Magic of the Amazon, (MOTA)
Next retreat March 6 - 21, 2027
Held in the Peruvian Amazon
An intensive immersion in traditional Amazonian shamanic practice, ceremony, learning and reflection.
Ancient Wisdom, Authentic Connection.
Interview and acceptance required. Early inquiries help us to confirm arrangements in Peru.
This retreat will accept 12 participants Maximum
The program fee is: $3100 USD Excluding Airfare
Deposit due upon acceptance: $1500 USD
What is ‘Magic of the Amazon’?
Shamanic Voyages guides small group of people to the Peruvian Amazon for an intensive experiential program with don Cesar Agustin Rivas, (Viejo), doña Andrea Marques, (Nina Caspi), and John MacKinnon, (Crow). Ceremony, teaching, group reflection and time in the rainforest form the heart of the experience. This will be a spiritual immersion that requires commitment to preparation and participation.
Is this retreat right for you?
You may feel drawn to join us if…
You feel drawn to seek spiritual learning in a traditional Amazonian setting.
You are willing to prepare, participate and reflect with a small group.
You are looking for a safe, supportive environment to learn and to heal.
You are prepared for the demands of shared camp living.
Consider the full commitment:
This retreat is centered around Plant Medicine work, including work with Ayahuasca.
Spiritual, emotional and physical healing work will also be taking place during the retreat. Full participation and mutual support will be expected from all of the participants.
You will never be required to take part in a practice or ceremony that you are uncomfortable with, but your presence and support of the group is requested to ensure group cohesion.
Those who are only interested in a Psychedelic Vacation are not appropriate candidates for this retreat. If this is you, please seek another organization to travel with.
Your interview will include some personal questions, including questions about your physical and mental health as well as medications that you may be taking. We are not simply being nosey, but we need this information to ensure that you can safely participate in this program and to help you take steps where necessary to prepare. Most health/mental health issues will not necessarily disqualify you, but specific preparations may be necessary to ensure a safe and productive experience.
How ‘Magic of the Amazon’, (MOTA), began
Crow’s story,
A relationship
built
over decades…
Crow’s first visit to the Amazon in the 1990’s to work with the well known Peruvian shaman, don Agustin Rivas Vasquez, became one of the most meaningful experiences of his life. It inspired a commitment to share this experience with others by organizing journeys for shamanic learning.
Over subsequent visits, he deepened his practice and formed lasting relationships. He and don Agustin’s son, Viejo, became close friends, eventually considering each other brothers. Soon afterward, Viejo followed his father into the local curandero tradition.
After some years away from Peru, Crow founded the non-profit Shamanic Voyages and resumed these visits. MOTA continues to serve that commitment to share the opportunities for learning and forming relationships that began there long ago.
Ceremony and Practice
Take part in traditional ceremonies, drumming, and teaching with your hosts
Rainforest Immersion
The sights and sounds of the jungle will provide a constant background during your stay at Supaychakra.
Enjoy river travel, camp life and time in the surrounding jungle, both with the group and by yourself for reflection and journaling. We usually make at least one visit to a neighboring shamans camp.
But don’t worry. Most of the trails we use are easier than the one shown here!
Community & Reflection
We will have morning gatherings, journaling, shared learning and integration meetings and individual healing sessions in the group environment, both for healing and instruction. There will also be quiet times for individual meditation and rest.
Viejo’s Camp, Supaychakra from above
Begin with a conversation…
Inquire - Email us to request an interview an registration information.
Interview - A chance to meet, ask questions, discuss what’s involved and see if this retreat is a good fit for you.
Acceptance - If we decide it’s a good fit, complete the registration materials and review the terms.
Deposit - Submit $1500 USD with your registration package to secure your place
Join the pre-trip Zoom meetings to meet the other participants and discuss the details of preparing for your trip.
Your investment: $3100 USD
Program fee per participant
$1500 deposit with registration following acceptance to the program
$1600 Balance due at least 30 days befor departure
Included: Program fees, lodging, opening and closing dinners, transportation to and from the Iquitos airport and boat travel on the Amazon to and from Tamshiyacu. (Based on shared occupancy at the hotel and the camp, private room upgrades may be available for an additional fee.)
Not included: Airfare to and from the Iquitos airport, insurance (recommended), staff tips, snacks, souvenirs and alcoholic beverages at the closing dinner.
