Karai Okenda
About the Teacher
Why study with them?
ARCHETYPE: Humble guardian of the portal. Tempered prayer-giver. Herald of the Mbyá Guaraní legacy.
ROLE: Medicine man. Guardian and musician of sacred ceremony space.
PERSONAL JOURNEY: My name is Karaí Okenda Moreira, though I am also known by my baptismal name, Geraldo Moreira. I am a spiritual leader, healer, and pajé (shaman) of the Mbyá Guaraní people of Brazil. I feel deeply honoured to share the ancestral knowledge I have inherited through sacred healing ceremonies, drawing from a rich lineage of wisdom passed down through many generations.
I was raised in the Indigenous land of Tekoa Mymba Roka, in Biguaçu, Santa Catarina, in the south of Brazil. Today, I live with my wife Kunhatai Yva (Mayra Marsango) and our son Wera Xunu in Tekoa Arandu, in Peruíbe, São Paulo. Our home is surrounded by the untouched beauty of Brazil’s Atlantic coastal forests, and my life is deeply rooted in the teachings of nature that have been handed down by my ancestors.
I come from a legendary line of Pajés. My father, Werá Tupã (“Electric Storm”) (1910–2024), was revered as one of the oldest and most respected Guaraní shamans. He himself saw his father, João Sabino Moreira, live to 130, and his grandfather, Vicente Okenda, reach 128. These extraordinary lifespans reflect a life lived in deep harmony with the forest, the spirit world, and the sacred medicines. I carry this legacy forward with humility and grace.
From a very young age, I was initiated into the spiritual and medicinal traditions of my people. I have spent over 20 years working with Amazonian and Guaraní plant medicines, and over time, I have become a bridge between worlds—carrying the voices of my ancestors while building connections with other Indigenous cultures across the Americas, including the Navajo, Lakota, Sioux, Cherokee, and Hopi. I am a Sun Dance and Vision Quest leader, a conductor of the Lakota Inipi ceremony, and a dancer of the Eagle Dance.
In our community at Tekoa Arandu, I guide the traditional Vision Quest, a powerful rite of passage that reconnects people with nature and spirit through solitude, fasting, and deep listening. This is part of our mission to preserve and revitalise our traditional practices in a way that welcomes those who come with open hearts and sincere intentions.
I also lead sacred rapé ceremonies in Brazil and internationally—like, for example, the one we did with Avalon in Barcelona, together with my wife, Kunhatai Yva. These ceremonies use ancestral tobacco medicine as a way to cleanse the body and spirit, reconnect with sacred breath, and call in guidance from the forest spirits.
I studied Pedagogy and Indigenous Worldview at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). Today, I teach both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities about the Tupi-Guaraní language and cosmology. I have participated in academic research exploring contemporary Guaraní shamanisms and their place in the broader discourse of native identity and healing.
Together with my wife, who leads and gives voice to the feminine force of our tribe, we carry out cultural, spiritual, and educational work throughout Europe and the Middle East. Through our travels, ceremonies, and teachings, we seek to build bridges of friendship and mutual respect between our people and others. We share the healing knowledge of our traditions to nurture the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and energetic aspects of life.
I also work with the traditional Guaraní calendar, sharing its rhythms and meanings through workshops and teachings. We continue documenting and sharing ancestral knowledge via social media to keep these teachings alive and accessible to new generations.
Everything I do—whether in ceremony, teaching, or healing—is rooted in the understanding that life is sacred. The medicines of the forest, like Ayahuasca, the songs of our ancestors, and the wisdom of the stars, all guide me in this path. I walk it with deep gratitude and the wish that this work may help heal not only individuals, but also the Earth and all our relations.
PABOUT MBYÁ GUARANÍ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE: The Mbyá Guaraní are one of the principal subgroups of the Guaraní people, an Indigenous nation with a vast historical presence across South America, including Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia. Before colonisation, the Guaraní occupied more than sixty per cent of what is now Brazil, once known as Pindorama. Today, the Mbyá live mainly in the Atlantic Forest regions of southern and south-eastern Brazil, as well as in Paraguay and Argentina, where they continue to defend their cultural and territorial rights.
The Guaraní are a Tupi-speaking people divided into subgroups such as the Mbyá, Kaiowá and Ñandeva. Together they form a continental nation with profound cultural, linguistic and spiritual ties. Known historically as walkers, communicators and road builders, they maintained connections with distant peoples such as the Mapuche in Patagonia, the Inca in the Andes and the Maya in the Caribbean. Their musical and spiritual traditions are described as being attuned to high-frequency vibrations and interplanetary consciousness, linking them symbolically to civilisations like the Egyptians, Persians, Indians and Chinese.
Mbyá society is structured around extended families bound by strong kinship. Small groups of four or five households usually form villages known as tekoá, ideally located near forests and rivers to sustain their traditional way of life, called ñande reko. At the centre of each village stands the opy, the sacred house of worship, where rituals are performed and community decisions are taken. Leadership is typically divided between the karaí, the spiritual guide, and the mburuvichá, the political chief responsible for external relations, though at times a single person may assume both roles.
