Shamanism is a field of human understanding and experience that has its roots in ancient cultures from every part of the globe. There does not exist a culture or religion anywhere that doesn't have its roots in the connection of man with Nature and the Universe. In the ancient forests of India and the snow capped Himalayas to the jungles and mountains of South America and in all the corners of the Earth the ancient peoples gave cult to the spirit that lives present in Nature. Through this intelligent spirit life moves and grows, matures and dies and the shaman is traditionally the person that has entered into communion with nature's intelligence in order to give praise to the life giver, in order to know the mysteries and secrets of Mother Nature, her plants, her animals, her hidden realms.
The ancient priests and priestesses of nature worshipped in temples of nature, in valleys, plains, mountains and forest groves and through such communion have made their contact with the Interior God that exists inside everyone. Some shamanic cultures have evolved into civilisations of profound beauty and cosmic understanding such as the Maya, Aztec, Inca, Vedic and Egyptian cultures.

Even today there are still Indigenous cultures that survive living in harmony with nature and serving the needs and wishes of the Divine creative forces.
We can cite here the Indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada De Santa Marta in Colombia who still keep alive the culture and tradition of their people in which they venerate Mother Nature and work constantly to ensure that the tapestry of life continues to be woven. These peoples recognise that unless man plays his role as part of nature being a guardian and protector of her, she will become unbalanced, thus man today has broken the fundamental laws of nature and risks great catastrophe if he doesn't change radically.

The word shaman comes from Siberia and is a word that has been coined by anthropologists to describe the healers, sages and wise people that practice a natural religion in the arms of mother nature using different techniques in order to enter the hidden realms of nature and bring back wisdom, healing and orientation for their people.
Certainly shamanism has been popularised in the modern world over that past 30 or 40 years in particular with many books, studies, TV programmes and so on. This resurgence of shamanic wisdom is a response to the disquiet in some people in relation to the way that modern man treats the Earth and a certain yearning by people to return (to varying degrees) to the arms of Mother Nature but it is important to understand that books, TV programns and so on are only food for the intellect and are not the wisdom itself. They have the capacity when well used to orientate the mind but up to that point their function ends for the real understanding is something we need to live over a prolonged period of time.

The roots of many shamanic practices lie with the ritual use of scared plants.

In the Vedic texts we are told about the use of a mysterious drink called Soma, almost certainly derived from some wild growing plant from that special group of plants that are nowadays termed as "psychoactive." Such types of plants have been put to use as sacraments in many parts of the world and each of these plants has its tradition, culture and sacred rites which vary from region to region but within which are enshrined the principles of the Science of the Sacred Plants.
What we see nowadays in terms of a shamanism that uses these plants is the remains of something that was previously more widespread and although anthropology has tried to uncover the traditions and uses of these plants their true mysteries remain concealed to all but those that have the patience and willpower to discover for themselves by degrees the deep wisdom they contain.
Properly said shamanism of the sacred plants is a key to the Great Mysteries that can lead us to revelations and realisations of our interior being.

Shamanic Study

It is the aim of The Shamanic and Ecological Association to penetrate into the mysteries of the sacred plants, in particular, those of the Amazonian region of South America where our centre is based.
There a group of individuals motivated by the need for mankind to discover the answers to the problems that beset our generation that have been making their study based on practical experience.
For over twenty years these people have been studying and practicing the Shamanism of the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon jungle and in particular learning from a plant that the local people call Yaje.
This along with other sacred plants such as coca constitutes the primary means of entering Mother Nature's hidden realms and conversing with the spirits of Pachamama (Mother Nature).
Yaje also induces the sincere disciple toward inner knowledge and understanding. The mysteries of Yaje are infinite and we can say without doubt that Yaje is a medium between man and God.
Yaje is an angel, a deva and a master elemental from the kingdom of the plants. Yaje, to the Indigenous peoples of South America is a God.
Yaje gives the shaman access to the storehouse of knowledge found in every plant and in all the elements of nature, in the fire, the air, the earth and the water.

The principles of this study in shamanism require that the individual when seeking to learn this sacred knowledge undergo a process of purification, healing and self discovery.
It is vital that the student of shamanism begins to work with plants; to cultivate the land, to grow food and medicinal plants and to work in defence of Mother Nature. This is a work of sacrifice and love for the benefit of our fellow beings and the planet as a whole.
There are many sources of ethnobotanical plants now available through the internet but in general they promote a very westernised understanding, preferring to speak of the chemical make-up of the plants and on the whole promoting a fascination for psychedelic theories and placing the sacred plants in a context that is drawing ever further from the position of veneration and respect held for them by their guardians.
For this reason many Indigenous people are uneasy about the sudden availability of these plants to people uninitiated in the true disciplines and rites of their use.
To learn the process of preparation of the plants it is necessary for the student to integrate him/herself into nature and to have the permission of Yaje to be able to have contact with the plants and to learn how to prepare them. The preparation of Yaje is a ritual in itself that takes place in a special location only used for those purposes. All this is far away from the commercialisation of the sacred plants where they are displayed in shops for the eyes of any passing person that is curious. It is clear that when a person does not have preparation and purification before being initiated into the use of the sacred plants then the mundane and gross energies will effect the plants and thus effect the experience of them.
There are many forces in the battle between good and evil and many are the illusions and hypnotic "visions" that can afflict and ensnare the unwary. The "psychonauts" as they like to call themselves become prey to their own fascination for power and the thrill factor but they cannot see that they are hypnotised by infernal powers that use the psychedelic forces to lead the unwary young person toward the abyss.
In shamanism it is well known that their exist infernal and superior realms. The psychedelic realms are infernal and are found in the sub-atomic regions of nature. The psychedelic world has its mysticism and its magic but all is in service of the Devil, all is for power. The use of the sacred plants for these purposes is like a crime against nature and a profanity against the wisdom of the ancient masters.
The merchants that sell and commercialise these plants as if they were just any kind of mundane product for capitalist consumption are working in service of those powers.

Despite this, however, the Indigenous Masters want to help and it is for this reason that The Shamanic and Ecological Association is working in the mission of teaching about the sacred plants and promoting a new culture based upon respect for their sacred qualities for the benefit of all mankind.
We need to understand that to return to the true shamanism we need to become more simple as people, we need to return to nature and to put aside complex theories and intellectualism for its own sake.
From this starting point we can begin to orientate ourselves to enter the mysteries of shamanism.

Inti Ananda.

Shamanic & Ecological Association.
29th Dec 2001.

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