Waxy Yawanawa

Waxy Yawanawá, together with her sister Putanny, became the first ever female pajés (shamans) of the Yawanawá tribe from the Brazilian Amazon.

Waxy is one of the very few women who has completed the sacred one-year muká diet. For the Yawanawa, the muká diet is the most important initiation to become a shaman. It involves ingesting and studying sacred plants such as Ayahuasca, memorising healing songs and prayers, as well as being in complete isolation for lengthy periods of time.

In 2017, Waxy founded Mawa Yuxyn, an institute for spiritual studies in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon jungle. It welcomes everyone who wants to fully experience the Yawanawas’ spirituality, traditions, and indigenous way of life.

Waxy works with Uni (Ayahuasca), Kapum (Kambó), Sananga, Sepá and Rapé. Her rapé is a special one called “the Yawanawá Força Feminina” rapé that represents the female conquest of the Yawanawa women. It is prepared with the ashes from the Tsunu bark, a long and majestic tree considered one of the most sacred of the Yawanawá people.