Juan Amaringo, 2013

Material: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 100 x 70 cm

Visionary painting by the son of Pablo Amaringo who is leading the Usko Ayar school now. The main theme of this painting is a healing ceremony by a shaman (curandero) to restore the connection with universal Love through the use of Ikaros (traditional healing songs).

In the central part of this Amazonian visionary work we can observe this ritual by the shaman and two helpers for a man laying down. On the right we see the Amazon Bufeo Colorado (pink dolphin) representing the female principle and three women representing the female love for the man being treated. Below on the lower-right, we can also see another beautiful female with dark hair caressing the head of a gigantic mama eel (anguila mama).

On the left side we see a manly being with a crown of a King. He is the one who represents the person who is being healed by the shaman and his helpers. Below him we see a crocodile with the intention to eat the 4 women in front of him, as a reaction to the shaman’s work.

In the upper-central part, we see 6 women who dance of joy on the water. This shows that the healing work that the shaman does will be a success. Two flying saucers approach the women who are dancing happily to spiritually purify the place where the women are dancing.

Towards the upper-left side we can see the flower of the Toé plant who are also part of this healing ceremony. At the far upper-left and upper-right side we see two dragons. These dragons are not dangerous but only demonstrate their disagreement for the loving relation called for by the shaman.

In the dualistic system of Amazonian shamanism, it is not always about universal Love and witchcraft is tempting. When a man or woman wants to acquire the love or dependency of a specific partner, he or she can ask a brujo (witchdoctor) to work on the partner with a specific witchcraft ritual. The brujo usually calls the energy of the Bufeo (pink or grey dolphin) and the Kame-Renaco tree as partners in this work and carries out one or two of the following rituals:

1- They rub the butter of the Bufeo on the hands of the partner who requests his help and then this partner visits the other person whose love is desired, shaking his/her hand or touching him/her on the shoulder without he or she suspecting something. Then the person who is using Bufeo's butter as a love punch proceeds to hide or not be seen from the person for a period of 3 days. Then the person who received the greeting or the touch of his shoulder begins to despair for the love of that person.

2- The Kame-Renaco tree can also be used by a brujo (Witch Shaman) with the intention to make that two people can live together for all of their lives. To establish that, the brujo uses a photograph of each of the people to graft/insert these in some part of the Kame-Renaco tree with this specific intention.

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