Ayahuasca retreat, San Pedro & shamanic dieta apprenticeship

The Ayahuasca retreat may begin any day of the week. It can be 1 to 3 weeks in length (longer periods may be agreed upon, if necessary). It includes 5 Ayahuasca ceremonies (per week), 3 rituals with palos maestros and with a giant Suni ayahuasca vine growing wild in the jungle (per week), 2 rituals of spiritual purification (per week), 1 Toé dream journey (per week), and 1 Camalonga dream ritual (per week).

It has a flexible diet where fish, chicken, fruit, vegetables, potatoes, rice, salt and sugar are allowed. It includes 5 Ayahuasca ceremonies (per week), Toé rituals (once a week), cleansing ritual baths, rituals with master trees in the jungle (twice a week), smudging rituals for spiritual purification (twice a week), and Camalonga rituals (once a week). Choose any length of time between 1 week and 3 weeks/22 days. The Ayahuasca retreat is suitable for vegans, vegetarians and non-vegan/vegetarians alike. Please allow enough time to fit 5 Ayahuasca ceremonies, 1 Toé and 1 Camalonga dream rituals per week during your staying. A one week Ayahuasca retreat is made of 8 days/7 nights, and it completes on the morning of day 8, after breakfast.

Our Ayahuasca retreat, typically includes:

• Initial briefing and private consultation with the shaman.
• Ayahuasca diet (little to no salt, sugar, fat and oil; no chilli, spices, alcohol, pork, red meat or fried food are allowed; chicken, fish, eggs, onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, vegetables, coconut water, salad and some fruits are allowed).
• 5 Ayahuasca ceremonies per week, at night, at 9 PM. On a voluntary basis of participation and subject to your health status.
• 1 Toé Dream ritual per week (ritually smoking with the shaman the dry, rolled leaves of the Brugmansia suaveolens plant), at night; (guests doing the 13 weeks/91 days shamanic apprenticeship may also take – subject to the shaman approval and supervision – the powerful freshly squeezed Toé juice in ceremony, once a month).
• Watch and learn how the Ayahuasca brew is prepared.
• Jungle hikes with the shaman and/or the jungle guide, to get to know the countless medicinal plants, teacher plants and master trees in the rainforest surrounding the centre.
• 2 rituals with palos maestros (master trees) and 1 ritual with an ancient, wild grandmother ayahuasca vine (per week), with the shaman, in the jungle.
• 2 cleansing ritual baths per week, with the leaves of different plant teachers like Albaquilla, Albaca, Canelilla, Oriso, Shinguri sacha, Lengua de perro, Planta del Iman, Shara masho, etc.
• 1 ritual flowering bath, towards the end of the retreat, traditionally prepared in the Peruvian Amazon to attract good luck, prosperity, love and friendship in one’s life.
• 2 rituals of spiritual purification, per week (include smudging with Palo Santo). Some or all of the following may be used by the shaman for smudging: the wood of Palo Santo (“Holy Wood”, botanical name Bursera graveolens, a mystical, wild tree related to Frankincense, Copal and Myrrh), the wood of Palo sangre (Brosimum rubescens), the leaves of ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.), Chacruna (Psychotria viridis), Limón (Citrus aurantifolia), Achiote (Bixa orellana), Mucura (Petiveria alliacea) and Clavohuasca (Tynanthus panurensis), with the addition of the shell of Ajos macho (single clove ‘male’ garlic from the Sierra of Peru).
• 1 Camalonga dream ceremony per week, at 9 PM.
• Complimentary on-site facilitator & interpreter Spanish-English.

Programme may vary from case to case, according to the shaman’s assessment of your individual physical, mental, emotional and spiritual circumstances.

Ayahuasca Retreat: Price, Reservation and Booking

The 8 days/7 nights San Pedro retreat begins on Mondays and includes: 4 San Pedro ceremonies (at night), 2 Ayahuasca ceremonies (at night), 3 rituals with palos maestros and with an ancient grandmother wild ayahuasca vine in the jungle (in the morning, or in the afternoon), 2 rituals of spiritual purification and smudging with Palo Santo (in the late afternoon/early evening), 1 Camalonga dream ritual (at night) and finally, 1 Toé ritual, smoking in ceremony (at night) the Toé with the shaman.

