I would like to offer you all a warm greeting from Blue Morpho. This newsletter is designed to reflect themes of interest of the reader, so I am asking for feedback on any topics that you would like to see addressed in the following months. Amazonian Shamanism is an ample topic with many facets that we can develop through this medium to open our understanding of this ancient system of spiritualism.

Thank You from our entire staff and shamanism team! Shamanism is something we practice together and the opportunity to form groups and share the wisdom and medicine in and out of formal ceremony is continuous blessing.

2007 is slowly coming to an end as we have only one more 9 day workshop planned for the year. This has been the best year in the history of Blue Morpho and we want to offer a tremendous thanks to all of our guests from this year helping it to have been so special. Each and every group had a unique energy that transformed through the week getting lighter and stronger. The ceremonies as many of you will remember were very strong filled with medicine and insights. The medicine has expressed itself with you and through us as well. The apprentices excelled this year being taken to places that were hard and breaking all the way through the ecstatic and divine. It was a year for transformation in the medicine and we grew. The mesa became stronger as the bonds between all of us gelled into greater loyalty and commitment. Don Alberto continues to lead the mesa with the mastery of over 40 years of experience. It continues to be an honor to sit next to him in ceremony and experience the power of his medicine.

We agreed to participate in a documentary about our work with ayahuasca and our lives as shamans. We had been receiving many offers from different companies and finally elected Keith Aranowitz, an independent film maker and previous guest. He came on his first trip in mid 06 to grow and transform. After experiencing the magnitude and tremendous healing power of ayahuasca shamanism, he decided that he would like to document our work. He comes from a place of integrity. He wants to present our practice of ayahuasca shamanism in the purest light without secondary motives. The spirits and I agreed to the project to illuminate how ayahuasca works and to straighten out confusions that the Western world holds about ayahuasca and its uses, practices and healing capacities. In May we began filming that lasted through July. Guests volunteered to participate and together we amassed a tremendous amount of footage. Keith is now currently in Iquitos editing the film and getting it ready for festivals. From what we have seen it is going to be an amazing portrayal of our work. I hope that this film will open the eyes of many others to the reality of ayahuasca shamanism. I want to offer my personal thanks to all those that participated. I think history will be made with this documentary and you all helped in its creation.

Blue Morpho and Camp Changes:  We are pleased to announce the completion of a new trail system. We cut five trail loops through the forest that will allow guests to self guide hikes at their leisure. They are of various distances allowing for shorter or longer hikes. This offers greater flexibility and the opportunity to experience the silence of the forest on meditative walks or to explore the jungle flora and fauna. On a recent hike I came across a huge group of white bearded monkeys that chirped through the canopy as I walked beneath them. It was a beautiful sight to be greeted with their calls early in the morning after a night filled with ceremony.

We have begun a medicinal plant botanical garden walk along one of the shorter trails. As the guests walks along the trail they will have a book that explains each plant and its uses. This will give the guest the opportunity to learn more and bond with the plant spirits used in ceremony. This should be completed by the end of the year.

We are also building a swimming and sunning platform suspended over the water on the left side of the swimming pond. This area that was little used will now have a roofed platform that will provide shade or sun while reading a book or relaxing after a swim. This too should be completed by the end of the end of the year.

SPECIAL CONTINUITY GROUP
In July we are offering the Continuity group. This is a 9 day workshop limited to previous guests of Blue Morpho. The idea is to hold a group with guests that have already completed at least one 9 day workshop with us. This will allow us the opportunity to move further in the week. If any previous guest is interested in attending, please contact Jeremy via e-mail.

T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST
Blue Morpho is having a T-Shirt design contest. To all previous Blue Morpho Guests, send us your Blue Morpho T-Shirt designs. We will choose two winning designs that will be made available through an internet store. Designs will have to be submitted via e mail attachment before the end of 2007. The winners will receive a 20% discount off any 9 day workshop in 2008.

We have also begun work on a second web site dedicated to down loads and community. The idea is to provide a place for information, community and connection for all of our previous Blue Morpho guests. Icaro recordings, talks, and other meditation CD’s will be available. We do not have a completion date for this but as soon as it is up and running we will send out a newsletter letting everyone know.

OUR FIRST PUBLICATION
For early December we will have our first published material. I hesitate to call it a book since it is not. It is a compilation of insights from ceremonies over the last 5 years designed to stretch your mind and understanding of reality allowing for an altered state of consciousness where true spiritual growth will take place. This is a new format and way of presenting spiritual material. I hope all of you will like it and find it useful. As soon as it is available we will let you know through and e mail announcement. It will be available through print on demand publishing allowing you to order it right from the internet.

This is such an exciting time for us. It is great to be able to share it with you all. All the changes will make the experience of Blue Morpho and our ceremonies even better. Since our creation this has been a dream that we continue to live.

SPECIAL NOTE:  The Peruvian Government is beginning the initial steps to legislate and control the native shamanic practices and traditional medicine in Peru, especially the use of medicinal plants. Shamans from all over Peru, natives, mestizos, and foreigners alike are coming together to form associations to lobby the government seeking fair treatment, the right to practice traditional medicine and shamanism. If we do not convince the government of our sincerity and responsibility the practice of shamanism could be outlawed soon. WE ARE ASKING FOR EVERYONE’S SUPPORT that has felt they have benefited from our work.

We are asking that everyone write us an email that we can present to the Peruvian Government. Please make the subject of the e mail, Peruvian Government

We would like the e-mail to include:

1. Your reason for coming to Peru
2. When you visited Blue Morpho
3. A description of your experience at Blue Morpho
4. A description of us including shamans, apprentices, and staff
5. An estimation of the amount of money you spent in total on your trip to Peru
6. If you would like to come back
7. How many people you have told about your experience recommending Blue Morpho or travel in Peru

I know that many of you are busy in your daily lives, but we really need the support of all of our guests to be able to stand a chance with the government. This will not only help us but will preserve the culture of shamanism in Peru. WE NEED YOUR HELP.

I wanted to personally thank everyone who wrote us letters for the government after our last Newsletter. We are collecting them and will present them to the government when our turn arrives. They will be needed and very influential in the direction of the legislation to come.

We now look to the future for our continued success.  We give thanks for all the wonderful change that has come and welcome the change that the future will bring. We come together to aid others from our own connection to Spirit and open the space for others to grow in theirs. Together we experience the transformation from the invisibility of spirit to its pure manifestation. Let us continue, together, to breathe life into these ancient studies and maintain the shamanism cultures still living in the hearts of the locals and us.