What do you know about Don Pedro Guerra Gonzales?

[AndreasWinsnes]

I ask because he is getting popular among harnerists in Norway who visit him in Peru. Al wrote that:

I asked around at a curandero forum. Don Pedro is looking more and more like a fake.

I will appreciate it if you can expand on that. Thanks!

[Ingeborg]

I found the text below on an Austrian website, http://www.don-pedro-guerra.net

There are several ways in which this text makes use of racist notions about South American ndn peoples, describing them e.g. as 'dangerous' to live near (I assume this is why the text mentions the 'Jivaro' instead of Shuar, as most Euros will recognize 'Jivaro' as the 'producers' of shrunken heads). At the same time, the 'healing culture' is depicted as without connection to these peoples, but gets ascribed to an anonymous 'Amazonia'. Emphasizing the dangerousness of the indigenous Amazonian population most probably intends to underline the uniqueness of the 'knowledge' acquired, but also reflects a very stereotyped way of perceiving the peoples living there.
It is also stereotypical that the shaman in question of course holds a high rank in the world of shamans, a rank which will cast a shadow onto the cures applied and onto those Euros being cured by him.

More stereotypes used are the 'barefoot survival' in the hostile jungle, and the very perception of the jungle as hostile to begin with, and later on the 'virgin jungle' untouched by human hands, first and foremost untouched by the ndn population who thus once more get depicted as having no impact on their environment whatsoever. The trees there aren't sufficiently characterized by the term 'tree', they got to be 'jungle giants', of course. Sometimes the stereotypes applied are in conflict, like on the one hand stressing the vast knowledge of survival skills possessed by these shamans, and then to have P.G. returning half-starved from a two-years' stay in the jungle.
Still more stereotyping is applied in describing P.G.'s father as a mestizo kidnapped by the 'savage and dangerous ndns', and by describing P.G. as ndn more than mestizo as far as his healing abilities and alleged survival skills are concerned. And by calling P.G. the 'heir' of the Mayoruna tradition - one can only inherit something when the testator is gone.


Anyways, here's the text:


"Meanwhile, Don Pedro can be counted among the most reknowned medicine men who are acknowledged on an international level. His participation in the recent two shaman congresses at Mondsee in 2004 and 2006 and in the World Congress for Ethno-Medicine in Munich 2006 have won him much attention.

In the Amazonian lowlands of Peru, healers/shamans are called curanderos who can successfully heal people in physical and mental ailments with various methods, e.g. with icaros (the spiritual healing songs), sacred plants (their drugstore is the largest rainforest on earth), tobacco (natural, biological tobacco), perfumes (from flowers) or just with mental spiritual powers.

Many sing melodious soft songs to their clients, e.g. during a healing ceremony a whole night long. The songs are seen as powerful 'medicine'. They follow their vital healing arts along the path of love and beauty and compassion. They meet their visitors/patients at the same level, out of a human conviction, and with a vital sens of humour.


b) Don Pedros art of singing

The spiritual healing songs Don Pedro sings during ceremonies for an entire night are called icaros. According to his nature, he is a 'heart opener'. His songs contribute to hear nature, at first one's own, with all senses and to start seeing with one's heart.



Don Jose Guerra, the heir of medicine knowledge of the Mayoruna....

Don Pedro was born in a hut covered with palm leaves, in the loneliness of the then untouched rain forest, in the quebrada Shatto in the Peruvian rain forest, several hours by boat from Tamishiyacu, as the first of thirteen children. His father settled in the dangerous area between the tribes of the Mayoruna and the Jivaro. His being able to survive there is connected to his personal history.

