The Peruvian Amazon is widely known to be home to both many species of plants with hallucinogenic properties and a handful of indigenous tribes that inhabit the surrounding forest. An example for each of these, respectively, are the admixtures of ayahuasca and the people of the Urarina nation. Being a small society of just a couple thousand, the Urarina focus on hunting and horticulture. Their foraging for consumable Amazonian plants eventually led those with shamanic powers to discover the spiritual uses of various plants in the environment, resulting in their incorporation into religious practices within the society. To this day ayahuasca shamanism remains an integral practice within the indigenous Urarina society as the main medium for medicinal …show more content…
Every step in the process, from harvesting the Banisteriopsi vine and Psychotria leaves to purifying the body through abstaining from a taboo diet before partaking in the ceremony to the manner and environment in which one undergoes the experience, strictly adheres to a series of traditional rituals. Upon consuming the sacrament, the user undergoes a trance causing amplification of the senses and intermixing of stimulus modality, leading to psychological introspection within one’s mind. The reverence of this profound experience lies in the sense of clarity and understanding of society, the environment, and the spiritual that is tapped into while …show more content…
Ventures into the other realm for such needs are known as soul flights and take the user along different itineraries determined by what is sought to be accomplished through the flight: a soul flight to the sky is made when needing to consult the moon or its brother on the name to be given to a new born baby; a flight to the caves of Peccaries’ mountains to request an abundance of game from the father of Peccaries; a flight deep down into the river is to achieve the assistance of cosmological beings from the spirit realm. During these journeys, it is pertinent that shamans seek continual learning and understanding of icaros, magic songs that summon spiritual forces, as they come into interaction with spiritual beings, so that they may increase their shamanic
Between the years of 1985 to 1987 Conklin spent a total of 19 months living amongst the Wari’ tribes. Her primary source of gathering information was to interview the Wari’ about their own culture and history. Performing return trips to the Amazonian society in 1991, 1999, and 2000 Conklin was able to confirm her gathered information by asking different Wari’ about their beliefs and cultural history. Amongst Conklin’s interview subjects were dozens of elderly Wari’ who could remember the life before the outside world had become a major influence. They c...
During a visit to Mexico, Gordon Wasson, a mycologist, discovered the use of psilocybin mushroom in spiritual ceremonies by Indian tribes. Upon experiencing the spiritual and hallucinatory effects of the mushroom, Wasson returned to the area accompanied by an experienced mycologist, Roger Heim, who managed to cultivate the mushroom once in France and send samples of it to the scientist who had discovered lysergic acid, Albert Hoffman. From the mushrooms, Hoffman successfully isolated two compounds which he further named psilocybin and psilocin. Analogs of these compounds were further synthesized and were employed mainly for psychotherapeutic uses. Many tests on psilocybin were made at Harvard University in the early 1960’s. However, along with LSD, psilocybin became a scheduled substance in 1970, making it illegal. During this time, psilocybin mushrooms became a part of the psychedelic and hippy movement and were used for recreational and spiritual purposes. Research on psilocybin ended in the late 1980’s because of strict rules imposed by the government but recently scientist have started researching on this chemical once more.
Napoleon Chagnon has spent about 60 months since 1964 studying the ‘foot people’ of the Amazon Basin known as the Yanomamo. In his ethnography, Yanomamo, he describes all of the events of his stay in the Venezuelan jungle. He describes the “hideous” appearance of the Yanomamo men when first meeting them, and their never-ending demands for Chagnon’s foreign goods, including his food. There are many issues that arise when considering Chagnon’s Yanomamo study. The withholding of genealogical information by the tribesmen, and how Chagnon was able to obtain his information is an interesting and significant aspect of this study. Why did Chagnon feel that this genealogical information was important? And was Chagnon’s choice to study the Yanomamo, despite their hesitancy to cooperate, a wise and ethical one?
Thomas, Gerald, et al. "Ayahuasca-Assisted Therapy for Addiction: Results from a Preliminary Observational Study in Canada." Current Drug Abuse Reviews 6.1 (2013): 1-13.Google Scholar. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Rituals are held as a very important part of any society, including ours. They go back to ancient times, or can be as simple as maintaining one’s hygiene. Non-western societies have rituals that may seem very foreign to us, but they have been engrained in their communities and are essential to their social structure. This interpretation will focus on the Great Pilgrimage, a ritual performed by Quechuan communities. We will be looking specifically at a community in the Sonqo area.
Of Water and the Spirit is more than simply an account of Malidoma's life and initiation, it is a detailed description of the worldview of a Dagara man, who is forcibly subjected to traditional Western thought for fifteen years and then returns to his home physically, at first, but spiritually only once he goes through initiation, or what the Dagara call the Baar. Malidoma's recount of his story, being very similar to the storytelling of an African Griot, uses amazing imagery that allows the listener to sincerely experience his thoughts and actions and the things he sees, hears, and feels throughout his early life up to now.
