Read Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon Online

Authors: Stephan V. Beyer

Tags: #Politics & Social Sciences, #Social Sciences, #Religion & Spirituality, #Other Religions; Practices & Sacred Texts, #Tribal & Ethnic

Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon (79 page)

6o. Tupper, 2006, p. 4; DeGrandpre, 2006, pp. 27, 239.

61. "Drug made from Indian plant," 1932; "Drug said to cause clairvoyance," 1932.

62. Ott, 1996, pp. 210, 233; Rouhier, 1924.

63. Burroughs, 1953/1977, PP. 151-152.

64. Garcia Barriga, 1958, quoted in Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1975, P. 233 n. 43.

65. Naranjo, 1973a, Pp. 125, 170, 1973b, pp. 183-185, 1987.

66. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1975, P. 233 n. 43.

67. Weil, 1980/1998, pp. 101-102.

68. Lamb, 1971/1974.

69. Carneiro, 1980; de Mille, 1990, PP. 452-453; Dobkin de Rios, 1972a; Ott, 1996,
pp. 234-237. For defenses, see Lamb, 1981a, 1981b; Luna & Amaringo, 1993, P. 19.

70. Weil, 1972/1986, Pp. 182-184-

71. Weil, 1974, p. vi.

72. Weil, 1974, P• Xi-

73. Weil, 1980/1998, Pp.122-123.

74. Kensinger, 1973, p. 12 n. 4.

75. Lamb, 1971/1974, PP. 184, 198.

76. Kensinger, 1973, p. 12 n. 4.

77. Calvo, 198I/I995b, pp. 173-74.

78. Kent, 2007a.

79. Krassner, 2004, p. 122.

CHAPTER 23

i. There are numerous first-person accounts of ayahuasca experiences: Allende,
2008, pp. 210-213; Davis, 1996, PP. 487-490; Delacroix, 2000; Descola,
1993/1996, pp. 205-209; De Wys, 2009; Dobkin de Rios, 1972b, pp. 125-128;
Freedman, 2000; Harner, 1980, pp. 1-9; Krippner & Sulla, 2000; McKenna, 1989;
Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1975, PP. 155-167; Salak, 2005; Shanon, 2002; Taussig, 1987,
PP. 435-446; Tindall, 2008; Torres, 2000; Wilcox, 2003. Several self-reports are
collected in Luna & White, 2000, pp. 81-126; Metzner, 1999. Fictional accounts
are in Matthiessen, 1965, pp. 87-104; Theroux, 2005, pp. 77-101; Walker, 2004,
PP. 51-53.

2. These initial visual experiences are sometimes (e.g., Reichel-Dolmatoff,
1978/i997b) taken to be phosphenes, geometric entoptic phenomena-the lines,
curves, circles, and occasionally complex structures, such as oscillating pinwheels
or fireworks-type patterns, caused by discharges of activity of the retina and the
occipital cortex of the brain (Aiken, 1998, p. 158; Peters, 1994, P. 8; see also
Hodgson, 2000). A particularly thorough and relevant account is Carr, 1995.

3. Calvo, 198I/I995b, p. 210.

4. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1975, pp. 165-167.

5.Lagrou,1999.

6. Siskind, 1973a, PP. 132-133, 135-137.

7. Gow, 2001, pp. 37, 138-139, 147•

8. Goldman, 1979, p. 210.

9. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1968/1971, p.107, 1972, pp.103-104,1975, PP. 171-173,
179-180, 1978/I997b, Pp. 244, 248.

10. Bear, 2000, p. 214.

ii. Quoted in Gorman, 2006.

12. Quoted in Weiskopf, 1995.

13. Burroughs & Ginsberg, 1963/1975, p. 21; Miles, 2000, p. 266.

14. Quoted in Luna, 1986c, p. 45

15. Quoted in Charing, 2007e.

16. Strassman, 2001, p. 148.

17. Chac6n, 2001, p. 167; my translation.

18. Strassman, 2001, p. 146; see also Shanon, 2002, pp. 68-85.

19. Shanon, 2002, p. 227, see also 2001.

20. Shanon, 2002, p. 189. On synesthesia generally, see Marks, 2000.

21. Calvo, 198I/I995b, P. 215.

22. Calvo, 198I/I995b, p. 210.

23. Matthiessen, 1965, pp. 90-91.

24. Luna & Amaringo, 1993, P. 38.

25. Gebhart-Sayer, 1985, p. 172.

26. Gebhart-Sayer, 1984, 1985, 1986.

27. Gebhart-Sayer, 1985, p. 164. See also Gow, 1999; Lathrap, 1976; Lathrap,
Gebhart-Sayer, & Mester, 1984.

28.Lagrou,1999.

