SOME ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF YAGE

JEFFREY LINZER
Alfred Metraux (1948) relates a Cashinawa tribe story of the origin of yage, called ayahuasca by these South American Indians:

The intoxicating properties of ayahuasca were revealed to men by a water spirit. A man who had observed her intimate relations with a tapir, managed to capture her. She took him under the water and gave him a decoction of ayahuasca, which provoked strange troubles in him, but also made him see wonderful visions. He returned to this world and revealed the secret to his fellow tribesmen. He was swallowed successively by several serpents, but still had time to teach men how to use ayahuasca.

While the legend suggests that yage has roots in the mythic past, its use remained unknown to Western scientists until little more than a century ago. According to Schultes (1965), the earliest mention of yage seems to be that of Villavicencio in his geography of Ecuador, written in 1858. Since that time, numerous anthropologists and pharmacologists have investigated the drug, and what must be regarded as a composite picture of its nature and use has taken shape.

Known by various indigenous names, such as ayahuasca, natima,, caapi, and others, yage is used regularly by the Indians of the regions along the affluents of the upper Orinoco and upper Amazon rivers (Cooper, 1948). In northwestern Brazil and in adjacent parts of Colombia, it is termed caaPi; in Amazonian Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, ayahuasca; along the eastern foothills of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador, it is yage (Schultes, 1965).

Yage is cultivated over most of the area, but it is also gathered wild. In 1908, Spruce identified the source of the drug as Banisteria caapi, a woody vine of the family Malpighiaceae. More recently, Schultes (1965) reports that yage is now known to be a decoction or infusion prepared basically from species (A Banisterio psis, mainly B. caapi, B. inebrians, and B. rusbyana.

In 1928, Lewin, among the first to investigate the active principles of Banisteria caapi, found that the alkaloid isolated from this plant, named "telepathine," "yageine," or "banisterine," was identical with harmine, 'an alkaloid from the seeds of wild rue. In the molecule of harmine is the indole nucleus found in serotonin, which is also present in reserpine and LSD-25. Recent chemical investigations by Hochstein and Paradies (1957) suggest that, in addition, the alkaloids harmaline and d-tetrahydroharrnine, discovered in B. caapi, "may have substantial psychotomimetic activity in their own right."

Prepared as a boiled decoction or a cold-water infusion, the yage drink may require repeated doses and comparatively large quantities to be effective, depending on the potency of the particular preparation. Its immediate effect, according to Karsten (1935), Taylor (1963), and Lowie (1948), is almost instantaneous vomiting, both by the experienced Indians and by the explorers who have tried it. This was not noted by Earner (1966) or Schultes (1965). Norman Taylor (1963) has written of this facet of yage:

This vomiting, in fact, is apparently Nature's method of preparing the user for the final effects. Pharmacologists have described the Mi-tial reactions as giving rise to "coarse tremors and colonic convulsions." Following this purification, yage begins the work for which the Indians have cultivated it for centuries.

Lowie (1948) reports fantastic, hashish-type hallucinations among the yage experiences of the Tucano tribe of the north-west Amazon region. Visions appear, huge and brilliantly colored; multihued snakes are frequently encountered. The most common effects of yage among the Tucano are vomiting, followed by trembling and giddiness. Giddiness leads to exhaustion and deep sleep, in which occur visions of intense vividness, imbued with a bluish light. Perhaps the most unique of the yage effects reported by Lowie is the presence of clairvoyance and the capacity for communication with the "spirit world." Claims for such powers are considered to be unfounded by Schultes (1965).

Harner (1966), who first encountered yage among the Jivaro Indians in eastern Ecuador in 1956, notes this sense of clairvoyance among the features common to the experience. He reports the experience of the soul as separate from the body; the viewing of one's own death; the feeling of flying, sometimes as a great bird; the seeing of cities as from a great height; and sharper vision in the dark. A common vision, noted by Hamer, is the encounter with jungle animals, such as tigers, jaguars, and snakes.

In a study on the effects of yage on volunteers at the University of Chile, Dr. Claudio Naranjo (1966) found that a number of the experiences were remarkably similar to those reported to Hamer (1966) by the Indians of Ecuador and Peru. Encounters with predatory animals were reported, although none of the urban volunteers had been told that the drug came from the Amazon, nor had they ever visited a jungle where such animals lived. Harner states (1966) : "Just what causes the similarities is an entirely open question. It would be a mistake just to ascribe it to a biochemical reaction without more research being done."

