Position of the Ceremony with the Psychedelic Drink Ayahuasca in the Society of the Amero-Indians of the Amazon

Abstract

The Amero-Indians of the Amazon traditionally use ayahuasca for various physical and psychological ailments. Shamans in the Peruvian Amazon use the psychedelic drug ayahuasca to have various experiences in guided rituals. The goal of this religious experience is to expand consciousness and gain deeper insights. Consumption of the drink can cause harmful psychotic and paranoid reactions, but the therapeutic value is paramount, namely, the expansion of consciousness, the sensitization to psychological problems, and the search for their solution. The experience gained in the ayahuasca ritual is colorful yet indescribable, so painting pictures serves to better understand the problem that the person is trying to solve. After the ayahuasca ritual, the Amazon shamans knew how to express their expanded consciousness and deep knowledge through painting. The paintings that emerge after the ayahuasca ceremony are imbued with their cosmology of understanding the world.

1. Introduction

We have tried to explain the complex subject of ayahuasca from various perspectives: geography, sociology, ethnology, history, pharmacology, psychiatry, and art history. The team of authors consists of a doctor (Matea Stiperski Matoc), a geographer (Zoran Stiperski), and a priest (Tomica Hruška). The photos show communities in the Peruvian Amazon region at the time when the Franciscan Tomica Hruška was working as a missionary (1999–2006) and Matea Stiperski Matoc and Zoran Stiperski were traveling (2011).

The experiences and knowledge of Franciscan Tomica Hruško were important for understanding the topic of ayahuasca. The Franciscan Tomica Hruška worked for 8 years as a missionary in the Peruvian Amazon region together with the Franciscan Anton Gerard Žerdin. The Croatian Franciscan Gerard (1950-) has been working as a missionary in the Peruvian Amazon region since 1975 (he was also a missionary during the time of the Sendero Luminoso). Gerard has been bishop in the Peruvian Amazon region since 2002. The diocese, based in San Ramon, covers a part of the Peruvian Amazon that is as large as Austria. Bishop Gerard founded the Catholic College of Nopoki in Atalaya as a branch of the Universidad Catolica Sedes Sapientiae in Lima with the aim of training the indigenous population to become teachers in schools and evangelization assistants in indigenous languages. Interestingly, they learn various trades that are useful to the indigenous communities, such as building houses and furniture, making clothes and basic agricultural activities. The basic idea of the Nopoki College is to educate and train the indigenous people of Amazonia to preserve their customs, roots, and languages. Nopoki College is committed to an ecologically sustainable economy in the Peruvian Amazon region. Bishop Gerard’s many years of knowledge of the Peruvian Amazon region were important for the missionary Tomica. It is important to emphasize that the missionaries are connected to the local community and very familiar with the social reality.

Matea and Zoran traveled to the Peruvian Amazon region together with Bishop Gerard in 2011. Incidentally, you do not travel to this part of Peru with tour operators, but with locals, or in our case with the bishop and his missionaries. The local, indigenous population is afraid of foreigners and strangers. The impression of remoteness and ignorance of the Peruvian Amazon region were best illustrated when we were asked about the Amazon region by Peruvians from Lima after our trip to the Peruvian Amazon region in 2011. It turned out that we, the foreigners, were explaining life in Peru to the Peruvians.

The world sees the Amazon as a vast, distant, unknown rainforest inhabited by mysterious peoples. The Amazon is a tropical rainforest with the highest biodiversity. It is the largest oxygen producer on earth. By preserving the autochthony of the Amazon peoples, their knowledge is preserved from disappearing [1].

Ayahuasca is a sacred drink used by many indigenous peoples of the Americas in the Amazon [2]. It is traditionally used in a special shamanic healing ceremony [3]. The name ayahuasca is derived from the Quechuan words aya (spirit or dead) and huasca (vine or rope), meaning ‘vine of spirits’ or ‘vine of the dead.’ Ayahuasca has several names in the Amazon, for example, the Tukano name yagé or yajé is used in Colombia, the Shuar term natém in Ecuador, and Daime and hoasca in Brazil [4]. The National Institute of Culture of Peru declared the use of ayahuasca as a Peruvian national heritage in 2008, when it was recognized as part of the traditional medicine of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon [5].

