Steve Saks
3/3/03
Shamanism and Psychedelics – Final Draft
Keywords: shaman, psychedelic, healing, South America, ritual, visions, yajé, ayahuasca, plants, ethnobotany
Abstract: The use of psychedelic drugs as a religious tool is a central practice of many Native American cultures. Through the ingestion of a variety of substances, normally unattainable states of experience and spiritual gratification can be realized. The altered states produced as a result of these hallucinogenic experiences helped shape the world-view of these entheogenic cultures, providing information and solutions to the problems and questions about the world. These shamanic practices, which are often strictly considered magic by casual Western outsiders, actually have scientific basis in their effects and are a practical effective tradition. Striking similarities in the experiences of those who indulge in these sacraments regardless of location or culture, provide theories to both chemical and psychological truths.
Scope & Purpose: Anthropologists who have studied shamanistic cultures
often draw from a variety of tribes. There are many small isolated cultures in South America and a
plethora of different languages, but the principles of these different groups
collectively categorize them as shamanistic cultures. “Whether the shaman is a arctic-dwelling Inuit or a
Witoto of the Upper Amazon, certain techniques and expectations remain the
same.”[1] Shamans believe in spiritual existences
beyond the purely physical realm, and attempt to gain closer contact with these
metaphysical worlds through altered states in an effort to gain spirituality
and knowledge. Although there are
cultures that attain altered states of consciousness without the ingestion of
psychedelics, such as through intense pain or deprivation (which will induce
visions), I will focus on those cultures that alter their realities chemically.
The
principal definition of shamanism regards the ability of the shaman to leave
the body and navigate the heavens or the underworld. The shaman might communicate with other spirits, but will
maintain control over his own consciousness. Hallucinogenic substances provide the vehicle for the shaman
to transcend the superficial states of reality and experience the spirit world.
In some American Indian cultures, only a trained shaman would submit himself to the psychedelic tools. To become a shaman, one must go through rigorous training and learning to be able to perceive the elements of the world beyond the superficial. Everything that affects the operation of the world is contained within the bounds of the universe, but there are many unseen planes of existence within this perimeter. The spirit world exists as a component of this realm. A trained shaman will be able to extract from this insight into the spirit world an ability to direct and control the “supernatural” elements of the natural world.[2] Through states of trance, a shaman is able to see the real reasons behind certain events that the physical world belies. However, there are also many cultures where psychedelics are consumed by the rank and file, though with the same reverence and intentions. Furthermore, the ingestion of psychedelics is a great tool to automatically allow the user to come into contact with what is believed to be the supernatural world, allowing anyone to become a shaman who has such a desire. In the Jivaro tribe, for instance, one simply brings a currently practicing shaman a gift, and the shaman will in return dispense a hallucinogenic preparation that will allow the drinker to experience the spirit world and become a shaman. Because of this, in the Jivaro tribe, one quarter of all adults are shamans[3].
Authority Structure – Sources:
Throughout South America, many tribes have independently found the same psychoactive plants and implemented them in their rituals. The ritual use of a plant combination commonly known yajé or ayahuasca has been a traditional favorite among South American shamanistic cultures. The authority structure within these cultures is very loose. Individual experience provides the basis for most beliefs, and there is little attempt to force certain thoughts and ideas upon others. For those who have experienced the power of yajé, there is a recurrence of similarities in the psychedelic events:
1) The soul is felt to separate from the physical body and to make a trip, often with the sensation of flight.
2) Visions of jaguars and snakes, and to a much lesser extent, other predatory animals.
3) A sense of contact with the supernatural, whether with demons, or in the case of missionized Indians, also with God, and Heaven and Hell.
4) Visions of distant persons, “cities,” and landscapes, typically interpreted by the Indians as visions of distant reality, i.e. as clairvoyance.
5) The sensation of seeing the detailed enactment of recent unsolved crimes, particularly homicide and theft, i.e., the experience of believing one is capable of divination[4].
Authority Structure – Methods: Psychedelic rituals often begin in the late evening, as daylight and the ability to easily see things in one’s surroundings detract from one’s ability to experience the metaphysical realms that the drug can present. Psychedelic rituals usually commence in the evening, as the relative sensory deprivation of the darkness will aid in removing one’s focus from the purely physical realm. Rounds of yajé, prepared by the shaman, are offered throughout the night. The initial effects following ingestion are often nausea and diarrhea, but these are generally looked upon as cleansing actions that will prepare the mind and body for the psychedelic element of the experience. The first psychedelic effects tend to be flashes of color that permeate the field of vision. These are followed by open-eyed or closed-eyed visuals of geometric objects that are constantly shifting in size, shape, and color. This is followed by complex elements take shape and whole scenes can be visualized. The final stage is a much slower display of fading shapes and colors.[5] Not only the natives of these cultures, but also the Western anthropologists who have consumed these drugs, report these effects. These effects occur whether the location of the experience is the rainforests of South America or a city in the United States.
