Machu Picchu – World Heritage Site

Machu Picchu, a set on Flickr.

Machu Picchu -World Heritage Site

Machu Picchu stands 2,430 m above sea-level, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest, in an extraordinarily beautiful setting. It was probably the most amazing urban creation of the Inca Empire at its height; its giant walls, terraces and ramps seem as if they have been cut naturally in the continuous rock escarpments. The natural setting, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, encompasses the upper Amazon basin with its rich diversity of flora and fauna. World Heritage sites studies have been the topic of many online classes through the years.

UNESCO.ORG

Coca Leaf Products in Peru.

coca leaf products in Peru., a photo by Howard G Charing on Flickr.

Coca (Erythroxylon coca). Products made from coca leaf in Peru.

Machu Picchu - Inca Wonder of the World

The Incas regarded coca as ‘the divine plant’ mainly because of its property of imparting endurance, nevertheless its use was entwined with every aspect of life; the art, mythology, culture and economy of the Inca Empire.

Millions of Indians have chewed coca on a daily basis for many hundreds of years, yet never has a plant been so misrepresented and its use so controlled by prejudice and ignorance, including up to the present day. The Conquistadors considered it an idle and offensive habit to be prohibited, but it was soon seen that the Indians could not work without coca even when forced to do so.

Frotacion de COCA - The Peruvian 'Tiger Balm' reinforced with Wira Sacha aka Sacha Inchi (Plukenetia volubilis)

Coca Leaf products - Coca Candy

A packet of Coca Candy

Shipibo Ayahuasca Shamans – Interviews

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Pablo Amaringo featured on ‘Living in Peru’

Click to view feature on the Living in Peru website.

 

The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo - book cover

Pablo Amaringo, from the Amazon city of Pucallpa, Peru, was renowned for his intricate, colorful paintings inspired by shamanic visions. A communicator of the ayahuasca experience, a ritual hallucinogen from Peru’s Amazon, Amaringo’s art presents a doorway to the worlds of ayahuasca intended for contemplation, meditation, and inspiration. His paintings present a world where where snakes, jaguars, subterranean beings, celestial palaces, aliens, and spacecraft all converge.

The book Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo, to be published in April, 2011, presents a collection of never-before-published paintings by Amaringo. The book illustrated the evolution of Amaringo’s intricate art with 47 full-color reproductions, including detailed explorations of the rich Amazonian mythology underlying each painting.

See more paintings fromAyahuasca Visions.

Coauthors Howard G. Charing and Peter Cloudsley are able to share the personal stories behind the visions and experiences with Amazonian people and folklore, capturing Amaringo’s ecological and spiritual message through his art and words.

More about the artist and authors

Pablo Amaringo (1938-2009) was 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. His art has been displayed throughout the world.

Howard G. Charing and Peter Cloudsley. Charing is the director of the Eagle Wing’s Centre for Contemporary Shamanism and the coauthor of Plant Spirit Shamanism. Cloudsley is a musicologist, writer, and the founder of the Amazon Retreat Centre in Peru. Both live in Lima, Peru.

Click to to View a gallery of Pablo Amaringo Paintings

http://www.livinginperu.com/features-1747-art-culture-lifestyle-see-paintings-from-ayahuasca-visions-perus-shaman-artist

 

Fine Art prints and reproductions of Pablo Amaringo’s work featured in the new book ‘The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo’. This is a ‘pre launch’ promotion with 20% discount on prints and reproductions until April 2011.

Click to view the gallery of paintings;

 

Ayahuasca Shaman, and Mystic – Alonso del Rio

Ayahuasca shaman and Mystic - Alonso del Rio

Alonso del Rio is a powerful maestro who interweaves Shipibo and other icaros with sacred music of his own to lead you on your journey; he is both a talented musician and an inspiring communicator of the Amazonian shamanic world. He first came into contact with ayahuasca in 1979 after spending three years working with huachuma (San Pedro). This was when he met Don Benito Arevalo (the father of Guillermo Arevalo), a grand Shipibo shaman with whom he developed a long relationship, and who gave him his first teachings in ayahuasca and other medicinal plants.

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Ayahuasca: The Visual Music of the Shipibo

Underlying the intricate geometric patterns of great complexity displayed in the art of the Shipibo people is a concept of an all pervading magical reality which can challenge the Western linguistic heritage and rational mind.

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The Cactus of Vision – San Pedro

Interview with San Pedro (Huachuma) Shaman - Juan Navarro

The use of San Pedro cactus and healing altars in the shamanic tradition of Northern Peru.

Shamans from different cultures and traditions have been using psychoactive plants since the dawn of human emergence. These plants have been used traditionally for guidance divination, healing, maintaining a balance with the spirit or consciousness of the living world.

HOWARD G. CHARING & PETER CLOUDSLEY, talk with Maestro JUAN NAVARRO.

Article first published, in Sacred Hoop Magazine, Summer 2004.

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Shipibo Ayahuasca Shamans – Interviews

SHIPIBO AYAHUASCA SHAMANS – Part 1

The Shipibo are one of the largest ethnic groups in the Peruvian Amazon. These ethnic groups each have their own languages, traditions and culture. The Shipibo which currently number about 20,000 are spread out in communities through the Pucallpa / Ucayali river region. They are highly regarded in the Amazon as being masters of Ayahuasca .

This booklet contains original source interviews with three Shipibo ayahuasca shamans. By Howard G Charing and Peter Cloudsley.

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Pablo Amaringo – Interview and Foreword

Foreword by Pablo Amaringo, to the book ‘Plant Spirit Shamanism’.

Pablo Amaringo - collage of Ayahuasca Visionary Paintings

Pablo Amaringo is one of the world’s great visionary artists. He is renowned for his highly complex, colourful and intricate paintings inspired by his visions from when he was an Ayahuasca shaman. He trained as a curandero or healer in the Amazon, healing himself and others from the age of ten, but gave this up in 1977 to become a full-time painter and art teacher at the Usko-Ayar school of Amazonian art which he founded. His book, Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman, co-authored with Luis Eduardo Luna, brought his work and the rich mythology of the Amazon to a wide public in the West.

Also included; an interview with Pablo Amaringo with Howard G Charing & Peter Cloudsley (Pucallpa, Peru). This interview first published in Sacred Hoop Issue 53, 2006.

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Shamans of Peru – CD

Shamans of Peru CD, Ceremonial Chants, Icaros, and Music

THE SHAMANS OF PERU CD

Ceremonial Chants, Icaros, and Music

Shamans of Peru – Recorded on Eagle’s Wing Journeys to Peru

Contains chants and dramatic effects of six different ceremonies with shamans who have worked with Eagle’s Wing Groups. 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 Pucullpa; and lastly, a despacho in the ruins of Pisaq, Cusco. In addition there are three tracks of atmospheric music played on pre-Colombian instruments.

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