YAGE

Pablo Amaringo was born in 1943 in Puerto Libertad, in the Peruvian Amazon region. He was ten years old when he first took ayahuasca--a visionary brew used in shamanism, made from the plants Banisteriopsis caapi(yagé) and Psychotria viridis (chacruna). A severe heart illness--and the magical treatment of this viaayahuasca--led Pablo toward the life of a shaman, and he eventually became a powerful curandero--learning theicaros, or healing songs that the ayahuasca brew taught him.

In 1977, Pablo abandoned his vocation as a shaman, and he is now a painter and art instructor at his Usko-Ayar school, where there is no charge for the students to learn painting from Pablo. The school is dependant on donations, which can be made directly to Pablo via the address below. Paints, brushes, and other art supplies, as well as money, can be sent via mail. Please clearly mark such donations as "gifts" so that no tax will have to be paid.

Pablo has painted and described numerous ayahuascavisions, some of which have appeared in his bookAyahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman. He is currently working on paintings of angels for a forthcoming book, as well as paintings that document the flora and fauna of Peru.

 for more information: http://www.pabloamaringo.com