Amazon Magic: The Life Story of Ayahuasquero & Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez [Paperback]

Jaya Bear (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2000

Amazon Magic tells the life story of Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez, an ayahuaquero, a shaman skilled in the use of ayahuasca, a visionary and healing plant medicine. Told in his own words, Amazon Magic describes incidents from his childhood in a small jungle town beside the Amazon River, and his early and present day experiences with the plant medicine ayahuasca. The book recounts his days of being lost in the remote depths of the jungle which resulted in his living a year with an Indian tribe. This book provides a fascinating look into the cultural life of the Peruvian Amazon as seen through the eyes of someone who is an integral part of this life, and provides a rare insight into the forces that helped shape the life of a profound healer who is now highly regarded in many parts of the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Jaya Bear has created an ethnographic document that reveals an insider's view of the fantastic world of Amazonian shamanism. -- Timothy White, editor Shaman's Drum magazine

Jaya Bear portrays the spirit world of nature, through the warmth and knowledge of Don Rivas -- Brant Secunda, Huichol Shaman and Director of the Dance of the Deer Foundation Center for Shamanic Studies

This beautiful narrative is full of mystery, smells, sounds, and a reality far from the center of our experience. -- Winona La Duke, activist and author of Last Standing Woman

About the Author

Jaya Bear is the founder and director of Puma Shamanic Journeys, which falcilitates journeys and workshops that create opportunities for deep transformative work and life changing experiences. Jaya is an artist, entrepreneur, and organizer and has arranged numerous workshops and large events. For more than three decades, she has worked with spiritual teachers from many traditions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Colibri Pub (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967425506
• ISBN-13: 978-0967425504
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #373,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating look at a true shaman, November 25, 1999

By 

jeff (Denton, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amazon Magic: The Life Story of Ayahuasquero & Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez (Paperback)

I am very pleased to see the life and work of Don Agustin Rivas in print. This man has and continues to lead a remarkable life. Having worked with Don Agustin as a teacher for several years and heard many of the stories, it is good to see that the book remains true to them and captures the heart of Don Agustin's adventures. The book focuses on Don Agustin's personal challenges and accomplishments, but also contains many teachings and wisdom from one who has sacrificed much to be of service to the people and to the Earth. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to know more about ayahuasca shamanism and/or the life of Don Agustin Rivas.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great jungle yarn, September 26, 2000

By 

M. J. Goodman (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Amazon Magic: The Life Story of Ayahuasquero & Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez (Paperback)

Many years on from THE WIZARD OF THE UPPER AMAZON this book is an engaging adventure story of the same time. Endearing frankness ... from multiple sexual adventures to cannibalism ... combine with a fearsome determination to excel in his shamanic world, years of undergoing plant diets (ayahuasca the principle plant medicine but there are many more discussed here) ... all make this man seem oddly trustworthy. The directness of style is nicely free of many literary conventions ... these are Don Agustin's most striking memories, told in a clear way, worked into a book by Jaya Bear. I enjoyed it as a fine adventure story, a great jungle yarn.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! A must-read book!, October 25, 2001

By 

"richard_fuller" (Grand Rapids, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Amazon Magic: The Life Story of Ayahuasquero & Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez (Paperback)

This reviewer delights in learning, especially about people and cultures who can and did make an impact...and natural medicines that have their roots in a period thousands of years ago. So, when author Jaya Bear sent me her book, Amazon Magic, I discovered a wonderful opportunity and biography, as well as a narrative filled with mystery about a totally different reality.

Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez (1933-) was born in Tamshiyacu, Peru, a small jungle town along the Amazon River. What is was to grow up in this totally different (from us) environment...learn to be a shaman...and acquire the skills to use healing plant medicines such as ayahuasca, are the subjects of this fascinating new book.

Amazon Magic enables the reader to walk in the shoes of a shaman and understand his experiences and adventures...and his training and discipline to achieve his widely-regarded status as a profound healer. This reviewer was fascinated by not only plant medicines, but the spirits that reside in the jungle. And how ayahuasca, for instance, can help one see the spirits, and the demons. "Each of us has our demons, and ayahuasca shows them to us so we can face them and heal. Ayahuasca teaches us truth about ourselves".

Author, world traveler, artist and student of many spiritual cultures, Jaya Bear, felt drawn to travel to Peru after her husband died. She met Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez, and has continued to work closely with him since that time.

The result is Amazon Magic, a fascinating look at a culture and individual that have made an impact. Jaya Bear presents this revelation in an easily- read- and- understood fashion that captures Don Agustin's words, love and compassion!