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THE SHAMAN’S DIET: LISTENING TO THE PLANTS
Whether the diet is to heal the body or spirit, or whether it is part of an apprenticeship, what makes it work is your good intention toward it as well as the intention to make a connection to the spirit of the plant.
When the spirit accepts the dieter and the dieter has the will, the spirit will grant him energy. The path to knowledge opens and the healing can take place.
GUILLERMO AREVALO, AMAZONIAN SHAMAN
This chapter will open you further to the spirit of the plants through a process known as the shaman’s diet. This body of practices involves certain actions and restrictions on the behavior of the shaman-to-be so he (or she) can learn from his plant ally how to use it for healing, and how to strengthen himself physically, psychologically, and spiritually. In Peru, it also includes the learning of magical chants called icaros and in Haiti, the memorizing of sacred songs called chantes, to call and make contact with the spirits and to invoke the power of the plants. All of this is known as the diet, the purpose of which is to prepare the body and nervous system of the apprentice for the expansion of consciousness brought by his communion with the spirit of the plants.
The apprentice needs to follow dietary requirements in order to allow this transmission of healing power and knowledge. These requirements prohibit certain foods, such as pork, fats, salt, spices, condiments, and alcohol, leaving the apprentice with a healthy but extremely bland menu so she is not overwhelmed with flavor and can more finely sense the attributes of the plant she is working with.
The further purpose of such an uninspiring menu is to weaken the emotional attachments to everyday life, some of which come from food. For the same reason, there is a prohibition on sexual activity and the apprentice must even refrain from libidinous thoughts, since sex is another distraction that will ground him in his body and inhibit his spiritual potential. Detachment, and often removal, from the physical world, is, in this sense, a prerequisite to entering the great plant mind.
In the words of Guillermo Arevalo, a Shipibo moraya (the highest level of plant maestro):
Above all, sex must be avoided or you will suffer a clash of energies. Sex debilitates a person and can produce cutipa—a psychological “accident”—in him. This means that the plant, instead of becoming a medicine, becomes a toxin and can provoke allergy, poison the blood, or cause heart problems. In these circumstances, it is said that the plant becomes jealous of the human lover and can make you ill or kill you. That is why the shaman goes into the wilderness. There is no temptation there.
A person who embarks on such a diet will also follow a regime of purification and retreat, which can last for weeks or months, and provides the quietude and focus for him to release his hold on the habits of normal life and still the rational mind so his spirit can expand. One example of this is when a male dieter is in his tambo (a small isolated shelter or meditation chamber, often deep in the jungle) and an old and unattractive woman is chosen to bring food to him. This prevents the dieter from entering into the sexual games-playing and social expectations that go with male-female interactions in the wider world and enables him to focus on his inner work.
According to Schultes and Winkelman, “Diet is viewed as a tool helping to maintain the altered state of consciousness which permits the plant teacher to instruct, provide knowledge, and enable the initiate to acquire power. The diet is viewed as a means of making the mind operate differently, providing access to wisdom and lucid dreams.”1 From a psychological perspective, it is a way of releasing the hold of the ego-mind. As the diet progresses, even the sense of being human diminishes, and the dieter becomes “plantlike.” It is under these conditions that he or she can best start to communicate with the plant in dreams and meditations.
THE CHALLENGE OF THE DIET
The biggest challenge for a Westerner undertaking this diet is often not the requirements and prohibitions of the regime itself, but to accept that there is another order of nonmaterial reality that the apprentice can experience through his entrance into plant consciousness. We are all born into the social paradigm that surrounds us, with all of its beliefs, myths, and institutions that support its view of the world, and it is not within our own worldview to accept the immaterial and irrational. Before we, as Westerners, embark on such a plant diet, then, we first need to question some of our most deeply ingrained assumptions. The starting place for the diet is ourselves.
HomoSapien-centricity is a strange-looking word but perhaps an appropriate one to describe the concept that many of us, consciously or not, carry within us: that we humans are the most important (and even the only) conscious and self-aware—that is, ensouled—beings in the universe.
At his trial for heresy in 1633, Galileo, the Italian physicist and astronomer, was forced by the Inquisition to recant his suggestion that the Earth revolved around the Sun and not the other way around, as the dogma of the times dictated. It took nearly 360 years for the Church to pardon Galileo and accept his theories. Yet the arrogance behind the Church’s judgment remains today, in the still prevalent notion that human beings are the “Crown of Creation” or, more kindly but just as arrogantly, that we are the “caretakers” of the natural world. In fact we are members of the world, equal parts of it; children of the Earth. By trying to control it or caretake it, we distance ourselves from the very Creation we claim ourselves owners of.
Another aspect of this HomoSapien-centricity is a science of psychology that regards nonordinary or expanded awareness as an extension or invention of the human psyche—perhaps even a delusion, but certainly not an experience of a real and bigger consciousness that can possibly exist without us. The soul of the world and the spirit of nature are not real in this model. It is we who create them.
Perhaps the closest we get to an ensouled view of the world is the concept of archetypes, which some psychologists regard as energies or spiritlike entities that may be external to ourselves. But even these are expressions of human consciousness and projections of our collective psyche, not beings in their own right.a
Is there an alternate reality that exists alongside the one we know? Another way of getting at this is to ask if time and space—our most basic building blocks of reality—are all there is. Is our perception of time correct: that it is linear and sequential, like a river flowing only from the present to the future? Is space made up only of material things and the gaps between them? Or do we create our own times and spaces, moment by moment, from the data available in the multiple dimensions around us? Our scientists who are now basing their theories on the existence of ten dimensions believe so. In the new science, in fact, this is the only way reality works.
