ICARO

There is something moving and inescapable in the similarity between the two words ‘Icaro’ - the shamanic singing tradition of Peru, and ‘Icarus’ - the subject of the ancient Greek myth about the man who flew too close to the sun. It is as if there were a connection between Icarus, inebriated by his flight, high in the skies upon his waxed wings, and the magical shamanic songs, which go high into the spirit world. But there the parallel stops. Icaros (or Ikaros) are the magical tunes or lyrics - which may be sung, whispered or whistled - by shamans (and sorcerers alike) in Peru, to communicate with the spirit world. The word possibly derives from the Quechua verb Ikaray - ‘to blow smoke’ a technique used by shamans in their healing. Shamans use these melodies to magically charge a person, a plant, or virtually anything else - whether animated or unanimated - with a specific intent or purpose, to obtain or influence a desired outcome. They represent a special language intended to interact with the spirit world, including - but not limited to - the plant spirit realms.

LEARN TO SING

It is commonly said that every shaman learns his/her icaros from the "spirts" themselves. The songs are therefore also called 'non-transferable magical songs'. But there are exceptions. First, icaros can be learned from your personal maestro. Usually a student first learns from his/her personal Maestro (teacher), the necessary Icaro's, so these are passed on, and if the student has been dieting with the specific plants he will receive his own songs. Young shamans often pay a lot to own icaros from the old wise Maestros. Some even go to a ceremony incognito to learn that way. It is therefore important for the shaman to make his/her icaro difficult to learn, which is why it is often sung silently and under the breath. A good teacher bypasses this selfishness and shares his songs with the world. Certainly the songs for healing.

But the own icaros usually come during a diet with the plants, in visions, in dreams, in the unheard rhythms of your own heart. It's a process that people find difficult to describe, especially when the songs are in foreign or incomprehensible languages. While you are alone with the sounds of the jungle and its animas, 'you experience a real concert, a choir, that is the silence of the jungle.'

The icaros occur in different ways. "The plant speaks to you, it teaches you to sing." One can hear the icaro as if someone else was singing, or one can hear it inwardly. Words and melody can come together, or first one then the other. One can sometimes only hear the words and complete the melody itself. The spirit of the plant whispers and sings the melody of the icaro in a dream. Sometimes there's just an overwhelming urge to sing, and the song and melody come on its own. It's like the song is in your ears and on your tongue. For example, you can suddenly start singing after a healing.

Sorcerers (brujos, maleros, shitaneros or hechizeros in Peru) get their icaros in similar ways, but unlike shamans, they use their icaros negatively: to contact dark forces or evil spirits, harm people, inflict harm (daño), misfortune , illness or even death. On the path of 'knowledge' this is a challenge for every student. Certainly if poverty is not far away, the challenge is even greater to stay on the righteous path and to choose 'light'. Wizards use their powers all too easily to get something done in the 'spheres' for the necessary dollars.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

The most powerful icaros, such as the protective arcanas, are vocally refined in 'silbando'; whispering and whistling almost inaudibly. So, when learning icaros, you first whistle or whisper the song, very softly, then you learn the words, because the words are less important than the melody. Singing the icaros with your heart and with the right resonance and vibration is much more important than remembering the right words. The more abstract, unintelligible and less conceptual the icaro is, the more powerful. This may have to do with the power of thoughts and the incessant way of working of the brain that will immediately fabricate something in its fantasy from more conceptual songs. Mariri, purified slime, and the icaro, purified song, are connected in 'puro sonido or pure sound, the language of the plants. The poet César Calvo says: “He showed me the magic song, the icaro, and he showed me the value of collecting the music from the subtle, from the air, repeating it without moving my lips, singing in silence with the memory of the heart.” The exchange within conversations actually goes from spirit to spirit, this is the Amazon language, you don't need to know Quechua or Spanish to speak this language. For example, I don't know Spanish myself and I still had special conversations with my Maestro's.

