ICARO : Rapé & Sananga Ceremony hosted by Gareth Hughes

Aho brothers and sisters. You are invited to join Gareth Hughes and experience a profound journey working with Icaro, Rapé and Sananga. In this ceremony hear and sing along to Icaro's, and receive the healing properties of medicines from the Amazon rain forrest all held in sacred space for this intimate gathering.

Limited numbers, best to book in advance.

Icaro or magic song is most commonly used to describe the medicine songs used by shamans in healing ceremonies, such as with the psychedelic brew ayahuasca. Traditionally, these songs can be performed by whistling, singing with the voice or vocables, or playing an instrument and usually involve a mastery of advanced techniques to evoke the healing effects. It is also commonly used to describe a traditional artisanal pattern of the Shipibo tribe based on the visions induced by ayahuasca.

Traditionally, icaros may come to a shaman during a ceremony, be passed down from previous lineages of healers, or come to a shaman during a 'dieta' where plant spirits are believed to teach icaros to the shaman directly. The singing or whistling of icaros is sometimes accompanied by a chakapa, a rattle of bundled leaves.

Rapé (pronounced ha-PAY) is a preparation of powdered medicinal herbs – often with a tobacco base – blow through the nose.

In contemporary Amazonia, sharing rapé is a common social activity with spiritual, pre-Columbian roots. Rapé is considered to be a sacred, shamanic medicine. It’s traditionally prepared by a knowledgeable shaman, Sharing rapé was traditionally done in a ritualistic way. Because the medicine can have stimulating or psychoactive effects (depending on what plants were used to make it) receiving rapé can bring about a profound experience of the Forest. Because the medicine is sacred, rapé is used as a prayer calling upon the forces of Nature, the blessing of the animals of the forest, and power of medicinal plants to heal us and give us strength.

For traditional Amazonian tribespeople, sananga is a powerful eye medicine used to sharpen night vision. For modern seekers of spiritual healing, however, sananga does more than help with hunting. Used in ceremonies by the Kaxinawa and Matsés tribes of Brazil, these powerful eye drops have a healing power that’s more energetic than physical, and that has the capacity to increase spiritual insight in the minds of those who use it.

Treats spiritual diseases (“panema”) caused by negative energies in the body. These spiritual diseases can accumulate in a person’s energetic body and make a person depressed and anxious.

£35 Advance. £40 on the door. Limited to 20 places, booking essential via www.aho.community website.

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