Seven things if you go to visit Amazonia.

Seven things you should know if you are going to visit a tribe or town in the beautiful Amazonia.

Greetings to all readers who walk here! I open this post thanking the new subscribers for their confidence, today nobody seems to be interested in reading the mails, but our last mailing list seems to have been very well received. Then I share one more post of this small series that I am doing under the personal goal of "Write a new post every 24 hours", to clear my head of so many ideas I have.

Here I share with you, Seven teachings that every sorcerer needs if he decides to visit the Amazon! As well as the post about herbs, I would have liked to include some photos here, but the truth is that I don't have many because they are mostly family photographs taken with my dad's old camera, and in most of them I am still a baby who You can hardly walk, Blessed Modern times where the phone has a camera and you carry it in your pocket!

Before you start, what you should know about the Shamans.

If you identify yourself as a sorcerer, wizard, sorcerer, shaman, healer, you must keep something very clear, the Amazon is more traditional than many thinks, the roads are long, the forests huge, and people have a simple life, especially the shamans and leaders of each tribe.

The chiefs of each tribe have different names depending on each tribe, just as the Native Americans previously comprised more than 300 families with their own languages ​​and traditions, the Amazon is full of small tribes and tiny towns, the leaders of each tribe are men (in some cases, women) who represent the political power of the tribe and also lead the religion of the tribe.

Although each tribe has its own shaman (Parjataje) their roles are more those of a mediator, doctor and spiritual advisor, the shamans there usually receive training that is overwhelming from an early age, we study herbology, natural sciences, cures, prayers, “ vaisa ”(which is a type of local astronomy that is forbidden to write), the stars and different herbs are studied to cure or get sick.

Although the term adopted "shaman" has an origin in the cold lands above Russia, this is the term that during the last 500 years has been used by anthropologists, reporters, doctors, politicians, and very academic scholars to encompass all those who carry Certain similar practices. The names of each spiritual leader in the Amazon depend on each tribe, and these, not being written to maintain the oral tradition, tend to change constantly, so the spiritual leaders of each tribe (the magician/priest) is usually called shaman and This has no problem, it is a term that they freely use.

The shaman of each tribe exercises various professions, is the attending physician (although only for leaders), teacher, counselor, advisor, spiritual guide, astronomer, sorcerer, healer, and the most important role of all, the Shaman is in charge to keep alive the culture and individuality of each tribe, they are the ones who choose the following shamans and healers, advise the leaders, and teach the stories of each tribe's origin through oral tradition, so their role is more similar that of a minister of culture who is also a spiritual advisor, however, they are the respected sorcerers of each tribe and therefore their opinion (as well as their wishes), are always decisive for each town.

The shaman is a sorcerer and priest, he is a magician and sorcerer, and an herbal doctor, he is a sage of many sciences who has the social responsibility of understanding all forms of magic and sorcery in the Amazon, studying and transmitting folklore, and carry out all kinds of rituals and magical ceremonies.

Contrary to what many anthropologists tell in their books (I suppose that because of a macho and puritanical ideology), in the Amazonia, there are as many male (Yaiwes) as female (Yowesi) shamans and many of them, perhaps most, identify themselves as people of the third sex, although their attire and "paraphernalia" representative of the elements of each tribe, may look quite masculine, many of them are women who share the position with their husbands or with their children and represent these in their days of rest, The idea that most shamans are men is an unreal and unfounded concept.

Personal advice: This may sound unwise, but if you win the trust of the tribe's shaman and get his respect, you have the whole tribe in your pocket.

Tips you will need:

• Do not use titles or long explanations unless someone asks you about it:

While in the virtual world everyone seems to have a huge fondness for having a long list of tags to identify (and express themselves) in front of a virtual world full of strangers, where nobody expects you to tell him if you are a “trans man, neowiccan, sorcerer, male witch, pro or against colonialism, etc, etc, etc, ”.

To abbreviate the above, without encouraging generalization, but in the Amazonia, you will meet extremely wise, humble, capable, and highly effective people with extensive knowledge about herbology and astronomy, children are taught from very young to identify the stars of the Heaven and cure ear infections or help in births. Do not waste your time trying to surprise them with your long list of identification titles, if you do, you risk being like another white man who comes to show off his knowledge bought by an expensive school, and from experience, I tell you, they do not want that, the more humble be and more in silence remain, you will learn more, and pay attention to me, if you go there, you have much to learn.

