Online Library
The Takiwasi Center has a library specialized in traditional medicines, which holds a fund of more than 6,000 books, 2,000 articles and 300 audio-visual elements mainly related to the fields of ethnomedicine, indigenous spirituality, psychology, anthropology, drug addictions and botany. It is a unique resource for national and international researchers who have free access to it. Takiwasi's resident patients also benefit from its contents.
Takiwasi also has a collection of digital documents which includes a wide variety of books and articles related to medicinal plants, spirituality and psychology, among other topics. These contents, accessible through our website, are organized according to three classification groups: Articles produced by Takiwasi, Documents of general interest and Theses and research works carried out by national and international students and researchers.
The Center also develops its own editorial line that has several magazines, documentaries and books that are available for sale in our Store, whether in physical or digital format.
Featured Article
Participant experiences of icaros during a traditional medicine ceremony at the Takiwasi Center
Author: Maya Sherwin, Fabio Friso, Jorg Fachner, Matteo Politi.
Abstract
Musico-healing practices play a key role in indigenous and mestizo traditional medicine in the Amazon. The curative songs or icaros used by the curanderos (traditional healers) of the Peruvian Upper Amazon are administered alongside the psychoactive plant decoction ayahuasca in ritual settings. This Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis examines musical experiences of 6 participants attending an ayahuasca ritual for personal and spiritual development at the Takiwasi Center in Peru in 2018. Findings offer pointers towards a neurophenomenology of musico-healing experiences with ayahuasca, suggesting that the conjunction of icaros and ayahuasca may contribute to psycho-neurobiological mechanisms of healing such as self-referential processing, decentering, and facilitating access to beneficial introspective/meditative states. The study offers a medical ethnomusicological contribution to the phenomenological mapping of musico-healing experiences of Amazonian curative songs under the altered state of consciousness (ASC) produced by ayahuasca.
Links of Interest
Further documents of interest can be found on the following websites:
- CISEI, Inter-American Council on Indigenous Spirituality - Chapter Argentina.
- Virtual Health Library, of the Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine Network.
- Natura & Psique, non-profit cultural association whose activities are directed to the recovery of the deep soul through animistic participation to Nature.
- Asociación GASS , to recover, with freedom, all that has been useful and important for the health care and the environment through science, art and human spirituality.
- NEIP , Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies, to promote joint reflection on the topic.
- Amerindia, Catholic network of religious persons with an ecumenical spirit and open to dialogue and interreligious cooperation with other institutions.
- Prodiversitas Colombia , NGO committed to the defense and ecological interconnection of biological, social and cultural diversity.
- Revista Cultura y Droga, presents scientific articles and information on research and experiences concerning the cultural applications of entheogens and other psychoactive substances.
- El Orejiverde, newspaper of the indigenous peoples, Argentina.
- Periódico Pukara, culture, society and politics of the original peoples, Bolivia.
- Revista Peripheria, projects of art and culture for sustainability, Peru.
- Visión Chamánica, magazine on health and shamanism, Colombia.
- Amazônia Real, pethical and investigative journalism, dedicated to the issues of the Amazon.
- IBC Documentation Center, source of specialized information on the environment, the Amazon and indigenous peoples.
- Digital library Caribbean, Amazonia, plateau of Guyanas.
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