Don Jose Campos (Author) - The Shaman and Ayahuasca: Journeys to Sacred Realms

Thank you, thank you for this book. Don Jos is not only personally warm and wonderful, caring and smart, but this is the side of the story that we have been missing the real teacher speaking, not another westerner reporting well or poorly that his head was blown off.

James Fadiman Ph.D., author and former president of The Association for Transpersonal Psychology

This remarkable and beautiful book suggests a path back to understanding the profound healing and spiritual powers that are here for us in the plant world. This extraordinary book shows a way toward reawakening our respect for the natural world, and thus for ourselves. I pray that we are not too proud, not too entitled, not too arrogant to heed the invitation.

John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution, Diet For A New America, and many other bestsellers

Don Jos Campos has a free spirit, a generous heart, and deep knowledge about Amazonian plants, in particular about the shamanic brew ayahuasca. And he tells good stories in a casual style. He speaks from experience, and champions simplicity and humility. I enjoyed his book for all these reasons.

Jeremy Narby, Ph.D., author of The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge

The Shaman & Ayahuasca brings us a fascinating look at a rich and unfortunately vanishing world of knowledge and spirit, where humans, plants, and the cosmos meet.

Howard Rheingold, futurist, co-author of Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming with Stephen Laberge, co-author of Higher Creativity: Liberating the Unconscious for Breakthrough Insights with Willis Harman

A uniquely valuable record of the thoughts and recollections of a traditional Amazonian healer, now inexorably enmeshed in the modern world, and the reactions of those who have met and worked with him. This brief book is filled with both knowledge and wisdom, and should be read by anyone with an interest in the unique healing culture of the Upper Amazon.

Stephan V. Beyer, author of Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon

Weaving together a poignant memoir with practical insights on the shamanic path, Don Jos Campos offers readers a captivating and deeply personal glimpse into the living practice of Amazonian curanderismo.

ST Frequency, RealitySandwich.com

JOURNEYS TO SACRED REALMS

DON JOS CAMPOS

With Introduction by CHARLES GROB, M.D.
Translated by ALBERTO ROMAN
Edited and Compiled by GERALDINE OVERTON

Published by DIVINE ARTS
DivineArtsMedia.com

An imprint of Michael Wiese Productions
12400 Ventura Blvd. #1111
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 379-8799, (818) 986-3408 (FAX)

Cover design: Johnny Ink
Cover Painting: Pablo Amaringo
Book Layout: William Morosi
Editor: Geraldine Overton
Photography: Geraldine Overton
Printed by McNaughton & Gunn, Inc., Saline, Michigan

Manufactured in the United States of America
Copyright 2011 by Don Jos Campos
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Campos, Don Jos, 1959
The shaman & ayahuasca : journeys to sacred realms / Don Jos Campos ; with introduction by Charles Grob, M.D. ; translated by Alberto Roman ; edited and compiled by Geraldine Overton.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-61125-003-9
1. Shamanism. 2. Ayahuasca ceremony. 3. Hallucinogenic drugs and religious experience. I. Roman, Alberto, 1947- II. Overton, Geraldine, 1957- III. Title. IV. Title: The shaman and ayahuasca.
GN475.8.C36 2011
299.8142--dc22
2011002843

Printed on Recycled Stock

This book is dedicated to my mother,
my teachers: Don Wilfredo Tuanama, Dona Sarela,
Don Solon, Don Ricardo Peso, Don Guillermo Ojanama
and to the teachings of La Madrecita.

Gracias

by Charles Grob, M.D.

T HIS BOOK WAS COMPILED from interviews and conversations recorded over a period of two weeks in September 2009. Michael Wiese, Alberto Roman and I, were invited by Don Jos Campos to join him in Pucallpa, Peru where he lives. From there we journeyed down the Aquaytia River to a maloca deep in the jungle, and to Iquitos where we met his teacher, Don Solon and his good friend, Julio Arce Hidalgo.

The book was originally conceived as containing solely the transmission of Don Jos, but as the journey unfolded, it became apparent that the experiences we were having were giving us direct lessons on how Ayahuasca manifests within our consciousness. It was, therefore, agreed that some of our experiences ought to be included in the book to illustrate the words of Don Jos.

The structure was designed in three parts. In the first part, Don Jos takes us gently through the nature of his work, his healings, his teachers, and his garden. In the second part, Michael, Alberto and I introduce you to Don Joss friends, the visionary painter, Pablo Amaringo, his teacher, Don Solon and his friend the biochemist, Julio Arce Hidalgo. We also include an Ayahuasca ceremony, including the visionary experiences of each of us. This addition will give those of you unfamiliar with the ritual ceremony of Ayahuasca a clearer picture of what it entails. In the third and final section, Don Jos resumes his transmission and discusses the nature of the expansion of Ayahuasca usage, the various ways Ayahuasca manifests healings and the nature of the illumination of death that we receive while working with her.

You will find that what Don Jos transmits is confianza, deep confidence in the value of his work and gratitude for what La Madrecita, the spirit of Ayahuasca, offers us.

This project was a life-changing experience for each of us. In addition to this book, the outcome resulted in Michaels documentary, The Shaman and Ayahuasca, which has received the Best Documentary Film award at the Albuquerque Film Festival.

Michael and I offer these efforts to Don Jos with love and gratitude for opening up vast new worlds and showing us a far greater understanding of what it means to be a human being living as one with the earth and the cosmos.Gracias.

Geraldine Overton-Wiese
Cornwall, UK

Charles S. Grob, M.D.

I N RECENT YEARS, increasing interest has been drawn to the remote Amazon rainforest. Sole repository of one-third of the worlds plant and animal species, the Amazon has also been home to a great number of natural medicinal compounds, many of which have unfortunately been lost to modern civilization with the relentless erosion of native cultures and traditional knowledge. Yet, one of the great mysteries of the Amazon has survived, and over the past few decades has become manifest to the outside world. This book of reflections, composed by the Peruvian indigenous curandero, Don Jos Campos, seeks to share with this growing audience his knowledge and wisdom, accrued over many years working with the legendary plant brew, ayahuasca.