VlROLA (EBEÑA)
Virola theiodora (Spr.) Warb.
Myristicaceae
Tropical zones of Central and South America
Most, if not all, species of Virola have a copious red “resin” in the inner bark. The resin from a number of species is prepared as an hallucinogenic snuff or small pellets.
Probably the most important species is Virola theiodora, a slender tree 25-75 ft (7.5-23 m.) in height, native to the forests of the western Amazon basin. The cylindrical trunk, 11/2 ft (46cm) in diameter, has a characteristic smooth bark which is brown mottled with gray patches. The leaves (with a tea-like fragrance when dried) are oblong or broadly ovate, 31/2-13 in. (9-33 cm) long, 11/2-41/2 in. (4-11 cm) wide. The male inflorescences are many-flowered, usually brown or gold-hairy, shorter than the leaves; the very small flowers, borne singly or in clusters of 2 to 10, are strongly pungent.
The fruit is subglobose, 3/8-3/4 in. (1-2 cm) by 1/4-5/8 in. (1/2-11/2 cm); the seed is covered for half its length by a membranaceous, orange-red aril.
At the beginning of time, Father Sun practiced incest with his daughter who acquired Viho by scratching her father’s penis. Thus the Tukano received this sacred snuff from the sun’s semen. And since its still hallowed, it is kept in containers called muhipu-nuri, or “penis of the sun”.
This hallucinogen enables the Tukano to consult the spirit world, especially Viho-mahse, the “snuff-person,” who, from his dwelling in the Milky Way, tends all human affairs.
Shamans may not contact other spiritual forces directly but only through the good graces of Viho-mahse. Consequently, the snuff represents one of the most important tools of the paye or medicine man. Although the sixty species of Virola are spread throughout tropical forests of the New World and psychoactive principles have been found in at least a dozen species, it is only in the western Amazon and adjacent parts of the Orinoco basin that this genus has been used as the source of a sacred inebriant.
The species most important as sources of the intoxicating snuff are V. calophylla, V. calophylloidea, V. elongata, and V. theiodora, the last-named being without doubt the most frequently employed.
Yet locally, V. rufula, V. cuspidata, and other species may supply the drug. There are Indians-- the primitive nomadic Maku of hte Rio Piraparana of Colombia, for example-- who ingest the red “bark-resin” directly, with no preparation, using B. elongata.
Other tribes, especially the Bora and Witoto, swallow pellets made from the paste of the “resin,” valuing for this purpose V. peruviana, V. surinamensis, V. theiodora, and possibly V. lorentensis There is a vague evidence that shamans in Venezuela may smoke the bark of V. sebifera “at dances when curing fevers” or that they my boil the bark and drink the liquor “to drive away evil spirits.”
Although the mythological significance and magico-religous use of Ebena snuff is indicative of a great age, the drug was not known until very recently.
Perspicacious plant-explorer though he was, Spruce failed to discover this fundamental narcotic use of Virola, notwithstanding his special study of the group that resulted in the discovery of a number of species new to science. The earliest references to this hallucinogen dates from the beginning of this century, when a German ethnologist reported on the Yelwana of the upper Orinoco area.
It was not, however, until 1938 and 1939 that he botanical association of Virola with the snuff was made. The Brazilian botanist Ducke reported that the leaves of V. theiodora and V. cuspidata represented the source. The leaves, of course, are never used, but this report first focused attention on Virola which, until then, had never been suspected as an hallucinogen.
The first detailed description and specific identification of the drug, however, was published in 1954 when its preparation and use among medicine men of Colombian Indians was described.
Taken mainly by shamans among the Barasan, Makuna, Tukano, Kabuyare, Kuripako, Puinave, and other tribes in eastern Colombia, the drug was employed ritualistically for diagnosis and treatment of disease, prophecy, divination, and other magico-religious purposes.
At that time, V. calophylla and V. calophylloidea were indicated as the species most valued, but later work in Brazil and elsewhere has established the primacy of V. theiodora.
Recent field studies have shown that the narcotic snuff is used among many Indian groups in Amazonian Colombia, the uppermost Orinoco basin of Colombia and Venezuela, the Rio Negro, and other areas of the western Amazon of Brazil.
The snuff is apparently most highly prized and most deeply involved in aboriginal life among the sundry Indian tribes collectively called Waika in the upper Orinoco of Venezuela and the northern effluents of the Rio Negro of Brazil. These groups are variously named, but are most commonly known to anthropologists as the Kirishana, Shiriana, Karauetare, Karime, Parahure, Surara, Pakidai, and Yanomama. They generally refer to the snuff as Epana, Ebena, Nyakwana, or some variant of these terms. In northwestern Brazil, this snuff and others are often generically known as Parica.
Unlike the Colombian Indians, among whom the use of the snuff is usually restricted to shamans, these tribes may often take the drug in daily life. All male members of the group above the age of thirteen or fourteen may participate. The hallucinogen is often snuffed in frighteningly excessive amounts and, in at least one annual ceremony, constantly over a two-or three-day period.
The powder is prepared in a variety of ways.