Ultimately, it comes down to a matter of choice and personal belief. As John Michell comments in Confessions of a Radical Traditionalist: “There are an infinite number of ways in which you can see the world and an infinite range of data to support, or discredit, any of them. You can believe in black holes if you like, or you can believe in angels. I am not a believer, but if I had to choose I would take the latter, because unlike the holes, angels have often been sighted and their influence has generally been for the good.”2
For shamans, the world we perceive through our senses is just one description of a vast and mysterious unseen, and not an absolute fact. Black Elk, the Oglala Sioux medicine man, remarked (in words that seem almost Platonic) that beyond our perceptions is “the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. [It] is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that world.”3
In his book, People of the Sacred Waterfalls, Michael Harner writes of a similar view among the Jivaro people of the Ecuadorian rainforests. For them, “the normal waking life is explicitly viewed as ‘false’ or ‘a lie’, and it is firmly believed that truth about causality is to be found by entering the supernatural world or what the Jivaro view as the ‘real world’, for they feel that the events which take place within it underlie and are the basis for many of the surface manifestations and mysteries of daily life.”4
Mazatec shaman, Maria Sabina, said the same thing: “There is a world beyond ours, a world that is far away, nearby and invisible, and there is where God lives, where the dead live, the spirits and the saints. A world where everything has already happened and everything is known. That world talks. It has a language of its own.”5 And the way that it talks is through nature. Though it is the antithesis of our social conditioning, this is the way to meet the spirit of the plants.
Loulou Prince reveals more about how this communication works when he speaks of the importance of dreams and of respect for the plants:
Very often if a patient comes to me I have to send them away on that day. Then I will fast and prepare myself so that I invite a dream that night. In my dream the spirits come to me and lead me into the forests where they show me the leaves to pick and how to prepare them. Then, when my patient comes back next day I know exactly what I must do.
I must also pay the spirit for the help it has given me. At every crossroads I pass on my way into the forest to pick the leaves I have been shown, I must sing to the spirits and bury coins in the earth for a safe passage. The value of the coins is irrelevant; it is respect that is important.
When I reach the plant I will also sing, to wake up the spirits of the leaves and remind them of the dream we shared and the task that lies ahead.
Once the leaves are collected they must not touch the ground either for that would be an insult to the spirit and the energy of the plant would drain into the Earth.
The voice of nature is a dream, and the identification and collection of leaves is an exercise in respect. It begins with Loulou following a particular diet (often fasting) to summon the spirit to a dream-appointment. He will then follow the advice of this spirit and collect the leaves he is shown, all the time paying the spirits of the plants and the others along his route. Only after all this is done can the healing begin.
There are few illnesses that cannot be healed with the plants of the rainforest once these rituals have been followed. Loulou treats people with digestive disorders, sexual problems, fevers, and colds, and also has medicine to purify the spirit and restore balance to the body. He often treats children who are not growing well due to persecution by evil spirits. Here, the medicine is magical in nature.
There are specific leaves, strong-smelling leaves, that help children under spiritual attack. I collect the leaves I am shown by the spirits and mix them with rum and sea water to make a bath for the child, then I pray and bless the leaves.
While I am bathing him, I sing songs for the spirits, and ask them to come and help this child. Then I give him leaves to make his blood bitter, so it tastes and smells bad and the spirits go away. When this is done, no one can curse that child or do evil to him.
PLANTAS MAESTRAS: THE SHAMAN’S TEACHERS
Plantas maestras (“master” or “teacher” plants) are an integral part of every diet. They are key among the shaman’s tutelary spirits, her chief allies and guides to the worlds of health and healing. In ordinary reality, they are also considered the jungle’s most skilled and important “doctors” because of their usefulness and relevance to the healing concerns of most patients. Through knowing these plants, the shaman can deal effectively with the diseases of her people.
It can be difficult to find discrete Western analogues for some of these jungle plants, because plants grow where they are needed—and the healing needed by a New York banker will be quite different from that of a Peruvian farmer. The psychological and spiritual benefits bestowed by such plantas maestras, and their ability to restore emotional balance, banish negative energies, or open the heart to love are desirable in any culture, however, so it is possible to find plants with equivalent or similar effects if we wish to imbibe these qualities for ourselves.
With this in mind, we now offer a description of some of the more commonly “dieted” plantas maestras of the Amazon along with plants from our own culture that will produce similar effects (either singly or in combination). (Also see appendices 1 and 2 for more Caribbean and Peruvian plants and their Western equivalents.)
Before we begin, let us clarify our terms and conditions. To diet the plants means to ingest them on a regular and sustained basis with the intention to merge with their spirit. If you choose to diet these plants, two things are essential.
First: That you take the plants at least twice a day for a period of not less than three months. Shamans typically spend many months or even years dieting a particular plant, so three months should really be considered a minimum.
During this time, the rest of your diet should be as bland as possible (rice, fish, and unseasoned vegetables are recommended) and you should avoid other herbs and spices as much as you can, as well as alcohol and stimulants such as coffee. Especially, during your diet, do not eat lemons or limes, which cut through magic. (In fact, the classic way for a shaman to end his diet is to eat a little salt and lemon or take a lemon bath.)
Second: That you focus on your intention. As you work with your chosen plants you should vigorously intend that you will meet with their spirits, not just ingest them for their physical properties. This means taking them with full awareness that you are allowing into your body a whole other intelligence.
