12.5 Witch Doctor of the Wayanas

This is a perspective of shamans and healers from the standpoint of an ethnobotanist. The setting is Amazonia.

Shamanism is a nature-spirit religion. It has its own rites, traditions, and world view. Adherents of shamanism believe that a continuum exists between the natural and the supernatural, and that the forces of the physical world and the spirit world exist in equilibrium. The shaman, a combination healer-priest is at home in both worlds and is also responsible as the keeper of the tribe's traditions and lore. As such, the shaman offers spiritual guidance on proper spiritual conduct.

Most important of all, the Amazonian shaman is a powerful medicine man. In the shamanist tradition, a disease is thought to result from any number of causes, including the breaking of a taboo, the casting of a magic spell, the anger of the gods, or disharmony between the physical and spiritual worlds. Some illnesses have readily identifiable symptoms and traditional cures. But, in cases that are serious or that resist treatment with plants along, the shaman consults the spirit world to learn the origin of a disease and its cure. Visiting the spirits typically involves entering a trance.

In Eurasia, the trance is entered by ingesting the fly agaric mushroom. In Mexico, the Huichol Indian healers eat the 'buttons' of the peyote, a tiny cactus with halucinogenic cactus. Yanomamo use ebene. Other shamans enter an ecstatic state by dancing, chanting magical words and phrases, or beating rhythmically on a drum. On such occasions, shamans may carry ritual objects such as rattles or mirrors, and may wear symbolic clothing. (My note: are green scrubs, surgical masks, and stethoscopes symbolic clothing? If you ask them, don't tell them you got that idea from me!)

While shamans invoke spirits and use sacred rituals to treat their patients, the process is not entirely magical. In addition to their broad and detailed knowledge of the healing properties of the local flora, shamans also employ such practices as relaxation and message, hypnosis, visualization, and dietary prescriptions to treat their patients. Many of these therapies, including aromatherapy, message, and stress management techniques are now being 'discovered' by Western health practitioners.

A bit of ethnomedicine appears in Shakespeare's Macbeth. "toe of frog" and "root of hemlock" contain substances that are both toxic and hallucinogenic. In the play, these are used by the witches in the opening scene who are stirring the magic brew.

Alkaloids are the chemical compounds most common in tropical plants. The chemistry of alkaloids is not know to shamans; however, their presence is easily reveal by their bitter taste. The astringent taste is a clue to shamans that a plant has therapeutic qualities. Thus, medicinals made from bitter-tasting plants are considered medically active. For thousands of years, indigenous peoples have built up an inventory of medicinals from the rain forest. Shamans and healers in the rain forest do practice pharmacology, an aspect of their knowledge that is of immense interest to us.

..... CJ '96

Resource and recommended reading:

Plotkin, M. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice New York: Penguin, 1994.