Books

Ayahuasca culture is like an iceberg, with 9/10ths of its mass under the surface – and Aya is the book to tip it over the edge…

What is Amazonian shamanism and why is it important to the world today, as we stand on the brink of environmental change and global transformation? Traveling on a magazine assignment to Peru, “experiential journalist” Rak Razam sets out to discover the answers. He joins a growing movement of Western tourists coming for the legal experience of ayahuasca – the “vine of souls” a South American hallucinogenic plant that is said to heal, and connect to the divine.

In researching the mystery of ayahuasca Razam undergoes his own shamanic initiation, undergoing numerous tests and trials in the jungle and the psychic landscapes the vine reveals. On the way he encounters a motley crew of characters from rogue scientists who conduct DMT-brain scans on jungle psychonauts; brujo-black magicians wielding their psychic darts; and dozens of indigenous and Western shamans who slowly unravel his cultured mind and reveal the magical landscape of the spirit world.

Razam lyrically documents his experiences with the vine and his burgeoning relationship with the plants. He parallels his story with the history of Amazonian shamanism and the current surge of Western interest, using advances in modern physics and consciousness research to provide a definitive overview of this fast-growing global subculture and the impact it is having on the world.

And the more he drinks this potent jungle medicine the deeper it leads him: from the wet jungles where the ayahuasca vine grows to the middle of the Amazon, and on into the raging heart of consciousness itself.

This book is for those people who are interested in not just shamanism, but what it represents – a direct connection to the planet and a spiritual way to engage with the world. Razam’s journalistic eye for detail captures a unique adventure that echoes the archetypal Western quest, propelling the reader on a cosmological travel memoir that is at turns beautiful, terrifying, mind-blowing and ultimately, cathartic.

“The vine has spread her tendrils across the world and a genuine archaic revival was underway. My bags were packed, South America beckoned, and the ancient mysteries of the rainforest awaited. I wanted in on it…”

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ayahuasca-sessions

Ayahuasca Sessions

The Ayahuasca Sessions is a companion collection of interviews by journalist Rak Razam with the curanderos, shamans, ayahuasqueros and seekers that drink ayahuasca. In over two dozen sessions Razam lets the shamans (and the seekers) explain in their own words the demands and dangers of their profession in the 21st century and what they think the unprecedented explosion in Western interest in shamanism forbodes.

Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books (May 27, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1583948015
ISBN-13: 978-1583948019

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Boldly designed and with a full color photo insert collection, the collection features interviews with:

Indigenous Curanderos

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ADELA NAVAS de GARCIA

Adela Navas de Garcia is a vibrant, 69-year-old curandera in Iquitos who treats the local community and sometimes Westerners interested in ayahuasca. Her speciality is arkanas – spells for protection against the black arts of brujeria and for healing. Read More

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GUILLERMO

Guillermo is one of the most well-known curanderos to Western audiences, coming to recognition in French film-maker Jan Kounen’s psychedelic spaghetti-Western feature “Renegade” [released as “Blueberry” outside America]. Read More

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PERCY GARCIA LOZANO

Percy Garcia Lozano comes from a tradition of curanderos and was initiated into the science of ayahuasca at age ten. Now in his early 30s he is one of the new breed of indigenous shamans straddling two worlds – his indigenous heritage and […] Read More

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ELIAS MAMALLACTA

Elias is the son of a well-known Ecuadorian family of curanderos, the Mamallactas. Ecuadorian shamanism stresses the spirituality of the ayahuasca medicine and Elias especially chastises those who treat it as a business.
Read More

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DON FRANCISCO MONTES SHUNA

Don Francisco Montes Shuna is a perfumero curandero and visionary artist of Capanahua origins that founded the Sachamama Ethnobotanical Garden in 1990. Sachamama (which translates to “mother spirit of the jungle”) […] Read More

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NORMA PANDURO NAVARRO and PAULA (TARZANA) HARBRINK NUMAN

Norma Panduro Navarro was born in the floating city of Belen, in Iquitos in 1944 and died in Iquitos in 2007. Read More

