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Vegetalismo Shamanism Among The Mestizo Population of The Peruvian Amazon
Vegetalismo Shamanism Among The Mestizo Population of The Peruvian Amazon
VEGETALISMO
SHAMANISM AMONG
THE MESTIZO POPULATION
OF THE PERUVIAN AMAZON
BY
VEGETALISMO
SHAMANISM AMONG THE MESTIZO POPULATION
OF THE PERUVIAN AMAZON
Doctoral dissertation
for the doctor's degree in humanities
at the University of Stockholm,
to be publicly examined in English
in room 7, house D, Frescati
on Thursday, June 5, 1986 at 10 a.m.
by
Luis Eduardo Luna
Department of Comparative Religion, Stockholm 1986
ISBN 91-22-00819-5
ABSTRACT
In the Amazonian provinces of Peru indigenous shamanistic
practices are preserved among the mestizo population. Practitioners who call themselves vegetalistas (from which the
term Vegetalismo may be formed) believe that certain plants,
which they call doctores (plant-teachers) have spirits from
which knowledge about this and other worlds may be gained,
if these plants are ingested under certain conditions involving sexual segregation and a diet that may extend from six
months to several years. Several of these plants have pychotropic properties, or contain important biodynamic compounds.
Two of these plants, Banisteriopsis caapi (Spruce ex Griseb.)
Morton and Psychotria viridis Ruiz & Pavon, are used in the
preparation of ayahuasca, a psychotropic brew with the aid of
which vegetalistas contact the spirit world in order to
diagnose and cure illnesses. Other plant-teachers may also be
added to the basic ayahuasca preparation.
This book presents information about shamanic initiation,
and of the spirit world of vegetalistas. Shamanic knowledge
and power transmitted to the neophytes have two principal
manifestations: 1) magic melodies or icaros which are learned
from the spirits and used to perform various shamanic tasks,
and 2) a magic substance received from the spirits and
carried by vegetalistas in their chests, and which is used in
the extraction of magic darts or virotes, shot by evil sorcerers, and which are believed to be one of the causes of
illness. This book also provides information about ayahuasca
sessions and the ideas held in the Peruvian Amazon about illness and its treatment.
V E G E T A L I S M O
SHAMANISM AMONG THE MESTIZO POPULATION
OF THE PERUVIAN AMAZON
BY
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
MAP
PREFACE
Chapter 1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1.
1.2.
1.3.
1.4.
1.5.
1.6.
1.7.
Scope
Shamanism
The term "mestizo"
Ayahuasca and the plant-teachers
Methodological considerations
A survey of the scientific literature
Organization of the material
13
13
15
15
16
18
23
Chapter 2.
VEGETALISMO IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON
2.1. The Peruvian Amazon area.................................
2.2. Iquitos and Pucallpa. Historical and
socio-economic considerations
2.3. Religious background of the area
2.4. Tribal Amazonian shamanism: main characteristics
2.5. Vegetalismo and vegetalistas: Amazonian
mestizo shamanism
2.6. The informants
25
27
29
30
31
36
Chapter 3.
SHAMANIC INITIATION AND THE PLANT-TEACHERS
3.1. Shamanic initiation
3.1.1.
3.1.2.
3.1.3.
3.1.4.
43
44
46
47
50
51
55
57
60
62
67
Chapter 4.
THE SUPERNATURAL REALM
4.1. Spirit world
73
4.1.01.
4.1.02.
4.1.03.
4.1.04.
4.1.05.
4.1.06.
4.1.07.
4.1.08.
4.1.09.
4.1.10.
74
77
79
80
82
84
87
87
89
89
The Chullachaqui
The Sachamama
The Yakumama
The Yakuruna
The Sirena (mermaid)
The Bufeo Colorado (pink river dolphin)
Plants leading to the underwater world
The Tunchi
Christian elements
The Inca motif
90
94
Chapter 5.
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRITS: THE MAGIC MELODIES AND
THE MAGIC PHLEGM
5.1. The magic melodies or icaros
97
101
104
104
105
107
107
108
108
110
116
Chapter 6.
ILLNESS AND ITS TREATMENT
6.1. Etiology of illness
119
122
123
125
128
6.6. Soul-loss
132
135
135
136
Chapter 7.
AYAHUASCA SESSIONS AND VISIONS
7.1. ayahuasca sessions
141
143
148
152
CONCLUSIONS
157
Appendix I
Indian tribes that use or used Banisteriopsis based
narcotic beverages
167
Appendix II
Vernacular names given to Banisteriopsis based narcotic
beverages
171
Appendix III
Musical transcription of magic melodies or icaros
174
REFERENCES
181
PREFACE
"Pues la Ayahuasca encierra toda la ciencia y el arte
del mdico aborigen o del curandero popular que se
sirve de aqulla. A ella acuden en demanda de sabidura, sea por aliviar el dolor de sus semejantes o
descubrir lo desconocido y alcanzar la esencia de las
cosas. " (Gabriel del Castillo 1963: 88)
There is no doubt that shamanism is quite the vogue today. The
words shaman and shamanism are no longer obscure terms used
only at scientific meetings by a handful of specialists. We are
witnessing an explosion of literature on shamanism, both
scientific and popular, in the West. These terms are, in
fact, being used so much, and in such a broad sense, that they
will probably soon lose all significance -there is already
enough debate in scientific literature about the elements
implied in these terms, the geographical location where "real"
shamans exist -or existed-, and in what cases these terms can
be applied.
There has been a similar explosion of literature dealing with
psychotropic plants and mind-altering compounds, partly a consequence of the discovery -some would rather say "rediscovery"of mind altering substances by the Western world, with all its
economic, social, cultural, religious and political implications (cf. Grinspoon & Bakalar 1979: 56-88; Weil 1972: 39-72;
Furst 1972:vii-xvi). In the past twenty years many books and
articles have been published dealing with the ritual use of
psychotropic plants by indigenous people. Because these plants
are nearly always used in a sacred context, the connection
between shamanism and the use of psychotropic plants is selfevident.
I first became interested in the shamanic use of psychotropic
plants in November 1971 when meeting the American ethnobotanist
Terence McKenna in Florencia, the capital of Caquet, my native
province, in the Colombian Amazon area. McKenna was at that
time searching for information about an indigenous psychotropic beverage best known in Colombia under the Tukano name of
yag, and in Ecuador and Peru under the Quechua denomination of
ayahuasca, which is used by a number of tribes of the Western
Amazon, the Orinoco Plains and the Pacific Lowlands from Panama
to Ecuador.
Although born in the Amazon area, I had had relatively little
exposure to Amazonian life and way of thinking. I received most
of my basic education in Bogot. In 1965, when I was seventeen
years of age, I moved to Spain, where I studied Spanish philology at the University of Madrid. In November 1971 I was having
9
10
CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Scope
In this book it is my intention to give an account of shamanism
as it is practised by some individuals among the mestizo population of the Peruvian Amazon area. My work is based on the
reports of a handful of practitioners, my deductions as a participant-observer during five periods of field-work, and the
examination of the scientific literature available on this subject.
I will present the ideas held by these practitioners about
shamanic initiation, their use of psychotropic plants, which
they considered their true "teachers", their rapport with plant
and animal spirits, the way in which shamanic power is accumulated and used, the role of magic chants in shamanic tasks, and
the view my informants have of health and illness. I will also
provide some botanical information about the plants involved
and describe healing sessions and ceremonies in which these
practitioners ingest ayahuasca, a psychotropic beverage, the
composition and distribution of which I will also briefly discuss.
I will begin by establishing the way in which I am going to
use such terms as shaman, mestizo and plant-teacher, and by
outlining the special angle(s) from which I am going to tackle
this study and the methodology I have applied. I will then proceed to give a survey of the scientific literature which
already exists on this subject. I will finally present the disposition of the material I am going to discuss before entering
into detail.
1.2 Shamanism.
The focus of this book is on shamanism. The definition of such
terms as shamanism and shaman have been the subject of considerable debate in scientific literature. In fact, many books
and articles on shamanism begin with a discussion about the
specific characteristics of shamans, and to what geographical
areas these terms can be applied (cf. Eliade 1964: 3-6; Siikala
1978:11-17; Chaumeil 1983:10-21; Merkur 1985:10-40; etc.).
I have purposely avoided a discussion which has already occupied the minds of so many researchers, simply by adhering
13
myself to the ideas of one particular scholar, Prof. ke Hultkrantz, to whom shamanism is a religious configuration, which
he defines as
"a semiindependent segment of an ethnic religion in
which all beliefs, rites and epic traditions correspond to each other and make up an integrated field,
often with the exclusion of beliefs, rites and traditions which play a role in another segment of the
same religion. A nuclear feature of the religious
configuration is what social anthropologists call the
"belief system", i.e. the coordinated, interrelated
chain of religious beliefs that constitutes the basic
motivation of the segmentation." (Hultkrantz 1978:
10).
Accordingly,
shamanism:
ln the Peruvian Amazon this term not only applies to North Americans or Europeans, but even to people coming from Lima, who
through their clothes and behaviour reveal that they do not
belong to the Amazon area. Although physiognomically I am a
mestizo, I am considerable taller than the people of that area
(I am 182 cm.), and that alone makes me quite often also a
gringo.
16
dying a subject such as shamanism, one becomes extremely involved, and it happened to me that I found myself many times identified with the shamanic quest, while at the same time I tried
to keep an objective look by the systematic gathering of data
through notes, recordings, photos and collection of voucher
specimens. I know that there are colleagues who look with suspicion at such an approach. Jean Pierre Chaumeil (1980: 9)
points out that there is the danger of having an incomplete and
static view of the phenomenon (I do not pretend, of course, now
to possess a "complete" view of Amazonian mestizo shamanism).
The fact that I was not able to spend more than between 5 and 8
weeks every year doing fieldwork, and that during the long and
cold winters in Finland I could keep a certain distance to the
concrete events and dedicate my time to the structuration of
the data and to the examination of scientific literature, has,
I hope, contributed towards a balanced view of the subject of
my study.
During my first period of field work I concentrated on one
single informant, Don Emilio Andrade Gmez, whom I visited very
often, sometimes every day, during a six-week period. I showed
a genuine interest in his work, and progressively gained his
confidence and even affection. I observed healing sessions,
participated in ayahuasca ceremonies, and even took the beverage several times. I did not hide from him the fact that I was
systematically gathering information. I worked with a tape recorder, and photo and film cameras. Don Emilio was all the time
aware of my work, and he was extremely cooperative. During the
second, third and fourth periods of field work, I expanded my
examination to other practitioners, some of whom were introduced to me by Don Emilio himself. During the third period, I
literally lived one month with one vegetalista, Don Jos Coral,
following the prescribed diet for shamanic initiation. During
the fifth field work I had the occasion to interview practitioners living in Pucallpa, and was lucky to meet Pablo Amaringo,
a painter and ex-vegetalista, whose work has opened to me new
roads for future research, as he is able to present in a plastic way visions which my other informants can only describe in
words.
Because the focus of my work is on shamanism, I have found
that participating in
ayahuasca sessions and taking the brew
-which, as anyone who has ever taken it knows, is a far from
pleasant experience-, and following all the prescriptions all
this has been a very effective and not very intrusive way of
establishing an easy working relationship with vegetalistas.
Quite often the most interesting information was conveyed to me
just after an ayahuasca session.
I also had the opportunity of having long talks with some of
the patients, in which I learned about their religious ideas,
about their concept of illness and health, and of course about
the social and economic conditions in which they live.
Altogether, I collected about 180 hours of recordings, which
can basically be divided into three categories (cf. Hultkrantz
1973:15-16): a) tape recording of ayahuasca ceremonies, b) tape
17
Psychologists and psychiatrists, such as Carlos Alberto Segun, Moiss Lemlij and Mario Chiappe became interested in
what has been labelled as Psiquiatra Folklrica (Segun 1979:
13), and since 1965 they have produced a series of articles
(some of which have been republished recently: cf. Segun 1979;
Chiappe et al. 1985), about local healers in several areas of
Peru and their use of psychotropic plants, including ayahuasca.
They present both valuable descriptive and analytical material.
Their emphasis seems to be mostly on healing, and especially
from the point of view of psychotherapy. There are interesting
observations about the conceptions and local nomenclature of
culture-bond illnesses, and about cultural determinants of the
hallucinatory experience. As sources for the study of more esoteric aspects of mestizo shamanism, such as initiation and
transmission of shamanic power, their work is limited by the
fact that they deal comparatively little with the religious
aspects, and there is no attempt to study the vegetalistas'
worldview from a wider Amazonian perspective. The ethnobotanical information is scarce, and unfortunately, sometimes inaccurate.
The American anthropologist Marlene Dobkin de Ros collaborated with Segun and Chiappe, and did field work first on practitioners using the San Pedro cactus in the coastal area of
Northern Peru, and then in Iquitos, among ayahuasca practitioners, mainly in the community of Beln, an urban slum in the
southern section of the city. Dobkin de Ros published a number
of articles on ayahuasca healers (1969a, 1969b, 1969c, 1970a,
1970b, 1971a, 1971b), and in 1972 a monography, in which she
condenses most of the ideas on the subject she had expressed in
earlier publications.
In her book Dobkin de Rios presents historical data about
Iquitos, and a sociological analysis of Beln. She describes
ayahuasca sessions, discusses concepts of illness and witchcraft among her informants, presents several case studies of
patients suffering from one misfortune or other, and finally
discusses the role of ayahuasca in healing, especially in psychotherapy. There is a great deal of valuable information in
her work. From the point of view of the study on shamanism,
however, there are serious gaps. There is no mention, for example, of the yachay or mariri, a magic substance which is essential both in upper Amazonian tribal shamanism, and among mestizo practitioners (at least I have not yet met any vegetalistas
who does not claim to possess this magic phlegm), and which is
underlying the concepts of healing and witchcraft. The pervasive role of magic chants or icaros, not only during ayahuasca
sessions, but in all aspects of shamanic practices, is not sufficiently stressed, and there is no profound enquiry about shamanic initiation, the importance of the diet and the acquisition of shamanic knowledge. From the ethnobotanical point of
view, there is very little information about plant use. Dobkin
de Rios does not mention collecting plant material, or, in case
she did collect, the herbariums where voucher specimens are
deposited.
Since the publication of her book on ayahuasca, Dobkin de
20
Rios has made other contributions to the subject of folk healing in the Peruvian Amazon area (1977, 1981a, 1981b). Particularly interesting is a paper (1984) in which she shows the development of Don Hilde, a practitioner living in Pucallpa, who
has put aside much of his ayahuasca practice to enter a mystical organization called Septrionismo de la Amazona, formed in
1968 by an urban middle class mestizo. The aim of the organization is to achieve coherence and unity between religious and
moral values and science. This paper shows the religious dynamism which exists in the Amazon area, and presents a very good
example of the spiritual development of some vegetalistas
towards new practices through the incorporation of new religious elements.
