Ayahuasca Shaman

A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy: Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the United States

Published in 2008, this book by Marlene Dobkin de Rios and Roger Rumrrill covers not only the traditional usage of ayahuasca in the Amazon, but also by its modern day encounters with the so-called war on drugs in the USA.

Dr. Dobkin de Rios is a medical anthropologist who has conducted fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon and the coast on plant hallucinogens and healing. She is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine, and Professor Emerita of Anthropology at California State University, Fullerton. De Rios has spearheaded research on the plant hallucinogen, ayahuasca in Peru, Brazil, and the United States. The author of six books and several hundred articles on hallucinogens and culture, she resides in Southern California.

Mr. Rumrill is a Peruvian journalist and author of 25 books. He is a recognized expert on Amazon themes, including narco-trafficking, biological wealth of the Amazon, and social and cultural issues of indigenous peoples in Peru and other regions of Latin America.

There are few true Shamans left, according to the Shamans de Rios interviews for the book. Training takes two years and requires many hardships, such as forays into the forrest, severe diets, celibacy: so much so, that the Amazon youth prefer city life to taking up tribal customs, such as Shamanism.

That’s not to say they don’t produce their own brand of Shamanism to tourists, offering Ayahuasca Tea (without the proper prayers, chanting, etc) to tourists. This is called “Drug Tourism” and the authors detail what Drug Tourism is and how it is harming Tribal life and how it affects how the plant is disappearing from the Amazon.

This is a great book that discusses the manners in which Shamans train, believe, go about their vocation, administer to local tribes (mostly women and children). With drinking the tea, a Shaman ‘communicates’ with spirits (not as we in the West describe them) then help whomever comes to him. In it’s proper respect, Ayahuasca Tea helps the proper Shaman delve into the problem, thus helping his ‘customer’.

Improper use of the tea has skyrocketed, and many false Shamans have sprung up around the Countries. Countries don’t seem to mind, as the ‘drug tourism’ brings in much needed capital. Although Shamanism is dying out, the religion it professes has spread to many Western and Industrialized Nations, including the United States.

And there was the problem, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency here in the U.S. When the religion started, the U.S. placed the tea on their list of forbidden substances. After many years and lawsuits later, the religion won their right to use the tea for their services.

The book is enjoyable, as the authors discuss conversations with Shamans, details religious rites, reasons for using the Hallucinogenic Tea, their use of psychology, biology, counseling, consultation of spirits, etc., the authors do repeat themselves quite often.

We are grateful to Amazon.com and Brick ONeil for the above review of A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy: Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the United States

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