Shamanism and Visionary Art Blog | 2012 in review

2012 has been a great year for the Shamanism and Visionary Art Blog:A big thanks to all viewers and my best wishes to you for a fabulous 2013

with warm regards

Howard G charing

 

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 110,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Sumak Ňusta | by Pablo Amaringo

Sumak Ňusta  (Hermosa Doncella) by Pablo Amaringo

She is a fairy from the Aquarius constellation and she stands in front of a celestial temple inspiring love, beauty, and gentleness. In her hand she holds a jar of aromatic balsam, and flowing from this are iridescent waves that transmit the sublime fragrance of flowers. She is a specialist in the extraction and distillation of balsams, scents, and incenses from flowering plants found only on earth. Her delightful perfumes are a source of joy and contentment for these extraterrestrial beings.

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ABOUT: THE AYAHUASCA VISIONS OF PABLO AMARINGO

Illustrating the evolution of his intricate and colorful art, this book contains 48 full-color reproductions of Amaringo’s latest works with detailed explorations of the rich Amazonian mythology underlying each painting. Through their longstanding relationship with Amaringo, coauthors Charing and Cloudsley are able to share the personal stories behind his visions and experiences with Amazonian people and folklore, capturing Amaringo’s powerful ecological and spiritual message through his art and words.

With contributions by Graham Hancock, Jeremy Narby, Robert Venosa, Dennis McKenna, Stephan Beyer, and Jan Kounen, this book brings the ayahuasca experience to life as we travel on Amaringo’s visionary brush and palette.

Click on link to Visit the website of the book

 

Ayahuasca Inspired Art: Howard G Charing

Ayahuasca Inspired Art: Howard G Charing

November 2012, Acrylic on Canvas, 90cm x 70cm

 

The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo Interview on examiner.com

Examiner.com Interview: Jeffery Pritchett interviews Howard G. Charing

This interview is about Pablo Amaringo and his beautiful art that were inspired through Ayahuasca. Howard G. Charing gives us insight on his life and paintings in this interview in a unique perspective that only he could provide. As well as detailed descriptions of the ceremonies and experiences revolving around Ayahuasca. This interview is a walk between worlds and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have. Presenting.

1. Could you please tell us how you got involved with Pablo and the creation of this wonderful book The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo?

View slideshow: Howard G. Charing on ‘The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo’

Barco Fantasma by Pablo Amaringo

Howard: My colleague and co-author Peter Cloudsley and I had known Pablo for many years, and it was always a special thrill to visit Pablo at his home in Pucallpa and look in wonder at his beautiful work. We did some ad-hoc interviews with him which were published, and we made notes about his about his paintings but the actual inspiration to work with Pablo on a major project such as this book came out of the blue – it came suddenly during an Ayahuasca ceremony at Mishana in the Peruvian Amazon. My visions that night were of the vivid creations, motifs, and forms of Pablo’s paintings. The ceremony culminated in what I can only describe as a lightning flash and a powerful message from the Ayahuasca to work with Pablo on a book of his new paintings.

The following day, I discussed the idea with Peter—he and I had worked together, since the 1990s, organizing ayahuasca and plant diet retreats in the Amazon, and we decided to visit Pablo in Pucallpa at the earliest opportunity, which was in February 2007, to discuss the idea of doing a book with him. When we told him about the idea, Pablo’s face immediately lit up with enthusiasm and there and then, we agreed to collaborate on this book.

All in all, this was a complex project. We formed a detailed plan, the first step of which was to catalogue and have all of Pablo’s available paintings and sketches professionally photographed and later digitally scanned. Pablo gave us hundreds of pages of his notes and journals, which he had kept in his house. We had many meetings with Pablo to discuss and explore the multifaceted qualities of his paintings. Each session generated new questions, which necessitated further trips to Pucallpa before we were in a position to complete the narratives that accompany the paintings themselves.

