What in the Spirit World is Shamanism?

Introduction
The purpose of this article is to help demystify the beliefs and practices around what is commonly
known as shamanism. The aim here is to rely upon practical examples as well as understandable
metaphors to breakdown and expand upon core principles, in hopes to bring clarity to what has been
and remains a very mysterious and elusively defined expression of human behavior.

What we are not trying to accomplish is to draw lines, define in concrete, or generalize away the
numerous and essential characteristics of the many varieties of shamanic activity displayed around the
world. This seems to be at the crux of the issue: there are enough apparent similarities that tempts a
generalized and conclusive definition of these spirit-based practices, and at the same time we find a
bounty of nuances and local varieties that makes this task at best an approximation. What follows is an
exploration that acknowledges the underlying, ‘universal’ current found within shamanic activity while
paying homage to unique expressions as standalone phenomenon.

We’ll start with a brief overview of how shamanism came to be such a widely used term and what this
term typically refers to. From there we will attempt to construct a working definition, considering key
principles inherent in that definition in greater detail. This bridges to an exploration of a local tradition,
one that is currently gaining cultural momentum among Westerners; and finally, some closing remarks
in respect to the material we will have covered.

Shamans, Shamans, Everywhere

Google the term and you will find a deluge of information, with the majority of it describing a specialized
kind of spiritual practice common among indigenous peoples throughout the world. Shamanism has also
been hailed as humanity’s earliest, primal religion; according to some estimates, it dates back to tens of
thousands of years ago. It has been ascribed to some of humanity’s earliest grave site offerings, a host of
prehistoric cave paintings ranging from Europe to Asia, as well as the purported reason for early
evidence of ritual activity.

Fast forward to the present date, and you will find numerous accounts of contemporary shamanism,
including everything from how-to books, online courses and training, to weekend workshops that teach
soul retrieval and shamanic journeying. There are thousands of articles that relate shamanism to things
like quantum physics, the re-programming of DNA, Eastern religions and philosophies, European
Paganism, and a host of other “New Age” ideas and practices. If you take a more conventional or
conservative approach, perhaps you will explore the idea that shamanism is a practice of devilry, or at
best, something of a hoax – a leftover relic from more superstitious times.

From an academic angle, relying on social scientists like anthropologists, it is clear that there is no
agreeance – on definition, origins, or even legitimacy. In attempting to explain what this phenomenon is,
particularly to an unfamiliar or uninformed audience, it leaves one in a nebulous position of having to
carve something with a clear shape and form from raw material that resists it. Perhaps this says
something about the subject of inquiry: that shamanism itself cannot be fully defined is a reflection of its
nature, as well as the nature of the human psyche and the cultures it propagates.

Nevertheless, with this as our point of departure, let’s begin with something tangible: the actual word
shaman, and offer a brief account of how it came to common use. This will allow us to then explore the
manifestations of what the label points to – the actual practices – and begin clearing the way for
something more substantial with which to define.

One Who Knows

It is nearly certain that the etymological roots come from the Tungus šamán, loosely translated to mean
“one who knows.” The Tungus people, also known as Evenki, are an indigenous tribal group native to
Siberia that specializes in reindeer herding. In the 16th and 17th centuries, explorers, primarily from
Russia, documented the Evenki ways and customs in various travel journals and early ethnographical
writings. A prominent figure featured in this literature was an Evenki magical-religious specialist, the
šamán, what we now know as shaman.

Mentions of this curious figure continued to make appearances in literature over the subsequent two
centuries. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, concurrent with a flourishing discipline of
anthropology, the term shaman began to be assigned to other indigenous spiritual practitioners that
seemed to maintain similar beliefs, practices, and customs. The observations offered initial evidence
that this method of engaging spirit was inherent to indigenous or tribal societies. Despite geographical
distance and cultural differences, a large number of tribal cultures seemed to have a prominent
magical-religious specialist that adhered to a series of fundamental principles that were not only
common among the cultures, but mirrored very closely the early descriptions of Evenki shamans. Hence,
the label stuck.

This labeling process has continued until today. However, the criteria for designating who or what a
shaman is have broadened to include a hodgepodge of practitioners from traditions around the world,
old and new. It is not uncommon today to see people from all walks of life and backgrounds claiming
themselves as shaman – from Wall Street shamans to shamanic Yogis to techno-shamans and self-
proclaimed medicine men and women. What began as an uncertain label has been transformed into a
diluted and, by some accounts, virtually meaningless term.

And yet, there is something here, some essential fuel feeding a growing worldwide interest and
fascination in ‘shamanism’, even without a clear delineation of what it is. Whatever shamanism may
refer to, these expressions of human behavior seem to speak to something core within the psyche, and
in particular to modern people devoid of critical spiritual connection. It appears to represent a unique
collection of behaviors, beliefs, capacities, and experiences that harbor the potential to fulfill empty
spaces left in the wake of modern living. It is not all that mysterious, then, why something that is itself
shrouded in mystery carries the magnetic import that it does in a modern world that has been
desensitized to the magical and sacred.
Based on the historical trajectory of the term and its uses, we can at least safely ascertain that a shaman
is some kind of religious specialist who engages with the spirit world and sacred dimensions of life. It is
necessary to acknowledge that religious or spiritual behavior is a universal human expression. It is found
in some form or fashion in every known culture and society. If this is the case, what then distinguishes
shamanism or shamanic activity from other kinds of religious or spiritual engagement? Herein we have
the heart of the puzzle: Where do you draw the boundaries? Can you draw boundaries?

