Magic and medicine are inseparable in the world's greatest rain forest. For thousands of years countless herbs and plants have provided remedies and cures for what has ailed mankind. Ancient healing knowledge, gleaned from intimate observation of the natural environment and handed down from generation to generation, rivals if not surpasses the so-called 'discoveries' of the pharmaceutical companies that synthesized the likes of the pill and Viagra.
Early in the morning Kwyra Ka goes into the forest, making his way through the dense vegetation along the trails he knows like the back of his hand. He stops occasionally to pluck an orchid or some berries, to cut a vine or a tender leaf. Kwyra Ka is one of several hundred Kayapo Indians of Gorotire, one of seven villages located deep in the Amazon Forest, south of Parastate. He is a wayang, a sorcerer-healer, a shaman who treats both spiritual and physical illnesses. Kwyra Ka is an expert in combining herbs for his potions. Their preparation may take a few minutes or up to three days, or until Kwyra Ka decides that the colour, smell, or taste are satisfactory.
Kwyra Ka is not a simple herbalist, his knowledge of natural healing methods is in fact combined with an essential spiritual factor he acquired by means of a shaman 'flight' or so-called astral travelling. It is during such spiritual experience that he became 'friends' with certain species of animal spirits, thus learning to communicate with them. Kwyra Ka turns to the spirits whenever someone from his village needs to be cured. It is for this reason that the Kayapo came to believe that every illness is directly connected to an animal.
Darrell Posey
Thomas Kelly
Photography
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