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SpiritQuest

SpiritQuest is an educational program designed to introduce people to the spiritual experiences of Peruvian shamans and curanderos (healers) who live in the upper Amazonian area of Peru near the city of Iquitos. A defining part of the Spirit-Quest experience is the opportunity to work with shamans who use the consciousness expanding substances in ayahausca, an hallucinogenic substance made from the vine of the plant Banisteriopsis Caapi, which is boiled in water along with various other plants. These plants contain different substances identified as psychedelic drugs.

The SpiritQuest program was put together by a brother/ sister team, Howard E. Lawler and Sanchi Reta Lawler. Howard is a former museum curator trained in biology. Reta is a trans-personal psychologist and student of Zen. Both have many years of association which shamans in both South America and Asia. The pair also heads El Tigre Journeys, a tourist company that facilitates travel to Peru and arranges for small groups to enter into the culture, meet the indigenous religious leaders, and see the sights in a way that is sensitive to the ecology of the region. Founded in 1997, El Tigre has been designed to help enhance and restore the natural resources of eastern Peru through various programs financially supported by tourism. Howard Lawler also heads a nonprofit organization, the International BioPark Foundation, as an environmental organization dedicated to preserving the natural world and promoting an understanding of humanity's interdependent relationship with the natural order. The foundation is working with El Tigre on a number of projects including the development of a living Museum of Western Amazonia along the banks of the Río Momón outside Iquitos.

The SpiritQuest program is focused upon small groups (limited to eight people) who travel to Peru to participate in shamanic workshop retreats. The participants have in the Lawlers experienced guides, but are assured of experiencing shamanic initiations, including ceremonies with ayahuasca, much as they have been performed prior to the arrival of Europeans in the area. The Lawlers facilitate the preparation for the journey and are present to assist people through the cleansing, cathartic, and spiritually expansive moments that may go through, some of which may be temporarily uncomfortable.

SpiritQuest (and the associated organization may be contacted through the Lawlers offices: Reta Lawler, P.O. Box 1704, Boulder, CO 80306-1704 and Howard Lawler, Calle Loreto #337, Iqiuitos, Peru. They may also be contacted through the International BioPark Foundation website at http://www.biopark.org/, which has subpages for both SpiritQuest and El Tigre Journeys.