The Tripartite Alliance

Attempts to define the shamanism have mostly taken a common elements approach, building criteria
from core aspects of shamanic practices that show up universally or near-universally. We are going to
follow a similar pattern, honing in on functional definitions that aim to both simplify and illuminate the
phenomenon.

Spirits

I have yet to discover a form of spiritual engagement described as shamanic that does not involve
significant and essential interaction with spirits. Out of all the things that shamans do, engaging with
spirits is likely to be the cornerstone, the key that facilitates and supports everything else they are doing.
For this to make sense, we need to know what spirits are. To accomplish this, let’s move in the reverse
direction and first discuss how shamans work with spirits, allowing us to extrapolate based on the doing
of shamanism.

For starters, spirits in shamanic systems are characteristically related to natural elements of the local
landscape – animals, plants, rain, thunder, mountains, rivers, wind, caves, planets and so forth. This is
not to say that other less “alive” or once living things don’t have spirits to work with, but that practically
speaking, shamans tend to bond with their immediate environment and the spirits that make it up.
Localized expressions of shamanic activity, as such, are rooted to the physicality of the land itself and
how it is related to. These land-based relationships give rise to and extend into culture, and so it is
common for a shaman to work with culturally sanctioned deities or entities, including the deceased,
either ancestors or the departed spirits of other shamans, all in accordance to the beliefs and
expectations of the community in which they are embedded, his or her tradition, as well as the
individual proclivities of the shaman.

Typically, a shaman will form primary bonds with a certain number or type of spirit(s) and develop these
relations over the course of their shamanship. These relationships can and do change both positively
and negatively, and new spirits can be added as other ones are discarded. Relationships to spirits are of
primary importance in the life of a shaman and are the source as well as measure of their ability to
perform.
From this, let’s highlight two principles: 1) shamans form relationships with spirits that are part of their
local natural as well as cultural environment; and 2) these relationships and how they develop carry
significant weight in determining a shaman’s capabilities to fulfill their role.

Using these two principles, we can deduce a functional definition of what a spirit is based on the needs
of the shaman. For one, a spirit is something that has to be able to communicate with the shaman. In
this you have the inherent belief that things such as trees and stars and mountains either have or are
spirits and that they can and do communicate. The journey of the shaman is in part marked by one’s
ability to successfully form communicative relationships with spirits.

Once this relationship is initiated, the conditions of how it is going to function have to be established,
just as they are in any kind of human relationship. The hallmark feature of a shaman’s relationship with
spirits is that the spirits and the shaman work together towards a unified goal. The negotiation of the
relationship revolves around the shaman’s need to employ – even beg, plead or somehow convince –
the spirit to do something on behalf of the shaman. The spirit has to be able to effect change. This
change cannot be whimsical if it is to be a successful collaboration; it has to be in alignment with what
the shaman is asking. It must follow their intent.

From a functional shamanistic perspective (without opening the discussion as to whether or not spirits
are “real”) a spirit is an independent agent of action that can effect change on behalf of the shaman. A
shaman’s helper spirits (also known as allies or guides) provide the shaman with a special kind of power
that allows them to create change based on the needs of a patient, client, group, or intended outcome.

In essence, the spirits work for the shaman. They are his or her tools of the trade, what they wield to
perform their craft. These spirit allies have the ability to communicate, act independently, and affect the
tangibly “real” world in a way that can be verified by the shaman as well as those who are participating
in the shamanic activity.

The Calling

Now that we have an understanding of spirits as the primary tools of the shaman’s craft, let’s explore
the manner in which these spirits are procured. This is typically referred to as the shaman’s initiation
and subsequent training and is one of the most critical periods for a shaman-to-be. How the shaman
procures their spirits and forges these indispensable relationships is paramount to their livelihood.

The path to shamanship can begin in three prevalent ways: a direct calling from the spirits, through
inheritance from familial and/or traditional lineages, or learned through training. There may indeed be
other paths to shamanship; however, these are the most common routes, and they are not mutually
exclusive. For example, a shaman-to-be that is born into a family lineage of practitioners who is initiated
into training at a young age may exhibit the very qualities and characteristics that the spirits would call
to in the first place. As well, the desire within an individual to pursue a shamanic path may be generated
from the same source that amounts to a true calling from the spirits. In all cases, the path to full
shamanship seems to require the unequivocal acceptance of the spirits into their life by the individual,
and, perhaps more importantly, the acceptance of the individual by the spirits. Without forging these
relationships, the potency and efficacy of the shamanism is compromised. This, in my view, is what sets
full shamanship apart from other expressions of shamanic practice and/or exploration.