F. Bruce Lamb, an American forester, who arrived in Peru in
1962 to undertake a forest survey in the Amazon area, met in
Iquitos Don Manuel Crdoba-Ros, a vegetalista of great reputation for his knowledge of medicinal plants and for his success
as a healer. In 1971 Lamb published Wizard of the Upper Amazon.
The Story of Manuel Crdoba-Ros, an embellished account of how
Cordoba Ros had been captured by a group of Huni Kui (Amahuaca) Indians when he was 15 years old, how he had been initiated
to ayahuasca and was groomed by the old chief to succeed him.
For seven years he lived with the Indians and acquired his
knowledge of jungle lore. He finally escaped, and eventually
went to live in Iquitos, where he put his knowledge of the
jungle to good use.
Lamb's book was severely criticized by the anthropologist Carneiro (1980), an Amahuaca specialist, on the grounds that the
tribe described by Crdoba Ros presented many traits, including the role of the chief, population patterns, clothes, utensils, hunting techniques and a method of disposing of the dead,
which could not possibly be Amahuaca. Carneiro concluded that
Cordoba Ros' story was probably not true.
Csar Calvo, a Peruvian writer, in a novel I will comment
upon in a moment (1981:216-219), presents another version of
Manuel Cordoba Ros' abduction by the Amahuaca, at the age of
13; This book is also partially based on talks with Cordoba
Ros. In Iquitos I heard a completely different story about Don
Manuel from Dr. Gunther Schaper, who has lived in Iquitos for
more than 50 years, and who also knew Don Manuel personally.
I think that it is important to differentiate between the
knowledge a vegetalista possesses, and the way he claims to
have acquired it. Cordoba Ros' story is not unique. I have met
vegetalistas who tell similar -although less dramatic- stories.
Most practitioners are perfectly aware of the fact that their
knowledge has Indian sources, and it is part of their status to
claim direct access to these sources. The most important is,
however, that the knowledge which is reflected in Don Manuel's
story seems to be genuine. Lamb's book has for me corroborated
many of the ideas I have learned from my informants, and in
some instances, has contributed to my understanding of several
phenomena.
21
In the summer of 1985 a second book by F. Bruce Lamb was published, Rio Tigre and Beyond. The Amazon Jungle Medicine of
Manuel Cordoba, a continuation of Wizard of the Upper Amazon,
which is, in my opinion, an important contribution to our knowledge of Amazonian shamanism. Although Lamb's book is not an
ethnographical work, as he himself points out, it presents very
interesting material, especially about the use of chants in the
modulation of ayahuasca visions. In this second book there is
also a large appendix, in which Don Manuel's Materia Medica is
reported. 81 species, many of them with tentative identifications, and their uses are mentioned. For me this was particularly valuable, since I have also gathered ethnobotanical information about many of these plants.
It has also been very rewarding to examine the work of several Peruvian writers, whose work is based on a deep knowledge
of the folklore and the life of the people of the Amazon area.
I want to mention the collections of short stories by Csar
Huamn Ramirez (1983) and Ulyses Retegui (1983, 1984). Csar
Calvo's novel, Las Tres Mitades de Ino Moxo, based, as I just
mentioned, on the person of Don Manuel Cordoba Ros, a vegetalista of Iquitos, and other practitioners of the Peruvian Amazon, deserves particular attention: Apart from its literary
beauty, this book is very rich in information about the practice of the shamanism of that area. Csar Calvo was born in
Iquitos, and seems to reveal a reliable knowledge of the folklore of the Peruvian Amazon.
As a point of comparison, it has been very interesting for me
to examine Charles Wagley's book Amazon Town. A Study of Man in
the Tropics (1953, 1976), and particularly its companion book
by Eduardo Galvao Santos e Visagens. Um estudo da vida religiosa de It, Baixo Amazonas (1976), a simplified Portuguese version of his Ph.D. dissertation presented at Columbia University) under the title The Religion of an Amazon Community: A
Study in Culture Change, which was not available to me when
I was writing the central chapters of this book. Both Wagleys
and Galvao's monographies are based on field work carried out
in 1948 in a little Brazilian Amazonian town of the Lower Amazon.
Galvao's object of study is the function of the religious
life of the town within the social structure of the community
as a whole. He presents a historical account of the various
demographic components of the population of the Amazon area,
and the various elements present in the religion of the caboclos (cf. 1.2., p.15) (Iberian popular Catholicism, Amerindian
and even African beliefs). He also presents descriptive material about religious fraternities, local beliefs in supernatural beings inhabiting the forest, lakes and rivers, shamanic
practices (pajelana), and the impact threat various social and
economic changes which have occurred in the last decades -such
as urbanization- have on the religious life of the people.
Although my study is more specific than Galvaos, in that I
concentrate on shamanism, not on the religious life of the population as a whole, I noticed, with surprise, how much there
22
24
CHAPTER 2.
VEGETALISMO IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON
2.1 The Peruvian Amazon area
In this chapter I am going to present a brief survey of the
setting where I conducted my research, the Peruvian Amazon, and
introduce my informants. I will begin by giving some general
data about the Amazon, and some historical and socio-economic
considerations about Iquitos, where I have gathered most of my
material, and to a lesser extent about Pucallpa, where I also
did some field work.
Peru, a country of 1 285 215 Km 2 , has 54% of its territory in
the Amazon area. This area is located within a larger geographical unity, the Upper Amazon Basin, which comprehends the
network of rivers that drain the tropical forest east of the
Andes and flow into the Amazon River until the mouth of the Rio
Madeira (Lathrap 1970:22-23).
There is a geographical and ecological differentiation between the forest on the steep eastern slopes of the Andes, between 400 and 1000 meters above sea level, with heavy rainfalls,
and a great contrast in the temperatures between day and night
(between 14 and 32 centigrates), and the tropical forest on
the floor of the Amazon Basin, situated between 80 and 400 meters above sea level, with hot temperatures (between 24 and
40 centigrates), high humidity and violent rains (cf. Rumrill
1984:33).
Four departments of Peru (Loreto, San Martn, Ucayali, and
Madre de Dios) lie completely within the Amazon area, while
eleven other departments have part of their territories covered
by tropical rain forest.
Numerous Indian tribes belonging to various linguistic families, lived -and several still live- in this area. Lowie (1948:
1) points out that their cultural complex contrasted markedly
from that of the Andean civilizations by lacking architectural
and metallurgical refinements, their diagnostic features being
the cultivation of tropical root crops, the construction of
effective river craft, the use of hammocks as beds and the manufacture of pottery.
The second feature, the effective use of canoeing among certain tribes, which allowed them to spread their art and customs
over enormous distances, combined with natural conditions, pro25
The Jesuits, for instance, between 1640 and 1768 established 152 reducciones gathering along the Ucayali and Huallaga rivers 56. 000 christianized Indians, and in the upper Napo
66. 000 (Costales & Costales 1983: 191).
26
with the spirits, which may happen directly as a result of inspiration, or after a period of initiation under the direction
of a teacher. During the period of initiation the neophyte has
to be in isolation, follow certain food prescriptions and live
in celibacy. He must take infusion of the bark of certain
trees, drink tobacco juice and vomit, in order to get in touch
with the spirits. Under the effects of tobacco his spirit can
fly in order to see and discover things. The neophyte has to
obey the instructions of a spirit, and listen to the chants
that the spirit whispers to him, so as to master all the secrets of magic (among the Indians the poetic and musical inspiration is often interpreted as the product of communication
with the supernatural world).
The power of the piai is often conceived either as an invisible, though concrete, magic substance, or as a series of objects, such as thorns, arrows, fragments of quartz, which he
carries about him. He possesses helping spirits, which are
sometimes identical with his magic weapons. His influence depends on the number of spirits under his control. His principal
function is to cure illness in sessions that include massages,
blowing smoke, and suctions in order to extract the illness,
which takes the form of various pathogenic objects. Among his
tasks are the prediction of future events, the interpretation
of omens, preventing the elements harming people, the procuring
of good hunting, the distribution of magic force among those
that need it, and the organization and presiding over religious
ceremonies and dances. The piai has an ambivalent personality
in that he is able to cure, but also to harm. But above of all
he is the person who uses, for the benefit of his community,
the superior power of the spirits and diverts their wrongdoings
(Mtraux 1967: 82-86, 100-101).
2.5. Vegetalismo and vegetalistas: Amazonian mestizo shamanism
Mestizo shamanism is a direct continuation of shamanism as it
is found among ethnic groups. It is still an integral part of
peasant religion. As we will see in detail in chapters 4-6,
many of the traits of indigenous shamanism persist, essentially
unchanged, among the mestizos. One may wonder at the mechanism
of the transmission of this body of ideas from the ethnic
groups to mestizos. When I questioned Don Emilio about the origin of his tradition of ayahuasca use, he told me that the caucheros (rubber collectors) had discovered it. He is probably
right, because during the rubber epoch -and in subsequent
years, when other Amazonian products were extracted-, mestizo
people, often working in remote areas far from any medical facilities, had to resort to Indian shamans in case of illness or
accident, and curious mestizos actually learned directly from
Indian sources. We must remember, though, how vague the term
mestizo is, in that it covers anything from acculturated Indians to various mixtures of white and Indian, including people
coming from other regions of the country. Shamanism has probably always been practised more or less openly among Amazonian
peasants depending on the external pressure exercised by the
local authorities and the Church.
31
32
34
7
A lengthy and interesting discussion on the psychology of shamans is found in Merkur 1985:10-40.
7
In a study of folk healing in southeast Colombia, Michel Taussig (1980:237) makes the following observation, which may also
be applied to the vegetalistas of Iquitos:
All my informants are men. This does not mean that there are
no female vegetalistas. I heard about a few, but I had no occasion to meet them. I have always had very limited time for
doing field work, and I preferred to concentrate on few informants. It is usually considered that a women will not be ready
for shamanic initiation during her fertile age. It is after
the menopause that a woman may pursue the shamanic quest.
I believe that my informants represent a case of transitional shamanism, located half-way between indigenous shamanism
and the new practitioners that are now emerging in the urban
centers, and who incorporate more "modern" elements (European
esoteric traditions introduced in the Amazon during the 19th
and 20th centuries). Also from an economic point of view they
are between two different economic systems: a subsistence economy (they all have their chacras) and market economy.
Vegetalistas are to be found among the mestizo population,
practically the only reliable repositories of the Amazonian
worldview. The Christian churches, and particularly the various
newly arrived Protestant sects present in the Amazon, take good
care to suppress their converts' animistic ideas and prohibit
them to take part in ayahuasca sessions.
2.6. The informants
Don Emilio Andrade Gmez
Don Emilio was born in Iquitos in 1918. His father, D. Antonio
Andrade, was born in Pucallpa and worked as second machinist on
board one of the steam boats which connected various Amazonian
towns of Brazil, Colombia and Peru and transported people
working in the extraction of balata and jebe fino.
He describes his father as a stout bewhiskered gentleman
wearing a beard, and his mother as being a cholita (of Amazonian physiognomy)8, whose features he inherited.
During his childhood his parents lived in various settlements along the river, following the ups and downs of the economy of the area, which in turn followed the prices of Amazonian raw materials in Europe and the United States. When Don
Emilio was ten, his parents separated. He stayed with his mother in Iquitos where he went to school for the first time.
When he was twelve or fourteen, his father took him to the Upper Ucayali, where he learned the behaviour of many animals,
how to fish with harpoon and with bow and arrow, and how to
hunt. After some time (several months, perhaps a year), they
returned to Iquitos, where Don Emilio could complete four years
of basic education (Don Emilio reads and writes very well).
8
The term cholo is used in several ways in the Amazon area. As a
sociological term, cholo is a non-Indian. But in the way it is
used by many people in the rural areas, it means just having
Amazonian features, and is often used in an affectionate way.
36
CHAPTER 3
SHAMANIC INITIATION AND THE PLANT-TEACHERS
3.1. Shamanic initiation
In this and in the next two chapters I am going to deal with
shamanic initiation. In this chapter I will consider the conditions that must be fulfilled in order to become a vegetalista,
the diet and sexual segregation. I am also going to discuss the
concept of plant-teachers, and to present general information
about ayahuasca and about some of the plants that are considered plant-teachers. In chapter 4 I will deal with the spirit
world of the vegetalistas, and in chapter 5 with the transmission of shamanic power in the form of magic chants or melodies,
and magic phlegm.
Although culturally vegetalistas have a very strong influence
of Amazonian cosmology, and the prescriptions they follow in
order to become vegetalistas conform closely to those found
among some Indian tribes of the upper Amazon, they do not identify themselves nor their ancestors with any specific tribal
group. There is no concrete community or social group backing
and supporting their initiation, nor is there any public ritual
in which they are officially recognized as vegetalistas. Their
initiation is a matter of personal choice or individual vocation. It seems that there is a gradual recognition on the part
of the community -and on the part of the vegetalista himselfthat he is endowed with shamanic powers.
In the end of the preceding chapter I mentioned some of the
circumstances in which some of my informants took ayahuasca for
the first time. Both Don Jos Coral and Don Celso Rojas did it
in order to find a cure for an illness they had. In the case of
Don Jos, it was a magical illness, a magic dart shot by an
evil practitioner. Don Celso did it to cure himself of a bad
infection in his leg, which the doctors wanted to amputate.
These examples correspond to a certain pattern apparently common in the Amazon, of how one becomes a vegetalista. One gets a
terrible illness. The Western doctors are not able to cure it.
The person either goes to an experienced vegetalista, or takes
ayahuasca by himself and gets cured. In the process of being
cured the person acquires certain powers and becomes a healer.
I have heard stories nearly identical with those of Don Jos
and Don Celso from the mouths of several vegetalistas. A similar story is presented by Regan (1983:2:20): A man had an in43
"It
your
ther
your
The term muerraya is found among certain Indian tribes (cf.Steward & Mtraux 1948:542; Chevalier 1982:354).
46
Learning from a n a n t s p i r i t
47
place (cf.note in 4.1.1.). We made a thatched shelter, and we stayed there for days. I was a little
impatient. I asked him: "When are we going to drink
ayahuasca?" "The moment will come", he said. A month
passed. During that time he taught me many things
about the jungle and about his ideas about life and
death. During all that time I had many dreams, and I
used to tell them to Don Daniel.
About three months later he said that it was time
to take ayahuasca. We collected the vine and the
leaves of chacruna. He boiled the two plants for 24
hours, until the extract from the plants became a
paste. He then asked me: "What animal has impressed
you most during all this time we have been here?"
