Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon (33 page)

Significant among the shamanic tools used by mestizo shamans are piedras,
or piedras encantadas, magic stones, sometimes called just encantos, charms;
such stones are called inkantos by the Machiguenga and Shipibo.i In fact, dona
Maria's father was a tabaquero who kept two magic stones, one male and one
female, in a jar filled with a mixture of tobacco and water. When dona Maria
was about eight years old, while her father still lived with the family, she saw
him work with the stones twice. She could see the spirits of the stones: they
both had very dark skin and long black hair. The male spirit of the stone had
dark red eyes like huayruro seeds. His mouth was painted red, the color of
sorcery-magia roja, red magic, the worst kind. He could stick his tongue
out all the way to his chest, as is typical of sorcerers; his magical phlegm was
filled with scorpions, snakes, and toads.

She told her father that one of the stones was good and one was evil. "Why
are you practicing sorcery?" she asked. "It is just to defend myself from attacks by sorcerers," he told her; but after that he hid when he worked with the
stones. The thought occurred to Maria to steal the magic stones, but she did
not. If she had taken the stones, she told me, she could have become a gran
bruja, a great sorceress; but it is better that she did not, for that is not where
her heart was. Sorcerers, she said, "bring harm to people for nothing."

Indeed, the evil spirit of her father's magic stone gave her eight chances
to turn toward sorcery, she said; the spirit told her that, if she did not take
the opportunity he offered her, she would never have the chance again. But in
fact, Maria said, she had numerous opportunities to turn toward sorcery-a
temptation to which she claimed never to have yielded.

In the dream journey that constituted her coronacion as a prayer healer, dona Maria dreamed that she passed by a stream in which piedritas, magical
stones of all kinds, large and small, were singing to her: "Welcome, welcome,
maestra, doctora." Dona Maria counts magic stones among her animal protectors, since the imanes, spirits, of the stones convert into black boas, yellow
boas, condors, and macaws in order to protect her. Such stones are living beings, which are activated by tobacco smoke.2

A magic stone may-but need not-be striking in appearance, color,
shape, or texture, which indicates that it is, in fact, encantada. The stone may
be shaped like a person or animal, like a snake or a jaguar claw, or have an
unusual color, or be visually attractive, or just be rare.3 The stone may turn up
in an unusual place or behave oddly; among the Aguaruna, a magic stone is
often found in the stomach or crop of an animal as it is being cleaned.4 The
stone may speak to the shaman, or the spirit of the stone may appear in the
shaman's dreams or in an ayahuasca vision. Cocama shaman don Juan Curico
says that encantos are stones that with time have taken the shape of jungle
animals or human body parts. He himself has stones in the shape of a snail,
the head of an anaconda, the head of a crocodile, a human hand, and a human
head.5

Crystals are particularly prized; they are, says one mestizo shaman, luz
solidificada, solidified light, with a celestial origin.' Ordinary piedra pedernal,
flint-"like a crystal, but black," dona Maria explained to me-may be a powerful magic stone, perhaps in part because it is not native to the Amazon. Such
stones come from Lima, I was told; they are about three inches long. If you
put the stone in a glass jar of water and then drink the water, dona Maria said,
the stone takes away shame, sorrow, and anxiety.

The doctrine of signatures applies to stones as well as to plants. Don Francisco Montes Shuna says that a shaman can tell what stones have power, and
what power they have, by looking at their shape and color. A stone of white
marble can be an arcana, protection, because it purifies, cleanses, and protects the body; a red stone can nourish the blood; crystals give vision and clarity.7 A stone in the shape of a human hand can take away pain from the body
part on which it is placed.'

Magic stones will stick for several hours to the place on the body where
sorcery has struck, suck out the harm-the dart, the insect, the scorpion, the
phlegmosity-and then drop off. Stones can also be used to rub the place
where the sickness is located, to loosen it before sucking.

Just as the shaman drinks the plants in order to master them, the shaman
drinks the magic stones. The shaman leaves the stone in water for a day, observing la dieta, blowing tobacco smoke over it, telling the stone what the shaman wants to know, and finally drinking the water. The spirit of the stone
will then appear in a dream and teach the shaman what the shaman seeks.
The spirit of the stone can also be seen when drinking ayahuasca; the stones
can be kept in a tobacco infusion, and the tobacco may be drunk. "It is something admirable," says don Juan Curico, "to share the wisdom of millionsyear-old beings. "9

Beliefs about magic stones are widespread in the Upper Amazon. Among
the Waiwai, a magic stone, called nukwa, appears in the mouth of the apprentice shaman during a dream; holding the stone in his mouth, the apprentice
learns to sing the magic songs.'° Similarly, Warao shamans acquire magic
stones that descend into their mouths during dreams." Among the Aguaruna,
magic stones are generally used for a variety of purposes-hunting, seduction, planting, warfare. These stones have souls and can assume human form
in dreams; they can drink blood, eat souls, and run away if not properly fed. 12
Rock crystals among the Desana are invested with complex cosmological and
sexual symbolism. The stones are fed on tobacco and stored in water infusions of tobacco; these nicotine-rich infusions are drunk in order to communicate with the spirits of the stones.13