Language is central to Mbyá identity. They speak a distinct dialect of Guaraní, marked by its own phonetics and vocabulary, while many also speak Portuguese or Spanish, depending on their location. Oral tradition is the main vehicle of cultural transmission. Knowledge, myths and customs are shared through storytelling, song and ceremony. Gatherings around the fire often include the sharing of mate and the use of the ceremonial pipe, the petyngua. Speech itself is considered a divine gift: in Guaraní cosmology, nhe’e represents the sacred spirit of language and eloquence, believed to be channelled directly from the gods.
Spirituality permeates every aspect of Mbyá life. The Guaraní are often described as the “theologians of the forest” because of their intricate cosmology and preserved astronomical wisdom, transmitted through myths and ritual songs. In their worldview, the four cardinal directions are represented by the deities Ñamandú, Jakairã, Karaí and Tupã, who together created the Earth. Rituals are vital to community cohesion. Among the most significant is the Ñemongarai, a child-naming ceremony performed during the maize harvest. In this rite, a visiting shaman identifies the divine spirit of each child and bestows a name that reflects this connection, marking the full incorporation of the soul into the body.
Cultural expression is visible through art, music, dance and craftwork. Ritual songs are both a form of teaching and a means of preserving collective memory. Instruments such as flutes and rattles accompany chants and dances that create a bridge between the human and the divine. These performances are often aligned with agricultural cycles, celebrating planting and harvest and reinforcing the harmony between people, nature and the cosmos.
The Mbyá’s subsistence practices are traditionally rooted in agriculture, hunting and gathering. They cultivate staple crops such as maize (avatí), cassava (mandió), beans (kumandá), squash (mindain), peanuts (manduí), sweet potatoes and watermelon (janjau). Fishing and hunting also play an important role, though these have become increasingly difficult due to deforestation and the loss of ancestral lands. Many communities have been forced to adopt aspects of juruá life (descendants of Europeans, literally “mouth with hair”), which has brought new health problems and exposure to diseases previously unknown among the Mbyá.
Healing traditions are sustained by the shamans, known as karaí, or opy’guá, “lords of the opy”. They employ medicinal plants and rituals to treat illness, prevent misfortune, influence the weather and ensure the success of hunts and harvests. They lead songs, dances and naming ceremonies, and recount creation myths believed to hold healing power. Both men and women may take on these roles, with female healers known as kunhã-karaí. Yet deforestation has reduced access to many essential plants, and the transfer of this knowledge to younger generations has been disrupted, placing ancestral healing practices at risk.
ROLE: Medicine man. Guardian and musician of sacred ceremony space.
PERSONAL JOURNEY: My name is Karaí Okenda Moreira, though I am also known by my baptismal name, Geraldo Moreira. I am a spiritual leader, healer, and pajé (shaman) of the Mbyá Guaraní people of Brazil. I feel deeply honoured to share the ancestral knowledge I have inherited through sacred healing ceremonies, drawing from a rich lineage of wisdom passed down through many generations.
I was raised in the Indigenous land of Tekoa Mymba Roka, in Biguaçu, Santa Catarina, in the south of Brazil. Today, I live with my wife Kunhatai Yva (Mayra Marsango) and our son Wera Xunu in Tekoa Arandu, in Peruíbe, São Paulo. Our home is surrounded by the untouched beauty of Brazil’s Atlantic coastal forests, and my life is deeply rooted in the teachings of nature that have been handed down by my ancestors.
I come from a legendary line of Pajés. My father, Werá Tupã (“Electric Storm”) (1910–2024), was revered as one of the oldest and most respected Guaraní shamans. He himself saw his father, João Sabino Moreira, live to 130, and his grandfather, Vicente Okenda, reach 128. These extraordinary lifespans reflect a life lived in deep harmony with the forest, the spirit world, and the sacred medicines. I carry this legacy forward with humility and grace.
From a very young age, I was initiated into the spiritual and medicinal traditions of my people. I have spent over 20 years working with Amazonian and Guaraní plant medicines, and over time, I have become a bridge between worlds—carrying the voices of my ancestors while building connections with other Indigenous cultures across the Americas, including the Navajo, Lakota, Sioux, Cherokee, and Hopi. I am a Sun Dance and Vision Quest leader, a conductor of the Lakota Inipi ceremony, and a dancer of the Eagle Dance.
In our community at Tekoa Arandu, I guide the traditional Vision Quest, a powerful rite of passage that reconnects people with nature and spirit through solitude, fasting, and deep listening. This is part of our mission to preserve and revitalise our traditional practices in a way that welcomes those who come with open hearts and sincere intentions.
I also lead sacred rapé ceremonies in Brazil and internationally—like, for example, the one we did with Avalon in Barcelona, together with my wife, Kunhatai Yva. These ceremonies use ancestral tobacco medicine as a way to cleanse the body and spirit, reconnect with sacred breath, and call in guidance from the forest spirits.