Ayahuasca has been studied by anthropologists, ethnobotanists, neurophysiologists, and psychiatrists [6]. Anthropology talks about the important role of ayahuasca consumption through structured rituals for the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, highlighting their intertwining of religious rituals, belief systems, cosmovisions, artistic productions, music, and healing practices [7]. Ayahuasca becomes a means of shamanic quest and a deity in the pantheon amidst the wilderness [8]. Shamans who lead the traditional ayahuasca ceremony are called curanderos, vegetalismo, or ayahuascero. They must undergo an initiation rite to be allowed to perform the ceremony [9]. The knowledge of how to perform the ceremony is passed down through oral tradition. Besides the psychedelic drink ayahuasca, the ceremony consists of environment, dance, and story told by the shaman. The goal of the rituals is to heal people mentally and physically. The participants in the ceremony believe that chanting creates the inner conditions for healing [10]. Central to healing is the psychological connection with nature [11, 12]. Traditional societies see themselves as part of nature. In the shamanic world, ‘nature,’ ‘culture,’ and ‘health’ are one and the same and inseparable.

With the expansion of Western civilization began the arrival of doctors and the construction of hospitals in the Amazon. The need for indigenous shamanic ayahuasca ceremonies to treat the diseases of the Amazon population diminished. The population is turning to Western medicine, especially the younger people. However, older people, who are more suspicious of modern medicine and do not speak Spanish, still use shamanic ceremonies for healing purposes. On the other hand, younger shamans are increasingly performing ayahuasca ceremonies for tourists, and the ceremony itself is gradually changing and losing its authenticity. Recently, shamanic ayahuasca ceremonies have become more popular in modern Western society [13]. People in the West use them for the treatment of mental disorders and drug addiction [14], as well as for spiritual development and psychological therapy.

2. Anthropology of ayahuasca in the indigenous Amazon

The area of traditional use of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca and the shamanic ayahuasca ritual is associated with the indigenous communities of the Amazon. Similar psychedelic drugs have also been used in a similar manner in other traditional communities outside the Amazon. The long history of altering consciousness through the ritual use of ayahuasca dates back to 2000 B.C. in Ecuador and as far back as 3000 B.C. in the upper Amazon [15]. Material evidence of the use of plant hallucinogens in the Ecuadorian Amazon 1500–2000 B.C. includes ceramic dishes, snuff trays, and pipes [16]. Some authors believe that cave paintings made thousands of years ago in different parts of the world are the result of rituals similar to Ayahuasca rituals [17]. Spanish and Portuguese explorers first learned about ayahuasca when they arrived in the Amazon in the early sixteenth century [18]. In 1616, the Holy Inquisition condemned the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic drugs, believing the effects to be the work of the devil [19]. The first descriptions of the substances that are components of ayahuasca come from Christian missionaries from the nineteenth century [20]. Ethnobotanist Richard Spruce discovered Banisteriopsis caapi during his expeditions through the Amazon and the Andes between 1849 and 1864 when he researched the components of ayahuasca [21]. Richard Spruce saw indigenous Tukanos drinking ayahuasca in Brazil in 1851 [7]. The first report of ayahuasca use on the Rio Napo in Ecuador was by geographer Manuel Villavicencio in 1858 [22]. Early on, it was learned that the plant was used for ‘journeys to other worlds’ and ‘visits to tribal gods’ [23]. In the twentieth century, ayahuasca was recognized in Brazil as a sacred beverage for syncretic Christian, Spiritist, and African-descended religions: Santo Daime, União do Vegetal, and Barquinha [22, 24, 25, 26, 27].

The ayahuasca ritual is deeply rooted in the indigenous communities of Amazonia (Figures 1 and 2). Archeological research has shown that the prehistoric Amazon was rarely inhabited by hunters, fishermen, and fruit gatherers due to harsh natural conditions and poor soils [28, 29, 30, 31, 32]. Rare small settlements are scattered throughout the vast forests. There are no material remains of abandoned cities and highly developed civilizations in the Amazon. The traditional inhabitants of the Amazon live off the forest and water. They hunt, fish, and gather fruits, plants, honey, insects, fish, crustaceans, lizards, and reptiles [33]. Hunting-fishing-gathering-basic agricultural activities allow for a very low population density in the Amazon [1, 33]. The forests and rivers provide habitat for only a few hunters, fishers, fruit gatherers, and traditional farmers [34]. All indigenous settlements in Amazonia have very small populations (Figures 3 and 4), often only extended families or relatives live in them, sometimes at most a few families [1]. From population history studies, we can conclude that larger rivers were the main magnet for sedentary populations because of the resulting fertile soil [35, 36, 37] and abundance of fish [37, 38].