After the india rubber boom broke down, there was much friction between settlers and indigenous population. Many of the tribes at the Amazon river were enslaved because of india rubber, many indigenas were cruelly killed during these times. Don Pedros grandfather lived in the middle of the jungle.
His son, Don Pedro's father Don Jose Guerra, got kidnapped by the Mayoruna as a child of eight years. He lived with them until he was an adult and later, when he had his own family, still settled in their immediate neighbourhood, at the borders to their tribal land. He was more an Indio than a Mestizo. Only people held in high esteem by the Mayoruna were able to survive in such a dangerous vicinity. Jose Guerra had many friends among the tribes of the Mayoruna, Yagua, Jivaro, and Bora. He was introduced to their plant knowledge, their culture, their ancient spiritual traditions and their abilities to survive barefoot in the jungle.

Many of the Mayoruna were killed in a dramatic military action in 1962 or were forced to go to Brazil. Don Jose Guerra was one of the few in the Tamishiyacu region who still had the vast plant knowledge of the Mayoruna, he was highly recognized for this during his lifetime.

As a curandero plant knower, Don Jose Guerra was known far beyond his village. He, too, 'possessed' powerful and beutiful icaros, used tobacco for healing rituals, he was a Palero. In all his lifetime, he treated people who came to him and never asked for money. His work as a campesino saw to the survival of his family. He was regarded a most honourable and laborious person. He took his eldest son Pedro to the jungle from when he was a child. Barefoot in the jungle, he got to know the animals and plants, and learned to train his  instincts to survive in the jungle. The region in the Amazonian jungle which Don Pedro knows has the incredible length[sic] of onethousand kilometres.


Don Pedro, child of the mystic Amazon River

Don Pedro, firstborn son of Don Jose Guerra, was thought to be a special 'power child'. He was visited regularly by the shamans of the Mayoruna at full moon and at new moon. During these visits he got cleansed with mysterious herbs. He was meant to become invulnerable. He says that he indeed gets injured very rarely. During these times, he was made to drink jaguar blood at new moon. This was done in order to have his inborn abilities  develop in an optimal way.


Ascetic way to Curandero

As a Peruvian citizen, he had to do military service. During this time, he e.g. learned to steer huge battleships on the Amazon River. When Don Pedro returned from the military, he was resolved to become a Curandero. Therefore, on orders of his strict father, he went into the jungle where he spent two years in complete solitude, with an extreme cut in food, without any human contacts, as is the tradition of the  Curandero 'jungle school' from ancient times. According to his tales, he received these powers from the Wairuru tree, a very mighty jungle giant and therefore belongs to the group of Paleros, the 'tree knowers or tree shamans'. When he returned after two years, drastically thin, but cleared mentally, he also brought along his icaros, his personal healing songs, which he received from the natural spirits. He received the ability to do exact pulse diagnosis, a diagnostic aid which is seen as the basic equipment of the Amazonian curandero. He thoroughly  broadened his knowledge about healing plants by 'inner view'.
From these times on he acted as a healer in his village. Since the village operates on susbsistence economy, Don Pedro mostly works without payment. He feeds his family by working as a fisherman and a campesino. For some years, Don Pedro was working as a curandero in the camp of Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez (known from the film 'Into the next dimension'). The two know each other well. Don Pedro also cooperates repeatedly with the doctors in Tamishiyacu hospital. Don Pedro has got eight children. He and his wife live in  Tamishiyacu. He got invited to the USA and to Europe several times. He decidedly rejected offers to teach at US universities and live in the USA. His camp in the rainforest is open to people from all over the world who want to see him due to physical and mental/spiritual matters.


Different forms of curanderismo

Various teaching traditions and methods of education mark the diversity of the paths of medicine still existing today. Long and, for European eyes, incredibly hard trainings in the rainforest are seen as a prerequisite to acquire this knowledge. As this knowledge is acquired without books, it is hard to understand for Europeans what its essence encompasses. This also seems to be the reason for profound misunderstandings. There are no spontaneous initiations. Every serious form to practice healing as a curandero is linked to an at least one year's ascetic stay in the loneliness of the jungle. The plant spirits are seen as the actual teachers of this tradition founded in life. Before school attendance was introduced, the training of the ancient masters of Amazonia often took up to 15 years, without  breaking their diet just once. After this, the scholars were considered to have become great magicians. The title was that of a 'Sumi'. It is reported that these Sumis were able to live under water in the realm of the Sirenas for any period of time and they were thought to be immortal.

