The cultural and ecological crisis of the modern world is being recognized by an increasing number of concerned individuals and institutions. Equally, the importance of ensuring the proper survival of indigenous cultures is becoming ever more apparent. The profound loss created by the disappearance of these cultures resonates on multiple levels. It is felt in our collective need for cultural diversity, as well as the way in which the eco-spiritual wisdom cultivated over the millennia of indigenous existence offers a powerful antidote to the general psycho-spiritual malaise experienced within Western culture. Further, their deep epistemological connection with the land and store-houses of practical knowledge in earth-stewardship offer alternative and sustainable methods of interaction with natural resources. In the important domain of medicines, we are only now beginning to appreciate the immense depth of the pharmacological proficiency cultivated by indigenous cultures. In essence, the survival of these peoples and their wisdom is essential not only to the cultural needs of humanity but to the ability to maintain a sustainable future upon our planet.

Within Peru’s northern coastal and highland areas exists a tradition of applied indigenous wisdom that has thrived for millennia, and while still strong, it too faces the inescapable pressures of transformation. Known as curanderismo, this shamanic tradition utilizes the knowledge acquired through its great past to provide individual healing to community members and techniques in maintaining harmony and balance between the human and natural worlds. Reaching forth from the very dawn of Andean civilization, it is a preeminently practical tradition, emphasizing our ability to form and sustain balanced relationships among ourselves and the environment as well as providing time-honored techniques for re-establishing these desired conditions when they are absent. Essentially holistic, the methodology of curing entails the ritual blending of knowledge, cosmology, herbal practice, and visionary experience in its therapy. The final result is the transformative power it communicates through it innate artistry and the dramatic presence of the sacred.

In its current form, Peruvian San Pedro Curanderismo highlights the balanced integration of traditional wisdom and practice within a structure inclusive of change and the specific needs faced by the modern world. Having survived the intricate cultural transformation set into motion by the coming of the conquistadores and the subsequent 500 years of persecution, attempted eradication, and societal assimilation, it is particularly well suited to provide an example of a healthy, robust, and authentic adaptation to the undeniable processes of change undergone by indigenous traditions around the globe. As such it offers both hope and practical wisdom to all peoples concerned about the current moment in global history. Further, we feel that our multi-faceted portrayal of the tapestry woven between the human community and the sacred in Peruvian curanderismo can itself have a transformative stimulus on those to whom it is presented