Thank you for the incredible response to our last message!
This is the final call to join us on pilgrimage this August 17-28th to the four kingdoms of Huachuma. The Maestros Curanderos of Huachuma Collective are inviting an intimate group of allies to participate in a series of offerings to Huachuma’s most sacred sites in the Northern and Central Peruvian Andes.
This is a rare opportunity to connect with the authentic cultural practices that surround the plant - and to do so while supporting Andean communities. 100% of profits from this initiative go towards our Huachuma conservation programs. Send an email to info@huachumacollective.org if you would like more information.
In this issue:
2 new statements from North Peru
Recent cultural events sponsored by Huachuma Collective
New infrastructure investments in four of our project sites
In an age of division, it is a powerful act for traditional healers to come together in unity for their medicine. It was no small task to bring together nearly 100 signatures for Huachuma Collective’s first statement in 2023, which has now been shared with conferences, universities, and working groups around the world. The second statement was published in 2024 after a notable meeting in Cajamarca. Now, in our sixth year of supporting conversations around cultural heritage and Huachuma conservation in North Peru, the voices of the Maestros Curanderos are stronger than ever.
Huachuma Collective is proud to share the third statement we have helped to birth, which came out of discussions in the International Congress on Curanderismo in Huancabamba last year, and which focuses on the environmental conservation of sacred bodies of water related to Huachuma.
Among its conclusions are the need to conserve the Andean Paramos, their flora and fauna, and the sacred lakes of Las Huaringas, as well as Huachuma itself, as a fundamental part of the practice of Curanderismo Norteño. As part of these goals, the participants resolved to work toward protecting these resources through legal channels and through the creation of a conservation-oriented botanical garden to preserve the hundreds of native plants used in Northern Peruvian traditional medicine.
Now, we are raising up the voices of the Maestros Curanderos on budding issues of how their medicine is used outside of Peru. We recently sent representatives to participate in conversations in the United States about new legislation that affects Huachuma. The statement that we shared there was backed by Huachuma Collective and the two largest associations of Maestros Curanderos in North Peru, with a combined representation of over 200 healers.
This new statement takes our previous statements a step further by adding two points about the use of Huachuma outside of its native range, and its looming commercial cultivation in the United States.
The extraction of Huachuma seeds and cuttings from Peru should stop now. Enough Huachuma plants are already growing throughout the world to reproduce indefinitely. The focus on “collecting” “rare genetics” and “wild genetics” of Huachuma is extractive in attitude and illegal in practice.
If Huachuma is to be commercially cultivated in the United States, we demand ethical and sustainable cultivation practices. The plants must grow directly in the ground, outdoors, without chemical inputs, grafting, or forced reproduction. They must be allowed to reach their mature size before harvest.
So far this year, Huachuma Collective has sent delegations to all four major meetings of Maestros Curanderos in North Peru. These in-person meetings are valuable opportunities for strengthening unity and discussing the future of our plant populations and the traditions of Curanderismo Norteño. The conversations that lead to declarations like the ones we have shared above do not happen via Zoom - especially when so many people have limited access to internet in their communities. They happen around a dining table sharing chicha, or around a Mesa altar sharing Huachuma.
Once again, Huachuma Collective sponsored the Kon Tuc meeting of Maestros Curanderos in February. This year, we also donated beds to the local healers’ association so that members have a place to sleep when they travel from surrounding communities.
We sent representatives to participate in the Meeting of Curanderos and Ancestral Rituals of Salas, and the annual Solstice Celebration in Sechin.
Our Ancash regional director, Maestro Felipe Pereda, led delegations to two recent events in Chavin: the annual Chavin de Noche cultural event, with music, ancestral dances, and ritual practices of Curanderismo in the Temple of Chavin de Huantar; and the Meeting of Pututeros (traditional musicians).
It is wonderful to see the increased institutional support for these events in North Peru over the last couple of years, and the cultural renewal that they are sparking.
2026 began with a series of long-awaited infrastructure investments in four of our project sites. Each of these advances has opened up new possibilities for teaching, sharing, receiving guests, planting, or caring for Huachuma in the communities.
The community of Salala has renovated and re-opened their Center of Curanderismo, a multifunctional community space that acts as a visitor center, museum, meeting space, environmental conservation organizing hub, and (now) lodging for community members and guests.
Our alliance with the healers’ association in Tucume is long and established, and we were pleased this year to be able to help them expand their facilities in the Ramada Curandera of the Tucume Museum. We donated a new wing they are calling the Cocina Curandera, where elder healers of the Association are now training youth from the community in the art of preparing traditional medicines.
In Upica, at the Huachuma Collective Conservation Center, the community has reconstructed an old house to allow a land guardian and gardener to live full-time at the center. This will add another layer of protection and connection for the thousands of cacti that have been propagated on the land. Photos coming soon!
Last but certainly not least, we have completed our long-awaited greenhouse at the Huachuma Collective Seedling Nursery. For now, we share this photo as a teaser - and we can’t wait to share a full tour in a future publication.
Be on the lookout over the next few weeks for a Save the Date announcement for our 2027 International Huachuma Conference, happening early next year!
Thank you each for making this work possible.
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