Updated by Arutam Ruymán, October 2019
We humans live, first and foremost, because the sacred touch of Arutam flows within us. The spark of Life shouted at us and will continue to blink during the years in which we can ensure its presence in our bodies. A good diet prolongs our life, because it prevents us from consuming that original energy, which is our resource. Many people in search of abundant energy and a quick effect on their bodies, abuse those products that slowly make their bodies sick (manufactured foods, refined oils, transgenic fats, fried foods, sugar and sweets, flours, meat from heavy animals or those who have been tortured, etc.). That need normally arises from a weakened original touch: a half consumed, half forgotten one. Without even knowing what they are doing, they continue to harm themselves in this way for a long time. Soon you will feel that something is going wrong and you will crave for an opportunity with herbal medicine and fasting. If we still have time to help, my advice is to check the patient's health status. A shaman will also be quite accurate in describing his energetic state. An excellent start should consist of a gradual change of the daily diet, which should be supplemented, later, with herbs, if necessary, to strengthen the weakest aspects, which is where the metabolism is failing. A doctor understands the functioning of the body as a whole that is attached to the world; when we distance ourselves from the Spirit we fall into oblivion, and forget the harmony of the Great Song of Life. In this case, our tendencies will determine how we distort the Great Harmony and where we’ll end up.
After a certain period of time, previously determined by the teacher, and paying attention to the specific characteristics of the patient on a regular basis, one can begin to follow the path of shamanism as a more direct experience of its ceremonies and its various entheogens. A healthier body and a considerable improvement of the sacred touch, would support us in the process. We will never know if that is enough, even giving the best of ourselves to put it into practice. This practice requires proper nutrition to keep us strong and pure. With the passage of time, the individual develops some skills that allow him to adapt to the Natem practice. Later will come the time to deepen those skills through short fasts on normal days. In these days it will be easy to verify, through the pulse, how the body is conserved without the addition of calories. This will also reveal if life is intense enough in us. All this, added to the correct development of skills in ceremony, will allow the student to begin to explore its depths with the body completely empty, when drinking the Ayahuasca. Tradition takes us to long fasts, for whole days, to long walks in the jungle, through its Cascades, dreaming and drinking Tabaco; as well as large quantities of Ayahuasca in "Natemamu"; the most potent extracts of ceremonial Natem, blown medicine, transmissions of power and healing.
I want to point out that those correct skills are almost impossible to develop without years of experience next to a good teacher, who must also be centrally dedicated to carry out that work with the student. I also want to explain the following: a person who fasts and takes Natem (a strong high quality one) without having enough energy in the body, is going to come down, putting himself in danger on a pure whim, to regret then, desperately, asking for a help probably difficult to be offered by no one . Of course most of the concoctions that are offered to strangers are delivered by impostors who try to imitate a true shaman. On the other hand, those potions have nothing to do with the powerful ancient recipes of true traditions; they are just some kind of hallucinogenic drug to see colors for a little while, usually a lot of yaji leaf and tender vines with low Natem proportion. This is usually normal: most people who travel and want to buy spirituality from modern culture are not prepared to receive this tradition and work seriously with shamanism. With money you can only buy a glimpse very far from the depth of a people's worldview. On the other hand, the corruption and suffering of the indigenous peoples has put them on guard against the world, especially against those white descendants, sons of the cruel conquerors. On the other hand, shamanism is often forgotten over time, and the young natives (who are now the supposed shamans) want precisely everything that has made us forget the way, which is why we started a new search to return . The older ones are gone and the young people did not learn enough. Are we aware that true shamanism is in danger of being transformed into a mere theater without roots and wisdom?
Don’t fast before a ceremony: let's make a perfect diet first, a serious and constant one. That's the key. Take care of the sacred touch and keep the flame of Life at its best. Calm down your hearts and mind, to fill the present with the richness of Arutam's feeling. Abandon the resistance, stop feeding that monster that devours the sacred touch. Let's train and learn with a good teacher who is a carrier of the ancestors echoes, someone who can also offer you the good Natem, the one who demands the best of us. The long fasts will come later and everything will be beautiful