THE SHIP AND THE CAPTAIN

A ceremony is like boarding a ship together. The curandero is the captain who navigates the ship safely through the stormy waters. The ship is the medicine or the Spirit. Everyone is in their own process, but we are together on the same ship and our processes and experiences determine the conditions of the sea (wild, soft…). The icaros of the curandero keep the ship on course. This division and structure is necessary to make the journey and crossing safely. Without a captain everyone would be at the mercy of each other's processes and it could go in all directions. This can end well, but it can also end badly. For this reason, taking plant teachers without a captain on the ship is like getting drunk in the car without BOB, it can go wrong faster and do more good than harm in the long run. The spirits will feed habitual patterns and make you addicted rather than bring insight, deepening and wisdom. The spirits will "always" test your integrity and determination at some point.

Icaros are like navigation tools for the planting and curanderismo. They require complete surrender to the plant and at the same time you must have built up enough strength to remain very focused in that surrender and feel what is needed and to keep your focus on the light and your intention. The energies that are released from the patients will be released into the room and can quickly take over the whole room and for example create a dark heavy energy that will affect everyone. The same also happens during the day, for example if we have a conversation with someone who is very depressed and we are not trained and grounded in this well enough, it may be that you are left with a heavy feeling after the conversation. In our innate empathy or empathy, we can easily lose ourselves in the other. We can become so helpful and empathetic that we start to carry or even take over the problem. The person who initially had the problem may feel much lighter after the conversation, but you may not. Learning to drain and not keep up with energy is important. This is something the Ayahuasca does for you automatically. If you sing under the influence of the medicine, you are much less present in your personality, so you are less prone to get stuck in your own labyrinth and to take over things that also apply to you in your daily life. You always learn and always earn a commission during the medicine work, but it is important that the medicine does not get you as curandero stuck in the personality structures.

SENARI - MODELING ENERGY

To make a strong Senari is to apply the elements further down in a good and focused way. Structure is like modeling the energy in space. With each cycle in the song, the clay or form becomes stronger and the image clearer. And so the Senari of the Icaro also gains strength and the energy that the patient wants to get rid of eventually surrenders to the powerful spirit that moves in space. This can be done by throwing up or just making a soft transition. Keep the form, keep the structure, even if you feel more resistance or shifts in energy. The clearer you maintain your image, the better everyone's personal structure can work with it.

Icaros can also be passed down to his students by the master shaman (Maestro Curandero), and they can be sung in different dialects and languages, as well as Spanish. They can also be passed on as gifts between maestros through ayahuasca ceremonies. However, icaros received directly during the shamanic diet and sung in the native tongue are considered to be much more effective and powerful than those chanted in Spanish and learned from a teacher. This may be because some of the ancient magic formulas are lost in translation, or perhaps because of an intrinsic power embedded in native, indigenous languages. For some Icaros no translation is even known, not even among the indigenous peoples. It goes even far beyond words with a rational meaning here. It usually concerns sounds, timbre, vibration and the shape that the sound makes in the space. These sound forms (senari) are often the basis from which our later vocabulary arose. In those days people still felt deeply which name fits an object and this was described by a sound. Sounds like TAJ TAJ TAJ will put a different energy in the room than TAK TAK TAK. More about this later in this text under 'form and structure'.

2SPIRITS

According to the ancient traditions of shamanism, a plant has a 'spirit' and a 'mother'. In this example we use the Tobacco. The Mother of the Plant is like a collective umbrella being for all Tobacco. A plant can also have a masculine or feminine energy, whatever it is, one speaks of the 'mother' of the plant. The mother of the plant is like the "owner" or "personality"; the one who invented or 'woven' this spirit from the spheres for the first time…that is the Mother of a plant.

The Mother of the Tobacco has also manifested herself in the physical world, showing herself as the Tabbacs caterpillar/butterfly. This butterfly feeds on the leaves of the Tabbacs plant as a caterpillar. This caterpillar/moth is the only insect that has the unique ability to withstand the high toxicity of the Tobacco, and at the same time eating the tobacco gives it a protective smell against spiders and other insects that want to outwit it. The mother of the Tobacco is 'male'. In the realm of the 'spheres', the energy of the tobacco always shows itself as a male guide. How difficult it is to assume within our rational thinking?