Many different plants went into their diet and were considered to be mystic teachers. The jungle with all its beings was the temple and university of these mysterious magicians and healers.

But this paradise also knows shadows. There aren't only healers, there are brujos, too, who abuse their abilities for money. Therefore it is important to realize who can be trusted.



The Palero

As a curandero, Don Pedro says he belongs to the professional group of Paleros. Don Pedro is recognized as a tree shaman. A tree shaman acquired his spiritual medicine knowledge from the spirit of ancient jungle giants Tree Shamans are still seen as bearers of that knowledge of the ancient world which can promote the spirit of the medicine peoples of Amazonia in its most powerful form. In the hierarchy of Amazonian healing traditions, the tree shaman is regarded as the topmost, he is seen as having the biggest powers. In the bookless culture of ancient Amazonia, trainings were made up in such a way as to cause supernatural abilities by hardest, slyly devised diets to enable dialogue with the powers of nature. If necessary, a serious curandero after special efforts will retreat into the rainforest and observe a special cleansing diet.



From a cure for the poor to new hope for many.....

As still nowadays only few people in the Amazonian rainforest are able to afford European medicine, curanderismo still has an important function in the Peruvian health system.
In 1980, WHO attest to shamanism the same importance as Western medicine in the field of treating psycho-somatic illness.
During recent years, the quality of knowledge of the Peruvian curanderos and vegetalistas (phyto-therapists) got known more and more in Europe.
One reason that many recently went to experience it in person. When Don Pedro comes to Europe now, this serves as a mutual exchange of hope. It enables us to participate in the spiritual richness of the unique healing culture of Amazonia. For the curandero Don Pedro it means a chance to have his own medicinal garden to mark a beginning to save many of the valuable medicinal plants from extinction. It also means a possibility for him in future to buy Selva Virgen - untouched jungle - and to save valuable medicine trees from woodcutters."

[educatedindian]

Steering huge battleships on the Amazon? Does the Peruvian Navy even have battleships? Battleships have been obsolete since WWII, I think. Sounds like the kind of bragging Harley Reagan does.

Here's the conversation we had on a curandero forum, the yahoo group 1Curanderismo, cleaned up to make it cleaer whose speaking.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/1curanderismo/message/3166
educatedindio@> wrote: I found a conference/workshop in Germany led by a Nuage fraud, Pablo Russell. The three below are claiming to be either curanderos or Latin American Indians "shamans" and are also giving workshops. Does anyone here know about them? Do they seem like legit curanderos?
-----
Don Pedro Guerra Gonzales, shaman from Peru who stands in the tradition of the tribal culture of the Mayorunas; he has been taken into the jungle from early childhood on and has been taught healing plants. At the age of 22, Don Pedro decoded to start the long way of the curandero. He spent two years
in the Peruvian jungle in complete isolation, during which a special diet must be kept and strict rules of abstinence must be obeyed.
In his dreams and vision (t.n: singular in original text) he came into contact with plant spirits, especially the powerful tree spirits. He gained his shamanic power and wisdom through the trees, therefore he belongs to the group of paleros, the tree shamans or tree knowers.
 Since then, Don Pedro also works with other master plants and their plant spirits who offered him their knowledge during further diets.

pappa_palo@ wrote:
I usually do not speak of others I do not know, but here is a quick reference you can use to come to your own conclusions. The people listed below may have knowledge in their beliefs and teachings, but that can go for so many who have forums in almost every religion. It depends what you wish to gain from that knowledge, if it is to learn a religion then that is what you keep it at, if you are wanting to learn to do works and work with spirits,then that is something totally different. If these people are just offering knowledge of a certain culture or religion customs that is fine, but if they are trying to offer works to cause changes for whatever situation, then I would say,by what proof or validation by others from past
 works do they hold? I do not see that though in the summary, the closest would be the one linked as a Palero, but it seems more appropriate to call him a rootworker instead as a palero,a palero does not
only work with spirits of vegetation, thay work with many different spirits, the name Palo means to do work with spirits in the woods and belongs to the african sect, not to Mexican based religions or Indian
religious beliefs.
 Pappa_Palo

