Suni ayahuasca (black ayahuasca) ritual with Don Armando in the jungle
“You will find more in woods than in books, trees and stones will teach you the things that no master will tell you.”
(Saint Bernard of Clairvaux)
Download our FREE PDF Programmes for the:
• “SHAMANIC PLANT DIETA APPRENTICESHIP” retreat (3 Months/91 Days)
• “SHAMANIC DIETA WITH MASTER TREES” (45 Days)
• “SHAMANIC PLANT DIETA WITH TOÈ” (31 Days)
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The shamanic plant diet apprenticeship (la dieta): initiation into plant spirit medicine.
“Dieting” with the plant teachers is basically how one becomes a shaman in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. We are delighted to have found in our shamans a rare epigone of openness and availability on a topic – that of the shamanic plant teachers diet – which the vast majority of maestros is still a bit reticent to talk about and/or explain at the very core. Like in all initiations, and even in traditional martial arts, there are some aspects that have for long been kept secret and only now are becoming accessible to the most. The same happens in certain shamanic initiations and – more specifically – to Amazonian traditional shamanic initiations, like the plant diet essentially is.
Remocaspi (Aspidosperma excelsum) teacher tree. Photo: F. Sammarco
In the Peruvian Amazon there are essentially two different types of plant diet (dieta) that one may engage with. The shamanic plant diet – specifically targeted to those who want to follow the path of the shaman and wish to either apprentice with a maestro or become maestros themselves (after a long period of training) – and the plant diet for healing from a specific health condition, which is similar in training, but different in purpose, and with less restrictions. We mainly offer the plant diet for the shamanic apprenticeship (if you are seriously interested in this, you may register to download the FREE PDF programme for 3 months “Shamanic plant diet apprenticeship” training, in Peru) in our retreat centre and is worth remembering that – traditionally – the basic core of the apprenticeship lasts a minimum of three months (13 weeks). After having completed this “initiation” period, one may further extend the dieting periods in rows of minimum two weeks each. The importance of following the dieta – which implies the intake of a preparation made from different parts of plants, vines and trees – is of paramount importance in the Amazonian shamanic training, and is the mean by which one becomes a maestro, a shaman. There are no shamans worth their name that have not done the dieta. The longer the dieta, and the more plants one has dieted with, the more advanced, grounded and complete the training of a shaman is.
Palos Maestros (master trees) and Ayahuasca, Paleros and Ayahuasqueros
Those maestros who have dieted with palos maestros (sacred teacher trees) are called paleros and are reputed to be stronger than just ayahuasqueros (those maestros specialized in working with Ayahuasca, and who may have as well dieted only – or mainly – with Ayahuasca). One may also be a palero ayahuasquero (or many other things, like a palero, an ayahuasquero, a toesero, a camalonguero, a sananguero, etc., and any combination thereof, depending on the number of his/her specialisations). It is common belief in the Amazon that Ayahuasca may teach one on condition that it will be dieted with palos.
The maestros who only dieted with Ayahuasca and tobacco are usually called ayahuasqueritos (i.e. “petty ayahuasqueros“), as Ayahuasca and Mapacho (black jungle tobacco) alone are not sufficient for one to develop and further his shamanic powers, understanding and knowledge. In the Amazon, there is a vast array of plants, vines and trees that are reputed to be “teachers” or “maestros”, if taken in the proper traditional way. That is, in the settings of the dieta.
