Jose Manuel Pineda Vargas (aka Maestro Mancoluto) is a Peruvian

shaman Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

. Vargas is primarily known as the lead shaman for the

Ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...

retreat center named Chimbre (also Shimbre) located in

Puerto Maldonado Puerto Maldonado () is a city in southeastern Peru in the Amazon rainforest west of the Bolivian border, located at the confluence of the Tambopata River, Tambopata and Madre de Dios River, Madre de Dios rivers. The latter river joins the Madeira ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. Vargas was featured in the award-winning documentary "Stepping Into the Fire (2011)."

Background of name

According to Vargas: "The name Mancoluto is from the Chavin language, and it represents a person who knows more of what is unknown, he who has a 6th and 7th sense."

Controversy as a shaman

Mancoluto is controversial among the shamanic teachers in that he seeks to lead, more than seeking to heal. Mancoluto claims to be one of only five master shamans in the world and descendant from the legendary Chavin shamanic civilization that existed for 100,000 years in Peru, long before the Incas. Mancoluto is also controversial in that he does not sing the icaros, and instead administers the dosages of medicine, and then sends participants out into the jungle to learn their lessons on their own. He believes that the ayahuasca is only a purgative medicine, and that the San Pedro (

Echinopsis pachanoi ''Trichocereus macrogonus'' var. ''pachanoi'' (Synonym (taxonomy), synonyms including ''Trichocereus pachanoi'' and ''Echinopsis pachanoi'') is a fast-growing columnar cactus found in the Andes at in altitude. It is one of a number of kinds of ...

) is the primary medicine used to teach the participant survival skills.

Arrest

Arrest stemming from the death of Kyle Joseph Nolan, an 18-year-old from

Sebastopol, California Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma County, California, with a recorded population of 7,521, per the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. Sebastopol was once primarily a plum- and apple-growing region. Wine grapes are the predominant a ...

. Kyle traveled to Peru to take part in Ayahuasca ceremonies and died during his trip. Vargas tried to hide the death and confessed to burying the young American's body (with the help of two others), and was arrested for his role in the crime.

References

{{reflist Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Ayahuasca Peruvian religious leaders Shamans