rhoomegaphi@> wrote:
I found Pappa Palo's critique to be very helpful. If the presenters are there to share beliefs, that in and of itself would be enough for the German workshop attendee to learn and grow spiritually. Then any spirits who wish to contact that person would be able to in a safe way, not harming the human being. If the presenters are just teaching some disconnected new age version of the Native magical art, then that could be dangerous for the non-initiated.

leudar" <gustard33@> wrote:
 Palero in the peruvian jungle is just a type of currandero that uses trees and tree bark remedies to heal people. THe use of the word Palero in Brazil may be different, but in the Ucayali,Loreto and San Martin districts of Peru it is so. However this is widely known round there and many people suddenly become curranderos when a gringo turns up with money ! Whether this guy is genuine or not i could not say but he is thin.

pappa_palo@...>wrote: Any one can learn the medical terms and usage of trees and plants, they are called rootworkers/phamacies/shaman. The name Palero is a name taken from the sect of africans that were taken or came from the deep roots of Africa mainly in the Kongos and close knit region around and came into contact with Latin based groups and religions (hence the latin name Palo which means wood/tree). To say that those people in that area are called Paleros is an unjust and gross
misuse of name and a slap in the face of the true workers of Palo albeit that maybe one or a couple might have actually have gone through the proper procedures, but for everyone to do so when a gringo with
money comes in is bad for all. When one calls themselves a Palero, they have been initiated properly in working not only in medicinal practices of plants and trees but mainly the spirits of not only trees and plants but in general, anyone claiming they are this or that for pure money reasons better be well prepared when the spirits come claiming what is theirs or worse. The spirits are cleaning house all over the world as some are seeing, they are first hitting large areas where their powers and secrets are being abused by uninitiated, poorly initiated and book taught practitioners of many religions.
You are either born and recognized as such by your works with them or you are properly initiated by a properly initiated worker who was crowned somewhere down the line by a born worker,there is no other truth, those who are not, better either get ready for them coming or do it the right way.
 Pappa_Palo

Leudar wrote:
Papa PAlo,
Is the congonese culture you refering to one that has developed in
Brazil/Cuba or Africa ?
Palo is spanish for stick. so Palero is someone who works with trees just as tobacero is someone who works with tobaco.
I Respect your zeal to uncover frauds.
If you doubt what I say (after all this is the internet and people are always lying) then ask a Peruvian face to face if possible.
However if you do ask a peruvian make sure it is someone from the jungle in the San Martin, or Ucayali district.
Even people from Lima or the mountains dont know much about the culture in the Jungle.
If you do know any Peruvians tell them you met a Gringo Charrapa online. I bet you they laugh.

[Ingeborg]

Here's a text from another website:

http://www.schamanismus-und-heilen.de

"Don Pedro Guerra Gonzales

aged 50, grew up as the eldest of 11 siblings in the region of the former Mayoruna Indios near the quebrada "Shato". The Shato still today is one of the least damaged jungle regions of Peru in which there is a multitude of unknown medicine plants. Don Pedro's father was a passionate hunter who owed his survival to the fact that the savages kidnapped him at the age of 8 and raised him in their tribe until he was 18. When he fled from the Mayoruna at 18, he was more of an indio than a mestizo and possessed a deepened knowledge about medicine and hunting. Later he was a trader for the still savage indios. Savage means that the indios raided and killed mestizos and whites, attacked villages, kidnapped women, had tribal wars and knew blood sacrifice up until the 1960ies.

Pedro Guerra inherited much of this savageness and survived fights for life or death in the jungle as well as in the slums of Iquitos and Lima. He also spent several months with the indios. When he returned from a hard time in the military, he decided, at the age of 22, to go into the jungle and become a magician. He intended to spend 5 years in total loneliness and submit completely to the appropriate diet (no salt, no sugar, no sex, no human contacts, no fire, only 2 cold, smoked fish per day and 2 bananas, and drinking only water with some yucca flour added).

