Christmas greetings

Dear friends,

The end of the year is approaching and the birth of another.

The year 2020 was like a great dieta, in confinement, with restrictions, and the confrontation with our own values and those of humanity. We do not know clearly if the end of this forced retreat is near or if we will pass in 2021 in a long post-dieta...

There is enough negative information and misinformation not to insist on it, it would be like contemplating in a masochistic way what was dumped in a bucket after a purge. And maybe we still have more to throw out… One thinks that it's over but more retchings are coming… It seems endless.

Western rationalism showed us its enormous shadow of irrationality, of childish fears, of psychological fragility, of lack of faith and good sense, of tacit consent with the wild and evil, of crazy, Kafkaesque, ubuesque, macabre and even grotesque fantasies. Humanism without God reveals a violent, repressive and perverse face.

Healing comes with forgiveness and gratitude. The hope is that we are capable of accessing it in this highly turbulent context, even if not in a sensitive way. And if it is difficult for us, may we know how to ask God for this grace. We have almost an obligation to succeed.

The infantile authorities that govern us reflect the omnipotence fantasy of the immature child that we have not been able to prevent in time. Beyond what they represent in their official role, they are also lost human beings and under the yoke of their inner tyranny that they externalize. While it is not about accepting tyranny, more than ever it is now necessary to remember Christ's difficult recommendation to love our enemies, seeing in them the wounded child that requires compassion.

What I would like to remember is that after the instabilities, anguishes and sufferings of purges and dietas, comes relief, inner rearrangement, greater clarity about what one is and how we position ourselves in this adventure of life. At the end of the day, everything makes sense and the sorrow suffered is placed in perspective. One realizes that everything was fair and that we have always been accompanied and protected. Faith grows stronger, hopelessness recedes.

May this Christmas symbolize the birth of some more true light within us and renew our hopes for a full life (after the 2021 post-dieta)!

We thank all the people who in one way or another support us in keeping the flame of Takiwasi alive.

With my fraternal greetings associated with those of the entire Takiwasi team.

Jacques Mabit

Retreat/Diets at Takiwasi 2021

The dates of our Retreats/Diets for 2021 are now available online:

• 13 - 23 January
• 17 - 27 February
• 14 - 24 April
• 12 - 22 May
• 16 - 26 June
See all the dates

The Retreat/Diet (commonly referred to as "dieta" in traditional medicine), is the deepest therapeutic practice of traditional Amazonian medicine. It consists of a -day retreat in isolation, in a very simple hut in the jungle, with the ritualized ingestion of the so-called "master plants", accompanied by a special diet and strict physical and psychological norms.

This process allows to expand perception, re-connect with repressed emotions, cleanse and strengthen the body, and connect with the holy dimension. It favors dream production, remembrance of past situations and experiences that weren’t well-processed and deep introspection.

For more information and to start the registration process please write to: terapia@takiwasi.com

Interview with the master healer Ignacio Pérez

The master healer Ignacio Pérez Ortiz has been a pillar of Takiwasi for 15 years until his death in 2009.

Indigenous Quechua-Lamista from the town of Rumisapa, located a few kilometers from the city of Tarapoto, Ignacio learned the art of healing from his uncle since the age of 22 and specialized as a master perfumero.

In his practice he invoked the help of the rivers, as well as the spirits of mermaids, white boas and other invisible beings that inhabit the waters of the Amazon region.

Master Ignacio acted with different instruments such as perfumes, camphor, agua fliorida, tabú and tobacco to treat nervous and mental conditions such as anxiety and insomnia. His main ritual consisted in preparing the person by making him ingest tobacco and perfumes or plants associated with them, and then take him to the river where he asked him to lie in the water, with his head under the water, to perform a cleansing, purification and reinforcement therapy.

Ignacio was a specialist in mental problems and in treating agitated, confused, lost people. 4 or 5 days of daily baths were enough for him to put insomnia patients to sleep, calm the nervous ones and pacify the distressed ones.

Ignacio’s creed could be summed up in three things: the Lord, the power of the Waters and its Medicinal Plants. Histrionic and theatrical, Ignacio was a rock, a presence, a stentor's voice and a tsunami of unmeasured generosity. He was not satisfied until his patient was well and at peace. Then a smile without malice would spread across his hard face: once again his medicine had triumphed.

The original interview was made by Association Saukaap, France.

How You Can Help Us

If you wish to support the activities of the Takiwasi Center, there are several ways to do it.

You can choose to give your contribution to the protection and conservation of Amazonian teacher plants through the Project Adopt an Ayahuasca, by adopting an Ayahuasca vine or another teacher plant.

Other ways to support us are by contributing to cover for the cost of the treatment and rehabilitation of our drug addict patients with limited economic resources or to support other social projects such as the CIANAH orphanage for indigenous children located in the remote native community of Yutupis.

Takiwasi Center Prolongación Alerta 466, Tarapoto, Peru Tel: +51 (0)42 522818 / +51 (0)42 525479 www.takiwasi.com takiwasi@takiwasi.com

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