Chacapa, also known as Shakapa, Chacarpa or Huaira Sacha, is a tribal instrument, a leaf rattle. It is used in Amazonian healing rituals to hold space.

It is a bundle of leaves from the olyra latifolia plant that produces a hypnotic and soothing rattling sound when shaken.

In the Amazon jungle, Chacapa is used in ayahuasca ceremonies. The shaman, singing Ikarosa, shakes it, thus summoning the support of spiritual helpers.

The sound of Chacapa is said to soothe patients during the ceremony and helps to “purify” their energy. There are many shamanic ways of moving Shakapa, and each one creates a different sound and a different energy wave. According to Amazonian tales, a shaman working with a person can capture their negative energy in a shakapa, which he (or she) then blows through the leaves into the forest.

And there, any “evil spirit” is being absorbed by trees and plants, thus dissipated in Mother Nature’s purifying love.