Among the Columbian Indians, the bark is stripped from the trees in the early morning and the soft, inner layers are scraped. The shavings are kneaded in cold water for twenty minutes. The brownish liquid is then filtered and boiled down to a thick syrup which, when dried, is pulverized and mixed with ashes of the bark of a wild cacao tree.
The various groups of Waika have several other methods of preparation. Those living in the Orinoco area frequently rasp the cambial layer of the bark and trunk and gently dry the shavings over a fire so that they may be stored for future use. When a supply of the drug is needed, the shavings are wetted and boiled for half an hour or more, the resulting liquid being reduced to a syrup, which, after drying, is ground to a powder and finely sifted. This dust is then mixed with equal amounts of a powder prepared from the dried, aromatic leaves of a small plant, Justicia pectoralis var. stenophylla, cultivated for this purpose. Finally, a third ingredient is added: the ashes of the bark of an Ama or Amasita, a beautiful and rare leguminous tree, Elizabetha princeps. The hard outer bark, cut into small pieces, is placed in glowing embers, then removed, and allowed to smolder to ashes.
In more eastern areas of Waika country in Brazil, the preparation of the snuff takes place mainly in the forest. Trees are felled and long strips of bark are peeled from the trunk. A copious flow of liquid which rapidly turns a blood-red accumulates on the inner surface of the bark. After gently heating the strips, the shaman gathers the “resin” into an earthenware pot which is set on the fire. When the pot of red liquid is reduced to a thick syrup, it is sun-dried, crystallizing into a beautiful amber-red solid that is meticulously ground to an extremely fine dust-like consistency. This powder-Nyakwana snuff-may be employed directly, but usually the pulverized leaves of Justicia are added “to make it smell better.”
The Bora, Muinane, and Witoto Indians of Amazonian Colombia and adjacent Peru use Virola not as a snuff, but by oral administration. They ingest small pellets or pills made from the resin to induce an intoxication during which the medicine men communicate with the “little people.”
These Indians utilize several species: V. theiodora, V. pavonis, and V. elongata, as well as possibly V. surinamensis and V. loretensis. The Bora of Peru indicate that they have used a related myristicaceous genus, Iryanthera macrophylla, as the source of a narcotic paste for making the pellets.
The Witoto of Colombia completely decorticate the trunk of a Virola tree. The shiny cambial layer on the inner surface of the bark and adhering to the bare trunk is rasped off with the back of a machete, and the raspings are carefully collected in a gourd. This material gradually darkens to a brownish red. The still moist raspings are kneaded, squeezed repeatedly, and pressed over a wicker sieve.
The liquid that oozes through, primarily of cambial sap, has a light “coffee and milk” hue.
Without further preparation, this liquid is quickly boiled, possibly to inactivate enzymes which might destroy the active principles, and is then allowed to simmer, with frequent stirring, until its volume is reduced. When the liquid finally becomes pasty, the vessel is taken from the fire, and the paste is rolled into pellets for immediate use. These pellets may keep their potency, according to the natives, for about two months.
When the pellets are not for immediate consumption, they are usually coated with a “salt,” as the natives say, prepared from any numerous plants. The “salt” is always made by the same process.
The plant material is first burned and the ashes are placed in a crude funnel made of leaves or bark. Water seeps slowly through the ashes, dripping out through a hole at the bottom to be collected beneath. The filtrate is then boiled down until a gray-white residue or “salt” remains.
The pellets of sticky resin are rolled in this powder.
There is apparently a large assortment of plants employed for this “salt,” which the Witoto call Le-sa. The lecythidaceous Gustavia poeppigiana is a common source of the ashes for filtration.
In the same family, the bark of the huge tree Eschweilera itayensis is valued. An unidentified tree of this family, known to the natives as Cha-pe-na, is used. The woody stump of a species of Carludovica or Sphaeradenia of the Cyclanthaceseae is reduced to ashes for this purpose. The leaves and fragrant inflorescence of the aroid Spathiphyllum cannaefolium give an ash which leaches out a high quality of “salt.” The bark of a wild species of Theobroma, or several small palms, probably species of Genoma and Bactris, are similarly used.
The Bora of Peru strip pieces of bark, only from the lower 4-8 ft of the trunk. The hard, brittle outer layer of bark is chipped off, leaving only the softer inner phloem. This later quickly turns brown from congealed oxidized “resin” and is vigorously pounded on a log with a mallet, until it is shredded. These shredded sections are soaked in water with occasional kneading for half an hour or more, when the pot is brought to a vigorous boil for another half-hour. The bark material, squeezed dry, is then removed, and the remaining liquid is boiled with constant stirring until only a thick paste remains.
Small pellets for ingestion are then made from this paste. Fewer plants are used by the Bora for preparing the “salt” for coating the pellets: the leaves and stump of a species of Carludovica and a palm of the genus Scheelea.
The hallucinogenic principles appear to be present mainly in the almost colorless exudates from the inner surface of the bark, which appears as soon as the bark is stripped from the tree. This resin-like substance quickly turns reddish in a typical oxidase-type reaction and then darkens, drying to a hard, glossy mass. In specimens dried for chemical study, it appears as a sticky, dark reddish brown gummy material. This material in many species contains tryptamines and other indolic hallucinogens. Observation of the process indicates that the reason for scraping the surface of the bark is to obtain all traces of the cambial layer that adheres to it.
