Andreas Eri Myhre: The secoyas, their shamanism and the Yagé

The traditional shamanism

Before the Spanish and Christian invasion of the rainforest and its original habitants, nearly all of the cultures in the region could be characterized by the shamanic religion and its worldview. Unbelievable enough is this worldview something most indigenous cultures all over the world have in common.

The daily -awake- life is just a small part of the much bigger reality. Where the spiritual worlds, the heavens and hells and their habitants all the time affects our lives in good and bad ways. This is the first foundation of the old shamanic worldview. The second -but as important- is that we humans have the opportunity and ability to affect these worlds trough our own senses. Mainly through our dreams, but also through something called the shamanic trance.

The shamanic trance can be reached in many ways through a big variety of methods. Lingering fast, dance and drum ritual, absence of sleep or the use of a hallucinogen plant are all well know methods. If one knows how to move in these eternal and timeless realities, one can experience the beginning and the end of the world, see the birth of stars and the end of the universe. One can transform one self into all the animals, bacteria’s and viruses. Talk to all the plants and learn about all their healing qualities. Meet angels, demons and yes, even the dead. And one can look into the future.

But to be able to control these experiences, to steer the car the right way, so to say, and get the help or visions you need, you have to know these worlds in and out. Something that only can be achieved through long lasting and hard training, or in other words through becoming a shaman.

In the shamanic tradition of the secoyas, like most of the indigenous people of the amazons, the hallucinogenic plant mix called ayahuasca, or in secoya yagé, is used to enter the shamanic trance. The tradition of using yagé may go as far as 5000 years back.

The shaman was in the old days both the communities priest and doctor. He was the man the community called on if they had any problems physically of mentally. Because he was the man with the right knowledge, experience and qualities in the spiritual worlds to heal and defense his people. Something he had achieved through hard schooldays consisting of violent doses of yagé.

Through his education the shaman meets and makes his allies in the other worlds. He meets the angels and the demons and gets the chance to choose the light or the dark road. This is another important part of the shamanic tradition. Because Brujeria, as the dark road is called, is a well known phenomena for all shamans. And is a road that leads to a well know phenomena in the western world, egoistic power. A brujera will do everything in his powers to reach his goals, even murders can take place.

Yet all the most powerful curanderas agree that the road of the light that leads to the most healing, powerful visions and allies are the by far most difficult one.

In the old days the secoyas would dress in their most beautiful cloths, paint traditional patterns in their faces and place their red and yellow crowns, graced with Tucan feathers, on their heads. Before a yagé ceremony the secoyas would meet in the yagé house at about 4 o’clock, lay down in their hammocks and wait for the ceremony, which always lasted from sunset to sunrise, to start.

Nobody would ever enter the yagéhouse without their ceremonial dresses.

The ceremonies would always be leaded by the shaman, who cooked the Yagé, sang and blew smoke over it before he gave it to the participants. If somebody was sick, he or she would be brought to the ceremony and laid down in a hammock in one of the corners in the house. The shaman would then, after reaching his trance, start to blow smoke and sing over the patient to call on his spiritual contacts. He would then in his visions get a picture of the patient’s condition, what had to be done, what plants or spirits he could use to threat the condition. After one of these ceremonies he would never accept anything but a presents, if the family was pleased.

The intentions of a good shaman were always to heal, not to earn money. An interesting point for us in the western society with a medical industry that heals, but at the same time earns more money than ever. In fact, last year the pharmaceutical industry earned more money than any other industry in the US, even more than the oil industry. With these facts in mind it’s easy to ask oneself what the actual intentions of the industry are? To earn the most money or heal the most people?

Another interesting picture of the difference between the traditional and the western medicine is the doctor or shaman himself. In the west, the doctor gives the medicine, or the magic bullets. In the jungle the shaman takes the medicine himself..

The history

After the Hispanic invasion of the timeless world of the rainforest more than 300 years ago, the secoya culture and their way of life have been through some huge changes. At one point the secoyas counted more than 30000, with a proud culture and spiritual tradition. From that point the population has dropped profoundly, and today no more than 500 secoyas are still alive. The Hispanic introduction of alcohol, Christianity and the European diseases, not only cut the population with nearly 98%, but changed ,at the same time, the secoyas relationship with their own spiritual and healing tradition forever.

The other big explosion hit the timeless world for no more than 30 years ago. With the first oil findings in the region in the seventies, the coming of the oil companies and later the colonists, forced the secoyas to change their way of life yet another time. From living in big communities, where as many as 15 families could share the same house. The secoyas had to divide themselves along all of their area to prevent further invasion. The families that traditionally had no more than 2 children decided to get bigger. Resulting in families today where it’s more common to see 7 than 4 children.

All of this has changed the traditional shamanism..

