GLOSSARY

This section provides basic definitions and explanations for some of the more common shamanic terms used throughout the text. It does not include plant names or explanations, as these are covered in the text itself and in appendices 1 and 2. For the sake of brevity and to avoid repetition, it also excludes less frequently used terms and those that are extensively explained in the relevant chapters.

artes: Medicine tools used by San Pedro shamans, which are kept on a mesa (altar) during healing ceremonies and may include statutes of the saints, herbs, candles, swords, and so on, all of which are used to cleanse the energy field of a patient.

ayahuascero, ayahuascera: An Amazonian plant shaman who works with ayahuasca, the visionary “vine of souls.”

banjos florales: See floral baths.

brujo: A shaman or sorcerer who is regarded as practicing “evil” or “black” magic.

chacapa: A medicine rattle made from dried leaves, used by ayahuasca shamans.

chantes: In Haiti, songs that are calls to particular healing spirits.

chungana: The rattle used by a San Pedro shaman.

curandero, curandera: In Spanish-speaking countries, a traditional healer who may also work with plants.

diet: The practice of following certain prescriptions and prohibitions for a defined period of time in order to open oneself spiritually to the plants. The diet involves taking (and avoiding) certain foodstuffs, but there are also restrictions on activities such as sexual intercourse and mixing with other people.

divination: A traditional method of patient diagnosis or healing that usually employs plants, such as coca (Andean shamanism) or nuts (Ifá) to understand an illness in its widest spiritual sense.

doctrine of signatures: The idea, developed by the physician Paracelsus, that the Creator has left his mark on plants so they reveal their healing properties through their outward appearance, or signatures.

dominio: The process of transferring power to a patient through magical means.

energy body: The luminous egg of energy that surrounds and infuses a human being. Often this is divided into bands of light, which refer to the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical selves contained within this egg. In traditional societies, the energy body may simply be called the soul.

envidia: Envy or jealousy. In Peru and Haiti, envy is a magical force that can cause harm to a person through spirit intrusion or the “evil eye.” Also see mal d’ojo.

floral baths: Sacred baths prepared and delivered by shamans to revitalize and rebalance the energy body or spirit.

flourishing: The shamanic process of intending success and well-being for a patient. This may be carried out by spraying perfumes over the patient (known in Peru as camaying).

folk medicine: The traditional healing practices of Europe, which almost always involve plant cures and may also include magical practices such as incantations, chants, prayers, and bathing in holy wells.

gris-gris: In New Orleans Hoodoo, a medicine bag containing plants and magical items such as charms and crystals, which is charged with a particular intention (e.g., to attract luck, love, or money to its owner). Also known as a mojo bag.

icaros: Magical songs of power that are taught to shamans by their plant spirit allies and that bring healing and guidance to a patient. Also see chantes.

limpia: A cleansing, usually given by running a plant, egg, or other object such as a stone through a patient’s energy field in order to remove spirit intrusions and restore healing and balance.

Lwa (or Loa): In Haiti, angel-like spirits, regarded as aspects of God. There are more than five hundred different Lwa, all of whom have their own personalities and healing skills and are appealed to in different and unique ways.

macerado: A plant medicine made by macerating leaves in alcohol. Also see tincture.

mal d’ojo: The “evil eye.” A way of sending negative energy toward someone, usually prompted by jealousy. Also see envidia.

medsen fey: In Haiti, a “leaf doctor” or herbalist who works with the Lwa and the spirit of the plants.

mesa: A “high place.” In the Andes, the altar used by a San Pedro shaman. Also see artes.

mojo: See gris-gris.

moraya: In the Shipibo tradition, the highest level of plant shaman, requiring years of experience and special dieting. Also see diet.

offerenda: An offering made to the spirits of nature, often as part of a healing.

otherworld: The world of spirit or nature that shamans explore on their journeys. The otherworld is the home of helpful spirits and a place where soul parts can also take refuge. Also see soul loss and soul retrieval.

paket: A Haitian medicine tool. Pakets are highly decorated bags of magical herbs that have the dual intention of removing negative energies from a patient and giving healing in return.

perfumero, perfumera: A Peruvian shaman who specializes in the use of fragrances for affecting material change. Skilled perfumeros can use fragrance to bring about healing, to increase business success, enhance fortunes in love, help a patient win a legal battle, and so forth.

plantas maestras: Master teachers in plant spirit form, such as ayahuasca and San Pedro.

platicas: In Aztec and Andean cultures, a form of therapeutic consultation and counseling that is carried out heart-to-heart and soul-to-soul between healer and patient.

pusanga: The “love medicine of the Amazon.” A special plant perfume with the power to attract good fortune and human admirers (for the purpose of making them fall hopelessly in love with the person wearing the perfume, etc.).

saladera: A run of bad luck, usually caused by energy imbalances, which can be corrected by realigning the patient with natural forces and reconnecting him or her to the Earth.

seguros: Plant amulets or charms that draw good fortune in a number of ways according to the plants that are used. In the Andes, these charms become friends and are also used as confidants in therapy-based self-healing sessions.

sin: In Welsh sin-eating practice, a “weight on the soul” (or spirit intrusion) caused by guilt or shame, or by carrying the guilt of another. It can be removed through confession and atonement, or by the intervention of a sin eater who will perform a spirit extraction.

sin eater: A Celtic (Welsh, Irish, Scottish) shaman who is expert at spirit extraction on the living and the dead, and at healing with herbs and plants.

singado: An Andean technique of energy rebalancing and spiritual cleansing, where tobacco macerated in rum and honey is snorted into the nostrils (left nostril to release negativity, right to draw in benign forces).

soul loss/retrieval: Soul loss is a spiritual disease caused by shock or trauma, where the soul fragments and part of its energy is lost. Soul retrieval is the process of finding and returning these missing parts. This is accomplished by the shaman journeying to the spirit world and carrying the soul pieces (or energy) back to the patient and/or by offerings made to nature. Also see offerenda.

spirit intrusion/extraction: A spirit intrusion is an infection of energy that is unhelpful or debilitating to a patient, often caused by explosions of anger or sent by a rival as a result of envidia (envy). Extraction is the process of removing this energy, most often through spirit negotiation followed by the use of plant medicines.

tea: A simple infusion of herbs or plants in hot water. Honey may be added to taste.

tincture: In modern herbalism, concentrated liquid extracts of soluble plant constituents in 25 percent ethyl alcohol. In traditional plant shamanism, plant allies kept in a rum or vodka base. Also see macerado.

tonic: Plant medicines that impart strength and vitality.