29.Lagrou,1999.

30. Fulop, 1954, PP. 125-128. See Sullivan, 1988, P. 287.

31. Ramirez de Jara & Pinz6n Castaflo, 1992, Pp. 295-296.

32. Burroughs & Ginsberg, 1963/1975, P. 29.

33. Davis, 1996, P. 489.

34• Calvo,198i/i995b, p. 216.

35. Goldman, 1979, pp. 210-211; Shanon, 2002, p. 59; Harner, 1973a, p. 15;
Whitten & Whitten, 2008, p. 70.

36. Lamb, 1985, p. 178; Shanon, 2000, p. i9; Goldman, 1979, pp. 210-211;
Flores & Lewis, 1978, p. 155; Siskind, 1973a, p. 145.

37. Strassman, 1994, P. 112.

38. Topping, 1999.

39. Burroughs & Ginsberg, 1963/1975, P. 30.

40. Gracie & Zarkov, 1985.

41. McKenna, 1991, P. 38.

42. Shanon, 2000, p. 18.

43• Perruchon, 2003, p. 222.

44. Luna, 1986c, p. 150.

45. Calvo, 198I/I995b, p. 216.

46. Luna & Amaringo, 1993, P. 27; emphasis added.

47. Kensinger, 1973, p. II.

48. Pickover, 2005, P. 84.

49• Pickover, 2005, P. 84.

5o. Meyer, 1994, p. 186; Tramacchi, 2006, p. 91.

51. Lyttle, 1993, P. 202. For a critique of the ideas of McKenna, Pickover, and other
elf advocates, and access to the ongoing debate, see the e-mail correspondence of
James Kent (2004), the former editor of Entheogen Review and Trip magazine.

52. Luna & Amaringo, 1993, P. 27.

53 Aikhenvald, 2004, PP. 346, 348-349; Valenzuela, 2003, PP. 51, 58.

54• Valenzuela, 2003, P. 58.

55. Perrine, 1996, p. 284; McKenna, 1991, P. 37.

56. McKenna, 1991, p. 27.

57. McKenna, 1991, p. 78.

58. Pendell, 2005, Pp. 232, 236; emphasis in original.

59. Burroughs & Ginsberg, 1963/1975, P. 56.

6o. Gow, 1995, P• 55-

61. Quoted in Gow, 2001, p. 141-

62. Quoted in Rubenstein, 2002, p. 159.

63. Meyer, 1994.

64. Meyer, 1994, P. 175.

65. Meyer, 1994, P. 174.

66. Meyer, 1994, P. 176.

67. Meyer, 1994, P. 178.

68. Meyer, 1994, P. 179.

69. Meyer, 1994, P. 174.

70. Meyer, 1994, P. 173.

71. Perrine, 1996, P. 284.

72. Strassman, 1992; Strassman & Qualls, 1994; Strassman, Qualls, Uhlenhuth,
& Kellner, 1994. See generally Strassman, 2000; for a detailed account of the
nature and procedures of the New Mexico DMT experiments, see Strassman,
1991, 1994.

73. Strassman, 1994, 2001, p. 147.

74. Strassman, 2001, p. 146.

75. Strassman, 2001, p. 148.

76. Strassman, 2001, pp. 185, 147.

77. Strassman, 2001, p. 185.

78. Strassman, 2001, p. 185. The prankishness and general high spirits of these elves
are often reported, particularly by Terence McKenna, whose own prankishness
apparently matched their own. For example, McKenna reports the following exchange: "And so then I said: `Aha the creatures in the DMT flash are Traders....
They're Traders.' And that's what this weird feeling is-it's a business environment in there. [laughter] We're having a business meeting. They're saying ...
and then the objects! Then I remembered-the objects ... they're trade goods!
They're saying: `How about thissss! How about This!"' (1990; ellipses in original).
McKenna was an idiosyncratic and tremendously engaging speaker; a large
collection of recordings, transcripts, and videos can be found at the Terence
McKenna Land Web site, http://deoxy.org/mckenna.htm.