We are not used to this discipline in the West. For example, we may be partial to mint and cumin, enjoying their tastes but blind to their effects on our body—how mint cools and cumin heats us up. When you embark on the diet, however, such subtleties of awareness are important, so begin to scan your body and emotions before and after you take your plant. How do you feel emotionally? What is going on physically in your body? What is your mind doing (are you stressed out or relaxed, etc.)? Where are you at spiritually? Then be aware of what changes—immediately and a few hours after you take the plant. In this way you will begin to sense its spirit.
To make a tea of any of the plants listed below, simply boil the fresh ingredients (the amounts you use can be much to your own taste, but three heaping teaspoons of each is about right) in a pint or so of water for a few minutes and then simmer for about twenty minutes, allowing it to reduce, and blowing smoke—which carries your intention—into the mixture as it boils. This will wake up the spirits of the plants and attune them to your needs. Add honey if you wish, then strain and drink when cool.
For a mixture that will last a little longer, add the fresh ingredients to alcohol (rum or vodka is recommended), with honey if you wish. Leave a little time for the herbs to soak into the alcohol,b then drink three to five teaspoonfuls a day, morning and night.
Here, then, are the plant teachers that Amazonian shamans recommend, along with equivalent European and American herbs that will produce a similar effect.
CHIRIC SANANGO: FOR LOVE
Chiric sanango grows mainly in the upper Amazon and in a few restingas (high grounds that never flood). It is good for colds and arthritis and has the effect of heating up the body. (Chiric, in Quechua, means “tickling” or “itchy,” an allusion to the prickly heat it generates.) Plant shamans often prescribe it for fishermen and loggers, for example, because they spend so much time in the water and are prone to colds and arthritis. The patient should not drink too much at a time, though, because it can lead to numbness of the mouth as well as a feeling of slight disorientation. It is also used in magical baths (see chapter 6) to change the bather’s energy and bring good luck to his ventures.
Used in the West, the plant has a more psychological effect, but still having to do with “heat.” Here, it enables people to open their hearts to love (it “warms up” a cold heart, but will also “cool” a heart that is too inflamed with jealousy and rage) and to identify with others as if they were brothers and sisters. In essence, it helps people get in touch with the sensitive and loving parts of themselves. Another of its gifts is enhanced self-esteem, which develops from this more healthy connection to the self.
Chiric sanango can be prepared in water or in aguardiente (weak sugar cane alcohol) or made into a syrup by adding its juice to honey or molasses. It is said to better penetrate the bones, however, if it is simply boiled in water and drunk.
For a Western diet, mint, as a balancer of the body’s physical and emotional heat, has some of the properties of chiric sanango. It can cool you down on a summer day but will also provide warmth when drank by an open fire in winter; and it has the same effect on the emotions, promoting the flow of love as well as alertness and clarity. For these reasons, mint is associated with the planet Venus, which was named after the Roman goddess of love.
Good plants to combine with mint include lemon balm and chamomile. In Arabian herb magic, lemon balm was known to bring feelings of love and healing. (Pliny remarked that its powers of healing were so great that, rubbed on a sword that inflicted a wound, it would staunch the flow of blood in the injured person without need for any physical contact.) Recent research at Northumbria University in the UK has also proven the beneficial effects of lemon balm in increasing feelings of calm and well-being, as well as in improving memory. Chamomile, meanwhile, is a great relaxant and an aid to practice in meditation and forgiveness.
Chiric sanango, as mentioned, also brings relief from arthritic pain. If this is your concern, Western plants that could be added to mint include marigold and ginseng.
GUAYUSA: FOR LUCID DREAMS
Guayusa has the effect of giving lucid dreams (dreams during which you are aware that you are dreaming and can direct the dreaming). For this reason it is known in the Amazon as the “night watchman’s plant,” as even when you are sleeping you have an awareness of your outer physical surroundings. The boundary between sleeping and wakefulness becomes more fluid and dreams become more colorful, richer, and more potent than before. For those interested in dreams or shamanic dreaming, this is the plant to explore.
Guayusa is a good plant for people who suffer from excessive acidity, indigestion, or other problems of the stomach and bile. It also develops mental strength and is paradoxical in the sense that, just as chiric sanango is cooling and warming at the same time, guayusa is both energizing and relaxing.
In the Western world, bracken, jasmine, marigold, rose, mugwort, and poplar will produce the same effect of lucid or prophetic dreams. The leaves and buds of the poplar were often a key ingredient in the “flying ointments” of European witches, who used it for what we would call astral projection. Use a mixture of these plants (in either water or alcohol) to produce a liquid that can be taken in the same way as the examples above.
As well as preparing these plants as a tea or tincture (in either water or alcohol) it is also possible to use them in a way that practitioners of Haitian Vodou employ for working with their native “dreaming plants”: by making a bila. In Haiti, the ceremony of bat guerre—the “battle for the spirits”—is an initiatory ritual that takes three nights to complete and is undertaken by the person who wishes to become a shaman. The initiate kneels before the bila, a ceremonial pillow that is stuffed with magical herbs, and, for hours on end, must beat it with a machete, while drumming and dancing carry on around him. This beating releases the aroma of the herbs, and through this, he will enter a trance in which the spirits talk to—and, often, through—him.
The bat geurre takes place before the entire community, since it is also about demonstrating commitment to a spiritual vision of the world. The sweat of the new priest and his blistered hands are proof to the people that he has the dedication and strength to make this vision a reality on Earth.