As part of the psychedelic ritual, magical songs are often sung. The visual hallucinations brought about by the psychedelics are profoundly affected by aural influences, especially vocally produced sound.[6] The sounds are transformed by the mind into visual representations, and specific sounds or sound patterns recurrently draw up thematic images. With this combination of sounds and mind-altering plants, shamans can consciously direct the paths of their experiences. Allowing the body to harmonize with these channels provides a much more intense, but also focused experience, so practitioners often wear rattles on their ankles, and dance to the songs they sing in order to consciously direct their experiences. However, there are also other tribes who prefer an environment of relative sensory deprivation for their psychedelic voyages, as it reduces the amount of influence the physical world will have on the trip, though it is often harder to consciously direct its course.
Authority Structure – Institutions: The primary tool of the South American medicine man is his rattle. The use of this tool is to mark a central point, which has been a central theme across continents and cultures. Being in the center of the world allows for the healer to make contact with spirits of all kinds. By placing himself in the center of the world, he is also accepting the responsibility of maintaining its well-being and harmony. In order to perceive and explore these necessary levels of reality to facilitate healing, the use of yajé is often ingested by the shaman, and depending on his or her ability to physically withstand the side effects of vomiting and diarrhea, the patient as well. Sometimes, the shaman will blow or suck upon the part of the body afflicted by ailment in order to extract bad forces or to implant benevolent ones. He will also offer psychological advice or specific diets and herbs that will reinstate inner well-being.
Some cultures require a treacherous initiation in order to become a shaman. While these vary from tribe to tribe, the basic idea is to teach the initiates the procedures of the psychedelic rituals. Under close supervision from an older shaman, an initiate will learn how to interpret visions, recite spells, and diagnose diseases. In such tribes, such as the Tokano, this process also seems to serve as a coming-of-age ceremony.
It is difficult for people accustomed to “modern” medicine to understand or even respect the healing rituals of shamanistic cultures. It is looked upon merely as a form of primitive magic that has no provable or even identifiable medical basis. However, this is an ethnocentric view that disdains the shaman’s culture simply because it is different. Admittedly, it does seem strange to conceive an image of a doctor shaking rattles, taking drugs, and singing songs. However, as more people try to understand, rather than undermine, the native cultures, substantial cross-cultural truths can be elucidated that help explain the beliefs and practices of these Indians.
History: Psychedelic drug use as a religious tool has a history as old as anthropologists can trace human culture. However, it is interesting that psychedelic shamanism flourished in the American jungles while in Eurasia, there never was much attention paid to potentially psychoactive fauna in religious practices. Much of this has to do with the lack of religious proselytization and fanaticism in the Americas, while in Europe, these religious motifs were embedded in Christianity and Islam. When one tribe would conquer another in the Americas, little attention if any was placed upon suppressing religion or forcing conversion among those who were dominated militarily. Evidence suggests that a central value among all American Indian religions was the right for individual freedom to explore one’s consciousness and one’s relationship to his environment[7]. The discovery and use of psychedelics that could aid in attaining a different level of consciousness was a consequential result of this attitude towards self-development.
The
shamanistic peoples of the Americas are believed to be descendants of Asian
hunters and gatherers that migrated across a land bridge between Siberia and
Alaska thousands of years ago. Anthropologists
speculate that these early ancestors believed strongly in an idealistic world
with the same regard they paid towards the physical one. Similar aspects can be found in current
shamanistic cultures and their predecessors. The belief in the ability for the soul to separate itself
from the body, metaphysical causes and cures for illness, and the ability for transformation
of man into animal can traced back to prior civilizations. The strong focus on change might
provide a reason why members of these cultures were attracted to plants that
could change their consciousness.
Argumentation: Interestingly, there are images and patterns that are
repeatedly seen by shamans in their psychedelic experiences. Due to this repeated exposure, significance
has been attributed to these recurring visions, and these shapes and colors are
given accordance to elements of the world. White and yellow are believed to be
male colors, reflected on earth by semen and the sunbeams that inseminate the
planet with life. Red is believed
to be a female color, reflected by menstruation. Blue is believed to be a “neutral” color, and is
principally a color of communication.
