Original subtitles

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is is

Misconception number one is you're going to die when you drink ayahuasca.

That's true.

The elders believe that this vine is here to assist the humankind to learn

how to properly die.

The death that I am talking about is emotional, is psychological, is mental.

And then when that time comes for the last death to take place,

you'll be so prepared.

You're gonna die when you drink ayahuasca.

But death is a continuation.

I was born in a jungle in the northeast of Brazil.

My father was a young farmer and my mother was a native girl from the

Tupinambá tribe.

When I was three years old, my father was killed.

My grandmother

My father's mother took us from my mother.

She told us that my mother didn't want us, so she left us behind.

I never knew my mother or remembered her face.

theme of sadness and disconnection.

The sadness is because of the disconnection.

Humans, they come to the medicine, they are sad because they do not remember

what is the meaning of all this.

I was one of these people.

when the medicine found me i was living in new york at the time in this tiny

studio feeling very isolated it was when i was going through the most difficult

and dark phase of my life

There was a friend of mine that was closer to me.

And I shared with her my desire to die because I couldn't take a life anymore.

And she brought a bottle of this medicine telling me, don't die before

you drink this medicine.

When I drink ayahuasca for the first time, It was very clear to me the

message that I have to go back to the jungle, to the place where I come from.

A lot of people told me, don't go to Peru, you're a woman, this is going to

be very dangerous.

You know, people died in Peru.

I was not afraid of that because the calling was too loud inside of my heart.

I was in Pucallpa for about seven to eight months at the time.

My money was over and I felt like I'm not going to be able to find a teacher.

And someone told me Have you know about Johan Flores? Have you heard about him?

And then told me the name of my entourage.

Then I go to my entourage very early in the morning without absolutely

nothing.

No soap, no brushing teeth, no nothing.

At first coming to Mayantuyaco, I was in a state of wonder.

I was like a child coming home for the first time.

Every healer has to be dedicated to the teachings of the divine,

because the divine is what controls everything.

Everything comes from above.

From above, the energy of God sends the Creator to the plants.

And the plants collect the energy through the sun.

So, you take out the plant, you are taking the energy that is coming from

above.

We call it the Mucura Curandera.

I've been drinking since 1980 until today.

I learned how to make curandero when I was 10 years old.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening.

I'm Chiripiari, a man who knows plants.

Soy de una tribu de axanincas.

Ellos aprendieron a emplear, a cocinar las plantas.

Porque en esa época no había remedio, no había pastillas, no había nada. Entonces

toda la gente hacía un tratamiento a base de plantas.

Y para manejar eso estaban los curanderos.

This is the camel renaco.

Every time we come to the jungle, we have to ask for permission.

That is, we have to blow it three times.

When we have already blown it three times,

what we do is we come with the machete, we can take out a piece of root.

This resin is taken out. You will start to diet.

You will also take it to the cortex.

Then, by taking it, the spirit of this plant will appear in you.

It will ask you to take it, if it is to heal you or for you to learn.

The plant has a force that is its own healing force.

Then, to give it the double force, they blow it with the raccoon.

I thought of making a center to introduce medicinal plants to the whole

world. And I looked for where the hot water was.

There is a great spirit, the steam miner, we call him.

He lives under the rocks because he is a prepared, fertile spirit.

And he says, well, I am helping you from here.

For years I have been helping you.

So I can talk to him.

Linda quebradita, como corren tus aguas, tus aguitas

cristalinas.

Tus aguitas cristalinas.

Cuando corren tus aguas, ya la nube se

levanta.

Cuando corren tus aguas y a las nubes se levantan, entre

medio de las nubes ya se va mi Señor Jesucristo.

He's his favorite medicine, his cabernet.

It's a little bit mysterious to learn with him.

Most of what I learned from Maestro is the importance of silence and quietude.

When you are in this level of practice, you have to be fasting, you're going to

be in isolation, and you have to count only on you.

When you go from the city to the jungle, From the first step that you take out of

your house to travel in a plane, to walk the trail, to get in the boat,

all of that is already cleaning you from this state of

frenetic energy that doesn't stop inside of your mind.

First, you have to learn how to handle the ayahuasca, how the master handles

it, how he sings.

The priest has to learn to sing the first Icarus of the ayahuasca.

So, once he learns the Icarus of the ayahuasca, then he can learn the next

Icarus and the plant he takes, and from there the other plants he takes.