Karsten (1935), working in Ecuador, remarked:

White settlers at Canelos and Macas who have tried yage have in part had the same experiences as the Indians, seeing wonclérful landscapes, hills, and rivers, beautiful birds, etc. Those particular "spirits," on the other hand, whom the Indians profess to see, do not of course present themselves to a person who does not share their religious ideas and superstitions.

The most comprehensive account of the "religious ideas and superstitions" of the Indians of the upper Amazon region is Karsten's description of the Jivaro traditions in The Head-Hunters of Western Amazonas ( 193 5 ) .
The Jivaros believe that only in dreams is true reality revealed. Normal, waking life is held to be a delusion. In dreams, the truth is told through the agent of spirits and demons, who act as friends and advisers. There are no enemies in the dream visions, for it is the impersonal soul that speaks.

While dreams occurring in natural sleep do have prognostic significance, it is only in yage-induced dreams that the spirits are compelled by conjuration to give information about future events. It is this precious power of divination that is especially prized by the Indians. The spirits consulted in the yage dream state are essentially ancestors, but are also considered to be the souls of the banisteria vines.

Among the Jivaros, the state of intoxicated revelation is called wuimektinyu, which means "to see." They see fantastic landscapes, with their representative spirits. Hill spirits are especially important, because these are the souls of dead sorcerers, who hold a position of special importance in Jivaro society. In general, visions appropriate to the occasion appear, in the form of ancestors, personified objects, and other spirits, which are consulted for advice.

The Jivaro warrior is able to benefit from the appearance in his yage dream of these spirit forms because of a whole background of mythological and cultural beliefs. When he meets the spirits, the "Old Ones," he is not surprised or horrified, as we might be, for he is familiar from childhood with the spirit mythology. The tribe has two mythic ancestors; both are warriors, who give advice in matters of war. Most of the other spirits take the form of animal demons, mainly of three categories.

First are the feline animals, "soacha"—tigers, cougars, those jungle beasts that haunt the yage hallucinations of so many white explorers.

The second category of animal demons includes the Giant Snake, the great mythical water monster, "pangi," whose symbolism extends far beyond the realm of the Jivaro yage dream.

The other group of dream animals met under yage are the jungle birds, which are large birds of prey.

Concerning these standard yage images, Naranjo has written (1966) : "It seems that the kind of experience a person has with the tiger or dragon—the potentially hostile creature —depends on his way of experiencing himself." As in Jungian analysis, wherein one becomes acquainted with the dark aspects of the unconscious, the Jivaro does not fear the demon or animal he has dreamed about if he meets him later in waking form. Karsten writes (1935) : "In the dream he has, once and for all, become acquainted with these phenomena, normally so terrible to the Indians; he knows their true nature and has been hardened against them."

If in yage sleep no dreams occur, it is regarded as a bad omen; the elders concur that the dreamless individual "is not a real man." Thus there is sociocultural pressure upon the Jivaro to dream and to face the demons of the dream unconscious. If the yage taker sees demons and becomes frightened, this too is adjudged a bad omen by the elders.

Because of the effects and mythological significance of yage, a number of ritual occasions and annual feasts have developed that center around the drug. One of the most important of these is the victory feast of the Jivaro head-hunters, described by Karsten (1935), which follows the conquest of an enemy. On the first day, no drugs are used, and the ritual consists of singing and dancing from evening to morning, culminating in a beautiful ritual, the bath in the river. All the ceremonies connected with this feast have the object of protecting the victor from the spirit of his defeated enemy.

The second day of the victory feast is called "the drinking of the natéma," natéma being the Jivaro word for yage. Ritual preparation includes the crushing, boiling, and mixing with tobacco of the banisteriopsis vine. An ornate ceremonial schedule attends this preparation of the yage.

The object of the initial ceremony is to establish a spiritual connection between the slayer, who is supposed to be filled with supernatural power, and the yage drink itself, with its attendant spirits. The drinking is ceremonial; everyone "who wants to dream," including every member of the slayer's family, partakes. The victory feast is indeed a community project, a form of ritual group ecstasy.

Two rows of beautifully ornamented clay dishes contribute to the formal setting within the house of the slayer. Before each of the repeated drinkings, a long conjuration is sung by the drinker, summoning the yage spirits. Ritual vomiting, if such a term is conceivable, follows each drink. As the drinking ceremony has been preceded by ritual fasting, it is only the yage that is vomited up. When the drinking has been repeated a sufficient number of times, the slayer and his family remain in their house and lapse into the dream state, while the other participants retire to the forest to dream.