The Spirit of the plant is the specific properties of the plant, the unique vibration of that plant (vibration, energy,…) The spirit is the image of the plant in the realm of the visions. The Tobacco, like many other master plants, has 2 spirits (2 souls). These two spirits represent 2 sides: good and bad, or 'medicine' and 'sickness'. A master spirit demands discipline and attention from the user. This spirit will be able to teach you a lot, but stay respectful to the spirit, don't let yourself be overpowered by letting the spirit of the plant do the job for you, because then comes a dependency and no fair exchange. Working with the right 'knowledge of business', the necessary initiation and the right intention. All this to maintain the balance between the user and the spirit of the Tobacco. A high dose of Tobacco is toxic to the body, can cause nausea from intoxication. The spirit of the Tobacco lets you choose, it can teach you both sides, it's up to you to choose. The spirit of the Tobacco has a very strong urge to teach you about sorcery.

FORM AND DIRECTION

Icaro's singing is combining many elements. Bringing a spirit into the space of eg a plant is only possible by activating the energy of the curandero (singer) or the activation link in the patient. So it is possible that as a singer you have not built any personal link with a certain part of a spirit and just sing the word, but the receiver does have a history with this, for example, then you activate the forces that are linked with that word within reality. from the recipient. Your head does not act unconsciously but the channel you are at that moment makes contact with something deeper that is needed so eg uses that word as a key and vehicle for the healing. But it can also be done the other way around, which is usually the case, if you look up a good curandero or maestro. Here the shaman sings from his own experience or alliance with the mother of the plant and will introduce it into the receiver, space or object. As explained above with the Spirits of the Tobacco. Couple; you don't have any personal negative experience with. Or it may be that your head is full of thoughts and judgments about the plant, because you have had traumatic experiences with this spirit (e.g. seeing your father smoke every day while there was violence, the smell alone can be a trigger) Or you may have been addicted to Tobacco himself and this gives another relationship where this spirit has dominated you. Each plant has its own specific properties and can push certain wounds as well as induce healing. The relationship that you need to build with the plant as a curandero is to go through a diet, get acquainted with the personality traits of the spirit of the plant and experience the healings within your own structure to start with, and then eventually the mother of the plant, the essence of that plant. If you sing from this alliance, the right thing will always happen that is necessary within the personality structures of the recipient, without having to dive back into your own personal piece to generate the energy.

So when we sing an icaro, you will first of all connect with the mother of the plant. And the songs (rhythm, melody, etc.) can always be a little different because you work with a different spirit of the mother plant, a different personality trait of the person. This can cause, for example, an icaro that you keep singing to summon the tobacco, suddenly going much slower, or in a key that is a bit sadder because it is conducted through the Aya, the patient needs it for his healing to to meet the mother plant through that 'spirit' (characteristics). You can portray the spirit or qualities as a singer by singing your icaro in a certain way. All this is not rationally conceived or calculated, it is directed by the plants themselves. It is a dance between the patient (the recipient), the curandero (singer) and the plants (sprits). By often experiencing this process, your own mind or consciousness will also 'learn' from this. This is an infinite study of the plants, in which we can learn much from the Mastros and Maestras of the jungle, who passed their knowledge on to the next in line, who in turn can start from that point and acquire further knowledge.

FORM & STRUCTURE

The form is often felt as a hunch in the moment. As a singer you become a channel and you feel the atmosphere. You can do this, for example, by whistling softly (whispers). In these scanning whispers, a dance is created between your sound (sender) and the energy of the receivers (the listeners). This synergy makes the Icaro move in a certain path or direction (spirit). Your own strength as a curandero ensures that you remain well present and focused in the origin of this energy and therefore do not allow yourself to be taken or wandered. Energies that are unleashing (such as anger or trauma) have their ways of creating unrest and distraction both materially and energetically, stay focused. The topics below determine the form, these can arise hand in hand. But sometimes you can feel that you are whistling too fast and that this does not give the desired feeling and that you therefore adjust your tempo a bit. The rhythm can also change or slightly adjust during the shaping of the icaro. But the Melody tries to keep you unchanging. Changing too often into an icaro of melody will create unrest and a feeling of 'insecurity' because it happens that the Curandero is searching itself and not quite sure what to do. ·

. Rhythm: You use a clear rhythmic structure. You can also visually represent these pulsations as steps on which the melody moves in a certain way. A rhythm is relatively unchanging and keeps the same speed throughout the entire icaro.