The calling can manifest in one’s life in a number of ways. In the shamanic literature, as well as verified
through direct experience and in communication with other shamans, there seems to be a prevalence of
emergent crises that compel the chosen candidate into shamanic action. These crises can manifest as
near-death experiences, strange sicknesses that are difficult to diagnose, sudden injuries, extreme
psychological and/or emotional stresses, as well as unordinary metaphysical happenings such as visions,
the presentation of spontaneous “gifts” or capacities, or spirit visitations that occur in dreams and/or
waking life. Any combination of these occurrences can happen simultaneously, suddenly, or periodically
and in succession over time.

There is no manual or script to an initiation; the spirits seem to insert themselves into the candidate’s
life such that they are compelled to answer the call. Their unique life circumstances will determine to a
degree how the call will present itself. This process can start as a whisper, and then grow in intensity
over time until it becomes imminent, the crisis emerges, and the imperative is met. It’s as if the spirits
are in cahoots with the candidate, whether the candidate knows it or not. Both parties have the same
goal and the intended outcome is mutual: the spirits need the human vehicle and the human vehicle
needs to metamorphose into an agent of spirit. This is the beginning of their decreed partnership.

The next stage in the journey can be understood as an extended period of learning where the primary
object is what we are describing as “forging the relationships” between the initiate and his or her spirit
allies. Thus begins apprenticeship. Generally speaking, an elder shaman or shamans, in conjunction with
the spirits, will assume a portion of the responsibility to guide the initiate through the remaining course
of their training until they are awarded a recognizable status as shaman. This status change signifies that
the trainee has achieved a level of mastery over the spirits and by extension over a system of knowledge
and expertise in expressing that knowledge with efficacy. This part of the process can last for years and
is most commonly determined by the dictates of one’s cultural tradition.

Community

The discussion so far has focused on two main functionaries: the spirits and the shaman-initiate. The
third element in this tripartite alliance is the recipient of the shamanic activity. The shaman needs
somewhere, something, or someone to direct the spirits and their spiritual energy towards, a final link in
a chain of interactions that completes a cycle. This final link can also be seen as the cycle’s starting point,
in that the originating impetus to shamanise requires a recipient to supply the need for the shaman’s
services, a reason for them to engage in the practice in the first place. The doctor cannot doctor without
a patient, the teacher is not a teacher if there is no student. The community is fundamental to the
efficacy and substantiality of the whole process.

The recipient of the shaman’s services is typically an individual patient (or client), a group, or the
community as a whole, and oftentimes it is all three. When a culture has an intrinsic shamanic system,
the shaman’s role is an accepted, sanctioned and integral position within the community. Its expression
is seen as an extension of the collective belief system, mythology, cosmology and all the lifeways shared
among a people. In exploring or unpacking a shamanic system, you will consequently begin to unravel
the threads that weave together an entire group of people. It is an essential element that can’t be
isolated from the matrix of social, cultural, personal and environmental forces that are in play. Hence,
the community-recipient in shamanic practice is what provides the greater context for the art to be
expressed, the direction and purpose of its meaning.

This can be further expounded upon by examining the shaman’s roles within their community. Many of
these roles can occur concurrently, they are not necessarily discrete, nor is this an exhaustive list. The
following represent general descriptions of the more common ways shamanic activity is expressed:

Healer: Shamans are predominantly healers. Shamanic healing is holistic and so incorporates physical,
psychological, emotional and spiritual forms of healing. Often the source of sickness is attributed to
spirit/s, and so the shaman addresses the root cause at the level of spirit in order to achieve the desired
outcome. Healing is carried out via a number of culturally relevant rituals, ceremonies and other kinds of
healing practices.

Spiritual Guide: Shamans can act as a spiritual guide for individuals or groups, offering advice on
anything from daily affairs and relationship mediation, to divining future events or answering
philosophical questions about the nature of life.

Wisdom Keeper/Storyteller: In many traditions the shamans are masterful storytellers who are
responsible for keeping the tradition alive by imparting the wisdom contained in myths and stories via
culturally relevant performances.

Protector: Charged with the task of keeping one’s community and those within it safe, shamans are
called upon to protect their people from external forces that intend to inflict harm. This can come from
enemy shamans in the form of spiritual attacks, as well as dangerous natural or cultural forces.

Mediator Between Worlds: Shamans act as mediator between the human and spiritual worlds. This may
involve performing rituals aimed at appeasing deities or natural forces in order to, for example, ensure a
successful hunt, a bountiful crop or to correct a transgression committed by a community member.

A Shaman-Who, What and How

Consolidating the discussion, we can use a loose definition that a shaman is a spiritual practitioner who,
after having undergone a spirit-led initiation, has the ability to wield spirits with intent in order to create
purposeful change on behalf of a community. This gives us the ‘who and what,’ the principle actors.
Following this, shamanism must then represent the ‘how’: the structured behaviors that a shaman
performs in order to satisfy the intended change. These behaviors manifest as ceremonies, rituals, the
use of sacred paraphernalia, costumes, music, dance, and other forms of expression designed to lead
the shaman and participants to the successful completion of what they set out to do. In this there is a
diverse, sweeping range of possibility, evident in the numerous ways that shamanic behavior emerges
across the planet.