On the first and sixth retreat night there will be an Ayahuasca ceremony (on the nights of Day 1 and Day 6), in between the two Ayahuasca ceremonies there will be four San Pedro ceremonies (on the nights of Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5), whilst on the seventh night there will be a Camalonga dream ritual (first), followed by a Toé ritual (after). The San Pedro cactus we use at the retreat is freshly sourced from the Peruvian coast (not being a native plant of the Amazon), and air freighted to Iquitos.

This retreat has a flexible diet where fish, chicken, fruit, vegetables, potatoes, rice, salt and sugar, and most food compatible with Ayahuasca will be allowed. The San Pedro retreat is suitable for vegans, vegetarians and non-vegan/non-vegetarians alike. Please allow enough time to fit in 4 San Pedro, 2 Ayahuasca, 1 Camalonga and 1 Toé night ceremonies during your 8 days staying. The San Pedro retreat ends on the morning of Day 8, after breakfast.

The pre-Dieta (plant diet tester), typically includes:

• Initial briefing and private consultation with the shaman.
• Shamanic plant diet testers or “pre-Dieta” with a more flexible approach than the traditional strict diet (yet, still no salt, sugar, fat, alcohol, tea, coffee, oil, chili, spices, pork, fried food, chicken or red meat for the first 9 days of diet; chicken, eggs, onions, garlic and potatoes may be allowed after the initial 9 days; limited interaction with people except staff; no sex). Food allowed in the diet will be essentially a type of fish called Boquichico, roasted green plantains, rice pudding (unsweetened) and porridge (unsalted). Don Guido also allows rice, salad and vegetables (all unseasoned) in the diet, at any point.
• Diet with individual master trees, or plant teachers.
• 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies (per week) with Don Armando – usually on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On a voluntary basis of participation and subject to your health status.
  
• 2 Camalonga dream rituals (per week), at night;
• 3 Toé Dream rituals per week, a night ritual with the “Brugmansia suaveolens” plant teacher, ceremonially smoking its dry rolled leaves, with the shaman; (guests doing the 13 weeks/91 days shamanic apprenticeship may also take – subject to the shaman approval and supervision – the powerful freshly squeezed Toé juice in ceremony, once a month). Ayahuasca diet only: 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies + 2 Camalonga rituals + 1 Toé Dream ritual per week (a night ritual with the “Brugmansia suaveolens” plant teacher, ceremonially smoking its dry rolled leaves, with the shaman);
• Learn how to prepare Ayahuasca.
• Jungle hikes with shaman and guide, to get to know the medicinal plants, teacher plants and master trees in the surrounding rainforest.
• 2 rituals with palos maestros (master trees) and 1 ritual with an ancient, grandmother Suni ayahuasca vine, per week, with the shaman, in the jungle.
• 2 rituals of spiritual purification, per week (include smudging with Palo Santo). Some or all of the following may be used by the shaman for smudging: the wood of Palo Santo (“Holy Wood”, botanical name Bursera graveolens, a mystical, wild tree related to Frankincense, Copal and Myrrh), the wood of Palo sangre (Brosimum rubescens), the leaves of ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.), Chacruna (Psychotria viridis), Limón (Citrus aurantifolia), Achiote (Bixa orellana), Mucura (Petiveria alliacea) and Clavohuasca (Tynanthus panurensis), with the addition of the shell of Ajos macho (single clove ‘male’ garlic from the Sierra of Peru).
• 3 cleansing ritual baths in the first week, with the leaves of different plant teachers like Albaquilla, Albaca, Canelilla, Oriso, Shinguri sacha, Lengua de perro, Planta del Iman, Shara masho, etc.
• 1 ritual flourishing bath, towards the end of the plant diet, with different types of flowers of plant teachers. Traditionally prepared to attract good luck, prosperity, love and friendship in one’s life.
• Complimentary on-site facilitator & interpreter Spanish-English.