"The isula", I said (isula is a large ant). We took
ayahuasca. He began to dance and to perform magnificent jumps, which were completely disproportional for
his age. I began to feel the effects of ayahuasca. I
felt a pain in my back, like something cold advancing
through my spinal cord until it arrived at my head.
Then I felt something like an explosion, and saw myriads of colours. Then I felt an itching descending
down to my feet. Suddenly I saw myself sitting in
front of me. I became afraid, but then Don Daniel
shook his schacapa (the rattle) on top of my head,
and I felt that I was travelling very fast in the
dark, until I arrived at a place which was illuminated. I looked around. Then I saw a circle of snakes
around me. I took up a posture of defense as Don Daniel had taught me. Then I saw an isula behind the
circle of snakes. I then realized that the isula was
not bigger than the snakes, and that they were in
reality earthworms, and that I had become small. From
the ant came a sort of energy that calmed me down,
and I also saw that something was irradiating out of
me. We communicated in some sort of visual threedimentional language. The ant invited me to ride and
to visit its home.
When the ant was ascending to the tree where it
lived, a sticky substance came out of it, which
helped it to climb. I later learned that to this
substance dust and pollen are adhered, and with time
it becomes an ayahuasca vine, if the ant is an ant of
knowledge. If it is a common ant, it becomes a tmishi vine, which is very resistant, and widely used in
the jungle in the construction of houses.
The ant told me many stories in this three-dimensional language. It told me that thousands of years
ago the ants were intelligent beings. Then there were
big catastrophes, colliding asteroids that destroyed
their cities. The ants became smaller and smaller and
lost all their intellectual qualities and their imagination and became like robots.
49
tion (1964:31) that shamans "if they have cured themselves and
are able to cure others, it is, among other things, because
they know the mechanism, or rather, the theory of illness"
could be applied to these cases.
A second observation is that learning from the plants does not
imply that the person will become a healer. It seems to me that
what has moved some vegetalistas to follow the prescriptions
associated with the ingestions of plant-teachers was more a
philosophical quest -the desire to learn, to understand- than a
humanitarian vocation. Learning how to heal is part of the
knowledge acquired during initiation, not the primary goal.
The vegetalistas learn directly from spirits. The function of
the senior shaman, when present, is to protect the novice during his apprenticeship from evil spirits and sorcerers, and to
instruct him about the diet and prescriptions to be observed.
However, the spirits of the plants are those who teach him the
magic melodies and the use of medicinal plants. These ideas are
in accordance with those of certain Amazonian tribes such as
Apinaye, Conibo,
Yaruro, etc., as has been observed by Mtraux
(1944:203205).12
3.2. The diet and Sexual Segregation
Food restrictions or fasting and sexual segregation are common elements in shamanic initiation, both in the Old and in the
New Worlds. Fasting is found among the Tungus, the Buryat and
other Siberian people (Eliade 1964:43), among the Caribou (Rasmussen 1930) and Netsilik Eskimos (Balikci 1970:225), the
Kwakiutl of Northern Vancouver Island (Trueblood et al.
1977:62), the Ojibwa (Trueblood et al. 1977:108), the Carib
(Eliade 1964:129), etc. Food restrictions and sexual segregation are also found among many Amazonian tribes such as the Cubeo (Goldman 1963:264), the Campa (Chevalier 1982:346), the
Yanomamo (Donner 1984:200), the Panobo (Tessman 1930:116), the
Lamisto (Tessman 1930:229), the Shipibo (Karsten 1964:202),
etc.
All my informants stress the necessity of following a strict
diet, sexual segregation and sexual abstinence during the period of apprenticeship, because only by following these pres12
"Among the Apinaye shamans are appointed by the soul of a relative, which puts them in relation with the spirits; but it is
the latter that impart shamanic knowledge and techniques to
them. " (Eliade 1964: 83). "The apprentice shaman of the Conibo
of the Ucayali receives his medical knowledge from a spirit. To
enter into relations with the spirit the shaman drinks a decoction of tobacco and smokes as much as possible in a hermetically closed hut." (Mtraux 1944:204) (Quoted by Eliade 1964:83).
"In the Apapocuva Guaran tribe, the prerequisite for becoming
a shaman is learning magical songs, which are taught by a dead
relative in dreams." (Mtraux 1944:205).
51
animals must not be eaten during the diet: mammals, such as sajino (Tayassu tajacu), huangana (Tayassu pecari), sachavaca
(Tapirus terrestris), motelo (Testudo tabulata), huapo negro
(Pitheca monachus), huapo colorado (Cacajao calvus rubicundus),
coto (Alouata seniculus), choro (Lagothrix lagothricha), maquisapa (Ateles paniscus chameck, Ateles paniscus belzebuth), mono
negro and mono bianco; certain birds such as guacamayo rojo
(Ara macao), paujil (Mitu mitu) and trompetero (Psophia leucoptera); certain reptiles such as shushupi (Crotalidae Fam.) and
jergn (Bothrops atrox); finally certain species of fish, such
as pana (Serrasalmus sp., including S. natterei, S. rhombeus)
and zngaro (collective term for large catfishes of the Pimelodidae) family (Kullander, personal communication)13. A complete list would imply such knowledge of the fauna of the region as I have not yet acquired.
I believe that the maintenance of some sort of altered state
of consciousness seems to be part of the learning process. A
minute study of the diet might be relevant.
Don Emilio says: "Sobre esa dieta entra una sabidura que
se puede curar por intermedio de los icaros, se llama la fuerza
del vegetal que nosotros llamamos al doctor. Otros le dicen al
papata" (I:112).
Food restrictions are also followed used during the preparation of important remedies, love potions, and other shamanic
tasks, and before and after the ingestion of ayahuasca and
other plant-teachers 1 4 . The patients, when using certain
plants, also have to follow a diet. The idea is that certain
food, such as pig, farm chicken, certain species of fish, cold
beverages, etc. espantan a los vegetales (make the plants
escape). The action of plants is thought to last a certain period of time. If the diet is followed, the action of the plants
persists. If the diet is broken, the action of the plants is
dimished until there is no effect at all.
All these food restrictions must be seen in connection with
similar practices among Indian tribes. For example among the
Shipibo of the Ucayali young girls have to go through initia-
13
I am indebted to Dr. Sven Kullander, of the Naturhistoriska
Riksmuseet, Stockholm, for the identification of the various
species of fish, based on their common names. Dr. Kullander has
been doing field work in the same area in which I have conducted my research.
14
Similar practices have been widely reported among Indian
tribes. For example among the Jivaro, fasting and sexual
abstinence is part of the preparation of arrow-poison (Karsten
1964:102-103).
53
54
days before he should complete the period of diet and segregation, which correspond to a certain plant-teacher. It is said
that women are particularly attracted by men following the
diet. Again, all these stories seem to follow a pattern which
is repeated again and again, as if it were true.
3.3. The use of psychotropic plants in the Americas
Before entering into a discussion on ayahuasca, it is convenient to give a brief survey of the psychotropic plants used
ritually in the Americas.
The number of plants known to be used as inebriants by human
beings is about 150, 90 to 100 species of which are hallucinogens; most of them are found, and many of them still in use, in
the New World (Schultes 1 9 6 7 : 3 6 ; S c h u l t e s & H o f m a n n
1980:19-21).
This uneven distribution of the use of psychotropic plants in
favour of the New World has been intepreted by La Barra (1970)
as a possible survival in America of an essentially Paleo-Mesolithic Eurasian shamanism connected with fly agaric cults which
survived in Siberia until the present century, and which was
carried out of Northeastern Asia by early big-game hunters
(cf. Furst 1976: 2-3; Wasson 1968).
Whatever the reason may be (and it is probably a very complex
one) it is certainly intriguing that the people of the Americas should show such exploratory sophistication in discovering,
within a vast flora, plants that produce profound changes of
consciousness. Even more intriguing is the fact that these
plants seem to have been always used in a sacred, not in a recreational context, with the purpose of communicating with the
spirit world so as to obtain supernatural powers. As Furst
(1976: 16) has remarked, "the magic plants act to validate and
reify the culture, not to some temporary means of escape from
it. " The attitude towards these plants of the Europeans who
arrived in the New World was, however, very different. For the
Spanish missionaries who arrived since the beginning of the
discovery and colonization of the Americas these plants were
used by the natives as a means of communication with the devil.
No wonder the Spaniards put all their efforts in eradicating
such pagan customs. Reichel-Dolmatoff (1975:5) writes:
"The early missionaries were, of course, well
acquainted with demon worship and animal familiars.
No matter how strange and fantastic the New World and
its inhabitants might have appeared to them, these
men coming from devil-ridden Europe immediately recognized the old pattern of summoning of spirits by
sorcerers, of diabolic possession and strange voices,
of uncouth visions of ghostly beings." 17
17
For a collection of testimonies on psychotropic plants
mentioned in the Spanish chronicles, see Guerra 1971.
55
18
I want simply to refer to some of the basic books on the subject, which have vast bibliographies: Schultes & Hofmann 1980;
Furst 1972, 1976; Harner 1973; Efron, Holmstedt & Kline 1979;
Emboden 1979; Ott 1976; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1975; Vlger & Welck
1982, etc.
19
tion was directly correlated with the concentration of betaCarbolines. These experiments give support to the mechanism
that has been proposed to underlie the activity of ayahuasca:
The beta-Carbolines would protect the DMT from deamination by
MAO and render it orally active (McKenna, Towers & Abbot 1984:
195). The fact, however, that there are several reports of the
use of Banisteriopsis caapi without any admixtures complicates
the picture considerably20
The pharmacological interest in ayahuasca is not limited to
its action on the Central Nervous System. In the next section
we will see that among several Indian tribes ayahuasca is considered a medicine per se. Harmine, the alkaloid which is found
in larger concentrations in Banisteriopsis caapi, in the twenties attracted the attention of several German medical doctors.
In a historical survey of the ethnopharmacology of intoxicating
compounds, Bo Holmstedt (1979:3-32) made an account of Beringer's experiments, which showed that the action of harmine was
not limited to the extrapyramidal system, and also of the use
of harmine by Beringer, Lewin and Schuster (1929) and Halpern
in the treatment of patients suffering from postencephalitic
Parkinsonism.
Rodrguez and Cavin (1982) observed that tropical plants used
by South American natives produce an array of isoquinoline and
tryptamine-related alkaloids that are not only hallucinogens,
but powerful emetics with a wide range of other biological activities, including antimicrobial and anthelmintic properties.
They propose the hypothesis that psychoactive indole and isoquinoline alkaloids are effective antagonists of the neurotransmitters of the neuromuscular system of helminths, inhibit
protozoan parasites and were selected by indigenous plant doctors for their medicinal value. In fact, antihelmintic action
on parasitic ascarid worms by harmine and harmaline has been
observed, and various harman derivatives are also active
against Protozoa (trypanosomes, amoebae)(Pletscher et al. 1960)
This is in accord with the emetic and purgative properties of
ayahuasca, which is also used for cleansing the organism of all
sorts of "impurities". I have also heard vegetalistas insistently say that ayahuasca is effective against paludismo (malaria).
20
Ayahuasca has attracted the attention of ethnologists, ethnobotanists, anthropologists, pharmacologists, neorophysiologists, psychologists, artists and travellers21. But it still
presents many unresolved problems, both from the point of view
of the social sciences as from that of natural sciences. In
spite of the fact that the bibliography connected which ayahuasca runs well into 200 references (cf. Luna 1986), there
are, so far, very few monographic studies.
3.5. Tribal uses of ayahuasca
If we now turn to the use of ayahuasca among ethnic groups,
we shall find that its importance is paramount among many
tribes. Ayahuasca is one of the plants used for getting in contact with the spirit world (which among several tribes is equivalent to getting in touch with the primordial world, the world
of the ancestors). Ayahuasca is itself considered a powerful
spirit being, by means of which knowledge and power may be acquired. Knowledge of this and other worlds, of past and future
events. It is believed that ayahuasca helps to explore the natural environment, its geography, flora and fauna. It allows
shamans to diagnose illness, to find its cause-natural or supernatural-, and to find a remedy for it. With the help of ayahuasca they can find game, discover the plans of enemies, find
lost objects, communicate with distant relatives, travel in
time and space. Ayahuasca is among several tribes considered to
be responsible for the artistic skills of the people. It dictates the ornamental designs of their habitation, utensils and
body painting, it helps to visualize and memorize their myths,
chants and dances. Ayahuasca is for many tribes a great teacher
and a spiritual being.
Richard Evans Schultes (1982: 206) summarizes in the following
way the importance of caapi (ayahuasca) among Indian tribes:
"Probably no other New World hallucinogen -even peyote- alters consciousness in ways that have been so
deeply and completely evaluated and interpreted. Caapi truly enters into every aspect of living. It
reaches into prenatal life, influences life after
death, operates during earthly existence, plays roles
21
There are numerous reports of Westerners who have taken ayahuasca and described its effects (Villavicencio 1858; Spruce
1908:420; Koch-Grnberg 1909:318; Reinburg 1925:25-42; Brzzi
1962:230-2; Burroughs & Ginsberg 1963; Turner 1963; Bristol
1966:133; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1972:89-93; Dobkin de Rios 1972:
126-128; Rivier & Lindgren 1972:111; McKenna & McKenna 1975:8598; Ayala & Lewin 1978; Deltgen 1978/79: 77-78; Harner 1980:124, etc.). Summarizations of the use of Banisteriopsis based
beverages among various tribes, the botanical distribution of
plants used and the pharmacology of ayahuasca are to be found
in Reinburg 1925:17-32; Maxwell 1937; Ros 1962; Friedberg
1965; Deulofeu 1967; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1980:25-42; Schultes
1982; Naranjo 1983:47-92; etc.
60
63
According to Chiappe et al. (1985:72), the curanderos of Iquitos distinguish between plants that produce mareacin (dizziness) and visin (hallucinations). It is possible that some
vegetalistas make this distinction. In my experience, however,
mareacin includes both, dizziness, like that produced by drinking tobacco, and hallucinations, like those produced by ayahuasca.
23
In Lamb's account on Don Manuel Cordoba Ros, Don Manuel tells
how he had been given Nixi honi (ayahuasca) for the first time
by the Indians that had captured him. He said:
following
ethnic groups learn about the prowith the help of ayahuasca is proa paper on the Sibundoy of Colomas follows:
67
According to Don Emilio it is a very strong doctor and a dangerous one. If the diet is not followed perfectly, it might
kill you. It is a strong purgative (cf.5.2.).
7. Caupuri (Virola surinamensis (Rol) Warb.
guez, 1982).