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DON JUAN TANGOA PAIMA

Don Juan is a master curandero who still works and treats his local community in Iquitos. He is also setting up a school for Western students of the art of curanderismo – Ayahuayra the Wind Spirit Center, which is run by his American apprentice […] Read More

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SARA ALICIA FERREIRA YAIMES

Sara Alicia Ferreira Yaimes is a tabaquera – a healer that works with the spirit of the tobacco plant itself and with flower essence baths. Like many who practise the art of healing she comes from a line of spirit workers and has had […] Read More

Western Shamans

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KEVIN FURNAS

Kevin Furnas was a Western shaman from San Francisco who had been training with ayahuasca and other plant medicines for over a decade. He dieted extensively with plants at the Sachamama Ethnobotanical Gardens retreat outside Iquitos for nearly two […] Read More

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SCOTT PETERSEN

Scott Petersen is an American from Michigan with crinkly blue eyes and the swagger and style of Richard Branson. As well as being a tour guide and businessman, he’s also a trained herbalist and anthropologist who has been studying for over […] Read More

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CARLOS TANNER

Carlos is currently was an apprentice to Iquitos curandero Don Juan Tangoa Paima. A native of Massachusetts, Carlos is a philosophy major who became interested in world religions and the practical applications of spirituality. Read More

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RON WHEELOCK

Ron Wheelock is an Iquitos-based shaman from the midwest of the United States who trained for many years with indigenous curanderos. Ron was called by the spirit of ayahuasca to do his healing work and in many ways he epitomises the new breed […] Read More

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CHUCK

Chuck has been coming down to South America for over twenty years and participating in ayahuasca ceremonies. As well as being an ayahuasca drinker and seeker himself, he has lent his energies to curanderos such as […]Read More

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JAN KOUNEN

Jan Kounen is a French music-video and feature film director who has specialized in bringing the spiritual world to the screen. On locations in Peru and Mexico to film the psychedelic spaghetti western, Renegade […]Read More

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DENNIS McKENNA

Dennis McKenna is one of the leading figures in the global psychedelic and scientific communities investigating plant entheogens and indigenous plant medicines. He was involved with the Hoasca Project studying ayahuasca usage by members […] Read More

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ALAN SHOEMAKER

Alan Shoemaker is the founder of the Amazonian Shaman Conference held in Iquitos, Peru each year, and an ayahuasquero himself. He was called to South America and studied with various curanderos over the years, receiving visions […] Read More

Seeds

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ALEXIS

Alexis is a curly, blond haired 22-year-old from the USA. Intelligent, curious, bilngual – a cultural creative. In traditional circles he would have been into coding and computer hacking. Now he’s in Iquitos, backpacking around on […] Read More

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BRIAN

Brian is a Western anthropology student and a resident of the Shipibo village of San Francisco, outside Pucallpa. San Francisco is perhaps the most densely populated shamanic center in Peru, with approximately […] Read More

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JAVIER

Javier is a Western ayahuasquero who studied the plant medicine with Don Francisco at the Sachamama Enthnobotanical Gardens retreat outside Iquitos, and who now runs his own center in Pisac. A Spanish-speaking native […]Read More

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JOEL HARRIS & ELSA

Joel Harris is an American artist and ayahuasquero in his late 20s. He settled in San Francisco a few months back and is building a lodge there for shamanistic purposes for people from all over the world to come and learn the indigenous knowledge. […] Read More

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PEDRO

Pedro is a thirtysomething ayahuasquero from Sweden who has been dieting and studying at the Sachamama Ethnobotanical Garden retreat outside Iquitos for some years. He started as a regular drinker of the brew and […]Read More

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RACHEL

Rachel is currently an apprentice to Don Francisco, the maestro curandero who founded and runs the Sachamama Ethnobotanical Gardens retreat outside Iquitos. She has been drinking and dieting with ayahuasca […]Read More

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ROLANDO

Rolando is a 40ish manager from Boulder who works with an American Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that provides medical supplies to indigenous communities along the Amazon in Peru. Read More

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WIND SPIRIT CENTER

The Wind Spirit Center for Healing is a school unlike any other and it’s premise is simple: to teach Westerners the healing arts and nature magic of indigenous Peruvian curanderos, or as the West calls them – shamans. Read More