Ayahuasca é o nome genérico de uma bebida milenar utilizada em rituais ligados à espiritualidade, sendo o termo de origem quéchua, cuja etimologia é dada por Luna (1986, p. 73) como: aya – persona, alma, espíritu muerto; wasca – cuerda, enradadera, parra, liana. A denominação, segundo esse antropólogo, é uma das mais usadas para designar a bebida, podendo ser traduzida para o português como...
O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar os mecanismos terapêuticos encontrados em um rito de cura oferecidos em grandes cidades brasileiras, como Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo, onde esta é obtida através do consumo ritual da ayahuasca. Os encontros são realizados mensalmente para um público de aproximadamente trinta pessoas que se reúnem para consumir as chamadas “medicinas da floresta” (ayahuasca,...
A ayahuasca é uma bebida psicoativa utilizada por diversos grupos indígenas por toda a Amazônia, assim como por xamãs mestiços (chamados "vegetalistas") e por religiões e grupos independentes no Brasil. Desde a década de 1990 esta bebida vem sendo empregada no tratamento da dependência. Existem atualmente alguns centros espalhados pela América do Sul que realizam este tipo de tratamento....
O artigo analisa a composição do campo religioso daimista na atualidade e como se estruturam os discursos que legitimam as práticas da religião no âmbito dos principais grupos que a compõem, a saber: o conjunto de centros daimistas situados na região do Alto Santo, em Rio Branco, e as igrejas filiadas à Igreja do Culto Eclético da Fluente Luz Universal Patrono Sebastião Mota de Melo (Iceflu)....
Este texto explora una dimensión particular des las prácticas religiosas en migración. El fenómeno chamánico constituye actualmente un paisaje multipolar, atravesado por desplazamientos regulares de expertos en rituales y de practicantes, a la vez que por la mobilidad y la constante reconfiguración de las prácticas rituales. Estas itinerancias y estancias transcontinentales marcan a las...
The internationalisation of the ayahuasca phenomenon provides those with an interest in drug use, supply and policy with a fascinating opportunity to reflect critically on the state of contemporary...
BackgroundAyahuasca, a South American psychotropic plant tea containing the psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine, has been shown to increase regional cerebral blood flow in prefrontal brain regions after acute administration to humans. Despite interactions at this level, neuropsychological studies have not found cognitive deficits in abstinent long-term...
This paper examines the adoption of ayahuasca and other ritual practices in the Guarani village Mbiguaçu (Santa Catarina, Brazil). This adoption is the productof the dialogue that has emerged in the ritual performances shared with non-Indian groups and the circulation of concepts and discourses present in Brazilian public policies and alternative spiritual movements. The actors involved in the...
This form of ayahuasca-assisted therapy appears to be associated with statistically significant improvements in several factors related to problematic substance use among a rural aboriginal population. These findings suggest participants may have experienced positive psychological and behavioral changes in response to this therapeutic approach, and that more rigorous research of...
AbstractAbstractAyahuasca is a psychoactive traditional plant medicine preparation used by the indigenous tribes of the Upper Amazon in their shamanic traditions. Its use has become popular amongst Westerners seeking alternative means of healing, and the medicine has now spread across the globe via syncretic spiritual healing traditions such as the Santo Daime Church. Despite the increased use...
Ayahuasca is a botanical hallucinogenic preparation traditionally consumed by Northwestern Amazonian indigenous groups. Scientific evidence suggests good tolerability after acute administration of ayahuasca and also after years or even decades of its ritual consumption. Nevertheless, some scientific and media reports associate ayahuasca or some of its alkaloids with severe intoxications. The...
The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions explores the global spread of religions originating in Brazil, a country that has emerged as a major pole of religious innovation and production. Through ethnographically-rich case studies throughout the world, ranging from the Americas (Canada, the U.S., Peru, and Argentina) and Europe (the U.K., Portugal, and the Netherlands) to Asia (Japan) and Oceania...
Ayahuasca needs little introduction. The proving took me to Brazil and I took the journey with shamans and I had a beautiful rendezvous with myself. Thereafter I have used it also as a homeopathic remedy in individuals who know their nature but could not transform (stuck) and especially in drug addicts (cocaine, alcohol, allopathic drugs).
Wild Syrian rue (Peganum harmala L. family Zygophyllaceae) is well-known in Iran and various parts of this plant including, its seeds, bark, and root have been used as folk medicine. Recent years of research has demonstrated different pharmacological and therapeutic effects of P. harmala and its active alkaloids, especially harmine and harmaline. Analytical studies on the chemical composition...
The past decade has witnessed a surge of popular interest in the mestizo tradition of ayahuasca, variously referred to as curanderismo, vegetalismo, and/or ‘shamanism’. This interest in Ayahuasca, a psychotropic plant brew, is evidenced by the thriving industry of ayahuasca tourism that exists in Peru. Such ayahuasca ‘tours’ are predominantly attended by European, and North American...
Some months into my fieldwork, my colleague and friend carne to visit me. Anya, a fellow anthropologist, was (and is) an ethnographic filmmaker and a scholar of shainanism (although her fieldsite lay far away from mine—she studied shamanic revival in post-Soviet Buryatia). Naturally, her professional curiosity was piqued by my tales of shamanic tourism. She was quite interested in ayahuasca...
O artigo discute a elaboração simbólica do efeito da ayahuasca na União do Vegetal, denominado burracheira, um transe cuja dinâmica é guiada pelo espírito do Mestre fundador da doutrina, consubstancializado na bebida. A constituição dessa entidade, no sacramento, é interpretada na leitura do mito e do rito udevista por meio de metáforas e metonímias expressivas dos processos orgânico, emotivo e...
This chapter expands the analysis of the social and cosmic dimensions of a process of ‘re-ritualization’ in urbanindustrial societies, inspired by the knowledge of ‘traditional populations. It focuses on primarily on providing a textured ethnography of role of religion and culture in the negotiation of alterity. The chapter epistemological thrust is to deconstruct the need for a circumscribed...