· Speed: Pace also brings a very clear spirit to the room. Faster rhythms will be more activating and opening. While singing slower, has a deepening and intoxicating effect.

. Sounds and words (see below under 'direction')

· Melody: You are going to sing in a certain key. This gives a certain character to the song. A melody is actually a combination of 'Rhythm', 'Sounds and words' in a certain 'key' at a certain 'speed'.

DIRECTION

· Intention: Your own intention that you hold for yourself, that can be for example; staying connected to the light or a particular image or person or feeling. The intention that you feel with the person or which the person has expressed (e.g. I would like to cure a certain complaint)

· Content: this can also be your intention. Content is usually 'the text', words that strike a chord or sing in a certain way about a spirit of a plant or something else. Content reinforces the direction and also helps you as a curandero to remember an icaro. So you make a link for yourself with the icaro to a certain topic. The content is a combination of 'Intention' and 'Sounds and words'.

· Sounds and words. Choosing the right words and sounds is also very important. This also belongs to the 'form', but also to the 'content'. Many ancient languages ​​involve the singing of words and sounds for which sometimes no literal translation is known. So you really have to feel how a certain word sound shapes the space. Sounds that cut into space, or push, bend, round, give strength, radiate softness. A language also has a certain individuality, English sounds very different from Italian and does something completely different in space, by only listening to the sound color. There are old words that have been used by curanderos for 1000 years and can perform energetic surgery. Also in our language we know words from prayers that have given a certain direction to the energy for centuries because of the link they have with our past and conditioning (eg the word Christ).

· Repetition. You have to keep repeating all the previous elements from the form and direction in a clear cycle. With each repetition you model the form of the song more and more clearly. The repetition also gives strength and inspiration, it acts as a trance-inducing effect for both the curandero and the receiver. In this trance visions arise and deepening for the receiver and for the curandero this can also create a deeper connection with the spirit throughout the song. The curandero can receive information.

· Determination (clarity). Sing firmly and clearly. Energetically it is best not to let any hesitation or doubt or fear feel through your voice. If it's there, it's there, of course, but then it's best to work with Tobacco for a while or wait until you feel okay singing powerfully. Uncertainty can be felt as insecurity, sometimes it can also mirror a vulnerability, but if the recipients are deep in the medicine, he/she usually cannot notice it that way. Sing clearly and powerfully. Don't laugh yourself off. Pleasure is a way of undermining yourself or even expressing a false mark of modesty. Remember that what you put in your song is also felt and projected into the space.

· Focus. Stay true to yourself and stick to your intention and structure, stay at the helm of the ship. At the moment in the icaro it can sometimes get quite spicy. The curandero is challenged on its strength and you should not be distracted by energies that are released in space. Stay focused on singing, even though you are singing softly and people are calling around you, stay true to yourself. Don't necessarily sing louder, but stay present with what you're doing. Whether your song is heard well or not, it is a displacement of energy and you need to stay focused on that.

· Completion. Knit a clear end to repeating structure so that the work does not stick. Some icaros can be so intoxicating that in the silence that follows, the song keeps playing on in the mind. The icaro thus seems to be completed, but the spirit of the song continues to work. If this is not your intention, then you should give your song a different twist at the end. This is different according to every tradition. But most traditions use a loud high pitched sigh (whistle) to round off the energy and blow the spirit away. This is not with the intent of 'chasing away', but with the intent of gratitude for the work the spirit came to do. Gratitude always takes you further. The Ashaninka tradition uses a brief change in the melody line at the end of each icaro to break the pattern for a moment, letting the spirit leave the room.

