Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon Read Online Free PDF

in the
medicine, summoning the spirit ofayahuasca.

    DRINKING THE AYAHUASCA
    The participants who will drink are called up, one by one, to stand before don
Roberto, who fills the small cup from the altar with ayahuasca, singing over
it, blowing tobacco smoke on it. The medicine itself tells don Roberto how
much to pour for each participant; after he pours the appropriate amount into
the cup, he blows mapacho smoke over the liquid. One by one, they take the
pungent, oily, nauseating, and profoundly emetic ayahuasca; swallow it down
quickly, asking the medicine for the healing or revelation that is desired; hand
back the cup, and return to their places.
    I come up to the mesa. I am among the last to drink, an honor. Don Roberto hands me the cup of ayahuasca-particularly full tonight, I note with
dismay. Every molecule of my body rebels against drinking this vile liquid. I
swallow it down as quickly as I can. It is one of the worst things I have ever
tasted; it coats my teeth and tongue. I am grateful to return to my seat and
smoke more mapacho.
    Don Roberto drinks the ayahuasca last, singing over the cup. All light has
gone from the sky. Someone blows out the candles, and everyone sits in the
growing dark. Don Roberto sings icaros, rhythmically shaking his shacapa,
calling in the spirits of the plants. After a while, the first gagging and vomiting sounds are heard in the dark room. Many participants are smoking mapacho; every few seconds the darkness is pierced by the glowing end of a cigarette. The room is filled with the smells of tobacco smoke and agua de florida,
the one rich and deep, the other high and sweet, like musical tones.
    CALLING IN THE PLANT SPIRITS
    Now, while the ayahuasca is taking effect, don Roberto calls in all the remaining genios, the spirits of the plants, of whom ayahuasca is the jefe, chief. He
sings the icaros of the plants-separate special icaros for some plants, often
a single long icaro that lists dozens of plants and their healing powers, sometimes as many as a half-dozen icaros in a row. Here he is calling in the spirits of all the plants-like having the whole hospital staff present, he has told
me-so that the appropriate plant spirit is immediately available if needed to heal a particular participant. Other shamans say the same: the shaman should
convene as many spirits as possible, so that all may contribute to making
the healing most effective;2 don Juan Flores Salazar, an Ashdninka shaman,
sometimes jokingly refers to this as "the parade."3 These icaros are often repeated from ceremony to ceremony; many in the audience-those who regularly attend don Roberto's healing ceremonies-know the melodies, and at
least some of the words, and sing along. The icaros sung during the individual
healings are more likely to be specialized, unknown to the audience.

    CALLING IN THE DOCTORS
    Here too there descend from the sky what don Roberto calls the doctores extraterrestreales, the extraterrestrial doctors. Such celestial spirits appear common
to the healing ceremonies of many mestizo shamans; often they are from distant planets or galaxies, or are the spirits of deceased healers, maestros de la medicina. Don Romulo Magin calls them jefes, chiefs; they descend from the sky
dressed like Peruvian military officers. Don Emilio Andrade Gomez calls them
doctores or doctorcitos; they may be Indian shamans or the spirits of doctors that
come from other parts of the world, such as England, America, China, Japan,
Spain, or Chile.4 To Elvis Luna, a mestizo shaman and painter from Pucallpa,
they are brilliant celestial beings that appear like angels. To don Roberto, they
appear as dark-skinned people, Indians, almost naked, wearing only short
skirts that cover their genitals; Bona Maria calls them marcianos, Martians.
    They speak, but not in human language. Rather, they speak in sounds:
doiia Maria says they speak in computer language, beep boop beep beep boop beep
beep; don Roberto