OUR TEACHERS
Our source of inspiration, they've been sharing with us their tradition, knowledge, instruction, advice and guidance needed to become authentic facilitators and guides of Cofán ceremonies. They have granted us their permission to prepare and share medicine in Europe.
We have been building our relationship with them and their communities through years of presence, trust and support to local needs of Cofán villages in Ecuador and Columbia.
Taita Rufino Criollo Quenamá
Cofán Tradition Ceremony Leader
A grandfather knowledgeable in the science of Yagé, originating from an ancestral lineage of Taitas Curacas who, since childhood, was prepared for the mission of healing and guiding with the purest wisdom of his tradition.
From a very young age, he was taken into the wildest jungles, isolated from the community to protect him from miscegenation, thus maintaining the purity of the seeds his uncles and grandparents sowed in his knowledge. It was not until they bloomed that he began to go out and share his medicine with the world.
Today he is 76 years old and he continues to walk as his elders taught him: with love, humility, respect, and deep commitment to humanity.
Working in close relationship with his Yagé, which he sows himself and which has cared for over the years. Medicine that today he harvests and cook to provide to his patients.
A grandfather jaguar, with immeasurable spiritual strength, with a purity like that of the jungle itself and a smile that is a balm for the heart.
Dear Yaya Ccshe’ye Rufinokovi, it is an honor to walk beside you, and we are honored to carry your blessing with us on this path.
Thank you for welcoming us and for giving us your help in our healing, in our growth, and learning.
Thank you for so many moments of stories, laughter, and wisdom.
Taita Samith Osorio
Cofán Tradition Ceremony Leader
Originally from Medellín-Antioquia in Colombia. He spent much of his youth in the Cofán territory of Santa Rosa de Sucumbíos, where for 8 years he was an apprentice to Grandfather Guillermo Lucitante Yaiguaje.
There he learned the science of Yagé and the jungle, living and growing alongside a true lineage of Taitas.
Samith has been and is a light on our path that always guides us and enlightens us with his knowledge, with his example as a human being and as a Taita, both in daily life and in the mastery that he demonstrates in ceremonies as well as when cooking Yagé.
His word is wisdom and his way of acting is an example to follow.
A great medicine musician, he walks this path with a lot of love, respect, humility and commitment with his family, his wife and his children.
