Plant Medicine has globalized rapidly in the past couple of decades. Thousands of people are sitting in ceremony and dieting Master Plants for the first time in history. Once an esoteric practice, plant medicine is becoming more and more mainstream. However, a profound education about how to properly engage with these technologies is still lacking. This is where we come in. We are an intercultural team of medicine practitioners and educators whose work is born out of the ancient Shipibo-Konibo practice of samá (or dieta).
Our mission is to share the wisdom of authentic Shipibo-Konibo plant medicine technologies and worldview for practitioners world-wide to engage with this ancient tradition respectfully, ethically, and safely.
Macarena is a Peruvian plant medicine student, artist, SE Therapist, Expressive Arts Facilitator and bridge keeper of the Shipibo-Konibo language. After graduating Harvard College with a degree in Evolutionary Biology, she arrived to Ucayali in 2016 to work with Shipibo communities through the NGO Alianza Arkana. Around the same time, she began learning the Shipibo language with Professor Pakan Meni and started her plant medicine studies with Onanya Manuela Mahua (Jakon Rate). In 2020, during a long-term samá, Macarena received inspiration to share her language abilities, create a musical project, and continue to develop in plant medicine. After concluding her samá, Macarena began partnering with Shipibo-Konibo teachers Pakan Meni and Xawan Rabi, and linguist Brian Best to share the language with the samataibo community. Together they created the Jakon Joi Language Education Initiative to teach the first group modules for beginners. In 2021, she met her partner, Wexa Metsa. In 2022 she joined him at Kushi Master Plant Retreat Center, later they launched Koshi Joi, an advanced Icaro Immersion module for plant medicine students. Today she continues to share Shipibo-Konibo language, medicine and is working on her own art projects.
Wexa Metsa is a Shipibo curandero born in the community of Roaboya, Loreto. His first cup of medicine was with his grandfather Leonardo Inuma at 13 years old and later began dieting with his great aunt, Maestra Olivia Arevalo at the age of 18. After Olivia’s passing, he studied with many other teachers including his father Miguel Lopez, uncle Enrique Lopez, aunt Delicia Arevalo, and even mestizo teachers. Today he leads the Kushi Retreat Center and co-leads the Koshi Nete Online School together with Macarena Arias.
Professor Eli Sánchez (Pakan Meni) is a teacher and a leading expert on the Shipibo-Konibo language. He has worked on many language projects, including primary school textbooks, traditional storybooks, and official translations as a founding member of ARIAP. He offers Shipibo-Konibo language instruction through private lessons and is our main consultant in our online courses.
Mokan Rabi is Wexa Metsa's maternal aunt. She grew up in close contact with plant medicines through her father, a renowned curandero, and has an innate gift when interacting with the plants. She helps us with the development of our online courses.
Eva Melendez (Xawan Rabi) is a secondary education student at the National University of Ucayali (UNU), and artist with the Kené Néte collective. As winner of the Soi Noma contest in 2019, she became a representative of young Indigenous women, and is currently the vice-president of Alianza Arkana. She is a language educator through Jakon Joi.
