Honestly, I find using terms like Medicine Woman or Shaman fairly loaded and tends to mean different things to people. However, I am often called a Medicine Woman due to my various skills, and I feel rather honored by the title, yet witch or curendera would also suffice.

To live as a medicine woman in Peru is to walk between worlds — between tradition and modernity, between deep spiritual work and the realities of daily life as a single mother and immigrant. It is a path that brings profound beauty, connection, and purpose, while also asking for resilience, humility, and constant self-reflection.

The jungle, the mountains, the communities, and the medicines themselves shape this life in ways that are difficult to explain from the outside. This blog offers a personal and honest reflection on both the blessings and the challenges of Walking the Medicine Path, revealing what it truly means to be in service to plant medicine in Peru.

The Blessing of Living Close to the Medicines

I have been living between Peru and Mexico since 2012, yet I have been working with Sacred Earth Medicines (plant and fungi) since 1990. Coming to Peru was a bit of a shocker for me, especially in the Sacred Valley, as people here use medicine outside of traditions, mixing various medicines, and exploring with a gusto that borders on dangerous. Of course, 14 years later, most people have come to expect the all-you-can-eat buffet style of medicine from this corner of the world.

That being said, living in Peru has been an incredible experience due to the variety of landscapes, teachers, herbs, and medicines available to learn from. Considered one of the most bio-diverse places in the world, I have had the honor to work in clinics utilizing local herbs, acupuncture, and plant medicines in the jungle areas, hidden mountain communities, by the sea, in towns, and in cities for cancer and other serious illnesses.

The ability to work with plants growing in my garden, including Huachuma, means that I can cultivate a relationship with it year-round, observing growth patterns in relation to the environment. This style of study lends a depth to my work that goes beyond drinking them or reading books, and I am deeply thankful for this opportunity.

The Gift of Lineage and Tradition

Peruvian’s are kind, welcoming, and curious people who carry the wisdom of the land in their bones. However, due to the Catholic influence over the last 500 years, many of them find our love of plant medicines (outside of the jungle) to be strange, yet encouraging.

I traveled all over with my young son to learn about local plants for healing, the connection to the cosmos, and how to be integral with the knowledge. Trading the skills I have in physical and herbal medicines has taken me far with the locals, providing me with credibility and trust.

Access to Indigenous wisdom

Learning from curanderos and traditional knowledge keepers requires patience, dedication, and openness. If you are coming with an agenda and seeking to acquire knowledge quickly, you will be disappointed.

I spent many years learning from different Elders, trading my skills, doing household chores, and showing up to odd gatherings before I was trusted with deeper wisdom. As the years have gone on, there are ways to buy into lineages; however, even in those settings, many rituals are kept secret until you have earned them.

Ceremony as a way of life

Ritual and relationship with Spirit are woven into everyday existence through offerings, songs, the way you cook food, or care for little ones. There are stories interlaced into casual conversations, over a fire, or when hiking to the next village high in the Andes. Even sharing Coca, the Truth Telling plant, has a phrase and meaning that carries cultural significance.

The more you understand that all of life is ceremony, and how you show up for it is the meaning, the more abundant your life is. Sure, the all-night medicine ceremony is powerful, but how do you show up for the dishes? This is a common question among the locals.

Being held by something ancient

Sadly, the lineages are becoming watered down, and many Elders refuse to share with the new wave of seekers interested in serving medicine. Most people do not want to put in the minimum ten years required to learn a medical plant in depth, which means there are loads of people serving without proper training, thinking that being a musician is the only confirmation they need.

Many immigrants (also called expats) are interested in medicine but not lineage, or mixing different lineages in order to create something new. I have watched or been a part of ceremonies that have Hindu mantras mixed with three different medicines, sound baths, and modern songs, creating a cacophony of threads vying for attention.

I am not saying the psychonaut explorer is not important for discoveries; however, it does change the field of the Medicine Lands, a palpable sensation that the experienced can sense.

Working within a lineage allows one to be held by Ancient wisdom, while cultivating a confidence that goes beyond the number of ceremonies someone has been in. Elders provide ego checks and direction when something is off, lending integrity to the path before you.

To truly know a medicine means cultivating allyship over time and learning from it in every way possible. The slow and steady dedication is challenging for the fast-paced Western mind to understand, yet it is the more profound way of embracing the journey.

The Beauty of Living in Service

To be in service of the Medicine Lands means to stay behind the medicine, to be humble, and willing to learn from each experience so your service is more supportive. It also means giving back to the Land and communities the medicine comes from, a facet that many people forget.