Songs and magic spells are believed to be blue. Shapes representing body parts and
earthly items are given properties concurring to those objects.[8] Combinations of colors and shapes
provide further interpretation of the hallucinations.
For these Indians, these hallucinations provide insight into the balance and origin of the world and culture through spiritual journeys. There is recognition that the world is based on multiple principles, for if there were only one, it would be existence, with its antithesis being non-existence. Therefore, an active pursuit to discover these multiple components of the world is undertaken so that they can be understood and utilized. These components include elements of the spiritual realm that are discovered through psychedelic voyaging. Understanding these elements has pragmatic purposes. Sickness is often thought to result from an imbalance or absence of specific necessary elements in one’s body or surroundings. However, if one is sick, they also upset the harmony of the rest of the world and must be cured. A sick person will often go to a medicinal healer who may use psychedelics in diagnosing and treating the ailment.
Among the Tukano tribe, there is a group of approximately 20 designs that are common among all who partake in the psychedelic voyages. Surprisingly, these designs are all correlative to a visual phenomenon called “phosphenes” which is a perception of specks, stars, or patterns that can appear spontaneously or under circumstances such as physical pressure on the eye, shock, trauma, or through chemical means.[9] Phosphenes are not a conscious visualization and do not need a light source to exist. Dr. Max Knoll carried out lab experiments where subjects were given electrical impulses with similar frequencies to brain waves to stimulate visualization of phosphenes. Different electronic frequencies resulted in changing visual imagery. People would see the same patterns and shapes when presented with the same electrical pattern up to six months later[10]. The recurrence of these images shows how a psychedelic drug culture could attribute special importance to these visualizations, as they appear spontaneously and unconsciously in the psychedelic trip. The correlation between the 20 common psychedelically produced images from the Tukano tribe and the laboratory controlled-phosphenes shows that there is an inherent tendency in the brain to create images and shapes of this sort. This begs the question of whether these naturally occurring brain images do in fact have some further meaning in the matter of our existences.
One psychoactive component of yajé, which is partially derived from the vine Banisteriopsis Caapi, is a compound called harmaline. Harmaline is a psychedelic, but is not very intense unless ingested at near-toxic levels. Chemically classified as a beta-carboline, it bears a very similar chemical resemblance to 10-methoxy-harmaline, which is directly obtained from the human pineal gland. Rene Descartes, the famous Cartesian Dualist, declared the pineal gland the physical location of the soul. The pineal gland is also shaped like an eye and is located near the center of the brain, which has resulted in its designation as the “third eye,” capable of seeing spiritually. Perhaps not surprisingly, the B. Caapi vine is casually named ayahuasca, which means “vine of the soul.” Perhaps more importantly, the pineal gland produces seratonin, a neurotransmitter that affects mood and brain activity, and is notably much higher in schizophrenics[11]. In discovering this plant’s effects, it demonstrates the shaman’s abstract recognition of a component of brain function and control of it, though the exact bio-chemistry is not understood.
The other element of ayahuasca is derived from the Psychotria viridis bush, which contains dimethyl-tryptamine (DMT). However, DMT is normally not an orally active hallucinogen, and taken without a harmaline containing plant such as the B. Caapi vine, will render no discernable effects. However, when ingesting a harmaline containing substance with DMT, noticeable psychedelic effects will actualize. The reason for this synergy is that harmaline is a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor, which blocks enzymes that normally would prevent DMT from reaching the brain. However, in the presence of harmaline, DMT is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and competes with serotonin for brain receptor sites, as the chemical structures of DMT and serotonin are very similar, allowing for this chemical juxtaposition to occur..
In ironic fashion, this chemical combination, whose powers the Amazonian Indians attributed to the inherent spiritual properties in these plants, is explainable by modern organic chemistry; a realm in which the Amazonians had no formal information. However, it lies in accord with shamanistic thought, insofar as all answers are attainable through examination of different planes of this world. Furthermore, its use as a broad elixir to cure ills has been somewhat substantiated by modern scientists, who regard ayahuasca as a proven treatment for intestinal parasites, and have begun to investigate it as a treatment for malaria[12].
