Maestros: Healers of Peru

From the Amazon rainforest to the Andean peaks and the northern coast of Peru, the maestros, traditional healers, preserve ancient healing practices rooted in a deep connection with the spirits of nature. Sacred plants, ícaros (ritual chants), altars, and ceremonial elements help restore balance between body, mind, and community.

Ancient natural and cultural biocorridors, shaped by rivers, animals, and peoples, connect these landscapes and have long carried knowledge, rituals, and stories. 

The exhibition follows these healing paths in four sections: 1) sacred sites, 2) power of the altars, 3) healing ceremonies, and 4) the arts & ceremonial elements. The evocative photographs of Heinz Plenge guide visitors on a journey where land, spirit, and ancestral wisdom remain deeply intertwined.

This part showcases the meaning of sacred sites for healing activities of maestros throughout the Amazon, Andes and the Coast in Northern Peru.

In the Amazon, the forest is considerded more than nature, it is a sacred environment where maestros carry out their healing work. Among the Asháninka people, trees are recognized as powerful spirits with deep wisdom. The most ancient are revered as ancestors and teachers (plantas maestros). As Maestro Juan Flores says, “We are like ants in the forest, and the spirits of the trees are huge.”  The forest reminds us of our smallness and teaches humility, balance, and respect. It is both teacher and temple.

Rivers in the Amazon are also alive. The Mayantuyacu River, known for its boiling waters, is one of the most powerful and revered. Wrapped in mist and steam, the river becomes a partner in healing. For the Asháninka, places like this cleanse body and spirit. Healing arises not only from medicinal plants, but from sacred landscapes where water, earth, and spirit come together.

In the Andes, mountains, known as Apus, are living spirits who protect the land, bring rain, and maintain the water and therefore life cycles in motion. For all maestros, they are central to healing. During the Qoyllur Rit’i festival, where mountains are honored as powerful spiritual beings, a maestro blows a pututo (conch shell) and offers coca leaves in prayer. His mountain-shaped hat reflects in miniature the sacred landscape surrounding him.

Lagoons in the northern Andes are called Huaringas and are revered as sacred landscapes. Their waters are believed to carry the energy of the mountains and sky, and to originate life. Used in rituals to cure the body and heal the spirit, these lagoons are seen as gateways to the invisible world. In this quiet image from 1991, a boy sits before one of these sacred waters, almost fused into stillness and reverence.

Along Peru’s northern coast, the ocean becomes a space of spiritual connection. Just as Andean and Amazon maestros turn to their forest or mountains, coastal maestros draw on the power of the sea. The scene shows the beginning of the “Fiesta del Agua” of Chiclayo where the ocean water is collected by messengers to be brought up to the Andean Lagoons in presence of ancestral authorities and guided by the maeestros. Patients of these maestors are mainly fishermen or coastal workers, and the sea context becomes a source of life, protection, and renewal.

Even on the dry coastal plains, mountains remain sacred. Peaks like Apu Chaparrí are honored through dawn rituals led by maestros. In this image, Maestro Mosquera and his alzadores (ritual assistants) perform a ceremony near Chaparrí, the first conservation area managed by a Muchik community. Coastal ceremonies often take place near natural sites or ancient huacas, pre-colonial sacred sites that continue to serve as gateways to the spiritual world.

Different types of altars used by maestros in the Amazon, Andes, and northern coast, reflecting the distinct landscapes and natural elements of each region.

In the Amazon, nature offers everything: plants, animals, rivers, and forest spirits. So maestros need very little to represent their cosmovision. The altar is often just a mat or cloth inside a maloca, (ceremonial building). Unlike in other regions, Amazonian altars don’t recreate nature; they are surrounded by it. The forest itself is the true altar: vibrant, alive, and full of meaning. Healing comes straight from this living world, and its simplicity reflects a deep connection between nature and spirit.

In the Andes, altars are mobile, modest, and adaptable. Set up in sacred landscapes, near mountains, lagoons, or special stones, these small altars are carefully assembled and later in part dispached in form of packaged offering. They reflect the Andean tradition of feeding mother earth, bringing offerings to places where spiritual energy is already strong. While simpler than coastal altars, Andean altars often include coca leaves, flowers, stones, sweets or small symbolic objects. Their power comes not from size but from intent and place. The maestro chooses the location, invoking mountain spirits (Apus) and aligning the altar with the natural and spiritual energy of the site.

