Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
www.shamansociety.org 13 I N T E R E V I E W A Dialogue with Jose Luis Herrera on Peruvian Shamanism by Deborah Bryon PhD Jose Luis Herrera has spent the last twenty years exploring and studying the mountain Amazon and coastal medicine traditions of his native Peru. An accomplished mountain climber explorer author speaker and naturalist he teaches Inka medicine traditions across the US and Europe and is the founder of Rainbow Jaguar and chairman of Andean Research Institute ARI a nonprot organization dedicated social projects land preservation in the Amazon jungle and recording songs mythology and technology in stewardship of medicine traditions. The following candid but casual conversation with Jose Luis Herrera took place on a bus ride returning from the Sacred Mountains in Peru to Cusco after the Altomesayok research expedition in Peru July 2011. I had visited and worked with the Vilkabamba and Qero medicine people several times before and had been so impressed with these shamans that I have continued to travel to Peru each year for the privilege of participating in this amazing journey to the Holy Mountains. During the incredible fty-mile hike that took place on the sacred mountain of Ausangate we had crossed mountain passes at elevations up to 16000 feet been given rites of passage and performed sacred purication rituals in the icy waters of crystal clear blue lagoons. The purpose of this investigative journey was to research and study the last Altomesayoks a small group of specialized shamans still living in Peru today. To preserve the old sacred Inka traditions and for their own safety the Altomesayoks have practiced under the radar of the current religions practiced in Peru. In total there are only a handful of Altomesayoks remaining and Jose Luis has gone to great lengths to nd these shamans and bring a small group of Westerners together for the opportunity to work with these powerful shamans and with their assistance to speak directly with the mountain spirits. The individuals who had been to participate on this journey were full mesa carriers the shamans medicine body in the Inka tradition and had been training with Jose Luis for nearly a decade. Although Jose Luis has trained shamans from different regions of Peru practicing other shamanic traditions the topic of this informal conversation was primarily about the late shaman Don Manuel Quispe and the Qero people. Inka shamanism was the focus of this particular journey but is not the only shamanism practiced in Peru.