You can identify yourself as a sorcerer or magician, they understand it as "a sorcerer who comes from abroad", but unless you have learned to heal with herbs as they do, do not even mention that you are a "healer", because they will not waste time testing you.

• Take the time to learn, you have gone to the source.

Traveling to the Amazon is an exploratory journey of reuniting with yourself, each tree by the river, each improvised shower next to the waterfall, each rock on the banks, everything there has a reason to be. The sounds of owls, cougars, jaguars, tapirs, and snakes (Crotalus, Bothrops atrox, Boa constrictor, Eunectes, ) at night that do not let you sleep, the insects singing in the morning, the distant sound of the waterfalls and the river, the night songs, the sound of firewood burning in the Fire, all this is something that you may not be used to, so do yourself a favor, turn off the smartphone, enjoy what you are living, and sit and watch the stars, because that starry sky is not found in any other Place of the world.

• Do not use trees as a bathroom.

Tourists often think that once there, in the most archaic nature, they are free to walk naked everywhere and to use all trees and shrubs as baths, the truth is that it is not so, the natives and the people of the villages They embrace their folklore and traditions a lot, and therefore they have many places around the rivers that are properly identified to take you to the nearest bathroom.

Many places (especially next to the rivers) are used to plant six different types of herbs and poisonous shrubs to prevent the invasion of enemy tribes, if you go into it you will most likely have a very bad experience.

On the other hand, the shamans of the tribes often hide underground precious objects of the tribe, treasures, weapons, symbols, skeletons, bones of old tribal leaders, or even bottles with herbal concoctions and corn liquor, so you must prevent not using a site that is sacred for them, such as the grave where the bones of an "omme" (an enemy white man), the ashes of one of their relatives, or precious treasures of the tribe that remain hidden under land to prevent being stolen by invaders.

• Do not go out to swim at night in any of the rivers.

Unless you are guided by an expert in the area, you should stay away from the rivers at night, most of them are filled with water snakes, eels, pine trees and river spiders at night, other rivers, they are home to crocodiles (specially the Orinoco crocodile) and a variety of reptiles, and many others, are usually a danger at night because small but potent swirls are formed in them that are a danger, especially for children who die constantly drowned thereby because of some tourist eager to "I'm going to swim at night in the river because that will look cool in a selfie."

• Eat what they eat.

Each country has its own customs, and each city has its own manias, and Amazonia is no exception.

Carrying your own food, it is considered disrespectful, they receive many tourists daily and always provide them with the best treatment in the world, they literally put everything in their power to make you feel comfortable, bring your own food is a real Disrespect, and I can assure you that it happens practically every day, and always causes problems, it is like going to dinner at the house of a friend who invites you, your friend assures you that he is going to cook, and you bring your own food? now you understand me.

Most of the food is fresh and searched daily, although they have markets in different towns, mostly for tourists who are passing between Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil. They make a great effort to get the food, if you are not a fan of eating fish, meat or chicken for any reason, do not reject the food, eat everything else on the plate, and in the end, you say that you are not hungry, they will give you the remains of your food to a child or to the animals of the house, it is not a lie, it is a courtesy, then you can return to your city and continue doing the diet you want and continue rejecting the food, but if you are going to act as An arrogant idiot, better not be when a 60-year-old lady comes to bring you a plate of food with a fish that her son caught with a knife at four in the morning.

• Participate in everything you can and integrate the community.

This is not New Orleans, there is not a carnival or a parade every day, but there are many tribal celebrations and many gatherings, especially during the tourist season. And these events are never “exclusive”, they are made for people like you to continue attending and visiting, so join them, be curious, ask questions, integrate them and be as participatory as you can, they will always pay you with gifts, such as necklaces, hand-woven bags, bracelets or snails.

• Don't underestimate the shamans, no matter how much you think you know.

A common mistake that many make is to read a book about the religious currents of the Amazonia and pretend that they understand them. Studying the book that was written by a French anthropologist or a German sociologist about the shamans and sorcerers of the Amazon is nothing compared to being there and having the opportunity to learn directly from them, so close your mouth and listen to them.

While older teachers are usually more encapsulated in their work, younger shamans, those who are still in training, are more curious, especially with people who come from outside, so be kind to them and they will be willing to teach you absolutely all they can because unlike popular myth, there aren't many secrets in magic.