The drug is prepared from the cambial sap, which is quickly boiled, causing coagulation of protein and possibly polysaccharides, and then simmered slowly to reduce the volume to near dryness.
The whole process resembles that used for isolation of natural produces from the cambium of other trees, coniferin from gymnosperms, for example, except that ethyl alcohol or acetone is now used, rather than heat, to destroy enzyme activity, which might otherwise act adversely on the desired product.
The “resin” of Virola plays an important role in everyday native medicine: several species are valued as antifungal medicines. The resin is spread over infected areas of the skin to cure ringworm and similar dermatological problems of fungal origin which are so prevalent in the humid tropical rainforests.
Only certain species are chosen for this therapeutic use-- and the choice seems not to have any relationship to the hallucinogenic properties of the species.
Indians who are familiar with Virola trees from the point of view of their hallucinogenic potency exhibit uncanny knowledge of different “kinds”--which to a botanist appear to be indistinguishable as to species. Before stripping the bark from a trunk, they are able to predict how long the exudates will take to turn red, whether it will be mild or peppery to the tongue when tasted, how long it will retain its potency when made into snuff, and many other hidden characteristics.
Whether these subtle differences be due to age of the tree, season of the year, ecological situations, conditioning of flowering or fruiting, or other environmental or physiological factors it is at present impossible to say-- but there is not doubt about the Indian’s expertness in recognizing these differences, for which he often has a terminology, so significant in his hallucinogenic and medicinal use of the trees.
“Semen of the sun”
Taken from: “Plants of the gods, their sacred, healing and hallucinogenic powers” By Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann (Healing Arts Press, Rochester, Vermont)
ISBN 0-89281-406-3
CHAGROPANGA (DIPLOPTERIS CABRERENA) MALPIGHIACEAE
A. L. Jussieu
Malpighia Family
The 800 species in 60 genera of this family are shrubs or small trees, more often vines or lianas. They are tropical, mainly South American. The family has been divided into two groups based on the structure of the torus and the form of the fruits.
Several species are local medicinals; others are well-known South American hallucinogens; the fruits of some are edible.
The chemistry of the family is known primarily through the study of the hallucinogenic drinks prepared from a few South American genera and species containing a variety of beta-carboline and tryptamine alkaloids. Hiptagen, poylphenols and saponins are also found.
Diplopterys
The 20 species of Diplopterys are tropical American lianas. Only D. cabrerana (q.v.) appears to have been chemically investigated: tryptamines have been reported from this species, the first indication of this kind of alkaloid in the Malpighiaceae (Der Marderosian, 1968; Schultes, 1970).
Diplopterys cabrerana (Cuatr.) Gates, Brittonia 31 (1979) 109.
Banisteriopsis rusbyana (Ndz.) Morton, J. Wash. Acad. Sci. 21 (1931) 487. SC 17297, 15588; G-B 4652a, 14321a; C 10597; MV 18
yajé-oko (Koffán); oco-yajé (Taiwano); chagropanga (Inga); yajé-oco (Siona)
In the westernmost Colombian Amazonia the leaves are often used as additives in the preparation of caapi from the bark of a species of Banisteriopsis (q.v.); the hallucinogenic drink then contains tryptamines and beta-carbolines (McKenna, 1984).
The Sionas use this species to “enhance the visions” to “bring them into focus and bring about longer duration” The Tikuna-Tetete of Ecuador use B. caapi (Kvist, 1987) as do the Jivaro (Naranjo, 1953). The Shuar Indians use it mixed with the leaves of B. longialata (MV 18).
The term oko in all Tukanoan languages means “water”. This plant was formerly known as Banisteriopsis rusbyana.
Taken from:
“The healing forest, medicinal and toxic plants of the northwest Amazonia”, by Richard Evans Schultes and Robert F. Raffauf. Discordia Press. Historical, Ethno- & Ecoonomic Botany Series Volume 2.
ISBN 0-931146-14-3
BANISTERIOPSIS (AYAHUASCA)
C.B. Robinson et Small
B. Caapi (Spruceex Griseb.) Morton
Malpighiaceae Tropical zones of N-S America, W. Indies
These giant forest lianas are the basis of an important hallucinogenic drink ceremonially consumed in the western half of the Amazon Valley and by isolated tribes on the Pacific slopes of the Colombian and Ecuadorian Andes.
The bark of Banisteriopsis caapi and B. inebrians, prepared in cold water or after long boiling, may be taken alone, but various plant additives -especially the leaves of B. rusbyana, known as Oco Yaje, and of Psychotria viridis- are often used to alter the effects of the hallucinogenic drink.
Both species are lianas with smooth, brown bark and dark green, characterous, ovate-lanceolate leaves up-to about 7 in. (18 cm) in length, 2-3 in. (5-8 cm) wide. The inflorescence is many-flowered.
The small flowers are pink or rose colored. The fruit is a samara with wings about 13/8 in. (3.5 cm) long. B. inebrians differs from B. caapi mainly in its thicker ovate, more attenuate leaves and in the shape of the samara wings.
VINE OF THE SOUL
There is a magic intoxicant in northwesternmost South America which the Indians believe call free the soul from corporeal confinement, allowing it to wander free and return to the body at will.
