Women & Therapy

ISSN: 0270-3149 (Print) 1541-0315 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wwat20

Indigenous Women of the Amazon Forest: The

Woman Shaman of the Yawanawa Tribe

Nadia Khalil Thalji & Oksana Yakushko

To cite this article: Nadia Khalil Thalji & Oksana Yakushko (2017): Indigenous Women of
the Amazon Forest: The Woman Shaman of the Yawanawa Tribe, Women & Therapy, DOI:
10.1080/02703149.2017.1330916

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2017.1330916

Published online: 07 Jul 2017.

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https://doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2017.1330916

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Indigenous Women of the Amazon Forest: The Woman

Shaman of the Yawanawa Tribe
Nadia Khalil Thaljia,b and Oksana Yakushkob
a
C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco, San Francisco, California; bClinical Psychology Department,
Pacifica Graduate Institute, Carpinteria, California

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Among the most diverse and indigenous areas of the world is Amazonian tribes; female
Latin America, specifically the Amazon river basin and its rain shamans; indigenous
forests. Indigenous tribes and indigenous healing practices from healing
these areas have recently gained more attention and popularity.
However, less is known about experiences of tribal women related
to indigenous practices, including the long-standing legacy of
patriarchal and Christian colonization. This contribution offers the
voice of one of the few known women-shamans in the area:
Hushahu of the Yawanawa tribe. This first full public interview in a
Western publication provides not only a perspective on
indigenous healing, but also on experiences of indigenous tribal
women in light of their history of colonization and oppression.

Introduction
The Amazon basin, specifically the Brazilian rainforests, have held peoples’
imaginations in regard to indigenous “wild others” for many centuries
(Hemming, 2003). The Latin American continent remains the home for an esti-
mated 400 indigenous tribes, many of which maintain distinctly separate cultural
and linguistic practices (Montenegro & Stephens, 2006; Warren, 2001). Struggles
of Brazilian indigenous groups, including those related to control of the land,
rapid de-forestation, “acculturation” diseases such as alcoholism, loss of indigen-
ous knowledge, and social defragmentation that resulted in increased violence
have received some scholarly attention in the West (Garfield, 2001; Hemming,
2003; Warren, 2001). Contemporary Western imagination often fetishizes
indigenous experiences, dismissing the long-standing histories of oppression
and imposition of Western cultural values, including gendered relations.
Women of the Amazon basin are re-entering the practice of shamanism,
which had been denied to them over centuries of colonization. Global
colonialism and Western patriarchy have privileged male authority, which
has become entrenched in indigenous nations (Behar, 2013; Brooke, 1997;
Kellogg, 2005; McClain, 1989; Silverblatt, 1987; Struthers, 2000). The

CONTACT Oksana Yakushko oyakushko@pacifica.edu Clinical Psychology Department, Pacifica Graduate

Institute, 249 Lambert Road, Carpinteria, CA 93013, USA.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/wwat.
© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 N. K. THALJI AND O. YAKUSHKO