What I am calling “structured behaviors” amount to culturally sanctioned and supported ways of
engaging spirit that follow recognizable patterns. These are the sum total actions of how one practices
the art of shamanism. In the context of community and culture, a set of these structured behaviors and
the corresponding rules and codes that govern its expression form what we know as a tradition. In the
context of an individual, the expression of these structured behaviors is called a practice. There is of
course much overlap; individual shamans are learned within traditions and come to represent them, and
they are also standalone practitioners who represent a single expression of the art itself. The inclusion
of the –ism seems to be an attempt to draw lines around all the possible iterations of shamanic activity,
to make it a singular or universal “thing.”

Because shamanic activity is never isolated nor can be taken out of the greater context within which it
appears, it is a precarious task to attempt any definition of shaman“ism”, be it universal or otherwise,
that doesn’t also include a rendering of the entire landscape: culture, tradition, individual histories,
practices, rituals, beliefs, and so forth. If you follow this method, you will undoubtedly encounter the
nuances of a complete system of spiritual engagement; that is, something that is whole and
incomparable, its own thing. The similarities in cross-cultural shamanic activity are noteworthy,
however, it seems there is always an edge, a gray zone that begs the question of inclusion: does this
variety count as shamanism or not? Is this or isn’t it? Can you legitimately look beyond the context to
define something that is itself bound and defined by it?

The existence of the question alone presents the possibility that what we are talking about isn’t a single,
static thing at all, but a collection of multiplicities. Without discounting the agreed upon fundamentals –
special relationships with spirits, shamanic calling/initiation/training, and serving within a community –
it becomes less important to chase down a fixed or rigid definition of a phenomenon and more
illuminating to chart and explore the peculiar characteristics found within particular forms of shamanic
behavior.

If we look at shamanic activity for what it is, on its own terms, rather than trying to conform it to a
predetermined framework, the conversation is more effective. The framework can be useful inasmuch
as it provides a structure to shed light upon the subject of inquiry. Yes, we have spirits and their
relations, and yes we have forms of initiation, and these are acted out via defined roles among
community settings, all with varying degrees of similarity among traditions – but this still doesn’t tell us
much about what is happening or how it’s done. Prior to the shaman label, the forms of expression that
we call shamanism today existed in their own right, with emic terminology and definitions. And they still
do. Other than the ancient Siberian šamán, none of these practitioners referred to themselves in this
way. This doesn’t mean the label is totally useless; however, it must take all the interrelated elements
into consideration in order for it to carry any meaningful import. If we take the label shaman as a
starting point, immediately following ought to be: what kind of shaman and what do they do? How do
they shamanise?
Metaphorically Speaking

An interesting and perhaps apt way to think about this is by using sports as a metaphor. If someone
were to ask you define ‘sports’, you may answer with something like: “an organized competitive game
between two teams or individuals.” This sufficiently covers the basic parameters for what qualifies as a
sport. Now, if the inquirer were ignorant of sports this definition may not have any meaning and would
leave much to be desired by way of true understanding. It would inevitably lead to further questioning.
The next logical step would be for you to offer an example and describe a sport, let’s say American
football. This may help clarify the definition of sports to some extent, but you will likely find yourself
fumbling over words as you look for ways to thoroughly explain all the details a game of football entails.
The best solution at this point would be to bring your curious friend to an actual football game and allow
them to have a firsthand experience where you can further elucidate on what is happening and answer
their questions, thereby helping them to understand football as a basis for understanding “sports.”

This becomes more interesting if, for instance, your chosen sport was tennis. The descriptions, forms of
expression, rules, firsthand experience, and so forth would be so radically different than those of
American football as to be virtually without comparison. More still, what if the example were curling? Or
lacrosse? Or cricket? All are considered sports and yet to define and describe what each one is to any
degree of satisfaction you are left with no option but to show them how the sport is played. Yet,
achieving an acceptable understanding of one sport does not predict or guarantee understanding of
another, nor does it encompass the general concept.

Moreover, this raises some other poignant questions. For instance, what if a group of neighborhood kids
organize a game of football in the local park; does this make it a less valid representation of the game?
What about football practice – surely this is a requisite aspect of the sport although it’s not part of an
“official” competition? How do you distinguish between sport and game, taking table tennis vs. “real”
tennis, or golf into consideration? Is dance a sport? What about cheerleading? Gymnastics? Skiing? And
when does something officially become a sport? Can new sports be created if they fit the commonly
held definition? On what points does one draw the boundary?

If we look at the concept of shamanism in the same manner in which we are doing with sports, we can
see the parallels that illuminate both the inadequacy of a general, umbrella concept along with the need
for discrete, concrete examples in order to attain comprehension. The meat of the substance is in the
how, the actions themselves, the uniqueness and individuality of each shamanic expression with all of its
corresponding shades and distinctions, forms and codes of conduct. While we may be able to snugly or
roughly fit certain kinds of spiritual actions into the shamanism uniform, with more or less agreeance,
just as we can sports, what we are actually addressing only starts to take on meaningful shape when we
step on the ground and into the field of engagement.