Thankfully, it is not necessary for you to undergo this ritual in order to sense a new reality, since we all enter the dreaming universe every night, when we sleep. Many people understand that herbs can influence them subtly and may sleep with a pouch of lavender next to their beds, or with rose- or primrose-scented sheets. They find that this relaxes them and changes their mood in slight, but perceptible, ways. The herbs of the bila are, in this respect, no different.
To create a bila for yourself, take small handfuls of mugwort and poplar, or some of the other herbs mentioned, and blend them together. Sprinkle the mix with neroli, orange, or patchouli oils (aromatherapy oils are fine) as well if you wish and, as they do in Haiti, a little rum and water to bind the mix together. Put your intention into this as you do it: these herbs will help you dream more lucidly and gather information from the spirit world. Then allow the mixture to dry for a few days. When it is ready, crumble it into a cloth pouch and place it beneath your pillow. Keep a dream journal next to your bed, and as soon as you wake up in the morning, immediately note down your dreams and your first waking sensations.
Julie, a participant in one of our 2003 plant medicine workshops, made and used a bila in this way. Not only was her dreaming enhanced tremendously and the information she recorded in her dream diaries richer than she had experienced for many years, she also reported out-of-body sensations that she had never had before.
“It felt like I was flying over landscapes during my dreams,” she said, “and I could zero in on any location and explore what was going on there. Quite often these experiences would involve friends and when I would later call or meet with them it turned out that, more often than not, what I had seen in my dreams had actually happened to them. In one or two cases they also experienced my presence in their own dreams on the night I was dreaming of them.”
A similar method for inducing dreams that will impart specific information or healing comes from the Hindu tradition, which uses a dream pillow. The herbs that you use in this tradition are determined by which facets of your life you need guidance with. The list below offers some correspondences to the spices, herbs, and flowers that dreamers find useful.
First, make a base mix of mugwort and poplar, as described for the bila. Then, for information on the following, add the corresponding herb.
Cut a piece of natural cloth (silk or cotton is fine) into a rectangular shape about twice the width of a CD case. Black or white fabrics are normally used, but you can choose colors appropriate to your needs or tastes. Fold the rectangle in half so it forms a square, then sew up the two sides and turn the sleeve you’ve created inside out. Fill the pillow with your “base” herbs, adding the flowers and herbs most appropriate for the guidance you want to receive. Sew up the top and you will have a dreaming pillow.
It is said that an intention for dreams based on love is best made on a waxing moon (the fourteen days starting from the new moon) and dreams about health are best on a waning moon (the fourteen days following the full moon).
AJO SACHA: STALKING THE SELF
Ajo sacha is a blood purifier that helps the body rid itself of toxins (spiritual or physical) as well as restoring strength and equilibrium lost through illnesses that have an effect on the blood. (See a photo of ajo sacha on page 2 of the color insert.)
Psychospiritually, ajo sacha helps to develop acuity of mind and can also take the user out of saladera (a run of bad luck, inertia, or a sense of not living life to the full). It is also used for “ridding spells”—undoing the work of curses or removing bad energy that has been sent deliberately or by accident (in an explosion of rage, etc).
In floral baths (see chapter 6), it will relieve states of shock and fear (known as manchiari). These states can be particularly debilitating to children, whose souls are not as strong or fixed as an adult’s; a powerful shock can therefore lead to soul loss (see chapter 4). The same phenomenon, especially regarding children, is known to the shamans of Haiti, where it is called seziman, and the shamans of India, where great care is taken to protect children from frights of this kind and the anxious parents of newborns employ the shamans to make protective amulets for their babies.
Another key use for ajo sacha in the Amazon is to enhance hunting skills, not only by covering the human scent with its own garlicky smell (the plant also has a strong garlic taste and, in fact, its name—a hybrid of Spanish and Quecha—means “wild garlic,” although it is not related to garlic in any way), but by amplifying the hunter’s senses of taste, smell, sound, and vision, all of which are, of course, essential for success and for survival. It is a plant of stalking.
In the Western world this stalking ability tends to translate psychologically, and the plant becomes a means of helping an individual hunt or “stalk” her inner issues. To underline this, the Shipibo maestro Guillermo Arevalo adds that this plant opens up the shamanic path and helps the apprentice see beyond conventional reality—as long as he has “the heart of a warrior” and is prepared to live under the obligations of shamanism. For this, he will need courage, the ability to face the truth, and to know his true calling without fear of extremes or “ugly things.”
It is fascinating that this plant, used for hunting in the rainforest, possesses the same essential quality in an environment such as ours where food is purchased from supermarkets and we do not track down game at all—but we often do have work to do in stalking ourselves. Clearly, this plant has extraordinary qualities.
Western plants with equivalent therapeutic uses include valerian and vervain. Valerian has been recorded from the sixteenth century as an aid to a restful mind and, in the two world wars, was used to combat anxiety and depression. Today, we still use it for these purposes. It also brings relief from panic attacks and tension headaches, which are regarded as symptoms of an underlying cause—an unresolved issue or stress of some kind. By relaxing the mind, valerian enables the psyche to go to work on the real problem, aided by the plant itself.
One way of dieting valerian (which will also aid a deep and restful sleep) is by adding equal parts to passionflower leaves and hop flowers and covering it with vodka and honey for a few weeks, after which a few teaspoons are taken at bedtime.
Vervain, meanwhile, was well known to the druids, who used it to protect against “evil spirits” (nowadays, we might say “inner issues” or the “shadow-self”). We use it to help with nervous exhaustion, paranoia, insomnia, and depression. Like valerian, by relaxing the conscious mind it empowers the unconscious to go to work on—or stalk—the more deep-rooted problem.
