How an Onaya Dreams: A Healer's Affinal Relationship With Plants
Anthropology of Consciousness August 11, 2025 Yoshio Watanabe
Shipibo healers (onayas) in Eastern Peru learn to build relationships with plant spirits through dreams seen during a training process called samá. Dream interpretation is the medium through which onayas comprehend and personalize each plant spirit, differentiating its unique representations. The study connects an onaya's dream interpretations to Shipibo cosmology, revealing a wide variety of relationships formed in dreams that are grounded in cosmological beliefs. This process ultimately enables the onaya to acquire healing capacity to aid others.