Tukano shamans have thunder stones, some used to cure sickness and
some used as weapons against enemies. In particular, a translucent stone is
held between thumb and forefinger, like a lens, to examine the body of a patient and determine the location of pathogenic intrusions, signaled by sudden
reflections or shifts in translucency. This stone is then placed on the spot, and
the intrusive object is sucked out through the stone.14

Yagua shamans keep two kinds of magic stones-small stones called soulstones or invisible stones, which are kept safe in the stomach; and visible stones,
which are kept in a bag hung around the neck. No shaman ever shows these
visible stones, saying that they would then lose their power. Blowing tobacco
smoke on these stones increases their size a hundredfold; when small, they
may be used as weapons, just like darts; when enlarged with tobacco smoke,
they became a barrier of protection. Shamans can also keep pieces of glass,
called transparent stones, in their stomach, which they can regurgitate and place
in the beer gourds of their victims; when swallowed, they cut up the body
from the inside.'

The Machiguenga apprentice receives stones from an invisible celestial being who appears in the apprentice's ayahuasca vision. The stones must be fed
regularly with tobacco smoke; when they are thus nourished, they turn into
jaguars.,' Machiguenga shamans acquire these stones-light-colored or transparent, especially quartz crystals-during initiation or from the shaman's father or other close relative. These stones are considered the body, or residence, or material manifestation of the spirits. The shaman carries the stones
in a small bag and feeds the stones tobacco daily; if the shaman fails to do so,
the spirits will leave the stones, and the shaman will die.'7 Canelos Quichua
believe that the spirits in their magic stones are those of dead shamans.,' If
you gently blow on such a stone, you will see condensation appear on its surface; this shows that the stone "has breath," that it is a powerful shaman.19

SHAMANS AND HERBALISTS

Mestizo shamanism of the Upper Amazon is closely associated with plant
healing; indeed, anthropologist Francoise Barbira-Freedman speaks of vegetalismo as a syncretic mix of herbalism and shamanism., In this regard it is
different from other Amazonian traditions, where shamans and herbalists occupy separate social and cultural niches.

In some Amazonian cultures, knowledge of medicinal plants is widespread
and used by everyone, not only by specialists-among the Asheninka, for example, where herbal healing is especially the province of older women.2 An
Asheninka shaman has no need to be a good herbalist; anthropologist Marc
Lenaerts noted that one widely respected Asheninka shaman could identify
considerably fewer wild medicinal plants than the average adult. In fact, plant
knowledge was deprecated. When Lenaerts commented on the effectiveness
of a treatment, he was told, disdainfully, "Everybody knows that plant, even
the children. 113

Shuar shamans have traditionally not used or prescribed plant medicine;
such knowledge is widely distributed, especially among women, and herbal
remedies have usually been tried before consulting a shaman in any event.4
Anthropologist Michael Harner, who worked with the Shuar in the 195os and
ig6os, is unequivocal: shamans, he says, never use herb remedies.s Aguaruna
and Achuar shamans, too, are generally called in only when a patient has already failed to respond to herbal remedies or commercial medicines.6

In some cultures, herbal specialists are differentiated from other types
of healers. The Cashinahua of the Purus River classify shamans into two
groups-the dauya, the one with medicine, who kills and heals through the
use of medicinal plants; and the mukaya, the one with bitterness, who heals
and kills with the help of the yuxin, spirits, using a bitter substance called muka, which is the materialization of yuxin power.? Among the ShipiboConibo, the raomi, herbalist, usually female, who works with the plants alone,
is distinguished from, and has lower status than, both the onanya and meraya,
shamans who work with plant spirits in their healing.' Don Basilio Gordon, a
Shipibo shaman, uses no physical plants in his healing practice. "If you know
the icaro of a plant," he explains, "you don't need to use the plant."9

Similarly, among Arawak-speaking peoples in Guyana and the Venezuelan
Amazon, there are several levels of shamanic specialization. At the lowest
level is the biniji, who prepares medicines with plants and water, followed by
the makdkana, the blower who cures by blowing tobacco smoke; the uyukuli, who cures by sucking; and the sibunitei, the one who cures by dreams and
divination.'°

Among the Desana, there are two types of traditional healer-the yee,
jaguar-shaman, and the kumu, blower of spells. The yee derives his powersincluding the ability to turn into a jaguar-from contact with spirits after
ingesting hallucinogenic snuff, and cures by seeing the sickness inside the
patient's body, blowing tobacco smoke, massage, and sucking out the pathogenic objects from the body and spitting them away. The kumu cures by the
inaudible recitation of highly formalized therapeutic spells over a liquid the
patient then drinks, or over a plant that is then rubbed onto the patient's sick
body part. The liquid or plant gives the spell a material support and transfers it to the patient.- These disparate functions-preparing plant medicines,
sucking out pathogenic objects, blowing tobacco smoke, singing icaros over
medicines-are precisely those combined by the mestizo healer.