On October 15, 2019, Biraci Nixiwaka Yawanawã invited me to his "sacred village" for the first time. I had sat in many ceremonies with Yawanawà leaders, but this was my first time through what I call “the portal.”

To arrive at the sacred village, I flew from Brasilia to a small airport in the state of Acre called “Cruzeiro do Sul.” From that little and ugly last city before the jungle, we took a two-hour drive and an 8-hour boat ride before entering indigenous land. The boat is slow, and the trip is long; it is not precisely teleportation…

I have always followed my gut and had yet to do any research about who Nixiwaka was. I just trusted. I only knew he was the “Chief of the Yawanawà.” My only contact with his tribe was through ten or fifteen California ceremonies, as they had been touring for many years. Their songs and presence made me feel like learning more and trusting them.

It was much more than just a ten-day trip to the Amazon jungle.

I call it the portal because, in many ways, it was a trip to another world. A world of millions of animals and thousands of plants, pristine nature, and indigenous peoples who live and think entirely differently than us. I did not imagine it would also be the start of a four-year training.

In just a few hours, I was greeted by an army of mosquitoes that bite hard despite the repellant I had bought. The mosquitoes are the most annoying part of the trip, and there is no way around them. They’re like the first initiation I had to go through. I was covered with hundreds of bites. In the future, I would go with mosquito net-type pants found online that help, but I also noticed my body got used to the bites. After many trips, the mosquitoes were still annoying but did not leave the vast allergy marks on my body anymore. I guess after a while, we develop some natural protection for them.

The jungle is not for everyone; I am not saying this because I spent time there but because anyone who wants to learn there “needs to earn it.” The mosquitoes are a first natural challenge. There are many others, but it’s one of the most disturbing, especially during the rainy season.

We arrived at the village, and the first people I met were already interesting to look at. This person was wearing intriguing weapons on his back, which I later learned were the traditional Yawanawà hunting tools. They used to use such wood-carved weapons to kill animals. Ancient-style weapons on top of a t-shirt with an ad for a dot com service, the old meets the modern there in a way I had never seen before.

The same day I arrived, I got some face paint. Face paints differ entirely from tribe to tribe and are used for “protection in the spiritual world.” The women are generally painting people from their visions and what they feel we need. The ink is made from a fruit called “naneuh” and lasts about ten days.

Yawanawà face paints generally reproduce snake patterns but can also be fish, butterflies, and other animals. The snake, particularly the boa, is a very sacred animal for them, a guardian of ayahuasca, and a symbol of transformation. I was preparing to change my skin.

I felt funny, and everyone was smiling, but trust me, when you wear such face paint for ten days and go through ceremonies with it, it does have a strange impact on me, much more than a fun experience. You feel it.

It was not the first time I received face paint, and I made the mistake of posting them without much explanation on my social networks. That was a big mistake as I scared friends and family with those photos, which I later took down. I feel okay now posting them in the context of telling my story, but it took time.

I received a new name, “Yawà Mashkuru.”

When I arrived at the village, Chief Nixiwaka told me: “You’re not Loïc, you are Yawa Mashkuru, you just don’t know it yet.”

I looked at him, intrigued. “Also, nobody can pronounce your name anyway here, so this way, they can remember your name.”

That sounded very practical. “What does this name mean, Chief?” I asked.

“Yawà is for Yawanawà and represents that you’re now part of our tribe, and Mashkuru was an ancient, very powerful warrior, also tall, which is unusual for us. Mashkuru means “bald.”

“Oh, cool, so now I am the bold Yawà, thank you,” I said with a smile.

I was honored and found it a bit funny, but since I did not know the ways of the Yawanawà, I had no idea if it was something special or if the Chief was giving names to all the visitors. I later learned that it was indeed very special.

At the same time, my mind went on, I did not ask for anything, especially a new name…

I could not help thinking that I already had a name, Loïc Le Meur, given by my parents. Nobody ever decided my name was inappropriate for me and chose a new one.

