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Modern Day Explorers on the Shamanic Path
An Interview with Tomás by Lisa Alpine
[This article originally appeared inCommon GroundMagazine, Issue 97 - Fall 1998.]
H
ave you experienced ayahuasca?" a visitor asked when he saw my collection of Amazonianart gathered in the 1970s when I traveled extensively by small canoe through the AmazonBasin. I rebuked, 'God, no! I didn't want to be laid out unconscious on the ground for daysat a time filled with hallucinations of writhing anacondas doing battle, with big-toothedjaguars!' That was my impression of the experience ayahuasca triggered when the shamansdrank the bitter potion. They had invited me to partake in their ceremonies but I was alone,blond and young, so declined, believing that it was over the top for me, or any Westerner forthat matter Leave the snakes in the jungle and out of my brain the real jungle was scary anddangerous enough!Oddly, that conversation triggered a plethora of Amazonian connections. I encounteredmany people over the next few weeks who had gone to the Amazon seeking out indigenousshamans who could guide them on an ayahuasca journey. I listened to their revelations andhealings triggered by the 'shaman's consciousness-altering drink' which is what MichaelHarner, who heads theFoundation for Shamanic Studies, calls it. Intrigued, I wanted, todelve further into the purpose and results of this growing interest, not only in saving therainforest, but the shamanic traditions of many of the tribes living within its verdant, river-riddled territories. I contacted many teachers, including Michael Harner who has shaped',people's awareness of shamanism around the globe; John Perkins who uses his shamanictrips to Ecuador so people can wake up to their greater purpose in life; Christina Pratt whouses the soul retrieval work she learned from the shamans of the Amazon in her privatetherapy practice-, and Tom Pinkson who is adept in the ways of plant medicines and aninitiated Huichol shaman. All of the people Interviewed know ayahuasca intimately and arededicated to the "shamanic path." Tom Pinkson, Ph.D., is a Transpersonal Psychologist with an office in Mill Valley. He isauthor of
Flowers of Wiricuta: A Gringo's journey to Shamanic Power
, and he is involved in ashamanism-based community called Wakan. Pinkson is also a clinical consultant at theCenter for Attitudinal Healing in Sausalito, where he has worked for over twenty years withchildren and families facing life threatening illness. He has been initiated into shamanism by.numerous medicine teachers including the Huichol of Mexico who utilize the peyote cactus.He has also worked with other shamanic plant "allies,' including ayahuasca, in his over thirty year journey seeking the deeper truth about the mysteries of life and death.
LISA ALPINE:
Do you consider yourself a shaman?
TOM PINKSON:
I consider myself a man. I was initiated as a mara'akame which is theHuichol word for shaman. I completed an 11-year cycle of apprenticeship. The conclusion was a ceremony in the shaman's village where I had to take the life of a bull. The *meat- of the bull fed the people and the blood was taken to the cornfield to nourish the earth. it was a
very powerful transformation experience for me which I talk about in my book, Flowers of Wiricuta. Wiricuta is the Huichol holy land where each year the shaman leads a group of pilgrims to ritually seek out and hunt the sacred peyote. I am now midway into my secondcycle of apprenticeship.
LA:
What's the purpose of the apprenticeship you are now in?
TP:
The Huichols say that when you do the first cycle of apprenticeship you grow one set of psychic antlers. This is your telepathic tool for attunement with the spirit world. In the firstcycle you go to the 6th level, or top of a pyramid. in the second cycle you grow your secondset of antlers and come down six levels, so what you learn is grounded and can be used inthis life. Then you are in balance with antlers on both sides of your head.
LA:
Do you use your one antler?
TP:
Everyday.
LA:
Americans have a very two-dimensional idea of shamanic practices and the role of hallucinogenic plants play. Could you explain your viewpoint on this?
