Ayawáskha - Nature, Being and Entheogenic Architecture

- AyawáskhaNature, Being and Entheogenic architecture

Luis Rojas Paipilla

How

Contents

Prologue

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Glossary

Introduction:

The Indigenous, being more-than-humans

The Indigenous Perspective

What is Ayawáskha?

Misinterpretation of the traditional use

Reconstructing Indigenous Epistemologies and Philosophies

Ayawáskha as a case of study for architecture

A metaphor for the journey to the Amazon

Research Method Statement

Navigational Tool: A Glossary of Questions

Part One: The Ritual, An Entheogenic Praxis

An ancient therapy

‘La Pinta’, the Vision of the brew

Performing the Ritual

Spatial Interaction

Design Elements for Architecture

Ritual Reconstruction

Part Two: The Brew, Ego Dissolution and the Ethereal

Human, fear of becoming the other

Omitting ego for Self-reflection, Self-recognition and Self-redefinition

Repentance and accepting the consciousness of Nature

Conviction to evolve with each other in Sympoiesis

Part Three: The Purge, Being after Death

Beyond the pure function of a shelter

The Psychotropic Practices of Architecture

The Purpose of Entheogenic Design

Conclusion: The Awakening, Life in the Ethereal

What is Ayawáskha?

Abya Yala, Land of Indigenous Beings

Notes Mediography

Appendix

Image 0.01

Frontera Verde (2019)

First series to explore Amazonian Indigenous Perspective and reconstruct tradition by the means of a series.

Seed of Ayawáskha

Vine of the Soul - Banisteriopsis Caapi Image 0.02

Acknowledgements

My sincerest thanks to Michael Aling, David Hemingway, and Jake Moulson for the invaluable guidance. To my partner and fellow studying colleagues for their unconditional support.

To us, humans, nonhumans and beings more-than-humans. To co-existence.

Ayawáskha: Nature, Being, and Entheogenic Architecture is a study of the indigenous epistemologies of tribes in the Amazon rainforest through the ritual of Ayawáskha, discussed through an engagement with the contemporary discourses of Posthumanism and Panpsychism. The thesis aims to expand on the current redefinition of the notion of the ‘human’, and the needs of architecture to be designed towards the praxis of coexistence with nature and other earthly beings.

The Ayawáskha is a ‘brew’ consumed in a ritual by the indigenous people in the Amazon Rainforest. Through the ingestion of Ayawáskha, a hallucinogenic decoction, the purpose of the ritual is to expand their understanding of the ecology they are part of and their role within it. Guided by a Taita (shaman), the ceremony is an empirical psychotherapy that cleans physically and psychologically the participants’ impurities to unblock the obstacles that prevent them from the visionary capacity.

The vision is what enables to make connection with nature, for indigenous people it is innate instinct in the human beings, it expands the consciousness until becoming one with the environment. Starting with fear, the ritual goes through self-recognition, repentance, determination to change, purge, and ending in an ecstasy that reinforces the lessons learnt during the visions.

The ritual presented in this study is examined within indigenous epistemologies of the communities and cultures from which it emerges (the Tukanos and Shipibo tribes). By understanding the indigenous perspective and the importance of Ayawáskha, the thesis reconstructs the ritual across spaces and objects of the Maloka, the indigenous hut. Simultaneously, the study engages with contemporary theories in order to redefine the ritual stages as a set of parameters (design element) that will aid future architecture to enhance the relation between its inhabitants and nature, by creating spaces for feeling and acting differently as a result of thinking differently. Enabling Architects to design environment as well as subjectivation and to enact architecture as a ‘psychotropic practice’.

Taita Enchantment during Ayawáskha ritual Image 0.03

Frontera Verde (2019)

First series to explore Amazonian Indigenous Perspective and reconstruct tradition by the means of a series.

Image 0.01

1.1 Glossary

Abya Yala:

The name that the continent of the Americas was known by the indigenous nations before the colonial period.

Ayawáskha it is an entheogenic brew made out of Banisteriopsis caapi vine and other ingredients. The brew is used as a traditional spiritual medicine in ceremonies among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin

Cosmology

The science of the origin and development of the universe. Modern astronomy is dominated by the Big Bang theory, which brings together observational astronomy and particle physics.