On Peru’s northern coast, altars are complex, rich in details, and often passed down through generations. Unlike the lush Amazon or the open Andes, the dry coast has long relied on complex irrigation systems, a tradition dating back to the Moche civilization. This deep relationship with water and land is reflected in the structure and symbolism of the altar. 

These altars act as microcosms: carefully arranged worlds filled with spiritual meaning. Catholic imagery, crosses, saints, the Virgin Mary, stand alongside pre-Hispanic elements like skulls, and natural objects such as shells, stones, and ceramics.  

A striking example is the altar of Liliana Huaman de Silva. She continues the legacy of her late husband’s grandmother, a maestra, whose anima (skull) rests on the altar as a way to maintain connection with. Built in the home, this altar reflects a deep sense of continuity: it is a sacred space where ancestral presence, Andean cosmovision, and Christian faith come together. It also shows how healing knowledge is passed down and kept alive across generations through the power of the altars themselves.

Healing ceremonies in the Amazon, Andes, and Northern coast of Peru, each shaped by its landscape, traditions, and spiritual practices.

In the Amazon, ceremonies are powerful spiritual experiences led by maestros like Jeempetik of the Awajún community. Held at night, they are performed through ícaros (healing chants), blows of tobaccos and other healing remedies, and master plants.  

During a ritual in Santa María de Nieva, Maestro Jeempetik is calling for balance between body, spirit, and community. For the Awajún, such ceremonies are a lifelong practice to sustain harmony with their natural and cultural landscape.

This ceremony, led by Amazonian Maestra Yaku Flores in the Mishahuanga lagoon in the highlands of the Andean paramo, reflects Peru’s deep spiritual connections across regions. During the 2022 “Fiesta del Agua,” she poured ocean water into the lagoon—uniting waters from coast and mountain. Her ícaros (healing chants), sonajas (Amazonian rattles), and cushma (Asháninka dress) made for the occasion, honor a tradition where healing flows across landscapes through ancient biocultural corridors.

This scene shows the unique power of coastal maestros, whose spiritual insight can reach into the worlds of history, memory, and discovery. The maestro Bartolo Villanueva holds a sword and the moon, symbols of protection and cosmic guidance. In 1987, his interpretation of a recurring dream of a person who consulted him, helped lead to the discovery of the royal tomb of Sipán, one of Peru’s most important archaeological findings. In Muchik tradition, Sipán means moon, reinforcing its sacred meaning. This moment reminds us that rituals and dreams shape not only personal healing, but also collective history. Coastal curanderismo, rich in symbols and ancestral wisdom, bridges the visible and invisible, helping people find meaning, healing, and even their past.

The following images show important ceremonial elements used by maestros across all three regions: plants, animals, varas or báculos (sacred staffs), and musical instruments

Plants are central to healing, and the Quina tree is a powerful example, its bark used in both ancestral and modern medicine. Before taking from it, maestros engage in a quiet dialogue: they speak, listen, and observe. Only with the tree’s consent, revealed through its shape, can they proceed and cut the bark. This respectful exchange shows that healing isn’t just about ceremonies, but about everyday care, attention, and reverence.

Animals, like plants, are an important part of the healing process across Peru. In the Matsés tradition of the Amazon, a green frog called Phyllomedusa bicolor is central to a powerful ritual known as sapo. Healing comes from the frog’s skin secretion, which is dried, mixed with saliva, and placed on small burns made on the patient’s skin. This triggers a strong physical reaction that cleanses the body and helps reveal hidden illnesses.

For maestros like Don Santos Vera, the Vara or Báculo is a powerful tool used to fight illness and connect with the spirit world. With it, they open sacred paths, call upon protective forces, and guide healing ceremonies. In the hands of a maestro, the vara becomes an extension of the strength, a channel for healing, and spiritual power.

Music is central to the work of maestros. Whether through drums, harmonicas, or, as in this image, a chungana (traditional rattle), sound helps open channels to the spiritual world. Every beat, every ícaro (healing chant) and every sound calls for the presence of healing spirits, cleansing and guiding the ritual. Orlando Vera, shown here during a night ceremony, continues the legacy of his father, the renowned maestro Don Santo Vera (previous image).