Garlic is another protective plant with the effect of purifying and strengthening the blood. Nicholas Culpepper noted its balancing qualities and wrote of it as a “cure-all.” It has long been associated with magical uses, protection from witches, vampires, and evil spells, and as effective in exorcisms (i.e., psychologically speaking, in ridding us of our inner demons). Roman soldiers ate it to gain courage and overcome their fears before battle. There is also a tradition of placing garlic beneath the pillows of children to protect them while they sleep and defend them from nightmares.
One way of dieting garlic is in the form of garlic honey—which is not as disagreeable as it might sound. To make it, add two cloves of peeled garlic to a little honey and crush them in a mortar, then add another 400 grams or so of honey to the mix. Drink this in hot water or simply eat it, two teaspoons a day, morning and night.
Other plants that are good for increasing wisdom (inner knowledge) include peach, sage, and sunflower. All of these can be dieted fresh or in a little rum or vodka.
MOCURA: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EMOTIONAL STRENGTH
One of the qualities of mocura is its ability to boost one’s psycho-emotional powers and bring equilibrium. For this reason it is regarded as a great balancer, restoring the connection between the rational mind and the feeling self. For example, it is good at countering shyness and can enhance one’s sense of personal value and authority by helping overcome painful memories (of past embarrassments and failures, etc.).
Mocura is also used in floral baths to cleanse and protect against malevolent forces such as sorcery and envidia (envy). Its medicinal properties include relief from asthma, bronchitis, and the reduction of fat and cholesterol.
In the West, there are a number of plants that have similar effects, bringing calm and balance to the soul. These include lavender—which Pliny regarded as so powerful that even looking upon it brings peace—meadowsweet, pine, and rosemary.
Burning pine needles will purify the atmosphere of a house and a pine branch hung over the front door will bring harmony and joy to the home. Rosemary, especially when burned, is cleansing and centering, and it is said that if you concentrate on the smoke with a question in mind, it will provide the answer. There is a European belief that carrying rosemary will protect you from sadness, and it is quite pleasant to drink with honey as a weak tea.
In terms of body energetics and magical uses, moss, orange, and strawberry leaves are all used by European witches to remove bad luck, and loosestrife, myrtle, and violet leaves to overcome fear.
ROSA SISA: HARMONY AND HEALING THE SOUL
The rosa sisa plant is often used to heal children who are suffering from mal aire (bad air), a malady that can occur when a family member dies and leaves the child unhappy and sleepless. The spirit of the dead person lingers, it is said, because it is sad to go and aware of the grief around it, so it stays in the house and tries to comfort its family. This proximity to death, however, can make children ill.
Rosa sisa is also used to bring good luck and harmony in general. One of the ways that bad luck can manifest is through the magical force of envidia. A jealous neighbor might, for instance, throw a handful of graveyard dirt into your house to spread sadness and heavy feelings. Those in the house become bored, agitated, or restless as a consequence. The solution is to take a bucket of water and crushed rosa sisa flowers and thoroughly wash the floors to dispel the evil magic.
Many Peruvians also grow rosa sisa near the front door of their houses to absorb the negativity of people who pass by and look in enviously to see what possessions they have. The flowers turn black when this happens, but they go back to their normal color when the negative energy is dispersed through their roots to the Earth.
Rosa sisa is also used for making dreams come true, by blowing on the petals with a wish in mind, like we do with dandelions. It can make these wishes happen because it is “bright like the sun” and contains the energy of good fortune.
Rosa sisa are African marigolds (Tagetes erecta), and have similar magical uses in the West. Aemilius Macer, as long ago as the thirteenth century, wrote that merely gazing at the flowers will draw “wicked humours out of the head,” “comfort the heart,” and make “the sight bright and clean.” In Europe, just as in Peru, marigolds are often grown beside the front door or hung in garlands to protect those inside from magical attacks. For the same reason, and to empower the spirit, marigold petals can be scattered beneath the bed (where they will also ensure good—and often prophetic—dreams) or added to bath water to bring calm and refreshment to the body and soul.
As well as marigold tea (which is good for bringing down fevers, especially in children), for gastritis, gallbladder problems, and tonsillitis, the petals can be dieted in salads or added to rice and beans. They can also be rubbed on the skin to heal irritations, cuts, bruises, and rashes.
Alternatives, to create harmony in the self and home, include gardenia, meadowsweet, and passionflower.
PIRI PIRI, MEDICINAL SEDGES: FOR VISION
Native people cultivate numerous varieties of medicinal sedges to treat a wide range of health problems. Sedge roots, for example, are used in Peru to treat headaches, fevers, cramps, dysentery, and wounds, as well as easing childbirth and protecting babies from illness.
Shipibo women cultivate special sedge varieties to improve their skills in weaving the magical tapestries that embody the spiritual universe. It is customary when a girl is very young for her mother to squeeze a few drops of sap from the piri piri seed into her eyes, to give her the ability to have visions of the designs she will make when she is older. The Shipibo men cultivate sedges to improve their hunting skills.
Since the sedges are used for such a wide range of conditions, their powers were once dismissed as superstition. Pharmacological research, however, has now revealed the presence of ergot alkaloids within these plants, which are known to have diverse effects on the body—from stimulation of the nervous system to the constriction of blood vessels. These alkaloids are responsible for the wide variety of sedge uses; however, they actually come not from the plant but from a fungus that infects it.