The Shamanic Diet

The traditional way by which shamanic healers in the Peruvian Amazon learn - or better still, receive directly from the spirits - their icaros, is through a regimen of diet (la dieta). The shaman receives the tunes whilst they are asleep, dreaming, or in vision - whilst journeying in the spirit world intoxicated by ayahuasca, or during the plant diet. The shamanic diet imposes physical isolation in remote jungle areas (monte) away from people, and a strict celibacy and abstinence from certain foods (pork, chilli, spicy food, fats, meat from farmed animals, salt, sugar, most vegetables and fruits) too, as well as an avoidance of alcohol, canned food, and chilled and fizzy drinks. The rigours of the traditional diet in fact only allow for certain river fishes, rice and green plantains (boiled or roasted) to be eaten, all unseasoned. The contact with the spirit world is therefore achieved thanks to a diet that - in common with other religious, esoteric, shamanic and spiritual traditions - also entails sexual abstinence and isolation.

During the diet the shaman (as well as the apprentice shaman) ritually ingest different brebajes (beverages) of plantas maestros (teacher plants) and palos maestros (teacher trees) in the form of teas, made from the resin, leaves or scraped stem of plants  and trees, and, or macerates (from the scraped bark or roots of trees), alternating this with the taking of ayahuasca.  The choice of the plant teachers to diet with, as well as the interaction between the plants and trees of the diet with ayahuasca (which is usually taken on different days to the brebajes) will vary from shaman to shaman.  This is because many shamans receive their instruction for how to proceed with the diet in vision from the plant spirits themselves. The diet is therefore the main method used by the shaman for learning, advancing and progressing in their knowledge of the plant spirit world, and receiving powers.

Contrary to what is commonly believed - with the exception of ayahuasca and a few other plants such as one called toé - the plants of the diet do not usually have an intrinsic psychotropic, mind-altering effect. Visions occur by a synergetic interaction between the diet’s setting and the plants of the diet, which are naturally complementary to each other. This is the framework within which the shaman operates, and it is of paramount importance to be aware of this in order to understand the process of the diet and - consequently - that of the origin of the icaros.

Every plant teacher spirit may bestow, as a gift, an icaro to the person undergoing the shamanic diet, and this icaro becomes the communication link between that plant itself and the shaman. The icaro so received is therefore the magical method with which the shaman may directly communicate with the spirit realm, and it may be used to invoke, summon and ask for help from the plant spirits themselves. This is why shamans in the Peruvian Amazon, when performing healing on a patient, call upon the spirit of their plant ally first; they do this to summon power, and then ask for the healing to take place. The longer the diet with a large variety of plant teachers, the more icaros a shaman may receive. Sorcerers (called brujos, maleros, shitaneros or hechizeros in Peru) obtain their icaros in similar ways, but unlike shamans use their icaros in a negative fashion: to contact dark forces or evil spirits, to damage people, cause harm (daño), bring  misfortune, illness or even death. Icaros may also be passed on from master shaman to their students, and they can be sung in different native dialects and tongues, as well as in Spanish. They may also be passed on between maestros (male shamans), as a gift, during ayahuasca  ceremonies. However, icaros received directly during the shamanic diet and sung in native Indian tongue are believed to be much more effective and powerful than those sung in Spanish and learnt from a teacher. This is perhaps because some of the ancient magic formulas are lost in translation, or perhaps because of an intrinsic power embedded in native, indigenous tongues. There are some shamans who sing their magical songs in a mixture of different Indian dialects, to make themselves deliberately unintelligible to others (as protection and defence from sorcerers or bad spirits

The Master Shamans

There are three levels of high shaman in the Peruvian Amazon, the banco, the sumiruna and the  Muraya. A banco, is a master shaman who has dominance over the jungle and sky realms, they specialise in diagnosing, healing or divining after they have entered into trance, face-down in their mosquito net. A sumiruna can access and master all of the jungle, sky and water realms. A muraya is a shaman who can access the sub-aquatic realm, having control over the water spirits (yacurunas) mermaids and river dolphins). They learn this from aquatic trees, plants and vines. A muraya is also a master of the earth (jungle) realms too. Among the murayas, there are also the allpa muraya (muraya of the earth) who specialise in mastering the spirits of the earth, the huayra muraya (muraya of the air), who have mastery over meteorological phenomena such as thunder, wind and rain. These are different to the alto muraya (muraya of the sky), who are masters of the spirits of the sky - heavenly spirits, dwelling in space, and on other planets and constellations. To confuse things further, one could also be a banco muraya. These are shamans who have knowledge of, and dominance over, water plants and spirits, as well as the spirits of the earth.