Programme may vary from case to case, according to the shaman’s assessment of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual circumstances. The pre-dieta or diet tester is suitable for vegans, vegetarians, and non-vegetarians alike.

Shamanic Plant Diet Retreat tester (pre-Dieta): Price, Reservation and Booking

Don Armando blowing Mapacho smoke in the bottle containing the Camalonga brew just prepared.

The Camalonga brew for the shamanic diet is prepared by the shaman by first scraping Camalonga seeds (1 ‘male’ and 1 ‘female’) to remove the shell, then completely grinding the core of the stone and leaving it to macerate outdoors in clean water (better if rainfall water from the rainforest) for the whole of the following day. 24 hours after the maceration, the brew is filtered and ready to be drunk. It has a pretty bitter taste and is stronger than the brew prepared with the whole, unshelled seeds left in alcohol infusion. Past 48 hours from drinking the Camalonga tea, a dietero (male apprentice) or dietera (female apprentice) may continue the cycle of the diet by taking part to 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies and 3 Toè dream rituals per week (the Toè cannot be drunk when doing the Camalonga diet, it can only be smoked). In terms of dietary prescriptions/requirements, these will be the same as the shamanic healing diet with Master trees, or the shamanic apprenticeship via the plant teachers diet. No dinner on the night of the ceremony and no breakfast the day after the ritual. Allowed food: roasted/grilled fish, roasted/grilled green plantains, unsweetened rice pudding, coconut water, porridge, vegetables and salad (all unseasoned, with no salt or oil).

Camalonga brew in a jar, in sugar cane spirit infusion (centre), alongside Ayahuasca brew (right), and Palo Santo wood incense (left).

The second type of Camalonga beverage is used by the shaman as personal aid in a diagnostics or a healing, to enhance the visionary and divinatory experience during an Ayahuasca ceremony. It is also served during the Camalonga ceremonies exclusively as part of the Ayahuasca retreat. This is prepared by Don Guido by leaving in infusion in a glass jar, in aguardiente (sugar cane spirit), 32 Camalonga seeds (16 ‘male’ and 16 ‘female’ coupled seeds) alongside one ‘male’ and one ‘female’ bulb of Ajos de la sierra (garlic from the sierra of Peru, not to be confused with normal, domestic garlic) and camphor (Alcanfor), among other ingredients. The seeds are left whole, unscraped and unground, left to macerate indefinitely. The brew is left unfiltered, with all the ingredients left to rest in a glass bottle. Drinking the alcohol-based Camalonga brew does not require a diet other than the Ayahuasca diet itself and can be drank 24 hours before or after an Ayahuasca ceremony.

Camalonga seeds (paired ‘male’ and ‘female’ ones). Photo © El Mundo Magico.

The Camalonga dieta retreat typically includes:

• Initial briefing and private consultation with the shaman.
• 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies (per week): on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
• 3 Toé Dream ceremonies (per week), led by the shaman; (guests doing the 13 weeks/91 days shamanic apprenticeship may also take – subject to the shaman approval and supervision – the powerful freshly squeezed Toé juice in ceremony, once a month).
• Ritual cleansing and flourishing baths, with either fresh or cooked plant teachers;
• 2 Camalonga dream rituals per week, at night, led by the shaman;
• 2 rituals of spiritual purification, per week (include smudging with Palo santo). Some or all of the following may be used by the shaman for smudging: the wood of Palo Santo (“Holy Wood”, botanical name Bursera graveolens, a mystical, wild tree related to Frankincense, Copal and Myrrh), the wood of Palo sangre (Brosimum rubescens), the leaves of ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.), Chacruna (Psychotria viridis), Limón (Citrus aurantifolia), Achiote (Bixa orellana), Mucura (Petiveria alliacea) and Clavohuasca (Tynanthus panurensis), with the addition of the shell of Ajos macho (single clove ‘male’ garlic from the Sierra of Peru).
• 2 rituals with palos maestros (master trees) and 1 ritual with a giant and wild grandmother ayahuasca vine, per week, with the shaman, in the jungle.

