Teresa Shiki, Shuar Herbalist
A Shaman in Our Gardens

This summer, the entire Clef des Champs team was captivated by a tiny charismatic woman brimming with inner strength. The gardens danced to an Amazonian beat for six weeks. Even the temperature, hot and humid, played the part. It was exactly what we needed to get into a rainforest mood. All that was missing were the parrots, toucans, monkeys and snakes…

Teresa is an herbalist who lives in Puyo, Ecuador, in the heart of the Amazon jungle. She is president of the Omaere foundation, whose goal is to contribute to the study of diversity, ethnobotany, conservation and valorization of Aboriginal traditions www.fundacionomaere.org. Her people, the Shuar Indians, are one of the Amazonian cultures to hold out the longest against colonization. The members of this group are also called Jivaros, fearless warriors who shrunk the heads of their enemies to keep the spirit of the deceased from returning to seek vengeance. These rituals have not been practiced in many years, but the Shuar have retained a forest people’s pride and courage.

Teresa had long dreamed of coming to share her knowledge of herbs (passed down orally from her grandmother to her mother and then her) and to discover different herbalism techniques. Considered sacred, herbs are part of her everyday life, allowing her to live in harmony with the forest. The team was thrilled that she came to fulfill her dream at Clef des Champs.

Upon first entering the gardens, she exchanged her machete for a hoe and pruning shears and headed off to weed the terraces, bursting with energy and enthusiasm. This woman is tireless and never stops smiling. It’s remarkable. Thankfully, the language barrier was not an obstacle. We all managed to understand one another and shared many moments of complicity and laughter. Teresa learned to harvest medicinal flowers and told us how she harvests vines and bark, like curare and sangre de drago. She marvelled at the power of nature and could not understand how our beautiful plants could go into dormancy during the long winter. She explained how she prepares her traditional decoctions and was fascinated by the making and packaging of salves and the maceration and pressing of extracts. She took notes to be able to apply our technique to her practice.

No one will forget the afternoon when, in the midst of picking catnip, Teresa began singing the sacred song Shuar women offer up to Mother Earth (anent). What a magical and unforgettable moment! “O time, hold still…” Teresa left Quebec at the end of August, taking beautiful images and the memory of new experiences with her.  We will always treasure this energy-filled exchange and the pleasure of having had this authentic and unforgettable experience.