Meraya

Photo Credit: Heberto Hiran Garcia Ramirez

Click here for info on the shamanic plant diet with Don Walter

The Ayahuasca brew prepared by Don Walter (Chono Tsoma)

A warm, gentle, humble, patient and compassionate healer – and with wonderful icaros too! – our Shipibo master shaman has his own style of preparing the Ayahuasca brew, which he prepares using Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.) vine cuts, Chacruna (Psychotria viridis) and Toe’ (Brugmansia suavolensis) leaves, Mapacho (Nicotiana sp., black jungle tobacco), all mixed together with the actual Ayahuasca leaves.

Shipibo master shaman Chono Tsoma cooking the Ayahuasca brew in Ashi Meraya

Photo Credit: Heberto Hiran Garcia Ramirez

The use of Ayahuasca leaves in the making of the Ayahuasca brew is – to the best of our knowledge – a rarity among shamans in the North West Peruvian Amazon. Sometimes, the fresh leaves of the Huambisa (Diplopterys sp.) and Chaliponga (Diplopterys cabrerana) plants are also added to the brew, to make it even more potent.

Ayahuasca cooking in Ashi Meraya

Photo Credit: Heberto Hiran Garcia Ramirez

Interestingly, the names of the Huambisa and Chaliponga plants are sometimes used indistinctly by some botanical sources (as apparently referring to the same plant), but our Shipibo maestro distinguish the two, as part of the same genus, but being two different species altogether.

The Apprenticeship of Shipibo Maestro Chono Tsoma

Don Walter had – as it’s current practice among many native shamans of the Peruvian Amazon – a rather ‘multi-ethnic’ shamanic background, re. his own apprenticeship. His teachers were Don Palomino Estrella (a master shaman of the Cacataibo/Cashibo ethnic group), Don Umberto Shapiama Cruz (an indigenous Cocama shaman)), Don Marcos Ricopa (a Campa-Ashaninka shaman), Don Leoncio Garcia Sampaya (an elderly Shipibo shaman and former maestro at Ashi Meraya) and Doña Lucia Cumapa Ocampo (a Shipibo shamanka).

Click here for info on the shamanic plant diet with Don Walter.

Don Mariano is an exquisite 73 years old master shaman, also from the Shipibo ethnic group of the Amazon, whom we treasure and love for his humbleness, inner beauty, moving icaros, silent knowledge and integrity.

Shipibo shaman Don Mariano (“Shawan Sani”), in the jungle surroundings of Ashi Meraya

Photo Credit: Heberto Hiran Garcia Ramirez

He is native of the Tahuanì area (in the province of Atalaya, Ucayali department of Peru). He dieted – since the early age of fifteen – with many different types of palos maestros (teacher trees) – like Chuchuhuasi (Maytenus ebenifolia), Chiricsanango (Brunfelsia grandiflora), Shihuahuaco (Dipterys sp.), Timareo, Coresa, and Renaquilla (Clusia rosea) – along with plantas maestras (teacher plants), like Coca (Erythroxylum coca), Toe’ (Brugmansia suavolensis), Piñon Colorado (Jatropha gossypifolia), Mucura (Petiveria alliacea), Piripiri (Cyperaceous sp.), Motelillo (Fittonia verschaffeltii), Ajos Sacha (Mansoa alliacea), and sogas (vines) – including Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.) and Sacha Motelo. He even dieted with hongos de vaca (magic mushrooms !!), and the perfumes Agua de Florida and Camalonga. His teachers were Don Eliseo Capitan, a Shipibo maestro palero ayahuasquero and espiritista, and Don Rosalino Rengifo, a Shipibo shaman, with a great knowledge of Ayahuasca.

Don Mariano sings his captivating icaros (shamanic power songs taught by the plant spirits) exclusively in the Shipibo-Conibo idiom of his people. Those who did have the privilege of listening to the magical songs of Don Mariano during an Ayahuasca ceremony in Ashi Meraya, may remember and still feel the sheer beauty, sweetness and relentless power of his melodies. The true spirit of Don Mariano could be appreciated at his best in altered states of consciousness, during the Ayahuasca rituals, when his voice changed, and at times turned into a mysterious vocal duo, projecting the archetypal image and spirit of the shaman, in a timeless, beautiful, and moving fashion. Fruit of relentless long diets with plant teachers, his Spirit-gifted icaros are a blessing for us all. Don Mariano – when not cultivating his chacra (agricultural land allotment) or doing his diets with the plants – is in Ashi Meraya.

We invite you to experience – in a supportive, friendly and safe environment – the sheer power and beauty of the Amazonian teachings of Ayahuasca and Plant Teachers, with the native people that for millennia have handed down this knowledge in an impeccable way, developing a most intimate relationship with the jungle.

Our promise to you: to have a genuine, direct and profound exposure to a wealth of rare indigenous rituals and entheogenic shamanic traditions & walk your personal path to vision, knowledge and healing.

In the process your retreat will directly support native people’s economy, and will guarantee and encourage the continuation and transmission of the ancestral Shipibo shamanic practices.

All our retreats are ongoing, with Customized Dates all year round, for individual guests, couples and small groups. On 30th of December 2010, we will be hosting for the first time ever a very rare and unique event focused on the ancestral rituals of the Merayas, performed by different native Shipibo guest shamans. Places are limited.

Details will be posted soon on this site. Email us on info@elmundomagico.org for more details. Watch this space!!