Sacha Runa: Spirits of the Rainforest
Peruvian Amazon Shamanism with Don Agustin Rivas Vasques

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Press Release
   For millennia people in the Peruvian Amazon have developed a unique relationship to their environment. A special class of people among them, the healers or curanderos, have much to offer us in terms of potential cures for our most dreaded physical, emotional and spiritual ills. Their knowledge of humanity's greatest apothecary, the Amazonian rainforest, is deep and vast, and we can benefit greatly from their understanding of its many secrets.
Moreover, these shamans have a thorough and refined understanding of the natural and supernatural forces that influence life on this planet, and can contribute greatly to deepening our understanding of human psychology, physiology and pathology, as well as sociology, ecology, agronomy, economics and philosophy.
    In this insightful film, master shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vazquez is interviewed at his amazon jungle camp to learn his approach to shamanism and life. We view many parts of this tradition; from the purification and initiatory rituals that shamans experience as part of their training to the many therapies, practices and specific plants used in amazonian shamanism. We follow the shaman and his apprentices as they collect the ingredients and prepare their most sacred sacrament, the ayahuasca brew, a potent hallucinogen and purgative for the all-night ayahuasca ceremony where participants often undergo periods of nausea and vertigo and occasionally receive sublime visions in an ecstatic state of mind.
    Don Agustin explains the meaning and purpose behind the rituals demonstrated as he sings his power songs (mariris), dances, plays various instruments (arco, sampora, drum, etc.), blows tobacco blessings on subjects (icaros) , sucks illnesses out of their bodies with his phlegm (Yachay) and shows the magical darts of harm and defense (virote). As we learn through the voice of Don Agustin about the many spirit-beings and magical forces of amazonian cosmology we also are shown the amazing psychedelic and "primitive" paintings of Pablo Amaringo, a shaman turned painter, who is  known through the book 'Ayahuasca Visions'. Throughout the film there are astoundingly beautiful scenes, such as the five storied pyramidical building Agustin was "taught" to build in a dream, the lush rainforest jungle, and the varied streams and rivers of local legend, all edited with tasteful visual effects that propel the viewer into this world of magic and psychedelia.
    Don Agustin teaches us about the kinds of illnesses he has seen Western People suffer from, and describes the many ways he can cure them. He explains the rigorous trials, such as strict six month diets, that a serious apprentice needs to undergo in order to acquire the magical powers that a shaman uses in his engagement with the forces of the cosmos, and also offers wisdom applicable to people in all walks of life. As he reflects on the current state of the world and its future he suggests a solution to global problems and reveals his life calling.

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Don Agustin Rivas Vazquez
is ideally suited to represent his tradition and convey it to a Western audience as he has traveled broadly, working with people from around the world, as well as receiving foreign visitors from many continents in his jungle camp, where he runs a healing clinic. He himself learned from some very renowned shamans, and he is held in high esteem and reverence by the local population. Moreover, he is a renowned sculptor, having travelled to Austria courtesy of the Austrian government to display his sculptures long before his reputation as a shaman became known in the West. He is experienced in trying to convey his beliefs to a western audience and was the subject of an article in Newsweek. He is also an accomplished musician, and provided the soundtrack for this piece.

Originally printed in
Issue #44 Mar/May 1997
"Shaman's Drum, A Journal of Experiential Shamanism"
For subscription information contact: (541) 552-0839, sdrm@mind.net

Reviewed by Timothy White
    Taped in the Amazonian rainforest of eastern Peru, Sacha Runa, Spirits of the Rainforest offers a delightful portrait of the Peruvian mestizo shaman Don Agustin Rivas-Vazques and provides an insightful introduction to the shamanic use of ayahuasca -the visionary psychotropic drink made from ayahuasca vines and chacruna leaves. Filmmaker Sean Adair and producer Miguel A. Kavlin have produced an educational yet entertaining video that should appeal to persons interested in the shamanic use of entheogens. I would particularly recommend it for anyone contemplating traveling to Peru or Brazil to participate in Ayahuasca ceremonies-with don Agustin or with others.

