"You cannot enter the world of spirits while remaining silent."
- mestizo shaman
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Plant Spirits and Songs
of the Amazon
Icaros
Icaros are obtained through apprenticeship, once learned they can be performed in a ritual setting and used as inter-species communication. The songs embody the healing properties from the plants of which they are associated with. The knowledge, number, and quality of icaros dictates the amount of power the singer has, and produces real effects in the physical world.
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The power of icaros
Through magic chants and melodies, the singer is able to invite the spirits to show themselves and can use the icaros whenever the singer needs them.
"The spirits of the plants will appear [to the initiate] in his dreams to teach him ‘icaros’, magic songs, with the help of which he can perform different activities, such as curing specific diseases, reinforcing the action of medicinal plants, calling special guardian spirits to assist him, attracting game or fish, causing a rival shaman to fall asleep, or attracting the attention or love of a woman."
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The Privileged Sense
For icaro singers in the Amazon, mediating between humans, animals, and spirits through sound production and auditory perception is the primal method. This privileged sensory mode connects with spirits, as "sonic beings" who are summoned by the singer. These songs, chants, and whistling are believed to create a metrical, "jungle gym" type structure for the consciousness that appropriately and culturally reshapes the mind. The context that gives icaros validity and authority is not easily understood by western thought.
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"A man is like a tree. Under the appropriate conditions he grows branches. These branches are the icaros."
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-vegetalista of the Peruvian Amazon
Don Alejandro~
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Not only is sound the privileged sensory mode, but it is also enhanced within the geographical location. The soundscapes of the jungle are easier to rely on because of the denseness of the forest which limits vision. Hearing is the main sensory modality to detect objects in the forest, where they are out of sight. This geographical context sharpens the auditory senses, in the jungle it is easier for locals to mimic animal noises than it is to find tracks in the soil.
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