There are a number of Western plants that are also said to produce visions—that is, communion with the greater spirit of the world. The leaves of angelica and coltsfoot, when smoked, for example, will induce such visions; and damiana, when burned, will also produce these effects.
Angelica has long been regarded as a spiritual plant with almost supernatural powers. It is linked to the archangel Raphael, who appeared in the dreams of a medieval monk and revealed the plant as a cure for plague. Native Americans used it in compresses to cure painful swellings: it sucked the spirit of pain out of the body and cast it to the four winds. Angelica has been heralded as an aid to overcoming alcohol addiction, as its regular usage creates a dislike for the taste of alcohol. Recent research suggests that it can also help the body fight the spread of cancer. Its leaves can be added to salads; this is another way to diet this plant.
Coltsfoot is another plant with wide-ranging properties but is most highly regarded for its soothing effects on respiratory and bronchial problems. One way of dieting it, paradoxically, is to use it in herbal cigarettes. These can be made by adding a larger part of coltsfoot to other aromatic and soothing herbs such as skullcap or chamomile. Cut the herbs to small lengths and mix them thoroughly with a little honey dissolved in water, then spread the mix out to dry for a few days. You can then roll it to make cigarettes or smoke it in a pipe.
UNA DE GATO: FOR BALANCE
Una de gato (cat’s claw) is a tropical vine that grows in the rainforests. It gets its name from the small thorns at the base of the leaves, which look like cat’s claws and enable the vine to wind itself around trees, climbing to a height of up to 150 feet.
The inner bark of the vine has been used in the Amazon for generations to treat inflammations, colds, viral infections, arthritis, and tumors. It also has anti-inflammatory and blood-cleansing properties. It will clean out the entire intestinal tract to treat a wide array of digestive problems such as gastric ulcers, parasites, and dysentery.
Una de gato’s most famous quality, however, is its powerful ability to boost the body’s immune system, and it is considered by many shamans to be a “balancer,” returning the body’s functions to a healthy equilibrium.
From a psychospiritual or shamanic perspective, disease usually arises from a spiritual imbalance within the patient, causing him to become de-spirited or to lose heart (in the West we would call this depression). Interestingly, Thomas Bartram, in his Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine, writes that in the West, “some psychiatrists believe [problems of the immune system, where the body attacks itself] to be a self-produced phenomenon due to an unresolved sense of guilt or dislike of self. … People who are happy at their home and work usually enjoy a robust immune system.”6 The psychiatric perspective, in this sense, is not so different from the shamanic view.
Cat’s claw is believed to heal illness by restoring the peace of the spirit as well as the balance between spirit and body. The medicinal properties of this plant are officially recognized by the Peruvian government and it is a protected plant (in terms of export). It is, however, widely available in health food stores in the West, either in its natural form or as capsules, which are another way of dieting it, although its spiritual effects will be weaker, since, once a plant has been processed, much of its spirit is lost.
Using echinacea as a substitute for cat’s claw will stimulate the immune system and prove effective against depression and exhaustion. As another alternative, you might try a mixture of borage, cinnamon, and blackberry, all of which are regarded as good healers in general and good for lifting the spirits.
CHULLACHAQUI CASPI: CONNECTION TO THE EARTH
The resin of the Amazonian chullachaqui caspi tree, extracted from the trunk in the same way as rubber from the rubber tree, can be used as a poultice or smeared directly onto wounds to heal deep cuts and stop hemorrhages. For skin problems such as psoriasis, the bark can be grated and boiled in water while the patient sits before it, covered with a blanket, to receive a steam bath. Oil can also be extracted by boiling the bark, and this can be made into capsules. It is important to remove the bark without killing the tree, however, which can otherwise have serious spiritual consequences.
The deeper, more spiritual purpose of this tree is to help the shaman or his patient get close to the spirit of the forest and in touch with the vibration and rhythm of the Earth. This reconnection with nature will strengthen an unsettled mind and help to ground a person who is disturbed. It will also guide and protect the apprentice shaman and show her how to recognize which plants can heal.
The tree has large buttress roots as it grows in sandy soil where roots cannot go deep. Chulla in Quechua, in fact, means “twisted foot” (a reference to the root structure, while chaqui is the plant). Amazonian mythology also discusses this and includes stories of the jungle dwarf, the chullachaqui, who is said to have a human appearance, with one exception: his own twisted foot. The chullachaqui is the protector of the animals and lives in places where the tree also grows. The legend is that if you are lost in the forest and meet a friend or family member, it is most likely the chullachaqui who has taken his or her form. He will be friendly and suggest going for a walk so he can guide you or show you something of interest. If you go, however, he will lead you deep into the rainforest until you are very lost indeed, and you will then suffer madness or become a chullachaqui yourself.
Perhaps this legend refers to the initiation of the plant shaman, who must go deep into the jungle to pursue his craft by getting to know the plants and the forest. Such trials can, indeed, lead to madness or even death for the unwary; but those who succeed will become great healers, in touch with the spirits of nature, like the chullachaqui himself.
The chullachaqui dwarf is also a symbol of the tree. The motif of the “world tree”—the spiritual center of the universe, which connects the material and immaterial planes—occurs in many cultures and is often connected with initiation. In Haiti, it is the spirit Papa Loko (whose name is a variant of Iroco, which is the name of an African tree) who meets the shaman-to-be in the dark woods at night to initiate him into the Vodou religion. In Siberia, too, there is a tradition that the shaman-elect must climb a silver birch while in a state of trance and make secret, spirit-given markings on one of its topmost branches.
