1. Commonalities of Healing Among the Amazonian Shamans
By:
Katherine Venegas
The National College of Natural Medicine

2. Amidst the Andes Mountains, the Amazon Jungle spans 1.4 billion acres
and is considered the most world’s most biologically diverse area with a minimum
of 40,000 plant species and hundred of indigenous tribes. Among this lush and
wide land, there is a conglomerate of tribes that are similar in terms of their
healing paradigms, but different in cultural aspects. For the indigenous people of
South America, some of the Amazon’s plants hold curative and magical
properties, which are often only known to the tribe’s doctor and spiritual leader,
the shaman or piai. This word comes from the Tupi language, which was spoken
by nearly all natives before the Portuguese arrived in Brazil, and is still used
today in Paraguay and Bolivia. The shamans of the Amazon have commonalities
that reach from the west to the east and include fasting, singing, sexual
abstinence, and tobacco use to induced out-of-body experiences.
A piai is considered an agent of the supernatural, whose calling is not only
to heal but to “predict the future, interpret signs or omens, stop the natural
elements from harming humans, charm game, distribute magical strength to
those who need it, and organize and preside over religious ceremonies and
dances.” In many cases, the shaman possesses the entire knowledge of a tribe;
he serves as a history and traditions keeper, linking thousands of years of
Amazonian knowledge. Due to the amount of power he has over a tribe, the
shaman can be one of the most respected or hated members of the tribal
community. Many people will leave gifts of tobacco and food at their doorsteps,
but if the shamans were selfishly abusing his powers, he would pay with his life.

3. In an extreme case, the Carib tribe of Guyana will kill the shaman, his family and
destroy all his belongings. It is interesting to note, that even the most hated
shamans will still have many tribes people attend his funeral to pay respects.
As with most civilizations, the role of the shaman is traditionally linked to
males only. Few Amazonian tribes allow the female shaman to heal other, but
they tend to only practice simple modalities like botanical medicine and prayer.
On the other hand, male shamans participate in more ‘self-injuring’ behaviors like
long periods of fasting, ingestion of herbal concoctions to induce hallucinations,
vomiting, and sleep deprivation. This is due to the philosophy that the shaman
must harm himself to heal his patient. Shamans are also expected to embody
the duality of healing some and harming others that offend the tribe. During the
public initiation of a shaman, young shamans ingest large quantities of tobacco
juice, which renders them unconscious. During this time, the shaman must
search for his soul in the spirit world and reconnect it to his body. Once this task
is accomplished, the young man is able to shamanize on his own, which mainly
consists of “dying” and crossing over to the spirit realms to bid for the health of
his patient. To prepare for an initiation or healing ceremony, shamans may
abstain from sex and food, especially meat, for days at a time.
The use of tobacco is common among the shamans of South America,
and it is believed that the Amazonian tribes cultivated tobacco long before
Europeans. The main types of tobacco used in the Amazons are Nicotiana

4. rustica and N. Tabacum. The majority of Amazonian tribes use tobacco, Petun,
as a primary hallucinogenic trance inducer, because it is believed that tobacco
attracts spirits and helps shaman’s spirit to fly away with the wings of the
kumalak bird to the “Land Without Dawn” and the “Land Without Evening.” The
ritual begins with the intake of a large amount of tobacco or bark tea while
singing malik, songs that describe the flight of the shaman’s soul and his
adventures in regions of the spirits. Some tribes, such as the Urubu tribe of
Brazil smoke foot long tawari cigars that are approximately half an inch thick.
These cigars are smoked with rapid inhalation and exhalation until the shaman
groans in pain and begins to summon the spirits. Once the shaman regains
consciousness, he exhales smoke onto the area of illness while continuing to
sing prayers. Finally, the illness is sucked up by the shaman and thrown into the
universe. It is said that some shamans store the illness residues and throw them
at their enemies. Other tribes, like the Jivaro, drink significant amounts of
tobacco juice, made by mincing the leaves and letting them boil in water. During
special curing ceremonies, the Jivaro men drink tobacco and ayahuasca
(Banisteriopsis caapi) together to strengthen to the shaman’s magic. It is also
common among tribes for the shaman to vomit the substances used to induce
the trance. According to Akawaio philosophy, vomited tree bark turns into a tree
spirit that will help with shamanic healing. Vomiting also renders the shaman
thin, which is ideal for borrowing the wings of spirit birds.

5. Shamans use these hallucinogens to contact with the “spirits of the
ladder,” which also allows the shaman’s soul access to the spirit realm or for the
spirits to descend into the shaman’s body. (This ladder can also be found in
Mayan mythology.) It is interesting to note that shamans describe a human body
with the wings and head of a bird, which comes to take them to the spirit realm,
must like the deities in Egyptian mythology. Once the shaman has reached the
spirit world, he will contact disease-causing or disease-fighting spirits to negotiate
with them on behalf of his patient. It is said that as the shaman’s soul returns to
its body, a long rustling noise followed by a ‘thump’ can be heard.
According to Alfred Métraux, a well-respected anthropologist, South
American shamans have “ fundamental similarities justify a global treatment
despite the linguistic and cultural differences between tribes dispersed across
this immense area.” Among these commonalities are the use of tobacco or other
hallucinogenic plants along with ritualistic singing and fasting to allow the
shaman’s spirit to leave his body and enter into alternate realms. The medical
and spiritual systems of the Amazonian shamans are complex and differ from
tribe to tribe, but they are still very similar. Unfortunately, many of the tribesmen
have been influenced by Europeans and Christians, and have lost many of their
native traditions, but with the work of dedicated anthropologists, we can all learn
about the healing powers of the forest and nature.

6. Bibliography
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Kaufman, Terrence. “The Native Languages of South America.” Atlas of the
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Métraux, Alfred. “Climbing the Twisted Ladder to Initiation.” Shamans Through
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