December 30, 2002
Shaman
By Nida Degesys
Today was an amazing day. This evening we experienced a spiritual cleansing from a Shaman. A shaman is a spiritual/religious leader and very often, the only health care provider in rainforest communities. A shaman's knowledge is learned from his father. Our shaman, Isidro Ajon and his wife, Digna Alvarado, walked four hours to perform the cleansing for us. Before he begins, he takes a hallucinogenic potion, Ayawaska, to give him the ability to connect with the spirits. During the actual ritual he hums, whistles, blows tobacco smoke on you, and uses leaves to suck out the evil spirits that are causing you harm.
Not only did Isidro have to prepare for the cleansing, but we had to as well. For forty five minutes we each had our own pre-cleansing ritual. Some took to meditating and deep breathing, others took to listening to the river flow. I personally sat by myself and just gazed up at the stars and tried to clear my mind of everything. This just by itself was a breathtaking experience. Our lives are so busy that we rarely take a minute to just breathe.
| I can not account for anyone's experience except for my own. I will only tell of my amazing life altering experience. I became ill on our morning
hike and could not complete the day's events. The shaman was asked to rid my body of the cause of my illness. After he performed the cleansing I felt physically and emotionally
overwhelmed. A little later I felt that I had a revelation about life. I think that everything happens for a reason and this helped me appreciate everything that I have, and
not to dwell on every little idiosyncrasy. I feel the shaman's healing powers not only worked on me physically, but he really helped me spiritually. I feel that I am now
changed for the better. For me the shaman cleansing was truly an enlightening experience. |
