Ayahuasca blog

[drugo]

I have started a blog about my research into ayahuasca culture, psychedelics and related thing.

Check it out here http://culturaladmixtures.wordpress.com/

[Micromegas]

Fresh and well written. Pretty intriguing selection for a PhD thesis I bet it raised your supervisor's eyebrows. A topic worthy of contemplation and investigating, especially as a subset of the globalisation of ayahusaca and plant shamanism more generally. Just curious, have you been or will you go to the Amazon as research, so you can see in what way the Australian version deviates from the ritualistic "norm" or some of the varieties thereof?

[drugo]

Hi, Thanks micrograms. Glad you enjoyed the pieces.

I would like to head to the Amazon one day. I have no plans to at the moment. Not for research.

I think you will find that there is no "norm" in Amazonia -- hence the "" you used. And i think this is important. Indigenous Amazonian religious perspectives and practices have never been static, pure, and absolute. The long study of Amazonian millenarian movements and Christianity is a good example of this. But there are many examples of remote non-Christian cultural fluidity, hybridity, shape-shifting!

An excerpt from my thesis that explores this:

Calderon, a Peruvian shaman hosting ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru for New Age spirituality markets, developed a kind of ceremony that speaks to the fears and hopes and cultural idiosyncrasies of the New Age. This is what makes it a success and legitimate ceremony in this context... Joralemon asks ‘was he [Calderon] really doing for tour group members anything different from what his Peruvian predecessors had done for generations? The ability to adapt received wisdom, what we anthropologists like to call “tradition”, to new social and cultural circumstances has always been key to the survival of shamans in the Peru… Calderon is different only in that his habit of reading texts on world religions and psychology enables him to innovate on a broader foundation of traditions’. (Joralemon 1990, 111) .

[Alice]

Very well written, I'll be keenly watching for future posts.

[etherealdrifter]

man- always love reading your contributions here .druggo

in that article the white robes always mystifies me. if i was maybe gunna excrete -?the last thing i'd wanna be wearing is white.

?

Maybe its to highlight the something or rather and white means purity ring right?

anyways, i mean all i have said in goodness. thankyou for sharing mate.

[Micromegas]

Hi drugo, while it is true that many practitioners have altered their ceremonies to suit gringos, this is not always the case and while a huge diversity of forms exist, there are many that retain old traditions.

For example, the concept of sorcery and illness that pervades the amazon region has no counterpart in australian modern culture so is absent from medicine work here, while still being retained amongst local groups in the amazon basin, who regularly conduct ceremonies away from tourists who do not reflect their cultural paradigms. That these beliefs are absent from australian ayahuasca circles is probably a very good thing for a number of reasons.

Equally, icaros (and the plant dietas to obtain icaros), the use of complex admixture plants (tree doctors, toe, camalonga etc.), tobacco, virotes, the arcana, shakapas, ceremonies undertaken in complete darkness, chupa (sucking out illness and projectiles) and magical flem, are all elements of "normal" ayahuasca shamanism in the amazon that have not made their way in any real sense to australia (to my limited knowledge). I used the quotations because within indigenous areas variances do exist, i.e. between mestizo and shipibo groups, or peru vs ecuador etc.

Bastardised forms of the above may exist, like hippies singing songs on guitar or music played through speakers etc. but these are a huge diversion from traditional forms of icaros, from the instrumentation to the more regular melody. I've never heard an amazon ayahuasquero say namaste, pull out a wad of white sage, or integrate eastern philosophical concepts into their work or start playing on a tibetan singing bowl!

In a sense being outside of the amazon - where many of the traditional elements are retained in available plants and local culture and history - sets limits on how "authentic" work in australia can be.

Let me be very clear - I do not doubt there are proficient practitioners in australia that produce quality results with the medicine, and nor am I against this occurring, but I wouldn't write off themes of tradition in the amazon too quickly, and I think it is important to drill into them to understand why australian work is different and why it may not be bringing ayahuasca to the table in all its bold and terrifying glory.

While icaros are specifically designed to plumb the depths of the human psyche and untangle complex psychological and physical issues (as well as the results of sorcery), singing songs about birds and flowers with some candles and incense burning is always going to produce a "softer" experience, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but may undermine a true grasp of what ayahuasca is about.

The point is, I would imagine that understanding the potential strengths and weakness of australian ayahuasca work would benefit from an investigation of traditional modalities (even on paper).

I like what you are doing, and I look forward to reading more, I am just presenting my opinion because I feel archaic shamanism often gets lost in the hype surrounding ayahuasca and other sacramental plants to the detriment of a full comprehension (which I don't have myself I might add). If you feel this is inappropriate in a thread about your blog, I will remove this post at your request.