Figure 1.

The Ashaninka group along the Ucayali River. Photo taken in 1999. Picture by the author Tomica Hruška.

Figure 2.

The indigenous population of the Peruvian Amazon. Photo taken in 1999. Picture by the author Tomica Hruška.

Figure 3.

The village of Buenos Aires along the Tambo River. Photo taken in 2011. Picture by the author Zoran Stiperski.

Figure 4.

Catechesis of Ameroindian children under the canopy in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo taken in 1999. Picture by the author Tomica Hruška.

Societies have their own methods of treating disease. The indigenous peoples of the Amazon use the ayahuasca ritual to treat various physical and psychological causes of disease [39]. Medicine and religion were not separate in the Amazonian shamanic age, as shown by the term ‘shamanic complex,’ which is a ‘healing mechanism’ [40]. The Tukano (Colombia and Brazil), the Shipibo-Conibo (Peru), and the Shuar (Ecuador), as well as the 72 other tribes, use the ayahuasca drink as a pharmacopeia and care system [41]. However, it must be emphasized that ayahuasca is only one of many plants in the complex traditional pharmacopeia of Amazonia [42, 43]. The ritual ayahuasca treatment in indigenous communities has similarities with magic and witchcraft [41].

3. Pharmacology of ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is a psychoactive herbal tea prepared by boiling the bark and stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub. B. caapi contains β-carboline, harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine (THH), whereas P. viridis contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT) [44, 45]. The main component of the tea is the serotonergic, psychedelic, but orally labile DMT. Monoamine oxidases (MAO) in the intestine and liver break down DMT and prevent its absorption into the bloodstream. β-Carbolines are potent reversible and competitive inhibitors of peripheral MAOs that prevent peripheral degradation of DMT in the gastrointestinal tract, allowing them to reach the central nervous system [46]. In addition, they block the deamination of serotonin, increasing its levels in the brain [47]. In the central nervous system, DMT binds to the serotonin receptors 5-HT1 and 5-HT2A, where it acts as a partial agonist [48]. In addition, there is evidence that THH, one of the beta-carbolines, acts as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor [49, 50]. Inhibition of both systems, MAO and serotonin reuptake, results in increased levels of serotonin in the brain [49, 51].

Ingestion of ayahuasca has been shown to activate serotonin receptors (5-HT 1A/2A/2C) in the paralimbic brain structures that process emotions and self-perception of bodily processes, that is, interoception [46]. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMR) showed increased activity in the occipital, temporal, and frontal lobes involved in vision, memory, and intention [52]. Previously, ayahuasca-induced visual stimuli were thought to be generated by associative visual areas rather than the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe (Brodmann area 17, BA17) [53]. Nonprimary visual areas are activated during psychopathological hallucinations and physiologically during normal dreams in the REM phase [54, 55, 56]. In recent studies, increased activity of BA17 was observed after ayahuasca intake, suggesting that ayahuasca-evoked visions may be triggered in the primary visual cortex. The measured activity of BA17 is highest when subjects look with their eyes open, regardless of ayahuasca ingestion. When eyes are closed, BA17 activity is very low before ayahuasca ingestion, whereas it is high after ingestion (Figures 5 and 6). The functional prevalence of BA17 after ayahuasca consumption suggests that the visions, which are strong even with eyes closed, originate in the primary visual cortex. In addition to the visual cortex, ayahuasca enhanced the activity of Brodmann cortical areas 30 and 37, which are involved in the retrieval of episodic memory and the processing of contextual associations. Cortical regions necessary for the integration of individual visual elements into a whole are activated. Activity in Brodmann area 10, a frontal area involved in intentional prospective imagination, working memory, and processing information from internal sources, is also increased [52]. Frontal, temporal, and cingulate gyrus also increased during performance [57].

Figure 5.

Ashaninkas in national costume. Photo taken in 2004. Picture by the author Tomica Hruška.

Figure 6.

Traditional face decoration with the natural color of the Echota plant. Photo taken in 1999. Picture by the author Tomica Hruška.

After oral ingestion of ayahuasca, it takes 30–40 minutes for the effects to set in. There is an increase in blood pressure, an increase in the number of heartbeats and breathing rates, an increase in body temperature, and dilation of the pupils. The duration of the effect is up to 4 hours [45]. Psychological effects include emotional, sensory, and cognitive changes, as well as visual hallucinations [52]. Visual hallucinations are referred to as visions or mirações [58, 59]. Visions occur in a variety of contexts, from simple to complex situations. They are often described as a dream in intense colors. They may see a particular animal or even talk to strangers. All visions of ayahuasca occur from within, that is, without an external stimulus [59].