69
referred
to
the
lupuna tree
(Karsten
of Peru. These are: 1) Alcanfor (camphor), a cristallized organic compound extracted from Cinnamomum camphora, and widely
used in folk medicine all over Latin America. 2) Timolina, a
substance, apparently made of plants, which is used as a
perfume. 3) Creolina, a strong disinfecting substance easily
available.
Steel and flintstone (pedernal) may also teach. A piece of one
of these minerals -or both together- are placed in water,
sealed, and left there for eight days. After this time the water is drunk, and the diet is followed. It is believed that the
spirit of these minerals appear in dreams to teach magic melodies. 40 days of diet.
The flintstone is used by to witches in order to kill. In order
to defend oneself against pedernal one has to take "la purga,
el acero y cinco gotas de caucho" (ayahuasca, steal and five
drops of rubber)
In the next chapter we will deal with the spirit world which
is accesible to vegetalistas by ingesting ayahuasca and some of
the plant-teachers mentioned.
71
72
Ayahuasca visions
On the left an electric eel and a jaguar protecting the session
In the center the Yakumama and other spirits of the underwater
world. In the sky a UFO, and near the participants in the session
extraterrestial medical doctors.
CHAPTER 4.
THE SUPERNATURAL REALM
4.1. Spirit world
The spiritual worlds of the vegetalistas seem as complex and
heterogeneous as is indeed the society in which they are living, with its various cultural traditions.
The cosmology of the vegetalistas is immersed in the general
animistic Amazonian religious background of the various Indian
tribes that existed, and still exist, in the Amazonian territories. Nature is animated by spiritual powers which assume theriomorphic and anthropomorphic nature when communicating with
human beings.
Most of the population of the Peruvian Amazon live in small
settlements along the rivers in close contact with nature. Even
people living in large cities such as Iquitos and Pucallpa, are
still in communication with rural life. Many people have their
chacra (swidden garden) not far from the city, or have relatives living in rural settlements. Many alternate the rural
with the urban life, or have only recently moved to the city.
Only the thin layer of the upper middle class and upper class,
many of them coming from the coast or the sierra, lead a life
which is almost entirely dissociated from natural surroundings.
The belief in spiritual beings living in the jungle, in the
water, and to a lesser extent, in the air, and which interfere
with the lives of human beings, often in a negative way, is
still firmly established. Amazonian people were -and still aresubject, often in a violent way, to new social and economic
institutions, to new religious ideas, and to new technology.
These changes certainly have made a great impact on the spiritual world of Amazonian people, who, with great plasticity,
have incorporated into their world view a host of spirits of
various appearance, depending on the degree of assimilation of
foreign influence.
Spirits may adopt the form of various animals -often of extraordinary proportions-, Indian or mestizo shamans, black men,
foreign entrepeneurs, rubber bosses, princesses from Western
fairy tales, angels with swords from Christian iconography,
armed officials, famous deceased Western doctors, etc. or even,
as can be seen in some of Pablo Amaringo's paintings (see photo
on opposite page), extraterrestial beings from distant planets
and solar systems.
73
27
Rafael Karsten (1964:197) has reported this being among the Napo and Bobonaza Indians of eastern Ecuador, and among the Shipibo of the Ucayali, under the Quechua name Sacharuna. He
writes that it may be an idea common to all forest tribes in
western South America. Otto Zerries, in his comprehensive monography on the spirits of the wild and the spirits of the forest
(Wild-und Buschgeister) among South American Indians, summarizes Koch-Grnberg's (1920:323-4) characterization of the Corupira as follows:
"Demnach ist der Corupira sowohl der Schutzgeist des Wildes als
auch der Wlder, der diejenigen straft, die das Wild vernichten
wollen und solche belohnt, die ihm gehorchen oder deren er sich
erbarmt. Er ist es, der dem Jger das Wild verbirgt oder es ihm
in den Schuss fhrt, der die Geheimnisse der Wlder bewahrt,
die Heilkrfte der Pflanzen zeigt und die Erzeugnisse der Waldes spendet. Er erscheint als geheimnisvoller und mchtiger
Geist in verschiedenen Gestalten und Stimmungen, bald fantastisch sonderbar, gebieterisch, bald bse, grob, dreist, oft
zuvorkommend und freundlich, ja sogar gutmtig, mitleidig,
schwach, dumm und leicht zu tuschen. Auch kann er dankbar sein
fr das Gute, das man ihm tut, legt aber immer Bedigungen auf,
deren Nichterfllung verhngnisvoll sein kann. Meist tritt er
als kleiner Mann auf, von drei Fuss Hhe, kahlkpfig, aber am
ganzen brigen Krper mit langen Haaren bedeckt, mit nur einem
AUge, mit blauen oder grnen Zhnen, grossen Ohren, mit Beinen
ohne Gelenke, die Fsse immer nach rckwrts gebogen und von
aussergewhnlicher Krperkraft. Er wohnt in der Tiefe des Waldes in hohlen Bumen. Er ladet die Leute ein, im Walde zu
wohnen, ahmt alle Vierfssler und Vgel nach und tuscht so den
Jger, der glaubt, das Wild zu verfolgen, whren er dem Waldgeist nachluft. (... )" (Zerries 1967:9-10).
28
This plant produces what seems to be a natural herbicide, so
that nothing grows within a radius of one meter around its
trunk. Where there are several of these small trees near each
other, it looks as if they were purposely being taken care of,
because no vegetation grows between them. Local people call
these places supay chacra (the plantation of the devil), and
they are associated with Chullachaki.
75
This being has one or both of his feet turned backwards, often resembling that of a goat, a dog, a deer, a tiger or some
other animal (Chullachaki in Quechua means "uneven foot") (cf.
Valdizn & Maldonado 1922:12; Kuckynski Godard 1947: xxii;
Wagley 1976:225; Huamn Ramirez 1985:349). He may adopt human
form (often that of a close relative of the person he encounters), or that of certain animals in order to lead astray a
lonely hunter (cf. Kuczynski Godard 1947: xxii; Calvo 1981: 47;
Regan 1983: 1: 90; Huamn Ramrez 1985:345- 362). When people
walk alone in the jungle, they sometimes hear the Chullachaki
thudding against the trunks of the trees with his strange foot.
Sometimes he makes sounds that resemble shots, indicating that
you have entered his territory 29 . He has also control over metereological phenomena. If the person insults the Chullachaki
aloud a storm will gather within few hours, endangering the
life of the imprudent person. Sometimes the person will become
very ill: he will begin to tremble, to vomit, to foam at the
mouth, and he will have convulsions. An encounter with this
being may also cause madness (cf. Valdizn & Maldonado 1922:
11-12; Kuczynski 1947: XXII). According to Don Emilio, singing
the icaro del flautero pishcu, a magic melody inspired by a
bird that makes a long and beautiful nest in which it enters
when there are heavy rains, is the best way of protecting
oneself against this being.
By following the appropiate diet,
the friend of Chullachaki, which can
will punish those who hunt too many
testimonies about this being is found
it is possible to become
give hunters luck. But he
animals (a collection of
in Regan 1983: 189-197).
29
Sachamama
(Painting by Pablo Amaringo)
30
This being has also been reported from the Amazonian towns of
Brazil. Wagley (1976: 235) writes the following:
Another animal spirit which is also the subject of many stories, is the Sachamama. The sachamama (mother of the jungle)
is supposed to be a huge boa of 50 meters or more that is believed to stay in the same place for many years. Vegetation
grows on its body, so that it may easily be taken for a fallen
tree. It is believed that it is able to hypnotize and devour
any animal or human being that crosses a clearance that it
makes in front of its head (cf. Huamn Ramirez 1985:61-66).
According to Pablo Amaringo, the Sachamama can be invoked by a
vegetalista through the appropiate icaro, and used as arkana or
defense against an evil witch (cf.4.2.). The vegetalista calls
her in such a way that it comes from behind his enemy. When the
vegetalista attacks from the front, the witch, when backing,
falls into the open fauces of the animal and will be devoured
by it. In order to be able to use the Sachamama in this way,
the vegetalista has to abstain from salt and follow a rigurous
diet in an isolated place for three years. During this time he
will learn the icaro of the three stones: the flintstone, the
magnet and the piedra de encantar (stone of enchantment), which
I have not identified.
4.1.3. Yakumama
The underwater world presents an special fascination to Amazonian people, which is not strange, considering the climatic and
geographical situation of the area, and the paramount importance of rivers and their adjacent ox-bow lakes as a means of
transportation, for food, and the tremendous changes that occur
in the jungle during the rainy season. At least among the mestizos I have been working with, the underwater world seems to
have more importance than the jungle, and much more than the
world of the air, which is practically devoid of spirits, except for the tunchis or spirits of the dead (cf.4.1.08.),
which, in fact, are to be considered more as spirits of the
night than of the air. Heaven is, of course, where Jesus, Mary
and the saints dwell but has little practical connexion with
the jungle and the underwater world, except as the supreme protection in cases of great danger, in which the traditional
arkana does not work.
The counterpart of the Sachamama is the Yakumama, the great
anaconda. The Yakumama (Quechua = mother of the water), also
known under the Cocama name of Pirahua, and the Shipibo name
of Acorn, is a huge water boa which is believed to live on the
bottom of rivers and lakes. It has eyes like the headlights
of a truck. When it moves it forms enormous whirlpools that can
engulf a boat. It attacks people who navigate during the night
in solitary places. It is believed that it can transform itself
into a large steam boat full of people singing and screaming,
and which people take for a real boat, until it suddenly dissapears (cf. Reagan 1983:I:174-175). This belief has also been
documented in the Brazilian Amazonas (cf. Moraes 1926: 84-85).
According to Luis da Camara Cascudo (1983:129), it may come
from the first contacts the Indians had with white people. Every river and lake has its "mother", which is believed to be
a great snake. When the Indians saw the first boats, they perhaps thought that it was one of the metamorphoses of the Great
Snake. On the other hand, the association of the anaconda with
a boat is found in ancient myths among several Amerindian
tribes. Among the Desana, a subgroup of Tukano Indians that
live in the rain forest of Vaups, in the Colombian Northwest
Amazon, the anaconda is compared with pamur-gahsru, the canoe
in which mankind arrived (Reichel Dolmatoff 1971:63). Similar
associations are found among the Canelos Quichua of Ecuador
where amarun cnue (anaconda canoe) is the term for this being
(see photo in Whitten 1985:67). Among the Napo Indians, a similar being is called by the name of Yaku-lancha (from Quechua
79
yaku = w a t e r ,
1979: 282) 31 .
and
Spanish
lancha
boat)(cf.Mercier
mants claim to be able to bring back people stolen by the yakuruna, or even travelling with their bodies in the underwater
world, but maintain to have known practitioners who were able
to do so. The underwater world is not very different from ours.
In their descriptions of that world vegetalistas stress not the
jungle environment, as one would expect, but objects from Western civilization: such as buses, taxis, airplanes, etc. 33
Don Emilio told me that when a man has been abducted by the
yakuruna, ayahuasca is prepared, adding to the preparation two
leaves of campana to (Brugmansia suaveolens). Under the
effects of the brew, the shaman sings the icaro del ninacuru.
Ninacuru is, according to Don Emilio, an insect whose eyes look
like the headlights of a car. The shaman becomes like one of
81
ment from the other people present. Mermaids are sometimes invoked by the vegetalista when performing love magic (cf.5.6.).
The rapport of Amazonian people with the mermaids is ambivalent: they are extremely seductive, but also dangerous.
4.1.6. Bufeo Colorado (pink river dolphin)
There are two species of river dolphins in the Amazon river
and its tributaries: the black (Inia geoffroyensis), and the
pink dolphin (Stheno tucuri). The black dolphin is considered a
harmless, or even benevolent animal. The pink dolphin, on the
other hand, is the subject of many tales. It is at the same
time considered as an animal and as a spirit very much feared
by Amazonian people 37 .
The bufeo colorado or pink river dolphin is believed to seek
sexual intercourse with human beings. It can transform itself
into a human being, often a fair and handsome man who looks
like a gringo (a white foreigner), and who attends parties in
order to seduce women and take them to his underwater world
(cf.Camara Cascudo 1983:139; Huamn Ramrez 1983:37-43; Retegui 1983:40-43; Regan 1983:I:145, 178-182) 38 . It is especially attracted by menstruating women. Sometimes pregnant women
attribute their pregnancy to the pink dolphin. The offspring of
a dolphin and a woman is sometimes said to be a monstruous
creature (cf. Karsten 1964: 198; Reagan 1983). There are also
many stories of people who claim they have made love to female
dolphins, either transformed into women, or in their animal
shape (cf. Calvo (1981: 25; Huamn Ramrez 1985: 167-171; Regan
37
According to Regan (1983:I:184), the dichotomy black dolphin/
pink dolphin is interpreted by some people as a bad gringo or
foreigner vs. a good cholo (person with Amazonian physiognomy.
See footnote 1 on page 15).
84
39
Huamn Ramirez, in fact, writes that he had to remove a fainted comrade from a sleeping female dolphin with which the man
had had sexual intercourse. It is believed that men feel an
intense pleasure and are sometimes unable to separate their
bodies from the dolphin.
40
86
88
celosas (jealous), as if they were spiritual wives of the shaman. They will punish the person who ingest the plants and do
not follow the prescriptions. So far I have not been able to
learn much about this hidden erotic rapport vegetalistas have
with the spiritual world.
4.1.09. Christian elements
There is no doubt that the religious world of the vegetalistas
is deeply immersed in Christian traditions, as the whole area
has been subject to intensive missionary activity since the
16th century. The degree of importance of the Christian element
in the actual practice varies with individual vegetalistas. Don
Emilio always begins his ayahuasca sessions with invocations to
Jesus and Mary (cf. 7.1.1.). In his privat life he is a very
religious person. Althoug he does not go to church, he has respect for Catholic priests. In some of his visions of travelling
to distant places (see 7. 4. ) his guide is a priest. In the healing sessions of younger vegetalistas I have briefly met a
large cross is presiding over the ayahuasca sessions, and prayers from the book La Santa Cruz de Caravaca (see footnote first
page of chapter 7) and other Catholic prayers are recited.
There are also frequent allusions to the Saints of folk Catholicism. Some of these younger vegetalistas are said to belong
to the Orden of Rosacruz. In Don Jose's practice the Christian
element invoked during ayahuasca and healing sessions is practically negligible, and that is also the case of Don Santiago.
They represent a type of practitioners more linked to the traditional Amazonian world. It is generally agreed, nevertheless,
that Jesus is the Suprem Being, and that all evil things in the
world are the work of Satan.
