Shamanism in the Peruvian Amazon is widely practiced in a mixture of traditional and non-traditional spiritual practices. Traditional practices and beliefs are strongly rooted in magical spiritual realities that include the existence of millions of different kinds of spiritual beings. The non-traditional practices have been added to the traditional ones by westerners whom have come to the Amazon to participate and learn. The sharing of ideas, abilities and practices is common to Amazonian shamanism so the inclusion of other kinds of practices takes place with fluidity seamlessly becoming part of the common understanding and vocabulary.

The dualism is very strong in the core philosophy and leads to a very defined and clear division between healers and brujos (witchdoctors). The healers consider it their role to balance the brujo and help protect humanity from them. The brujo uses their skills for hire to hurt and harm. This division is played out in intense psychic battles between the healers and the brujos. It is commonly understood that the healer has to defeat the brujo to be able to help or heal the patient. In these battles the shamans engage each other utilizing the help of huge forces of spirits battling in multiple dimensions simultaneously.

In the last few decades westerners have begun to take great interest in the shamanic practices of the Amazon focusing on the visionary plant Ayahuasca and Ayahuasca practices. Shamans have been sought out to aid with all kinds of afflictions in a wide range of physical to mental illness including the likes of cancer, gastrointestinal, mental and psychosomatic illnesses. This has generated a growing western Ayahuasca culture in the traditional Amazon.
The traditional healing philosophy is that the plants and universe contain different spirits some of whom are doctors that interact with the patient, while in a state of trance, and heal. The shaman is present to guide the trance and the interaction between patient and spirit. While that belief is widely agreed the specific details of each kind of spirit and healing methodology is not agreed on due to the differentiation between shamanic lineages typically but not always defined by family or blood lines. While the details in the methodology may be contended between lineages, in the presence of the true healers, real life transformation takes place.

Amazonian shamanism is a dynamic evolving form of practitioners, practices and plant uses. In all this differentiation it is important that a participant find the shaman that focuses on the types of practices in which the participant is interested.