traditional Eurocentric portrait of the Americas and their native peoples has
been traditionally laced with prejudice and decidedly patriarchal (Jaffary,
2007; Schlau, 2012). Other historical accounts emphasize conversion of South
Americans to Christianity without questioning its gendered impact. For
example, the Jesuit writings often focused on the importance of conversion
and discipline of “savages,” especially women whose sexuality, healing
capacities, and tribal leadership positions were considered demonic.
Conversion was viewed as not only a challenging task, but vital to the
establishment of their colonies (Viveiros de Castro, 2002). Moreover, these
accounts continually emphasized that the colonizers attempted to change
the mores and practices held by indigenous women of the Brazilian Amazon.
However, Brazilian history is also marked by the immigration and forced
relocation of women from other parts of the world, including Portugal. These
women often integrated indigenous practices into their own lives after
migration (Feldman‐Bianco, 2001). In fact, historians have noted that
European women moved to South America because they faced discrimination
in their homelands based on their involvement with indigenous healing prac-
tices related to their religious affiliations and racial and cultural backgrounds
(Jaffary, 2007; Schlau, 2012). For example, immigration of women from
Europe coincided with vicious witch-hunts that targeted women who were
known for their healing work (Achterberg, 2013; Ehrenreich & English, 2010;
Hearn, 1982; Merchant, 1980; Versluysen, 1980; Witz, 2013). Another group
of women brought to Brazil by force as slaves was women of color, primarily
African women (Arenas, 2003; Lesser, 1999). Treated as goods, these women
were considered merchandise suited to serve men and used for labor (Lesser,
1999). Curanderas’ and rezadores’ (i.e., indigenous terms for traditional healing
practitioners) indigenous healing methods connected to African tribal beliefs
were practiced and continue to be maintained by both White immigrant women
and among the caboclos or mestizos (i.e., non-White ethnic groups) in Brazil
(Virtanen, 2012), although they are mostly viewed as witchcraft. For example,
Labate and Cavnar’s (2014) edited contributions review multiple anthropologi-
cal studies which described the practice of healing among older women, calling
them “sorceresses” and “witches,” but noted that women were never permitted
to become shamans or participate in social and ritual ceremonies.
As noted, historical accounts point to many ancient rituals among tribal
Brazilians which focused on honoring women’s experiences, including through
symbols specific to women (e.g., umbilical cord) as well as many myths which
featured women in positions of authority (von den Steinen, 1966). Although
evidence exists suggesting that pre-Christianized and pre-colonized societies
had more equal gender relations, post-colonization adopted patriarchal sys-
tems that had an enormous impact on how women were treated (Arenas,
2003; McDonnell & De Lourenco, 2009). Both slaves and Indigenous Indian
women were exploited, especially through hard work in agriculture in Brazil,
 WOMEN & THERAPY 3

whether on plantations or in rainforests (Arenas, 2003; McDonnell & De

Lourenco, 2009). Domestic violence and submission were an integral part of
life for many women during this time period (Lesser, 1999).
Furthermore, Picchi (2003) argued that gender constructs among the
indigenous communities, such as the Bakairi Indians in Brazil, were deeply
influenced by contact with Europeans. Picchi (2003) compared female gender
roles before and after the contact with Europeans and found that the
patriarchal European structure marginalized the indigenous tribal women.
Among the changes, which the scholar noted, were loss of autonomy,
restrictions on occupying leadership positions, and loss of sexual freedom.
Moreover, in many tribes, shamanic practice became restricted to men
(Gailey, 1987; Etienne & Leacock, 1980; Silverblatt, 1987). Other scholars also
showed that, among indigenous tribal women, older women often held roles
as leaders and healers, but that colonization actively diminished their stature
and involvement in tribal lives (Petrullo, 1932).
Thus, according to scholars such as von den Steinen (1966), many indigen-
ous tribes of the Amazon region adhered to a social order that would be best
described as either matrifocal or matriarchal. For example, in many tribes, the
children, including sons, belonged to the tribe of the mother, and women held
the power in terms of marriage and divorce choices. Petrullo (1932) also
found that the responsibility for raising children was shared equally by
women and men, a characteristic contrary to most patriarchal social norms.
However, the intrusion of rubber tapping of the Amazon’s rainforest
resulted in women being relegated to secondary status due to work opportu-
nities and transportation being granted only to male tribal members, thus also
removing women from means of production, new modes of living, and from
contributing to the growth of the economy (Petrullo, 1932). In addition, forc-
ible removal of women and children by non-indigenous authorities became
one of the key ways to control indigenous tribal compliance with economic
and political demands (McDonnell & De Lourenco, 2009). Thus, despite
women’s significant role in the indigenous society historically, colonization
and contemporary gender relations resulted in exclusion of women from lead-
ership, including positions as healers or shamans (Picchi, 2006). When agents
from the National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), the Brazilian governmental
body that establishes and carries out policies relating to indigenous peoples,
contacted the tribes, most of the relations were established with men only
because they claimed that indigenous women did not speak Portuguese
(FUNAI, 2017). The agency also justified their actions to exclude indigenous
women by highlighting that indigenous women were often married by age of
15 or earlier, had no access to education, and had never had contact with
anyone from outside the reservation (McDonnell & De Lourenco, 2009).
These patterns of gender relations have persisted throughout colonization
history toward contemporary times (McDonnell & De Lourenco, 2009). More
4 N. K. THALJI AND O. YAKUSHKO