Upon his father's advice, Pedro at first learned exclusively from the trees and therefore describes himself as a 'palero'. Although he later on added the master plant 'Ayahuasca', he does not see himself as an 'Ayahuascero', and the same applies to his use of tobacco (he produced and traded Mapacho tobacco) which he uses in healing sessions on principle. He also does not want to be a 'tabaquero', although he rather comes across like a penguin in the desert without his beloved Mapacho cigars.

The mairiris and icaros used by Don Pedro were taught to him by the spirits visiting him during his diet. After one year and eight months, he returned after a series of examinations from the loneliness. His father had sent him a message that he needed the help of his eldest son in raising his siblings.

Since the age of 24, Pedro works as a healer in Tamshiyacu[sic]. His plant knowledge is vast and recognized. He is very strict about respecting the approprite diets during a healing process. His working for an American tourist company brought him an invitation to the USA ten years ago, and a second one in 2001. Since his cooperation with Dr. Wolfgang Himmelbauer in the 'Otorongo' healing and teaching camp, a compact root network of interested Europeans has formed.

In his work, Don Pedro covers the entire range of diseases haunting Amazonia. This includes those diseases caused by witchcraft through black magicians (It is frequent in Amazonia to channel hate by witchcraft). Don Pedro is rustic and passionate, a man who loves a clear language and shies compromise. Contact with him is instructive in a unique way and inspiring. Up until today, he lives in Tamshiyacu, Maynas district, federal state of Loreto, Peru."

............................
Once again the description contains distinctly racist concepts and stereotypes. I assume that the concept of a 'racial' hierarchy as expressed above ('more of an indio than a mestizo') might be reflections of P.G.'s accounts to his Euro followers.

As both texts I found stress the 'fact' that Jose Guerra's (the father's) survival was only possible as he got abducted by ndns as a child, I am now very curious how the grandparents came to settle in an environment with neighbours so hostile and how they managed to survive.

Although the author(s) seem to hold ndn medicine in high esteem, they do not shy away from using racist concepts to describe ndns - e.g. as savages who raid settlers and other tribes, of course steal women etc. Apparently it does not occur to the author(s) that these peoples were fighting for their existence, and it appears that they share the view that the ndns more or less deserved to 'disappear' which they clearly do in the text: P.G. is said to have grown up not in the former region of the Mayoruna, but instead in the 'region of the former Mayoruna'.

There is one noteworthy inconsistency in the text above: P.G. was expected to eat 'cold fish' during his stay in the jungle. While this is the only way possible given the fact that he was forbidden to light a fire, I would certainly like to know how he was expected to *smoke* the fish, as I somehow can't imagine he took to the jungle dragging along a five years' supply of smoked whatever.

Please take due note of the biographical details in the above text:
- P.G.'s father was an ndn trader
- P.G. spent 'several months with the indios' although no details given with which ethnic group
- P.G. apparently lived 'in the slums of Iquitos and Lima'
- P.G. worked for an American tourism company

[AndreasWinsnes]

I agree that the two websites Ingeborg mentions are horrible, and they certainly reflect on Don Pedro since one must assume that he has read these texts. Savages?! But I can't find the last text on schamanismus-und-heilen.de. Could you please give a more direct link?

But to be fair, it should be said that he does not charge money for ceremonies. That's good.

Thanks again for the information! Appreciate it if you have even more.

[Ingeborg]

But I can't find the last text on schamanismus-und-heilen.de. Could you please give a more direct link?

Sorry about that, here it is:
http://www.schamanismus-und-heilen.de/3_bisherige_taetigkeiten/schamanen_bios/guerra_bio_b.html

But to be fair, it should be said that he does not charge money for ceremonies.

At least fees aren't mentioned explicitely.