I studied Pedagogy and Indigenous Worldview at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). Today, I teach both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities about the Tupi-Guaraní language and cosmology. I have participated in academic research exploring contemporary Guaraní shamanisms and their place in the broader discourse of native identity and healing.
Together with my wife, who leads and gives voice to the feminine force of our tribe, we carry out cultural, spiritual, and educational work throughout Europe and the Middle East. Through our travels, ceremonies, and teachings, we seek to build bridges of friendship and mutual respect between our people and others. We share the healing knowledge of our traditions to nurture the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and energetic aspects of life.
I also work with the traditional Guaraní calendar, sharing its rhythms and meanings through workshops and teachings. We continue documenting and sharing ancestral knowledge via social media to keep these teachings alive and accessible to new generations.
Everything I do—whether in ceremony, teaching, or healing—is rooted in the understanding that life is sacred. The medicines of the forest, like Ayahuasca, the songs of our ancestors, and the wisdom of the stars, all guide me in this path. I walk it with deep gratitude and the wish that this work may help heal not only individuals, but also the Earth and all our relations.
PABOUT MBYÁ GUARANÍ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE: The Mbyá Guaraní are one of the principal subgroups of the Guaraní people, an Indigenous nation with a vast historical presence across South America, including Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia. Before colonisation, the Guaraní occupied more than sixty per cent of what is now Brazil, once known as Pindorama. Today, the Mbyá live mainly in the Atlantic Forest regions of southern and south-eastern Brazil, as well as in Paraguay and Argentina, where they continue to defend their cultural and territorial rights.
The Guaraní are a Tupi-speaking people divided into subgroups such as the Mbyá, Kaiowá and Ñandeva. Together they form a continental nation with profound cultural, linguistic and spiritual ties. Known historically as walkers, communicators and road builders, they maintained connections with distant peoples such as the Mapuche in Patagonia, the Inca in the Andes and the Maya in the Caribbean. Their musical and spiritual traditions are described as being attuned to high-frequency vibrations and interplanetary consciousness, linking them symbolically to civilisations like the Egyptians, Persians, Indians and Chinese.
Mbyá society is structured around extended families bound by strong kinship. Small groups of four or five households usually form villages known as tekoá, ideally located near forests and rivers to sustain their traditional way of life, called ñande reko. At the centre of each village stands the opy, the sacred house of worship, where rituals are performed and community decisions are taken. Leadership is typically divided between the karaí, the spiritual guide, and the mburuvichá, the political chief responsible for external relations, though at times a single person may assume both roles.
Language is central to Mbyá identity. They speak a distinct dialect of Guaraní, marked by its own phonetics and vocabulary, while many also speak Portuguese or Spanish, depending on their location. Oral tradition is the main vehicle of cultural transmission. Knowledge, myths and customs are shared through storytelling, song and ceremony. Gatherings around the fire often include the sharing of mate and the use of the ceremonial pipe, the petyngua. Speech itself is considered a divine gift: in Guaraní cosmology, nhe’e represents the sacred spirit of language and eloquence, believed to be channelled directly from the gods.
Spirituality permeates every aspect of Mbyá life. The Guaraní are often described as the “theologians of the forest” because of their intricate cosmology and preserved astronomical wisdom, transmitted through myths and ritual songs. In their worldview, the four cardinal directions are represented by the deities Ñamandú, Jakairã, Karaí and Tupã, who together created the Earth. Rituals are vital to community cohesion. Among the most significant is the Ñemongarai, a child-naming ceremony performed during the maize harvest. In this rite, a visiting shaman identifies the divine spirit of each child and bestows a name that reflects this connection, marking the full incorporation of the soul into the body.
Cultural expression is visible through art, music, dance and craftwork. Ritual songs are both a form of teaching and a means of preserving collective memory. Instruments such as flutes and rattles accompany chants and dances that create a bridge between the human and the divine. These performances are often aligned with agricultural cycles, celebrating planting and harvest and reinforcing the harmony between people, nature and the cosmos.
The Mbyá’s subsistence practices are traditionally rooted in agriculture, hunting and gathering. They cultivate staple crops such as maize (avatí), cassava (mandió), beans (kumandá), squash (mindain), peanuts (manduí), sweet potatoes and watermelon (janjau). Fishing and hunting also play an important role, though these have become increasingly difficult due to deforestation and the loss of ancestral lands. Many communities have been forced to adopt aspects of juruá life (descendants of Europeans, literally “mouth with hair”), which has brought new health problems and exposure to diseases previously unknown among the Mbyá.
Healing traditions are sustained by the shamans, known as karaí, or opy’guá, “lords of the opy”. They employ medicinal plants and rituals to treat illness, prevent misfortune, influence the weather and ensure the success of hunts and harvests. They lead songs, dances and naming ceremonies, and recount creation myths believed to hold healing power. Both men and women may take on these roles, with female healers known as kunhã-karaí. Yet deforestation has reduced access to many essential plants, and the transfer of this knowledge to younger generations has been disrupted, placing ancestral healing practices at risk.
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