Camalonga Diet Retreat: Price, Reservation and Booking

During the gentle intoxication with Camalonga one may feel more relaxed, receive visions, answers and messages from the Spirit world which may continue in dreaming, after going to bed, when the actual ceremony is finished. The experience is milder than the Ayahuasca one and – when the ceremony is held at night – the settings are very much similar to those of the Ayahuasca ceremony, with the shaman singing his icaros and calling the spirits, in almost complete darkness.

We now offer Camalonga rituals during all types of retreats, being these Ayahuasca, pre-diet/plant diet testers, Camalonga, shamanic healing diet, or shamanic apprenticeship retreats. No special diet provisions for the Camalonga ritual will be required from participants who are already following the shamanic diet. Please allow enough time for your staying, to accommodate 5 Ayahuasca ceremonies per week, the Toé ritual-s, and the Camalonga session-s. Generally speaking, one may take part to one Camalonga dream ceremony per week in the course of the Ayahuasca retreat, and to two Camalonga rituals per week during different types of plant diet retreats.

Don Armando maintains that it takes double efforts and double work to accommodate vegans and 100% vegetarians, as neither salad, nor vegetables, or fruit are otherwise allowed in the shamanic dieta and all non-customary food needs to be “cured” with icaros before being served. Following the strict traditional shamanic dieta with master trees one should only have chargrilled Amazonian fish and chargrilled green plantains to eat (three courses a day, except when there are night ceremonies involving the drinking of plant teachers or master trees), and water to drink. So you get as bonus oat, porridge (unsweetened/unsalted), rice and rice pudding (unsweetened/unsalted). Don Armando maintains that the traditional shamanic dieta with master trees needs necessarily to be strict in order to be successful, and for one to make the most of it, by creating a spiritual link with the energy and power of the genios of the master trees. This is true when dieting with a single master tree at once, but much more so when dieting with 35 master trees and vines, plus tobacco, Coca leaves and Cacao bark ALL together.  Amazonian fish is an essential food staple in the shamanic diet, however, Don Armando may also cater for the special needs of vegans and 100% vegetarians (who do not eat fish), who are called to do the shamanic apprenticeship or the shamanic dieta with master trees. In this case, extra food (which would otherwise not be allowed) like salad, vegetables, vegetables soup, and certain fruits will be included to compensate for the lack of fish. We do ask for a contribution of £ 240 GBP extra for the 45 days shamanic dieta, when participants are vegans or 100% vegetarians who do require a more flexible diet and do not eat fish. Don Armando maintains that in order to break the traditional rules and allow food not otherwise permitted in the shamanic dieta it will demand lot of more work on his side, to “cure”with his protective icaros the food served to our vegan/vegetarian guests and make sure that one’s progress won’t be hindered by the flexible food staple introduced. This special arrangement is only possible with Don Armando. And we warmly invite our vegan and vegetarian friends to meditate on the fact that dietary indications on what is traditionally allowed or not in a shamanic diet with master trees originate from the plant spirits themselves, as revelations to the shamans who simply comply with the indications received from the realm of plant spirit medicine.

Shamanic ritual with Don Sixto and apprentice by a Remocaspi master tree.

This shamanic diet also includes Ayahuasca ceremonies, learning how to conduct and be protected during the Ayahuasca ceremonies, learning the practice of icaros (shamanic magical melodies and secret medicine songs), 2 Camalonga rituals (per week), 3 Toé rituals (per week), rituals with master trees and a giant Suni ayahuasca vine growing wild in the rainforest (three times a week), rituals of spiritual purification (twice a week, in the afternoon) and cleansing ritual baths with fresh and cooked teacher plants. Some of the rituals with Master trees will take place in the jungle of our Pumasacha rainforest reserve where even more and bigger Master trees are to be found. The Lupuna blanca and the Puka lupuna master trees – reputed by Don Armando to be the most shamanically important trees of the Amazon rainforest – are encountered in another rainforest area, located nearly 40 km away, where we have full access. The visit to this reserve to perform shamanic rituals with the Lupuna trees will be at cost price, and one is kindly expected to contribute towards the cost of the taxi or motokar, to get there and back on the same day (6 hours trip, including hiking in the rainforest and travel times).