The soul, thus untrammeled, liberates its owner from the realities of everyday life and retroduces him to wondrous realms of what he considers reality and permits him to communicate with his ancestors.
The Kechua term for this inebriating drink- Ayahuasca (“vine of the soul”) -refers to this freeing of the spirit. The plants involved are truly plants of the gods, for their power is laid to supernatural forces residing in their tissues, and they were divine gifts to the earliest Indians on earth.
Ayahuasca has many native names: Caapi, Dapa, Mihi, Kahi, Natema, Pinde, Yajé.
The drink, employed for prophecy, divination, sorcery, and medical purposes, is so deeply rooted in native mythology and philosophy that there can be no doubt of its great age as a part of aboriginal life.
Two closely related species of the malpighiaceous genus Banisteriopsis -B. caapi and B. inebrians- are the most important plants used in preparing Ayahuasca. But other species are apparently used locally on occasion: B. quitensis; Mascagnia glandulifera, M. psilophylla var. antifebrilis; Tetrapteris methystica and T. mucronata. All of these plants are large forest lianas of the same family. Banisteriopsis caapi and B. inebrians are frequently cultivated in order to have a supply close at hand for use.
Many plants of diverse families are often added to the basic drink to alter the intoxicating effects.
The most commonly used admixtures are leaves of B. rusbyana and of the rubiaceous Psychotria carthaginensis or Psychotria viridis.
Other known psychoactive plants, such as Brugmansia suaveolens, Brunfelsia chiricaspi, and B. grandifiora, may also be added. Among the many plants employed are Tobacco; Malouetia tamaquarina and a species of Tabernaemontana of the Apocynaceae; the acanthaceous Teliostachya lanceolata var. crispa or Toe Negra; Calathea veitchiana of the Maranthaceae; the amaranthaceous Alternanthera lehmannii and a species of Iresine; several ferns including Lygodium venustum and Lomariopsis japurensis; Phrygylanthus eugenioides of the mistletoe family; the mint Ocimum micranthum; a species of the sedge genus Cyperus; several cacti including species of Opuntia and Epiphyllum; and a member of the genus Clusia of the Guttiferae.
The natives often have special names for diverse “kinds” of Ayahuasca, although the botanist frequently finds them all representative of the same species.
It is usually difficult to understand the aboriginal method of classification: some may be age forms; others may come from different parts of the liana; still others may be ecological forms growing under varying conditions of soil, shade, moisture, etc.
The natives assert that these “kinds” have a variety of effects, and it is conceivable that they may actually have different chemical compositions.
This possibility is one of the least investigated yet most significant aspects in the study of Ayahuasca.
Among the Tukano of the Colombian Vaupes, for example, six “kinds” of Ayahuasca or Kahi are recognized. Botanical identification has not yet been possible in all cases, but the “kinds” have definite native names. Kahi-riáma, the strongest, produces auditory hallucinations and announce future events. It is said to cause death if improperly employed.
The second strongest, Méné-kahí-má, reputedly causes visions of green snakes. The bark is used, and it is also said to cause death, unless cautiously taken.
These two “kinds” may not belong to Banisteriopsis or even to the family Malpighiaceae.
The third in strength is called Suána-káhí-má (“Kahi of the red jaguar”), producing visions in red.
Kahi-vai Bucura-rijomá (“Kahi of the monkey head”) causes monkeys to hallucinate and howl.
The weakest of the hallucinogenic “kinds” of Kahi or Ajuwri-kahi-má has little effect but is used in the drink to help the Méné-kahí-má.
All of these “kinds” are referable probably to Banisteriopsis caapi. Kahi-somomá or Kahi-uco (“Kahi that makes you vomit”), a shrub, the leaves of which are added to the drink, an emetic agent, is undoubtedly B. rusbiana, the same plant known among the western Tukanoan Siona of the Colombian Putumayo as Oco-yaje.
Although not so famous as Peyote or the sacred Mexican mushrooms, Ayahuasca has received popular attention because of news articles extolling the so-called telepathic powers of the drink. In fact, in the chemical investigation of Banisteriopsis, the first alkaloid isolated was named telepathine.
The hallucinogen may be prepared in diverse ways. Usually, bark is scraped from freshly harvested pieces of the stem. In the western areas, the bark is boiled for several hours, and the bitter, thick liquid is taken in small doses.
In other localities, the bark is pulverized and then kneaded in cold water; much larger doses must be taken, since it is less concentrated.
The effects of the drink vary according to the method of preparation, the setting in which it is taken, the amount ingested, the number and kinds of admixtures, and the purposes for which it is used, as well as the ceremonial control exercised by the shaman.
Ingestion of Ayahuasca usually induces nausea, dizziness, vomiting, and leads to either an euphoric or an aggressive state.
Frequently the Indian sees overpowering attacks of huge snakes or jaguars. These animals often humiliate him because he is a mere man. The repetitiveness with which snakes and jaguars occur in Ayahuasca visions has intrigued psychologists.
It is understandable that these animals play such a role, since they are the only beings respected and feared by the Indians of the tropical forest; because of their power and stealth, they have assumed a place of primacy in aboriginal religious beliefs.