The Art of Ayahuasca (Shamanism)

The purpose of this section is to explore a contemporary expression of ayahuasca shamanic practice as a
model situated within the framework we’ve outlined above. To summarize, the framework consists of:
spirits, their relationship to the local environment, how these spirits are procured by practitioners,
community engagement, and finally, the structured behaviors through which the shamanic activity is
carried out. We will open with a brief historical overview as well as a sketch of the current ayahuasca
culture as it expands throughout the world, and conclude with ethnographic impressions gathered from
direct experience.

There are four general contexts within which ayahuasca practices are currently expressed: 1)
Native/indigenous, 2) Mestizo, 3) Religious, and 4) Beyond the Amazon.

The practice of what is commonly called ayahuasca shamanism (also referred to as curanderismo or
vegetalismo) in the Amazon basin is usually estimated to be several thousand years old, although there
are recent controversial claims pinpointing the start date to somewhere around 300 years ago. It is
unlikely that the exact origin in time or place will ever be known with certainty. Whatever the case, a
summary of the ethnographic literature provides a glimpse into its traditional function, most of which
can be labeled as magical-religious, witchcraft related, or for healing purposes. Ayahuasca has also been
used in personal rituals, for divination, as a social facilitator, community celebrant, and as a general
method of inducing altered states of consciousness and contacting the spirit world. Ayahuasca
shamanism is regularly practiced by both mestizo and indigenous curanderos1 in a variety of settings,
and there are many instances of overlap found in ritual, belief, and common use patterns that make it
difficult to discern definitive categorical distinctions between practitioners. One normative distinction is
often a self-made identity association with either a tribe/tradition, or, in contrast, with a riverine
lifestyle that is characteristically mestizo and not tribal. What further clouds the ability to distinguish
between clear-cut indigenous or mestizo use is that the historical ayahuasca literature doesn’t begin to
appear until the 18th century, when the lines between pre-Colombian indigenous use and mestizo
practices were already blurred and evolving (or perhaps these are the conditions from which ayahuasca
use arose). This is a question that deserves much more attention than can be given here, so we will
suffice our discussion to say that indigenous use leans towards tribal identification and use patterns
associated with cultural identities (i.e. Shipibo style rituals) and mestizo use is linked to small, riverine
populations of culturally distinct practitioners that almost certainly originated from concentrated cross-
cultural exchange taking place in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a period of intensification occurring
during the rubber boom (1880-1920).

In general, ayahuasca use has undergone many transformations and has embodied many different faces,
both within and outside its place of origin. The most well-known and documented occurrences of

1
The term curandero translates to ‘healer’ and is applied generally in Amazonia to an assortment of practitioners.
Mestizo curanderos are also sometimes called vegetalistas, which is someone who cures using plant spirits.
Furthermore, plant specialists are locally known by the types of plants that they specialize in. So someone who
specializes in ayahuasca can be known as an ayahusasquero as well as a curandero, although curanderos don’t
necessarily cure with ayahuasca. As well, within the last few decades ayahuasca practitioners have started referring to
themselves as chamanes in response to foreign influence and likely due to the weight this label carries with outsiders.
Because this discussion focuses on the term shaman in both general and specific applications, we will continue to use it
here despite inherent flaws in this approach.
change have taken place within the last hundred years and are continuing to the present day. These
changes are representative of the next two contexts of use, religious and beyond the Amazon, both of
which play a role in the dissemination of ayahuasca to the rest of the world.

Categorically religious use of ayahuasca is centered on two leading organizations: the Santo Daime and
Uniao de Vegetal. Both can be considered new religious movements that are syncretic in nature, and
who consume ayahuasca as their sacrament. Each has been awarded the legal right to formally drink the
brew in Amazonian countries as well as places like the Netherlands, France, and the United States. We
are not going to expand on the details outside of noting that the manner in which ayahuasca is utilized is
a departure from the shamanic in a handful of fundamental ways: sacramental consumption is based in
religious doctrines; these doctrines stem from the visions/experiences of a founding member; the
doctrinal philosophies are loosely based on spiritual growth/purification in contrast to the traditional
focus on spirits, healing, etc.; the ayahuasca is served in community rituals that are akin to church
services rather than traditional rites; its use includes consumption in other parts of the world; and the
tea is consumed in predominantly (though not exclusively) urban settings.

The fourth context indicates ayahuasca use that takes place beyond the Amazon basin. Other than non-
local Santo Daime and UDV church services, ayahuasca ceremonies can also be found far outside the
Amazon, mainly throughout the United States and Europe, although they are likely being held
elsewhere. These types of ceremonies are led either by migrant Amazonian shamans or by Western
facilitators, and reportedly take place in venues like yoga studios, private residences or spaces, and
natural settings. Research in this area is admittedly slight; however, what can be said is that the
expression of global ayahuasca ceremonies either follow a typical Amazonian-shamanic pattern (i.e.
Shipibo or mestizo); are totally divorced from tradition and generally viewed as “New Age”; a mixture of
traditional-Amazonian with New Age elements; offshoots of Santo Daime or UDV styled performances;
or in personalized rituals, referring to consumers who obtain the already-made tea or purchase the
ayahuasca plants online and consume the self-made tea at home.

