The Ayahuasca Sessions: Conversations with Amazonian Curanderos and Western Shamans

Rak Razam

may 2014 · North Atlantic Books

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A great read for seekers and thrill-seekers interested in ayahuasca tourism, entheogens, and counterculture studies, this companion volume to the author's memoir Aya Awakenings collects in-depth interviews with native Amazonian curanderos (healers) and Western shamans traveling the "gringo trail" in the jungles of Central and South America in search of a direct encounter with ayahuasca's multidimensional reality.

In areas of Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru, the traditional herbal brew known as ayahuasca or yajé is legally used to heal physical ailments and to cleanse and purify the spirit by connecting it to the web of life; Sting and Tori Amos have admitted sampling it in Latin America, as has Paul Simon, who chronicled the experience in his song "Spirit Voices." Australian journalist Rak Razam documents the thriving business of 21st-century Amazonian hallucinogenic shamanism from multiple perspectives, revealing the stark differences between indigenous and foreign approaches as well as the commonalities.

Contents
INTRODUCTION
1. INDIGENOUS CURANDEROS
Adela Navas De Garcia Guillermo; Percy Garcia Lozano; Elias Mamallacta; Don Francisco Montes Shuna; Norma Panduro Navarro and Paula Harbrink Numan; Don Juan Tangoa Paima; Sara Alicia Ferreira Yaimes

2. WESTERN SHAMANS
Kevin Furnas; Scott Petersen; Carlos Tanner; Ron Wheelock

3. AYAHUASCA WORKERS
Chuck; Jan Kounen; Dennis McKenna; Alan Shoemaker

4. SEEDS
Alexis; Brian; Javier; Joel and Elsa; Pedro; Rachel ; Rolando; Wind Spirit Center

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RAK RAZAM is a new wave entheogenic researcher and the cofounder of Undergrowth.org, Australia's leading online counterculture arts and literature magazine, and the Icaros Foundation. An author, freelance journalist, and editor, he specializes in underground and counterculture communities, spirituality, and technology. He has written features for Australian Penthouse, The Age, Dazed and Confused magazine and Dazed Digital, Disinfo.com, Reality Sandwich, High Times, Filmmaker magazine, and many other publications. The author lives in Mullumbimby, New South Wales, Australia.