recently, the exposure to tourism and technology has brought about another
Western influence on indigenous practices (Hemming, 2003; Warren, 2001).
However, much of this scholarly focus continued to be placed on male tribal
leaders in relation to male colonizers or employers.
Awareness of contemporary indigenous women as healers in this region has
been recent, considering that women were erased from history by colonizing
historians and politicians (Behar, 2013; Brooke, 1997; Kellogg, 2005; McClain,
1989; Silverblatt, 1987; Struthers, 2000). In this contribution, we honor and
highlight Hushahu, who became the first known female paje, or shaman, in
the Yawanawa tribe. Her interview supports growing assertions that in recent
decades, the social power of indigenous women in the Brazilian Amazon has
expanded (Virtanen, 2009). Contemporary indigenous women use terms such
as “sisterhood,” which especially includes the understanding and sharing of
women’s intergenerational knowledge and experiences, noting the growing
awareness and collaboration of indigenous women leaders (Lindberg, 2004).

Hushahu: A Female Indigenous Voice in the Brazilian Rainforest

The path to shamanism for either males or females in many indigenous tribes
is tremendously challenging, reflecting the significance of this position. The
following account is based on one of the first granted interviews with a female
shaman of the Yawanawa indigenous tribe. The interview reflects a recent
change among the Yawanawas toward greater inclusion of women in tribal
leadership. After being approached by the first author of this study, who
has worked with tribal peoples of Brazil, Hushahu Yawanawá, a member of
the Yawanawa tribe in the southwestern Amazon, agreed to give an interview
about her journey as the first known woman in the Amazon to become a
shaman. The Yawanawa tribe is located at the Gregorio River in the Brazilian
Amazon, in close proximity to Acre in Brazil, which is situated between Peru
and Bolivia. Yawanawa tribal lands can only be reached by an approximately
7-hour journey by boat from the closest city in the state of Acre.
As a researcher, I (Nadia) had heard stories about Hushahu through environ-
mentalists working with indigenous peoples of the Brazilian rainforest. I initially
met Hushahu’s brother, Tashkha, and his wife, Laura, in 2015. I learned from
them that they both played an important part in Hushahu’s decision to undergo
her initiatory experience in becoming a shaman. I was fascinated with
Hushahu’s story, having spent time with indigenous peoples from the Amazon
forest and working with diverse indigenous leaders fostering peace-building and
cultural diversity. At the time of the interview, I had lived in Brazil for
approximately 30 years since my parents’ relocation to Brazil from the Middle
East. My own background as an immigrant and as an outsider, as well as my
own profound interest in indigenous forms of knowledge and healing, became
instrumental in my subsequent involvement in work in this area.
 WOMEN & THERAPY 5

A series of synchronistic events contributed to my encounter with the

Yawanawa peoples. I reached out to Hushahu via social media. I introduced
myself, described my background and interests, and asked for permission to
speak with her. I felt very honored and surprised when she responded by
letting me know that she listened to her energetic response to my request,
connected spiritually to me as a person, and expressed that she was called
for the first time to share her story. At the end of the interview, Hushahu
chanted or prayed and re-stated that she granted the interview because, in
her words, “I felt your energy from far. I can feel people” (see Figure 1).
The interview was held via Skype in Portuguese (with the first author, who
is fluent in Portuguese), which is Hushahu’s second language, and lasted
approximately 90 minutes. Translation of the interview was also conducted
by the first author and corroborated with Hushahu’s family members, who
are bilingual (fluent in both Portuguese and English). The Yawanawa’s tribal
language belongs to the Pano linguistic group of Western Amazonia, although
most of the indigenous peoples of Brazil of Hushahu’s generation are bilingual
(i.e., tribal and Portuguese language speakers).

Figure 1. The return from initiation: Hushahu in ceremony - Community healing.