In many tribes, the shaman becomes a feline during the intoxication, exercising his powers as a cat. Yekwana medicine men mimic the roars of jaguars. Tukano Ayahuasca-takers may experience nightmares of jaguar jaws swallowing them or huge snakes approaching and coiling about their bodies. Snakes in bright colors climb up and down the house posts. Shamans of the Conibo-Shipibo tribe acquire great snakes as personal possessions to defend themselves in supernatural battles against other powerful shamans.
The drug may be the shaman's tool to diagnose illness or to ward off impending disaster, to guess the wiles of an enemy, to prophesy the future. But it is more than the shaman's tool. It enters into almost all aspects of the life of the people who use it, to an extent equaled by hardly any other hallucinogen.
Partakers, shamans or not, set all the gods, the first human beings, and animals, and come to understand the establishment of their social order.
Ayahuasca is, above all, a medicine- the great medicine.
The Ayahuasca leader among the Campa of Peru is a religious practitioner who, following a strict apprenticeship, maintains and increases his shamanistic power through the use of Tobacco and Ayahuasca. The Campa shaman under Ayahuasca acquires an eerie, distant voice, and a quivering jaw which indicates the arrival of good spirits who, splendidly clad, sing and dance before him; the shaman`s singing is merely his own voice echoing their song.
During the singing, his soul may travel far and wide- a phenomenon not interfering with performance of the ceremony nor with the shaman's ability to communicate the wishes of the spirits to participants.
Among the Tukano, the partaker of the drug feels himself pulled along by powerful winds which the leading shaman explains as a trip to the Milky Way, the first stop on the way to heaven.
Similarly, the Ecuadorian Zaparo experience a sensation of being lifted into the air. The souls of Peruvian Conibo-Shipibo shamans fly about in the form of a bird; or shamans may travel in a supernatural canoe manned by demons to reconquer lost or stolen souls.
The effects of the drink are greatly altered when leaves of Banisteriopsis rusbyana or of Psychotria viridis are added. The tryptamines in these additives are believed to be inactive when taken orally, unless monoamine oxidase inhibitors be present. The harmine and its derivatives in B. caapi and B. inebrians inhibitors of this kind, potentiating the tryptamines.
Both types of alkaloids, however, are hallucinogenic.
Length and vividness of the visual hallucinations are notably enhanced when these additives are present. Whereas visions with the basic drink are seen usually in blue, purple, or gray, those induced when the tryptaminic additives are used may be brightly colored ill reds and yellows.
Without additives, Ayahuasca intoxication may be pleasant with visions of light setting ill with the eyes closed after a period of giddiness, nervousness, profuse sweating, and sometimes nausea.
A period of lassitude initiates the play of colors- at first white, then mainly a hazy, smoky blue that later increases in intensity; eventually sleep, interrupted by dreams and occasional feverishness, takes over. Serious diarrhea, which continues after the intoxication, is the uncomfortable effect most frequently experienced. With the tryptaminic additives, many of these effects are intensified, but trembling and convulsive shaking, mydriasis, and increase of pulse rate are also noted. Frequently, a show of recklessness, sometimes even aggressiveness, marks advanced states of the inebriation.
The famous Yurupari ceremony of the Tukanoans is an ancestor- communication ritual, the basis of a man's tribal society and an adolescent male initiation rite.
Its sacred bark trumpet, which calls the Yurupari spirit, is taboo to the sight of women; it symbolizes the forces to whom the ceremony is holy, favorably influencing fertility spirits, effecting cures of prevalent illnesses, and improving the male prestige and power over women. The Yurupari ceremony is now little practiced.
One of the most detailed reports of a recent dance describes it as follows:
“A deep booming of drums from within the maloca heralded the appearance of the mystic Yurupari horns. With only very slight urging from one of the older men, all females from babes in arms to withered, toothless hags betook themselves to the fringing forest, to hear only from afar the deep, mysterious notes of the trumpets, sight of which is believed to spell certain death for any woman...”
Payés and older men are not above aiding the workings of the mystery by the judicious administration of poison to any overcurious female.
“Four pairs of horns had been taken from places of concealment, and the players now ranged themselves in a rough semi-circle, producing the first deep, lugubrious notes...”
“Many of the older men had meanwhile opened their tangatara boxes of ceremonial feathers and were selecting with great care brilliant feather ruffs, which were bound to the mid-section of the longer horns...”
“Four oldsters, with perfect rhythm and dramatic timing, paraded through the maloca, blowing the newly decorated horns, advancing and retracting with short dancing steps.
At intervals, a couple danced out of the door, their horns raised high, and returned after a brief turn, the expanding and contracting feather ruffs producing a beautiful burst of translucent color against the stronger light.
Younger men were beginning the first of the savage whippings, and the master of ceremonies appeared with the red, curiously shaped clay jar containing the powerful narcotic drink called Caapi.
The thick, brown, bitter liquid was served in pairs of tiny, round gourds; many drinkers promptly vomited....”
“Whipping proceeded by pairs. The first lashes were applied to the legs and ankles, the whip flung far back in a deliberately calculated dramatic gesture; the blows resounded like pistol shots. Places were immediately exchanged. Soon the whips were being freely applied, and all the younger men were laced with bloody welts on all parts of the body. Tiny lads not more than six or seven years old would catch up the abandoned whips, merrily imitating their elders.