I myself have studied with a French Curandera Ema'a Drolma Mata and now I've found my new maestro in Don Juan Flores from the Mayantuyaca centre.

THE VARIED ROLE OF ICAROS

Icaros serve several different purposes. There are some used specifically for healing or love magic, while others are used in shamanic apprenticeship and initiations (dieta chamanica). Some are used specifically at the point of ending the shamanic diet (icaros por la quebra de dieta), others for spiritual purification (icaros de purificacion espiritual), to cleanse, bless and protect people (el canto de la  Arkana por la protecion), to close a shamanic treatment (para finalizar un tratamiento), and there are even icaros to overcome the intoxication caused by ayahuasca (icaros para superar el senso de mareacion). The shamans of the Peruvian Amazon also have a concept which they call the arkana. This is an invisible energetic protection - which may be given by stones, crystals, angels, rainbows, plant teachers, spirit allies of animals like the jaguar, the eagle, the condor, or other entities - engaged by the shaman for a variety of purposes, especially during ayahuasca ceremonies. The arkana is used by the shamans themselves, first of all for their own protection, then for the protection of the participants (apprentices and patients) taking part in the ayahuasca ritual, in order for all to be shielded from potentially malevolent attacks from brujos (witches), competing shamans, or evil spirits.

the arkana

The arkana - like the icaros - is received during the shamanic diet. Each arkana is different and
each ayahuasca ceremony has its own arkana. An arkana may be employed therapeutically through the chanting of an icaro, and we have been able to record one of these arkana icaro during a healing session performed by the Shipibo shaman Don Adriano. During the healing, Don Adriano sang the icaros to protect the patient, and here is the song translated into English:  
 

There are also icaros against depression, and icaros sung when one is receiving powers (recibiendo
poder) from the spirit world. Shamans sometimes sing ‘autobiographical icaros,’ icaros sung by some maestros and maestras (female shamans) to demonstrate how powerful they are as healers (medicos). Specific icaros are also sung over plant brews (el brebaje) while they are being prepared by the shaman. The brew could be either ayahuasca or other concoctions prepared with other plant  teachers such as remo caspi (aspidosperma excelsum), toè (brugmansia suaveolens), or chullachaki caspi (brysonima christianeae) as part of the shamanic diet. In this case the icaros are usually softly whispered to the plant medicine, and are used to charge it with positive energy and protection.
All power plants - as well as animals, and unanimated things like mountains or lagoons - are
believed to have a spirit (genio) or a mother (madre) that demands utmost care and respect. This is
especially true of the ayahuasca medicine, which has a very proud, indomitable spirit. Other icaros are used to announce an exciting journey in the spirit world, when new plant teachers are discovered during the intoxication with ayahuasca.

Moreover, there are icaros to acknowledge and celebrate a successful treatment, in which the shaman declares ‘he logrado’ (I’ve achieved that), and even icaros specific to invoke the spirit of the icaros themselves (el dios de los icaros). This icaros spirit is the spirit of the teacher plants who reward
the shamans with their songs. Shipibo-Conibo shamans (onanyas) normally sing two or three similar icaros in sequence when they see that their patient is very ill or feeling bad. They do that because when facing a deep-rooted condition - whether of a physical, emotional, mental or spiritual nature - they need more time to enact the healing, and so singing a number of icaros allows them to cleanse their patients a little at a time. These will be icaros that invoke the healing spirits specifically, and
exclusively for a cleansing treatment, and not for any other purpose. When working on patients, Amazonian shamans in Peru always invoke their spirit allies first: and as soon as they have asked
for the spirits’ help, they may then begin their treatment.