[AndreasWinsnes]

Incredible that you took the time to translate these text! As Leudar wrote: "I Respect your zeal to uncover frauds." Thanks.

But when the text mentions savages, it might be better to translate it as "the wild ones". At least it makes me laugh...

[Ingeborg]

There are not too many German language sites about P.G., but here's some more.

http://www.ceteem.info/ayahuasca.html

This is a report written by a woman who participated in an Ayahuasca 'ceremony' with P.G. as a shame-on in Austria.


http://www.don-pedro-guerra-net./dp/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=4

This is about the camp run by PG - and here money does get mentioned, however, there's no amounts specified.

"'Camp Don Pedro' is right in the middle of the rainforest on Rio Tamshiyacu [sic], about 20 minutes by boat from the Rio Amazon. 'Camp Don Pedro' in 2005 was the special place where shamans from various continents met. A documentary film about this meeting was done by well-known Swiss filmmaker Orsa Pinkus.

SPIRITUAL CEREMONIES IN THE JUNGLE

Don Pedro guides the nightly ceremony with his mystic songs, the icaros. Amazonian plants support the deep cleansing of spirit and body.

"Camp Don Pedro" offers the unique possibility to explore the jungle every day in a canoe without risk. It enables a vital deepening of the spiritual experience in the rainforst.

TRAVEL OFFERS CAMP DON PEDRO from March 24 to April 6, 2007 and August 16 to August 26, 2007

DAY 1: Arrival. Don Pedro will pick you up in Tamishiyacu at the port and takes you by boat to the little port at his camp situated on Rio Tamishiyacu.

Afterwards, Don Pedro is available for consultation (group or single). He will deal intensely with the questions of his visitors. In the case of physical ailments, Pedro will personally prepare plant medicine. Some medicines require special diets, some can be taken without any special diet.
Medicine is included in the price. [Emphasis mine] In case of severe disease a longer stay is recommended. Retreat and a diet in most cases will be a condition.


Day 2: During the day: guided canoe tour in the Rio Tamishiyacu landscape. Silence recommended. At night: nightly ceremonies with mystic plants, accompanied with icaros, the spiritual songs.

Day 3: during the day: guided canoue tour on Rio Tamishiyacu. Silence recommended. At night: Don Pedro guides the night ceremony with mystic plants and healing songs, the powerful icaros.

Day 4: during the day: guided canoe tour on Rio Tamishiyacu. Silence recommended. At night: conversation with Don Pedro, treamtents.

Day 5: Don Pedro explains the medicine plants of his medicine garden and their possible applications with various diseases. At night: guided moonshine tour by canoe on the river.

Day 6: Don Pedro takes you to the river dolphins in his motor boat. When he whistles, you can see them jump. Sometimes you will see pink ones, sometimes grey ones. For this journey, your contribution re petrol for the boat will be collected on top of fees by Don Pedro. Petrol is quite cheap in Peru. [Emphasis mine]


Day 7: during the day: guided canoe tour on Rio Tamishiyacu, silence recommended. At night: Don Pedro guides the night ceremony with mystic plants and healing songs, the powerful icaros.

Day 8: during the day: [you probably thought so...] guided canoe tour on Rio T., silence recommended. At night: Don Pedro guides.... etc.

Day 9: at noon: canoe tour in [sic] Rio Tamishiyacu. Afternoon: possibility to see carvers at work in Tamishiyacu. at night: talks with Don Pedro (group or single)

Day 10: Departure. Don Pedro takes you to Iquitos by boat. In the afternoon, you can visit the butterfly farm of Austrian citizen Gudrun Sperrer on Rio Nanay. If requested, Don Pedro will accompany you to the farm.

Day 11: Flight from Iquitos to Lima.

[Translator's note: apparently, visitors are expected to organize travel from Europe to Lima and vice versa. A Lima hotel, run by a person with a German name, is recommended on the site.]