The 45 days shamanic diet with master trees is indicated for a vast array of purposes. As initial (self-contained, independent) stage of a rigorous shamanic apprenticeship, for cleansing of the energetical and physical body, to eliminate brujeria (black magic) and spirit possession, to treat saladera, to strengthen one’s healing energy and capabilities (particularly if one is already a practitioner of holistic medicine and therapies), to protect one’s own energy field with arkanas (energetic protections from the spirit world), as shamanic healing treatment to address serious health issues (including drug addiction) and psychological conditions (like depression, stress, family and/or relationship problems).

Ayahuasca medicine being prepared.

The most essential aspect of the shamanic healing diet – whether done for cycles of 45 days, 3 months, or more – is that the master trees will teach one (in dreaming and with visions) medicine and icaros (magical songs from the spirit world), will empower one’s life, and give strength and wisdom. The spirits of the master trees may appear in form of animals, men, women, spirit beings, elderly men or women, or “abuelo/abuela” grandfather/grandmother spirits (like the Lupuna blanca, or Ceiba tree, the “abuelo” grandfather of the forest).

Shamanic ritual with an apprentice, before a teacher tree.

Please note: Perspective participants taking antidepressants or other incompatible medication, and/or suffering from incompatible conditions, may not take Ayahuasca, Camalonga, or Toé, but may nevertheless join the Ayahuasca rituals with the shaman, which remain essential for diagnostics and evaluate the progress of a therapy.

Shamanic ritual by a Remocaspi teacher tree. Photo: Trenton Doyle.

Begins on Mondays. Cycles of 45 days each. Up to 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies (per week), 2 rituals with Palos Maestros (per week), 1 shamanic ritual in front of ancient grandmother Suni ayahuasca vines growing wild in the jungle (per week), 2 rituals of spiritual purification, with smudging (per week), 3 Toé dream journeys (per week), and 2 Camalonga dream rituals (per week).

45 days shamanic diet with Master trees typically includes:

• Initial briefing and private consultation with the shaman.
• Traditional shamanic diet with palos maestros (master trees) in cycles of 45 days each. Dietary requirements include: celibacy (required throughout one’s staying and for a period after the retreat; men and women might need to stay in separate bungalows for the period of their training); no salt, no sugar (except in special circumstances), no fruit (except if special arrangements for vegans or 100% vegetarians are made), no vegetables (except if special arrangements for vegans or 100% vegetarians are made), no spices, no eggs, no chicken (except in special circumstances, if one cannot eat fish and requires a more flexible diet), no red meat; no soup (except if special arrangements for vegans or 100% vegetarians are made), no bread, no pasta, no oil, no fat, no tea (except for lemongrass and lemon leaves herbal teas), no chili, no coffee, no stimulants; no medicines; no fried food; no pork meat; no direct exposure to sun and rain. No direct physical contact – including handshakes, kisses and hugs – with other people. Allowed food: different types of Amazonian fish (like Boquichico, Acarahuazú, Palometa, Sardina, and Ractacara) with green plantains, all chargrilled and unseasoned; special drink prepared with cooked green plantains to be served at meal times; rice served as “masamorra”, i.e. cooked in water, in liquid form, to be drank at breakfast time. Coconut water is also allowed in the diet (but no coconut meat).
  