(Definition of in English by Oxford Dictionaries, 2020)

Ecology

The branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.

Entheogen(ic)

A chemical substance, typically of plant origin, that is ingested to produce a nonordinary state of consciousness for religious or spiritual purposes.

(Definition of in English by Oxford Dictionaries, 2020)

The term Entheogenic refers to a class of psychoactive substances that induce any type of spiritual experience aimed at development or sacred use. The term entheogen is chosen to contrast recreational use of the same drugs.

Epistemology

The theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.

(Definition of in English by Oxford Dictionaries, 2020)

Indigenous

“Born or originating in a particular place,” 1640s, from Late Latin indigenous “born in a country, native,” from Latin indigena “sprung from the land, native,” as a noun, “a native,” literally “in-born,” or “born in (a place),” from Old Latin indu (prep.) as a noun in this book

Maloka

Is an ancestral long house used by indigenous people of the Amazon, notably in Colombia and Brazil

Each community has a maloca with its own unique characteristics.

Nature

The phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations.

Ontology

The branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.

Posthumanism

Is a philosophical perspective of how change is enacted in the world. As a conceptualization and historicization of both agency and the “human,” it is different from those conceived through humanism.

(Cary Whole)

Praxis

Praxis: the process of using a theory or something that you have learned in a practical way. praxis as meaning “action oriented towards changing society” praxis is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realized. “Praxis” may also refer to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realizing, or practicing ideas

he philosopher Aristotle held that there were three basic activities of humans: theoria (thinking), poiesis (making), and praxis (doing). Corresponding to these activities were three types of knowledge: theoretical, the end goal being truth; poietical, the end goal being production; and practical, the end goal being action.[2] Aristotle further divided the knowledge derived from praxis into ethics, economics, and politics..

Ritual

A religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. (OED, 2020)

Sensorium

‘The sensory apparatus or faculties considered as a whole’ (Sensorium | Definition of sensorium in English by Oxford Dictionaries, 2019)

Taita

Another name for shaman in Colombia.

Totuma

A crock of plant origin made from the fruit of the totumo tree (Crescentia cujete). it is used by native peoples throughout Central America, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela and Panama as a kitchen implement. It is used to contain liquids and solids, drink water and other applications. The word totuma comes from the chaima.

It is late and I am far from home I is dark, wet and late, I don’t know many people here And I don’t know why I came here

Contents:

The Indigenous Perspective

What is Ayawáskha?

Misinterpretation of the traditional use

Reconstructing Indigenous Epistemologies and Philosophies

Ayawáskha as a case of study for architecture

A metaphor for the journey to the Amazon Research Method Statement

Navigational Tool: A Glossary of Questions

The Indigenous, being more-than-human

- Introduction -

Taita

A more-thant-human being Fig 0.05

The Indigenous Perspective

The indigenous peoples across the world are diverse and cannot be identified homogenously. However, many indigenous nations find they share significant commonalities associated with the philosophy of ‘being-more-than-human’. 1 and a science based upon ‘natural laws of interdependence’ Indigenous people in the Amazon, such as Tukanos and Shipibo tribes, are not the exception. Their culture, traditions and understanding of their existence are built upon their relationship with the rainforest and the awareness of the intrinsic connection that exist with it. Within their traditions, the ritual of Ayawáskha is a manifestation of their philosophy of being-more-than-humans, referring to be part of nature as one entity. This approach enables indigenous people to self-reflect, expand their knowledge and perception of nature, and acknowledge their role as part of the ecology.

1- Bignall and Braidotti, Posthuman Ecologies, Chapter 9, note 3.

Taita during ritual Visonary effects Fig 0.06

What is Ayawáskha?