6 N. K. THALJI AND O. YAKUSHKO

At the time of the interview, Hushahu was spending some time in the city of
Curitiba in Brazil, hosted by the family of her current husband. She shared her
background, “I was born and raised in the tribe, only now at the age of 37 that
I got married to a white person… . I am now staying for a while in the city until
I organize myself to return to the tribe. It is very difficult for me to adapt…to
the city. It’s still very new for me.” She also shared that her current husband is
also a shamanic apprentice: “He is a strong student of shamanic practices.”

Different Modes of Knowing in the Yawanawa’s Cosmology

According to Hushahu, in the Yawanawa tradition, women did not have
access to the shamanic practices, including ceremonies that are held with
the use of medicinal plants. Only men were able to participate in the ceremon-
ies. In other words, they were led by men, for men. Hushahu, like other
indigenous tribal leaders, recognized that since colonial times, aspects of
healing and leadership were engendered and limited to a male dominant role.
Specifically, the role of the paje or shaman was viewed as only open to a few
chosen men that were initiated through the ‘dieta.’ Like other tribal indigen-
ous practices, Yawanawa’s view the ‘dieta’ as a probation period that lasts for a
year or more, carried out by the individual called to the shamanic path. This
person must live in the deep rain forest in isolation, only visited by the
assigned elder from whom the apprentice receives the spiritual teachings.
The apprentice shaman must undergo a series of initiations, which includes
the use of medicinal plants. During the ‘dieta,’ according to tribal practice,
the apprentice shaman must survive the challenges of food and water restric-
tions, isolation from communal living, celibacy, immersion into the rites and
use of medicinal plants, and drinking the saliva of the jiboia snake, considered
to be the most sacred animal in the Yawanawas cosmology. Hushahu, called
to this path, spoke about the deep personal meaning for her of this profound
initiation: “I placed in my heart freedom for my self. To make my own story,
now. And make my own path.”
Hushahu highlighted that her path to shamanism as a woman has never
happened before among her people and other tribes in the Amazon. She
shared that women in her tribe “were about having many kids. They would
marry a man that had 3, 4, 5, 8, 15, 20… women [as wives] and, women
had to just have many children…cook and take care of home. Men worked
but also… they had the right to everything…the medicine and everything.”
Thus, the role of tribal women, Hushahu highlighted, was mainly to “take care
of the house environment, the children. Men had freedom for everything: to
work on the spiritual realm, to have medicine plants and to the ‘dieta.’”
Hushahu shared that at the age of 26, she became the first woman to undergo
the ‘dieta’ and become a paje or shaman. Her ‘dieta’ lasted 13 months, which she
described as an extremely challenging period almost leading to her death. She
 WOMEN & THERAPY 7

acknowledged that only through following this near-death life-threatening path

was she able to develop a capacity to practice ‘pajelanca:’ healing practices
performed by pajes (shamans), curandeiros (traditional indigenous healers),
and rezadores (sorcerers or witches) in Western and Southwestern Amazonia.

Early Call to the Shamanic Path

The path to shamanism was profoundly challenging for Hushahu, specifically
because she was a woman. Hushahu shared, “My story is a story that was very
challenging for me…since the beginning… when I awakened to the interest of
studying with the elders.” She indicated that her first marriage to another
tribal member occurred when Hushahu was eight years old. When asked
during the interview if this was a common practice, Hushahu said “Yes, in
my tradition it was a very common practice, nowadays it’s not …after the
rupture of all that had happened,” referring to the changes that occurred in
her tribe after she was initiated into ‘pajelanca.’
She further described, “I married at the age of 8 and left my parents’ home.
At the age of 10, I had my first child.” At the age of 14, Hushahu realized, “in
my heart, I felt as if my spirit of woman…grew inside of me…as if I awakened
from a dream and saw that I had a child at the age of 10.” Hushahu was visibly
emotional and distressed during our interview as she shared the challenges
of motherhood at such an early age. She spoke of mourning her own lost
childhood and her near death experience at the age of 10: “My breast grew
with my belly… I could not bear anymore to carry a child in my belly.
I almost died delivering and giving birth … I was blind and lost memory.
I passed through very challenging times.” Hushahu shared that the birth of
her second child, “this time a girl,” made her realize that she did not want
her daughter to go through the same trauma: “At the age of 12, 13, 14,
something awakened inside of me… when I saw this, I told myself I
cannot…allow this to happen to my daughter in the future.”
As a teenager, Hushahu started questioning tribal practices, especially as they
related to what she perceived as White male and colonial influences. She shared,
“This was a discovery. When I looked to the father of my children, I felt anger and
rebelled…I separated immediately. I did not want to be married anymore and
started to become very rebellious.” She indicated that at this time, she became
interested in learning the shamanic practices from the elders and started question-
ing why women could not have access to the “mysteries.” Hushahu wondered,
I still don’t know why, I was very…I think I was about 15 or 16 years old when I
started to be very interested, wanting to get closer to the elders and find out about
what had happened in the past. Because, I think you know…what happened
with our people…with the missionaries, with the “patroes” [dominant culture
males] and everything. How my people were at that time, already losing all the tra-
ditions, the chants, the language.
8 N. K. THALJI AND O. YAKUSHKO