What was this about? What gives anyone permission to rename me this way? Would my mother and father, who passed away many years ago, would appreciate that?

It started a whole train of thoughts in my mind. What is a name anyway? Am I even Loïc Le Meur? Isn’t that the name my parents chose for me, but is this who I am? Am I this body? Who am I, regardless of any names I was given?

The magic of the sacred village had already started working on me. I was there only for a few hours, and some strange transformation already started.

I shared none of these thoughts or interrogations with the Chief, who ever since called me “Mashkuru,” introduced me to everyone with this name, and very fast, hundreds of Yawanawà people would only know me by that name, not even finding it weird.

I was and remained just “Mashkuru” there, forgot about my interrogations, and stayed on the feeling of being honored.

I then encountered “Peu Yawanawà,” with whom I had previously sat in a few ceremonies. Peu was about to become the spiritual leader of the tribe as well. I always felt a profound connection with Peù; he started teaching me very early.

Peù would become one of my primary teachers. Peù is young but has more than twenty years of experience, dedicating himself to teaching their spirituality to the Yawa kids, holding ceremonies around the world, making medicine, and being one of the most advanced healers.

The sacred village was the first “contact” between the Yawanawà ancestors and the white colonialists. Battles and murders ended up in the indigenous to be enslaved to the Portuguese colonialists.

Their spirituality and medicines were forbidden for many years, a Church was built in the center of the village, and they were forced to learn our religions and collect rubber…

The sacred village’s history is heavily loaded with an unfortunate past.

The village was abandoned for many years as it was considered haunted by the spirits of all those who died in battles there. Two elders kept the knowledge of plant medicine and their sacred songs secret; their names were Yawà and Tatà. They lived more than a hundred years each, a testament to the power of their medicines to keep them healthy.

In the early 2000s, they returned to the village only for a visit and their most advanced work, the dietas. I am glad I saw the village first in 2019; nobody was living there yet; there was only a ceremony center gifted by James Cameron, who produced the movie Avatar, and a few huts for those who stayed there a few days.

The village is entirely different today.

I met Putanny, the Chief’s spouse and one of the first two women with her sister Ushahu to drink “Uni,” as they call plant medicine in Yawanawà, for the first time. Plant medicine was only for men in the past; it is only recently that women started drinking it.

After years of considering the sacred village “haunted,” Putanny was first to receive in a dream that she needed to move to the sacred village and make it her home. Their home was “Nova Esperanza” at the time, and there was no other reason than a spiritual dream to leave that village to give birth to the sacred village again.

In the heart of the Amazon jungle the ceremonies were way stronger than anything I experimented before. The medicine was made in front of us so it was “fresh” and that made a difference as well as the wonderful sound of permanent animals around us, especially the birds. The most special though are the spirits of the place which sometimes appear in visions…

I told the Chief and Puttany that they lived in true paradise, surrounded by the most pristine and alive nature I had ever encountered.

The Chief showed me “his garden” which contains 3,000 medicinal plants. We barely know ayahuasca, but they have plants for everything, particularly to cure diseases. They also have plants for any possible snake bite and -they say- even a plant for those who need to fall in love… It was a real privilege to spend some time in this village only with the Chief and his wife before it was built, it looks very different today.

I stayed in the “dieta” houses, the only ones that were ready there at the time. This was my first and last time in the village as a simple visitor; the Chief immediately offered to start a “dieta”.

In all Amazon forest traditions, the training to work with plant medicine starts with “dietas.” It is a period of study with ayahuasca and another plant teacher. In the Yawanawà tradition, the dietas are long, one to three months, and up to one year for their “ultimate” dieta, the most advanced.

During each dieta, the student works on one specific skill and plant that will teach him.

During four years, I completed six dietas, all the main Yawanawà dietas, and the cleansing “Kambo” short dietas, only a week or so, which I did many times.

It has been an incredible adventure, and I will write each training story as of now.

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