group in the area known as Trapecio, yajéor ayahuascais a sacred plant and
forms the base of the Cocama knowledge in the Trapecio. The variety of yajé
shown in the photograph is cielo(sky) ayahuascaor cielo yajé. It is called this
because when the ritual is carried out with this variety of yajéit is possible
to travel to infinity.Uses
Yajéand other entheogenic plants are used in the realisation of powerful and
dangerous shamanic journeys of recognition. In the state of trance when
people move from normal conscience to altered conscience by means of
taking, inhaling or bathing in entheogenic substances, or using other
methods under the effect of entheogens, especially yajé or ayahuasca,
conscience and sensations are activated, including: intuition, visionary
capacity and amplified sensorial perception, among others; spiritual forms
are ‘seen’ and ‘felt’ and strange odours and surroundings are experienced.
During these journeys the shaman is exposed to a struggle between good
and evil which he must overcome using his skills and wisdom. The indi-
vidual’s fears are brought to the surface in such a way that, on returning
from the entheogenic trance to the normal state of conscience, the memory
of the trance remains.^10 On returning from this ‘journey’ the shaman should
have achieved clarity of an appropriate treatment for each illness. For Uitoto
and Muinane ethnic groups the use of yajeis used only as a last resource for
the solution of problems or illnesses that cannot be resolved using other
more commonly used ritual plants such as coca or tobacco or minerals.^12
74 |Traditional medicine
Figure 4.7 Yarumo (Cecropiaspp.) tree, Araracuara, Caquéta medio, Amazonas, Colombia,
12 April 1989.