The ‘patroes’ or dominant culture males at the time were the employers of
many men in the tribe, hiring them for rubber tapping. Thus, Hushahu
described her awareness of not only the oppressive gender conditions she
experienced, but also how these conditions were based on and perpetuated
by economic and social invasion of non-tribal, male missionaries from past
generations as well as employers contemporary to her.

A Woman’s Path to Becoming a Shaman

To become a paje, Hushahu faced what she perceived as significant
gender-based discrimination. Hushahu shared the pain of hearing community
accusations that she was “insulting the ancestors” by attempting to become a
paje. Her decision to become a shaman resulted in being abandoned by her
husband and the reality that “people ridiculed me.” Hushahu’s mother begged
her not to proceed on her quest because of fears that Hushahu would die from
the challenge of the initiatory experience. In Hushahu’s words, other tribal
members believed that “in the Yawanawa’s tradition, women cannot have
the medicine.”
She received vocal reprimands and warnings from males in her tribe.
Hushahu’s husband was openly against her entering the period of “dieta.”
Her father also openly spoke against her search. In addition, Hushahu shared
that the elder “Tata,” a knowledgeable and respected tribal paje, did not accept
her interest in becoming a shaman: “The elders did not want me to get close
to them because this is not part of the tradition.”
Hushahu reflected on struggling with her decision, but also her questioning
of the common wisdom because of her own deep calling to the path. She
remembered,
When I started to get close to the elders to learn what the teachings are about. What is
this force that men do not let women get close to? Why? What is the unknown that may
have women die? Because at the time, they said that women could not have medicine.

Hushahu indicated that her support came from her brother—Joaquim

Tashka Yawanawa (all names used with permission)—one of the Yawanawás
leaders, who returned to his tribe after having studied in the United States.
Hushahu shared,
He went there to study and met Laura… and with her, he met several other tribes
with shaman women… And how women also had this “force” in them … when he
returned to Brazil and went back to live in the tribe. And all he had seen in the U.S.
and other peoples … and returned very inspired to discover how.

Thus, it was the support of a leader, a man, and a relative in her tribe,
someone exposed to women’s indigenous leadership and shamanic traditions
that embraced women, that gave Hushahu an opportunity to pursue her own
deeply felt calling toward becoming a paje.
 WOMEN & THERAPY 9

Hushahu’s entrance into leadership as a woman was not the only one in her
tribe. Her sister—Mariazinha Naiweni Yawanawa—became the first
Yawanawa to take a tribal leadership role as Hushahu’s support in preparation
for and carrying out the ‘dieta.’ Without such support, shamanic apprentices,
especially while living in isolation in the forest and facing tremendous psy-
chospiritual transformations, cannot survive. Hushahu’s sister, Mariazinha,
became her active supporter because, in Hushahu’s words, “she was proud
of me.” Later, Hushahu’s mother also resisted tribal condemnations and
became involved in Hushahu’s initiation. Lastly, Hushahu’s other sister,
Raimunda Putani Yawanawa, also joined her in the forest to offer her support
and care, which was vital to Hushahu’s process.
Hushahu also named another woman who was significant to her decision-
making: Laura Soriano Yawanawa, a Mexican indigenous tribe member of the
Mixteco and Sapoteco ethnicity, who was married to Hushahu’s brother.
Laura graduated with degree in anthropology and international relations from
a U.S. college. After relocating to Brazil, Laura became the coordinator of
social and economic projects for the Yawanawa people. Hushahu recalled
the following dialogue with Laura:
Laura: Do you have the dream? And what is it?
Hushahu: My dream is to go through the ‘dieta’ and study the medicine, know
what it is, what’s in it.
Laura: Why don’t you do that?
Hushahu: Because the shamans in my tribe and my parents and the people will
not accept.
Laura: If that’s what you want, we will help you.