TP:
The word "hallucinogen is a culturally biased term and does not reflect how indigenouspeople perceive the sacramental plants they use only in ceremonial ritual. in our culture, thenegative term for visionary inducing psychoactive materials, "hallucinogens", implies seeing something that does not exist. For the indigenous people, sacred plants are produced in the womb of Mother Earth and created by the Great Spirit to be used with a clear intentionality in a sacred setting. These plants can open doorways to a deeper reality which underlies the world of materiality that we are conditioned to believe is what is real. Shamanic plant use isnot about hallucinating something that is not there, but just the opposite. We in the Westlive in a hallucinatory world based upon our mind's projection that postulates a world of separate objects, inanimate in nature and devoid of consciousness and soul. This perceptionof separation is a pathological one because it leads us to treat what we construe as separateand inanimate in a disrespectful way. We soil our own nest, dump our waste in places thatare out of sight and out - of mind, that we think is safely separated and doesn't haveanything to do with us and where we live. Since this is not based on what is actually true - aplanet where everything is interconnected, our pollution comes back into our lives throughthe air we breath, the food we eat and the water we drink. The shamanic people I havestudied with around the world, perceive through their visions a reality based oninterpenetrating fields of energy. And from these visionary teachings comes an ecologically-based understanding of how to live, a manner that promotes harmony and balance of all thecomponents of the field, both seen and unseen. The visions take the shaman into the reality underlying the physical, the relationship of forces discussed by our subatomic physicists andreferred to as quarks, leptons, etc. For shamans, these are spirit forces and they learn how tointeract with them in a cooperative fashion based on respect, reciprocity and co-creativepartnership of responsibility.
LA:
How can we have a sacred relationship to sacred substances If it Is not In our culture?
TP:
My understanding is everything starts with intention. Before I went with the Huichol ontheir sacred pilgrimage to hunt for their sacred plant [peyote] there were weeks of preparation. And for the Huichol it is months, if not years of preparation that includesfasting, deprivation of many kinds, plus ongoing rituals and ceremonies. All of theseexperiences open and deepen the pilgrims into a self-confrontational experience. They get toa place inside themselves where they ask: 'What am I seeking?, Why am I seeking it?, Whatam I prepared to give of myself in exchange for or in relationship to what I seek? How will Ihonor what I am given if I am given what I seek? For then my responsibility will be greaternot less."Going through this process brings you face-to-face with the truth of your deepestintention and integrity.
LA:
That sounds a bit Intimidating
TP:
The indigenous people believe the spirit of the plant is listening to you and watching you. How sincere are you? How truthful? How much are you in your integrity? So theoutcome of this experience with the plant is intimately connected with your intention. As theHuichols say: Your experience is directly influenced by how much you open your heart andhow good your Prayers are. For Western people seeking a relationship with these substances,it is vital that they work with attitudes of respect, receptivity, humility, openness and soulfulhonesty. These plants are tools of power and power can turn in many different directions. When youopen the doors to power it is important to be in right relationship to that power or else itcan be hurtful and damaging to yourself and sometimes to others. The indigenous elders of the shamanic cultures that still survive carry on the traditions of this right relationship withpower plants, and how to work with what comes through those open doors in a skillful,healing way.Our culture has a glamorized view of shamanism. One night when I was sitting with theHuichol around tatawari, or Grandfather Fire, which the Huichol people say is the firstshaman, the shaman was talking to several young men and encouraging them to stay on thepath to becoming shamans. Out of respect, the young men were quiet and nodded theirheads but later when I talked to them alone, they said that was the last thing they wanted. There were too many sacrifices and they wouldn't be able to pursue their personal livesbecause the shaman serves the people. Someone does not stand up and say "I am a shaman."It is the tribe and elders that define them as a shaman. It is long hard work. A lot of it has todo with endurance and perseverance under adverse conditions.
LA:
What Is your connection and experience with ayahuasca?
TP:
I had been interested in going to the Amazon for years but didn't have the resources. I was leading a solstice ceremony at a Northern California retreat center, and, anothershamanic retreat was coming in just as I left. I knew the man conducting it and left ashamanic message with stone people (rocks) wishing him good medicine with his work. Afew weeks later he called me and asked if I would take his place leading people to the Amazon to study with a well known shaman named Eduardo Caulderon. Suddenly, what Icouldn't afford to pay for at the time was being given to me in a way that I would be paid to
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