Song of the Amazon

In recent decades, there has been a shift in the modern world to seek out more holistic forms of health and healing. This has lead to an increasing interest in age-old systems of medicine from cultures around the planet that address not only the physical symptoms of an illness, but the underlying physiological, psychological, and even spiritual contributing factors that lead to imbalance and disease. One such healing tradition exists within the shamanic practices of the Shipibo master healers of the Peruvian Amazon.

The Shipibo people have maintained a close connection to nature, not only due to their need to survive off the land in isolated areas, but as a part of their worldview, which believes that animals, plants, the skies, the waters and other nature elements have a spirit. Certain plants with powerful curative properties, are known by the Shipibo to possess intelligence and are considered to be teachers to humanity.

The most notable of these “master plants” is Ayahuasca, called Oni in the Shipibo language, who is considered to be “la madre”, the mother of the plants and plant medicines. The ayahuasca ceremony is a central practice of Shipibo traditional medicine, during which Shipibo master healers apply their curative expertise.

The entheogenic brew of the ayahuasca vine mixed with the leaves of the chacruna plant, shifts consciousness, providing Shipibo healers with visions they use to aid them in their healing work. It also allows access to the realm of the plant spirits known as Rao Nete where knowledge and insight can be gained.

In the Shipibo worldview, all disease and emotional imbalance is thought to be rooted in the spirit world. Sicknesses are described as harmful spirits or energies that must be cleaned and removed from the body.

For those seeking healing from Shipibo medicine, it is important to understand that, although initiated and supported by the healer and the plant medicines, the healing process is very much driven by personal commitment. It requires one not only to take outward steps towards addressing imbalance (by choosing healthy lifestyle), but to look inwards, sometimes uncovering deeply hidden emotions and traumas.

One’s dedication to this inner work is integral to beneficial transformation, which in Shipibo medicine, is assisted by the master healer and reinforced by the plant spirits who offer humanity their healing power and wisdom.

Teacher and master healer Juan Agustin speaks about the rich heritage and artistry of the Shipibo-Konibo people, a thousands of years old native culture that lives in the Peruvian Amazon.

Maestro Juan Agustin Fernandez, is a Shipibo leader of the Cantagallo pueblo in Lima, Peru and Secretary of the Shipibo cultural organization ACUSHIKOLM, la Asociación de la Comunidad Urbana Shipibo Konibo de Lima Metropolitana (the Association of the Urban Community of Shipibo-Konibo in Metropolitan Lima), as well as a professor at the Bilingual Pedagogical Institute in Pucallpa, Peru.

“El Canto del Maestro“, painting by Reshin Bima

El Canto del Maestro (The Song of the Master Healer) by Reshin Bima is inspired by a Shipibo icaro (healing song) sung by the maestro during ceremony where he describes sitting on top of the ayahuasca flower.

The visions of this painting represent the songs of the “warmi” shamanic dieta, which connects the maestro to the feminine part of the universe.

Under the moonlight, the river flows through the jungle, taking us on a journey where we go by water into the world of the medicine visions, encountering animal and spirit allies along on the way.

Chacruna leaves flow out from the mouth of the serpent into the ceramic vessel, which carries the preparation of the sacred ayahuasca medicine.

On this journey, we connect with the birds that dance and sing amongst the leaves of the trees. We connect with the butterfly, a messenger of good energy which takes us to the world of the stars.

Above the head of the maestro is the watchful eagle, who offers the maestro a vision of the healing. The eagle is a messenger, flying out ahead of the maestro and warning him where difficulties and obstacles lie on the path ahead.

From his perch high in the tree, the owl looks down over the spiritual world, offering a vision of good. The owl also acts as a messenger; the song of the owl warns of danger or shares a message of good news.

painting by Reshin Bima

“The medicine (Ayahuasca) diminishes your ego, showing you how the ego blinds you and dominates your every though and action in life. By doing so it opens your eyes and ears to the dialogue of Mother Nature; the plants, the animals and all of the spirits around us. Thus you can live in greater harmony within yourself, your community and the planet.” – Reshin Bima

Reshin Bima (Layner Mori Huayta) is an artist of the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous tribe of Peru. His paintings depict Amazonian landscapes and shamanic visions that are inspired by rituals performed with the use of certain plant medicines (known in Shipibo as rao), in particular ayahuasca, traditional to the Shipibo-Konibo culture. Through these spiritual practices, Reshin Bima explores the cosmos and his unique ancestral inheritance, enhancing the visionary journey of his work.

Reshin Bima was born in 1981 in the Native Community of Santa Clara, located along Lake Yarinacocha in the Ucayali region. At an early age, he migrated to Peru’s capitol city, Lima, where he lived in the Shipibo community of Cantagallo and transformed himself into a self-taught artist. He quickly gained recognition as one of Peru’s finest contemporary Shipibo artists and exhibited paintings with the Shipibo Artists collective Barin Bababo (Descendants of the Sun).

In his native Peru, Reshin Bima has exhibited in an array of galleries, including at the National Museum of Peru in Lima and Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun) in Cusco, and he has participated in numerous art fairs, murals, workshops and social projects. He currently lives in California where he continues to create art and promote the preservation of his cultural traditions.

painting by Reshin Bima

To the Shipibo people of the Peruvian Amazon, the root of all disease lies in the spiritual world. In the Shipibo tradition of ayahuasca ceremony, chanting songs called icaros are sung by the healers in order to cure a person of physical, emotional or mental illness, by addressing the cause of disease on the level of the spirit.

These songs are tools that can be used to remove or apply what is needed to promote healing. During the ayahuasca ceremony, the melody of the icaros and the vocabulary used within them are often individualized based on the person, healing need or situation they are being sung for. These songs serve a wide range of purposes and are for instance, used to invoke spiritual allies and plant teachers and also regulate and manage the visions and effects of ayahuasca being experienced by those taking part in the ceremony.

Icaros can be learned by a healer from their master healer teacher (known in Shipibo as the Onanya), and are also learned directly from the plants and spirits of nature themselves.