Gradually the volume of sound diminished, until only two lone performers remained, enchanted with their art, bowing, advancing, and retreating, with great delicacy and grace in the celltot of the maloca. About a dozen of the older men were outfitting themselves with their finest diadems of resplendent guacamayo feathers, tall, feathery egret plumes, oval pieces of the russet skin of the howler monkey, armadillo-hide disks, prized loops of monkey-hair cord, precious quartzite cylinders, and jaguar-tooth belts. Bedecked with these triumphs of savage art, the men formed a swaying, dancing semi-circle, each with his right hand resting on his neighbor’s shoulder, all shifting and stamping in slow unison. Leading he group was the ancient payé, blowing Tobacco smoke in benediction on his companions from the huge cigar in its engraved ceremonial fork, while his long, polished rattle-lance vibrated constantly. The familiar, dignified Cachiri ceremonial chant was intoned by the group; heir deep voices rose and fell, mingling with the mysterious booming tones of the Yurupari horns.”
The Tukano believe that when, at the time of creation, humans arrived to populate the Vaupés, many extraordinary happenings took place. People had to endure hardship before settling the new regions. Hideous snakes and dangerous fish lived in the rivers; there were spirits with cannibalistic proclivities; and the Tukano received in trepidation the basic elements of their culture.
There lived among these carly Tukano a woman; the first woman of creation, who “drowned” men in visions. Tukanoans believe that during coitus, a man “drowns”- the equivalent of seeing visions.
The first woman found herself with child. The Sun-father had impregnated her through the eye. She gave birth to a child who became Caapi, the narcotic plant. The child was born during a brilliant flash of light. The woman -Yaje- cut the umbilical cord and, rubbing the child with magical plants, shaped its body. The Caapichild lived to be an old man zealously guarding his hallucinogenic powers. From this aged child, owner of Caapi or the sexual act, the Tukanoan men received semen.
For the Indian, “the hallucinatory experience is essentially a sexual one... to make it sublime, to pass from the erotic, the sensual, to a mystical union with the mythic era, the intrauterine stage, is the ultimate goal, attained by a mere handful but coveted by all.”
All or much of Indian art, it has been proposed, is based on hallucinogenic experience. Colors, similarly, are symbolically significant: yellow or off-white has a seminal concept, indicating solar fertilization: red -color of the uterus, fire, heat- symbolizes female fecundity; blue represents thought through Tobacco smoke. These colors accompany Ayahuasca intoxications and have precise interpretations.
Many of the complicated rock engravings in the rivers of the Vaupés, are undoubtedly based upon drug experiences. Likewise, the stereotyped paintings on the bark wall of Tukanoan communal houses represent themes from Ayahuasca hallucinations.
It has been suggested that many of the design motifs induced by Caapi are, on the one hand, culture-bound and, on the other hand, controlled by specific biochemical effects of the active principles in the plant.
The special painted clay pot for preparing Caapi is sacred among the Tukanoans, and when not in use, always hangs outside of the maloca in a northeastern orientation. The designs are directly connected with the characteristic visual effects experienced during Caapi intoxication.
Pictures and decorations on pots, houses, basketry, and other household objects fall into two categories: abstract design and figurative motifs.
The Indians know the difference between the two and say that it is due to Caapi intoxication.
Someone watching a man at work or finding a drawing would say: “This is what one sees after three cups of Yajé,” occasionally specifying the kind of plant that had been used and thus giving an indication of the nature of the narcotic effects they attributed to different concoctions.
It would seem that such an important drug would have attracted the attention of Europeans at a very early date. Such was not the case. In 1851, however, the English botanist Spruce, who was collecting among Tukanoan tribes in the Rio Vaupés of Brazil, met with Caapi and sent material for chemical study to England. Three years later, he observed Caapi use again among the Guahibo Indians along the upper Orinoco. Later, he encountered Ayahuasca among the Zaparo of Ecuador and identified it as the same hallucinogen as Caapi.
“In the course of the night,” Spruce wrote of Caapi, “the young men partook of Caapi five or six times, in the intervals between the dances; but only a few of them at a time, and a very few drank of it twice. The cup-bearer -who must be a man, for no woman can touch or taste Caapi- starts at a short run from the opposite end of the house, with a small calabash containing about a teacupful of Caapi in each hand, muttering ’Mo-mo-mo-mo-mo’ as he runs, and gradually sinking down until at last his chin nearly touches his knees, when he reaches out one of his cups to the man who stands ready to receive it...”
In two minutes or less after drinking it, the effects begin to be apparent. The Indian turns deadly pale, trembles in every limb and horror is in his aspect. Suddenly contrary symptoms succeed; he bursts into perspiration and seems possessed with reckless fury, seizes whatever arms are at hand... and rushes to the door while “he inflicts violent blows on the ground and doorposts, calling out all the while: Thus would I do to mine enemy [naming him by name] were this he!
In about ten minutes the excitement has passed off, and the Indian grows calm but appears exhausted.”