• Diet with over 35 different types of master trees and vines at once. Candidates for the shamanic/healing diet will be drinking as part of their training the especially powerful and ultra-concentrated brew made with 35 master trees and vines, boiled together for 8-10 hours, to be drank in a small Ayahuasca cup. The drinking of this concentrated master trees infusion will accelerate dramatically the learning of the apprentice. Typically, a decoction originally prepared with 50 litres of water will be reduced after cooking to just 2 litre of concentrated master trees brew to drink.
• 2 rituals with palos maestros (master trees) and 1 ritual with an ancient, wild, grandmother ayahuasca vine, per week, with the shaman, in the jungle (the teacher trees are found in the jungle part of the centre and in the adjoining Pumasacha rainforest reserve).
• 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies per week (usually on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), with Don Armando, at night. On a purely voluntary basis of participation and subject to your health status.
  
• 3 Toé dream journeys per week, ritually smoking with the shaman, at night, the “Brugmansia suaveolens” plant teacher. With Don Armando, participants may also be also offered the opportunity to drink – no more than once a month, on a voluntary basis of participation and strictly subject to approval from, and supervision of, the shaman – the most powerful fresh Toé juice, subject to individual experience and circumstances). To accommodate all ceremonies in this busy schedule, the Toé dream rituals (when the Toé is only smoked, not drunk) may take place on the same night-s of the Camalonga ceremonies, either before, or after, the Camalonga ritual.
• Learn how to prepare Ayahuasca and the practice of singing icaros.
• 2 rituals of spiritual purification, per week (include smudging with Palo Santo). Some or all of the following may be used by the shaman for smudging: the wood of Palo Santo (“Holy Wood”, botanical name Bursera graveolens, a mystical, wild tree related to Frankincense, Copal and Myrrh), the wood of Palo sangre (Brosimum rubescens), the leaves of ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.), Chacruna (Psychotria viridis), Limón (Citrus aurantifolia), Achiote (Bixa orellana), Mucura (Petiveria alliacea) and Clavohuasca (Tynanthus panurensis), with the addition of the shell of Ajos macho (single clove ‘male’ garlic from the Sierra of Peru).
• Jungle hikes in the rainforest, with shaman and/or jungle guide, to get to know medicinal plants, teacher plants and master trees in the surrounding rainforest.
• 2 cleansing ritual baths per week, with the leaves of different plant teachers like Albaquilla, Albaca, Canelilla, Oriso, Shinguri sacha, Lengua de perro, Planta del Iman, Shara masho, etc.
• 1 flowering ritual bath, in the last days of the diet, with different types of flowers. Traditionally prepared in the Peruvian Amazon to attract good luck, prosperity, love and friendship in one’s life.
• 2 Camalonga dream ceremonies per week.
• Complimentary on-site facilitator & interpreter Spanish-English.
  

Programme may vary from case to case, according to the shaman you may do the retreat with and in line with your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual conditions.

45 Days Shamanic diet with Master trees retreat: Price, Reservation and Booking

The plant teacher “Labio de novia”, used in love magic rituals. Photo courtesy: Trenton Doyle.

It starts from 3 months/13 weeks/91 days, as initial cycle/foundation course. Both shamanic diet apprenticeship styles include Ayahuasca ceremonies, learning how to conduct and be protected during the Ayahuasca ceremonies (also fending off bad spirits), practice of icaros (shamanic magical melodies and secret medicine songs), Camalonga dream rituals (twice a week), Toé rituals (three times a week), rituals with master trees and giant wild black ayahuasca vines in the rainforest (thrice a week). They also include shamanic talks, sharing sessions with the shaman (every morning, following the ceremonies with plant teachers, including Ayahuasca), cleansing and flourishing ritual baths with fresh and cooked teacher plants, master trees, colognes and essences. Most of the rituals with Master trees will take place in the jungle, in the neighboring Pumasacha rainforest reserve compound. The Lupuna blanca and the Puka lupuna master trees (reputed by Don Armando to be the most shamanically important trees of the Amazon rainforest), however, are only found in another rainforest area, located nearly 40 km away. The visit to this other reserve to perform shamanic rituals with the Lupuna trees will be at cost price, and one will only be expected to contribute towards transportation costs (by either taxi or motokar), to get there and back on the same day (6 hours trip, including hiking in the rainforest and travel times).