Later, the dreams are told to and interpreted by the elders. The object of yage drinking at the victory feast is to ascertain whether everything will turn out favorably for the slayer —whether he will have a long life, attain material prosperity, and be lucky in his undertakings. These are revealed symbolically in the dreams of the slayer and his nearest relatives. At the same time, the other drinkers who have partaken of the sacred drink are personally benefited by being purified from impure and disease-bringing matter, and gaining strength for their respective occupations.

In the early evening, ritual dancing begins, and is continued through the entire night until sunrise, ending in the ritual river bath.

The victory feast and similar celebrations are special yage events. A much more regular use of the drug, involving a ritual of a very different nature, is involved in its use by the shaman, or medicine man. This specialist is consulted in all matters of particular importance, and, by drinking an especially strong decoction of yage, he confers with the spirits. The preparation of the drink is different from that employed at festivals; a whole day of boiling the vine, accompanied by intensive ritual chanting, produces a very strong decoction.
The procedure followed by the medicine man in the process of divination and curing follows a prescribed ritual pattern (Karsten, 1935). Following the preparation of the yage, in the evening, the curer drinks a quantity of the strong decoction, then visits the home of the person seeking help. Working in complete darkness, the medicine man drinks tobacco water and chants a long conjuration imploring the spirit of tobacco to take possession of him to aid in the diagnosis. After another cup of yage, he leans over the prone patient and begins to sing prescribed conjurations. In the course of chanting, he may drink more yage. In fact, he may take as many doses as are necessary for him to achieve the desired level of intoxication. If this level were not attained, he could not conjure forth the required demons, and the treatment would be to no avail. Yet this state must be provoked gradually, in order to avoid overly violent outbursts of spiritual ecstasy. It is for this reason that the drink is taken repeatedly in small doses.

One of the main principles in Indian conjuration is that the remedy must be sought where the evil or disease has its origins; the same spirits that have caused the illness must also be compelled to cure it. The medicine man sends the conjuring words through his hand to that part of the patient's body believed to be the seat of the evil. He chants, for example:

I, myself [conjure you demons],
the water boa, possessing the arrow,
and the anaconda, the anaconda,
you that were once men,
and whose "arrows" I have seen when
intoxicated by yage,
you that are full of arrows;
the tiger, sending the arrow,
[may you come] to draw out the arrow! (Karsten, 1935)

Ackerknect (1948) has pointed out that divination, involving contact with the supernatural, often in conjunction with a trance, is the usual diagnostic method among primitives. The South American medicine man, however, has specialized in the artificial trance; nowhere else are drugs so consistently used to induce this state.

Among the Jivaros and Canelos tribes, divination consisting of yage trance is continually practiced by the medicine man or shaman, chiefly in connection with the treatment of illnesses. The shaman is considered a physician, not a priest; _his chief business is to kill or harm other people, enemies, with sorcery, and to cure the evils sent by enemy sorcerers.

To become a member of this very respected craft requires a solemn and challenging period of initiation, involving stringent ascetic practices and serious study. Just as drinking yage is essential in the practice of South American sorcery, so it plays a vital role in the training process. The novice shaman drinks this drug every morning to familiarize himself with the demons who will serve as his medical assistants in the future. In ritual dreams under yage, he goes to the riverbank and summons the anaconda demon, who rises from the river, speaks to him as a friend, and gives him the tunchi, the important Magic Arrow, symbolic of the sting of the venomous snake. The shaman, in his operation, behaves like a poisonous snake poised for action. He is supposed to carry the poison in his mouth; when he shoots his "arrow," he whistles and hisses.

The office of shaman is not without its disadvantages. A Jivaro or Condos medicine man is reserved and taciturn, states Karsten (1935); his eyes are dull and veiled, a consequence of his permanent habit of yage drinking.

In the Jivaro traditions, representative of the ritual use of yage among the many tribes of the upper Orinoco and upper Amazon rivers, we see the use of a psychedelic drug as an integral part of community life. The extent to which yage plays a role in the culture of South American Indian tribes is indicated by Villavicencio in his geography of Ecuador, written in 1858. Yage is used, he reported,

to foresee and answer accurately in difficult cases, be it to reply opportunely to ambassadors from other tribes in a question of war; to decipher plans of the enemy through the medium of this magic drink and take proper steps for attack and defense; to ascertain, when a relative is sick, what sorcerer has put on the hex; to carry out a friendly visit to other tribes; to welcome foreign travelers or, at least, to make sure of the love of their womenfolk.

(Schultes, 1965)