Medicine Man

24/01/2022

11/01/2022

This post is in gratitude to the man who first introduced me to the world of plant spirits 18 years ago. What a legend this guy is, an Amazonian shaman who opened his heart to Westerners, despite all the negativity from the locals. Thank you Alberto! x

Maestro Don Alberto Torres Dávila
Ayahuasquero, Palero, Sananguero and Tabaquero

Maestro Don Alberto Torres Dávila is a well-known and widely respected curandero (healer) in the local Ucayali region of Peru. He began his plant medicine path at the age of 8 under the guidance of his grandfather. After his grandfather passed away, Alberto was taken under the wing of Don Julio Llerena Pinedo, and the two entered into a lifetime pact of shamanic medicine. Alberto's teacher, Don Julio, was a regional legend because unlike other shaman's who apprentice under a human teacher, Don Julio apprenticed directly under the tutelage of the Doctor Spirits of the jungle during isolated diets in the highlands outside of Pucallpa. These spirits are known as Genios of the medicinal plants.

Under the tutelage of Don Julio, Alberto followed a strict program of successive plant medicine diets over the next twelve years. He was given the title of Maestro at the age of 23. Alberto and Julio continued to work together until Julio passed away at the age of 89 after having been in a 35-year medicine pact with spirit. His accumulated medicine was passed directly to Don Alberto to continue the lineage.

Alberto carries himself with openness, humility, and a down-to-earth dedication to his work. He loves to share his knowledge and introduce people to the world of Amazonian shamanism. He treats every guest with respect and takes care that each person receives the medicine they need. It is estimated that Maestro Alberto has had over 6,000 ceremonies and well over 100 plant diets, treating thousands of patients over the course of his experience. He offers healing to his local community and those who come to see him from all around the region.

10/01/2022

HOW DO PLANTS TEACH?

To give you a practical understanding of how the plants teach medicine, let’s talk about the process of shamanic apprenticeship in the Amazon. This is the training of the Medicine Man in a tradition that has a history of thousands of years.

In Amazonian shamanism the apprentice learns medicine through the process of shamanic “dieting”. The following is a description of the process by a master Amazonian Shaman:

“Shamanic dieting is the way that shamans in the Amazon apprentice and learn directly from the plant spirits themselves. It is a process that takes the participant out of ordinary reality into an altered state during the duration of the diet where communion of the plant or plants that are being dieted takes place.

The plants are ingested in an infusion typically like a tea with water on the first night of the diet. Depending on the individual the plants will only be ingested that first time or on subsequent nights. The majority of the plants have little visionary effects and the learning takes place through the dream space, but often the dreams themselves seem little different than your normal course of dreaming.

At first, the shamans say the learning process is invisible but then as you progress and learn to see more, the vibrant spiritual process is not only noticed but lived in the present time. You reach the point of working with the spirits you are dieting directly in this reality and many others.

The diets are considered the pinnacle of intensity for the apprentice. It is through pure intent that one completes the diet and bonds with the doctor spirit of the plant. Through that bond, the spiritual knowledge and healing abilities are passed.”