Therefore, it was not only through her own determination, but through the
support of many others, especially women in her family, and with time, her
father and the eldest shaman, Tata, that Hushahu was not only able to make
a decision to pursue her path, but also to carry out the intensity of her
initiation in becoming a shaman.

Process of Entering the ‘Dieta’

Hushahu discussed the importance of preparation for her initiation. She
recalled her father saying:
You’ll die or live. This medicine is very sacred. One year without water, no sweet,
no salt, no meat, you cannot get close to men, no sex and will be isolated in the
forest for a year, no matter what happens. Do you want this?

She recalled saying with her full heart: “Yes, I want this.” Facing many
prohibitions, anger, and sadness from her family, Hushahu recalled:
“I thought… if I die, at least I will die trying … but if I live, I’ll be able to bring
something for women.” Thus, in large part, her personal calling was also
10 N. K. THALJI AND O. YAKUSHKO

motivated by a larger calling on behalf of other women in her tribe. She also
recalled many fears of the unknown, but was focused on contributions she
could make if she was able to complete her ‘dieta:’ “I did not want to think
what would happen to me inside of the forest in isolation, I wanted to think
about what would happen after I returned. What I will bring.” It was her con-
nection to herself as a woman and to other women that she believed enabled
her initiation in a place, “where I would not be able to hear dogs barking, and
children screaming, no… only the birds singing and silence…the wind…only
the sounds of the forest.”
Hushahu shared that most people in her tribe believed that the ‘dieta’ was
“too strong” for women or that as a woman, she would die because she
attempted to break the gender taboo. Her mother insisted that Hushahu
would die because her chosen path “did not exist” in their tradition for
women, to which Hushahu replied, “everything can be changed [ … ] one
can change one’s destiny.” In contrast, Hushahu used connection to her early
life trauma as a girl to focus herself on her goal: “I had in my heart that if I did
not die after all I had lived as a child…that I would not die from the medicine.
Didn’t matter…life or death…but I need to search for something that brings
me clarification of what…what is going to happen.”

The Power of ‘Dieta’ Experience

The initiation experience of the ‘dieta’ was described by Hushahu, just as by
other shamans of this tradition, as profound and life changing. It draws on
indigenous connection to Nature and the land, its plants, and creatures. It also
relies on the profound inner transformation of the person seeking to
become a shaman, including through dreams and other liminal experiences.
Connection to forces greater than oneself are viewed as essential. For example,
Hushahu, who was required to imbibe the saliva of a rare, dangerous, river
snake called jiboia, shared, “When I saw the jiboia, I asked for the force of
spirituality, that it would bring me the inspirations of paintings [inner
visions]” (see Figure 2). Embodied or physical experience was central.
Hushahu described that after a month in the rain forest, she “was feeling very
sensitive…feeling my spirit, my body.”
Following the ‘dieta,’ Hushahu used different medicinal plants, which
often induced profound states of fear. Here is an example of how she
described her transformation in the forest that not only seemed to have led
her to experience the Divine presence in the female form, but also to
recognize that women’s voices must re-enter the tribal ritual experiences
(see Figures 3 and 4):
I fell on my knees on the ground [earth] and started crying a lot and sobbing. On
the tree [bark], I had drawn the visions of what I had seen… I saw [things in]
paintings. When I opened my eyes, where I had drawn my visions, there was a
 WOMEN & THERAPY 11