Studies that have investigated the safety of ayahuasca have proven that it is not harmful to health [26, 45, 58, 60]. Changes such as the increase in heart rate and blood pressure were not significant [45]. It has also been proven that the ritual use of tea is not associated with psychosocial problems that occur with the abuse of other psychoactive drugs [61].

4. Healing through the ayahuasca ritual

Indigenous cultures use various herbal preparations to connect with nature and communicate with spirits beyond our world [3]. Psychedelic plants and mushrooms are used in various forms of religious and cultural life [15, 62, 63], such as initiations into adulthood, seasonal rites, gatherings, and preparations for war [64]. Amazonian shamans use the psychedelic drug ayahuasca to gain different experiences in guided rituals. The goals of this partially religious ritual are the expansion of existing consciousness, the discovery of new states of consciousness, and the attainment of deeper knowledge. During the ceremony, ayahuasca heightens the senses and induces hallucinations based on the participants’ subconscious. Ameroindians in the Amazon traditionally use ayahuasca as a medicine for various physical and psychological ailments. In the absence of doctors, Ameroindians sought help from curanderos for their health problems. Healing is the main purpose of ayahuasca consumption.

Understanding the effects of the ayahuasca ceremony requires an integrative and multidisciplinary approach. Central to this approach is the close connection with nature. According to indigenous shamanic culture, the healing process is linked to the existing relationship between humans and nature [65]. The essence of spirituality and the view of life of traditional indigenous communities is that they do not control nothing, do not own nothing, and that all nature is given to them to use, and they take only as much as they need. In the ritual, the boundaries between the patient, the doctor, the drug, and the environment are removed. During the ceremony, self-awareness disappears, and one becomes one with the environment and the universe. A person’s mental and physical health, as well as the health of the community and the environment, are considered whole rather than separate entities [66]. People react differently during the ceremony depending on the different physical reactions to the active ingredients of ayahuasca, as well as different personal experiences, personalities, environments, and the shaman himself. The shaman reacts depending on the reactions and behavior of the participants in the ceremony. The important role of the shaman in the ritual is to keep the participants of the ritual sane and to ensure that their consciousness does not ‘wander off.’

Ceremony participants are expected not to consume meat but to eat only natural and unprocessed foods for several weeks before and after the ceremony [11]. Shamans believe that an unhealthy diet contributes to evil spirits attacking a person during a ceremony. A plant-based diet is consistent with ayahuasca and the rainforest [11]. Purification in the form of vomiting or sweating is an important moment in the ceremony. Purification removes negative emotions, that is, it is proof of a successful healing.

The healing of participants in the ayahuasca ceremony is achieved not only with the help of the drink but also through special songs, dances, and the whole ritual that connects the participant with the community and nature [12]. Ayahuasceros use sacred chants to invite the spirits to try to heal the participants of the ceremony [67]. The shaman uses sounds through music (chanting, percussion, whistling) to evoke visual stimuli in participants. Many participants were able to indicate how they ‘saw music’ [10]. The rapid change of intense colors, shapes, and geometric patterns triggered by the ayahuasca ceremony becomes a unique, never-before-experienced experience for the individual [67]. The shamans’ ceremonial chants are adapted to the current situation, environment, and participants [68]. Shamans believe that a person’s physical health improves by improving their mental health and vice versa. According to traditional beliefs, a sick person is possessed by a demon or an evil spirit, and the evil forces are expelled from the body through a spiritual ritual [65]. Hallucinogenic drugs evoke visions of spirits manifesting in material forms such as jaguars, birds, and snakes [69]. The healing and victory over diseases of participants in the ceremony may be represented by visions of a snake shedding its skin [65]. The Shipibo believe that they travel to the underworld through hallucinations and encounter a spirit that threatens a sick person, and that the shaman invites good and great spirits to help with healing through chants [70]. The patient has the feeling that during the ritual, he is in a special environment in a kind of sacred space.