As I pointed out earlier (cf 1.3.), in the practice of my
informants Catholic elements are not always syncretically amalgamated, but coexist with Amazonian religious ideas.
Galvao, in his work on the religious beliefs of a Brazilian
Amazonian town pointed out that curupiras, bufeos, tunchis, and
the "mothers" of plants and animals, do not receive any cult:
the attitude of the people is simply to avoid an encounter with
them, and certain techniques of protection or neutralization of
their evil powers are employed, while saints of Popular Catholicism receive a considerable cult through prayers, promises
and festivities (Galvao 1976: 4). The same principles may be
applied to the religious life of the Peruvian Amazon.
4.1.10. The Inca motif
I have recently become aware of the importance of the Inca in
the imaginery of vegetalistas. Don Emilio told me that he has
seen the Inca in some of his visions. The Inca showed him his
city, under a huge mountain called El Angace, near Moyobamba.
Don Emilio believes that the Incas built huge tunnels under the
Andes thus linking various cities. At the beginning of an ayahuasca session Don Emilio invokes four angels to protect the
89
47
For a discussion about the age of these two conceptions of illness among the American Indians, see Hultkrantz 1953:448-451.
90
encounters.
One of these defenses is an invisible shirt which covers the
person and protects him from incoming magical darts. Don Emilio describes it in these terms: "Arkana is a defense of the
body. It is like apliable steel shirt. It is not like a suit of
armour, which makes you feel ill at ease. So nothing penetrates
you. Neither the sun, nor the rain, nor the air will harm you,
because you are well-protected."48.
This invisible garment is created with tobacco smoke. The
vegetalista creates it around his patients after he has extracted their magical darts, so as to prevent them from being
a t t a c k e d a g a i n by the sorcerers who first sent them
(cf.6.4.)49. We will see later (cf.5.4.) that there is a direct
relationship between the magic garment, the magic phlegm or
yachay, the magic dart or virote and some of the vegetalistas'
helping spirits.
The term arkana is also applied to the animal spirits which
protect the vegetalista, particularly when he enters the spiritual world through the ingestion of ayahuasca or any of the
plant-teachers, when he is healing a person, and during sleep,
which are the situations in which he is more vulnerable to supernatural attacks. These spirits may include not only Amazonian animals such as anacondas, jaguars, electric eels or several species of birds, but also animals from other parts of the
world, known from Western iconography, such as lions, tigers
and elephants. Don Celso, for example, told me that when he is
curing serious cases of witchcraft he surrounds himself with
his defenders. These are animals representing the air, the
water and the earth; the condorpishcu, a little white bird with
a red neck, will fly around his head warning him of any attack.
A lion will be on his right shoulder, a black panther on his
left shoulder and an elephant in front of him. To defend him
48
49
Similar invisible magic garments have been described by Chaumeil (1983:125-127) among Yagua Indians, and by Harner (1973:
24) among the Jivaro. According to Gebhart-Sayer (1985: 9),
among the Shipibo-Conibo of the Ucayali each individual carries in himself one or several spiritual body patterns. "Before
releasing his patient, the shaman covers the pattern with a
so-called pana, a fixing coat protecting both the pattern and
the individual himself. This protection becomes effective especially when the person is exposed to the multitude of dangers
outside the tribal sphere." (1985:9).
91
was
all
the
the
man
During ayahuasca sessions various arkana spirits may be invoked to impede evil spirits or sorcerers, who are always attracted to places where ayahuasca is ingested. Don Emilio calls
forth angels with swords. Don Alejandro calls forth soldiers
with guns protecting the four corners of the house where the
session takes place. In cases of great danger, he may even call
forth fighter aircraft to defend him against his enemies. An
electric eel and other animals may be invoked to protect the
participants from supernatural attacks (see Pablo Amaringo's
painting on page 7 2 ) . All these arkana are call forth by singing the appropriate icaro or magic melody. Icaros to invoke
defenders are called icaros arkana (cf. 5.3.3.). Don Emilio
says that the supreme arkana is, in any case, Our Lord Jesus
Christ.
There are further means of defense against magic illness.
Don Emilio prepares desiccated toads which he fills with a mixture of tobacco, patuquina (Dieffenbachia sp.) and camphor and
endows them with power through magic melodies. The frog is
placed in the house of a person who is often persecuted by brujos. The toads are supposed to catch magic darts or virotes
thrown against the owner of the house.
Sorcerers, on the other hand, may send animal spirits or they
may transform themselves into animals in order to harm a person. The following anecdote may be illustrative:
One evening I was about to get into one of the trucks that
was going to take me to Don Emilio's house. A woman was carried
into the truck crying loudly. Her husband and two children
formed a ring around her trying to help her. It was a moving
scene. When the truck was passing in front of Don Emilio's
house and I gave the signal to the driver to stop, the family
also got out, as they had been informed by somebody that a vegetalista lived there. I helped them to carry the woman inside
the house. Don Emilio took everything calmly. He examined her
and diagnosed witchcraft. She had been hit by a virote in her
stomach. He prepared several plants for the curing session that
took place after sunset (the exact procedure of a curing session of this type is described later, in 6.4.). After the session the woman felt much better and slept soundly. The woman,
her family and I stayed overnight. That night Don Emilio, the
woman's husband and I took ayahuasca. After the effects had
faded away, we all slept there on the floor. I remember that
during the night I was roused by the noise of what appeared to
be a large bird, which had landed on the roof screaming loudly.
After a while it flew away. I continued sleeping. The next morning I interviewed the woman about her illness. She told me
that she had been ill for several months, ever since one day,
when she was in the market selling fruits, a flying vulture
93
passed and soiled her on her shoulder. For days before she came
to Don Emilio's house she felt worse, and she thought she was
going to die. But now she felt fine, although she had been very
much afraid during the night, as the witch who had caused her
illness had come disguised as a bird to frighten her 5 0 .
4.3. Helping spirits
It is obvious that the spirits known by the general term of
arkana may also be considered helping spirits, which defend the
vegetalista in case of attack. In this section I will deal
briefly with those spirits which are invoked by the vegetalista
through icaros in order to help him to diagnose and treat illness.
As far as I know the spirits are always anthropomorphic. They
are either the spirits of the plant teachers (anthropomorphically) or maestros de la medicina (masters of medicine), which
include Indian and mestizo shamans (often venerable old men or
women), famous deceased Western doctors, wise men from distant
countries, and even beings from other planets, solar systems
and galaxies, all this depending, of course, on the degree of
their knowledge of the world beyond their Amazonian milieu.
Don Jos Coral and Don Santiago Murayari, who seem to represent a different tradition than that of Don Emilio and Don Alejandro, call upon the spirits of dead shamans who live "at the
end of the world", or shamans who live in the underwater world.
These enter their bodies during ayahuasca and healing sessions
and are supposed actually to effectuate the healing. During the
sessions they carry on long dialogues with their spirits. They
speak Spanish in a soft voice. When the spirits answer, they
adopt a very different voice, loud and nervous, and speak in an
Indian language, which the vegetalistas told me was either Cocama or Omagua, both languages of the Tupi-Guarani family (Mason 1950). These types of sessions have a theatrical character.
Several spirits may enter the body of the vegetalista, one after the other, each with his distinct personality. In the dialogues with their spirits difficult questions which the vegetalista does not want to deal with in a normal state, are discussed, such as the price of the treatment, or any problem that
may have arisen with his patients during the often long periods
they are staying at his home. The morning after an ayahuasca
session they sometimes asked me whether I "saw" the spirits
performing the cure.
Don Emilio calls the spirits he invokes during ayahuasca ses50
Rafael Karsten (1964:59) writes that among the birds that may
carry the arrows of sorcerers and thus inflict disease - are,
for instance, the black vulture, the toucan, the great macaw,
the ordinary green parrot, and nearly all nocturnal birds, especially such as arouse superstitious fear in the Indians by
their strange cries.
94
95
96
AYAHUASCA VISION
THE UNDERWATER WORLD
BY PABLO AMARINGO
CHAPTER 5.
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRITS: THE MAGIC MELODIES
AND THE MAGIC PHLEGM
5.1. The magic melodies or "icaros"
During the initation period, in which the novice is purified by
the special diet and isolated from people, he is open to the
manifestation of the spiritual world. He receives from the spiritis the tools of his future practice, in particular the magic
chants or melodies (icaros) and the magic phlegm (yachay, yausa
or mariri). He may also receive magic darts (virotes) to defend
himself or to cause harm. In this chapter I am going to deal
with the gifts of the spirits, and I will present some ideas
about the distinction that is often made between good and evil
vegetalistas.
The magic chants or icaros the vegetalistas learn during
their initiation deserve special attention. To a great extent
the power of a vegetalista is embodied in his icaros. Don Alejandro puts it thus: "A man is like a tree. Under the appropriate conditions he grows branches. These branches are the
icaros."
The acquisition of magic chants or melodies and the memorization of myths during shamanic initiation seem to be a widely
reported phenomenon (cf. Halifax 1979:29-33). Rouget (1980:187)
has gone so far as to say that "chamaniser et musiquer sont
deux aspects d'une seule et mme activit."
The association of the learning of magic chants or melodies
with the absorption of psychotropic plants is quite common (see
Dobkin de Ros 1976:69-70). It is found among the Huichol (Juan
Negrn, personal communication; Myerhoff 1974:97, 1975:425; La
Barre 1970: 49-52), who ingest peyote (Lophophora williamsii)
and other psychotropic plants; among the Mazatec (Wasson, Cowan
& Rhodes 1974; Estrada 1977: 79-83, 124-129), who take mushrooms
of the genus Psilocybe; among mestizo practitioners using San
Pedro (Trichocereus pachanoi) (Sharon 1978; Gonzalez Viana
1979:55-62); among the Yanomamo of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil, who use epena (Virola theidora)(Schultes & Hofmann 1980:122-3; Donner 1984:171-4, 187); (Virola callophylloidea) (Seitz 1979:329-335), and among numerous tribes using
tobacco and Banisteriopsis (cf. Goldman 1963:210-11; Elick
1 9 6 9 : 2 0 6 - 7 , cited by W i l b e r t 1979:21; Reichel-Dolmatoff
1972:104; 1980:35; Kensinger 1973:11; Siskind 1973:24; etc.)
97
If we concentrate on Banisteriopsis beverages, we find frequent allusions in scientific literature to music and dancing
in the visions produced by ayahuasca. In 1906 Zerda Bayn, in
his description of the yag use among the Indians of the Caquet region, wrote:
"They also tried repeatedly to give expression to
their feelings about the wonderful, loud, intoxicating music which they were hearing and which sounded
strange to them, but nevertheless entrancing so that
they could compare it with nothing earthly and by
which they were transported. " (Quoted by Perrot and
R. Hamet 1927).
Goldman (1963:210-211), when describing the yag ceremonies
among the Cubeo of the Vaups, writes:
"There are moments of euphoria as well, when one
hears music, the sound of people singing, and the
sound of flowing water"
Father Plcido de Calella (1935: 51-52; 1940-1949. Quoted by
Reichel Dolmatoff 1980:34-35), a missionary, wrote the
following, when describing the visions seen by the Siona, a
Western Tukano group that lives in the upper reaches of the
Caquet:
"During the hallucinations the shaman and the other
participants claim to see large crowds of people,
Indian like themselves, all well adorned and painted,
who are called "yaj people" (yag-pa) and who sing
and play musical instruments"
According to Bellier (1986), yag is taken by the Mai Huna, a
Western Tukano group living between the Napo and Putumayo rivers, in the Peruvian Amazon, "in order to stimulate the singing" (estimular el canto), and "it is inconceivable to take
yaje, to penetrate the primordial world /mina/, and be silent."
The association between ayahuasca consumption and music is
also found among the mestizo population. Dobkin de Ros
(1972:120), for instance, reports that patients under the effect of ayahuasca see a very large snake entering the circle
where they are sitting. If they are not frightened, the snake
begins to teach the person his song 51 .
51
I have often heard similar ideas from Westerners who have taken
ayahuasca. Michael Harner (1980:4) writes that during his first
experience with ayahuasca among the Conibo of the Ucayali, "he
heard a rhythmic sound and saw that it was a giant galley with
several hundred oars moving back and forth in cadence with the
sound". Then he added: "I became conscious, too, of the most
beautiful singing I have ever heard in my life, high-pitched
and ethereal, emanating from myriad voices on board the
galley."
98
The word icaro seems to be a loan word from the Quichua verb
ikaray, which means "to blow smoke" in order to heal (Parker et
al. 1976:45). This term is used in various parts of the Peruvian Amazon, among the mestizo as well as among ethnic groups
of the Ucayali (cf. Karsten 1964:204-205)52. The vegetalistas
of Iquitos and other areas of the Peruvian Amazon also use the
verb icarar, which means to sing or whistle an icaro over a
person, an object or a preparation to give them power 53 .
The icaros are used ritually, but not only in ayahuasca sessions, as has been stated (Katz & Dobkin de Ros 1971:325; Dobkin de Ros 1972:131). They are also used during the preparation of certain remedies, during curing sessions, which take
place independently of ayahuasca ceremonies, and even during
activities such as the fishing of certain species. Upon special
52
Guillermo Arvalo, a Shipibo, son of Don Benito, a well known
shaman of that area, a practitioner himself and seriously engaged in the study of the medicinal flora of his ethnic group,
told me that he considered the word icaro as a loan from Quichua: the Shipibo terms for the magic melodies are taquina,
masha and cusho (to work by blowing)
105
55
106
56
In Cesar Calvo's novel on Manuel Cordoba Rios and other "brujos" of the Amazon, there is the following paragraph:
"When one takes ayawashka, one becomes like a crystal, said Ino Moxo. One becomes like a crystal exposed to all spirits that live in the air, both evil
and good ones. It is for this reason we have icaros,
icaros to protect ourselves, icaros to heal, songs
that call forth a certain spirit to counteract
others..."(Calvo 1981:208)(My translation).
107
108
109
110
Don Emilio, the yachay can also be used to extract the poison
of a wound after a snake bite.
111
59
Among the Jvaro, green tobacco juice is used for regurgitating the magic substance, which they call tsentsak (Harner
1973:20).
112
The virote is described either as a kind of phlegm which sorcerers are able to shoot through their mouths and which penetrates the body, or as thorns, small pieces of bone, and sometimes even small insects, which are believed to be suspended in
the yachay being the projectiles that penetrate the patient's
body. In other words, the virote is either a substance of the
same nature as the yachay, or it is some material object suspended in it, which can be manipulated by the vegetalista. Perhaps both views coexist. In the first instance the virote and
the yachay appear to be two aspects of the same thing: the
first denotes the magic substance as a weapon, and the second
as healing aid. Both the magic darts and the magic phlegm share
the characteristic of returning to the person who either shot
or donated them 60 . They are in a sense living creatures at the
command of the vegetalista, and can therefore be assimilated
into the more general concept of helping spirits, which dwell
in the body of the shaman and are at his command.
