House of Healing and Ethnobotanical Research
Hatun Tayta Wasi is an ethnobotanical research centre funded by Ahú and Marta in 2017, located in the little village of Paca Shanaya, in the heart of the peruvian Amazonia. Here they share the knowledge of the master plants and create a safe retreat where those in need of healing or in search of meaning to their lives can feel embraced and welcome.
The “abuelo” was Don Oscar, Ahú’s grandfather, who devoted his life to people and plants, bringing medicine and healing to many and teaching young Ahú all he knew then, allowing him to honour his own calling later on.
Today Hatun Tayta Wasi has overgrown it’s physical boundaries and is now a project that lives in different parts of the world. There’s the centre in Perú and while a new base is gaining form in the west of Portugal, Marta and Ahú are working in the south of Spain and across Portugal organising small ceremonies and individual sessions adapted to personal needs.
The ceremonies with the teacher plants are a central part of the work of Hatun Tayta Wasi, but there’s much more to it. In some case, an initiation to vegetalism (with a tobacco purifying session and an ayahuasca ceremony) might be the best path to follow; while in others it might be more appropriate to use other plants not only for healing but to prevent diseases, applying the principles of Ayurvedic Medicine or other practises based on the integrative approach of Naturopathy. A tarot or a natal chart reading can also provide guidance and help find direction on a specific spiritual journey.
During the last few years, both Marta and Ahú have heard the calling to deepen their knowledge in different areas that serve as a complement to their healing practice.
Marta is completing a degree in Naturopathy and Physiotherapy to complement her studies of amazonian plants and provide wider experience to her healing and counselling practises. She has also become a dedicated student of Astrology and Tarot. She does readings to help find specific answers to a moment in life or to complement any broader transpersonal research.
Ahú is now a certified Shiatsu therapist and does therapeutic massage in-home or at different venues depending on availability.
Hatun Tayta Wasi offers education about plants and healing to those in need.
Born in Paca Shanaya, a tiny village in the Loreto district, deep in the Peruvian Amazon, Ahú was the grandson of the local healer, Don Óscar. The nearest hospital was six hour away, so people from all the neighbouring villages would go to him in search of treatment and healing for all kinds of problems. It was with him that Ahú learned about the healing powers of the plants and how to prepare them, to serve them and how they can heal the physical and spiritual needs.
At 14 he followed the usual path of young people in the jungle and left his parent’s home to work as a logger, in the wood industry. There he applied all the knowledge received from his grandfather and began to experiment with plant diets repeatedly, for ten months to a year at a time. It is said that when you diet true learning comes directly from the plants. Isolation enables a deeper connection with them and Nature, often receiving information in your dreams. Ahu received much information and developed a deep relationship with the plants, understanding the specific gifts they had to offer. For years, he kept learning and receiving the teachings of the plants. Midway in his twenties, he stopped working and started practising at an ecological centre in Águas Calientes dedicated to Amazonian medicines, where he studied and helped heal others for around 10 years.
There he met Marta, a connection that would change his life forever. Soon after, they began building their healing retreat centre on his grandfather’s land, honouring his legacy and his teachings. After eight years working there in Peru with frequent trips to Portugal and Spain, for the birth of their son Yachan or to facilitate ceremonies organised by them, they decided to come to Portugal and have now settled in Ericeira where he will be able to practice his ancestral medicine.
He has also been studying and learning different healing practises and is now a certified Shiatsu Therapist. You can book your Shiatsu or therapeutic massages with him here.
Nature, the power of plants, and the expansion of conscience were fields that had Marta feel the urge to explore from a young age. During her teenage years, she studied the art of Sukyo Mahikari, a Japanese practice that follows the universal principles of True Light, founded by Kōtama Okada. Besides her fascination for Japanese philosophy and healing traditions, chemistry was also something that attracted her so it was a natural choice to follow once she had to choose a college degree. Yet, the universe had different plans for her. She dropped out from uni and enrolled in Drama School, finishing her degree. After a few spiritual and transcendental experiences and a striking personal event, she went to look for answers in Peyote and Ayahuasca. This is when the plant showed her first teaching: she had a huge work of reactivation and healing of her feminine lineage in her family to do with it, so she made an agreement with the plant. In July 2013, decided to travel to the Peruvian Amazon in search of her true life’s mission and pay her tribute to the work she was already doing.
During this time she participated in her first 12-day Ayahuasca retreat and had one of her most profound experiences, walking for four days and four nights to the sanctuary of Machu Picchu, feeling a deep connection with the Apus (spirits of the Andean mountains) and repeatedly seeing visions of her future working with healing plants.she went back to the Amazon to further her knowledge of the Master Plants.
After a short trip to Portugal, Marta realised she definitely belonged in the jungle and there was where she ought to be. Em 2014 she immersed on a centre in Águas Calientes to expand her experience with plants through the dietas. There she met Ahu, the facilitator that cared for her and made the plant preparations for her diet. In her first ceremony, she was shown Ahu and she had a strong future together.
The next eight years were spent in between the Valle Sagrado, Pullcapa, Honoria and other parts of Peru, where she deepened her knowledge on the amazonian ancestral healing practises. In 2015 Marta came to Lisbon to give birth to their son Yachan and soon after they organised their first ceremony in Portugal. From then on, they started doing events and working with groups in Portugal, Spain and back in Peru.
But 2020 was a year of change. They returned to Portugal to attend to family issues and realised they had work from here. Marta enrolled in Naturopathy and Phytotherapy school to expand her knowledge on plant medicine and other complementary therapies and decided to study Tarot and Astrology.
While they are building their new healing centre in Ericeira, Marta organises small retreats for 8-10 people and does one-on-one counseling and healing sessions.