There is much left to be discovered and understood about the shamans and their cultures, and it is impossible to make an accurate value judgement as a casual Western observer because our culture tries to negate everything they hold in regard. Rather than believing in many realms of the world, most Americans tend to ascribe the unknown to the powers of God. Instead of the relentless pursuit of self-understanding, Americans tend to disaffiliate from the authentic self, and choose to follow popular thought. However, if the shamanistic cultures are correct about the multiple realms of reality, our current considerations of our existences are in turn rendered obsolete. Perhaps this is part of the reason many psychedelics, including those found in yajé, are illegal in the U.S.; if people were to gain a greater understanding of themselves through the use of psychedelics, mainstream religion and corresponding values would lose all influence. Psychedelic drugs and psychonautic exploration are not conducive elements to maintaining a capitalist, herd-oriented, impressionable society, and not surprisingly, their use is prohibited.
Comparative Scales:
Relative emphasis on traditional authority (1)----- or the
testimony of experience (10) = (9)
Shamanism has a visible belief that experience precludes authority. Though in some cultures one must be initiated in order to become a shaman, the spiritual gains of someone who participates in a psychedelic ceremony are personal and are gained through the experience.
Relative centralization of authority (1)----- or decentralization
(individual inquiry, lay teaching) (10) =
(9)
People are allowed to be autonomous in their spiritual quests and there is little centralization to authority. They are also individually able to harness spiritual powers through psychedelic voyages and visions. Sometimes rituals are taught to new shamans, but the fruits of the religion are gained through individual pursuit.
Relative emphasis on invisible (spiritual or heavenly) realities (1)-----
or material, earthly ones (10) = (5)
The realities embraced by these people exist on multiple levels, although all these realities are encompassed within the realm of the world. Instead of the physical world being completely separate from the supernatural, they are believed to be part of the same entity.
Mainly spiritual or moral objectives (1) ----- or pragmatic aims
(prediction, healing, etc.) (10) = (5)
The objectives of shamanism are spiritual and moral, but also pragmatic in purpose, as the shaman sees through his visions how to cure ailments and also how to balance different elements of life. Spiritual entities are harnessed for practical purposes.
Most power or agency reserved for a divine being (1)----- or
realizable in individuals (10) = (9)
Shamans believe that power is contained within the world and make every effort to understand and use it. There is no omnipotent diety, but there are spirits whose knowledge and abilities can be accessed.
Bibliography:
Primary:
McKenna, Terence 1992.
“Food of The Gods.” New York, Bantam Books
This book details Terence McKenna’s trips into the Amazon where he lived and studied with native people and tried the hallucinogenic drugs for himself.
Harner, Michael J. 1968 “The Sound of Rushing Water” (from www.erowid.org), New York, Oxford U. Press
Michael Harner lived with the Jivaro tribe and participated in their rituals, having experiences of the spirit world that has been discussed.
Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1975 “The Shaman and the Jaguar” Philadelphia, Temple U. Press
The author went to Colombia and lived with various
Indians, taking pictures and participating in rituals. Many pictures and lots of discussion
about paintings based on hallucinogenic experiences.
Secondary:
Dow, James. 1986 “The Shaman’s Touch.” Salt City, U of Utah Press
James Dow investigates the shamans of the Otomi
tribe in South America.
Furst, Peter T. 1976. “Hallucinogens and Culture” Novato, CA, Chandler & Sharp
Very good book with excellent overviews of
different cultures, sections separated by hallucinogen.
Forte, Robert. 1997 “Entheogens and the Future of Religion.” San Francisco, CA, Council on Spiritual Practices
A collection of articles by various experts on the
subject of drugs and religion. Includes such pioneers in this field such as
Albert Hofmann and Terence McKenna.
[1] McKenna, Terence 1992. “Food of The Gods.” pp. 4
[2] Dow, James. 1986 “The Shaman’s Touch.” Pp. 6
[3] Harner, Michael J. 1968 “The Sound of Rushing Water” (from www.erowid.org)
[4] Harner, Michael J. 1973. “Common Themes in South American Indian Yage Experiences.” Pp. 154-194,
[5] Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1975 “The Shaman and the Jaguar” Pp. 172
[6] McKenna, Terence 1992. “Food of The Gods.” pp. 228
[7] Furst, Peter T. 1976. “Hallucinogens and Culture” pp. 6-7
[8] Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1975 “The Shaman and the Jaguar” Pp. 176
[9] Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1975 “The Shaman and the Jaguar” Pp. 174, illustrations 39, 40
[10] Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. 1975 “The Shaman and the Jaguar” Pp. 173
[11] Furst, Peter T. 1976. “Hallucinogens and Culture.” Pp. 51-52
[12] McKenna, Terence 1992. “Food of The Gods.” Pp. 227