The book
Way of the Hummingbird
Shamanic Tales, Ayahuasca Journeys and the Dreaming of the Whole Earth
Lore Solaris
About the book
A deeply personal account of Dreaming, Ayahuasca, and the shamanic path.
Way of the Hummingbird is a 690-page firsthand journey into Ayahuasca, shamanism, and the living wisdom of the Amazon — written by Lore Solaris, who since 2003 has been guided by Huni Kuin, Yawanawá, and Shipibo teachers, has immersed in the Brazilian traditions of Ciranda and Umbanda, and carries deep, ongoing ties to Aboriginal Australian culture and Country.
This isn’t a clinical guide, a tourist’s travelogue, or a distant academic study. It’s a raw, honest anthology — richly detailed personal experience woven together with Indigenous voices and rigorous scholarship, honouring the intersections of Indigenous Australian, Amazonian, Celtic, and Mayan cosmologies. Readers are invited to walk alongside the author through the beauty, the mistakes, the initiation, and the hard-won humility of two decades on this path.
What’s inside
- 01Ceremony and apprenticeshipRichly detailed, reverent accounts of ceremonial life with the Huni Kuin, Yawanawá, and Shipibo peoples of the Brazilian Amazon — the songs, the protocols, the relationships built over years, not weeks.
- 02Two Dreamings meetingRare, direct Aboriginal Australian perspectives on Amazonian ceremonial tradition in contemporary context — a genuinely unusual cross-cultural lens most Ayahuasca literature doesn’t attempt.
- 03Brazilian syncretic traditionsA detailed account of the history, practices, and beliefs of Santo Daime, Umbanda, and Ciranda — living religious movements built around plant sacraments.
- 04The shadow sideA fearless, balanced look at spiritual bypassing, ego, cultural appropriation, and the risks of the modern Ayahuasca movement — critique alongside reverence.
- 05Colonial critiqueA clear-eyed examination of Western dismissal of Indigenous knowledge, and the ongoing commodification of sacred plant medicine by government and pharmaceutical interests.
- 06Rare guidance for advanced practitionersBeyond foundational safety and integration support, the book offers uncommon insight for those already deep on the path — including jaguar Dreaming, subtle energetic cues, and techniques for advanced ceremonial work not typically found in mainstream Ayahuasca literature.
- 07Scholarship woven through storyExtensive cross-referencing across ethnobotany, anthropology, ecology, and comparative spirituality — written accessibly enough for a newcomer, rigorously enough for an academic.
- 08A glossary bridging traditionsIndigenous spiritual terminology across Amazonian, Aboriginal, Celtic, and Mayan frameworks, made accessible for cross-cultural understanding.
- 09Songs, poems and sacred chantsDrawn directly from ceremony and the traditions the book honours.
For newcomers, it unfolds with the immersive pull of an odyssey — in the tradition of Shantaram and Carlos Castaneda. For the dedicated seeker, it’s a companion and reference to return to. For the scholar, it’s a rare primary account with the depth to sit alongside the academic literature.
If you’ve felt the call of the light of the forest — or the call to understand it — this is the companion you’ve been looking for.
About the author
Lore Solaris is a counsellor, musician and visionary artist based in New South Wales, Australia. He spent over five years studying at the University of Sydney and went on to a 21-year career across three states and the Northern Territory in counselling, group therapy, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, community development and Indigenous health.
He has lived and studied in Brazil for five years, undertaking a full-time music apprenticeship under master musician Carioca Freitas at Ciranda, and immersive cultural exchange with the Huni Kuin and Yawanawá peoples, who gave him the name Nawa Ibã — the singer who calls the vision. He is a dedicated student and practitioner of the Brazilian syncretic traditions of Santo Daime and Umbanda.
Lore began painting his visions after studying with the Peruvian artist Pablo Amaringo, and has released the albums Irradia and We Are – Estrela da Ciranda. Way of the Hummingbird is his first book.