Guillermo Arévalo

Guillermo Arévalo

Guillermo Arévalo in 2010
Nationality Peruvian
Other names Kestenbetsa
Occupation Shaman
Website
http://baris-betsa.com


Guillermo Arévalo Valera is a Shipibo curandero or healer of the Peruvian Amazon with 35+ years experience. Among the Shipibo-Conibo, he is known by his Shipibo name Ketsenbetsa, which means ‘echo of the universe.’

Arévalo is the founder of Baris Betsa and is associated with Anaconda Cosmica and La Nueva Luz Cosmica centers. He has written books, opened two healing centers and teaches internationally. He helped to create the first Shipibo government.

Training and Background

Arévalo says that he taught himself to be a curandero. He began exploring curanderismo at age 22, began the regimen of restrictive plant dietas at 24, and began practicing curanderismo at 26.[1]

In 1982 he cofounded a Shipibo organization called Aplicación de Medicina Tradicional (AMETRA), which promoted the study and application of the traditional medicine practiced by the peoples of the Ucayali River. The organisation was active in the city of Pucallpa until 2000.[2]

Arévalo moved from Pucallpa to Iquitos, and founded a healing center called Espíritu de Anaconda (Spanish: "Anaconda Spirit"), which became one of the largest such centers in Peru.

Arévalo subsequently renamed the center to Anaconda Cosmica ("Cosmic Anaconda").[3][4][5] In an interview with journalist Roger Rumrill in 2005, Arévalo Valera had lamented the state of drug tourism in Peru.[6]

Ayahuasca

Arévalo's center is known for administering the plant-based hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca.

“Ayahuasca makes you learn,” says Arévalo.“Ayahuasca is a means for man to get to know the different realms of existence. The source of all creation makes us see where man comes from, that he comes from space… where energy comes from, in the form of light. We are all formed through a relationship of nature, energy and light.”[7]

Fatalities

Arévalo Valera moved from Pucallpa to Iquitos, and founded a healing center nearby. The center, called Espíritu de Anaconda (Spanish: "Anaconda Spirit"), has become one of the largest in the area. On 26 November 2011, a 39-year-old French acrobat named Fabrice Champion was found dead in a maloca there.[8] Arévalo Valera subsequently renamed the center to Anaconda Cosmica ("Cosmic Anaconda").[3][9][10]

There has been a second death reported at one of Guillermo Arevalo's centers.

Media Coverage

Arévalo was filmed for the ayahuasca documentary films D'autres mondes (2004) and Vine of the Soul: Encounters with Ayahuasca (2010). He and his healing center were featured in "Jungle Trip" (2001), an episode of the Channel 4 documentary series To the Ends of the Earth.[11] Jan Kounen, director of D'autres mondes, also gave him a minor role in his 2004 Western, Blueberry (aka Renagade).[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Iturriaga San José, Alfredo; Rivera Cachique, Ronald (2013). "Entrevista a don Guillermo Arévalo—curandero shipibo–konibo". Técnica aborigen del autoconocimiento: Ayahuasca, de la selva su espíritu (in Spanish). Lima: Graph Ediciones. p. 41. ISBN 9786124630767. OCLC 876080326.
  2. ↑ Hansson, A.; Arévalo, G. (1985). "Algunos aspectos de medicina tradicional en Ucayali." Proyecto AMETRA. Lima: Instituto Indigenista Peruano. Serie Amazonía: Shipibo-Conibo No. 2
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Our History". AnacondaCosmica.com. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  4. ↑ Hearn, Kelly (March 2013). "The Dark Side of Ayahuasca". Men's Journal. New York: Wenner Media. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Friends – Maestro Guillermo Arévalo ('Kestembetsa')". Traditional Plant Medicine. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  6. ↑ Arrévalo, G. (2005). "Interview with Guillermo Arrévalo, a Shipibo urban shaman, by Roger Rumrrill. Interview by Roger Rumrrill". Journal of psychoactive drugs 37 (2): 203–207. doi:10.1080/02791072.2005.10399802. PMID 16149334.
  7. ↑ Fleury, Adeline (18 December 2011). "Quand le chamanisme emporte ses adeptes" (in French). Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  8. ↑ Fleury, Adeline (18 December 2011). "Quand le chamanisme emporte ses adeptes". Le Journal du Dimanche (in French). Hachette Filipacchi Médias. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  9. ↑ Hearn, Kelly (March 2013). "The Dark Side of Ayahuasca". Men's Journal. New York: Wenner Media. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "Friends – Maestro Guillermo Arévalo ('Kestembetsa')". Traditional Plant Medicine. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
  11. ↑ To the Ends of the Earth: Jungle Trip at the British Film Institute's Film and TV Database
  12. ↑ Renegade at the Internet Movie Database

External links

Further reading