Ayawáskha is a psychotropic decoction prepared from the combination of a jungle vines of the same name and other complementary plants. It has been traditionally used as a spiritual medicine in ceremonies among different indigenous communities of the Amazon basin. Ayawáskha comes from two words in Kichwa language, Aya: Soul/Spirit and Wáskha: Vine/Liana. Generally, it refers to both to the plant Banisteriopsis Caapi and most importantly to the decoction prepared with it, also known as Yajé in other indigenous cultures.2 The word Ayawáskha has been variously translated as the ‘Vine of the soul’ or ‘Spirit liana’. The vine represents the means of connection with the ethereal, for indigenous people, a state multidirectional interaction in the cosmos, from a macroscale to a microscale, where there is an interconnectivity of the ‘self’ in relation with all ‘spirits’ that exists. Based on Prof David Skrbina theory of Panpsychism, the concept of ‘Spirit’ is problematic in the academic context, instead he proposed to replace it with the concept of consciousness, what he describes as a homolog state of being. In the thesis, when referring to the word ‘spirit’, ‘spiritual’ and any equivalent variant is to be interpreted in the context of consciousness.

Therefore, the Ayawáskha is a vehicle of connection with the consciousness of nature, the brew is consumed not for sensory gratification, but for immersion in a collective mental and ‘spiritual’ world in which the participants become something more than humans.3 The ritual is an empirical process that cleans body

and mind in order to expand the understanding of the ecology they are part of and their role within it. Within this thesis, the used of the word visions is preferred instead of hallucinations due to the erroneous cultural connotation of the latter. Both are products of the imagination; however, the latter is more connected with craziness as a disease. By restoring indigenous philosophy, Ayawáskha is understood as medicine in this context and the plant is not the one that gives the visions, instead it is the one that removes the obstacles that prevents from the visionary capacity of the individuals opening up paranormal and intuitive abilities that, for indigenous people, are innate in the human-being.

The ceremony is conducted during the night under the guidance of the Taita through a sequence of stages that enables to transform the personalities of the participants, going through their feelings to stimulate on understanding the links that exist in its ecology. The ritual starts with the cleansing of the body, a sequence of acts that represents the goodwill and protection as a preparation for receiving Ayawáskha. Following the ingestion of the brew, the self-identity is deconstructed in sequence of feeling that starts with fear, goes through self-recognition, repentance, determination to change. The purge is the final act that marks the end of the purification process where body and mind, of selfreflection state where it is release what is not need for the self. Consequently, the visions enter in an ecstasy state where there are not limitations of the perceptions and reinforces the lessons learnt during the ritual process, a praxis left for each individual to exercise in their daily life after awakenings from the vision.

2- Weiskopf, Yajé, el nuevo purgatorio, 10.

3- Jay,High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture, 5-15.

Ayawáskha - the brew Preparation of indigenous medicine Fig 0.07

Misinterpretation of the traditional use

There is archaeological evidence of Ayawáskha use as early as 1000 BCE. A leather ritual bag, likely belonged to a shaman, was founded in a cave used as a tomb in what is now southwestern Bolivia, the bag contained what archaeologist described as the earliest artefacts of the Ayawáskha ritual and remaining psychoactive substance.4 The use of psychedelics is common across different cultures, according to anthropologist Donald E. Brown the impulse of consciousness alteration is one of the essential components of human culture. Its use has significantly influenced the way society and culture are structured by providing a different perception of the way the world is viewed. However, this is not exclusive of human, there are evidence on the origin of these impulses to exist likely long before we became ‘humans’.5

In the 15th century, when Europe acknowledged the existence of Abya Yala, 6 known today as continent of The Americas, this resulted in the colonisation and omission of indigenous culture and their intellectual authority and philosophies of being human. According to Simone Bignall and Daryle Rigney, the legacy of colonialist systems on philosophical thinking after the Enlightenment is a problematic issue that remains part of the current approach in most European philosophy.

Ayawhaskha Ritual Performance of Tukano Tribe Fig 0.08

4- Blakemore, Ancient hallucinogens. [online]

5- Jay,High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture, 10. 6- Arango, S. (1993). Historia de la Arquitectura en Colombia, pag 356

Reconstructing Indigenous Epistemologies and Philosophies

Posthumanism is strongly influenced by the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari, the ‘posthuman turn’ is defined as a convergence of posthumanism with postanthropocentrism by the philosophers Rosi Baidotti and Simone Bignall.7 It is a complex and multidirectional set of discourses and material events. By the radical criticism of how humanism developed in the western society, it encourages to build upon the potential epistemologies of becoming-human by the practice of a more inclusive approach to ontology of ‘human’. Additionally, it is an opening to the potentials of thinking beyond the established frames of anthropocentrism for the imagination and redefinition of concepts towards a world focused direction. Bignall and Rigney enquire about the role of their philosophy in the continuing exclusion of Indigenous ontologies in the emerging posthumanities.