Shamanism today, my meeting with the two shamans and the Yagé

Traditionally the biggest shamanic festival is celebrated in the middle of august in the secoya communities. This is the time when the heavens are said to be closest to the earth, and have therefore always been the time to celebrate the newly graduated shamans. In the old times secoyas from close and far united, and everybody, men, women and children, participated in a huge yagé ceremony.

This festival is still an important part of secoya culture, but is today more than anything else a perfect picture on the problems the secoyas have with continuing their old traditions. To day no more than 10-20 %, most of them over 50 years, participate in the ceremony, and not in many years have any shamans graduated.

One of the reasons for this change is the fact that the young secoyas fear the Yagé. Christianities position through time and today must of course take some of the blame. As the Christians never have been easy on people traveling to the spirit worlds after drinking a hallucinogenic brew to visit angels and demons. But also the very popular alcohol has a lot to do with the change in the youngster’s mentality.

As Fausto, one of the strongest profiles in the community, strangely enough pointed it out for me.

-After my only experience with yagé I could tell that this stuff is much stronger than whiskey, in other words, to strong for me..

About half of the 500 still living secoyas can today be found on the Ecuadorian side of the boarder. Among these there are unfortunately just two shamans.

One of them is called Don. Cesario. He is a small and frail man around the age of 90 with a constant smile on his mouth. Unfortunately did I only get the chance to meet the experienced shaman a few short, but interesting hours.

Cesarios healing qualities have made him a big national and international reputation as a powerful shaman. And when I met him at his little farm, a family from Santo Domingo had just arrived. The mother of the three grown up children were sick, so sick that she couldn’t stand up. Their plan were to stay at don Cesarios farm for about a month, so that the shaman and the powerful nature could get time to put their healing hands on the sick women.

The very process of healing, hearing, breathing and seeing the enormous nature for a period of time, is as important as the shamans work in the healing process, could don cesario tell me.

Another interesting point for me in the middle of all this, was that don cesario, as the old shamans, just got paid in presents. In this case, a large quantity of salted and smoked fish and the working force of the three children for the whole month.

The other secoya shaman that lives in Ecuador is Julio. A private man in his early 60. who came to the community for no more than 4 years ago after his wife died. Julio was also the man to lead my only Yagé ceremony with the secoyas.

Before I came to the secoyas I had tasted the magical jungle medicine two times earlier, when I visited a community of indigenous tsatilas. That time I was given two beautiful experiences. But I never reached just the point I wanted, where the snakes and the spirits shows you what you just might see in your wildest dreams.

My expectations to the ceremony with Julio were therefore massive. And before Julio started out the preparations I made it clear to him that I didn’t want another tourist dose. He answered me with a big smile and made it quite clear to me that the night would be long and interesting. The preparations, cutting and cooking of the Yagé were then started as the sun was right over our heads.

Around 5 pm. everything was ready. Julio in his traditional shamanic clothing’s, but with a crown without tukan feathers, and I were both calm, but tired after a long and hot day without food. We therefore decided to lay down in the Yagé house in the outskirts of the community, wait and rest.

In one hammock were I, a man from a society where the brew we were about to drink, in the eyes of the law, is said to be as dangerous as Heroin. On the other side of the fire was Julio, with a maybe 5000 years old tradition and experiences from the age of 11 to support what he was doing. A really absurd meeting. Unfortunately didn’t Julio’s magical songs help on the strength of the Yagé. And even after 7-8 big glasses of the bitter brew I hadn’t reached the point I wanted to, even though the butterflies, snakes and colors were dancing a slow waltz when I closed my eyes.

The future

Today the secoyas are facing new big challenges and changes with a future that moves faster and faster, and closer and closer. And with just 500 secoyas still alive to take care of there rich and knowledgeable tradition of theirs, it is really clear to me that no help from the outside is too big.

Through my time with the secoyas I experienced some of the most fantastic mentality of solidarity i have ever seen. If a man is building a house or planting a field of corn, this is a job for everybody. And everybody is helping with their warmest smiles around their mouth. Feelings like this should inspire everybody with the same mentality and an interest in maintaining the old cultures, in the evermore chaotic and globalized culture landscape of today, to help.

The world can not afford to loose another culture like this.

Fortunately a lot of help is already coming. Political support to education in secoya language, documentation of old stories and legends and installation of solar panels in the community are all good and helpful projects.

The biggest part of the responsibility of maintaining the culture, and especially the shamanic part of it, lays, in any case, with the secoyas themselves. And with their continuing dreams about a stronger tourism, based especially in their culture and shamanic tradition, a master plan is needed. With only 4 relatively old shamans still living. With a Christianity that is continuing to get stronger, alongside the growing fear of drinking Yagé, something radically has to be done if the shamanic tradition of the secoyas shall be accessible outside the history books in the nearest future.

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