The day programmes include meditative canoe tours through the mangrove jungle and on Rio Tamishiyacu. The mystic silence and beauty of the landscape helps to get to a deep calmness, to clear visions and to realize aims in life and support healing of spirit and body. It enables a spiritual living contact with nature and to see rare birds, butterflies, and flowers. Canoe tours at full moon are something you will never forget!

None of the above offers are compulsory. If you want to stay longer, the price will be the same. Possibilities for acitivities will depend on the number of visitors in the camp.

From March 24 to April 4, a young interpreter from Germany will be in the camp; she will do German/English translations. She will be available for important conversations until April 15.
For all questions about travel preparations, please contact:
margret.litzlbauer at sinn.bild.at


LIVING IN THE JUNGLE

There are 12 single rooms in the camp, of which 4 are equipped with water and electricity, and 12 single rooms without water. The camp offers moscito protection nets in every room. Beds are equipped with an extra net. There is one shower and flush toilets.
Laundry will be done by personnel. The water used for the laundry is taken from a well built for this purpose. The water is of best quality. Towels, blankets, bedsheets, and moscito nets are available in sufficient numbers. You may leave your sleeping bag at home. Important: warm pyjamas for the nights. Moscito protection for garment is important, and sun protection for the boat trips is a must. For walks please buy rubber boots in Iquitos. They are cheap and you don't need expensive shoes, just slippers in camp. A pith helmet or scarf is most important.

FOOD

Food is simple but plenty with an emphasis on vegeterian food. The kitchen meanwhile is popular with persons who like Amazonian fish. Fruit of the jungle will depend on season, pineapple will be ripe in December, as one example. If on a diet in the diet house, please be prepared for sacrifice.

[...]

STUDYING MEDICINE PLANTS

Close to the camp there is a huge medicine plant garden. Don Pedro plans to extent this garden to 1,000 different plants. For the project of "1,000 medicine plants", he is looking for friends who can show enthusiasm for this idea. Don Pedro presently still is very inclined to share his knowledge with visitors.


[...]

DIETS FOR CHRONIC CIVILISATORY DISEASES
The effectiveness of the powerful healing plants will be intensified by the diet. There are special diet houses which enable retreat into loneliness. Food will consist of fish, yucca, and bananas. The complex phyto-therapeutic treatment offers new hope with some diseases viewed as incurable by Western standards. The preparation of many plant medicines is included in the price per day.


SHAMANIC DIETS....

In special guarded 'diet houses', it is possible to do the ascetic diet usual in Amazonian curanderismo, directly under Don Pedro's personal protection. Every possible week of this diet with Don Pedro was seen as an elementary and existential experience by persons from our culture. Nature spirits here are very open for dialogue and gladly help the soul to grow wings. This ambitious way to a development of senses as a spiritual discipline opens the path to shamanic power dreams of our human existence.


CURANDERO TRAINING
A training to become a curandero means an at least one year's retreat into the jungle with a special limitation of foodstuffs. The aim is to achieve at a vivid contact with the spiritual beings of nature as personal teachers. In former times there were masters who went on this diet for up to 15 years. They were called 'Sumis'. Don Pedro's uncle, Don Eleutherio, was a "Sumi". It is said that he did not die but transformed and now continues to live in Rio Tamishiyacu.

A list of recommendations for those who decide to go on this diet:
- don't use conventional toothpaste. There are biological ones like [brand names omitted].
- don't use shower gel/soap or hair shampoo
- don't touch humans and animals
- don't throw rests of the diet into the garbage and don't feed animals with leftovers
- avoid direct sunlight, take an umbrella for boat trips
- don't sell/buy stuff during the diet
- sexual abstinence is a must
- talk about all medication prescribed to Don Pedro

Depending on the plant(s) eaten during the diet, not keeping these recommendations may have unpleasant consequences. A high degree of responsibility and ability to agree are a prerequisite for achieving the aims desired.
Contra-indications for a stay:
Dependence on drugs/medication/alcohol
A stable psychic situation is a prerequisite."



http://www.don-pedro-guerra.net/dp/modules/news

This link goes to a part of the site offering information on various healing plants, usually complete with recipes and advice against which disease which part(s) of the plant is to be taken in which form (I omitted this info). These articles come across like yellow press articles.