On the one side, posthumanism describes that indigenous people share internationally similar views on the features that constitute humanity, the conceptualisation of being human is stablished in inextricable relations with the nonhuman world. Such philosophies include the refusal of anthropocentrism and human exceptionalism; a genealogical and constructivist account of identity; and an acknowledgement of species interdependence and consubstantial intersubjectivity in interactive ecologies shared by human and non-human beings.8 On the other side, the exclusion of indigenous ontologies allows Continental European Philosophy to claim the ‘new humanities’ as its current ‘discovery’ after modern humanism.9 However, under close scrutiny, this apparently ‘new’ intellectual frontier in fact traces an ancient philosophical terrain already occupied by indigenous epistemologies and associated modes of human experience.10

Ayawáskha as a case of study for Architecture

This inquiry into the Ayawáskha Ritual in this thesis takes in consideration Rosi Bradotti and Jodi Byrd’s suggestion that ‘Indigenous critical theory could be said to exist in its best form when it centres itself within indigenous epistemologies and in specificities on the communities and cultures from where it emerges, and looks outward to engage European philosophical, legal and cultural traditions in order to build upon all the allied tools available’.11 Therefore, the Ayawáskha ritual becomes the case study for this thesis to research on the indigenous perspective, it is used as a metaphor to discuss broader issues of the contemporary philosophy in regards to the redefinition of human and the relationship with nature.

The ritual is deconstructed together with the Maloka (the indigenous hut where the ritual takes place) as a set of elements, objects and spaces that are used as stimulations for consciousness to maintain a balanced relation with nature. Based on what Marcel Mauss and Pierre Bourdieu have called ‘habitus’12, the ritual and the Maloka are approached as a network of habits, beliefs, and expectations held by the person who experiences and use it. By the understanding of their meanings, these can be used as mnemonics for architectural design to engage with the way peoples relate with nature, and to create life experiences that could shape awareness unconsciously, what Andrej Radman define as the ‘psychotropic practice’ of architecture.13

7- Bignall and Braidotti, Posthuman Ecologies, 1.

Ibid., 159.

11- Bignall and Braidotti, Posthuman Ecologies, Chapter 9.

12- Jones, Architecture and Ritual, 3.

13-Bignall and Braidotti, Posthuman Ecologies, Chapter 9.

A journey to the Amazon

This thesis is structured in similar manner to the ayawáskha ritual, it is divided in three parts to emphasize a methodology of studying the ritual across different narratives that existed during the investigation, and that could lead to different focus of interpretations. The main narrative is the journey to the ayawáskha ceremony, a timeline of the preritual, during-ritual and post-ritual. While the journey happens, the intention is to take the readers’ imagination to a closer focus in relation to the ceremony, the first part being the preparation to the ceremony, the second as the cleansing process during the ritual, and the third as the visionary state of connections. Alternatively, it looks to the indigenous culture in the first part, the western culture in the second, and the intersection between them in the third. Similarly, it is a view to the past, present and future; to the body, mind and ethereal; the Participant, the Taita, and the Brew; to description, meaning and purpose; to thinking, feeling, acting; so on and so forward. More specifically each part looks at the following:

Part one – The Ritual, Entheogenic Praxis of Being –expands on what is Ayawáskha within the cultures of indigenous people and provides a view from the perspective of an outsider of the culture. It describes the composition and effects of the brew as well as their meaning from the perspective of indigenous philosophy. It provides a view of the importance of the ritual as a social mechanism to remain in balance with nature. It defines how the ritual is performed, the role of the Taita, the elements, objects that are involved, acts, meanings, the spaces of interaction and feelings. It ends with the reconstruction Ayawáskha as an indigenous praxis of being in the form of ritual.