Since Spruce’s time, this drug has been mentioned often by many travelers and explorers, but little has been accomplished until recently. In fact, it was not until 1969 that chemical analysis of Spruce`s material, collected for such examination in 1851, was carried out.
Much remains to be learned about Ayahuasca, Caapi, Yajé. There is little time before increasing acculturation and even extraction of whole tribes will make it forever impossible to learn about these age-old beliefs and uses of one of the most fascinating culturally powerful of the hallucinogens.
“Vine of the soul”
Taken from: “Plants of the gods, their sacred, healing and hallucinogenic powers” By Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann (Healing Arts Press, Rochester, Vermont)
ISBN 0-89281-406-3
MAPACHO (NICOTIANA TABACUM)
SOLANACEAE
A. L. Jussieu
Nightshade Family, Potato Family
The approximately 66 species and many subspecies, strains or cultivars of herbaceous or rarely shrubby or arborescent plants of Nicotiana are native in North and South America, especially in the Andes (45 species) and in Polynesia and Australia (21 species).
The two commercially important species are Nicotiana tabacum, cultivated in warm areas for smoking tobacco, and N. rustica, cultivated mainly for insecticidal use. Both species are believed to be of hybrid origin.
The alkaloids responsible for the pharmacological actions of much of the genus are well known: nicotine, nornicotine and anabasine are the major alkaloids of the genus, the proportion of each in the total alkaloidal extract depending on the species under investigation; strains of the two commercial species likewise show chemical variation. They are accompanied by some eight other pyridine alkaloids in minor amounts; several other common types of plant constituents have been identified in the genus which are listed in the extensive general references (e.g., Hegnauer).
Nicotiana tabacum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1 (1753) 180.
lukux-ri (Yukuna); ye’-ma (Tariana); a’-li (Bare); e’-li (Baniwa); mu-lu’, pagári-mulé (Desano); kherm’-ba (Kofán); dé-oo-wé (Witoto) Tobacco is one of the most important plants in the lives of all tribes of the northwest Amazon (Wilbert, 1987). It plays a part in curative rituals, in important tribal ceremonies and it is occasionally used as a recreational drug. In its various forms it is also employed in the ordinary medical practices of some tribes.
The Tukanoan peoples of the Vaupés often rub a decoction of the leaves briskly over sprains and bruises. Amongst the Witotos and Boras, fresh leaves are crushed and poulticed over boils and infected wounds. Tikuna men mix the crushed leaves with the oil from palms to rub into the hair to prevent balding. The Jivaros take tobacco juice therapeutically for indisposition, chills and snake bites.
In many tribes tobacco snuff may be employed medicinally for a variety of ills, particularly to treat pulmonary ailments.
Tobacco is smoked on rare occasions, except in ceremonies and curative rituals of the medicine men who blow smoke or spit tobacco juice over the patient or inhale the smoke, all with appropriate incantations and ritual. Recreational smoking amongst the Indians of the northwest Amazon is not common, and cigarettes are rarely smoked except in areas where tribal customs are breaking down due to acculturation and the availability of commercial cigarettes.
The Witotos sometimes smoke cigars, but this custom may be recently acquired. During ceremonies in which Banisteriopsis is taken, enormous cigars--some as long as 36 inches--are smoked, especially amongst the many tribes of the Vaupés. The Sionas of the Mocoa region, like the western Tukanoan tribes, also employ the gigantic ceremonial cigar, but occasionally make smaller cigars and smoke them for non-ritual use; they have probably learned this use from colonists who have come from the Andes. The Jivaros and Aguaruna of Ecuador smoke large cigars in a tobacco-smoking festival to celebrate the initiation of a youth into manhood.
The recreational use of tobacco is usually in the form of snuffing. Preparation of the snuff appears to be similar from tribe to tribe; the leaves are hung up to dry, sometimes over a low fire, then pulverized, finely sifted and mixed with about an equal amount of the ash of sundry plants. The product is a grayish green powder. The preferred source of ash for this admixture is the bark of a wild cacao tree--Theobroma subincanum. The snuff may be taken at any time during the day, but it is most frequently used towards evening when the men are taking coca. Usually it is sniffed alone, but on occasion Capsicum pepper may be added; it is said to make the snuff more “effective” The Witotos and Yukunas may; on rare occasions and in special festivals, mix powdered coca with the tobacco snuff. During festivals and dances, tobacco snuff is consumed in enormous amounts, often with Banisteriopsis amongst the Tukanoan tribes of the Colombian Vaupés. It is usually administered in snuffing tubes made of hollow bird bones or, occasionally; in long tubes made of marantaceous plants. Almost all tribes in the northwest Amazon take tobacco as snuff: Kubeos, Barasanas, Makunas, Tanimukas, Sionas, Koffins, Witotos, Boras, Muinanes, Mirarias, and others.
Chewing tobacco leaves is common practice in numerous tribes, e.g., Cocamas, Omaguas, Zaparos, Omuranas, Sionas, Inganos; Waika men keep a quid of tobacco leaves in the lower lip all day. The Nonoyu mix tobacco with coca powder for chewing.