There is a wide range of plantas maestras (plant teachers), lianas (vines) and palos maestros (teacher trees) to diet with. These – according to the special qualities that may have – may sometimes be referred to as “doctores” (doctors), for their capacity to heal and teach. Thus Colombian anthropologist Luis Eduardo Luna explains the vegetalista‘s diet:
“The idea of following a particular diet is seen as a sine qua non both for becoming a vegetalista – i.e. for acquiring wisdom and strength – and for restoring one’s health. Only by purifying oneself by following the diet is one able to contact the spirit world, learn from the plants, and regain physical health. All vegetalistas insist that following the diet is the way of wisdom. They all say that while they followed their diets their minds worked differently, they could observe and memorize more easily, even their bodies changed their smell, allowing them to study nature in a more direct way, and they had lucid dream, in which the process of learning continued. They all stressed that they did not become weak from this diet. Quite the opposite, although they lost weight, their bodies became stronger and were able to stand the difficult conditions of life in the forest and the diet prevented them from becoming ill. […] The diet is seen as a natural way of restoring balance, because it helps to expel the pathogenic spirits or substance by allowing the person to be open to the action of beneficial plant and animal spirits. Several times during my field work I heard stories of people who told me that during the period they were following the diet, either in their dreams or in the visions elicited by by ayahuasca or other plant-teachers, an old man or woman coming to take away the illness in various ways, either symbolically, by sweeping their bodies with a broom, or by operating on them like a Western doctor. Such a dream would mean that curing was imminent.”
General guidelines
To those pilgrims who are determined to access in depth the shaman’s path, we offer our unique three months shamanic apprenticeship training via the plant teachers dieta; this is extendable to 26 weeks (6 months/182 days) for the most experienced. Upon successful completion of the first 13 weeks of apprenticeship, one may reserve his/her own place for continuing the diet at another time. As for our Ayahuasca and shamanic plant diet testers (pre-diet) retreats, we now offer a complimentary on-site Spanish-English interpreting service (including at the time of the ceremonies with plant teachers, at night). Strictly advance booking only.
All the info provided on this site on the schedule/timing of the diet with plant teachers in our retreat venue may be subject to changes, according to the shaman one may be doing the plant diet with.
Shamanic plant dieta apprenticeship: celibacy, physical contact, seclusion and flexibility
Celibacy must be strictly observed during the whole period of the dieta training, and – to this extent – for dietas of any length (from 8 days to a few years!). Physical contact with other people not doing the dieta (including hugs, hands-shaking, etc) should also be avoided. One should also avoid to go to the city (noise, traffic, chaos and temptations are not in tune with the fine tuning and subtle energies of the diet, for which one would require and should instead seek seclusion) for as much as possible during the apprenticeship. However, if it’s imperative for you to go to town, to keep in touch with your family and/or other personal/business matters, please always seek the permission of the shaman and coordinate with him your movements. One should not independently decide to interrupt the diet, unless this is done with the approval of the shaman, or else, when breaks are contemplated, as part of the diet itself. The maestros maintain that failure to abide to these rules during the dieta – especially not observing celibacy – might have serious consequences on one’s physical, emotional, mental and energetic well being. This in turn could compromise the quality and good outcome of your shamanic training.
Tribal shamans of the Amazon basin have always put a dramatic emphasis on three key elements of any shamanic initiation: isolation, fasting and a strict celibacy. At times, fasting takes the place of keeping a special diet, only based on green plantains and fish, and with the prohibition of feeding on game. Among the Shuar (also known as Jivaros or Jibaros), for instance, the shaman’s apprentice must remain inactive and abstain from sexual relations for several months (usually a whole year). If he fails, he won’t be a good shaman…(See Harner, 1972).
Having in mind the different challenges that the shamanic diet poses, Don Guido‘s style of training is more suitable for Western guests, in that it allows and contemplates periods of break at the end of a cycle of several days/weeks (depending on the type/length of the diet itself), when one may resume normal eating habits, including eating fruit and vegetables, whilst still taking part to all plant ceremonies and activities as scheduled for the shamanic diet in our retreat centre.
References
Luna, L.E., Vegetalismo. Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon, Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion 27, Stockholm 1986
HARNER, M. J., The Jivaro: People of the sacred waterfalls, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles 1972 (in POLIA 1997: 88).
POLIA. M. Gli Indios dell’Amazzonia, Xenia, Milano 1997
FURTHER INSIGHTS INTO THE SHAMANIC PLANT DIET
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
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Download our FREE PDF Programmes for the:
• “SHAMANIC PLANT DIETA APPRENTICESHIP” retreat (3 Months/91 Days)