Well, if people were to be more specific, and work on gathering facts, there would be far more clarity and much less fluff.

The o/p wants to know what it takes to become a Shaman, but on a 'mostly' Amazon plant based forum, does he really mean Amazon Curandero?

That would certainly simplify things for a start: I think each specific style of healing needs to be tackled individually, because in the world there are definately many different healing practices involved, even if the end goals are the same.

It doesn't do the subject justice to lump them all together and attempt to treat them as one. It's just not as easy a subject as that to explain away. Even Amazonian Curandismo is a huge subject in itself to explore.

Probably the best thing is to explore the practices in the way they differ in every world country. For example, in South America, although Ayahuasca is incorporated in Amazonian curandismo, it is employed 'differently', with different plants, and understandings-depending on the 'tribe'.

Obviously, once the base facts are made clear, one can work on attempting to rationalise these differences, before making total conclusions. That isn't easy, in fact it's one hell of a task.

It could go something like this:

Amazonian Curandismo breakdown:1.Peru.

1. Location and name of tribe.

2. beliefs and practices.

3. what plants and methods are used.

4. conclusions.

You could easily fill a book just doing Amazonian Curandismo!