79. Strassman, 2001, p. M. Similarly: "I saw strange creatures, they were dwarves
or something, they were black and moved about" (p. 188); "I was living in a world
of orange people" (p. 188); "There were at least two presences, one on either side
of me, guiding me to a platform" (p. 18q); "I felt a dragonlike presence" (p. 191);
"There were these three guys or three things" (p. 192); "There was a human, as far
as I could tell, standing at some type of console, taking readings or manipulating
things" (p. 194); "These beings were friendly" (p. 197); "Then I felt like I was suddenly in the presence of an alien or of aliens, vaguely humanoid" (p. 204); "There
were insectlike intelligences everywhere" (p. 209); "Suddenly, beings appeared.
They were cloaked, like silhouettes. They were glad to see me" (p. 214).

8o. Strassman, 2001, p. 19o. Similarly: "There was something outlined in green....
She was showing me, it seemed like, how to use this thing. It resembled a computer terminal. I believe she wanted me to communicate with her through that
device" (p. 209).

81. Strassman, 2001, p. 1q1.

82. Strassman, 2001, p. 192.

83. Strassman, 2001, p. 207.

84. Strassman, 2001, p. 197. Similarly: "They were pouring communication into me
but it was just so intense" (p. 209); "A male presence tries to communicate with
me, but I don't understand" (p. 212); "They told me there were many things they
could share with us when we learn how to make more extended contact" (p. 215);
"I realize the intense pulsating buzzing sound and vibration are an attempt by the
DMT entities to communicate with me" (p. 208).

85. Essig, 2001.

86. Szdra, 1994, P. 34. See Cohen, 1985; Fischman, 1983; Freedman, 1968; Hollister,
1962; Morrison, 1998, p. 231.

87. Jacob & Shulgin, 1994, P. 74.

88. Nichols, 2004, p. 132.

89. Ott, 1995-

90. Szara, 1994, P. 40. Morrison (1998, P. 231) suggests that these visual distortions
are more appropriately termed illusions.

91. Gebhart-Sayer, 1985; Gow,1999; Lathrap, 1976; Lathrap etal.,1984.

92. Huxley, 1954, P• 17-

93. Huxley, 1954, P• 33-

94. Hofmann, 2001, p. 123.

95. Weil, 2002, p. 124.

96. Tart, 2001, p. 48.

97. Szara, 1994, P. 41; Richards, Rhead, DiLeo, Yensen, & Kurland, 1977; Richards,
1978; Hermle etal., 1992; Grof, 1988, P. 38.

98. Friedman, 1983, P. 39.

99• Freedman, 1968, p. 331.

loo. Forte, 2oooa, p. 9o n. 5.

101. Quoted in Kandell, 2001; quoted in Shulgin & Shulgin,1991, p. 67.

102. On chemical analysis of the San Pedro plant, see Crosby & McLaughlin, 1973;
Helmlin & Brenneisen, 1992; Lundstrom, 1970; Poisson, 1960; Turner & Heyman,
1961. On huachuma shamanism in northern Peru, see Glass-Coffin, 1998;
Joralemon & Sharon, 1993; Sharon, 1972.

103. Perruchon, 2003, p. 218.

104. Scotto & Kent, 2001.

105. Strassman, 1996.

106. Strassman, 2001, pp. 266-309.

CHAPTER 24

i. Esquirol, 1832, quoted in Green & McCreery, 1994, P. 17o n. 3; cited in Bentall,
2000, p. 86, and Horowitz, 1970, p. 8; my translation.

2. Casey, 1991, P. 82.

3. Horowitz, 1970, p. 8.

4. American Psychiatric Association, 1994, P• 767. For a review of the history of the
concept of hallucination, see Leudar & Thomas, 2000, pp. 8-14.

5. Slade & Bentall, 1988, p. 23.

6. Casey, 1991, PP. 83-88.

7. Bentall, 2000, p. 99.

8. Bentall, 1990, 2000; Frith, 1992; Hoffman, 1986; Thomas, 1997•

9. Leudar, Thomas, & Johnston, 1992, 1994; Leudar, Thomas, McNally, & Glinski,
1997-

10. Schiller, 1994, P. 21. On the history of verbal hallucinations and a compelling
attempt to depathologize them, see Leudar & Thomas, 2000; on attempts to distinguish pathological and nonpathological inner voices, see Heery, 1989; Liester,
1996.

ii. Johnson, Hashtroudi, & Lindsay, 1993; Johnson & Magaro, 1987.
Christopher Frith (1992, P• 73) calls this self-monitoring.