Additionally, in the last 30 years a growing influx of non-Amazonian people from around world set out
for the Amazon with the express purpose of drinking ayahuasca. This so-called “ayahuasca tourism”
industry has made an impact on and continues to influence how ayahuasca shamanism is practiced,
performed and perceived. While taking place within Amazonia, this can be seen as a cross-manifestation
of traditional use patterns with a global clientele and linkages that unavoidably creates new contexts
and expressions of this progressively emerging form of shamanic practice. It is from here that we will
draw our ethnographic reference.

Beneath the Canopy

What follows is drawn from my experiences thus far as an apprentice ayahuasca shaman to a mestizo
curandero within the setting of an ayahuasca retreat center. I hope to offer a view, albeit a limited one,
into the world of ayahuasca shamanism as I’ve come to know it. I like to look at the forthcoming as a
partial examination of a single facet of a multifaceted and multi-dimensional crystal that is “ayahuasca
shamanism.” I don’t see one facet as having more or less rightness or validity, but that each one is part
of something that is, at its edges, amorphous and fluid and at the same time visible, tangible, and able
to be perceived and experienced. (I can’t help point out the irony that what people call the “spirit world”
and “spirits”, to shamans, exude the same dubious yet painstakingly obvious qualities.)

As described previously, the local landscape helps to orient and define the theatre of engagement and
the main participants in the show. It provides the raw material with which the shaman is going to create,
and be created from. Ayahuasca shamanism, being an extension of the Amazonian biosphere, is a
collection of practices that relies heavily on plants, and more accurately, plant spirits. If you’ve never
been in the Amazon rainforest, it does not take long to realize how plants are the kings of the jungle.
The animals, including human animals, literally live within a web of green that teems with an electric
vibrancy and a living awareness unlike any other place I’ve experienced. It is alive, sometimes
frighteningly so, and you are most definitely a visitor on their turf.

Stitching together this immense forest blanket are the sustaining veins that interconnect and give life to
not only the landmass but also the social fabric. The movement of goods, services, people and
information depends on this network of rivers as a body does blood. Historically Amazonian tribes were
less centralized and more dispersed, like so many unique patches of the same quilt, not one quite like
the other but part of the same underlying unity that is jungle life held together by flowing water. This
unity does not discriminate between non-human persons, who include both spirits and animals. Local
mythological tales treat these other forest residences with the same attention to personhood,
individuality and agency that they do their fellow man; humans, in this view, are just one of many kinds
of ‘people’.

To discuss this fully requires a much larger scope than what is present for our purposes here. The idea
now is to offer a contextual glimpse with which to springboard into our shamanic impressions. The first
is that plant spirits dominate the shamanic landscape as well as the physical landscape. The philosophy
is simple, as I’ve been shown it, where each plant is believed to be made up of different kinds of spirits
(thousands or even millions) with one “head” or “mother” spirit that contains and has dominion over all
the others. Each of these spirits has its own unique qualities and characteristics. Some of these qualities
and characteristics include the ability to heal as well as teach humans what they know. Ayahuasca is
often referred to as the mother of all plants, a special kind of doctor and teacher spirit that functions as
a nexus of knowledge to the plant world where one can learn about the properties of other plants.
Hence, ayahuasca is often used as a diagnostic tool, where the shaman will drink the brew to discern
what the source of their patient’s problem is and what remedy to use, which in many cases turns out to
be another plant medicine.

Beyond the plant dimension but accessible through it are also the dimensions of earth (and beneath the
earth), sky and water, all of which are locations where multitudes of spirits dwell and where shamans
can travel in order to win the favors of the beings who exist there. This includes legendary or
mythological spirits like the chulla chaki spirit, an earthen guardian, and the yakuruna, water spirits who
live in mythical cities beneath the rivers, as well as animal spirits and celestial beings who come from the
sky, stars, and galaxies.
This is barely scratching the surface of the Amazonian shamanic backdrop. The spartan comments here
are presented in order to demonstrate the relationship between the local physical environment and the
shamanic landscapes, namely, where the spirits that shamans form their bonds with are located: earth,
below, sky, and water; and the aspect of plant spirits who award access to these dimensions.

The primary method of procuring spirits and forging relationships with them is through a process called
dieta. The dieta, in brief, is a period of time spent in isolation where the dieter follows a prescribed and
agreed upon series of behavioral and dietary prescriptions while consuming a mild, raw tea made from
one or more plants with the express purpose of bonding with the spirit of those plants. This is called
dieting a plant. The limited food is very bland, without any salt, sugar, oils, or spices and usually consists
of local river fish, plantains, manioc and rice. The behavioral restrictions can include no human contact,
no hygiene products like soap, toothpaste, etc., no drugs or alcohol, no pork, and no sexual stimulation
of any kind. These restrictions can last for anywhere from a week to 30 days and even up to a year,
depending on the protocols of the tradition and/or the shaman overseeing the diet.