Amazonian peoples considered ayahuasca as a carrier of messages from the other world and served as a source of knowledge about other worlds [71]. Ayahuasca and other psychoactive drugs were the only path to true knowledge for many Native American communities [72, 73]. Visions based on personal experiences have special meaning because they convey messages [71]. Rituals bring our hidden memories and feelings back to light and connect us to our deepest feelings and thoughts [74]. The whole ceremony evokes strong religious and spiritual feelings. For many participants in ayahuasca ceremonies, the visions have been radically transformative. There have been cases where people had such a shocking experience during the ritual that they did not want to talk about it, but after the ritual, they became ‘better’ people.

The therapeutic effects of ayahuasca must be considered within a bio-psycho-socio-spiritual framework [75]. The historical and indigenous context is particularly important for understanding ayahuasca. The environment of the Amazon forest and the community is part of the healing. Shamanic rituals are difficult to perform in modern psychiatric institutions. Healing through an ayahuasca ceremony cannot be compared to simply taking medication, as it has a psychosocial and spiritual component in addition to the pharmacological (Figures 7 and 8). Psychiatry has developed a biopsychosocial model that views illness and health as an interrelationship of biological, psychological, and social states [76]. The integrated mental health model lacks the connection to community, nature, and spirituality that is the foundation of shamanic rituals [77]. There are considerations that the exclusively rational and scientific view in psychiatry is too limited [78]. Western scientists strive to understand the healing effects of psychedelic substances, whereas shamans view medicine, environment, and ceremony as an inseparable complex.

Figure 7.

Children under the canopy. Photo taken in 1999. Picture by the author Tomica Hruška.

Figure 8.

Children on the terrace in front of the house. Photo taken in 2011. Picture by the author Matea Stiperski Matoc.

In the early twentieth century, the popular Zen philosopher D. T. Suzuki encouraged military self-sacrifice through the mystical dissolution of the ego [79]. The fragmentation of the ego can be used for violent political purposes. During the secret operation MK-ULTRA in the 1970s, the U.S. military used LSD to militarize the mind by destroying the ego [80]. Psychedelic drugs produced axiosity and crushed people through psychological pressure [81]. The Shuar warriors in Ecuador and Peru used ayahuasca to fight a terrible and powerful spirit that developed murderous abilities [8]. Ayahuasca was used by some indigenous peoples of the Amazon as a bloodthirsty agent in wars. During the rites of aggressive shamanism, people under the influence of ayahuasca knew how to become possessed by ruthless rage against the enemy. The dark side of psychedelics that can dissolve the ego is a warning to all who are completely uncritical of psychedelic alterations of consciousness. The purpose of this mention is not to diminish the positive effects of the substances but to introduce certain negativity, doubt, and caution into the discussion of psychedelics as drugs.

4.1 Experiences with ayahuasca rituals of the Franciscan missionary Tomica Hruška

The ritual ayahuasca experiences of the missionary and Franciscan Tomica Hruška took place in 1999 and 2006 in Atalaya (Figure 9), the town where the Tambo and Urubamba rivers merge into the Ucayali River (Figure 10) in the Peruvian Amazon. At that time, and especially in 1999, Atalaya was a small settlement that developed into a real port city in the following decade. During that time, the Franciscan Tomica Hruška worked as a missionary in remote parts of the Peruvian Amazon and rarely visited the mission station in Atalaya. The ayahuasca ceremonies were performed by a shaman from Atalaya in the traditional manner, although the authenticity of the ayahuasca ritual, in general, is threatened by the commercialization of ayahuasca for tourism. The photographs in this chapter were taken in a larger area along the Ucayali River and are intended to introduce us to the Amazonian communities where the use of ayahuasca was common at the turn of the twenty and twenty-first centuries.

Figure 9.

The city of Atalaya. Photo taken in 2011. Picture by the author Zoran Stiperski.

Figure 10.

The pier of Atalaya on the river Ucayali. Photo taken in 2011. Picture by the author Zoran Stiperski.

The first ritual, 1999. The liana (Banisteriopsis caapi) was chopped into smaller pieces and boiled with other ingredients for hours until a thick, resinous mixture was formed that was then drunk diluted with water. The preparation of ayahuasca itself is ritualistic and spiritual. During the preparation of ayahuasca, which lasted up to 2 hours, we had conversations. The ritual took place in the afternoon, after the preparation of the drink. The ritual took place in a leafy courtyard filled with peace. Since Tomica was tasting ayahuasca for the first time, the curandero gave him a weaker ayahuasca. Soon, he felt a slight pain in the back of his head. He was conscious the whole time. He heard the curanderos reciting songs and asking spiritual beings for help, but he also watched over Tomica to keep him calm. Tomica became aware of his body. He looked at himself in a positive way. His body appeared crystal clear. He saw the light with his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he saw a normal, ordinary environment. When he closed his eyes again, a series of strong visions continued, which he describes as sparkling, rich abstractions and various unknown colors. A very unreal and beautiful experience. Tomica was happy and unencumbered in everyday life afterwards. The visions lasted for about 2 hours. The only consequence is the expected purification of the organism.