12. Bentall, 2000, p. 102.

13. Bentall, Baker, & Havers, 1991.

14. Leudar & Thomas, 2000, p. 7-

15. Currie, 2000, p. 173; Frith, 1992, P. 84.

16. Quoted in Sass, 1994, P. 19.

17. Currie, 2000, p. 178-

18. Kosslyn, 1994, P. 55; Reisberg & Leak, 1987.

19. Brown & Herrnstein, 1981; Currie, 2000, p. 179.

20. The first description is in a letter to his ophthalmologist, quoted in
Ramachandran, 1998, p. 86; the second is in Thurber, 1937/1945, p• 107-

21. Ramachandran, 1998, P• 87-

22. Grauer, 1994, p. 66; Ramachandran, 1998, p. 85.

23. Thurber, 1937/1945, PP. 107-109.

24. Ramachandran, 1998; Teunisse, Cruysberg, Hoefnagels, Verbeek, & Zitman, 1996.

25. Mogk, Riddering, Dahl, Bruce, & Brafford, 2000, pp. 118-119.

26. Ramachandran, 1998, p. 106.

27. Ramachandran, 1998, p. 107-

28. Ramachandran, 1998, p. 105.

29. Schultz, Needham, Taylor, & Shindell, 1996.

30. Fernandez, Lichtshein, & Vieweg, 1997-

31. Bentall, 2000; Grimby, 1993; Reese, 1971.

32. Ramachandran, 1998, p. 1o6.

33• Santhouse, Howard, & ffytche, 2000.

34• Needham & Taylor, 2000.

35• Ramachandran, 1998, p. 89.

36. Zur & Ullman, 2003.

37- Shimojo, Kamitani, & Nishida, 2001.

38. Ramachandran, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, PP. 88-104.

39• Ramachandran, 1998, p. 101.

40. Quoted in Green & McCreery, 1994, P. 107.

V. Green & McCreery, 1994, p. 109.

42. Noe, 2002, p. 2.

43• Ramachandran, 1998, p. 89.

44. Noe, 2002, p. 10.

45• Ramachandran, 1998, pp. 111-112.

46. Ramachandran, 1998, p. 112.

47. Ramachandran & Hirstein, 1999, p. 95.

48. Jaffe, 1962/1963, p. Vii.

49. Jung, 1989.

50. Jung, 1962/1963, PP. 170-199-

51. Hillman, 1983b, p. 54.

52. Jung, 1962/1997a, Pp. 28, 30.

53. Jung, 1962/1997a, p. 30.

54. Rowan, 1993, p. 63.

55. Hillman, 1983b, P. 55.

56. Watkins, 1976, P. 124.

57. Rowan, 1993, P. 54.

58. Corbin, 1972/2000, p. 71-

59. Jung, 193511997c, 'J394, P.144; quoted in Green & McCreery, 1994, PP. 1-2;
Alvarado, 2000, p. 184.

6o. Jung, 193511997c, ¶394, P. 144,196211997a, pp. 28, 30; Laberge & Gackenbach,
2000, p. 169.

61. Jung, 1935/1997c, 1394, P.144; Green & McCreery, 1994, Pp. 1-2, H.

62. Green & McCreery, 1994, P. 11, 69; Jung, 1935/1997c,'.1394, P.144.

63. Bentall, zooo; Grimby, 1993; Reese, 1971.

64. Shaw, 1924/1931, p. 967.

65. Shaw, 1924/1931, P. 987.

CHAPTER 25

i. Silva, 2004, p. 191.

2. Wilbert, 1987, P. 4.

3. Luna, 1986c, p.159.

4. Schultes & Raffauf,1992, P. 92.

5. Chaumeil, 1983/2000, p. 126; Harner, 1971, p. 6o.

6. Gow, 2001, p. 138-

7. Harner, 1971, pp. 136, 157, 163-165.

8. SenslRTechnologies, 2000; University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, n.d.

9. Goodman, 1994, P. 25; Janiger & Dobkin de Rios, 1976.

10. Schultes & Raffauf, 1990, PP. 432-436; Wilbert, 1987, pp. 133-137; Goodman,
1994, P. 25.

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