"Chuchuhuasi tree
... much praised against arthritis and rheumatism.... the tree is called the Tree of Life ... .... is also taken to promote potency. ... is a popular drink often sold to tourists. Recommended against muscular pain before long walks, against stomach problems.... Effectivness against arthritis was confirmed first by Japanes, then by American scientists. As early as 1970, Italian scientists found it effective against skin cancer.
Friends of Don Pedro in Austria report astonishing results with arthritis within 2 to 4 days. Further reports mention ...... effective against ailments caused by menopause. One cup a day over 3 days made symptoms almost disappear. Don Pedro points out it is important not to eat pork during the period of treatment....


Medicine plants: Valuable Pineapple

Indigenas use it against diarrhea. ... A mix of .... is to be taken against kidney stones ....


Medicine plants: Universal cure Avocado

... calm the entire human organism and are given against nervousness, stress, or stomach problems. A recipe against sleeping problems.... Effective with sprained limbs.... As a remedy against diarrhea, the Mayans boil ....


Medicine plants: Miraculous fruit Papaya

Curanderos recommend .... against a slow-working liver, also against indigestion.... an effective cure against intestinal parasites. Don Pedro believes a good time of consumption is 5 o'clock in the morning. The milk of green p. is used against warts. Don't get the latex juice of green papayas into your eyes... Indigenas take fresh or dried papaya leaves against asthma.


Medicine plants: Cocoa nut - a cure-all

Not just the meat, but also the milk of young nuts is used for many purposes. Cocoa nut water is recommnded against liver and kidney problems. Mixed with ... honey it is good for your nerves. Young cocoanuts mixed with a banana is good against indigestion problems like diarrhea. Babies suffering from diarrhea are given the inner part of two young cocoanuts of max 10 cms lengths; mix this with one cup of water and boil and give several spoonfuls
over the day.
Don Pedro recommends green cocoanut ... to persons suffering from severe gastric ulcers. ... Warm cocoanut oil is recommended against varicose veins.


Medicine plants: Sarsaparilla and Sarza

... became a famous cure against syphilis and rheumatism. ...
Sarza is even stronger than Sarsaparilla ... The diet recommended [when on S. for a cure]: no sex, no alcohol, no fat, no meat, no cheese, no spicey food. Only fish may be eaten along with potatoes or bananas. ...S. is said to have detoxicating, anti-fungus, anti-bacteria effects, and to strengthen the immune system. It protects the liver and stimulates the appetite, also in a sexual sense. .... are said to be effective against auto-immune diseases and Alzheimer's. ...


Medicine plants: Cobaiba

... is considered to be anti-phlogistic, a painkiller, and allegedly reacts against all kinds of bacteria and ringworms, heals wounds, protects stomach and intestines. In Peruvian medicine, it is taken against colds, bronchitis, chronic diarrhea, hemorrhoids... Don Pedro successfully cures Morbus Crohn with .... There are reports about effentiveness against herpes ... Various applications are known against skin cancer on general by Peruvian curanderos. Recent in-vitro scientific research reports effectiveness against leucemia cells and breast and colon cancer cells. ...


Medicine plants: Annona - Tree of Life

... renowned for its ability to destroy cancer cells and for slowing down the growth of tumors.... cure for tumors, high blood pressure, parasites, depression, diabetes, to clean wounds, and against liver problems....
Main agents are the alcaloids Anonain, Anonilin, Muricine... This effect has been found with all types of cancer cells, even with those who showed a multiple resistence against chemotherapy. This result caused a further study by Pardue University in West Lafayette, Indiana/USA.


Medicine plants: Herba Luisa roots/lemon grass

Don Pedro's recommendation against depression ...
During the coldest night of Amazonia, the night of San Juan, a small white blossom appears at midnight. The plant will confide its medicine knowledge then to those who pick this blossom...."