Amazon River Boat journey from Iquitos - Peru Fig 0.09

Part two - The Brew, Ego Dissolution and the Ethereal – take the elements of the mind stages of the mind during the vision state as a metaphor to deconstruct and redefine the notion of ‘human’ by engaging the praxis of Ayawáskha with homologous contemporary discourses and theories. Through the feelings of fear, self-recognition, regrets, and determination of change it would expose the conflictive relationship with nature of contemporary society, to end in a rejection of the being ‘human’ as we know it.

Part Three - The Purge, Being after Death – marks the new beginning and the analysis of architecture from the perspective of ayawáskha, identifying design elements create experience that influences the way inhabitants think and perceive the space, and ultimately influence behaviour toward create new connections, respond to it and evolve with it. This chapter also explores the new role of architecture as a psychotropic practice meaning to the capacity of affecting human way of thinking by the design of environment and the importance for architecture to do it. However, it also makes a difference of the Entheogenic practice to be more specific when engages with Ayawáskha and indigenous culture.

The Conclusion - The awakening, Life in the Ethereal – Provides with a description of the implementation of Entheogenic design in a Virtual Reality Environment. It describes the VR experience and the relation with Ayawáskha. It also resembles the closure of the ritual, is a manifesto of what Ayawáskha is. It summarises the views and connections examined in this thesis and narrative that look to engage the reader to find new ones and to define what is Ayawáskha.

Circulations in the Amazon Bridgest connections above the trees Fig 0.10

La Maniwa

The Amazonian Rain forest Fig 0.11

The forest is dense, I cannot see anything Everything moves, it doesn’t see safe

Where are we going?

Where are they taking me?

Research Method Statement

Reader cleansing process

Ambitions

The ambition of this thesis is to find new means of strengthening the relationship between humans and nature by the design of architectural environments. It studies the Ritual of Ayawáskha as a mean of connection used by indigenous people in the Amazon to identify design parameters that can be used in architecture. It engages with contemporary discourses to have a broader understanding of the relationship between human and nature in order to find further parameters. It attempts to test the finding of the research by designing a virtual environment based on the connection that Ayawáskha creates with nature and explore further possibilities for architecture as an Entheogenic Practice.

Readership

The content of this thesis is primarily aimed at architectural professionals. Although the content is relevant for philosophy and other disciplines that studies the human such as anthropology, phycology, sociology, etc. The content is also relevant for gaming design and similar as it explores to the creation of a virtual world based on the narrative of the ritual. The content is relevant to indigenous culture to engage their traditions with the contemporary technologies, and for other culture to build a bridge in the understanding of nature through experiencing Ayawáskha. The output of the thesis can be utilised by anyone that wants to understand and relate to nature differently.

Thinking process

Brain Coonections

Areas of research Stimulations

Limitations

This thesis uses a specific case study to discuss a broader argument about humanity, limiting it to the narrative of the ritual which for an analysis of argument by philosophy or similar disciplines may find that ignores other aspects of humanity and nature. The ritual is used as a metaphor and the research should not be taken as such. It aims to expand and open question to other similar arguments to build upon and with them on the matter regarding the relation between human and nature and how it can be used to influence architecture toward a design that enhanced it.

Relevance & Consequences

Predominately, there is an urgent need for this thesis to establish a bridge between culture in regards of the matter of nature and human relationship to expand in the discipline of architecture to design spaces that strengthen them. This is not an isolated investigation and aims to connect to other disciplines to build up on the data for developing cultural, ethics, technology, economy and society towards a balanced relation with nature.

Research Method Statement

Reader cleansing process

Research Methodology Statement

The research methodology of this thesis to investigate into understanding of ayawáskha ritual and the connection it enables with nature. Then, by finding similarities between Contemporary discourses with indigenous philosophy, The ritual used as a metaphor to reinterpreted, artefacts, objects, spaces that are form the ritual. Working on findings during the investigation that the ritual is a sequence of feelings that enables the self-reflection to feel connected with nature, a virtual environment is design to test the research and evaluate on the new findings. In addition it expands in the idea of architecture to be a Psychedelic practise, meaning that it is able to affect the way people behave through the way they perceive therefore it can be research the importance of the focus in that aspect of feeling and behaviour.