Angeles Avatares by Pablo Amaringo

2. With written contributions by Graham Hancock, Jeremy Narby, Robert Venosa, Dennis McKenna, Stephan Beyer, and Jan Kounen. Would you tell us about some of the content added by these fellow journeymen and women and the central theme they outline about Pablo’s life and vision?

Howard: We were really delighted and honoured by their contribution to the book. Each of them had a different perspective about the importance and influence of Pablo’s work, as well as some personal anecdotes. When we approached them to write a contribution, they were all happy to do this despite their busy work schedules. Dennis McKenna’s contribution covered his early encounters in the 1980’s with Pablo that ultimately led to Pablo’s book ‘Ayahuasca Visions – The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman’ in collaboration with Eduardo Luna. That book had an enormous impact when it was published in 1991. Pablo’s stunning visual portrayal of the magical domain of Ayahuasca generated a huge interest in the hitherto little known mythological, spiritual, and shamanic world of the Amazon. It opened this mysterious world to the West, and it had an incredible influence both from an ‘art’ and an anthropological perspective. Talking about Pablo’s art depicting the amazingly rich mythological texture and content of the Amazonian peoples, reminds me that some years back I was on a bus in Iquitos with a group of young missionaries wearing their uniform white shirts and ties and I started to talk to them about what they were doing and so on, and one of them replied ‘We are here to teach the local people beliefs as they don’t have any’. It was an arrogant and ignorant statement bordering on the ludicrous, but clearly they were not acquainted with Pablo’s work, as if they had maybe they would have to adjust their view.

Ondas de la Ayahuasca (Waves of Ayahuasca) by Pablo Amaringo

 Ondas de la Ayahuasca – Waves of Ayahuasca: Featured in the book ‘The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo‘ by Howard G Charing & Peter Cloudsley

At the top of the picture the sun radiates brilliant waves. As the source of all life on earth, the sun represents the blessings of the divine celestial pattern, the ultimate source of all life in the universe which we call God.

Ayahuasca is one of the most remarkable gifts from the plant realm as it contains chemicals identical to the neurotransmitters found in the human brain. When you drink ayahuasca the sensory neurons which transmit messages inside the brain are enhanced so that a person can receive wisdom and knowledge. The shamans in the ceremony are curing a man suffering from mental illness caused by an imbalance in his pituitary gland and hypothalamus.

You can order Fine Art Prints, Reproductions and Greeting Cards of this beautiful painting on FineArt America;

Until December 31st: 25% Promotion Code: JXXUEV

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Babele: The Stone Mushrooms

Babele: The Stone Mushrooms, a set on Flickr by Howard G Charing

Via Flickr:
On a vast mountain plateau 2250 metres altitude in the Bucegi Mountains of the Southern Carpathians in Translyvania stand clusters of giant stone mushrooms and the enigmatic Romanian Sphinx. The stone mushrooms are called ‘Babele’ which means ‘The Old Women’ in Romanian.

There are a multitude of legends and origins of these mysterious stone sculptures. Although the official story is that these stones were shaped by the wind, I’m not that sure if this is the case, as these stone mushrooms are granite which is one of the hardest rocks formations and generally resistant to a hammer and chisel.

There are also a host of legends, speculation, and intricate conspiracy theories surrounding these stone monuments, that the Pentagon and the Illuminati under the auspices of clandestine organisations such as the Vatican, the Bilderberg Group, the Romanian Government, and the CIA  etc have discovered an extensive network of underground tunnels and vast chambers constructed by extraterrestrial visitors who have left certain alien technology artifacts that if revealed could have a profound impact (in true Stargate fashion) on the future of mankind.

It is also rumoured that the original Stone Tablets that Moses received on Mount Sinai (linguistic aficionados note that the town of Sinaia is very near) have been concealed in a secret and hidden chamber buried deep beneath the Sphinx, and that a meridian drawn in the exact centre of this subterranean chamber divides the world into two equal halves. I find the latter particularly amazing, as thinking about it for a moment; if I were to draw a meridian between my legs – the world would be divided into two equal halves too.

