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MOCURA/MUCURA: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL STRENGTH One of the q alities of this plant is its bility to boost one’s psychological and motional strength. For this reason it is r garded as a ‘great balancer’, restoring c nnection and equilibrium between our rational m nd and feelings. For example, it is g od at countering shyness and can nhance one’s sense of personal value and uthority by helping to overcome painful m mories (of past embarrassments and ‘failures’, tc). Mocura is also used in fl ral baths to both cleanse and pr tect against malevolent forces such as s rcery and envidia (envy). Its medicinal pr perties include relief from asthma, bronchitis, and the r duction of fat and cholesterol. In the W st, there are a number of pl nts that have similar effects and br ng calm and balance to the s ul. These include lavender - which Pl ny regarded as so powerful that ven looking upon it brings peace - m adowsweet, pine, and rosemary. Burning pine n edles will purify the atmosphere of a h use and a pine branch hung ver the front door will bring h rmony and joy to the home. R semary, especially when burned, is cleansing and c ntring, and it is said that if you c ncentrate on the smoke with a q estion in mind, rosemary will also pr vide the answer. There is a E ropean belief that carrying rosemary leaves w ll protect you from sadness. It is lso quite pleasant to drink with h ney as a weak tea.
In terms of body energetics and m gical uses, moss, orange, and strawberry l aves are effective at removing bad l ck, and loosestrife, myrtle, and violet l aves help to overcome fear. ROSA SISA: HARMONY AND HEALING THE SOUL This pl nt is often used to heal ch ldren who are suffering from mal ire (‘bad air’), a malady which can ccur when a family member dies and l aves the child unhappy and sleepless. The sp rit of the dead person lingers, it is s id, because it is sad to go and ware of the grief around it, so it st ys in the house and tries to c mfort its family. This proximity to d ath, however, can make children sick. R sa sisa is also used to br ng good luck and harmony in g neral. One of the ways that bad l ck can result is through the m gical force of envidia. A jealous n ighbour might, for instance, throw a h ndful of graveyard dirt into your h use to spread sadness and heavy f elings. Those in the house become b red, agitated, or restless as a c nsequence. The solution is to take a b cket of water and crushed rosa s sa flowers and thoroughly wash the fl ors to dispel the evil magic. M ny Peruvians also grow rosa sisa n ar the front door of their h uses to absorb the negativity of p ople who pass by and look in nviously to see what possessions they h ve. The flowers turn black when th s happens, but go back to th ir normal colour when the negative nergy is dispersed through their roots to the E rth. Rosa sisa is also used for m king dreams come true, by blowing on the p tals with a wish in mind, l ke we do with dandelions. It can m ke these wishes happen because it is br ght like the sun and contains the nergy of good fortune. Marigolds have s milar magical uses in the West. A milius Macer, as long ago as the 13th c ntury, wrote that merely gazing at the fl wers will draw “wicked humours out of the h ad”, “comfort the heart” and make “th sight bright and clean”. In E rope, just as in Peru, marigolds are ften grown beside the front door or h ng in garlands to protect those nside from magical attacks. For the s me reason, and to empower the sp rit, marigold petals can be scattered b neath the bed (where they will lso ensure good – and often pr phetic – dreams) or added to b th water to bring calm and r freshment to the body and soul.