butterfly named Yawana. Very beautiful. When I got close [to her], she opened her
wings … I was in the Force [with Divine]… .I saw a woman, a woman with blue
wings…beautiful hair, lots of hair, with her hands open. The sun at her feet. I
did not see the sun on her hands or head, but at her feet. It illuminated her feet.
Everything …all the space that she inhabited … and I saw the moon on her head
instead of the sun. I saw on her hands many stars. I thought, God …I am seeing
the force of women. What will happen? She flew away and I started to draw the
image that I saw of women with the wings of a butterfly. In the moment that I drew
the butterfly with the force of women, she brought me the voice. Because our
chantings that were already being lost, forgotten, people would not pay attention
to Tata [the eldest male tribal Shaman] chanting anymore. His voice is quite
different so I had to change the voice, not only chant like men do, but bringing
the voice of women.

Several of Hushahu’s paintings from her indigenous shamanic journey

are shared throughout this contribution, highlighting both women’s ways
of shamanic knowing and shamanic healing in her becoming a tribal healer.
Among the primary ways of attending to spiritual transformation was to
listen to dreams and to record their content, including in her paintings.
The dreams, Hushahu indicated, were specifically connected to nature.
She emphasized that this internal spiritual presence of nature through her
own experiences, especially dreams and visions during rites, seemed to
exemplify the indigenous practices. During the interview, Hushahu chanted,
“Vari is the sun” and shared that with her initiation, “dreams started to
open, in the dreams came the spirits, the force of water, of everything,
everything that before I was not able to see, before being in the ‘dieta’.”

Figure 2. Initiation: “Jiboia - The force of spirituality and inspiration.”

12 N. K. THALJI AND O. YAKUSHKO

Figure 3. Initiation: Yawanawa dreams.

Figure 4. Initiation: “Yawana- The force of women.”

 WOMEN & THERAPY 13

She described developing a deep attention to the life of the rainforest from
its sounds to all its beings as a process of re-connection with herself:
“To connect with the forest that is my own spirit, my life.” It was only
through this transformative, life-threatening, and spiritually intensive
experience that she was able to tap into the mysteries and teachings ascribed
to shamans: “I started… to understand the language and see all the
movement of the water and started to bring the force [for using it]… To
use as protection.”
Lastly, it seemed that her experience in the rainforest helped her connect
to profoundly human, existential perspectives on life. She recalled becoming
aware that “the forest is very dark…Many animals. Some make you
cry…they are the animals of sadness, of death. Others are of joy and
blessings. Then the thunders and lightening, the rain…you see spirits.”
Hushahu’s own sheer will to survive was with her at every moment, she
explained. She described continually telling herself, the forest, and the spirits,
“I don’t want to die,” and being assisted in her journey by her connection
with living creatures of the land as well as her own continual connection
to visions and dreams.

Return from the ‘Dieta’

To achieve her goals, Hushahu followed the ‘dieta’ requirements closely. The
ending of this probationary period before becoming a shaman was marked by
a specific significant event, which Hushahu described as, “the most important
moment of my life.” Upon her re-joining the tribe, Hushahu brought
paintings she had created based on her visions as well as a variety of seeds
she had collected in the forest for ritual jewelry. She also introduced chantings
for healing. Hushahu became the first woman in centuries of tribal history to
not only participate in ceremonies, from which women were previously
excluded, but to lead them and to offer healing. Her return was prompted
by an increase in illnesses among tribal members. During this initial phase,
she had to keep her face covered, especially her eyes, because she was “coming
from another world.”
However, these transitions have not been without challenges, specifically
based on her gender. For example, one of the controversies that indigenous
women became involved with was related to natural birth for indigenous
women from the Yawanawa tribe. In Brazil, young indigenous women,
like most other non-indigenous women, give birth in hospital settings,
typically involving a Cesarean operation. When indigenous women began
to seek natural forms of birth with the help of the tribal midwives, who
were not shamans, indigenous men decried their exclusion from birthing
procedures. Hushahu, as a shaman and as a woman-healer, became
involved in the cross-section of these difficult social challenges facing many
14 N. K. THALJI AND O. YAKUSHKO

indigenous women. Her involvement includes service to her tribal

community in all individual and collective spiritual healing efforts (see
Figures 5 and 6).

Figure 5. Hushahu’s rite - Honoring women.