Second ritual, 2006. After 7 years, the second ayahuasca ceremony took place. At that time, Tomica was very burdened in his daily life. Since the city of Atalaya had expanded in recent years, the courtyard where the last ceremony took place was no longer nice and quiet on the outskirts of the city, but in the middle of the city, surrounded by the noise of people, cars, motorcycles, and tuk-tuks. The ceremony of Tomica was diametrically different from the first ritual in 1999. There was no more positive light. All energy no longer emanates from the entire body. The second experience was the opposite, he describes it as a helmet on the head with only one hole. Fear and discomfort dominated. Tomica cannot remember much about the ayahuasca ceremony in question. Curanderos noticed this discomfort.

The conclusion of the Franciscan Tomica is that the visions and experiences of the rituals are a reflection of our personal state or even an amplifier of our current inner state. Tomica felt good in everyday life and therefore had a positive vision in 1999, whereas 2006 was a dark time in his life, and the ayahuasca vision was filled with discomfort and anxiety.

5. Artistic record of the ritual experience

Through visionary art, the nebulous becomes visible and conscious. Visionary artists depict visions evoked by psychoactive drugs. Anthropologists cite the Amazonian plant Banisteriopsis caapi, from which ayahuasca is derived, the mushroom Amanita muscaria used by ancient Hindu shamans, and the peyote cactus used by Native Americans, as traditional sources of entheogenic substances. Contemporary visionary artists speak of synthetic psychoactive substances such as LSD as a means of achieving higher states of consciousness [17].

The experiences and visions one has during an ayahuasca ceremony are almost indescribable. Amazon shamans use painting to express their expanded consciousness and deep knowledge after the ayahuasca ritual. The paintings are steeped in the traditional cosmology of understanding the world and the personal experiences on which the visions are based (Figures 11 and 12). In a traditional ayahuasca ceremony, the curanderos drink the potion with the patient and have visions that are responses to the diseases and disorders that plague the patient. On the basis of the painted picture, through which he expresses his visions, the shaman diagnoses the disease. The visions consisted of vivid colors, not necessarily regular geometric abstractions, but a kind of natural geometry in the sense that people and nature were geometrized. The visual experiences ranged from abstract shapes such as circles, triangles, and spirals to culturally specific images such as jaguars, snakes, and mythical landscapes [82]. Animal forms frequently appear in shamanic ceremonies of various cultures around the world and are common motifs in ancient rock paintings [83]. Ayahuasca vision is considered a state of consciousness superior to the normal state of consciousness [3].

Figure 11.

Ashaninka mother with two children. Photo taken in 1999. Picture by the author Tomica Hruška.

Figure 12.

Children in the Peruvian Amazon. Photo taken in 2011. Picture by the author Matea Stiperski Matoc.

The creativity of the Shipibo people in the Peruvian Amazon is evident in the design of useful items and paintings inspired by ritual ayahuasca visions [70]. Patterns on ceramics, clothing, painted bodies, and houses were part of visions during rituals or were dreamed [84]. The vivid visual hallucinations included both intricate geometric shapes and realistic scenes. They considered visions as medicine and painted them on faces, pots, weapons, and houses to protect them. Drawings on the faces of children protected them from disease and death [70]. Patterns inspired by ayahuasca are also found in art, architecture, and as decorations on Tukano pottery and musical instruments [21].

Unusual experiences created by psychedelics are the source of art of our ancient ancestors [85]. The cave drawings at Chauvet (France) and among the San in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa are considered the work of ancient visionary artists. The motifs, otherworldly beings, and stylistic expressions of the ancient cave artists are similar to those of contemporary artists of shamanic visions [86]. Common to all visionary arts are altered states of consciousness, shamanism, and the immediate experience of unusual worlds [86].

