Vegetalistas

   Shamans of the upper Amazon who are inspired and helped by ayahuasca and chakruna, plants that are considered to be shamanic persons in their own right (see Animism). Although the colorful and dramatic art that has become famous in recent decades draws attention to the visionary results of shamanic ingestion of these plants, they are also significant as enablers of communication between shamans and significant other-than-human persons. The paintings of Pablo Amaringo, for example, are often more famous than his assertion that ayahuasca enables him to hear Amazonian trees weeping as they are cut down.