The main objective of this diet is, let’s not forget it, to prepare one to enter the path of Amazonian shamanism, the world of healers and master plants, and give one the essential tools to begin to operate in the real world as an advanced student of Amazonian entheogenic shamanism. The shamanic plant dieta with Master trees may not be suitable for vegans or for 100% vegetarians, as Amazonian fish will be served as an essential part of the menu. However, as with the 45 days shamanic diet with master trees, with Don Armando is will also be possible to accommodate vegans and vegetarians (who don’t eat fish) alike and have a more flexible food regimen, like salad, soup, vegetable soup, vegetables, and certain fruits, otherwise not allowed in the shamanic dieta. Because of the extra shamanic work involved, we ask for a contribution of £ 400 GBP extra for the 3 months/13 weeks shamanic dieta, when participants are vegans, or 100% vegetarians, do not eat fish, and do require a more flexible diet. Don Armando maintains that in order to break the traditional rules and allow food not otherwise permitted in the shamanic dieta will require more work on his side, He will need to constantly “cure”with his protective icaros the food served to our vegan/vegetarian guests and make sure that one’s progress won’t be hindered by the introduction of flexible diet food in the strict shamanic dieta. This special arrangement is only possible with Don Armando. Once again, we warmly invite our vegan and vegetarian friends to meditate on the fact that traditional dietary indications on what is allowed (or else not) in the shamanic dieta with master trees originate directly from the plant spirits themselves, as revelations to the shamans who simply comply with the indications received from the realm of plant spirit medicine.

If you are unsure on whether you can commit to the rigours of the shamanic/healing diet, or to the longer shamanic apprenticeship, you should opt for a shorter, exploratory, introductory “Pre-diet” (plant diet testers, anything from 2 weeks onward), or else, go for the Ayahuasca retreat instead. Or else more, go for the less demanding but still powerful and intense 45 days shamanic dieta with master trees. 

3 Months Shamanic Plant Diet Apprenticeship Retreat: Price, Reservation and Booking

Offering Mapacho smoke to a giant Cumaceba teacher tree.

13 weeks shamanic plant diet apprenticeship, typically includes:

• An initial briefing and private consultation with the shaman.
• Traditional shamanic diet with plantas maestras (master plants) and palos maestros (master trees) – which implies a very rigorous training, 13 weeks long – two cycles of 45 days each and a final day to get ready to travel back into the civilized world. Celibacy required throughout (men and women will also need to stay in separate places for the period of their training). No salt, no sugar, no fruit, no vegetables, no spices, no eggs, no chicken, no meat; no oil, no fat, no tea, no chili, no coffee, no stimulants; strictly, no pork meat whatsoever; avoid direct exposure to sun and rain. Avoid direct physical contact – including handshakes, kisses and hugs – with other people). Allowed food: different types of fish (like Bocachico, Sardines, Ractacaras, Corvina, Tucunaré, Añashua and Lisa pintada) with green plantains, both roasted and unseasoned; special drink (“chapo”) prepared with green plantains cooked in water, together with their skin, to be served at meal times; rice served as “masamorra”, i.e. cooked in water and in liquid form, to drink at meal times, especially at breakfast (no normal rice allowed). Coconut water is also allowed in the diet (but no coconut meat).
  
• Jungle hikes in the rainforest, with the shaman and/or the jungle guide, to get to know the countless medicinal plants, teacher plants and master trees in the rainforest surrounding the Ayahuma venue.
• At least 3 rituals with palos maestros (master trees) and with an ancient, wild black ayahuasca vine (ayahuasca negra), per week, with the shaman, in the jungle.
• Diet with 35 different master trees, vines and teacher plants at the same time. Candidates for the shamanic apprenticeship will be drinking as part of their diet the especially powerful and ultra-concentrated tea prepared with the bark of dozens of master trees, teacher plants and vines, boiled together for long hours, to be drank in a small Ayahuasca cup. Typically, a decoction originally prepared with 50 litres of water will be reduced after cooking to just 2 litres of teacher trees concentrate to drink.
• 3 Ayahuasca ceremonies per week (usually held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, at 9 PM, with Don Armando). On a voluntary basis of participation and subject to your health status.
  