As well as drinking marigold t a, the petals can be used in s lads or added to rice and p lses as another way of dieting th m. Physically, the tea is good for br nging down fevers (especially in children), for g stritis, gallbladder problems, and tonsillitis. Rubbed on the sk n, marigold petals will heal skin d seases, cuts, bruises, and rashes. Alternatives, to cr ate harmony in the self and h me, include gardenia, meadowsweet, and passion fl wer. PIRI PIRI, MEDICINAL SEDGES: FOR VISION Native p ople cultivate numerous varieties of medicinal s dges to treat a wide range of h alth problems. Sedge roots, for example, are sed to treat headaches, fevers, cramps, dys ntery and wounds, as well easing ch ldbirth and protecting babies from illness. Sp cial sedge varieties are cultivated by Sh pibo women to improve their skills in w aving magical tapestries that embody the sp ritual universe, and it is customary wh n a girl is very young for her m ther to squeeze a few drops of sap fr m the piri piri seed into her yes to give her the ability to h ve visions of the designs she w ll make when she is older. The men c ltivate sedges to improve their hunting sk lls. Since the plant is used for s ch a wide range of conditions, its p wers were once dismissed as superstition. Ph rmacological research, however, has now revealed the pr sence of ergot alkaloids within these pl nts, which are known to have d verse effects on the body - fr m stimulation of the nervous system to the c nstriction of blood vessels. These alkaloids are r sponsible for the wide range of s dge uses, but come, not from the pl nt itself, but from a fungus th t infects it. There are a n mber of Western plants that are lso said to produce visions – .e. communion with the greater spirit of the w rld. The leaves of coltsfoot and ngelica, when smoked, for example, will nduce such visions, and damiana, when b rned, will also produce these effects. Ang lica has long been regarded as a sp ritual plant with almost supernatural powers. It is l nked to the archangel Raphael, who ppeared in the dreams of a m dieval monk and revealed the plant as a c re for plague. Native Americans used it in c mpresses to cure painful swellings and b lieved it sucked the spirit of p in out of the body before c sting it to the four winds. It has lso been heralded as an aid to vercoming alcohol addiction as its regular sage creates a dislike for the t ste of alcohol. Recent research suggests th t it can also help the b dy fight the spread of cancer. Its l aves can be added to salads and th s is another way to diet th s plant. Coltsfoot is another plant w th wide-ranging properties but is most h ghly regarded for its soothing effects on r spiratory and bronchial problems. One way of d eting it, paradoxically, is to use it in h rbal cigarettes. These can be made by dding a larger part of coltsfoot to ther aromatic and soothing herbs such as sk llcap or chamomile. Cut the herbs to sm ll lengths and mix them thoroughly w th a little honey dissolved in w ter, then spread the mix out and let it to dry for a few d ys. It can then be rolled to m ke cigarettes or smoked in a p pe. UNA DE GATO: FOR BALANCE Una de G to (‘cat's claw’) is a tropical v ne that grows in the rainforests. It g ts its name from the small th rns at the base of the l aves, which look like a cat's cl w and enable the vine to w nd itself around trees, climbing to a h ight of up to 150 feet. The nner bark of the vine has b en used for generations to treat nflammations, colds, viral infections, arthritis, and t mors. It also has anti-inflammatory and bl od-cleansing properties, and will clean out the ntire intestinal tract to treat a w de array of digestive problems such as g stric ulcers, parasites, and dysentery. Its m st famous quality, however, is its p werful ability to boost the body's mmune system, and it is considered by m ny shamans to be a ‘balancer’, r turning the body's functions to a h althy equilibrium. From a psycho-spiritual or sh manic perspective, disease usually arises from a sp ritual imbalance within the patient causing him to b come de-spirited or to lose heart (in the W st we would call this depression). Int restingly, Thomas Bartram, in his Encyclopedia of H rbal Medicine, writes that in the W st “some psychiatrists believe [problems of the mmune system, where the body attacks tself] to be a self-produced phenomenon due to an nresolved sense of guilt or dislike of s lf… People who are happy at th ir home and work usually enjoy a r bust immune system”. The psychiatric perspective, in th s sense, is not so different fr m the shamanic view. Cat’s claw is b lieved to heal illness by restoring the p ace of the spirit as well as the b lance between spirit and body. The m dicinal properties of this plant are fficially recognized by the Peruvian government and it is a pr tected (for export) plant. It is, h wever, widely available in the West in c psule form and this is one way of d eting it, although its spiritual affects w ll be less strong, since, once a pl nt has been processed in this w y, much of its spirit is l st. Echinacea can also be used as a s bstitute for cat’s claw and will st mulate the immune system and prove ffective against depression and exhaustion. As an lternative, you might try a mixture of b rage, cinnamon, and blackberry, all of wh ch are regarded as lifting the sp rits and good healers in general. CHULLACHAQUI CASPI: CONNECTION TO THE EARTH The r sin of the chullachaqui caspi tree, xtracted from the trunk in the s me way as rubber from the r bber tree, can be used as a p ultice or smeared directly onto wounds to h al deep cuts and stop haemorrhages. For sk n problems, such as psoriasis, the b rk