If you’ve clicked around our site, or looked through our telegram group, you’ve undoubtedly seen photos of us wearing Yawanawá regalia, including cocars (feather crowns). Let’s take a moment to dispel any potential misunderstanding surrounding this topic.
The reality is, we simply would not have any of these items if the Yawanawá did not want us to have them.
The feather crowns that we wear were received in prayerful reciprocity, directly from members of the Yawanawá tribe of Brazil — and were given with clear permission and blessing.
For us, these feathers represent a living, ongoing relationship with the Yawanawá. The Yawanawá have chosen to open their tradition to non-indigenous people, and within the context of their spiritual diets and ceremonies, the Yawanawá encourage students of the tradition to wear their ceremonial regalia for protection and spiritual alignment.
That said, we don’t wear these crowns as a performance or to suggest any kind of status.
We’re not pretending to be shamans. We’ve never called ourselves that and never will.
We wear the feather crowns we have received with great humility and respect, and to connect to the Yawanawá tradition, through which we have received many spiritual gifts and realizations. And we continue to be in active reciprocity with the culture they come from. (More on that here)
Matsini Yawanawa, the chief and Pajé of the village of Mutum, addressed this issue directly while Sam was in Mutum dieting with him:
“Everyone wears a feather crown these days. It doesn’t mean you’re a Pajé.”
In their tradition, the title of Pajé (shaman) isn’t something anyone can claim — it’s a title that is earned through direct demonstration of one’s ability to heal others. It’s a title that is given by the people based on their recognition of the person’s spiritual capacity.
The first time Sam went to the jungle to study and diet with the Yawanawá, he observed non-indigenous people wearing feather crowns. Over the course of the month he spent there, he began to understand the openness of the Yawanawá people.
He heard stories of some of their prophecies that speak to a great alliance between the Yawanawá and the people of the modern world. He observed, and directly received, the immense generosity of the Yawanawá.
And he began to understand that for them, how you appear and what you own is actually of very little importance. That spirituality, family, good food, and connection to nature are the highest forms of wealth.
And lastly we’ll share this: The Yawanawá love to dress up for ceremony. And so do we! It’s a sign of respect for the tradition, and for the medicine itself. It’s like wearing your best suit to church.