6. The role of ayahuasca in modern medicine

In recent decades, the effects of ayahuasca in the treatment of depression and anxiety have been studied [75, 87, 88, 89, 90]. In a study of patients suffering from depressive disorder, symptoms and signs of depression decreased immediately after ingestion of ayahuasca, and the effect lasted for 14 days. It is interesting to note that 14 days was the interval between shamanic rituals in Brazil. More importantly, the effect of ayahuasca began much earlier than conventional antidepressants, as early as 40 minutes after ingestion of the tea [91]. Ayahuasca has also been shown not to cause significant sensory, cognitive, or affective changes at lower doses sufficient to reduce symptoms of depression. It is very important that ayahuasca does not induce mania in patients with mood disorders [92]. Studies have shown that regular ayahuasca consumption can modulate the serotonergic system in the brain in the long term, that is, increases the levels of serotonin transporter (SERT), which explains its beneficial effects in the treatment of depression [91]. A reduction in feelings of hopelessness and panic has been noted in members of the Santo Daime Church who have been taking ayahuasca regularly for at least 10 years [93]. In addition, after consuming ayahuasca, people with social anxiety have more self-confidence when speaking in public [94]. Long-term ayahuasca intake had no negative effects on personality, psychopathology, neuropsychology, outlook on life, or psychosocial well-being; on the contrary, ayahuasca users showed fewer psychopathological symptoms, better scores on neuropsychological tests, higher levels of spirituality, and better psychosocial adjustment than the control group [95].

In addition to its anxiolytic and antidepressant effects, ayahuasca is considered effective in the treatment of addiction [18, 47, 61, 75]. Treated patients reported therapeutic effects such as increased body awareness, decreased craving for drugs, stimulated emotional processes (catharsis, awareness of previously suppressed emotions), self-analysis, and increased self-efficacy [96]. Furthermore, in most studies, fewer religious ayahuasca users had alcohol problems than the control groups [60, 61]. Interestingly, most people had a history of alcoholism, drug use, and domestic violence before joining the União do Vegetal Church in Brazil. Through the religion and regular intake of ayahuasca, their addiction and dysfunctional behavior disappeared [60]. In 1992, the Takiwasi Center for the Rehabilitation of Drug Addicts and Research of Traditional Medicines was founded in Peru. The centre uses a mixed approach of Western medicine and traditional Amazonian medicine based on local herbs, including ayahuasca [75]. Although this form of treatment has been known in South America for many years, more and more Americans and Europeans are becoming interested in ayahuasca and shamanistic healing, which is why they travel to the Amazon to participate in traditional ceremonies [97].

Finally, it is important to mention the effects of ayahuasca on the endocrine and immune systems. Two hours after ingestion of ayahuasca, an increase in prolactin and cortisol was measured, which returned to their original level within 24 hours. Increased cortisol decreases the proportion of CD3 and CD4 lymphocytes and increases the proportion of natural killer (NK) cells. This effect is transient and returns to baseline levels after 24 hours. A decrease in CD3 and CD4 lymphocytes is considered harmful, whereas an increase in NK cells is beneficial because they are an important component of immunity against virus-infected cells and cancer cells. Acute stress also leads to an increase in cortisol levels and a redistribution of lymphocytes. According to recent research, acute stress is thought to have a modulatory rather than an inhibitory effect on the immune system. Ayahuasca showed significant neuroendocrine stimulation and modulatory effect on cell-mediated immunity [98]. Interestingly, shamans in South America lived to a ripe old age in better physical and mental health than most Westerners. This is due in part not only to a healthy diet but also to the regular intake of ayahuasca (often several times a week) throughout most of their lives [41, 99].

7. The spread of ayahuasca from the traditional Amazon world

Ayahuasca has spread from the traditional world of the Amazon to numerous countries in South and North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and some Asian countries [100]. Various experiences with ayahuasca, accompanied by the media and the Internet, attract various recreational and professional circles [100]. The syncretic religious group of the Church of Santo Daime in Brazil uses ayahuasca as a sacrament. They consider ayahuasca and other psychedelic drugs as the only path to true knowledge [71]. The Brazilian União do Vegetal is a Christian spiritualist religion present in Spain and the United States that uses psychoactive tea from the Amazon rainforest in its rituals [5]. The use of the ayahuasca beverage in religious ceremonies is officially recognized and legally permitted in Brazil for a few religious groups [101]. It is estimated that there are at least 15,000 urban monthly ayahuasca users in South America [26]. In particular, the churches of the Brazilian syncretic ayahuasca religion pose a major challenge to Western liberal democracies that advocate criminal drug control and constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom [100]. There have already been court cases in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States over the religious use of ayahuasca [100, 102].

