Plant Spirit Shamanism - The Medicinal Plants from the Amazon Rainforest

Dealing with instructor plants is referred to as the 'shaman's diet'. The aim http://ayahuascahealings.com ayahuasca retreat peru of the diet plan is always to prepare your body and nervous procedure for that potent awareness and growth of consciousness provided by trainer plants.

In daily life, the mind makes the illusion that we are independent from actuality, and therefore guards us, similar to a veil, from enduring the vastness on the universe. Entry to the reality without having preparation may be a radical shock for the procedure.

It offers an important challenge for your rational Western head to come to terms while using the instructor plants, as well as a leap of creativeness is necessary to include the 'other' consciousness on the plant. The magical planet to which we've been transported by vegetation is not available by the verbal rational intellect but as a result of dream language or an growth of your creativeness. Thus desires & our imaginative powers act like doorways during a plant diet regime and connect us together with the plant spirit.

Some on the Medicinal Vegetation on the Amazon Rainforest.

o Mocura; taken orally or used in floral baths to raise energy, or take you out of a saladera (a run of bad luck, inertia, sense of not living towards the full). This plant gives mental strength and you can feel its effects as also with ajosacha, both are varieties of garlic and have a penetrating aroma. Mental strength means it could be good to counter shyness, find one's personal value or authority. Medicinal properties include asthma, bronchitis, reduction of fat and cholesterol. Another of its properties is that it burns of excess fat.

o Piñon Colorado; this plant has short lived effect after drinking but helps dreaming later on when you go to sleep. Piñon Colorado can also be worked with as a planta maestra (trainer plant). Medicinal properties include dealing with Insect bites and stings, vaginal infections, and bronchitis. It is possible to take the resin which is much stronger but toxic if too much ingested. The resin can be applied directly on the skin.

o Chirisanango; this plant is good for colds and arthritis and has the effect of heating up the body, so much so that the maestro advises a cold shower after each dose! This plant can be used in baths for good luck, and bring success to fishing, hunting etc. This planta maestra also makes possible for people to open up their heart to feel love for people and animals, and identify with other people as though brothers and sisters.

It grows mainly in the Upper Amazon and only a few restingas (high ground which never floods) in the Lower Amazon. The shamans say that crops connect us with nature because they take their nourishment directly from the earth, as well as the sun's rays, the air. They allow us to know and recognize ourselves. A shaman must know this and must love his people to heal them. The gift of Chirisanango is self esteem i.e the ability to recognise ourselves.

The shamans say that this plant opens up the shamanic path, assuming that we're prepared to live under the rules of shamanism, to do this we need courage and no fear of extremes or negative & challenging circumstances. We need to understand what role we will play in society and have the heart of a warrior.

o Guayusa; It is good for excessive acidity and other problems in the stomach and bile. Also it is both energizing and relaxing at the same time and develops mental strength. This also has the most interesting effect of giving lucid dreams i.e when you are dreaming you are aware that you are dreaming. The plant is also referred to as the "watchman's plant", as even when sleeping you are aware in the outer physical surroundings.

On another personal note, I found the experience with this plant also to be quite incredible. I found that the usual boundary between sleeping and being awake to be more fluid than I had anticipated. Even now, sometime after taking the plant my dreams are more colourful, richer, and lucid than before. For those interested in 'dreaming' this is certainly the plant to explore.

o Ajo Sacha; An important planta maestra in the initiation of Amazonian shamans. Mental strength, acuity of intellect, saladera (explained above), for ridding spells, self healing. Originally used to enhance hunting skills by covering up human smell while using the garlic smell of Ajosacha.

On another personal note, I found my senses being altered and enhanced with this plant. I could zoom in and focus on sounds emanating from the rainforest, my sense of smell became sharper, and in some ineffable way I could tune into the breathing or rhythm of your rainforest. The sound of insects and birds was no longer a random phenomenon, these sounds became a rhythmic breath, rising and falling. No wonder that it is used for hunting as one's sense are heightened in an incredible way.

o Icoja; A bark used for malaria, fever, an astringent, disinfectant for healing septic wounds. Used against Uta - a kind of leprosy found in the Amazon. Wounds are washed directly with this plant, and it is also used for an infectious disease (Pilagra) in children.

o Chanca piedra; Used for Kidney problems especially kidney stones (hence the name 'stone crusher'), gall bladder, disinfectant. This is recognised as a gall bladder and liver tonic. It is also used for cleansing the urinary method and for dealing with intestinal parasites. This plant is only used for its many pharmaceutical properties, not a planta maestra per se.

o Sachamangua; This is a large single seeded fruit, which when you crush the fruit and squeeze the juice into the nose, it warms the area locally (it can sting a bit), and it is effective for curing sinusitis. It also helps the eyesight and restores visual acuity by relieving the pressure from the sinuses. You eliminate a lot of mucus and this gives relief. The fruit when ripe is normally eaten peeled or roasted, and is a little like the aguaje fruit, but for medicinal uses it must be green. It is also good for tired feet in an poultice. Taken orally it is useful to the liver when struggling along with the digestion of fat, it is also a treatment for gases. Fungal spores in the nose can cause itching, rhinitis or allergy and Sachamangua is effective for this too. Athlete's foot can also be treated with all the dry powder, like talcum powder, prepared from this fruit.

o Cat's Claw (una de gato); Cat's Claw is a tropical vine that grows in rainforest. This vine gets its name from the small thorns at the base with the leaves, which looks like a cat's claw. These claws enable the vine to attach itself around trees climbing to a heights up to 150 feet. The inner bark of this vine has been used for generations to treat inflammations, colds, viral infections, arthritis, and tumors.