Primary Research Methods

Reconstructing the ritual through my own experience, interviews and conversation with people who have participate in it. Designing objects and Environment to test the theories speculative thoughts discussed in this research. This will offer the reader a chance to experience the thesis outputs providing the reader a method to construct conclusions to the validity of the research findings.

Secondary Research Methods

Historic, Philosophical, scientific, anthropological research methods are established to provide context to the thesis argument, including; journals, articles, web articles, core books (defined within thesis framework diagram), exhibition and museum visits. A wide range of resources will be applied. A range of relevant case studies are included to support theoretical ideas developed with the thesis and support the critical speculation upon the thesis title.

Description

Doing the ritual in the past and being in relation with indigenous people while living in Colombia.

Interviewing Shamans and people that have done the ritual.

Reconstructing the ritual through the objects and Designing environment..

Advantage

This enables me to have a closer ap-proach to the culture and traditions in comparison to other people that are not as familiar with them.

Provide a different perspective of the experience parallel to my own in order to find connections and common grounds.

It explores forms, textures, colours that can build in the argument of design that stimulates feelings to create connections with nature.

Disadvantage

I have been detached to the culture for the past five year which limits the research to have a more specific and updated understanding of the case of study.Not being indigenous or growing in the community will always limit the interpretation of ayawáskha.

This were not recorded in an academic manner which limits their validity.

Due to the limited time, non-objects were built physically. Although they can be experienced in the virtual reality with the limitations of the technology

Findings

For future investigations, text can be approach in Quechua and Kichwa for a more valid interpretation.

Interviews can be prepared to ask specific question in relation to the finding after the research and look for additional connections.

Objects can be built to test the argument and record data.

Interviews Artefact Design To Participate in an Ayawáskha Ceremony

The technology allows to be immersed in a virtu-al environment to test the research.

To explore different skills that are not necessari-ly required in architecture studies. It allows test the architecture as well as objects designed in relation with the ritual despite being not build physically.The technology enables to be immersed in the design, and create analog of the ayawáskha effects with the virtual world.

Learning the software’s required much more time than expected. It provided me with a lim-ited level for creating and testing the environ-ment, hence the result is limited. The technology required to ware the headset and hols the controllers, which are not compati-ble with what the participant sees. Despite the technology help to simulation and ayawáskha experience, it does not cause the same results.The circulations on the design are limited to the physical space and the maximum area enable by the device as it losses track of the space.

With a more time and skills, the design environment can be more in detail and add virtual beings such animals, or environmental effects such change of the atmosphere, time, climate while being in the experience. In addition to engage with sound and other ways of affect the participants.The technology brings many opportunities for interaction and gaining a better experience. By building menus Menu, pre-set views, animations etc. the user be directed to analyse specific points of view.

Reconstructing the ritual through the objects and Designing environment..

It explores forms, textures, colours that can build in the argument of design that stimulates feelings to create connections with nature.

Due to the limited time, nonobjects were built physically. Although they can be experienced in the virtual reality with the limitations of the technology

Objects can be built to test the argument and record data.

There is a variety of investigation ins aya-wáskha in different mean despite the culture does not record their knowledge

Language barriers and translation inter-pretations vary the contents meaning of the information when researching aya-wáskha. There may not be books written that investigates the ritual of ayawáskha from an architectural perspective that analysis space through the same aspects of the ritual.The information regarding ayawáskha is limited to the analysis of the psychedelic effects or cultural aspects.

Journal, books, and publications. Watch variety of Media Visit the places

For future investigations, text can be ap-proach in Quechua and Kichwa for a more valid interpretation.

In informs with visual information, interviews and aesthetics that can be used to the form and design of the thesis.

The thesis is structured in similar manner to the ayawáskha ritual. Each section resembles a stage of the ritual and aim to test the aya-wáskha experience by stimulating the reader visually to create different feelings while is reading, feelings that are part of the process of the ritual.

The contrast of the black against the photo creates a cinematographic effect that could engage people to continue reading despite the complexity of the text.

The validity of the information is lim-ited as the approach of the ritual generally is analysed from someone outside the culture.

