Amazon Magic: The Life Story of Ayahuasquero & Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez

by Jaya Bear

Amazon Magic tells the life story of Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez, an ayahuaquero, a shaman skilled in the use of ayahuasca, a visionary and healing plant medicine. Told in his own words, Amazon Magic describes incidents from his childhood in a small jungle town beside the Amazon River, and his early and present day experiences with the plant medicine ayahuasca. The book recounts his days of being lost in the remote depths of the jungle which resulted in his living a year with an Indian tribe. This book provides a fascinating look into the cultural life of the Peruvian Amazon as seen through the eyes of someone who is an integral part of this life, and provides a rare insight into the forces that helped shape the life of a profound healer who is now highly regarded in many parts of the world.

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Johanna Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

This adventure novel is the story told by the protagonist, Don Agustin to his follower and friend Jaya Bear, who met him as one of the gathered students, eager to learn the art of herbal medicine and willing to follow him in spiritual healing explorations. The book is a fantastic trip, with heroes and enemies and many spirits to do battle with, and awesome outrageous animals to survive, and always willowy women at his feet. It is in fact the story of Don Agustin's struggle to make a living as an artist, and then as a healer. It seems he succeeded.
I read the novel on recommendation of the author, finding a copy in the library in my winter residence in Mexico. My exeriences in mind-altering substances gave me enough of a window into this story to understand that I am sure I prefer the present and reality. but wouldn't mind a trip to the Amazon retreat.