Natalia Tomalak - Santa Ines – shamanism contra medicine occidental

My experience with Shuar Shaman and natural medicine took place in Santa Ines between 18th and 25th of January. I stayed with a family of Rafael Shakay whose grandfather was a well known Shaman. Rafael himself is not a Shaman but has knowledge of the medicinal plants and shamanic rituals. There are other members of his family - his uncles that are Shamans.

The Shaman in Santa Ines is a young man, that is for shamans, at 42 years old. He lived and practiced shamanism in Tena for many years. Now he just returned to Santa Ines and does not have his sacred place yet. He was chosen to become a Shaman by his father-shaman when he was 5 years old. As he was interested in that, old Shuar shamans started to teach him the techniques, rituals and medicinal plants. He needed 12 years to purify his body by using a special diet, not having relationships with women and many others restrictions that were strictly ordered by the old shaman. It is the shaman-teacher who decides when an adept is ready to move forward. Future shamans in order to become like their teachers have to undertake many trials of hallucinogenic drinks of different strength. The resistance of the body and soul has to be very high so when dealing with negative energy they can recuperate and will not be affected.

I was lucky to watch one of the cleaning rituals of Rafael. Preparations started in the afternoon when together with Rafael we went to look for ingredients to prepare ayahuasca. The plant used to prepare it looks like a liana but apparently it has a strong purifying effect on a body. The preparation of the drink included pealing the plant, crushing it a little bit and neatly placing in a large pan together with other leaves. It took nearly 3 hours to prepare a strong infusion that was to be drunk by shaman and Rafael as well. The other substances used during the ceremony were: infusion of fresh tobacco, pure spirit, cigarettes as well as bunch of leaves and an egg. It was about 8pm when shaman arrived with his family. They were ready to start. The ritual went as follows:

• Shaman smokes cigarettes
• He fixes his attention on a cup with ayahuasca, downs it in one go and immediately drinks a little of spirit
• He talks in shuar and whistles
• He inhale the infusion of tobacco with his nose; his eyes become red
• The patient takes his dose of ayahuasca and spirit
• Shaman drinks tobacco infusion
• He cleans the patient with leaves
• He sucks all the bad energy from patient’s body and spits it out in a form of a red liquid
• He lights a plate with spirit in front of the patient
• He cleans the body with an egg which is supposed to absorb all negative energy and afterwards places it in a cup with water (later on it will be thrown away)
• He washes patient’s body with hot spirit

The treatment was finished. Both Shaman and patient were drunk and had to rest.

At present the popularity of shamans within the Shuar community depends on age and sex of a person. When asked, majority of young women although believing in power of Shamans they prefer to go to a doctor and to take their kids with them. On the other hand there are men who are more likely to use a Shaman at the first instant and only if necessary seek doctor’s help. It is the proximity of towns and easy access to occidental medicine that has an influence on change of the habits of people Shuar.

In the past when there were no road and medicine occidental people used only shamans. Yet together with conquistadors and later with deforestation and destruction of natural habitats there came different diseases. Diseases to which indigenous people were not used to and could not fight with themselves. At the moment the immune system of people Shuar, especially kids, although still being strong is much more prone to illnesses such as flu or internal infections. In these cases when the abilities of Shamans are limited they recommend their patients to seek an opinion of a doctor. However, according to the Shaman there are many illnesses caused by malediction and negative energy or imbalance of energy.

Yet being there and living as a part of the community Santa Ines I have to admit that the status of the shaman nowadays is not as strong as it was in the past. Yet the knowledge and usage of herbs and medical plants seem to have stronger position. There are free and easily accessible in the surrounding. However, together with the globalisation people in this community seem to go away from their indigenous roots in order to become similar to people in the West.