The knowledge of medicinal plants is passed down through generations, and the Shipibo-Konibo healers are the guardians of this valuable ancestral knowledge. Traditional plant-based medicine remains an essential part of the Shipibo-Konibo people's culture, and plays a crucial role in their health and well-being. These plants have deep cultural and spiritual significance, and their use is carried out with great respect and knowledge to obtain their therapeutic benefits.

The use of power plants among the Shipibo-Konibo is of a wide richness, in this section we will focus on 2 important medicinal plants for the Shipibo-Konibo people.

Piri piri is the Spanish name for a cultivated sedge of the genus Cyperus. The plant has great importance for the Shipibo-Konibo. There are approximately sixty varieties of Piripiri, and its use is based on ancestral knowledge. The use of piripiri among Shipibo-Konibo women is of great ritual and symbolic value. From birth, mothers apply a drop of this substance in the eyes of their daughters as part of a traditional belief. Piripiri is considered a master plant that allows girls to dream of anacondas, birds, flowers, stars and other symbolic and geometric elements that are then captured in the community's ceramics and textiles (Vivanco, 2004).

For Shipibo-Konibo women, the use of piripiri has a deeper meaning that goes beyond its medicinal properties. It is believed that this plant allows them to "know how to think designs", which refers to the ability to conceive and create the complex geometric and symbolic designs that are characteristic of the Shipibo-Konibo culture. These designs are fundamental to the artistic and spiritual expression of the community and are present in their textiles, ceramics and other art forms.

The use of piripiri as a cure for "knowing how to think about designs" among Shipibo women is of great ritual value, as Leidy tells us:

"My grandmother always had in her garden, of piripiri there are different types. At that time my grandmother told me that the plant was for that, that newborn babies were put piri piri in her eye or else they made her drink it, so that as she grew up she could have that mentality in her dreams or in her mind so that they themselves could also make designs, so that they could make things, in terms of ceramics or embroidery. There is piripiri for designs and for ceramics too, and my grandmother used to pour all those things on me too, and she would cure me with that and she would tell me- so that someday when I die you will continue my inheritance of making ceramics, so that you never stop, so that it stays just there- saying that way she would cure me with that, she would always pour it in my eye when I was in the middle moon". - Leidy Panduro,2023.

Guided by the belief and the power of the piripiri as a generator of deep visions that are located in the subconscious, and that through the years have the power to design the kené more easily. That is why it is said that Shipibo-Konibo men depend on women for their clothing and other objects decorated with kené.

The women make different types of perfumes, often using the piripiri plant, which traditionally is used for different aspects: business, love, tranquility, harmony, among other benefits that could help you. In this video, Celia Panduro, prepares her perfume waste ininti.

“The ingredients that are used with the perfume are: piripiri, and there are several types of piripiri’ for business, for your body, in Shipibo language my Mother calls it bawe kana waste and also there are two types of plants that goes along with piripiri in the same bottle, is the ‘sigue sigueme’ or jasiman noirao which are plants, but they are two types of ‘sigue sigueme’ that are in this perfume, then my mom says that we in Shipibo call it shonioro nin noi rao and another type of ‘sigueme’ is bawan ma noi rao and those three ingredients are entered in the perfume.

The materials that are used for the preparation are the paiche tongue, with which you grate the piripiri and with a stone you crush the plants and from there you grate it all together, those two are the main materials. First she gathers the materials and gets ready to prepare it in the early morning, my mother gets up at 2 or 3 am in the morning without talking to anyone, and she starts to grate the piripiri and to crush the leaves, the plants are then mixed with the cologne, then she leaves it in a place where no one can see it yet or else she puts it in her bag where it goes with her. From there she diets a day or even half a day, depending on the quantity, she has to diet so that the owners of those plants are also happy, so that the owners of the piripiris also give strength to that preparation, after she diets that perfume it is ready for use. This perfume is for business, it is for your daily use as a cologne, so that you can use it after bathing, so that there is harmony in your home, so that there is peace in your home, we mostly use it for business, it is prepared for that". Leidy Panduro, 2025.

The use of ayahuasca or "oni" as a medicine to cure illnesses, spiritual, moral and social ills, is very present in the knowledge of the Shipibo-Konibo people. However, this knowledge is associated with the onanya or meraya, who are wise healers, and who have differences between them.

The onanyas are capable of healing through ayahuasca and other medicinal plants, but their communication is limited, they do not interact with beings from other spaces. On the other hand, the meraya are the doctors, the highest healer of the people. They have contact with the beings of the different spaces. Unfortunately, few merayas are found within the Shipibo-Konibo people (Sullon, 2012).

The difference between the meraya and the ayahuasqueros of today is manifested in their way of working. The meraya, for example, withdrew into his mosquito net and smoked his shinitapon pipe or drank tobacco in the form of juice. From there, he would physically become a spiritual being through tobacco and songs.

Ayahuasca is identified with the cosmic serpent, ronin, considered the mother of ayahuasca and rivers, the origin of all designs. Both piripiri and ayahuasca are used to visualize the designs of the kené, these represent the paths of the stars of the milky way, that is, the universe is reproduced through the iconographies and symbologies in the artifacts.