Figure 6. A ritual following Hushahu’s return from the ‘dieta.’

 WOMEN & THERAPY 15

Primary Researcher’s Own Experience with Indigenous

Healing in Brazil
My (NKT) personal interest in exploring aspects of Brazilian indigenous
cosmologies has to do with my experience living in Brazil among native
people that still carry on the culture of oral tradition. I have been interested
in healing practices that incorporate rituals and the use of medicinal plants
over a long period of time. Moreover, I found that although women were
not central to shamanic or tribal leadership, it was women who often held
on to symbolic resources and oral histories central to their community’s
health. For example, it was women who carried out the collection of native
plants, which are used in the healing of the whole individual, whether spiritual
or physical. While women have been excluded from participation in rituals
and ceremonies, women also embody a connection to what many indigenous
people see as the grounding Force. I have been interested in the role of ances-
tors and their influence on the health of tribal peoples. With and from them, I
learned about the holistic worldview, in which the physical, spiritual, and
psychological are always interconnected. I have witnessed the ability of the
Shaman to connect with the ancestors and experience their manifestations
as guidance toward tribal community’s equilibrium. In my own life, I practice
attunement with the natural world and view it as an essential part of
humanity’s wealth and responsibility to preserve. I have found indigenous
ways of knowing and healing to provide an important link between all aspects
of the living world, whether human or not.

Conclusion
Indigenous women’s ways of knowing and healing may be spontaneously
rising around the world, which has experienced the impact of patriarchal
colonization and imperialism for a long time. We are profoundly honored
and grateful to Hushahu for her generous and open contribution to this issue
and her willingness to share her experience as a woman-healer for the first
time. Her story reminds us of the value of non-Western approaches not only
to healing, but the intensity of preparation for such a path, especially for a
shaman. Moreover, her story highlights the continued struggle of women to
be recognized for their capacity to heal, to lead, and to be the mediator
between the Divine and the human.
However, we are wary of Western fascination with indigenous healing,
equating it to quick, happiness-focused processes. Indigenous women’s
narratives must be viewed as culturally rooted to uncover their inherit
meanings or to examine their applicability to individuals from other cultures
(Tummala-Narra, 2014). Hushahu’s story is so important because it
provides a rare opportunity to glimpse into the lives and healing practices
of indigenous women who live primarily outside of Western norms.
16 N. K. THALJI AND O. YAKUSHKO

Tuhiwai Smith (1999) argued that the need to decolonize gender among
indigenous peoples is a major issue that should be addressed in contemporary
research, including in Western feminist debates. She critiques Western
paradigms of knowing and researching because of their destructive effect of
colonization. Smith (1999) specifically proposed a “decolonization” of
research methodologies with indigenous peoples – which we hope that this
narrative presentation accomplished, even if to a small degree, in offering a
space for an indigenous woman in her own words and on her own terms.
We also hope that Hushahu’s initiation continues to foster a generation of
women-apprentices not only among the Yawanawas, but also among other
indigenous peoples in the Amazon forest. Her visible presence, we believe,
may be a marker in ending the exclusion of women from ritual healing and
ceremonial practices (Fernandez, 2014). Okazaki, David, and Abelmann
(2008) suggested that historical forces always shape not only how cultural
differences are experienced, but also how they are perceived, following the
impact of colonialism, including in the discipline and practice of psychology.
We hope that the social dynamics of power engendered in tribal peoples of the
Amazon, maintaining the long-standing impact of colonization, continue to be
questioned in regard to the oppression of women and children. As Hushahu
highlighted, tribal women and girls are being controlled not only by being kept
from positions of cultural leadership, but also because of practices of early
marriage and birth. Just as human rights should always reflect women’s rights,
we hope that indigenous rights always include the rights of tribal women and
girls. In this, we are grateful for pioneering women like Hushahu.

Acknowledgment
This article is dedicated to Tatá Txanou, Hushahu’s spiritual mentor and Yawanawa’s healer.
His life ended at the age of 103, but will be remembered for his work to guide his people as well
as to share about indigenous life, including through his book of traditional children stories.

“Tatá Txanou Agora Brilha do Alto (Tatá Txanou Now Shines from Above)”

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