the deities and attempt to explain the psychological necessity of these rituals. An examination will be made of the typical forms of rituals, and cite their effects,
N,N-dimethyltryptamine(DMT) is a psychoactive chemical in the tryptamine family, which causes intense visuals and strong psychedelic mental affects when smoked, injected, snorted, or when swallowed orally (with an MAOI such as haramaline). DMT was first synthesized in 1931, and demonstrated to be hallucinogenic in 1956. It has been shown to be present in many plant genera (Acacia, Anadenanthera, Mimosa, Piptadenia, Virola) and is a major component of several hallucinogenic snuffs (cohoba, parica, yopo). It is also present in the intoxicating beverage ayahuasca made from banisteriopsis caapi. This drink inspired much rock art and paintings drawn on the walls of native shelters in tribal Africa- what would be called 'psychedelic' art today (Bindal, 1983). The mechanism of action of DMT and related compounds is still a scientific mystery, however DMT has been identified as an endogenous psychadelic- it is a neurotransmitter found naturally in the human body and takes part in normal brain metabolism. Twenty-five years ago, Japanese scientists discovered that the brain actively transports DMT across the blood-brain barrier into its tissues. "I know of no other psychedelic drug that the brain treats with such eagerness," said one of the scientists. What intrigued me were the questions, how and why does DMT alter our percep...
Psychedelic drugs affect more then creativity, they are also known to have the ability to increase the users sense of spirituality and religion. In the academic journal, “Voice of The Psychonauts,” author Levente Moro explores the correlation between spirituality, and psychedelic drug use. He claims that when psychedelic drugs are taken in a “supportive” environment they have the ability to induce “deeply meaningful religious revelations and spiritual awakenings” (Moro et al. 190). Psychedelic drug use in hopes of spiritual revelations is not new, and has actually been going on for hundreds of years. The Native American Church has been known to traditionally use psychedelic drugs for spiritual experiences (Moro et al. 190). Some Mexican tribes are also known to ingest psilocybin mushrooms in order to induce religious awakenings (Moro et al. 190). To further prove his argument, Levente Moro conducted an online survey amongst 667 random people. His results suggested that people still take psychedelic drugs in order to have religious experiences, even though it is looked down upon in certain religious groups (Moro et al. 195). Levente Moro is not the only one interested in psychedelic drugs and religion. Many other scientists have also examined this theory. In the article, “Values and Beliefs of Psychedelic Drug Users,” author Michael Lerner also discusses the relationship between psychedelic drug use and spirituality. Lerner also believes that when psychedelic drugs are taken with the correct mindset, they have the ability to increase ones sense of religion. In order to test his theory, Michael Lerner had 183 volunteers fill out a questionnaire. Even though he conducted the survey amongst people from all over the world...
Drugs considered to be within the category of hallucinogens include LSD, mushrooms (psyilocybin), mescaline, and N-Bomb. They can be smoked, made into liquor, injected, ingested, snorted, or even licked from the backs of certain toads such as the Sonoran Desert Toad (Erowid.org). Some common “street names” for the substances include acid, blotter, sugar cubes, shroom, zoom, and angel dust. While some hallucinogens are synthetic, others, like peyote and salvia, are derived from natural plants and substances. Though hallucinogens are not physically addictive, users have the potential to become psychologically dependent, and thus they are classified as a...
In order to understand and base an opinion on a religion that is centralized around a drug, you must first understand the drug itself. Peyote is a small, round cactus that grows in the southern US and Mexico. Rather than spines or spikes, peyote has fuzzy tufts that stuck out from it’s edges. Only about an inch of the cactus is viewable above ground, with the majority of it being the deeply buried, carrot-like root structure. The small portion that is above ground is harvested, and is referred to as the peyote “button”. It is consumed either freshly cut, or dried, and has some extreme effects on the body.
Hallucinogens: a general group of pharmacological agents that can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. Hallucinogenic drugs have played a role in civilization for thousands of year. It began with naturally occurring hallucinogens, such as the peyote cactus plant and wild mushrooms. Now there are man made drugs that have the same or more intense affects. These include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), MDMA (ecstasy), and dextromethorphan (DMX, often found in cough syrup). Within this essay, I will cover the history, production, and affects of hallucinogenic drugs.
Native Americans are probably the people most known for their use of psychedelic drugs. Being a very religious people, their entire society revolved around the spirit world, and some believed that access to this world was possible by eating certain plants that were abundant in their surroundings. In what are now Mexico and the Southwestern United States, tribes familiarized themselves with mescaline, the active ingredient in the peyote cactus. Another drug that was used by tribes in these and many other areas was psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic ingredient of the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana and other psilocybe and conocybe species that grow on the pacific coast of North, South, and Central America. Ritual use of psilocybin and mesca...
The people who inhabited this ancient site considered it to be magical because of the Andes Mountains and the Amazon River. The Temple of the Condor was a place of worship where the head of the condor was used as an altar for sacrifices. The Intihuatana is a column of stone that is rising from a block of stone. As winter approached, a priest held a ceremony to prevent the sun from disappearing. Intihuatana means ‘for tying the sun’ and ‘hitching post of the sun.’ Intihuatanas in other Incan civilizations were destroyed by the Spanish. However, the Spanish never found Machu Picchu, th...
Pre-Columbian Mexicans used many substances, from tobacco to mind-expanding (hallucinogenic) plants, in their medicinal collections. The most fascinating of these substances are sacred mushrooms, used in religious ceremonies to induce altered states of mind, not just drunkenness.