In Australia, rituals are performed by neo-shamans using native acacia trees [103]. Traditional shamanistic ceremonies are changing due to colonialism and globalization [104]. With the globalization of cultures, the roots of the geographical, social, and cultural context of the ayahuasca ritual disappear [100]. Shamanic ayahuasca tourism is spreading worldwide as shamanic ayahuasca ceremonies have become increasingly popular in recent decades (Figures 13 and 14). Four main reasons for shamanic tourism in the Peruvian Amazon are cited as follows: self-exploration and spiritual growth; curiosity; physical and emotional healing; and vacation in an exotic place [105]. Authenticity, the archaic past, a sense of spirituality, and sacredness are important to tourists [105]. The feeling of emptiness in one’s own culture and the absence of social traditions encourage the desire to experience shamanism [9, 14]. The spread of ayahuasca ceremonies outside the Amazon raises the question of cultural appropriation of traditional indigenous knowledge [100]. Neo-shamans and especially false shamans often dilute the ancient, systematized tradition before the eyes of tourists and the contemporary non-Amazonian population in the Amazon. The commercialization of ayahuasca erases ancient knowledge and adapts to new concepts of spirituality and culture. The benefits and harms of ayahuasca can help inform strategies for responsible and effective regulation of its use. Ayahuasca could gain the status of a traditional indigenous medicine and sacrament in religious communities [100].

Figure 13.

Children of the Ashaninka. Photo taken in 1999. Picture by the author Tomica Hruška.

Figure 14.

Children of the Ashaninka. Photo taken in 2011. Picture by the author Zoran Stiperski.

8. Conclusion

The main objective of this chapter is to clarify the meaning of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca and consequently of the shamanic ayahuasca ceremony among the indigenous peoples of Amazonia. In accordance with the constant changes in the world, there is a transformation of the use of ayahuasca in the Amazon and its emergence in modern Western societies. ‘Travels’ to ‘other worlds’ with psychedelic drugs have been known for a long time. The first records of the ritual use of ayahuasca date back to 3000 B.C. in the upper Amazon. Spanish and Portuguese explorers of the Amazon introduced Europeans to ayahuasca in the early sixteenth century. Ayahuasca is obtained as a psychoactive herbal tea by long boiling of the bark and stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub.

The traditional Amazon population engaged in hunting, fishing, fruit gathering, and rudimentary agriculture. Hunter-gatherer and slash-and-burn agriculture do not allow dense settlement in the inhospitable environment of the Amazon rainforest. Long-term isolation from higher civilizations has been their historical reality. The absence of any form of modern medicine based on Western principles of evidence required them to develop specific creative responses, as societies tend to develop models to cure disease. The main goal of the ayahuasca ceremony is to diagnose the disease and heal the person. Thus, a shaman is first and foremost a doctor in the modern sense of the word. Because of the traditional intertwining of medicine and religion, he is a shaman and a priest. The psychedelic drug ayahuasca was a means of diagnosing diseases and medicine itself. Ayahuasca was taken in the form of a systematized ritual under the guidance of a shaman. Participants in ayahuasca ceremonies experience various visions that are intense and difficult to describe. As visual artists, the shamans attempt to materialize and describe their visions by painting pictures. The painted pictures become a diagnosis of the disease.

The intrusion of Western influences into the Amazon through Christian missionaries, oil companies, farmers, planters, and armies, as well as the efforts of national governments to implement numerous development projects in energy, communications, agriculture, and industry, and the immigration of population are transforming traditional Amazonian societies. With the advent of hospitals and modern doctors, the importance of shamans and ayahuasca ceremonies is diminishing, especially in the treatment of physical ailments. Shamanic ayahuasca rituals in the Amazon have attracted tourists for several decades. Shamans and neo-shamans are facing new challenges, but new business opportunities are also opening for them. Westerners primarily hope for new insights and experiences, self-exploration, and emotional healing from shamans. The ayahuasca ritual faces transformational challenges. Brazil’s new syncretic Christian, Spiritist, and Afro religions, which use ayahuasca for their religious rituals, have put national governments throughout the liberal world in a quandary over how to balance constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms with criminal control of psychedelic drugs. In the West, there are numerous court cases about the procedure for the permitted use of ayahuasca. In 2008, Peru recognized the use of ayahuasca as traditional medicine and Peruvian national heritage. Ayahuasca is attractive to many people in North and South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and some Asian countries. This attraction is supported by recent research showing that supervised ingestion of ayahuasca has a positive effect in treating depression and anxiety.