For those who are not ready to meet the challenges of shamanic initiation, however, the advice of the jungle shamans is simple: when out walking in the forest, should you encounter a friend or a family member, always look at his feet, as the chullachaqui will try to keep his twisted foot away from you. Do not go with him—turn back and run away!
While it is interesting for us to speculate about the initiatory symbolism of the chullachaqui, Amazonian shamans regard it as a very real being. We have a photograph, given to us by Javier Arevalo, for example, which shows a chullachaqui’s tambo, and Javier swears it is real. The tambo is a hut that stands about four feet high and is used as a jungle dwelling. Javier discovered this one next to a cultivated garden deep in the otherwise wild rainforest.
In the West, we have our own tradition of magical trees. One of these is willow, a tree sacred to the druids. Ancient British burial mounds and modern day cemeteries are both often lined with willow, symbolizing the gateway this tree provides between the living and the dead, spirit and matter. The brooms of witches are also bound with willow, enabling their flight to the otherworld.
To deepen a connection to the Earth and the spirit, willow can be dieted in place of chullachaqui caspi. Do this by burning crushed bark fragments with white sandalwood or myrrh and bathing in the smoke.
CHUCHUHUASI: INCREASED LIFE FORCE
Chuchuhuasi is another Amazonian tree that forms an important part of the jungle pharmacopoeia. The bark can be chewed as a remedy for stomachache, fevers, arthritis, poor circulation, and bronchial problems, but it is rather bitter and so more often it is macerated in aguardiente or boiled in water and honey.
Western alternatives include burdock for arthritis and for “fevers” that manifest through the skin in the form of eczema, psoriasis, acne, and so forth; and ginseng for problems of the circulation. Kola is good for stomach complaints (diarrhea and dysentery, etc.); and saw palmetto is a general tonic and useful for bronchial problems.
Chuchuhuasi is also regarded as a libido stimulant and aphrodisiac, giving the person who drinks it a renewed sense of life and vigor. With these properties in mind, chuchuhuasi is the main ingredient in cocktails at many bars and restaurants in Iquitos, on the banks of the Amazon river. The most popular of these is the Chuchuhuasi Sour, where it is mixed with lime, ice, and honey.
In the West, plants with similar aphrodisiac qualities include burdock, ginseng, kola, and saw palmetto berries. These are not just aids to sexual potency, but reconnect the dieter to the joy of living and a love of involvement with others.
At Ari’s Bar in Iquitos, it is possible to buy many exotic and stimulating brews to help with matters of sexual potency. One of these is the aptly named Super Erectus, which is a blend of raw egg, boiled yohimbe bark, catuba, ginseng, guarana, kola nut, damiana, yogurt, fruit juice, honey, bee pollen, and crushed brazil nuts, cashews, and peanuts, all of which are mixed in a blender and drunk as a shake. The raunchy legend at Ari’s is that one of his customers, an elderly man who drank two of these a day and was always in the company of women at least half his age, had to be buried in a coffin with a hole cut in the top when he finally died because, when he lay on his back, it was impossible to nail the lid shut. A story that speaks for itself.
In the strange jungle town of Iquitos, everyone is the author of ten thousand legends, so we should point out that this story has also been attributed to the shaman Augustin Rivas Vasquez, and in his telling of it, refers to the drink Rompe Calzon.7 Since rompe calzon translates as “bust your trousers,” however, the point is much the same.
If you would like to try a “super erectus” brew of your own, here is one of Ross’ recipes, using herbs more commonly found in the West. Mix ginseng, saw palmetto, muira-pauama, sarsaparilla, helonia, agnus castus, kola, damiana, licorice, pollen, propolis, honey, and royal jelly to taste. You can then add this to rum or brandy for a tonic, or to raw egg and organic yogurt blended to make a shake. Drink a cupful each morning.
REFLECTIONS ON THE DIET
Dieting a plant intelligence is totally different than taking a pharmaceutical. The latter has an effect only while the course of drugs continues, whereas plant medicines lead to a permanent change through the relationship you establish with the essence of that plant. This connection, at first, may appear metaphorical or symbolic; but as it deepens, you will eventually experience it across all of your being: physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally as the spirit of the plant merges with your consciousness and begins to alter your psychospiritual or emotional DNA.
One of the great revelations (and comforts) that we can experience while working with plants in this way is that we are not separate from the natural world at all; we are all connected. Here, we have included a few exercises to enable you to work deeply with your plant allies and experience more of this connection for yourself.
A few obvious comments first:
1. Work with plants that grow locally.
The healing needs of the various cultures will differ from one another. Sometimes this is a matter of climate and other physical factors (colds are more common in England than Peru, for example, because the climate is colder and damper). Sometimes it is a psychospiritual matter having to do with the inclination of a particular people toward a particular way of life. (Stress-related diseases are less frequent in Haiti and Jamaica than in the United States, for example, because the former are more “laid back,” whereas people in the Western culture are more exposed to the rush, pressures, and backstabbing of the corporate world and the frenzy of modern life.)
Wherever we are, though, shamans tell us that the Creator knows and has met our healing needs and so local plants will always be stronger and more appropriate in our diets and cures. Many traditional ways and indigenous methods of working with the local plants have, of course, been lost in Western society; but the practices of the plant doctors of other cultures, which you have read about in this chapter, can be used just as effectively with our native plants. (Also check the appendices at the end of this book for other local plants that can be dieted for particular physical or spiritual needs.)
