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Bearing in mind the country's poverty and the
fact that almost half the population is still
pure Amerindian, it isn't altogether surprising
to discover that the ancient shamanic healing
arts are still flourishing in Peru. Evidence for
this type of magical health therapy stretches
back over three thousand years on the Peruvian
coast. Today, curanderos (Spanish for "curers")
can be found in every large community,
practising healing based on knowledge which has
been passed down from master to apprentice over
millennia.
Curanderos offer an alternative to the expensive,
sporadic and often unreliable service provided
by scientific medics in a developing country
like Peru. But as well as being a cheaper, more
widely available option, curanderismo is also
closer to the hearts and understanding of the
average Peruvian.
With the resurgence of herbalism, aromatherapy,
exotic healing massages and other aspects of New
Age "holistic" health, it should be easier for
us in the West to understand curanderismo than
it might have been a decade or so ago. Combine "holistic"
health with psychotherapy, and add an underlying
cultural vision of spiritual and magical
influences, and you are some way toward getting
a clearer picture of how healing wizards operate.
There are two other important characteristics of
modern-day Peruvian curanderismo. Firstly, the
last four hundred years of Spanish domination
have added a veneer of Catholic imagery and
nomenclature. Demons have become saints, ancient
mountain spirits and their associated annual
festivals continue disguised as Christian
ceremonies. Equally important for any real
understanding of Peruvian shamanism is the fact
that most, if not all, curanderos use
hallucinogens. The tribal peoples in the
Peruvian Amazon who have managed, to a large
extent, to hang on to their culture in the face
of the oncoming industrial civilization, have
also maintained their spiritual traditions. In
almost every Peruvian tribe these traditions
include the regular use of hallucinogenic brews
to give a visionary ecstatic experience.
Sometimes just the shaman partakes, but more
often the shaman and his patients, or entire
communities, will indulge together, singing
traditional spirit-songs which help control the
visions. The hallucinogenic experience, like the
world of dreams, is the Peruvian forest Indian's
way of getting in touch with the ancestral world
or the world of spirit matter.
The origins of shamanism
The history of healing wizards in Peru matches
that of the ritual use of hallucinogens and
appears to have emerged alongside the first
major temple-building culture - Chavín (1200
BC-200 AD). Agriculture, ceramics and other
technical processes...
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Shamanism today
Still commonly used by curanderos on the coast
and in the mountains of Peru, the San Pedro
cactus ( Trichocereus panchanoi) is a potent
hallucinogen based on active mescaline. The
curandero administers the hallucinogenic...
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