Cheshire, white is the preferred colour of clothing so the ayahuasquero can see "inside" your body during the ceremony to diagnose illness (another reason to hold ceremonies in total darkness). Dark colours, especially red or black, prevent this ability. In australia, yes I do think it has more to do with notions of purity ,which reinforces my points above.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Micromegas

[drugo]

Hi Micromegas,

Thanks for the detailed and evocative responses. I also ponder these questions and ideas, especially the comparative stuff. Though my understanding of Amazonian shamanism is limited to reading anthropology (and sitting circle in Australia with some Amazonian vegetalismo curanderos). While the anthropology of Amazonia is incredibly rich and diverse, the depth of the research is comparable to the anthropology of Africa in the 1960s. There are still a lot of questions remaining and the uniqueness of Amazonian cultures arguably will revolutionise our understandings of humanity -- for one thing, 1/3 of the worlds linguistic diversity is in the Amazon (and PNG has about another 1/3!), and of course the Amazon jungle is by far the most ecologically complex and dense system on the planet.

I am not an expert on indigenous Amazonian shamanism and will not pretend to be one. But some research comes to mind in response to your generous post above. Bernd Brabec de Mori mounts a persuasive argument on the history and distribution of ayahuasca in northwest Amazonia by analysing ayahuasca ritual music ('icaros') in relation to research on language diversity in the area. He determines that for many indigenous groups the practice of ayahuasca is relatively recent in history, as in the last 100 years, and probably began up the Putamayo river in Colombia (See 'tracing Hallucinations' 2011). Similarly, Peter Gow, a specialist in the region, argues that indigenous ayahuasca practice has grown largely from the rubber tapping industry as a balm to heal the traumas of cultural upheavals and related conflict. Gow goes as far as saying that indigenous ayahuasca use was learnt from mestizos in the rubber tapping industry (in the period of 1850s - 1910s) (River People: Shamanism and History in Western Amazonia). And Brabec (in press) argues that ayahuasca is currently not so important to Amazonian cultures outside of attracting tourists, academics, and conservationists. I am not siding with this research but am simply offering the perspectives.

Having said all that, I have just posted a paper to the blog that attempts to distil some general notions of indigenous Amazonian shamanism, focusing on shapeshifting. The post is taken from a more comparative piece in which the lack of shapeshifting in Australian ayahuasca practice is considered against the centrality of shapeshifting (and sorcery) in not only Amazonian shamanism but in Amazonian social life more generally.

One last thought on tradition. In Eduardo Luis Luna's famous PhD on vegetalismo shamanism in Peru, a few renowned ayahuasca curanderos stated that they learnt (in more or less urban settings) directly and solely from the plants, i.e. 'outside' of 'tradition'. If this is the case, if the doctores are the teachers, then why would people drinking ayahuasca in Australia not be potentially open to (and indeed embodying) a 'full comprehension' of authentic 'archaic shamanism' ?

[Micromegas]

It is quite a massive discussion!

In response to the question asked in anthropological circles, ‘do Amazonian shamans really turn into jaguars?’, it seems probable that the answer is yes. They really do turn into jaguars in a similar way that synesthetes really do experience sounds as colours. The reported embodiment of ‘other beings of the cosmos’ by Amazonian ayahuasca shamans appears to refer to deliberate and advanced forms of synesthesia that peak in types of cosmological metamorphosis that give shamans the ability to shift corporality or ‘body image’ and become a variety of dominant ‘qualities of existence’—that are semantically and sensually associated to animals, plants, radios, and other spirit beings—in order to negotiate spiritual alliances and undertake various shamanic activities, including those related to issues of health and the restoration of wellbeing

That's cool.

He determines that for many indigenous groups the practice of ayahuasca is relatively recent in history, as in the last 100 years, and probably began up the Putamayo river in Colombia (See 'tracing Hallucinations' 2011). Similarly, Peter Gow, a specialist in the region, argues that indigenous ayahuasca practice has grown largely from the rubber tapping industry as a balm to heal the traumas of cultural upheavals and related conflict. Gow goes as far as saying that indigenous ayahuasca use was learnt from mestizos in the rubber tapping industry (in the period of 1850s - 1910s) (River People: Shamanism and History in Western Amazonia).

Also interesting. My personal feeling is that ayahuasca use in the amazon is very ancient, but i'm sure there is great complexity about it's spread and use since Columbus.

One last thought on tradition. In Eduardo Luis Luna's famous PhD on vegetalismo shamanism in Peru, a few renowned ayahuasca curanderos stated that they learnt (in more or less urban settings) directly and solely from the plants, i.e. 'outside' of 'tradition'. If this is the case, if the doctores are the teachers, then why would people drinking ayahuasca in Australia not be potentially open to (and indeed embodying) a 'full comprehension' of authentic 'archaic shamanism' ?

There is absolutely no reason why anyone is precluded to coming to a full comprehension of ayahuasca or any other plant medicine, although it does help to be or to have been in that plant's native environment. Probably "full comprehension" is over-reaching in every context and a bit meaningless. "Profound understanding" is a better term.

Either way, the limiting factor in Australia i believe is intent and exposure.

Best of luck with it, I enjoyed the latest article it's a fascinating topic.

[drugo]

Thanks Micromegas. You too. And thanks for the input! It is a massive discussion. You should consider coming to http://www.aya2014.com/en/ Cheers, Alex