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Ritual Ceremony

MERRAYABO TSINTIKASH JIWIKI BEWAKANI-RITUAL CEREMONY:  In order to save time and get the information out on the ritual ceremony, I am going to borrow some entries from other people at the ceremony.  Their description is very good and can give you a good insight into the incredible experience as well as historical experience this was.  Thanks Monique for the information!

"The ritual was held at a lodge call Pakuta in the outskirts of Pucallpa near the edge of the jungle. Upon arival we found that the lodge was not finished so we camped in tents on a second story platform. Despite this it was a beautiful place and a beautiful experience.

We were part of history since it is the first time in shaman history that women and foreigners were allowed to witness and participate in the Ritual to heal the master plants. Pedro (the shaman responsible for organising the event) explained that the shamans realised that with the developments around the world, especially the empowerment of women made it imperative that to open their culture and share their wisdom. In this way they could preserve their culture and wisdom. It turned out that only foreign women arived to participate. Interesting. There were 5 of us, basically representing the largest continents. That was also pretty interesting. We were called the queens and treated as such. It was amazing. The entire event was recorded for a documentary by a wonderful French lady named Rama. We will get copies of the documentary and icaros (chants) that were sung during the event.

On the night of the 15th we did an Ayahuasca ceremony to purify our bodies. On the 16th and 17th we did more ceremonies in preperation. On the morning of the 17th we were bathed in flower water by a female Meraya called Amelia. It was literally being bathed in the sweetest smelling water with thousands of beautiful flowers. It was quite amazing and the most refreshing bath I have ever had. On the night of the 18th we did a San Pedro ceremony and then another Ayawasca ceremony on the 19th. All these ceremonies were conducted in the ceremony house on Milka's (one of the Merayas) property right next to the lodge. On the final night we held the main ceremony. It was amazing. The queens formed a circle around the Merayas (highest level of Shaman). We protected, channeled energy and healed the plants. Like I said - amazing. It rained for a few days during the week which is very uncommon. The shamans saw this as a sign that the plants were thanking us. That was nice to hear considering the amount of trouble all of us had to get here as well as the opposition by some more conservative shamans that did not want this event to take place. Pedro was actually run over by a car two weeks before the ceremony and broke his collar bone.

For most of the ceremonies there were several Merayas (highest level of shamans) and about 10 maestros (shamans), a San Pedro shaman, the families of the shaman and of course the queens. In preperation we were given shamanic robes and bracelets and had our hands and feet painted. We were also taught to paint cloth in the traditional way. And we got our shipibo names. My name (Monique) is Biri Kate. It means the one sitting/seated in light with many nice things around her. That is pretty cool. I like nice things. All of us were named after masterplants and great Meraya women. Francesca's (from New Zealand) name is Inom Biri which means little bird flying in light. Gail (ME) from the USA was called Inin Beka which means sweet smelling protective cloth. Jo's (from the UK) name is Newa Buka which roughly translated means wind woman. Unfortunately I did not get Jessica's (a German women from Cusco) name.

In summary there are not really any words that can describe the experience. Having so many shamans together working on such a worthy cause as healing the plants of the world was truly profound. There is real magic here."

During the ritual, Jo celebrated her 40th birthday.  Lizette (Director of Tourism) and the shamans made it an extremely memorable occasion.  They surprised her with an entire Shipibo woman's outfit, 2 cakes, 1 pie, flowers, special songs, and the unveiling of her Shipibo name directly from Benjamin and his wife (older, powerful shaman).  Pretty special!  That will be hard to beat in the future!

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