Joseph Campbell Round Table
November 15, 2009 at 2PM
Eda Zavala Lopez is a curendera, a practitioner of traditional medicine from the Peruvian Rainforest who will present “Creatures of the Amazon Rainforest: Plant Medicine, Indigenous People and Preserving Sacred Territories” at the next Joseph Campbell Round Table on November 15, 2009 at 2PM. She will open with Sacred Songs from the Amazon, make an altar with flowers and food to offer Respect and Gratitude to the Ancient Spirits, discuss what is happening in her culture while presenting a beautiful slide show of the Amazon culture, and end with questions and answers. She will also be available for private healings.
EDA ZAVALA
A PRACTITIONER OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
FROM THE PERUVIAN AMAZON
Eda Zavala, a descendant of The Wari People — a lineage of healers — is a sociologist and anthropologist committed to her people. She lives between Lima and the Peruvian Amazon where she has been involved with its indigenous peoples and their medicine for over 20 years.
Ms Zavala has researched feminine shamanism in the Amazon and worked with many indigenous communities helping them preserve the pristine jungle and protect their sacred lands within the rainforest. She is cofounder of Hampichicuy, a traditional healing center in Tarapoto. An interview with Eda is included in a soon to be published book, Cosmic Visions, by American astronomer Stephan Martin.
Currently Eda is heavily committed to a community development project for Mushukllacta de Chipaota in the northeast of Peru in conjunction with the Rainforest Action Network of California. The plan involves the conservation of the Cordillera Azul National Park with its sacred mountains, as well as the preservation of medicinal plants and ancient knowledge found there. Elders, both women and men, are involved in this project to protect their heritage for future generations.
Eda has participated in international conferences in Chile and the US, always underscoring the importance of preserving indigenous knowledge and protecting the lands of indigenous populations within modern society. She has been also closely involved with Native American healers and ceremonies in New Mexico (Navajo) and South Dakota (Lakota).
Eda’s frequent workshops, talks, and lectures in the San Francisco Bay area have focused on medicinal plants and their healing properties. Their venues and sponsorships have included the University of California San Francisco-Medical School; University of California at Berkeley; California Institute of Integral Studies; Mission Neighborhood Health and Resource Center; Tom Waddell Health Center; Chicana Latina Foundation; Instituto Familiar de la Raza; CARECEN; HORIZONS; Rainforest Action Network; Good Samaritan; and The Pachamama Alliance.
Eda also puts her accumulated ancient knowledge into practice, performing ceremonies and holding personal healing sessions that take into account how the subtle body is affected by chronic sadness, anxieties, and depressions. She explains how it becomes necessary for us to learn once more how to coexist in harmony with nature, to respect it, and to become aware just how much we depend upon it. Through this fine balance, Eda shares this wisdom with her public and provides an encounter with ancestral knowledge and hope.
This fall, Eda will be offering programs at the following centres on the East Coast: Blue Deer Center. Margaretville, NY; Center for Symbolic Studies, New Paltz, NY; Trust for Indigenous Culture and Health (TICAH); and the University of Pennsylvania.