At Arkana Spiritual Center, we live by the principle of sacred reciprocity—the understanding that everything we receive from the medicines, the land, and the wisdom of indigenous traditions must be honored by giving back in equal or greater measure. This is not just a philosophy—it’s a responsibility. We are deeply committed to uplifting the communities we work with through employment, education, and social development projects.
In the town of Libertad, Arkana is the primary source of employment, offering stable and meaningful work opportunities to many local families. We also provide scholarships for promising young students, and have created career training programs that include teaching English as a second language to help local youth build professional paths within Arkana itself.
On the environmental front, we’ve donated a solar-powered electric grid and communication systems, and continue to work side by side with local authorities to improve infrastructure, sustainability, and quality of life. For us, sacred reciprocity is about more than just balance—it’s about building lasting relationships rooted in respect, trust, and mutual flourishing. Every step we take with the medicines is also a step toward empowering the people and protecting the land that make this sacred work possible.
At Arkana Spiritual Center, we hold a deep reverence for Mother Nature and view ourselves as environmental stewards, honoring the sacred reciprocity between humans and the planet. Our work with plant medicine is not just about healing people—it’s also about protecting the plants themselves and the ecosystems they come from. In 2020, we took a major step in this mission by establishing a 100-acre Ayahuasca plantation in the Shipibo community of Vencedor, dedicated to propagating the Ayahuasca vine and many other master plants we work with. As one of the very few centers with its own plantation, we are leading the way in ensuring that these sacred plants are not just harvested, but cultivated and protected for future generations.
With the global rise in interest in Ayahuasca, this powerful medicine now faces the real risk of overharvesting and extinction. That’s why we follow a core principle: if we cut one vine, we plant ten or more in return. Our commitment is rooted in sustainability, reciprocity, and long-term vision. Looking ahead, we plan to expand our plantation even further and launch conservation projects for other sacred medicines we work with, ensuring that this wisdom remains available not just for us, but for generations to come. For us, protecting these plants is part of the ceremony—it’s a prayer of gratitude to the Earth, and a promise to care for her in return.
One of the top initiatives at Arkana is our deep commitment to safeguard the sacred shamanic traditions of the Shipibo people, who have been the wisdom keepers of Amazonian plant medicine for generations. At the heart of this mission is Maestra Justina, a highly respected elder and healer, who is guiding the next generation of apprentice shamans through traditional training. We have created dedicated facilities within our retreat centers for this purpose—spaces where young Shipibo students can live, learn, and immerse themselves in the sacred ways of their ancestors, under the mentorship of experienced maestras and maestros.
In addition to hands-on training, we are also working to preserve the rich oral legacy of this tradition by building a Shipibo medicine library. This growing archive includes recordings of icaros—the healing songs received in ceremony—alongside their transcriptions and translations, ensuring that the language, melodies, and spiritual teachings embedded within them are not lost. This project is both a tribute and a living repository, designed to keep the flame of Shipibo knowledge alive for generations to come. We believe that by protecting and uplifting these traditions, we are not only honoring the past, but also securing the future of sacred medicine work on this planet.