    The video relies heavily on a series of stationary on-camera interviews with don Agustin, but its editors have skillfully enhanced its monologues with a lively montage of illustrative cutaway shots- scenes of rainforest plants and animals, shots of don Agustin's intriguing sculptures, close-ups of Pablo Amaringo's paintings depicting ayahuasca visions, footage of don Agustin performing indigenous music and engaging in rituals, and whimsical sequences of Western visitors having a good time letting it all hang-out at one of don Agustin's workshops. Don Agustin's perceptive comments and Pablo's informative paintings work particularly well together-helping convey the unique spirit of this sacred medicine, which has been used shamanically for by Amazonian tribes for centuries and which has inspired several new religious movements in Peru and Brazil. Incidentally the producers did a good job at providing thorough and accurate English subtitles for the interviews-conducted in Spanish-although some non Spanish speakers may need to watch the video several times in order to fully absorb its rich content.

    The video is also an indirect tribute to don Agustin's many skills as a spirited and entertaining shamanic ritualist. because bright lights are too disruptive to permit filming during the most intense parts of ayahuasca ceremonies, Adair was unable to record an actual ayahuasca ceremony from beginning to end. Nevertheless, by supplementing don Agustin's lively descriptions of the ceremony and his spirited enactments of ritual details with footage of his altar and early parts of the ceremony, some special-effects animation, more images from paintings, and various workshop demonstrations of healing rituals, the filmmakers managed to recreate a sense of the ceremony. The video's soundtrack is appropriately enriched by don Agustin's performances on Andean reed flute, drums, and marimba-like wooden gongs, as well by his impromptu renditions of the ceremonial songs, and the haunting sounds of his homemade mouth harps.

    Born and raised along the Amazon River, don Agustin worked and trained with traditional indigenous ayahusqueros for many years before beginning his practice as a healer and ceremonial leader. As don Agustin delights in pointing out in the video, he has taken ayahuasca over 1,500 times, and he is living proof that ayahuasca is a transformative medicine that is neither addictive nor destructive. As this video shows, he is a highly articulate and entertaining speaker, a wonderfully creative artist and musician, a wise and compassionate healer, and a remarkably well-balanced person. it is easy to understand why this elfish - and unselfish - shaman from the Amazon has become sort of an international celebrity, with a following of individuals in Europe and the United States, as well as in Peru.

    Don Agustin's willingness to share his intimate knowledge of ayahuasca is complemented by his ability to frame that knowledge in modern metaphors and psychological terms that westerners can easily understand. his comments on how ayahuasca heals by purifying people on a molecular level are insightful, his explanations of how the shamans obtain and use the icaros (tunes) and mariris (words) are discerning, and his views on drug abuse and ecological destruction are perceptive and provocative. for those who are considering a visit to Yushintaita, his camp in eastern Peru, this video may be an excellent place to start.

Timothy White is editor of Shaman's Drum and a practitioner of psychotropic shamanism.

MAGICAL BLEND MAGAZINE REVIEW

This video is about Don Agustin’s Amazon river camp,which on the video seems a bit like eden. But the tape could be titled Ayahuasca . I know I learned more about this magical hallucinogen from watching Spirit of the Rainforest than I ever knew before.

The art is primitive; the talk is of elementals and spirits communicating through this sacred plant. We are told how ayahuasca has been used to heal many ailments, both physical and mental, and how it increases intuition.

The reactions evoked in me by this video were similar to ones I recall from reading Carlos Castaneda’s earlier books. After reading them, I wanted to try peyote buttons and datura; with this tape I’m ready to fly to the Amazon and take ayahuasca with Don Agustin Rivas Vazques. I’ll review the trip if I make it. In the meantime, I’ll leave you to make your own choice of spiritual tools.

-Miguel Chacru

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