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PREFACE

How to Read This Book
This work is a method born from lived experience: more than eleven continuous years immersed among over twenty traditional Shipibo shamanic families, participation in over 1,000 ayahuasca ceremonies, and more than a dozen master plant dietas — including a full year in total isolation, deep in the jungle, alone and immersed in the mysterious worlds of the plants.

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From isolated shamans holding night ceremonies in indigenous communities accessible only after several days of travel boat along the Ucayali, to the most renowned ayahuasca retreat centers around Iquitos welcoming thousands of visitors each year; I have witnessed both ancestral and contemporary expressions of this medicine.

This method weaves together the spiritual techniques I have witnessed from these shamans, offering a step-by-step understanding of how to connect with the spirit of a plant according to their knowledge. Some passages go into detail, attempting to describe natural spiritual and energetic techniques observed in deep visionary states — informed by the teachings of the keepers of this ancestral knowledge.

Author’s Note
This work serves as a bridge — transmitting the ancestral techniques of the Shipibo-Conibo shamans, masters in the art of connecting to spiritual dimensions through the plants. I have written it with the hope that it remains accessible and adapted to a Western audience. Sharing this knowledge is an act of preservation: protecting these ancient gateways before the knowledge disappears into the noisy illusions of modernity and the blinding “security” of material and digital life.

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I offer this method with the hope that, in presenting these sacred plant traditions, you may find guidance to engage in this path with awareness, in the same way I would have wished for myself when I first discovered this practice almost twenty years ago.

May these pages be of service to you, wherever the plants may lead you.

Happy reading
Ben Noah

INTRODUCTION

Gateways to the Divine
Master plants have been used worldwide since time immemorial, in a wide variety of contexts: recreational, ceremonial, or medicinal. The ways of employing them are multiple, and their mode of application profoundly alters their effects and meaning.

When they are used solely to induce altered states of consciousness for mental stimulation or sensory experience, they are often referred to as psychedelics. Although such uses can indeed open perception to spiritual dimensions and offer notable experiences, employing them outside a sacred framework can carry risks.

In non-traditional environments, without the presence of experienced shamans to guide the experience, our consciousness can become spiritually exposed to intense emotional overload, sometimes leading to false beliefs. It takes time and experience to discern the overwhelming — and sometimes subtle — energies that emerge during such “journeys.”

Master plants are reverently called “entheogens” when used in sacred ceremonies or religious contexts. The word entheogen does not only refer to the elevation of consciousness to the spiritual level; it implies the deliberate intention of approaching higher dimensions for entering into communion with the Divine — the “Source.”

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Shamans are the guardians of the ceremonial protocols necessary to obtain permission to enter the worlds of these spirits with respect. For centuries, through ancestral traditions, shamans have communicated with the invisible and navigated the states of consciousness enhanced by the plants — necessary to reach a frequency of elevation that allows alignment with these spirits, who live in direct communion with the Source of Creation in the beyond.

A Highly Advanced Potential for Healing
As a Westerner exploring the territories of shamanism — particularly with Ayahuasca — a true understanding of the process of healing and spiritual learning inevitably involves the discipline of a dietary regimen in order to “properly” receive the energies of the master plants.

A dieta not only purifies the body but also restores access to our full potential, refining our consciousness to a level rarely practiced by ordinary people, allowing us to fully receive the expanded awareness that Ayahuasca opens in both body and mind. This method also makes it possible to access the medicinal knowledge of so-called “Master” plants.

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What sets the Shipibo shamans of Peru apart is that they add other so-called master plants to Ayahuasca, thereby accessing a far greater potential than Ayahuasca alone.

Ayahuasca reveals the nature of the master plants when combined, opening a wider spectrum of possibilities — allowing the use of specific healing techniques and granting access to a broader range of spiritual dimensions.

The addition of master plants deepens the Ayahuasca experience. The new emotions generated by the plants within Ayahuasca give rise to other levels of personal transformation and spiritual awareness, making it possible to reach deeper healing — better accessing the roots of consciousness, the heart, and the soul.

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Entering the Amazonian Plant Traditions
In general, to connect with the spiritual realms through plant-based shamanic practices, one begins with a first Ayahuasca ceremony. This initial encounter can awaken curiosity and raise questions about the experience — often leading to more ceremonies.

Over time, participants weave bonds with other practitioners, building affinities among themselves. As they progress along this path, conversations often shift toward metaphysical topics related to Peru, the maestros of the Shipibo tradition, and the mysteries of master plant dietas.

In these circles, it is common to meet people who share stories of their transformative journeys in the Amazon. They speak with reverence of their experiences, describing how ceremonies in the jungle brought forth striking visions accompanied by authentic traditional icaros mastered by these shamans — opening deeper and more advanced layers of their understanding of the value of the Ayahuasca experience.

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These accounts often emphasize the transcendent nature of such ceremonies in the Amazon, as well as the depth of knowledge and heightened healing potential they offer. And yet, despite the beauty of these testimonies, the most frequently given answer to curious newcomers remains the same: "If you truly want to understand, you must do a dieta with a master plant."

The conclusion always leans toward a single truth: it is a medicine. A truth that can sometimes take several ceremonies to be heard — often because of the overwhelming power of the discoveries made in the experience. Once one becomes somewhat accustomed, by practicing the “dieta” technique, one’s acuity in working with Ayahuasca is refined, and soon one begins to adapt to the subtler visions of other plant spirits.

The dieta is a technique of physical and mental preparation to refine our level of spiritual receptivity to the energetic frequency of the master plants, which are more subtle than Ayahuasca. They greatly help in finding clarity when faced with the questions raised by the first ceremonies. Through the dieta, the plants will guide us in a more personalized way than Ayahuasca alone.

The plants will guide us to heal the soul, often engaged in inner struggle — a soul often buried under a flood of emotions accumulated throughout life. These are the uncomfortable impressions felt quite strongly during the first ceremonies. With some patience and perseverance, these strong emotions will gradually fade over the course of ceremonies, and without even realizing it, the plants will be shaping us to be able to receive ever more advanced secrets.

During a ceremony, shamans sing the icaros. These are the keys to other spiritual realms where the sacred medicines reside — and they can be learned. In truth, the plants prepare us in the hope that we too may one day practice the sacred medicine of the icaros with them, to help humanity.

There are specific words, known only to the Shipibo shamans of the Amazon basin, used to call certain types of highly evolved spirits, allowing one to navigate their advanced spiritual dimensions — dimensions the plants wish to open for us.

But the world of spirits can also be dangerous. Negative entities roam spiritually around these realms we seek, and encountering them can have harmful effects. Caution is necessary. The Shipibo know the spiritual laws that allow one to move through these spheres safely.

What you’ve just read is a threshold...

Beyond this point, all the Shipibo structure will begin to reveal itself in the guide—not as abstraction, but as a spiritual technique who makes it directly accessible in a 120 pages method.

"These experiences are not random, nor are they mere symbolic illusions. They follow precise structures—mapped, preserved, and transmitted across shamanic traditions.
Yet the underlying framework—the one that explains why they happen and how to access them consciously—remains structurally overlooked.
What follows draws from approaches and techniques rarely shared beyond a limited circle of Shipibo practitioners."
Ben Noah

🔓 WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER NEXT?

What will unfold extends beyond prevailing perspectives.

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