The information is limited to culture or to analysis of the psychedelic ef-fects

Limitations of the sources for the images. It may have a better effect with a broader source of them. Perhaps create them. The effects are limited to each person interpretation of the text and image. It is also lim-ited whether the person associate the ritual with the reading process.There are difficulties in regards of printing in colour black as it vary depending on the colour and may affect they quality for perceiving the typos. In addition to editing the document to make contrast with it, it requires longer time than expected.

Several test would be required to achieve the effect discussed

Ayawáskha Ritual Structure

The thesis as a Reading Ritual

Ayawhaskha ritual Structure The thesis as a reading ritual Diagramm 03

Contents:

Beyond the pure function of a shelter

The Psychotropic Practices of Architecture

The Purpose of Entheogenic Design

The Purge, Being after Death

- Part Three -

Beyond the pure function of a shelter

Being indigenous, is being intrinsically connected with nature, in balance with it. It is, perhaps, because they are in constant relation with it, as their symbionts. Hence, indigenous people are more-than-human beings, that enable them to perceive differently the world to the way other cultures do. When approaching indigenous cultures from an architectural perspective, it cannot be interpreted without a complete understanding of the context of being indigenous, being more-than-human, and their social practices such as the ritual of Ayawáskha. Only then, it would reveal that design spaces like the Maloka, the indigenous common house, are associated with the creation of connections between indigenous and nature, a design that influences the way of being.

The Malokas are wooden structures covered by leavesmade roof and woven walls, it provides protection from sun and rain as well as a retreat from the forest. Physically they are light, ephemeral and flimsy structures, however they have a great concentric symbolism that can be recognized from the air. It is the result of the convergence between the physical and unmaterial layers, in the sense of the indigenous being immersed in the wild environment, culture in nature, layers that continue within the Maloka. Inside, there is a further contrast between the periphery and the centre with the family compartments around the edge and the tallest-innermost-sacred space marked by four columns and encircled by the ritual dance path, the Maka.

The construction has further meanings, it is a social activity where all individuals collaborate as an act of unification of the community. It is built to mark the beginning for new families formed by young adults, generally the elder borders of different communities. The site is chosen in isolation but still close to other Maloka. They are built in relation of the river, principal landmarks as well as the main means of communication, it links the different Malokas to form a ramification a genealogical tree of the communities.

The Maloka is built facing the east towards the rise of the sun and the river meaning the face to the outside world. The chagra is cleared space around the Maloka for public exchange. It forms a bigger area at the main entrance as it is the side encountered by visitors. This external space has a great ritual significance at times of ritual purification, it comprehends protected for the beings to be.

The Maloka is understood as living being, as organism, as the womb of indigenous life. Generally associated with the wombs of the Pachamama, mother earth, giving them a special connection to their Maloka since they are born. It is not only associated with the female, during the night of rituals of the ritual it is associated to male to emphasize the importance of Taita. The space transforms as a place of creation of life, a creation of new beings, that is associated to the experience of death and birth of Ayawáskha. During the nights of the rituals, indigenous people can perceive the connection to the space in a new ways, each of them are part of the same organism, hence the association of

the Maloka being alive. Their minds travel in and out the space, the inside world and the outside one being them the connection. From the personal experience, to a collective experience and the spiritual one. Creating a relation of mind body and the ethereal.47

At first, when looking at the Maloka, the relation between the space and the function may not be clear and could appear to be vague of meaning. However, it is a complex and variable relation between user and building that requires both to perceive the space and to be involved in its use, more specific in the ritual. An interpretation of Peter B. Jones, British architect and architectural historian, on the similar matter of what Marcel Mauss and Pierre Bourdieu have called ‘habitus’, is that the arrangement of the space has to intersect with a set of habits, beliefs, and expectations held by the person who experiences and uses the space.48 Once that connection between spaces and ritual use is achieved, building and activities tend to reinforce each other, the Maloka reassures the indigenous by reinforcing their beliefs and intentions, corroborating their view an understanding of the world, and their way of being.

47-Niño-Murcia, Territorio Chamánico, 321-388. 48-Jones, Architecture and Ritual, 3.