All this is in perfect agreement with what Mtraux (1967:91-92)
writes in his general study of Amazonian shamanism:
"... the magical substance, the pathogenic objects and
the helping spirits constitute three aspects of the
same magic power" 61 .
In another work (1944:215, quoted by Eliade 1964:52), Mtraux
expresses the same idea in the following way:
"Between the magical substance, an invisible but
tangible mass, and the arrows, thorns, rock crystals
with which the shaman is stuffed there is no difference in nature. These objects materialize the sha60
Among the Omagua and other tribes (cf.Tessman 1930:60) the magic darts return to the shaman after the death of his victims.
If the shaman possesses darts in his body that belong to other
shamans, they will return to them after his death.
6l
man's power, which, among numerous tribes, is conceived in the vaguer and rather abstract form of a
magical substance."
Rafael Karsten also noticed the ambivalent nature of the "magical arrows". He wrote in his unfinished book on the religion
of South-American Indians east of the Andes:
"The Indian "arrow" or "splinter" is half inanimate
object, half living being, half material, half spiritual, half natural, half supernatural. Whatever it
is, it is to the primitive mind the most real thing
possible, because its existence is manifested by its
dreadful effects." (Karsten 1964:178).
A little later Karsten adds the following:
"Although the tunchi, when let off against a person
by a sorcerer, or extracted from the body of a patient by a medicine-man, always appears in the shape
of some material object, yet it is at the same time
regarded as a living demoniacal being."
62
115
cally become brujos (evil sorcerers). Trees with big thorns are
generally considered to teach witchcraft 65 . other trees, such
as ayahman may teach both how to heal and how to do harm. Don
Jos Coral compares some of these gifts to injections which
can be used either for healing or for causing harm. I have also
repeteadly heard the idea that objects of red colour are for
causing harm, while those of white colour are medicine.
Don Emilio told me that he did not want to receive from the
spirits anything with which to harm others. Don Celso said that
sometimes he regrets that he did not learn how to do harm,
because there are situations in which he would have had good
use for a virote. Don Jos admits that he can do harm, but he
seldom does. I have also heard the idea that in order to heal
one must also understand how harm is done. A vegetalista from
Pucallpa told me that from the spirits one must not receive and
put inside one's body thorns, needless and objects of that
kind, because if one does, one becomes evil. On the other hand
his genios (one of the denominations for the spirits of the
plants) may have the virotes, and in case of need they can be
sent to attack.
In other words, when taking ayahuasca and following the diet,
the neophyte enters the spiritual world in which he meets the
plant-teachers (and also the spirits of dead shamans). Some of
the plant-teachers possess only positive qualities, and by
absorbing their essence, the person becomes like them. If they
are evil, the vegetalista also becomes like them, and only
desires to do harm. Some of these plants have both good and
evil qualities, and it is the vegetalista who decides what to
incorporate inside his body. There is, therefore, no sharp distinction between good and evil vegetalistas. It is also possible to become evil after having practised medicine for a long
time. For example, it is often said that a vegetalista who
drinks a lot of alcohol will finally become an evil sorcerer,
even if he was good in the beginning. It seems that there are
self imposed limits to the knowledge they want to acquire, spi65
According to Karsten (1964:80), certain trees, such as chonta
palms, both the kind cultivated for the sake of its fruit (Guilielma sp.) and the wild species (Bactris and Iriartea sps.),
are considered demoniac trees on account of their large thorns
used as magic darts by Ecuadorian tribes, both east and west of
the Andes.
118
Chapter 6.
ILLNESS AND ITS TREATMENT
6.1. Etiology of illness
Among the mestizo population of the Peruvian Amazon, like in
any other complex society, several alternating conceptions of
health and illness coexist, even within the same person. Besides Western doctors and health personnel, there are many different types of practitioners. No attempt has ever been made,
as far as I know, to make an inventory or classification of
such practitioners. In the few studies that have been published
by Peruvian scholars (cf.Segun 1979; Chiappe et al. 1985), all
such practitioners are grouped together under the label curanderos. But this is an oversimplification. Although I have concentrated my attention exclusively on vegetalistas, and among
them, on ayahuasqueros, or specialists in the use of ayahuasca,
in the interviews with my informants I have become aware of the
existence of practitioners called oracionistas (who cure mainly
through prayers and spells), perfumeros (who have an elaborate
use of many different kinds of perfumes in order to cure), and
espiritualistas (who work through spirits, but without consuming psychotropic plants), apparently also of several types.
Jean Pierre Chaumeil, in his study of Yagua shamanism, wrote
that capital questions such as illness, death, vengeance, -and
even to a large extent the hostility between different tribal
groups- are interpreted by the Yagua in reference to shamanism
(Chaumeil 1983:7). These ideas, that can probably be applied to
any tribal Amazonian community, are still also prevalent among
the mestizo population of the Peruvian Amazon.
No doubt one may find ideas about illness that have their
source in Spanish concepts from the time of the conquest and
colonization of America, as for example the dichotomy hot/cold,
the imbalance of which may produce illness. Other European traditions -of later introduction- are also present, including
gnosticism and Rosicrucianism66. Many of the religious groups
now present in the Amazon -and there is nowadays an explosion
of cults- are in one way or other also connected with healing.
There also seem to be elements of African origin. Wagley pointed out (1976: 217) that in spite of the relatively small number
66
120
In this animistic context it is not easy no make a sharp distinction between natural and magical illness. Certain illnesses, for example those that are the result of parasitic invasion or infections, may be more readily considered natural 68 .
Accidents, such as falls, or snake bites, may be considered to
be the result of the action of evil people or spirits.
In most cases of natural illness the patient or his/her relatives will try to rely on their own knowledge, or will seek the
assistance of a healer. Healers, in their turn, if they consider that Western medicine is more effective, often refer the
patients to a medical doctor. If an illness fails to respond to
treatment by Western medicine, it is often suspected of being
caused by witchcraft. When illness is thought to have been produced by a supernatural cause, a vegetalista must be consulted.
The two most common causes of magical illness found in this
area are the intrusion of a magic dart into the patient's body
and soul-loss. The term hacer dao, which is widely used to
indicate witchcraft being used against somebody, may include
the two forms mentioned above, as well as others of more difficult categorization: for example doing harm to somebody by
using preparations extracted from plants or animals 6 9 , by
throwing salt into the entrance of a home, by burying infected
clothes or personal objects that belonged to dead persons,
etc. (Cf. Dobkin de Rios 1972:84-87)70. It is also possible to
cause illness through prayers or spells. It is believed that if
an illness is produced by spells in Indian languages, only a
vegetalista knowing the language in which the spell was cast
68
I do not possess reliable epidemiological data about disease in
the Peruvian Amazon. Several epidemic diseases, such as measles, whooping cough and tuberculosis, seem to be particularly
severe. Diseases of the respirarory system, such as bronchitis
or pneumonia, and various infectious diseases are very common,
especially among children. Malaria is also very widespread, and
there are many cases of furuncles, conjunctivitis and various
rheumatic disorders. Alcoholism is also a serious problem in
the Amazon.
69
In certain cases I believe that powerful toxic preparations are
in fact given to people in their food or a drink (cf. Chiappe
1979: 86). In other instances, however, the idea of illness
seems to rely more heavily on the mythological world predominant in the area. So far I have not come across any study of
the organic compounds used in witchcraft in the Amazonas.
70
Don Emilio told me of a case in which a woman oracionista (one
type of practitioner who does harm through oraciones -prayers
or spells-) had caused harm to another woman by stealing pieces
of her underwear, defecating on it, and burying it. The victim
began to bleed as if she were menstruating. For two weeks she
was treated by medical doctors without success. Don Emilio
cured her with the bark of ubos (unidentified), and by using
magic melodies.
121
According to Pablo Amaringo, a former vegetalista, and nowadays a painter, great murayas and bancos (types of shamans)
know the lengua mstica (mystical language) of the spirits,
which is different from any human language. These shamans are
able to cure illnesses produced by spells in any language.
72
One of the most common functions of ayahuasca among Indian
tribes is to diagnose illness (Cf. Tessman 1930:217; Friedberg
1965:83-84; Kensinger 1973: 13, etc.).
122
124
125
folia), and the resin of bellaco caspi (Himatanthus sucuuba). Two or three roots of chicuru piripiri are pounded and
placed on four or five leaves of pin rojo. To this the resin
of bellaco caspi. is added, enough nearly to cover the chicuru
piripiri. According to Don Emilio these three plants "know each
other very well, and together they are a unique remedy against
witchcraft" The function of these plants is to loosen the virote, so that it can be extracted more easily. The mixture is
then placed on a clean handkerchief. Then Don Emilio takes four
cigarettes of mapacho (a strong tobacco) which are usually
brought by the patient, and sings an icaro over them to reinforce the healing properties of the tobacco smoke. Thereafter
he lights one of the cigarettes and blows the smoke several
times on the plant mixture. Tobacco is believed to cleanse the
plants, and to endow them with healing power.
the virote is located. He does this for several minutes producing very impressive sounds. After some minutes of sucking he
extracts part of the virote and goes outside to spit it out. He
blows several times in the direction where the illness is supposed to have flown. He repeats this whole operation from four
to six times. The entire sequence takes about one hour.
When all this is done, Don Emilio blows smoke on the patient:
on the top of his head, on the place where the illness is located, all over his body. The patient has to stretch his arms in
front of him with the palms together. Smoke is blown from the
top of the fingers horizontally along the arms. In this way
the patient is covered by the arkana, which according to Don
Emilio is like an invisible armour that covers the person, and
protects him from illness (cf.4.2.).
The next thing is to apply the plants he had prepared in the
place where the illness is supposed to be. On the throat, in
the case of Don Lucas, in the pit of the stomach, in the case
of the woman. The function of these plants is to act upon
witchcraft, so that it will be easier to remove the rest of it
in the next healing session. The number of healing sessions depends on the seriousness of the case. Usually from three to six
healing sessions are required.
In even more serious cases Don Emilio extracts the latex of
catahua (Hura crepitans), boils it for a short time, and gives
a spoonful to the patient after having sung an icaro over the
preparation 7 4 . Some latex is also applied externally in the
place where the virote is located. The catahua has very strong
emetic and cathartic effects on the patient. Don Emilio says
that in this way the virote is destroyed 75 .
The patient has to follow a very strict diet during a period
of time which depends on the gravity of the witchcraft. This
diet is similar to that required of the apprentice during the
initiation to ayahuasca and other plant teachers: no salt, sugar, spices, cold beverages, pork, peccary, chicken, eggs or
certain species of fish should be ingested. Sexual abstinence
is also compulsory (cf. Dobkin de Rios 1973:70; Chevalier
1982:346; Luna 1984b:145).
74
The catahua has to be at least fifteen years old and has to
grow far from places where people usually go. The vegetalista
goes to the jungle before sunrise with an empty stomach. Before
taking the resin, the vegetalista addresses the catahua tree
with the appelative "grandfather", and asks permission to take
some of its "blood". Thereafter he makes a cut in the trunk,
and collects some of the resin in a bowl or a bottle.
75
127
terribly swollen.
At about ten o'clock that night, I could not stand
it any longer, and took off the bandages. The swelling was enormous. I called my daughter and told her:
"Nobody is going to fool me any longer. This is dano
(witchcraft). Tomorrow I am going to see the abuelito
(literally, grandfather, meaning the vegetalista).
The next morning we went to see Don Vicente Torres.
Don Vicente said: "Did I not tell you, when you told
me that you fell in the street, that I should have
examined you? You said that it was nothing and went
back home. But you should have stayed here." I told
him: "Abuelito, please, help me.
It is very
swollen. " He treated me for a while and then said:
"Tomorrow you should come here. Bring a bed with you,
so that you can stay here for a while. I will cure
you."
When I got home, I could hardly move. My leg turned
greyish. I told my daughter: "My leg is going to
rot." At about five in the evening my daughter said:
"Let us go to the doctor, to Clnica Loreto. The specialists will see what is wrong. " They convinced me.
She called a taxi, and we went to the clinic. There
were no doctors in the clinic. All of them were in
another clinic, called Lourdes. We went there. At
last we found a doctor. He said: "The lady has to
stay here. The leg has become gangrenous. We have to
amputate it." I said: "No, I do not want that. Tell
me what medicines are necessary. I will buy them,
whatever they cost." The doctor said: "No. You have
to stay here. We will see what we can do. We will
give you the correct medicines. If you go back home,
you will die."
At last I accepted to stay. The next day I felt I
was going to die. I started to have visions. They
gave me a liter of serum. On the fourth day the doctor operated on me. He opened the leg. It was full of
rotten blood. At least half a liter.
In the hospital they served me farm chicken. It
seems that this was affecting me negatively. After
six days in the clinic, I told my son that I wanted
to go back home. He talked to the doctor. He said
that I could go back home, but I had to take the medicine he would prescribe me.
We bought all the medicines. My daughter knew how
to give injections. But the more injections I got,
the more weight I lost. When I had taken all the medicines, I could hardly move. Then my daughter said:
"Perhaps it is true what you said. Even though you
have taken all these medicines and vitamins, you
don't get well. We'd better go to see the abuelito
(the vegetalista). But my son said: "No. We have to
129
131
6.6. Soul-loss
The idea that illness is produced due to the soul (or one of
the souls) leaving the body of a person is prevalent in both
North and South America. Hultkrantz (1979: 90) has pointed out
that the soul-loss diagnosis, in accordance with historical
traditions and trends of various cultures, has been less emphasized in parts of South America, and more pronounced in the
parts of arctic and northwest North America exposed to Asiatic
cultural influences. The idea that the soul may leave the body
is found among numerous tribes of the Upper Amazon. For example
according to Baer (1979:103), the Matsigenka believe that the
soul (i'nsure) leaves the body during sleep, during ecstasy, and
due to illness and death. The Yagua distinguish five different
souls. Two of them (huntu/hunistu) are active during the life
of the invidual, and may temporarily leave the body during
sleep or during the shamanic trance. The other three, collectively called ndenu mbaytu (souls of the dead) become active
after death, and may be dangerous to the living (Chaumeil
1983:89-96).