2. There is power in every part of a plant.
Nothing need be discarded and we can learn from each flower, root, leaf, or fragment of bark. Even common plants (or so-called weeds) have spiritual and medicinal properties. It is not just the popular and pretty ones that we must always seek out for, as the sin eater, Adam, used to say: “A weed is simply a gift of nature that we do not care to receive,” though its healing potency remains the same. Choose the plant that calls to you, irrespective of its status in the Western world.
3. The process of selecting a plant to diet is intuitive and emotional, not rational and cerebral.
Your choice might result from many factors—the color or scent of a plant can be meaningful to you, or perhaps there was a flower you loved as a child and would like to know more about now. Just as you are “drawn” to someone who will become a new friend rather than sitting down and making a reasoned and objective assessment of whether you want them in your life, allow yourself to be drawn to your plant allies too.
How to Diet
As our example, let’s take rosemary. Its distinctive scent is invigorating and stimulating, and maybe that sense of revitalization is a quality you want in your life. You feel that dieting this plant would help and you are drawn to it emotionally.
If you now “tune in” to or research this plant, you discover that rosemary has long been known as a blood and nervous system stimulant. Oil of rosemary is used in salves to treat rheumatism, nervous headaches, muscular aches, and sprains, for example, and when added to baths it helps tone the skin. Rosemary also has qualities of cleansing and purification and is used in traditional societies as an incense to cleanse negative and disharmonious places such as sickrooms.
So now you have an idea about the properties of this plant—all of which stemmed from your feeling that its scent was invigorating and stimulating. Your research supports this by showing that your emotional perceptions were right. So you decide to diet it.
Make Friends with the Plant
First, spend some time simply being with the plant. Look at it, noting its shape and colors, run your hands through its leaves, feel how smooth the body of each one is, but how sharp the tip, like a needle ready to inject its health-giving properties. Inhale its scent as you visualize its stimulating and purifying qualities entering your body. Take a leaf and taste it. Be playful and invite the plant to become your friend and teacher.
Gather the Plant
Before you pick any part of a plant, tune in to it again and it will tell you the best time for gathering it. Night gathering tends to infuse a plant with gentler and more “feminine” moon energy, for example, whereas picking at midday will mean it is charged with powerful and “masculine” sun energy. By the same token, gathering early in the growing season will give you a subtle, “adolescent” energy that is not yet fully developed (but that may be exactly what you want), while picking toward the end of the season—in the plant’s “old age,” as it were—will mean a plant filled with wisdom but whose energy is now returning to the soil as it begins its winter hibernation. Its knowledge will be great, in other words, though its power may be weaker. In midseason, the plant will be coming into wisdom and at its most powerful. There will always be an optimal time to gather, according to your needs, and the plant itself will reveal this. (Or you can, if you prefer, find a reference source in the form of an herbal encyclopedia that will give you some of the same information, though it won’t tell you much about the spirit of the plant, of course.)
The leaves of rosemary, for example, can be gathered when they are fully developed but prior to the flowers appearing, as this best holds the power of the plant and retains the active ingredients in the leaf and stem cells.
Once you have taken what you need, air-dry the leaves, which you can then store in a moisture-sealed glass jar. Once they are dry, the active ingredients in the leaves will also be released more easily into water or alcohol.
Prepare the Plant
There a number of ways to prepare a plant, as we have seen. The easiest is to make an infusion. This is simply a tea made by steeping the leaves in freshly boiled water for ten minutes. As a guideline, use about an ounce (around 30 grams) of dried plant to two cups of boiled water, which will provide three doses of plant infusion. Increase the ratios if you want to make a larger batch that will last for several days.
Another method is to make a macerado, or tincture. Here, you macerate the leaves and stems in alcohol. (Vodka, which is pure and contains few other flavorings and colorings is probably best for this, but rum is also used.) Put the leaves and stems into a clean glass jar so they fill the container two-thirds full, then pour in the alcohol to fill the jar and seal it. Leave it in a cool, dark place for a few weeks, giving it a shake every other day. The advantage of this method is that the mixture will last for many months, so the plant is always available to diet.
Whichever you choose, remember that your intention is always the most important ingredient, so hold in mind your purpose for dieting the plant as you go through each stage of preparation. In this way, you reach out to the spirit of the plant and inform it of your needs.
Diet the Plant
Each morning before breakfast, take a half cup of the infusion or, if you have made a macerado, a half shot glass (about three teaspoons). Do the same in the evening. Find as much time to relax as you can while you do this, so you are undisturbed and can tune in to the plant.
After a week or so, you may start to find your life taking on some of the qualities of the plant itself. In the case of our example, as rosemary is stimulating, you might find that there is more going on around you, or that you have more “get up and go.”
You may also find that your dreams become deeper and more meaningful. Or the spirit of the plant might appear to you in these dreams, either in the form of a person or as an event that has a mood or personality to it that is related to the characteristics of the plant. These things may also happen during meditation or shamanic journeying.
Keep up your diet for three months, and during this time, also bring fresh sprigs into your home, place leaves under your pillow, paint or draw the plant. As you maintain your practice, there will come a moment when you sense the plant actively reaching out to you. At that moment you will know that the plant is your ally—the door will be open for you to learn its ways, how it will help you, and how it can guide your deeper journey into the plant world.
Journey to the Plant Spirit
When you feel that this moment has come and the connection between you is strong, start your journey to the spirit of the plant (see chapter 1) so you begin to see it in whatever noncorporeal form it takes. Ask it to reveal more of itself and the great spirit of nature of which it is also a part.