Thinking out loud

Preparing everything to celebrate Ostara in a little house a second time. (Thinking out loud)

I come from Venezuela, where paganism and Wicca, are not as conventional as here, in fact, we are culturally very different, in Venezuela the old beliefs are strolled by voodoo and conventional witchcraft, astrology is very popular, Astrologers from all over America Latina, I grew up in a family where the common practice was spiritism, santeria, Kimbanda, Candomble, and Umbanda.

We do not have four stations like the USA (in the North) and Argentina (in the South), in fact, Venezuela is in the middle of "tropical zone", between the equator of cancer, and the Equator of Capricorn, or as we say more colloquially "Where the sun burns you", we have all the Caribbean Sea right up, so we only have two seasons, hot and rainy, although we live there, we think there are really three seasons, warm, very, very hot, and rainy Only three days a year, no more than there).

As you understand, for me, spring is something new, much less winter, in Venezuela, tulips are usually imported, roses bloom all year and what we have more are sunflowers, chrysanthemums and cayenne flowers. Two botanical gardens, the botanical garden of Caracas (that truth has never seen the splendor of his days) and we have the Topotepuy Gardens, where he used to attend once a year to see the flowers.

Wicca and paganism are not practiced very commonly, there are many small "coven" there, even I belong to some, but it was rare to hold the solstices and the equinoxes, when they really do not occur, it also did not make much sense. To celebrate Samhain, we do not have We do not have pumpkins or pomegranates, our apples are imported, as well as grapes and most of the wines, because we do not have a good soil to harvest fruit, but vegetables and legumes, as a matter of fact Of temperature.

Our "summer" is much warmer than here, and also much longer, higher temperatures than California and New York lived until 2016, are usually the average temperature of a normal day in Venezuela for only ten years In certain areas Of the country we arrived The -2C and that for us is usually synonymous of catastrophe.

What we celebrate are the many birthdays of the different virgins, the virgin of the mercedes, the virgin of the rule, the virgin of the chiquinquira, the Virgin of Bethany (to whom largely my partner and I owe our present stay in Nueva York), Virgen De la Candelaria, Virgen del Valle, among many others.

Here in the United States we have the famous French Quarter of New Orleans and endless magical places and witch festivals, which in Venezuela do not have these festivals, in fact, we do not usually celebrate Walpurgis night, we have a "pocket version" Of the night Of San Juan, and colorful carnivals (which were much more colorful two decades before the corruption finished everything). But what we do have is the reservoir of butterflies, a kind of park-forest where the witches of the great city gather day and night to honor the spirits, the dead and the different spiritualist courts. We also have the famous Mountain of Luck "In Yaracuy, also known as Natural Monument" Cerro Maria Lionza "in honor of one of our most revered chthonic deities, here is celebrated the night of San Juan and several pagan festivals.

The Mariposa Reservoir is a small chain of mountains full of worship of the oldest, witches, spirits who walk the roads constantly asking for help and huge altars at every stop, rivers filled with offerings to the saints, and if you go in hours of At night, you will see the spirits descend to the moonlight by attending the witches.

On the other hand, the Mountain of Luck is our power mine, full of enchantments and trees older than the invention of the automobile, witches gathered in each path, in each way and next to each stream, carrying offerings to those who have left us When your family has forgotten you and prefers and does not remember you, when your spirit walks the confused and misunderstood land of the dead, it is there that good-hearted witches find you and help you to emerge. While the rest of the world cares about nonsense, asking the same absurd questions every day, from which makeup to use until shoes match best with the wallet, across the forest, in magical places of our world, such as New Orleans, Machu Picchu And the mountain of Luck, there are powerful and beautiful witches who assisted by wise shamans and sorcerers sacrifice their nights of sleep and rest by attending all those who have been forgotten.

The difference of our cultures is above all a geographic difference, we all see, we all believe and we are born, we die and we are born again, from one corner to another, we walk the world learning a little more each day, thanking those who listen On the other side of the veil, thanking for the opportunities and for each and every one of those wonderful people who put us on the road, thanking us for helping us to remove obstacles and negative or ill-intentioned people. We all move under the same lunar mantle and the same light as the king of the sun that inspires us every day to be better people.

Here I continue to hope to learn a little more, waiting for some of those who come to teach you.

Blessings and Happy day.