Ayahuasca Medicine: The Shamanic World of Amazonian Sacred Plant Healing

by Alan Shoemaker

From the Publisher: An insider’s account of the journey to become an ayahuasquero, a shaman who heals with the visionary vine ayahuasca Details the author’s training and life as a curandero using ayahuasca medicine, San Pedro cactus, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms, and other visionary plants Offers first-hand accounts of miraculous healing where ayahuasca revealed the cause of the illness, including how the author healed his mother from liver cancer Shows how ayahuasca tourism symbolizes the Western world’s reawakening need to connect with the universal life force For more than 20 years American-born Alan Shoemaker has apprenticed and worked with shamans in Ecuador and Peru, learning the traditional methods of ayahuasca preparation, the ceremonial rituals for its use, and how to commune with the healing spirit of this sacred plant as well as the spirit of the San Pedro cactus and other sacred plant allies. Now a recognized and practicing ayahuasquero, or ayahuasca shaman, in Peru, he offers an insider’s account of the ayahuasca tradition and of its use for expanding consciousness and achieving healing through access to other dimensions of being. Shoemaker details his training and his own curandero practice using ayahuasca medicine, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms, and other visionary plants. He discusses the different traditions of his two foremost teachers and mentors, Don Juan in the Peruvian Amazon, an ayahuasquero, and Valentin in Ecuador, a San Pedro shaman. He reveals the indispensable role played by icaros, the healing songs of the plant shaman, and offers firsthand accounts of miraculous healing resulting from ayahuasca’s ability to reveal the cause of an illness, including how he healed his mother from liver cancer. The author also addresses the rising popularity of Northerners traveling to the Amazon to seek healing and mind expansion through ayahuasca and shows how this fascination is triggered by humanity’s reawakening need to connect to the universal life force.

Praise for the Book: “Ayahuasca Medicine is a highly readable collection of incredible stories about miraculous healings and life with indigenous healers sure to entice anyone with an interest in ayahuasca and other psychoactive plants used in Latin America. Cautionary advice admixes with infectious enthusiasm for the topic, and provides a valuable contribution to the literature on practical applications of psychedelic plants’ effects.”– “Rick Strassman, M.D., author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule and coauthor of Inner Paths to Outer Space”

“Alan Shoemaker has seen it all, and done it all. In this book he narrates his life story with humor and passion. A read sure to be of interest!”– “Dennis McKenna, Ph.D.,

“Ayahuasca Medicine is a revealing journey on the Western shamanic path with one of the most preeminent gringos on the Iquitos frontier. Alan Shoemaker’s apprenticeship with the medicine ayahuasca is rich in wonder, frank in detail, and embodies the cultural metamorphosis those of us who connect with the power plants must undergo. And as a new generation of Western seekers comes to the jungle in search of the mystery, Alan’s greatest wisdom may be his understanding that true healing comes from within. As well as the plants and the curanderos, Westerners are being groomed to be their own teachers, and Alan Shoemaker stands foremost among them.”– “Rak Razam, author of Aya Awakening: A Shamanic Odyssey”

“Alan Shoemaker has had more adventures than most people can even dream of, and he has written a fascinating book of both stories and ideas. The stories are brash, revelatory, and filled with self-deprecating humor; the ideas come from an immense knowledge of ayahuasca shamanism. This is a memoir of twenty years of experience with shamans and seekers and rogues of all kinds–an honest and deeply personal take on Amazonian shamanic practices and beliefs.”– “Stephan V. Beyer, author of Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon”

About the Author: Alan Shoemaker is a formally trained ayahuasquero, curandero, and writer. He is the host of the annual International Amazonian Shamanism conference, administrator of the “Vine of the Soul Intensives,” and founder and director of the Soga Del Alma church of ayahuasca. He lives with his two children in Iquitos, Peru. For more than 20 years American-born Alan Shoemaker has apprenticed and worked with shamans in Ecuador and Peru, learning the traditional methods of ayahuasca preparation, the ceremonial rituals for its use, and how to commune with the healing spirit of this sacred plant as well as the spirit of the San Pedro cactus and other sacred plant allies. Now a recognized and practicing ayahuasquero, or ayahuasca shaman, in Peru, he offers an insider’s account of the ayahuasca tradition and of its use for expanding consciousness and achieving healing through access to other dimensions of being.

Shoemaker details his training and his own curandero practice using ayahuasca medicine, tobacco purges, psychedelic mushrooms, and other visionary plants. He discusses the different traditions of his two foremost teachers and mentors, Don Juan in the Peruvian Amazon, an ayahuasquero, and Valentin in Ecuador, a San Pedro shaman. He reveals the indispensable role played by icaros, the healing songs of the plant shaman, and offers firsthand accounts of miraculous healing resulting from ayahuasca’s ability to reveal the cause of an illness, including how he healed his mother from liver cancer.

ISBN: 1620551934    –    EAN: 9781620551936