And all the Icarus are formed.

Icarus. specific prayer sounds to enchant the plant spirit to come to

participate in the ceremony.

We have to be beautiful, we have to be enchanted enough so the spirit can come.

So when I go to the jungle and I see the importance of the Icarus and the

importance to express through your voice, I want to be able to do that too.

Many older students in my Antioquia will tell me, the spirits will sing the

Icarus to you.

I was like, come on, guys.

Really?

I didn't believe that.

At some point in the river, I stop in the rock.

And then I hear a whistle.

And it's very difficult for my mind to grasp how in the world is something non

-physical. making a sound that I can hear physically.

to accept that other things are possible outside of the physical form. The little

window was cracked open, and then I wanted to know more.

The best for

the central nervous system.

Maestro work a lot with this plant.

Maestro himself knew about this land for a while.

I feel that he asked to take care of this land because he wanted to make sure

that the land continue to be as it is.

This is the seeds of chacruna.

We're going to try to plant them here in the land and see if we can start a

little nurturing of chacruna.

Now we're going to go in the cooking.

With my issue in the beginning, I felt a little bit of a resistance. I'm a little

woman, I'm small, you know, what do I know?

So I had to really continue the zeal into my practice, proving to myself that

I can be a powerful woman, carrying my medicine, carrying my heart to the world

without being afraid to be crushed by it.

In this moment...

The person is going to cook the ayahuasca and is putting his joy, then

he is putting the medicine and the offer inside the pot of the ayahuasca, so that

it can be accompanied together with the ayahuasca.

That is the great secret that exists for a curander.

The water is flowing, but it's also talking to me.

It's teaching me how to sing better or to hear deeper.

In the womb, we were first water.

And when we die, the water goes away.

They go back to be Earth again.

You are in an altered state when you're drinking medicine.

Depending on each individual, depending on each system, each body, the medicine

is going to act differently.

When we drink the medicine together, the first period of the ceremony is silence.

Once you sit in quiet, in the tradition of the Chaninka, they like it dark.

In the dark, we can go inward.

And when we go inward, this is exactly where we need to go to witness

ourselves.

It's like a dreamlike state So

you are able to navigate in the physical and non-physical

level with your very own consciousness to discover yourself

Suddenly

you have this truthful knowing in you that you know where you're standing.

To be a Kurendera means to me that one went to the depth of oneself and was

able to witness the shadows, the suffering that all humankind suffers.

One that takes responsibility to heal oneself.

By the time that I was five years old, I started to feel uncomfortable with the

situation that was going around me.

So much physical abuse, sexual abuse was happening since a child age.

My cousin grew up in the same situation, and he will tell us his dreams and

fantasy, especially after being punished.

There was such a sadness revolting in his heart, and he will say that he will

grow up, he will become a gangster, and he will come back and kill the family.

I say that I want to go really far, I want to travel everywhere and speak many

languages and they will never see me again.

The last time the sexual abuse happened, I was 14 years old.

I told myself that I'd rather die on the streets than stay in the house anymore.

I didn't even know what depression

is. I just felt life sucks and I wanna out.

I decided that I'm going to abuse my body, I'm going to do drugs, I'm going

to find a way to escape this pain.

My cousin was deep into the gangster life.

He became very abusive to other people.

And when I learned about his death, I felt deep sadness.

I thought maybe if I didn't leave, maybe I could save him.

And maybe he felt like alone, like I felt also in my path.

Going through all that I was going through, feeling so alone and not

belonging to anyone, not having really anyone to come to.

When the medicine show up, I had a vision.

My mother, she was smiling to me as a baby.

I felt sometime in this life, someone felt love for me.

And that changed me forever.

I know

because it's not an answer for your problems.

And I don't think anything is the answer of your problem other than you become

aware, you becoming conscious of the way that you are living your life.

For me, he is the father that I have never had in my life. He is the master

of my heart, that I am very proud to share with others

outside the world.

Thank you for your medicine.

Thank you for your life.

Thank you for being the master for all of us, for teaching so much to us.

Thank you to all of us for being here too.

Yeah. Yeah.

long time ago i had a vision i was in the desert

sitting in the rock and i see this huge tall tribal african man

His face full of wrinkles tell me the story of time and time and time and time

before.

He sits in friendship and he tells me the

most important thing that you can do of your lifetime is to touch people's life.

oh mystery

Adrenaline!