The idea that a human being has two souls exists among
Amerindian tribes of both North and South America (cf. Hultkrantz 1953:51-114; 1979:131-132;). My informants have never
explicitly made the assertion that human beings have several
souls. However, the insistence on the idea that during sleep, a
state in which one is particularly vulnerable, the soul of a
person leaves his body and may be abducted by an evil sorcerer
or by a spirit, and that a person may also lose his soul
132
133
jungle may find that their wives have left their homes 78 . Many
of the clients of Don Emilio and other vegetalistas are men and
women looking for advice or help to recover or retain their
partners. Mothers sometimes require help from a vegetalista to
make their daughters "aborrecer" (to hate) an undesired lover,
or to make their husbands' lovers reject them. These conflicts
are very often intimately tied up with economic problems: Women
sometimes depend entirely on their husbands' incomes to make a
living, or husbands need their wives to take care of their property while they are away working in the extraction of Amazonian products.
As we saw earlier, stealing a sexual partner is a common
theme in Amazonian mythology. Love among humans is to be seen
within this context. To a great extent to fall in love means
one is somehow losing one's spirit, which becomes the possession of the person one loves. That is why love is within the
realm of the activities of the shaman, who can separate and
unite the spirits. As we saw earlier (cf.5.3.), these tasks are
often carried out with the help of icaros or magic melodies.
If, for example, a woman goes to a vegetalista and asks him
for help because her husband does not want to sleep with her,
does not eat the food she prepares, and looks at her with indifference, the vegetalista gives her baths of sacha ajos (see
below) to make her attractive. If the husband has left the home
because of another woman, the vegetalista may act upon the spirit of the man. During ayahuasca sessions the vegetalista calls
the spirit of the man, and unites it with that of the woman.
The effects are manifested in the dreams. The man dreams of the
woman, and feels sad about having left her. After several sessions, he will return to his wife.
People often turn to a vegetalista to seek revenge. A jealous woman may ask a vegetalista to make her husband impotent,
or mad, or even kill him through witchcraft. Conversely, people
seek vegetalistas to counteract the effects of the doings of
other practitioners.
4.7. Herbal baths
One of the functions of the shaman among Indian tribes is the
maintenance of ecological equilibrium and the control of the
fertility of game and soil, often through an exchange with the
spirit world. Unsucessful hunters may recur to the shaman for
a remedy against their bad luck, or special ceremonies may be
78
I here use the terms husband and wife. Most couples are, in
fact, not legally married. Living together with the concensus
of the woman's family is common practice.
136
79
In Lamb's narration about Cordoba Ros (1971:33-36), we find
that herbal baths are part of the preparation hunters received
before going out into the forest to find game. In this passage,
an Indian hunter with bad luck is carefully questioned about
"his use of herbal baths to bring good luck and to remove body
odors; special diets for getting ready to hunt certain animals;
the use of charms for finding favorite game animals."
137
138
ajos makes the body strong and flexible, is good for the eyes
(te aclara la vista), and the juice of its roots is used in the
treatment of proud flesh in the eyelids.
Steam baths of this
plant are used for the treatment of rheumatism. Sacha-ajos is
amansador, which means that people and wild animals will not
harm the person that uses this plants81.
Other plants are also used in ritual baths, but so far I have
not been able to identified them botanically.
81
Among the Shipibo of the Ucayali, the house where a deceased
person has lived is burnt down together with his belongings.
The site of the house is purified by burning leaves of "sachaaho" (Karsten 1964:206-207).
139
140
CHAPTER 7.
AYAHUASCA SESSIONS AND VISIONS
7.1. Ayahuasca sessions
Ayahuasca sessions among the mestizo have been described several times in literature, both scientific (Castillo 1963:
94-5; Dobkin de Rios 1972:72-76; Ayala 1978; Lamb 1985; Chiappe
et al. 1985:97-101, 103-105) and fictional (Burroughs & Ginsberg 1963:53-60; Huamn Ramrez 1983:75-78; Calvo 1981:261).
The ritual procedure followed by each particular vegetalista
has a high degree of variation. In general, I have noticed a
great difference between
healing sessions carried out in the
cities of Iquitos and Pucallpa, and those taking place near
small jungle settlements, or in chacras in the country. In the
cities, ayahuasca sessions are conducted by professional or
semiprofessional vegetalistas. They take place several times a
week, even daily, and attract comparatively big crowds -about
twenty in most cases I have witnessed-, many of whom often do
not know each other -nor are they introduced to each other during the session-. They often have a marked ritualistic Christian character including the reading of prayers from books such
as La Santa Cruz de Caravaca. Tesoro de Oraciones 82 , a prayer
collection, and others that I have not yet been able to identify.
Healing sessions carried out in rural surroundings usually
gather fewer participants
-six to ten-, who often know each
other or have kindred ties of compadrazgo (the reciprocal relationship existing between a godparent or godparents and the
child and its parents). The meetings usually have a more infor-
82
One finds this book all over Latin America and apparently also
in Spain. According to Atienza (1983:34) it was first published
in Valencia, Spain, in the middle of the 19th century and
consists of a collection of short prayers gravitating around
the Cruz de Caravaca, a double-armed cross, whose origin,
according to a legend, goes back to a visit by St. Helen, Emperor Constantine's mother, to the Holy Land in 326 (on the
cross, and the relationship between this tradition and the Templer Knights, see Atienza 1983:23-48.
141
142
143
nearby .
Dobkin de Rios has insistently written, even in one of her latest publication (Dobkin de Rios 1984: 178), that in the area
of Iquitos and Pucallpa Banisteriopsis rusbyana (now called Diplopterys cabrerana Gates) is used as an admixture. She does
not mention where she has deposited voucher specimens or who
made the identification of the plants she mentions, or if she
collected the plant at all. On only one occasion I have seen
this plant used, and it was brought from Rio Santiago, where it
is indeed used by several Indian tribes as is also the case
among the Siona, Kofan, Ingano, and other tribes of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Amazon. In Loreto, Ucayali and Madre de
Dios the principal admixture is, in my experience, always Psychotria viridis. Among the Sharanahua of the upper Purus a Psychotris sp., under the local name of Kawa is always added to
ayahuasca (Rivier & Lindgren 1972: 103) as is the case among
the Cashinahua (Der Marderosian et al. 1970). P. viridis is
also used as the admixture plant in Tarauc, in the state of
Acre, Brazil (Prance & Prance 1970: 106) and among members of
Colonia 5000 and the UDV (Uniao do Vegetal) in Acre and in cities of other areas of Brazil (cf. Monteiro 1983).
144
clusively devoted to preparing ayahuasca, near the home of Victor, one of her children, or it is prepared by Don Ruperto,
Dona Rosa's brother, who lives in a house nearby.
The preparation of the beverage begins at about six in the
morning. The stems of one bundle of Banisteriopsis caapi are
crushed with a stone or a piece of hard wood. Alternate layers
of the liana and the leaves of P. viridis are placed in an aluminum pot (although Don Emilio told me that ideally an earthen
pot should be used, nowadays difficult to obtain). After each
layer, Don Emilio blows smoke over the pot. Between 12 and 15
liters of water are added, and the mixture is allowed to boil
until it is reduced to about one liter, which is poured into
another pot. The operation is repeated seven times, and the extract collected is allowed to boil again until aprox. 500 ml of
a syrup-like liquid is left, enough for about 12 doses, which
is placed in a bottle and sealed with a cork. The whole process
takes 12 hours.
Don Emilio often complains that in spite of his indications,
the beverage is not always properly prepared by Dona Rosa or
Don Ruperto. In 1984 Don Emilio paid 10 000 soles for the preparation. Considering that about twelve doses are prepared,
and that each participant usually pays between 1000 and 2000
soles for taking ayahuasca, it is obvious that no financial
reasons are behind these ceremonies.
The ceremony usually takes place at about 9 to 10 in the evening. Moonless nights are preferred 87 . People get together even
one or two hours earlier. Before the ceremony Don Emilio
usually tells stories, often of a piquante character, or questions the participants about the whereabouts of their neighbours and family.
The house is lit by kerosene lamps, which
Don Emilio himself has made out of deodorant tin cans. When the
time comes, Don Emilio carefully covers the whole floor with
empty sacks. The people sit on the floor or on a big bench that
runs along one of the walls forming an imaginary circle around
Don Emilio.
The ritual paraphernalia used during the ayahuasca ceremonies
has only a few elements. They are placed in front of the place
Don Emilio is going to occupy during the ceremony. The essential ritual instrument is the schacapa, a rattle made of the
leaves of a Gramineae (Pariana sp.), which is used for accompanying some of the icaros, and which is sometimes shaken all
over the body of each participant for "cleansing" them of illness and evil spirits. The other elements, besides the bottle
or pot containing the ayahuasca brew, are usually a bottle of
camphor crystals suspended in alcohol, several mapacho cigaret87
Don Emilio says, however, that on some occasions he took the
beverage out-of-doors with his teacher during moonlit nights
If the beverage is well prepared, then the landscape seems to
be very beautiful. Everything looks as if it were made of gold,
and the trees seem to acquire beautiful and brilliant colours.
145
In the communities of Acre, Brazil, where Santo Daime (ayahuasca) is taken as a sacrament, men, women and even children and
pregnant women take the brew.
147
may
conclude
that
achieving
90
an
altered
state
of
consciousness is indeed expected and desired by those that already have some experience of ayahuasca. Naturally, the expectations are very different among those that take ayahuasca for
the first time, or rarely do so. The idea of cleansing may in
some cases be more relevant.
I indicated above that participants in ayahuasca ceremonies
may or may not suffer from illness. It is common among patients
to claim that they are able to visualize the person or persons
responsible for their illnesses. I certainly agree with Joralemon (1984: 406) when he observes that "hallucinatory imagery,
structured and interpreted by the shaman, may provide psychologically persuasive confirmation of the diagnosis and thus intensify the effect of suggestion in the cure." But in many
cases people take ayahuasca specifically to seek visions, as
for instance to see the whereabouts of distant dear ones. One
often hears when someone is under the effects of the beverage
the exclamation: "How beautiful. This is like a movie!". Visions of an erotic character are frequently reported. Male participants often report seeing beautiful naked women or mermaids. However, any sexual intercourse during or immediately
before or after the ingestion of ayahuasca is strictly forbidden: It is believed that the beverage will then harm the personal91.
It is firmly believed that a good vegetalista is able to control the visions of other people. This is perfectly exemplified in some passages of the story of Manuel Cordoba Ros (see
Lamb 1985:21), in which he deliberately conveys to other people
visions of birds and jaguars. The same idea is found in Calvo
(1981:232): Manuel Cordoba Ros tells how Ximu, his mentor,
imitated the call of certain birds, and they appear in Don Manuel's visions.
91
Vegetalistas often say that a complete concentration is necessary in order to see, with the help of ayahuasca, what one
wishes to see. In Pucallpa I noticed that vegetalistas use the
expression "tener buenas concentraciones" (literally, "to have
good concentrations"), when the visions are exceptionally
clear. It seems obvious to me that vegetalistas train to
achieve control of the visions so as to obtain information.
This is a rich field that should be explored by psychologists.
Among the mestizo vegetalistas, as among several Indian
tribes, several types of ayahuasca are recognized. They are
called cielo ayahuasca (heaven ayahuasca), lucero ayahuasca
(star ayahuasca), trueno ayahuasca (thunder ayahuasca), etc.
These "kinds" of ayahuasca do not seem to correspond to various
species of Banisteriopsis. The distinction is based on the hallucinations they produce 92 . Vegetalistas have also a sophisticated taxonomy that includes the color of the resine of the
vine, the smell, the form of the stem, the age of the plant,
etc.
Dona Aurora Mosombite, who lives in Santa Clara, a small
village near Iquitos, has in her garden the only specimen of
Diplopterys cabrerana I have seen so far in the area of Iquitos. It is used as the main additive, instead of Psychotria
viridis. She told me that the ayahuasca prepared with the addition of the leaves of this plant produces hallucinations in
which Huambiza Indians singing in their language appear in visions. She attributes this phenomenon to the fact that she
bought this plant from these Indians when she was living in Rio
Santiago near the Ecuadorian border.
When several vegetalistas participate in an ayahuasca session, how they group around the master shaman is partially determined by their rank. But it seems that there are other factors as well. On one occasion, during a ceremony I attended in
Iquitos, one of the vegetalistas told another: "I will sit here
beside you, because you have beautiful visions". If there is
harmony between all the people present, the magic songs of each
vegetalista reinforce the visions of the others. Several vegetalistas may "join their visions" (juntar sus mareaciones) so
as to see better and perform a shamanic task (cf.Calvo
1948:48). Knowing each other is important. That is the reason
why the same people often take ayahuasca together.
It is also believed that under the effects of ayahuasca shamans living in different places are able to communicate and
exchange knowledge (cf.Calvo 1981:72).
Besides being used in the diagnosis of illness as a means of
contact with the supernatural world, and as a visionary beverage, ayahuasca is used as a general prophylactic against all
92
In a conversation Dr. Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff made me notice
how the Indian taxonomy seems to put more emphasis on the
effect rather than on the form of the plants.
151
twenty minutes".
"But I first".
"Very well",
All the people that were going to take the brew got
together. The maestro sang an icaro over the ayahuasca bottle, and gave a dose to the young man, who
gulped it down at once. He then gave the beverage to
all those others present. When he had finished, he
began to blow smoke over all the participants, so
that they might all be protected during the ceremony.
This is what some maestros do after everybody has
taken ayahuasca.
After twelve, fourteen minutes the visions appeared.
Some people began to vomit, others to defecate,
others to sing. The young man went up to the maestro
and told him: "I don't see anything". "You have to
wait", said the maestro. Sometimes it takes time.
Sometimes, when the mareacin comes later, it is very
strong." "Very well", the young man said. The maestro
continued singing. Some time later the young man went
to the maestro and said: "I don't see anything. Give
me some more." The maestro gave him another dose, and
continued singing and blowing smoke over one of his
patients. When the young man saw that the maestro was
busy attending his patients, he took the bottle of
ayahuasca and took two more doses.
About ten minutes later a terrible mareacin came
over him. He saw that everybody present had horns and
tails and their teeth were chattering. A little
later a spirit, a huge doctor, appeared. The spirit
said: "I will give you great powers for the rest
of your life if you do what I will you. You will be
able to travel everywhere, under the earth, through
the air, under the water, both during the day and
at night. And you will get whatever you desire. " "And
what do I have to do", asked the young man. "Listen
attentively. As you can see, there is a pregnant
woman sleeping over there in a bed inside the house.
She has been pregnant for seven months. You go there
with a machete, kill her, open her womb and take out
the baby. You will break the baby's head and suck its
brain. If you do this, I will give you all the powers
I told you about."
The young man left the group and went to the house.
He climbed the stairs. He found a machete, went to
the bed and lifted the mosquito net which hang over
the bed where the poor woman was sleeping. He killed
her, and did what the spirit had told him to do.
