The Cure List

Written by Sam Slovick (from LA Yoga Magazine June 2010)

Far below the cloud forests of the Peruvian Andes, downriver from the place where the Ucayali and Marañón converge to form the headwaters of the Amazon, Orlando Chujandama Huazanga is calling the spirits to The New Rising Sun, a humble compound in a small village called Llucayanacu on banks of the Huallaga River where he was born.

Orlando left home in the high Peruvian Amazon to peruse a formal education in Terapoto after the death of his grandfather and teacher, Don Aquilino Chujandama, one of the most respected masters in the field of Vegetalismo of this region.

A curandero, or traditional indigenous healer, Orlando cures physical and spiritual illnesses by means of Vegetalismo; the Amazonian tradition of spiritual herbalism practiced in South America. Vegetalismo is the elegant and refined sacred science that uses master plants with sentient spirits. He carries the knowledge of a powerful family linage using the flora and fauna from the jungle; his practice includes psychoactive Ayahuasca and Tobacco.

As part of his training in Vegetalismo, he has engaged in long periods of isolation in the jungle under the guidance of master plant spirits and his grandfather. Though no longer in the flesh, the tutelage of his grandfather continues in dreamtime.

I sat down with Orlando in the jungle outside his maloka (ceremony space) to ask him some questions. This interview was translated in real time from Spanish by Vegetalista, Metsa Niwue.

SS: What’s your name? What do you do?

OC: My name is Orlando Chujandama and I work with Amazonic plants. What I do actually is I use medicinal plants to heal people. I have patients that come and see me and I take care of them. I do this job because it comes from my grandfather. It’s a linage that comes from my people.

SS: What is that linage?

OC: I am an indigenous person coming from the Quechua people. The knowledge I have came from my grandfather. I use leaves and roots and barks and different types of medicine that grow in the jungle and apply them for the pathology of the patients.

(more…)

Found nestled along the ruddy dirt road on the way to ESPIRITU DE ANACONDA (Iquitos, Peru) is a small shop honoring the Shipibo tradition.  Two beautiful souls, Bastian and his wife Vanessa operate the cool little store about a half hour’s walk from the healing center.  They buy everything from the Shipibos in Pucallupa and always have amazing stuff.  Checkout the video to see some of the different bracelets and textiles they carry.  Most of the goods contain different patterns of Master Plants used in the healing practice of Vegetalismo.

WEEK OF JUNE 2, 2009:

Police Massacre of Indigenous Protesters in the Peruvian Amazon Linked to US-Peru FTA

Darin Olien is an entrepreneur who created a company called DARIN’S NATURALS whose inventory includes organic supplement from countries including Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, Andes, Amazon, Bhutan, and China.  A champion of  fair trade working with indigenous farmers, his mission is to “ distribute the most potent, rare, unique foods, supplements, formulations, herbs and nutraceuticals to the US and the world.”

Darin is currently launching a revolutionary health/healing product line that incorporates oxygen into their supplements. Olien’s other company, GENERATIVE PLANET formed to create a more sustainable planet.