The idea here is that the dieter is creating optimum conditions to make contact with the spirit of the
plant and begin interacting with it, guided by the purpose of the dieta. As a patient, the diet is utilized to
heal a specific ailment or address a certain problem. As a learning or training tool, the dieta is the means
by which the shaman bonds with the plant spirits to learn their medicine and the knowledge of how to
work with them. Each plant can teach different things, and normally an apprentice shaman will diet
several up to dozens of plants throughout their shamanship, receiving from each one a thread of
practical wisdom and spiritual power by which they learn to weave their own shamanistic tapestry.

The primary mode of shamanic ayahuasca expression takes place in a ceremonial or ritual space
designated for the consumption of ayahuasca. If we extend our earlier metaphor, the dietas can be seen
as the training ground, the practice fields where practitioners learn the tools of the trade, getting to
know the spirits and what they do, who they are, and how to make use of them and channel them. The
ayahuasca rituals are the official performances, whereby what is learned via plant diets is formally
expressed, recognized and carried out. This is where and when shamanising is legitimized – by the
shaman, the spirits and the community in a collective acknowledgement that change has been effected,
intention realized.

The term ceremony and ritual are used loosely here, such that, as we have seen, there are a great
multiplicity of contexts and structures that are nominated as ayahuasca ceremonies with varying
degrees of formality, even within mestizo and/or indigenous contexts. This includes one-on-one rituals
between shaman and patient where only the shaman consumes the tea; community ceremonies with a
specific function, like social cleansing or a coming-of-age ordeal; ceremonies where groups of shamans
get together and drink without patients or clients; ayahuasca tourist ceremonies that are managed by
multiple shamans, western facilitators, containing up 30 or more participants and organized in a retreat
format; informal ayahuasca drinking that may consist of a smaller group of local drinkers with one
shaman as well as participants who don’t drink and the possibility of other kinds of socialization
happening (informal conversation intermingled with the ceremony).2

When it comes to ayahuasca shamanism that takes place in mestizo or indigenous contexts, of which the
former list are examples of, the structure of the ritual itself seems less important from a comparative
standpoint than what tools are being used to manage and guide the ceremony. The principal mechanism
of shamanic execution in most if not all Amazonian ayahuasca contexts is the icaro, spirit songs that are
chanted and sung under the influence of ayahuasca. It is through these songs, taught to the shaman
directly by the spirits, that the ayahuasca experience is directed. The icaro is an open channel that exists
between shaman, spirit, and participants whereby the energy of the (primarily) plant or animal spirit(s)
is channeled into the ceremony, hitched to intention, with the shaman as the vehicle of its expression
and the participants as the recipients. A capable shaman will have icaros that can perform all necessary
functions, the primary ones including: increasing or decreasing the effects of the ayahuasca; calming or
exciting the energy of the ceremony; calling in certain spirits to do specific healing jobs; opening visions;
creating visions or directing journeys with specific intent or focus; helping purge; protecting; stabilizing;
and moving energies that are purged away and out of the ceremony.

Singing icaros is its own art form. While there may be a consistency to the style and delivery of how they
are performed and how they function, I’ve yet to experience any two shamans sing in precisely the same
way. How one sings and channels their icaros is a subject of great pride, as is the number and quality of
icaros that one has. This is regarded as a way of gauging one’s potency and abilities, like a shamanistic
form of currency. These magical songs are highly valued and prized, and getting the spirits to teach you
their icaros is a crucial element in the learning process.

Another less common healing art is known as the chupada, stemming from the Spanish root chupar,
meaning “to suck.” Where the icaro is general and broad, covering a wide range of healing applications
and purposes, the chupada is an acute application, utilized to remove illnesses or intrusive foreign
objects that present themselves in the physical body. One of the more common applications is the
removal of objects that are sent by enemy shamans with the intent to inflict harm. Known as virotés,
these small darts pierce the person’s spiritual and physical body, infiltrate, and deposit witchcraft, which
can come in the form of insects, maggots, stones, and other nasty creatures that cause illness and
generally wreak holistic havoc on the recipient.

Chupadas can also be evoked to remove acute pains, often chronic and sometimes psychosomatic, with
unknown or indeterminate origins that are usually later revealed to be sourced in some traumatic event.
The complexity of these ailments seems to perplex allopathic and other alternative healthcare systems
(i.e. acupuncture, reflexology, massage). They are looked at as trans-dimensional, with an ultimate
spiritual causation and symptoms ranging across all aspects of human experience and perception. The
chupada is indeed a trans-dimensional healing art that masterfully unites the physical with spiritual,
seen and unseen, causal and manifest, to resolutely solve a conundrum in someone’s life, literally a
thorn in the side of their existence. Utilizing mariri, shamanic phlegm that is held in the mouth whose

2
These are contexts that I have either personally participated in or have heard firsthand accounts of from others.
purpose is to trap the foreign object or sickness, the shaman healer, quite simply, sucks the problem out
of their patient’s body (and spirit and mind). Brilliant in its simplicity, and perhaps even more so in its
daunting effectiveness, the chupada is the shamanic surgeons go-to tool of choice for solving these
puzzling and fascinating human riddles.