The shipibo icaros

The icaros sung by the Shipibo- Conibo shamanic healers are very different from the icaros of shamans belonging to other ethnic groups, and are especially different from the mestizo (mixed race) healers, generally of Spanish- European decent. Shipibo icaros always bear the distinction of a changing of the voice or vocal pitch, often alternating between a strong, masculine tone and that of a more delicate, high-pitched, feminine like tone. This is known as the ‘dual choir’ singing style, and for the Shipibo shamans it is a specific way to communicate with the feminine spirits. The spirits are not only invoked by singing this way, as, by through this vocal technique they are also able to directly enter the ceremony and communicate with - and via - the Shipibo shaman, by using the shaman’s own voice. This dual choir style is one of the most important elements of distinction between Shipibo icaros on one side and all other icaros on the other. By listening to Shipibo icaros it is clearly evident how the shaman is engaged in an open conversation with their spirit helpers - including the ever present spirit of the ayahuasca vine Nishi Ibo. 

The shaman lends their voice to the spirits, and as reported by Shipibo shaman Don Leoncio, a feminine spirit teacher may appear or may be summoned during an ayahuasca ceremony, and when this happens he is compelled to sing in the same fashion as this spirit. The shaman has to shape shift into the spirit whilst it is transmitting its powers.

Don Leoncio maintains that he  does not deliberately sing his icaros in this dual choir fashion, and when he does it, he is not following a rational decision; for when the feminine spirits arrive or are summoned, they themselves sing with a very delicate, high-pitched voice, and the shaman needs to become one with them, singing with them in the same fashion to, as he puts it, summon  more power.’ Aside from being an ‘acoustic bridge’ between the spirit world and the village world, it may also be said that the Shipibo shaman is an ‘acoustic bridge’ between the spirit world and the patient, as well as acting as an  acoustic bridge’ between themselves and feminine and masculine spirit entities operating through them. Notwithstanding the above however, after a decade of recording icaros performed by many shamans belonging to different traditions and ethnic lineages in the Peruvian Amazon, and having compiled a large archive of indigenous as well as mestizo icaros, I am baffled at the reason why feminine spirits manifest themselves in this fashion only to Shipibo-Conibo shamans (regardless of the gender of the shaman). Why don’t they manifest themselves in the same dual choir manner to shamans of other tribal groups, or mestizo shamans? One of my teachers on my path was Don Daniel Arevalo (picture)

MELODIES MAGIC AND DESIGNS

The setting where icaros may be appreciated in their full power and beauty is during the ayahuasca
ceremony, when the melodies and tunes engaged by the shaman can literally drive the otherworldly journey of a participant along the precise pathways of a mapped visual - and visionary - landscape. This is especially true of Shipibo icaros, which may be seen in a visual way through the intricate luminescent designs (quené) of the Shipibo people themselves. These designs are reminiscent of phosphenic visions, and are deeply embedded with Shipibo cosmogonic and cosmological motifs, and they can be perceived in an acoustic, auditory way by people under the influence of the spirit world or held within the effects of ayahuasca. 

Shipibo designs express the compelling need to bring the cosmic, heavenly order down to earth, to bring order into chaos, to re-establish harmony. To the Shipibo, the entire universe has three cosmic regions - the upper world, which is represented by the great Sky Serpent (the Milky Way) - the world around them where we live in the everyday - and the underworld. For the Shipibo- Conibo these three cosmic regions are made of, and covered by  quené designs, closely interwoven, constantly emerging, merging and incessantly shifting from the invisible to the visible realms. Their shamans act as interpreters, and are the focus of the relationship existing between medicine, the cosmos, quené designs and music.  Intoxicated and illuminated by ayahuasca, they are capable of accessing the different realms of creation, communicating with spirit beings and navigating through the upper, middle and lower worlds. 