Tobacco juice is taken by the Jivaros alternately with Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis) or maikoa (Brugmansia). Amongst the Coto Indians of the Rio Napo of Peru, only the shaman is allowed to take tobacco juice through the nostrils; the general male population drink it. The mestizo ayahuasqueros of Peru mix tobacco juice with Ayahuasca, crushing the leaves and softening them with saliva, leaving the juice overnight in a hole cut into the trunk of the lupuna tree (Trichilia tocachcana), the presumably toxic sap of which drips into the tobacco juice. Amongst the western Tukanos of Colombia and Brazil, master medicine men make their students drink a gourdful of the juice to cause vomiting and eventual narcosis. The Jivaros of Ecuador drink the juice in initiations, visionary quests, war preparations, victory feasts and witchcraft; even women partake of the juice in wedding feasts and initiations.
Tobacco licking is also widespread in the northwest Amazon, although it is apparently not common in the rest of Amazonia. Its concentration appears to be in the Putumayo-Caquetá region of Colombia and Peru. The tobacco preparation is a thick syrup generally called ambil. The civilized llaneros of Colombia and Venezuela customarily take tobacco in this form which they call chimb.
It is not clear whether they adopted it from the Indians or vice-versa; at least it has an ancient record of use amongst an extinct tribe once living on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela. With Witotos, Boras and several other tribes of the northwest Amazonas, the common use of ambil, usually with coca, takes place during the early evenings before fresh coca is made and chewed. The thick syrup is applied to the gums with a finger or a stick and is swallowed very slowly with saliva and coca powder. The residue, formed by the slow evaporation of aqueous extracts of tobacco leaves, is also mixed with the “salts” obtained by the leaching of ashes of various plants. Amongst the Witotos, any male may make ambil, and there is no special hour or ceremony connected with its preparation (Schultes, 1945).
The application of tobacco in any other form, such as rectally by enema, is almost unknown in South America except amongst the Aguarunas, a Jivaroan tribe of Ecuador who apply it by clyster alone or mixed with ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is repeatedly drunk alternating with swallows of tobacco juice to cause vomiting before use of the tobacco-ayahuasca enema.
Details of the preparation of the various forms of tobacco and their use--ritual, medical and otherwise--by the Indians of South America may be found in an outstanding recent treatise with extensive bibliographic references to earlier works (Wilbert, 1987).
Nicotiana sp.
tsina (Kulina)
Rivier and Lindgren (1972)
The Kulina customarily smoke all night when taking ayahuasca; some shamans drink the juice of tobacco leaves.
Taken from:
“The healing forest, medicinal and toxic plants of the northwest Amazonia”, by Richard Evans Schultes and Robert F. Raffauf.
Discordia Press. Historical, Ethno- & Economic Botany Series Volume 2.
ISBN 0-931146-14-3
GUAYUSA (ILEX GUAYUSA)
AQUIFOLIACEAE
Bartling Holly Family
The four genera and over 450 species are widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions of both hemispheres, but the center of representation lies in Central and South America. The species are usually medium-sized (sometimes large) trees. The largest and economically most important genus is Ilex, a number of species of which are horticulturally employed as ornamentals and as the source of several caffeine-rich preparations: yaupon (I. vomitoria), yerba maté (I. paraguariensis), guayusa (I. guayusa).
The family is closely related to the Celastraceae, Most of the chemical work has been done on the many species and varieties of Ilex used as stimulants, bitter tonics and diaphoretics. Caffeine is a major constituent of the genus; triterpenes and chlorogenic acid derivatives are also present.
Ilex guayusa Loesener, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur. 78 (1901) 310; emend. Shemluck, Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 27 (1979) 158, t.42.
guayusa (Col., Ecuad.) ShN 221, 235, 239; SWH 26359, 26360
This tree is the source of the famous stimulant drink guayusa. In the Ecuadorian Amazonia, the tea is considered to be “good to calm nerves” and “good for women who are pregnant.” A tea is taken also when ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi) is drunk to “kill the bitter taste” and “to prevent hangover.” It is likewise said to “give strength to deal with Ayahuasca.” The tea is further stated to be efficacious for “stomach problems, and to have aphrodisiac properties.” The native inhabitants of the region of Mocoa employ guayusa in decoction for numerous medicinal purposes: “pain in the liver”, malarial fevers, syphilis and especially to calm stomach pains and to regulate faulty menstruation. A tea of leaves is used as a stimulant.
Leaves of guayusa are still sold in markets in Pasto and Quito as medicines. Except for its caffeine content, nothing further is known about the chemistry of the Amazonian species.
REFERENCES
Garcia-Barriga, H., Flora Medicinal de Colombia, Instituto de Ciéncias Naturales, Bogotá (1974-5).
Garcia-Barriga, H., Nueva Rev. Colomb. Folclor. 1 (1986) no. 1.
Patifio, V. M., Econ. Bot. 22 (1968) 311.
Schultes, R. E., Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 27 (1979) 143.
Shemluck, M., Bot. Mus. Leafl., Harvard Univ. 27 (1979) 155.
Taken from:
“The healing forest, medicinal and toxic plants of the northwest Amazonia”, by Richard Evans Schultes and Robert F. Raffauf.
Discordia Press. Historical, Ethno- & Ecoonomic Botany Series Volume 2.
ISBN 0-931146-14-3
To be continued....
Read about it, before you think you can handle it.