In the absence of any facts I would speculate that it is emblematic of an Indo-European Dacian Mushroom religion. There is a lot of material about the Dacian sacramental use of entheogens (Amanita Muscaria) from Mircea Eliade, Robert Graves to Terence McKenna.

Anyway speculation and secret mysteries aside, it is a fantastic experience, a totally awesome (slightly nerve-racking) cable car ride that travels over more than one deep abyss to get there. I definitely plan to return to spend more time there and do some more speculative musings.

Visionary Art: Presentation in Bucharest April 2012

Pachamama by David ‘Slocum’ Hewson

 

A Presentation in Bucharest April 2012 on Visionary Art by Howard G Charing , co-author of ‘Plant Spirit Shamanism’ and ‘The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo’.

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Shamans of Peru: Ceremonial Chants, Icaros, and Music CD – MP3 Download from the Web

Shamans of Peru, Ceremonial Chants, Icaros, & Music

The haunting, plaintive music of Peruvian shamans was recorded at ceremonies in the Peruvian Andes and the Amazon rainforest.

The chants and icaros have an organic relationship to the medicine plants, and are primarily intended as devotional music for a ceremony. It is equally possible to listen to the hypnotically beautiful sounds in their own right and simply enjoy them for their otherworldly beauty.

The CD contains chants and dramatic effects of six different ceremonies with shamans. . Two ceremonies with San Pedro maestros working in the atmospheric ruins of Puruchucu; two ayahuasca shamans, a man and a woman, in separate sessions working in a jungle temple on the River Momon, outside Iquitos; a Shipibo shaman working in Yarinacocha, outside Pucallpa; and lastly, a despacho in the ruins of Pisaq, Cusco. In addition there are three tracks of atmospheric music played on pre‐Colombian instruments.

PURCHASE THE SHAMANS OF PERU CD OR INDIVIDUAL TRACKS

Download from the Web US $9.99

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shamansofperu

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Pablo Amaringo – Ayahuasca Visions: Fine Art Prints and Greeting Cards 25% Promotion

Pablo Amaringo (1938 – 2009)

Recognized as one of the world’s great visionary artists, Pablo Amaringo was renowned for his intricate, colorful paintings inspired by his shamanic visions. A master communicator of the ayahuasca experience–where snakes, jaguars, subterranean beings, celestial palaces, aliens, and spacecraft all converge–Amaringo’s art presents a doorway to the transcendent worlds of ayahuasca intended for contemplation, meditation, and inspiration.

Pablo Amaringo (1938-2009) trained as a curandero in the Amazon, healing himself and others from the age of ten, but retired in 1977 to become a full-time painter and art teacher at his Usko Ayar school in Pucullpa, Peru. The author of Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (1991).

ABOUT – THE AYAHUASCA VISIONS OF PABLO AMARINGO

Illustrating the evolution of his intricate and colorful art, this book contains 48 full-color reproductions of Amaringo’s latest works with detailed explorations of the rich Amazonian mythology underlying each painting. Through their longstanding relationship with Amaringo, coauthors Charing and Cloudsley are able to share the personal stories behind his visions and experiences with Amazonian people and folklore, capturing Amaringo’s powerful ecological and spiritual message through his art and words. With contributions by Graham Hancock, Jeremy Narby, Robert Venosa, Dennis McKenna, Stephan Beyer, and Jan Kounen, this book brings the ayahuasca experience to life as we travel on Amaringo’s visionary brush and palette.

You can order Pablo’s work as Fine Art Prints and Greeting Cards

Quote 25% DISCOUNT CODE: JXXUEV

Valid to 31st December 2012

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Plant Spirit Shamanism: Paracelsus and the Doctrine of Signatures

Underlying Paracelsus treatise was the premise that nature was itself a living organism which must be considered an expression of “the One Life”, and that man and the universe are the same in their essential nature. Paracelsus introduced in his treatise the Doctrine of Signatures, the concept that the Creator has placed his seal on plants to indicate their medicinal uses.

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