A less common healing art that I’ve witnessed and performed myself doesn’t have a corresponding
name, or at least I haven’t heard of it referred to as something specific, and so I will call it here simply
healing massage. This is sort of a chupada executed with your hands. It doesn’t require the intensity or
acuity that sucking the illness out requires, though it can still remove blockages, move energies, alleviate
pain, and help shift one’s awareness from that of being hurt or harmed to one of being healed. The
hands serve as surgical instruments, opening the spiritual and physical bodies to move the afflicting
energy or remove the block, while spirits are channeled via icaros as healing ointments or balms to help
smooth, soothe, and stabilize the affected area.

In consideration of these admittedly inadequate impressions, let’s clarify that we haven’t even
approached the depths of ayahuasca as a practice, even in the context with which I am most familiar.
The material covered here may satisfy as an incomplete table of contents. From the perspective of a
learning practitioner, I must acknowledge that this world may never be truly expressible in this format. I
struggle to gain a dubious grasp on what is happening while in the field doing it, let alone literalizing it
after the fact in an attempt to put the ineffable into linear form. The sheer number of environments that
ayahuasca consumption exists contemporaneously belies its magnitude, changeability and evolutionary
headway. What we can say is that ayahuasca practice is indeed broad, vast and multi-layered, and it
suits our purposes here in order to exemplify a particular form of shamanism with respect to the former
discussion. More aptly regarded as a collection of related phenomena gathered under the terms of
unique contexts, though we may be able to write about how it expresses, and create structures to
contain and explore the concepts and beliefs, it’s a stretch to assume that it can be justifiably or
comprehensively known from any distance (and perhaps not even from proximity). Nevertheless, a
glimpse of this morphing, faceted crystal can at least offer a window with which to approach
understanding, gain perspective, and deepen our human connection with that which stands, in its
wholeness, beyond our scope.

In Lieu of Conclusion
One final remark here is that shamanism is more of a sign post that points to something rather than
something in and of itself. It is a referent, a point of departure that draws one into a world or worlds of
spirit-based human activity, replete with intersecting and diverging paths that lead one along a
multitude of exploratory and emergent journeys. It speaks to the fundamental and innate nature of
human behavior that stands in relation to the unknown, the sacred and the spiritual. We can begin
piercing the depths of this activity by examining and witnessing the primary and primal means of
engagement, the distinct manner in which a shaman initiates, maintains and expresses relationships to
spirits, what defines them as well as how these relationships function within the context of community.
This point of interaction – the imminent field of shamanic performance – exposes the amorphous,
changeable nature of shamanism. We are looking at a necessarily and vitally adaptable collection of
behaviors that morphs and redefines itself in every context, contained only by the structure within
which it presents itself in the current manifestation and unbound to repetition yet repeatable in its
effectiveness.

Shamanism must be negotiable, the boundary lines actively being written by those involved, the agents
of its creation that includes everyone and everything that participates. We can’t remove any variable,
and to consider every variable necessitates the totality and the inevitability that what we witness in
shamanic expression is a one-time presentation, an art of spirit that transcends its name and form while
integral of it. It caters to a mystical and mysterious quality that fruitlessly seeks definition, compelling in
its implications yet knowable beyond description; and, finally, something that mirrors the same
mysteriousness and wonderment found in human life, life itself, and how human beings create meaning
amidst the grandeur and impossibility of it all.

Perhaps we haven’t covered any ground in what we set out to accomplish, that shamanism remains
clouded or shrouded in the mystery of its origin. Or perhaps we’ve shifted the focus of our inquiry from
‘what’ shamanism is to ‘how’ it happens by examining actions. Or, perhaps, we’ve solved the puzzle and
realized that we are intending to do what can’t rationally be done. And that alone demands that we try.

References

Albanese, Catherine L. (1990). Nature Religion in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Beyer, Stephan V. (2011). Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon.
University of New Mexico Press.

Harvey, Graham, Editor (2002). Shamanism: A Reader. Routledge.

Labate, Beatriz Caiuby and Clancy Cavnar, Eds. (2014). Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and
Beyond. Oxford University Press.

Luna, Luis Eduardo (2011). Indigenous and mestizo use of ayahuasca. An overview. The
Ethnopharmacology of Ayahuasca, 2011: 1-21.

Luna, Luis Eduardo (2012). Plants as Teachers Among 4 Mestizo Shamans of Iquitos.

Toussaint, Matthew (2009). Seeking the Spirit, Piercing the Void: Native America, the New Age and
Contemporary Shamanism. University at Albany, NY.
Townsend, Joan B. (1988) Neo-Shamanism and the Modern Mystical Movement. In Shaman’s Path:
Healing, Personal Growth and Empowerment. Gary Doore, ed. Pp. 73-83.

Znamenski, Andrei A. (2007). The Beauty of the Primitive: Shamanism and Western Imagination. Oxford
University Press.