The complexity of contemporary religions and forms of religiosity challenges researchers to find interpretive parameters for unprecedented recompositions of traditional practices and knowledge with new content. Neoshamanism re-signifies elements of Amerindian shamanism for current purposes, producing a symbolic-ritual reality aimed at healing pathologies of mind, body, and soul. Using Ernesto De Martino's theoretical tools—particularly "crisis of presence" and "protected regime"—this article examines the efficacy of neoshamanic practices as symbolic-ritual devices for resolving certain human existential pains. The study considers ritualistic contexts using ayahuasca, a psychoactive substance that induces psychic dissociation and reconstitution within a symbolic framework.
This article finds convergences between Catholic and Nichiren Buddhist traditions on mystical experience as revealing human experience and its development. It describes the personal process in mystical experience: in the Catholic tradition, through Teresa of Ávila's interior castle of seven mansions, presented in terms of philosophical anthropology by Edith Stein; in the Nichiren Buddhist tradition, through the ancient concept of nine consciences, particularly as developed by Daisaku Ikeda. Similarities between the two processes are identified in modes of perception and discernment, subject-world relationship, and self-perception. The article points to shared stages of development of mystical and human experience.