People began to scream and tried to get hold of
the criminal, who did not let anybody get close
to him, swinging the machete with one hand and
the baby with the other. Some people went to look for
the authorities. At about midnight several policemen
154
155
156
CONCLUSION
In this book I have made a relatively detailed description of
shamanism as it is practised among the mestizo population of
the Peruvian Amazon. There is a clear continuity with respect
to shamanism among ethnic groups of the Upper Amazon area. Several essential elements are preserved: the idea that some
plants and animals have powerful spirits from which knowledge
and power can be derived; the idea that in order to learn from
these plants it is necessary to follow rigorous dietary prescriptions and sexual segregation, and that these plants can be
used as tools for exploring the natural and supernatural
realms; the idea that the exploration of these realms entail
certain dangers, and that the novice needs spirits to protect
him from supernatural attacks; the idea that dreams and hallucinations may be manipulated; the idea that knowledge and power
are concentrated in a magic substance that vegetalistas have in
their chests and in the magic chants and melodies they learn
from the spirits; the idea that illness is due to the action of
spirits or evil sorcerers and that it is a pathogenic spirit
with a material manifestation (an insect, a piece of bone, a
needle or a razor) which can be diverted by means of magic
plants and melodies, by purifying the patients with tobacco
smoke, and by extracting the maleficent spirit inside the patient with the beneficent spirits dwelling in the vegetalista's
magic substance.
One of the basic ideas is that various plant spirits are
received by the vegetalista enabling him to incorporate certain
of their characteristics, both those corresponding to their
material manifestations, such as strength to withstand rains
and floods, and those corresponding to all their transformations both anthropomorphic and theriomorphic. They will be able
to take the novice to various realms, depending on their shapes
-bird, insect, fish etc, An aquatic plant will hell the novice
who ingests it to enter the underwater world. A tree with
thorns will give him weapons to defend himself or to do harm.
This is a manifestation of the principle similia similibus
which permeates Amazonian thought 93 .
The incorporation of the characteristics of the plants take
two basic materializations: a magic phlegm, which the vegetalista has embedded in his chest, and magic melodies, which are
93
Rios (1962:28) observed that the use of ayahuasca was increasing in Northeastern Peru.
163
from June to August. I have not been able to follow cases for a
long time, nor travel to areas where I could collect plants I
have only heard about. More field work should be carried out
among several types of practitioners, and in more areas of the
Peruvian Amazon. In my future work I will try to amend, as far
as I can, some of these shortcomings.
Of utmost importance is the collaboration of scholars studying shamanism among ethnic groups and among the mestizo population, even across cultural areas. Interdisciplinary studies
are also needed. Several areas of the social and natural sciences may benefit from such an approach. The historian may also
learn from comparative studies in areas subject to such rapid
cultural change. A better understanding of vegetalismo may be
also benefitial to public health personnel preocuppied with improving the conditions of Amazonian people.
Vegetalistas are authentic repositories of Amazonian lore.
Some of them are conscious of being part of an indigenous tradition. One little anecdote may illustrate this idea. Don Emilio had never asked me for anything. We exchanged gifts, naturally, always as friends. That is why I was a little surprised
when, shy like a little boy, he asked me to give him a picture
of Apolinar, the Ingano shaman, who had given me ayahuasca for
the first time. "Joven Educo, podra ser que usted me quisiera
dar la foto del gran maestro vegetalista de all de su tierra"
("perhaps you could hand me the picture of the great vegetalista of your town"). Of course I gave him the photo. One year
later, the picture of Don Apolinar was on one of the walls of
the room in his house where ayahuasca sessions take place. With
this little gesture, Don Emilio made me realize that he has
great respect for his Indian ancestors, from whom a great part
of his knowledge comes.
The Peruvian Amazon area, like the Amazon regions of all the
other countries, is experiencing great changes. The impact of
modern technology is very marked. The noise of cars, motorcycles and electric drills disturb the Amazonian spiritual world.
"A los espritus los aflige el ruido" (the spirits dislike the
noise), Don Sergio told me once. Although at times drowned by
the roar of jet planes crossing the night sky the magic chants
of vegetalistas still travel to places Western technology will
never reach -to the realm of spirits, a world accepting modern
wonders but encompassing the past and the future as well.
164
165
166
APPENDIXES
During the examination of the scientific literature on the use
of psychotropic preparations made of Banisteriopsis, I kept a
record of the Indian tribes that use them, and the local names
given to them. I am sure these lists are far from exhaustive, and should be considered only as indicative. In the first
appendix, I list the various tribes and groups in alphabetical order, indicating in parentheses the linguistic family to
which each tribe or group belongs. I have used Loukotka's
(1968) classification of language families. For a map of the
use of ayahuasca among the Indians of Northeastern Peru, see
Tesman 1930, kartogramm 18). In the second appendix, there is
an alphabetical list of local names given to the Banisteriopsis
preparation.
APPENDIX I
INDIAN TRIBES THAT USE OR USED BANISTERIOPSIS (alphabetic)
01 Achual (Jvaro)(Tessmann 1930)
02 Aguaruna (Jvaro)(Brown 1978: 121)
03 Amahuaca (syn. Sayaco, Impetineri) of Varadero (Pano)
(Tessmann 1930; Huxley & Capa 1965; Carneiro 1970:341; Friedberg 1965:112; Calvo 1981:217).
04 Anguteros (syn. Ancutere, Pioje)(Western Tukano) of Ecuador
(Villavicencio 1858; Spruce 1908:11:424; P. Naranjo 1983:78).
05 Aucas (syn. Sabelas, Huaranis)(Sabela) of Ecuador (P. Naranjo
1983:187-188), and Tihuacuna River, Loreto, Peru (Tessman
1930:301).
06 Awisiri (Auishiri)(Reinberg 1925:53; Tessmann 1930)
07 Banivas (Arawak)(Lewin 1927:169)
08 Barasana (Eastern Tukano)(Friedberg 1965: 51; Hugh-Jones
1979).
09 Bares (Arawak)(Lewin 1928: 169)
10 Campa (Arawak) of Peru (Tessmann 1930; Weiss 1972; Chevalier
1982; Friedberg 1965: 108)
167
1965: 70)
32 Iquito (Zparo)(Tessmann 1930)
33 Ingano (Quechua)(Bristol 1966:120; Uscategui 1959:290; Taussig 1980: 237; Luna 1984a)
34 Isconahua (Pano)(Arevalo, personal communication)
35 Jivaro (syn. Shuar) (Jvaro)(Harner 1973)(Villavicencio
1858; P. Naranjo 1983:78; Karsten 1935, 1964:95; Lewin
1928:169).
36 Kabuvari (syn. Cauyari, Cabuyari)(Arawak)(Friedberg 1965:51)
37 Kandoshi (Murato, Roamaina)(Murato)(Tessmann 1930)
38 Kofn (syn. Cofn)(Cofn), of Ecuador and Colombia (Schultes
1982:206; Robinson 1976)
39 Lama (syn. Lamista)(Quechua) of Peru (Steward & Metraux
1948: 605; Friedberg 1965: 105; Tessman 1930: 289; Scazzochio
1979: 183)
40 Macuna (syn. Makuna) (Eastern Tukano)(Naranjo
1983:97)(Friedberg 1965:56)(Garca Barriga 1975:55)(Arhem
1981:108)
41 Mai huna (syn. Orejn, Coto)(Western Tukano) (Tessmann 1930;
Friedberg 1965: 70; Bellier 1986)
42 Maku (Maku) (Schultes (1957; Uscategui 1959: 29; Friedberg
1965:53).
43 Mandavaka (Arawak)(Lewin 1928:169).
44 Marinahua (Pano)(P. Naranjo 1983:97).
45 Matsigenka (syn. Machiguenga, Machiganga) of East Peru (Arawak) (Baer 1984: 499).
46 Mayoruna (syn. Morque)(Arawak)(Ro Blanco, Peru) (Arvalo,
personal communication)
47 Mazn (syn. Masamae, Parara)(Yagua)(Villavicencio 1858;
Spruce 1908:II:424; (P. Naranjo 1983:78).
48 Menimehe (Western Tukano)(Reinburg 1925:53)
49 Noanam of Choco (Choc)(Colombia) (Reichel-Dolmatoff
1960:130-132;1980:35)
50 Omagua (Tupi), near San Joaquin and San Salvador, Peru
(Tessmann 1930; Friedberg 1965: 70; Girard 1958: 183).
51 Panobo (Pano) (Tessmann 1930; Friedberg 1965:111).
52 Piapoko (Arawak)(Friedberg 1965:40)(Reichel-Dolmatoff
169
1980:35)
53 Pioch (syn. Pioje, Cionis)(Tukano)(Reinburg 1925:20; Lewin
1928:169; Tessman 1930:214, 217).
54 Piro (Arawak)(Santa Clara, Low Urubamba, Peru)(Peter Gow,
personal communication. They learn from Cocama shamans, and
have a comptemt for Campa shamans).
55 Puinabe (Mak)(Friedberg 1965:41).
56 Quijos (Quechua) of the river Quijos, tributary of Napo
river (Tessmann 1930; Oberem 1958; P. Naranjo 1983:85).
57 Remos (Pano)(Rio Pichalla, between Peru and Brazil) (Arvalo, personal communication)
58 Santa Maria (?) (Ecuador)(Villavicencio 1858:371-3).
59 Santiagueno (Quechua) Valley of Sibundoy, Colombia (Bristol
1966: 120)
60 Secoya (Western Tukano) of Eastern Ecuador (Vickers &
Plowman 1984: 18-20; Vickers 1981: 710).
61 Sharanahua (Pano)(Siskind 1973: 130-147).
62 Shipibo (Pano) of Ucayali river, Peru (Karsten 1964: 95;
P. Naranjo 1983:97; Friedberg 1965:111).
63 Sibundoy (Kams)(Chibcha), south Colombia (Bristol 1966)
64 Siona (Western Tukano)(Mallol de Recasens 1965) (Langdon
1974; Vickers & Plowman 1984: 18-20; Vickers 1981:710).
65 Taiwano (syn. Teiuana)(Eastern Tukano)(Friedberg 1965:51).
66 Tamas (Western Tukano)(Lewin 1928:169).
67 Tanimuka (Eastern Tukano) of Popeyaca River, affluent of
the Apaporis, near Yucuna country in Comisaria del Amazonas
(Uscategui 1959: 296)(Friedberg 1965: 52).
68 Tarianas (Karaib)(Spruce 1908:423; Lewin 1928:169; Friedberg
1965:64).
69 Tatuyo (Eastern Tukano), upper Pira-parana)(Bidou....).
70 Tikuna (syn. Tucuna)(Tucuna) (Tessmann 1930; Lamb 1985: 44)
71 Yagua (Yagua)(Chaumeil 1983:38)
72 Zaparo (Zparo)(Northeastern Peru)(Spruce 1908:423; Reinburg 1925:10; Tessmann 1930).
170
APPENDIX 2
VERNACULAR NAMES GIVEN TO THE BANISTERIOPSIS HALLUCINOGENIC
BEVERAGES
01 Ayahuasca (Quechua) Etymology: Aya = dead person, soul,
spirit. Waska = cord, liana, vine (Carvahlo-Neto 1964)(Andrade
Marn 1969)(P. Naranjo 1983:93). The latter author considers
the name ayahuasca a Quechua neologism, difussed first in the
18th and 19th centuries. Zparo, Anguteros, Mazanes (Spruce
1908:II:424; Villavicencio 1858:373); Ucayali River (Rios
1962)(Quoted by Bristol 1966: 114) Quijos of Napo (Reinburg
1925:55). Ecuador: Spruce 1908:II:415; Karsten 1926: 324).
02 Biaxii (Kams language)(Sibundoy) (Bristol 1966: 120).
In his article Bristol has a table with the terms employed
by the Sibundoy, including amaron waska, ambiwaska, ayawaska, biaxa, biaxii, bichemia, chagrupanga, el remedio, sacawaska
and yax'. Chagrupanga refers to Banisteriopsis rusbyana (now
Diplopterys cabrerana); biaxa to Banisteriopsis caapi.
03 Caapi, capi, cabi, Caji, Gahpi, Kahi, (Tupi language) (Para,
Brazil) (Ducke 1943; 1957)(Reichel-Dolmatoff 1971:150;1980).
According to Von Hagen (1957)(Quoted by P. Naranjo 1983:95) it
means hacer valiente (to make one courageous). Naranjo presents
another interpretation: It means hoja para exhalar (leave to
make you like a spirit). This name is also used in other parts
of the Amazonas (Venezuela, Guiana...) (See Deulofeu 1967).
According to Koch-Grnberg 1917:1:500) (Cited by Friedberg
1965:55) there are two kinds of Caapi among the Tukanoan: Kapi
and Kulikapio. Caji (Yebasama)(Deltgen 1978/79; Deltgen is
uncertain of the precise plant or plants used). Caji-idirecaji
(Makuna)(P. Naranjo 1983:97) (Garca Barriga 1975: 55). Used also
by the Yecuana (Koch-Grnberg 1917:111:386-388)(Cited by
Friedberg 1965: 43)(Lewin 1928:169). Kahi ide (Makuna) (Arhem
1981:108).
04 Caapi-pinima (coloured caapi). Among the Macu of Tiquie
river (Brazil), a tributary of Vaups, Schultes (1954) observed a hallucinogenic brew made of Tetrapteris methystica,
of a yellow colour -different from the brown Banisteriopsis
beverage. Schultes suggests that this "coloured" caapi might
refer to this preparation.
05 Cadna, Cadana-pira (Tukano Indians of the Uaups) (Spruce
1908:11:415).
06 Cauupuri mariri (Brazil) (Gates 1982:113).
07 Cipo caapi (Tikuna)(Lamb 1985:44).
08 Cofa, Oofa (Kofn)(Garca Barriga 1975:55; P. Naranjo
1983:180-184)
09 Dapa (Noanam)(Pacific Lowlands)(Reichel-Dolmatoff 1980:35)
10 Hananeroca (which roughly means "vine of the river of
171
173
APPENDIX III
TRANSCRIPTION OF DON EMILIO'S ICAROS
Icaros No. 1
Don Emilio's first icaro
Icaro No. 5
Icaro to increase the ayahuasca visions
174
Icaro No. 2
Icaro of Doctor Oje, against evil sorcerers
177
175
Icaro No. 6
Icaro of the pelejo (sloth)
176
Icaro No. 4
Icaro to call a spirit
177
Icaro No. 6
Icaro against evil sorcerers
interruption
8"
178
Icaro No. 7
Icaro of the Brazilian
179
Icaro No. 8
Introductory icaro of ayahuasca sessions
180
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