The Shipibo people are one of 14 indigenous tribes living in the Amazon Basin in Peru. They are a long-standing tribe credited with maintaining a time-honored history of plant-spirit shamanism, particularly surrounding the ritual use of ayahuasca. For them, much of their knowledge and worldview comes from a deeply-rooted relationship to plants, animals, and the natural world. This is evidenced in their pottery, textiles, baskets, art, and beadwork, which display patterns representative of the harmonious energy field that pervades all things. This concept of an all-encompassing reality of oneness can challenge the typical Western mind, but it is what informs and influences the efficacy of their shamanic practices. These patterns represent not only the oneness of creation, the non-dualistic nature of all things, the union or fusion of perceived opposites – they are also an ongoing dialogue or communion with the spiritual world and powers of Nature.
The visionary art of the Shipibo brings this paradigm into a physical form. In the same way, the icaros, or healing songs, sung during ayahuasca ceremonies are the audial representation of these patterns. Thus, during ceremony, the shaman is accessing the geometric patterns of energy from the plants, which transform through the vessel of the Maestro to a chant or icaro. The icaro is therefore a conduit for the patterns of creation, which then permeate the body of the shaman’s patient, bringing harmony in the form of the geometric patterns in order to re-balance the patient’s body. In effect, they are transforming the visual code into an acoustic code, which allows the healing energy to penetrate much deeper into the system of the patient and release negative energy blockages and their emotional counterparts. The shaman knows when the healing is complete, as the design is clearly distinct in the patient’s body. Oftentimes it takes multiple ceremonies to complete this, and when the completed healing designs are embedded in the patient’s body, this is called an arcana. This internal patterning is deemed to be permanent and to protect a person’s spirit going forward.
It is only through years of training, apprenticeship, and dietas with master plants, that healers are able to access and recruit a team of plant-spirit healers to work with and heal their patients’ energetic body. Typically, Shipibo curanderos (healers) undergo a number of dietas normally lasting one, three, six, or 12 months, over many years, in order to become a conduit for transferring the healing energies of the plants. While the curandero is not the one carrying out the healing (this is the role of the plant spirits), they are certainly a part of the equation, and as such, must be highly trained, psychologically and emotionally balanced, well-intentioned, and have an open and loving heart. It is vital that the curandero is able to protect the ceremonial space and guide participants safely along their journeys through the use of icaros. As such, master curanderos spend years training apprentices and passing their knowledge and practices down through generations.
The Shipibo traditions, practices, products, and culture as a whole embody the rich and complex cosmological system that is their heritage. The Shipibo are comprised of approximately 50,000 people centered around the Ucayali River in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon. Previously two distinct tribes, the Shipibo and the Conibo, cultural similarities and intermarriages eventually formed one cohesive group. Like many indigenous tribes around the world, their culture has changed dramatically in recent centuries due to the pressures of colonialism, corporate resource extraction in the rainforest, and the influence of missionaries. Nevertheless, much of their traditions persist today in the form of ayahuasca ceremonies and rituals, and active effort is being made by El Sol Healing Retreat Center and many other groups to protect, maintain, and elevate their culture and wisdom.