During an ayahuasca ritual, tobacco smoke, scented water and perfumes, and visionary quené designs (turned into magical lyrics as icaros), are the key tools of the healing method employed synesthetically - in an audio, visual and olfactory sensorial way by the Shipibo shaman, to bring about healing in the patient. Even without (and independently from) ayahuasca and tobacco smoke, this uniquely intimate relationship between icaros, quené designs and shamanism can be seen when we look at the most powerful of the Shipibo-Conibo shaman-mythic beings of olden times, the Meraya. This being was reputedly capable of becoming invisible, of being in two places at once, of shape-shifting into animals and of traveling to other dimensions. The Meraya - as the legend goes - entered into trance inside his mosquito tent for women of the Shipibo tribe, to help them to create designs. In trance, the Meraya received a visit from the various spirits, and these are said to have painted their designs onto strips of tree bark, or else to have ‘sung’ the designs themselves. The Meraya then tried to memorise these songs, imitating the spirit melodies in the form of whistles. As soon as the spirits left the mosquito tent, the Meraya attempted to draw these magical songs, bringing them down from the encrypted invisible realm of the spirit melodies, to the visible realm of the designs. This legend speaks of - or at least hints at - a relationship existing between the icaros - the magical melodies and the quené - the magical designs of the Shipibos. The Meraya learnt the melodies and designs (synesthetically  erceived as ‘seen and heard’) he received from the spirit world, and transferred them to the visible, worldly plane. So, in a way, the icaros served the purpose of codifying the magical quené designs, which are said to have - in turn - powerful spirits like the hummingbird (Pino Heua), the anaconda (Ani Ronin) and the ayahuasca spirit (Nishi Ibo) as their masters.  This relationship, of ayahuasca, shamanism, music and visual designs, together with the dual choir vocal technique, remains unique to the Shipibo-Conibo. 

A further distinctive mark of Shipibo shamans, is the way they conduct their  ayahuasca ceremonies. These are held almost always without the generally present shacapa fan. The shacapa is a musical rattle, made from the leaves of certain plants (or, in some cases, bird-feathers), which is used almost everywhere else in the Amazon as accompaniment to the singing of icaros, and to clean away negative energies. 

The icaros - whether used for healing, cleansing, protection, love magic or doing harm - have power.
They are not just songs, they are magical tunes. More research is needed if we are going to unravel the mysterious relationship between icaros and the other important aspects of Amazonian shamanism, as all are inextricably linked with the Amazonian shaman, versed in communicating with the spirit world along precise, coded musical pathways - conveyed - in the Shipibo world, in musical designs.

My Personal Story

When I first heard an icaro around 2008, I was immediately enchanted. I was a musician myself but had not yet discovered my own voice. I subscribed for a Shamanic training and without realizing it I went into my first nightly plant ceremony. An experience that I still remember vividly to this day. The shaman Ema'a Drolma Mata, was my first Maestra and she initiated me in this magical work with the plant spirits.   The Plantteachers turned my whole world upside down and changed my 'direction' forever. The plants create a bridge  between the spirit world and our rational world. In itself there is no difference and there is only one. Yet we have chosen  to continue to develop our rational side in particular, and in other words to block seeing the whole. 

Over the years, I also discovered my own singing potential and even started teaching in voice liberation and voice discovery. I learned how to sing the icaros first with Ema'a and later I started going  to Peru to receive my most important initiations with Don Daniel Arevalo (shipibo indian).  On general request I gave teaching in this special way of singing. Everyone has his / her unique way of making contact with the Nagual or your true pure nature. It is about creating a gap between two worlds, a bridge as it were. If you cross this bridge, you will see differently, clearer and 'know' immediately without any form of knowledge. For me the portal to this 'knowing' was; music and later also the voice. 

My last trip to Peru in 2019 has put a lot into motion. I met Maestro Juan Flores and started a new learningproces with him.  The work at the site of  the Maestro and then continuing the diet with the different plants have make the big jump to work as a curandero. A path of profound personal healing for myself, a way inward, keeping focus and containing personal strength.   I am grateful for the powerful softness that I now observe deep within me. From this feeling I can no longer bring the sessions as before. I already noticed that the singing circles, workshops, etc., started to look more like small ceremonial evenings. So the turnaround had already begun. 

We'll meet again