Francois demange, a.k.a. Metsa, underlines how our cultural imprinting as westerners can affect negatively our experience with ayahuasca and the healer.
This is the sixth of a 10 Questions interview with Francois. An interview in which he explains the practices behind healing with plants, and the challenges of a life as a westerner shaman.

Vegetalismo is "a term used to refer to a practice of mestizo shamanism in the Amazonic provinces of Peru in which the shamans – known as vegetalistas – gain their knowledge and power to cure from the vegetables, or plants of the region. Many receive their knowledge from ingesting the hallucinogenic, emetic brew ayahuasca."

Francois Demange, also known as Metsa Niwue (his shamanic name), is a curandero - a healer - who has studied Vegetalismo for more than twenty years with the Shipibo and Quechua Lamista people. He also has a master degree in anthropology acquired at the University of East London. His goal is "to transmit a different perception of the world of plants, nature, and self-knowledge to the Western world" from which he originate. His autobiography "De l'ombre à la lumière", written in french in 2014, will be soon available in english.

We are fascinated by topics such as psychedelics and altered state since we produced the documentary Neurons to Nirvana, the "Best film on psychedelics to come along for a long time!" - Dennis McKenna.

The series

The video is part of our new original series "10 Questions", in which we will explore in depth some of the most controversial topics in modern society, through the voices of major experts in every field.

In the seventh video, Metsa will explain how he sees his work in a cultural context. If the topic interests you, subscribe to our Youtube channel.