Terms: Payment may be made by mailing a check, (no fee), by credit card, (add 4%), or by bank wire, (fees vary by bank, contact us for wiring details). Deposits are non-refundable. For this trip lodging will be in shared dormitory huts while at the shamans camp. Private rooms may be available on a first come first served basis at an extra fee, to be determined. Hotel lodging is based on shared occupancy on the first and last nights, contact us for upgrades. Participants must provide their own transportation to the Iquitos Airport. Assistance for arranging domestic air travel in Peru should be arranged through our partner Rosa at Pascana Travel in order to simplify transport from the airport by having everyone on the same flight. If you arrive on a privately arranged flight more than an hour before or after the arrival of the group flight, you must pay for your own transportation to the hotel. Contact us for details or any questions about our policies.
The Journey, in more detail
The published Itinerary is a flexible sample. The activities and their order will likely vary due to weather and other variables, but reflect the usual retreat.
As with most of our offerings, we plan our itineraries to be flexible, with room for spontaneity and downtime. There will be regular morning meetings, meals, drumming and healing sessions, as well as free time not listed in this itinerary. Check our ‘Past Trips’ page to see some of the photos from past trips. The typical outline of the trip will be as follows:
Arrival and settling in, (days 1-2) We will meet you or arrange for your transport from the Iquitos Airport as your flights arrive on day one. After gathering the group together, we will be met by Viejo and Nina Caspi, our host shamans and our interpreter. They will meet us at our hotel, the ‘Jungle House’, where we will check in and then join us while we see some sights around the city. Later, they will also join us for our opening dinner ceremony at a restaurant that caters to our ‘Dieta’, (more on that later). After that we will make our final preparations for our trip upriver the next day.
After our breakfast at the hotel, we will be brought to the Port of Iquitos, where we will meet our private boat. This boat will transport us to the village of Tamshiyacu, a trip of about an hour upriver on the Amazon, (depending on the boat). We will pause the trip partway to make an offering to the river and ask the local spirits of the land and waters to accept our presence and support our work there.
Once we land, our luggage will be transported to the camp, freeing us to walk unburdened through the village and into the edge of the jungle. Viejos’ camp, Supaychakra is just outside the village. Once we arrive we will get our room assignments, unpack and prepare for our first meeting. This meeting will be followed by an herbal bath, made from medicinal and aromatic herbs collected locally from near the camp itself. Afterward, we will experience the Huito ceremony. Huito is a local fruit, the colorless juice of which is applied to the skin, hands and face, minimum, the whole body if you wish. Over the course of the night, the Huito will dye our skin black where it was applied. This marks us as having a ‘tribal’ connection with one another, as well as concentrating the spiritual energies of the jungle toward our five primary senses, located in our heads and hands, namely, sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.
Crow singing his icaro, or spirit song, to Viejos’ niece and daughter shortly after his first Huito bath.
The main program features: We will begin our first full day in camp with a purification and purging ceremony with Oje. Oje is a locally made medicine which purges the body of parasites and impurities. As you might expect, this will result in some physical discomfort and nausea, but will pass fairly quickly and leave you prepared for the healing and teaching medicines to follow. It will also be the first of many opportunities to begin to shed the restraints of ego, and to begin to turn over our trust to the healing process and the teachings of the rainforest medicines. Later we will receive our individual ‘dietas’ from Viejo. A dieta is a special diet to observe while working with the medicines, which we will begin in the weeks before the trip and which will evolve as conditions require. Some of us may be encouraged to enter a shamans dieta, a semi-fasting to sharpen the focus and commitment to the work, but the choice will be yours. A detailed description of the preparatory dieta will be given to those who sign up for the trip, or upon request. Once in the shamans camp, some of us may be assigned a special tea to drink or practice to follow as well.
