| Psychotria viridis (Yaje) which contains DMT was identified as being used by the Cofan Indians in eastern Ecuador and by the Cashinahua of eastern Peru who call it nai kawa, though its rarely used alone and usually mixed with another “activator” plant. (82) The Cashinahua use the Banisteriopsis as a means of gaining information from the “otherworld” which is not normally available to them through usual channels. (83) One of the beliefs of the Jivaro is that disease and nonviolent deaths are caused by witchcraft. They believe that the forces which control live and death on this world exist in the supernatural state and can only be seen and dealt with in this same “altered state.” (84) Witchcraft, of course, meaning shamanism. I believe it can easily be argued that the role of priest descended directly from the role of the shaman. Gerald Weiss seems to agree. I’m not sure it will ever be fully proven so educated speculation is the best we can do. In an article titled Shamanism and Priesthood in the Light of the Campa Ayahuasca Ceremony, Weiss writes: “The notion that priests are the offspring of shamans has been argued by some writers. Sternberg (85) suggests a development from shaman to priest with a concomitant shift from possession to solicitation, from spirit to god, and from hut to temple. Chapple and Coon (86), while using “shaman” and “priest” interchangeably in referring to religious practitioners, nevertheless postulate that an original generalized practitioner came in time to be specialized along a number of different lines, one of these being that of a specialist in ritual.” (87) The Campa shaman call ayahuasca “kamarampi.” When the Campa shaman is singing in trance, he sees and sings along with the spirits who are singing and dancing there with him. The Campa do not believe in “spirit possession” and do not think they are “possessed” but simply working alongside the spirits. (88) Meztico healers in the areas of Iquitos and Pucallpa would gather groups of five to twenty-five people together and drink a combination of one of the major species of banisteriopsis, either B caapi, B. quitensis, B. inebriens, or B. rusbyana. The combining harmaline additive would include toe, identified by Schultes as Datura suaveolens (from personal communication to either Marlene Dobkin de Rios or Harner) and chacruna. (89) The Amahuaca, who live in the Peruvian mountains claim that “a man’s soul may leave his body when he drinks ayahuasca.” (90) Harner reports in his book: “the shamans of the Conibo-Shipibo tribes of eastern Peru, with the aid of ayahuasca, commonly have the experience of traveling underground in supernatural boats to see distant cities of the demons. These, too, are believed to be underground, but are said to be visible ‘because the sunlight passes through the earth’.” (91) |
The ayahuasca spirits are consulted for all kinds of problems and in a more direct and personal way than can be done through dreaming. Carneiro writes in his book, The Amahuaca and the Spirit World: “As the drug takes effect, Yoshi [spirits] begin to appear, one or two at a time. They are said to drink ayahuasca, too, and to sign along with the men. The Amahuaca ask a Yoshi where he has been and what he has seen, and he tells them. Unlike dreams, in which Yoshi occasionally molest or injure a person, in ayahuasca seances they are generally friendly and tractable. It is just like when Amahuaca came to visit, we were told. A toshi may stay an hour or two, and then he goes. But then another one comes, drinks with the Amahuaca, talks with them, and then he too departs. In this manner many Yoshi may be seen and interrogated during the course of the night.” (92) One use for ayahuasca among the Jivaro is to discover who has “bewitched” the patient who is ill. The shaman can recognize the person if they have a familiar face otherwise, he cannot know who they are if they live far away or in another tribe. Among the Candoshi, ayahuasca is used “for better vision or to discover the cause of death or recognize the perpetrater,“ and among the Tschamikuro “the caapi drink serves to allow one better ‘vision’ while curing …” and for the Zaparo, “to allow better diagnosing.” (93) (82) ibid, p. 4; Der Marderosian, Kensinger, Chao, and Goldstein, 1970 (83) ibid, p. 14 (84) ibid, p. 16 (85) 1925:502 (86) 1942: 407-12 (87) Hallucinogens and Shamanism, p. 41 (88) Hallucinogens and Shamanism, p. 44 (Weiss) (89) ibid, p. 69; B. rusbyana. The leaves of which are said to contain DMT: see Der Marderosian, 1968, (Frieberg 1965:28) (90) ibid, p. 159; Carneiro, Robert L., The Amahuaca and the Spirit World. Ethnology 3:6-11 (91) ibid, p. 168-69 (92) ibid, p. 165-66 (93) ibid, p. 169-70 |