Participant experiences of icaros (Amazonian curative songs) during a traditional medicine ceremony at the Takiwasi Center, Peru
Journal of Psychedelic Studies – May 15, 2025
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Curative songs, or icaros, significantly enhance healing in Amazonian traditional medicine, particularly during ayahuasca ceremonies. Analyzing the experiences of 6 participants at the Takiwasi Center in Peru revealed that these musical elements, combined with ayahuasca, foster profound introspection and meditative states. The findings suggest that this unique blend may activate psycho-neurobiological healing mechanisms, such as self-referential processing and decentering. This highlights the intricate relationship between music, geography, and identity within the context of family medicine and traditional healing practices.
Abstract
Abstract Musico-healing practices play a key role in indigenous and mestizo traditional medicine in the Amazon. The curative songs or icaros used by the curanderos (traditional healers) of the Peruvian Upper Amazon are administered alongside the psychoactive plant decoction ayahuasca in ritual settings. This Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis examines musical experiences of 6 participants attending an ayahuasca ritual for personal and spiritual development at the Takiwasi Center in Peru in 2018. Findings offer pointers towards a neurophenomenology of musico-healing experiences with ayahuasca, suggesting that the conjunction of icaros and ayahuasca may contribute to psycho-neurobiological mechanisms of healing such as self-referential processing, decentering, and facilitating access to beneficial introspective/meditative states. The study offers a medical ethnomusicological contribution to the phenomenological mapping of musico-healing experiences of Amazonian curative songs under the altered state of consciousness (ASC) produced by ayahuasca.