The following day will be spent preparing the group for their first Ayahuasca ceremony later that night. There will be a question and answer session, a preparatory drum journey and some scheduled free time for personal preparation. Just prior to sunset we will assemble outside the temple for the beginning of our work with this powerful teaching medicine. When we enter, the group will all be dressed in white and will be seated around the periphery of the temple. When called, we will approach the alter and be given a small cup of thick brownish liquid. When all are served, we raise our cups in salute and drink. It will not be delicious. We will then return to our seats and wait for our visions. From time to time Viejo, Nina Caspi, Crow and the assisting currenderos will sing icaros and miriris, special spirit songs to draw in the spirits, as well as move around the temple to perform healing work on individuals. The ceremony will sometimes be filled with music, sometimes quiet. At some point, some or most people will become nauseous and may vomit. This is neither a concern, nor unusual. In fact it is part of the surrender to the medicine, and often signals that the visions are about to begin. The visions themselves may be very different for each participant, some having a very visual experience, some experiencing deep introspection and others a combination of sensations. Rarely, a beginner may experience nothing the first time, with the Ayahuasca working on a subtle level instead. As we will be in the hands of accomplished and very experienced Ayahuascueros, our welfare and safety will be attended to throughout. We will also be in the jungle, the home of the medicine, and will be supported by our very surroundings. The ceremony will last until about midnight. We usually include three Ayahuasca ceremonies during each MOTA retreat, but sometimes if circumstances permit will may squeeze in a fourth.
After breakfast, we will hold a meeting to discuss our experiences of the previous night and share our impressions of what our visions held for us. We recommend taking notes in the provided journals at these meetings, as our memories will be fresh and you will very likely want to review these notes in the future. The balance of this day will be for rest and recreation, perhaps even a hike and swim. By this time, we will also probably have set up a space for informal healing sessions in which all the participants can observe Viejo and Nina Caspi at work.
As the first week progresses, we will have had a chance to have become immersed in the work and deeply connected to one another. The interests and experiences of the group will play a large part in determining the flow of events, but the typical content includes learning about a number of jungle medicines and their uses, many of which we will show you in their natural, unharvested states. You will also be introduced to Rape’ or Yopo, traditional medicines of the rainforest, which you may choose to partake in. One of the highlights for many people is taking part in the preparation of the Ayahuasca medicine itself, which we will drink during our last ceremony just before the retreat ends.
We will also receive instruction in the use of tobacco in the work of a rainforest Curandero. The local tobacco is genetically distinct from the tobacco of North America, and has long been used here as an important medicine in a wide variety of ways. By now we will have been exposed to some of its uses, and will now learn more about it and receive instructions on its ceremonial use. If the past is any indicator, discussion will then broaden to a deeper discussion of shamanic practice and jungle medicine in general, with no questions going unanswered.
As the focus of much of our work here will be on healing for the Earth, we feel it is important to include a ceremony among the sacred trees After our normal morning activities, we will journey into the jungle, until we reach some ancient, sacred trees where we will offer our respects and perform a prayer ritual. Afterward we will return to camp, probably stopping for a swim along the way.
The days will seem full at times, but we will have ample time for rest and reflection as well. You can use this time for journaling, sketching or just chilling out in a hammock and talking with your retreat mates. You will also have continuous access to Crow who will be available to help you with integration issues or any practical matters that arise.
March 19, Our last full day: Today will be our last full day at the camp. Throughout the day, Viejo, Nina Caspi and I will spend one on one time with each of the participants to check in with you, make suggestions for your continuing work and to perform some energetic balancing and regulation to help your re-entry into ordinary reality. This grounding will be important and will not be rushed, so when we are working with others, you will have free time to journal or take a walk with a companion. Our dieta restrictions will be lifted as well, so dinner will take on a whole new importance, with Twinkies for everyone! (Just kidding…)
March 20: After breakfast, we will pack up and head back through the village to the boat landing, where we will board for the journey back to Iquitos. We will return to our hotel, relax and prepare for our closing dinner. After an evening stroll through the plaza, we will call it a night.
March 21: We will have breakfast at the hotel, say our goodbyes to our hosts and be transported to the airport for our return flight to Lima. There, we will say our farewells to one another and meet our planes to our respective homes.
Though the above outline may seem slim, don’t be misled. Much of our days will be filled with ceremony, instruction and laughter. The order too, will very likely be altered from this description due to weather or whim. There are other events we could list, but we decided to keep them in the toolbox, and insert them if and when we find time during our stay. Viejos’ style is often driven by his inspiration and natural enthusiasm for interacting with others, wherever the current situation is leading. That’s why we don’t have a detailed script. It wouldn’t stand a chance. Please check the ‘Past Trips’ section to see more of what you can expect. If this intensive work is something you are drawn to, I can’t think of a better group of people to do it with.
Ready to begin the conversation?
Tell Shamanic Voyages what draws you to MOTA and request an interview and registration package.
