21 0 @ The Secret Li) feNature
confrontation with the true self that is obtained through Daime consti-
tutes "the quintessence of hallucinogenic therapy."The Daime opens the
door to seeing our former incarnations and to understanding them in
the context of our present one: in other words, to understand our karma.
A beefy man of almost fifty pushes past me to fall on his knees and
vomit into one of the waiting buckets with even more bestial retching.
The woman with the red hair moans and groans, her face chalk white,
a mask. Another woman, young, with dark hair and a gossamer white
dress, in trouble, is escorted by the attendants toward a mattress, on
which she is laid out and covered with a sheet.
Now all the chairs are removed for dancing: one-two-three steps
to the right, one-two-three to the left, the chanting rhythmic and loud,
the singers, both men and women, partaking with increasing passion.
According to Gary Dale Richman, a Daime aficionado, the hymns
play an important role during the difficult psychological "passages" un-
dergone by the novices, keeping them on track as each hymn refers to
principles and teachings of the doctrine. "The hymns help translate the
most mysterious or unknown visions into familiar language and thus
permit us to witness another type of knowledge that normally can't
pass through the guards of reason."
According to E. J. M. Langdon, a professor at the Universidade
Federal de Santa Catarina, in Florianopolis, Brazil, author of many arti-
cles on the ritual use of yaje, the spirits have their own designs and songs,
which they teach to the yaje drinker once he can see them, and each ap-
prentice tries to have as many visions and learn as many songs as possi-
ble. "As he enlarges his repertoire, so he increases his power with the
spirits he already knows and can deal with."
The dancing, they say, plays an important role in forming a strong
spiritual current among the participants. It has been described as almost
like preparing bread dough, with the energy, stretched and kneaded,
becoming almost visible as it condenses and expands around the con-
gregation.
I begin to feel a pain in my heart and seem to be losing a bit of the
sensation in my hands-usually a sign of stress that seems to affect my
heart. Worrying about it only increases the stress.