The Psychotropic Practices of Architecture

The analysis of the indigenous Maloka expands to an additional focus of study, to how architecture shapes the way inhabitants think and their relationship with nature without conscious awareness. This inquires into what is the role Architecture and Architects regarding human behaviour. Based on the studies of Guattari’s ‘architectural enunciation’ by Andrej Radman, Professor of Architecture, he argues that the role of Architects has significantly transformed. Focused on the qualities of posthumanist architectural practice, he explains that the analytical responsibility of Architects extend from the design of environment to design subjectivation. Similarly to ayawáskha experiences, subjectivity refers to the procedures by which the subject is led to observe itself, analyse itself, interpret itself, and recognize itself as a domain of possible knowledge. Radman suggests that if the purpose of design is to change us and by creating spaces in which inhabitants feel and act differently as a result of thinking differently, then architecture is effectively a ‘psychotropic practice’ that balances the routines of experience.

Understanding Architecture as a Psychotropics practice, Psyche (mind) and Tropē (turn, turning), is to acknowledge the potential of design to influence brain function resulting in alterations of perception, feelings, cognition and behaviour. However, this is not to say that architecture determine behaviour, inhabitants have a will that enables them to act think by themselves. The ‘limitation’ of inhabitants’ will also offers a clue for architecture to design such a space, according to

49-Radman, Posthuman Ecologies, Chapter 4

Spinoza ‘Man are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has determined’. Hence, Architecture design could be the cause that determine the desires, for indigenous a desire of changing toward a different being. Though studying of Ayawáskha, the desire of changing is cause by bringing the memories, pleasant and unpleasant ones, to create feelings that consequently affect the perception as well as thoughts, and ultimately the way of being. When designing under indigenous approach, creating a space that creates an ayawáskha like experience, Architecture becomes in a Entheogenic practice

50-“the way the subject experiences [him/her]self in a game of truth where [s]he relates to [him/her]self” (Foucault, 1998)

51- Bignall and Braidotti, Posthuman Ecologies, 59.

52 Bignall and Braidotti, Posthuman Ecologies, 65.

The Purpose of Entheogenic Design

How ego limit consciousness?

Maloka is the architectural space, refugia, the ecology, the world of the ethereal, interconnection, it is what resemble the cosmology of indigenous people. A poetical space for coexistence, interconnection, where different beings gather together, adapt to each other , evolve together, exist together. Maloka is a living organism same as Gaia, Terra, Pachamama.

Architecture design should engage towards indigenous design approach, understanding the world as a creation spaces in connection with them and their environment, enabling to be affected by it as well as to response to it, a symbiotic relation that creates new ones towards a new way of living. It is not to say that architecture determinates behaviour, this would oversimplify the complex interaction between people and their habitat as describe by Darwinian evolutionary principal,53 however it is to acknowledge that buildings have some kind of shaping influence on life.

The Maloka, as a piece of architecture, suggest frameworks to define relationships between the more-than-humans with other beings and nature. Consequently, this influences the way indigenous people form communities and societies. On the other side, the Maloka is reflection, a built interpretation, of that relationship between different beings and with nature, for indigenous it is a mirror that reflects the world, knowledge about it, and a model to interact with it. In other word, the building design become and enact multispecies connections in

sympoietic-collaboration system to create refugia, more specifically, to be an organism together with nature, and invisible guidance that shape the way of living viewed the perspective of Taitas. Engaging with Ayawáskha as a way to creating spaces that enable to find the connection between inhabitants and a nature, is to say that would become an Entheogenic practice instead, a more appropriate definition in relation of the worlds designed Taitas

The Amazon rain forest has been the scenario of capital interest for the western world, the way nature is understood have had a significant effect on indigenous people’s life, an example of this is the vast deforestation for agriculture and the many fires that are cased to clear land. By engaging with indigenous philosophy, other cultures could understand the importance of the forest for indigenous lives, nonhuman life and their own lives. Perhaps, by engaging with the way Entheogenic Design operates the approach and develop of the forest could change an unimaginable way never thought before, resembling the many connections that exist there as only one life, the Maniwa.

53- Jones, Architecture and Ritual, 3. ‘ the idea of fitness for purpose od adaptation, evolution and natural selection’