Performing the ritual

The ‘traditional’ form of preparing the ritual, as described in this thesis, is a combination of different traditions between the cultures that practice the ayawáskha ritual, as such it is a myth. By calling it ‘traditional’ denies the adaptation processes of the culture after the colonisation period. In addition, it ignores the different practices in each of them. Therefore, there is not only one but many forms of the ritual and, in some respects, there is little in common. There may not be a single element of the ritual as described that can be called, without mistake, universal for these cultures. However, the following description is an overview of the ritual from studying Tukanos and Shipibo tribes along with the description from the perspective of an individual taking ayawáskha, based on my own experience as a participant.

Generally, every participant understands that the vine is a tool from nature to be used by an experienced ‘healer’ who has a long history working with the plant and through their own consciousness, it is also know with the title of Taita. This provides the respect from the community and their trust to lead them through the ritual and their own worlds. It is taken as a group to practice the interconnectivity seeing during the vision. Most cultures consume ayawáskha during the night as they believe that darkness awakes the sensorium, women during menstrual cycle are not allowed as the blood is a symbol that resemble death. In addition, it is companied with music, chants, in relation to nature, and with a common purpose of healing, in other words, to adjust the balance of the invisible links between each other common well-being.

There is not a universal way of preparing the brew, it varies from tribe to tribe. As the B. Caapi grows across the Amazon and Andean mountains, the ground composition changes the hallucinogenic effects and, according to the Taitas, the visionary experience of consciousness of that land. Therefore, they combine with other admixtures, generally chagropanga or chaqruy, to increase the visionary effects. The vines and leaf are cooked in water until it forms a decoction between green and brown. Usually it is prepared separate from the contact of other individuals and in a different building to the Maloka, perhaps outside in the chagra, the outside space surrounding the Maloka.

Prior the ritual night, participants avoid meat and remain abstinence of alcohol, or similar substances, and sex for a couple of days or as long they prefer. During the day of the ritual, normally once a week, participants stop all activities in the midday for cleaning themselves with water from the river and rest. After the sunset, people head to the Maloka or other ritual place in relation to the Maniwa (nature) but at the same time save from it. People gather while awaiting for the Taita, and around 7pm the ritual starts. The cleaning process take place with the use of the touch of Chakapa on people’s body, the smoke of the Sahumerio and chants of the Ikaros. Once the last person is cleaned and protected, the brew is served. Around midnight, every person starts consuming the brew, first the Taita, followed by the apprentices and then each of the participants.

Spatial Interaction

The participants are free to move in the space that is being enchanted by the Taita, usually the limits chagra and the start of the Maniwa. In the outside people seat around the bonfire to admire the light or the sky, if there is a full moon it is believed as a good sign for mind clarity. When the brew start making effects, the participants move to a comfortable and safe space inside the Maloka, where there are hammocks hanging which provides the feeling of protection like being inside a womb. The effects amplify the sensorium and connect the stimulation with memories, they can be traumatic as well as pleasant. The Taita conduct thus emotions that thus memories cause with the sound of the Ikaros, as guide that harmonize each person as elements in space.

The feelings felt during the ritual are usually presented as a sequence from the unconsciousness, starting with fear, goes through self-recognition, repentance and determination to change, to enter into a state of purge. Purging may be one of the most significant states during the ritual, it is the reminder to the self that the body has its own consciousness, it acts by itself and in this case against the will of the person. It is also a release of what it is not needed physically and psychologically, as well as a convulsive reminder that the biological human body is like any other animal being, referring to a connection with certain primal instincts.

A final state of visions follows, this time a more vivid one where there are not limitations from the body, as it is exhausted from the purification process, but the mind remains awake and now with a more open awareness. As the body rest under the protection of the Taita, the consciousness is able to detach from it, to move freely in space, to connect and to become an animal, a tree or any other unimaginable beings where the self no longer exists. It is an ecstasy of the mind in connection with that forest, with nature and with other beings in it, a state that could only be comparable with what the western culture understands as an out-of-body experience. It is a state of harmony where everything is balanced according to the law of nature, where it is possible to feel the unimaginable, a state where the ethereal becomes ‘real’. (Michael

to Read)

The ritual ends with the awaking of the individual, a final cleansing from the Taita and celebrating with a fresh feast from the forest. The participants are left with lessons learnt during the ritual and is to them to make the changes and practice them.