Also, recognizing it is a huge responsibility to serve someone internal medicine, and requires a deep understanding of the Sacred Earth Medicine, how it interacts in the body, with Spirit, and its various forms of expression in order to keep everyone safe. To rush this process is a disservice to the person, the plant, your teacher, and yourself.

However, the beauty of the Medicine Path is the power of transformation! Seeing your clients grow, your community come together, and supporting the Giaian Consciousness towards a healthier, more aligned Earth is deeply rewarding.

The Challenges of the Path

This path is not for the faint of heart. It requires dedication, honesty, discipline, and bravery, not just in facing your own shadows, but also the struggles of the people you work with, the communities you interact with, and the energies that are unexplainable to the modern mind.

Holding space for others requires strong regulation, boundaries, self-care, and practices to ensure good health in body, mind, heart, and spirit. It also means doing deep work that separates you from intimate relationships and community events, and leaves you open to criticism from others.

Not everyone walks the same path when it comes to medicine, and some people feel more entitled to serve medicine than others. There are a lot of conversations and complaints around non-Peruvians serving local medicines, so staying in alignment with your traditions, or what you believe to be your path, can be challenging.

Many maestros and maestras do not believe that serving medicine should be your main source of income, as it breeds ego and narcissism. I completely agree with this statement and would add that drinking too much medicine too often is also incredibly hard on the physical and spiritual bodies.

Without time to integrate, the medicine is wasted, and it turns into a high-seeking experience. In the past, medicine was not taken as often, giving space for the healing to take place; sadly, this is not the practice today, with daily ceremonies available to people.

Also, many people seek indigenous teachers who are “trauma and LGBTQ+ informed”, which is highly unlikely, unless they are working with a Westerner. The indigenous view of medicine is vastly different from that of outsiders, and the drugs, supplements, and herbs carry interactions that most do not understand, on top of medical conditions they have not heard of.

There are also loads of local charlatans who use the medicine as a way to make money or have sex with women. It is incredibly important that you vett your practitioner, regardless if they are local or not.

The Responsibility of Working with Sacred Medicines

This work requires accountability and humility to stay in integrity with the plants and the communities. They demand respect and proper preparation to engage with them in a healthy way that should not be taken lightly. Please be aware that not all medicines are best for everyone, and people have been physically, mentally, emotionally, and sexually harmed by the medicines, environments, and medicine servers.

True responsibility comes from a deep understanding that you will continuously learn from the Medicine Path, you are never done, and never a true Master. Even the most experienced curanderos will share this humble view.

Finding Balance Between Worlds

For myself, it is important to take space from ceremonies to incorporate other practices and integration techniques. Between dietas I make sure that I nourish my body with minerals and nutrients that are not provided on the deeper journeys. I also receive clearings and healings from my trusted Elders, make offerings every day to the Great Spirit, and teach my son how to live in alignment with the Earth.

I also make time for play! I have friendships with people outside the Medicine Path, travel, dance, write, play music, go rock climbing with my son, and detoxify in monthly sweatlodges/temazcals.

As a bleeding woman, I schedule ceremonies and dietas around my moontime to rest, treating my Sacred Moon Time as a ceremony, and engage in self-care such as a massage or a good book.

Grounding into everyday activities like cooking and cleaning reminds me of my humanness. My home is a Temple in the same way my body is. Honoring each step I take on this Earth provides me with the Spiritual framework to live by.

Walking the Path with Humility

To live as a medicine woman in Peru is not a title — it is a responsibility, a relationship, and a lifelong process of learning. The blessings are profound, but so are the challenges. What holds it all together is humility, devotion, and a willingness to continue walking, listening, and growing. I am honored that this Path and this country have called out to me. Hiyaya!

Curious about the realities of the plant medicine path and how to approach it with integrity? I hold personal ceremonies and dietas here in Peru. Reach out with questions, or how you can work with plants from afar.

About the Author

Seven Crow has been working with Sacred Earth Medicines (AKA psychedelics) since she was 12 years old, and is a 4th generation herbalist with Native American and Scottish heritage. A proud witch, she is traditionally trained in Huachuma (San Pedro), Psilocybin, Moonlodge/Sweatlodge ceremonies, Birthkeeping, Herbal & Chinese Medicines, the Wise Woman Tradition, various forms of massage, she blends these paths with her knowledge of women's health, womb embodiment, archetypes, Rites of Passage and The Path of the Rose. She lives in Peru, traveling to Central and North America, Europe and Asia sharing the wisdom of the Sacred Cactus & Rose Path.

I’m a Medicine Woman Living in Peru. Here Are the Blessings and Challenges