Singing to the Plants - A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon

754 Pages·2018·6.97 MB·English

by  Stephan V. Beyer

STEPHAN V. BEYEII
A CgUIDE TO MESTIZO SHAMANISM
IN THE UPPER AMAZON

The plant comes and talks to you, it
teaches you to sing.
-DON SOLON TELLO LOZANO
What good do you think my remedies would be if I didn't sing to them?
-DON MANUEL CORDOVA RIOS
I have become an artist in the music of plants.
-DON JUAN FLORES SALAZAR
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
PART I
SHAMANIC HEALINCj
CHAPTER 1 Two Healers of the Upper Amazon, 3
CHAPTER 2 The Ayahuasca Ceremony, 16
CHAPTER 3 Shamanic Performance, 25
CHAPTER 4 The Shamanic Landscape, 40
CHAPTER 5 Learning the Plants, 52
CHAPTER 6 Sounds, 63
CHAPTER 7 Phlegm and Darts, 81
CHAPTER 8 Initiation, 89
CHAPTER 9 Sucking and Blowing, 103
CHAPTER 10 Spirits, iio
CHAPTER 11 Protection, 122
CHAPTER 12 Sex, 130
CHAPTER 13 Harming, 132
CHAPTER 14 Healing, 148
CHAPTER 15 Spirit Possession, 158
CHAPTER 16 Magic Stones, 168
CHAPTER 17 Shamanic Herbalism, 172
CHAPTER 18 Plant Medicine, 176
CHAPTER 19 Types of Shaman, 196
PART
CHAPTER 20 An Introduction to Ayahuasca, 207
CHAPTER 21 Vomiting, 213
CHAPTER 22 Questions in the Study ofAyahuasca, 215
CHAPTER 23 Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience, 229
CHAPTER 24 Mechanisms ofAyahuasca Hallucinations, 252
CHAPTER 25 Other Psychoactive Plants, 267
PART
CON'T'EX'T' AND SOURCES
CHAPTER 26 The Upper Amazon Culture Area, 281
CHAPTER 27 Being Mestizo, 293
CHAPTER 28 Beings of Earth and Water, 314
CHAPTER 29 Hispanic influences, 324
CHAPTER 30 Folk Catholicism, 330
PART IV
MEETING MODERNITY
CHAPTER 31 Ayahuasca Meets Global Modernism, 337
CHAPTER 32 Ayahuasca Tourism, 349
CHAPTER 33 AyahuascaandtheLaw,356
CHAPTER 34 Shamans Fight Back, 376
CHAPTER 35 TheFuture,384
APPENDIX A Plants Mentioned in the Text, 387
APPENDIX B Animals Mentioned in the Text, 399
Notes 405
References Cited 453
Index 517