Dona Silvia Calisaya Chuquimia

A powerful feminine spiritual teacher and healer

Silvia Calisaya Chuquimia is a traditional Aymara spiritual healer, teacher, and direct descendant of the pre-Incan people who still inhabit the southern Lake Titicaca region. Silvia was born and raised in a small highland village. She left when she was a young woman to pursue her education and professional life, but later returned to the traditional spiritual teachings of her people. She is an expert in the ancient art of reading coca leaves for divination and healing, and is the proprietor of the Coca Leaf Museum in Puno, Peru. Coca is a sacred plant for the inhabitants of the Andes, which is still held in veneration among the indigenous and mestizo peoples of South America. 

“My grandmother was my first university; she was a healer and midwife . . . I started learning many things from her, as well as the coca reading. I began to seek more information about the origin of the coca leaves, and why native people are still using them. In doing this, I found the life philosophy of the Aymaras still living in this part of the world and following their traditional healing practices.”   

Silvia has traveled and taught in many places around the world over the last 15 years, including Canada, USA, Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Sweden, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Argentina, Brasil, Australia.