• 3 Toé dream journeys per week, ritually smoking with the shaman, at night, the “Brugmansia suaveolens” plant teacher. With Don Armando, participants may also be also offered the opportunity to drink – no more than once a month on a voluntary basis of participation and strictly subject to approval from, and supervision of, the shaman – the powerful fresh Toé juice. To accommodate all ceremonies in this busy schedule, one or two of the Toé dream rituals (when the Toé is only smoked, not drunk) will take place on the same night-s of the Camalonga ceremony, a couple of hours after the Camalonga ritual, around 7 PM.
• Learn how to prepare Ayahuasca and the practice of icaros.
• 2 rituals of spiritual purification, per week (include smudging with Palo Santo). Some or all of the following may be used by the shaman for smudging: the wood of Palo Santo (“Holy Wood”, botanical name Bursera graveolens, a mystical, wild tree related to Frankincense, Copal and Myrrh), the wood of Palo sangre (Brosimum rubescens), the leaves of ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sp.), Chacruna (Psychotria viridis), Limón (Citrus aurantifolia), Achiote (Bixa orellana), Mucura (Petiveria alliacea) and Clavohuasca (Tynanthus panurensis), with the addition of the shell of Ajos macho (single clove ‘male’ garlic from the Sierra of Peru).
• 2 cleansing ritual baths per week, with the leaves of different plant teachers like Albaquilla, Albaca, Canelilla, Oriso, Shinguri sacha, Lengua de perro, Planta del Iman, Shara masho, etc.
• Flowering ritual bath, once, on the third day before the end of the diet, with different types of flowers of plant teachers. Traditionally prepared in the Peruvian Amazon to attract good luck, prosperity, love and friendship in one’s life.
• 2 Camalonga dream ceremonies per week, at 9 PM.
• Complimentary on-site facilitator & interpreter Spanish-English.

Programme may vary from case to case, according to the shaman’s assessment of your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual circumstances.

3 Months Shamanic Plant Diet Apprenticeship Retreat: Price, Reservation and Booking

Retreats are facilitated in Spanish and English, as a courtesy to all our guests.

Retreat prices are published here. Initial deposit of £ 400 GBP p.p. must be paid upfront contextually to your reservation, to hold your spot for the dates of your retreat. The deposit may be redeemable against the final balance, unless cancellations on your side. You may also pay the full price in one go, as you see fit. Final balance is due, respectively, 30 days (for Ayahuasca and San Pedro retreats) or 50 days ahead (for all types of plant diet retreats: pre-diet, Camalonga diet, Toé diet, 45 days master tree diet, 13-26 weeks shamanic plant diet apprenticeship, etc) ahead of your reserved retreat’s start date. You may pay by wire transfer, or with your credit/debit card via PayPal (4.5% flat fee for PayPal payments, worldwide), using the correspondent payment buttons and selecting your preferred payment option at Checkout, after registering your details. Upon receipt of your initial deposit or full payment (whichever comes first) and booking form, you will be sent (by email) the PDF agreement of participation, which includes a detailed medical questionnaire, to fill-in, date, sign and return (by email), alongside copy of your valid passport (only the page-s with your photo & personal details). Please make sure you won’t be taking any medication and don’t have any (physical or mental) health condition incompatible with Ayahuasca, before booking your place at the retreat. Should you have an incompatible condition and/or are taking incompatible medication and still wish to come, you might still be accepted at the retreat but may not take Ayahuasca, San Pedro, Camalonga, Tobacco, or Toé during your staying. In this last case scenario, you may still participate to all ceremonies with the shaman, but without actually drinking any plant brew.

What Is The Shamanic Plant Dieta?

Shamanic Plant Diet Apprenticeship: The Way of Wisdom

The Master trees and Plant Teachers of the Shamanic Diet

Shamanic Plant Diet and Ayahuasca

The Shamanic Plant Diet: Restrictions, Food and Plant Teachers