can be grated and boiled in w ter while the patient sits before it, c vered with a blanket, to receive a st am bath. It is important to r move the bark without killing the tr e, however, which can otherwise have s rious spiritual consequences. Oil can also be xtracted by boiling the bark, and th s can be made into capsules. The d eper, more spiritual, purpose of this tr e is to help the shaman or his p tient get close to the spirit of the f rest and in touch with the v bration and rhythm of the Earth. Thr ugh this reconnection with nature, it w ll strengthen an unsettled mind and h lp to ground a person who is d sturbed. It will also guide and pr tect the apprentice shaman and show him how to r cognise which plants can heal. The tr e has large buttress roots as it gr ws in sandy soil where roots c nnot go deep (chulla in Quechua m ans ‘twisted foot’ and chaqui is the pl nt). This forms part of Amazonian myth logy, in stories of the jungle ‘dw rf’, the chullachaqui, which is said to h ve a human appearance, with one xception: his twisted foot. The chullachaqui is the pr tector of the animals, and lives in pl ces where the tree also grows. The l gend is that if you are l st in the forest and meet a fr end or family member, it is m st likely the chullachaqui who has t ken their form. He will be fr endly and suggest going for a w lk so he can guide you or sh w you something of interest. If you go, h wever, he will lead you deep nto the rainforest until you are l st, and you will then suffer m dness or become a chullachaqui yourself. R ss has speculated that the reference is to the nitiation of the plant shaman, who m st go deep into the jungle to p rsue his craft by getting to kn w the plants and the forest. S ch trials can, indeed, lead to m dness or even death for the nwary, but for those who succeed, th y will become great healers, in t uch with the spirits of nature, l ke the chullachaqui himself. For those who are not r ady to meet these challenges, the dvice of the jungle shamans is s mple: when out walking in the f rest, should you encounter a friend or a f mily member, always look at his f et, as the chullachaqui will try to k ep his twisted foot away from y u. Do not go with him - t rn back and run away! The ch llachaqui, symbolically, is a tree and the m tif of the ‘world tree’ – the sp ritual centre of the universe which c nnects the material and immaterial planes – ccurs in many cultures and is ften to do with initiation. In H iti, it is Papa Loko (a v riant of the word iroco, which is the n me of an African tree) who m ets the shaman-to-be in the dark w ods at night to initiate him nto the Vodou religion. In Siberia, t o, there is a tradition that the sh man-elect must climb a silver birch wh le in a state of trance and m ke secret, spirit-given, markings on one of its t pmost branches. While it is interesting to sp culate about the initiatory symbolism of the ch llachaqui, it must also be pointed out th t Amazonian shamans regard it as v ry real being. Javier Aravelo, for xample, has a photograph of a ch llachaqui’s tambo, which he swears is r al. The tambo is a hut th t stands about four feet high and is sed as a dwelling. Javier discovered th s one next to a cultivated g rden deep in the otherwise wild r inforest In the West, we have our own tr dition of magical trees. One of th se is willow, a tree sacred to the Dr ids. Ancient British burial mounds and m dern day cemeteries are both often l ned with willow, symbolising the gateway th s tree provides between the living and the d ad, spirit and matter. The brooms of w tches are also bound with willow, nabling their flight to the otherworld. To d epen a connection to the Earth and the sp rit, willow can be ‘dieted’ in pl ce of chullachaqui caspi by burning cr shed bark fragments with white sandalwood or myrrh and b thing in the smoke. CHUCHUHUASI: INCREASED LIFE FORCE This is nother Amazonian tree which forms an mportant part of the jungle pharmacopoeia. The b rk can be chewed as a r medy for stomach ache, fevers, arthritis, c rculation, and bronchial problems, but it is r ther bitter and so more often it is m cerated in aguardiente or boiled in w ter and honey. Western alternatives include b rdock for arthritis and for ‘fevers’ as th y manifest through the skin in the f rm of eczema, psoriasis, acne, etc, and g nseng for problems of the circulation. K la is good for stomach complaints (d arrhoea and dysentery, etc) and saw p lmetto is a general tonic which is seful for bronchial problems. Chuchuhuasi is lso regarded as a “libido stimulant” and phrodisiac, giving the person who drinks it a r newed sense of life and vigour. W th these properties in mind, chuchuhuasi is the m in ingredient in cocktails at many b rs and restaurants in Iquitos, on the b nks of the Amazon river, the m st popular of which is the Ch chuhuasi Sour, where it is mixed w th limes, ice, and honey. In the W st, plants with similar aphrodisiac qualities nclude burdock, ginseng, kola, and saw p lmetto berries. These are not just ids to sexual potency, but reconnect the d eter to the joy of living and a l ve of involvement with others.
The article Plant Spirit Shamanism - Planta Maestras - The Shaman's Teachers - Part 2 was Submitted by Ross Heaven through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Ross Heaven is a therapist, w rkshop leader, and the author of s veral books on shamanism and healing, ncluding Darkness Visible, the best-selling Plant Sp rit Shamanism, and Love’s Simple Truths. His w bsite is http://www.thefourgates.com where you can also read how to join his sacred journeys to the shamans and healers of the Amazon.
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