Visions from Other Worlds: Western Esotericism, UFO Beliefs and Conspiracy Theories in Ayahuasca Groups Ricardo Assarice dos Santos 1 Leonardo B. Martins 2

Aliens and Ayahuasca

Different Brazilian religious and esoteric groups use the ceremonial drink aya- huasca as part of their rituals. Members of these groups tend to report, during the consumption of the beverage, realistic visions of supernatural or transcend- ent phenomena, whose content and nuances may vary substantially, according to the imaginary supported by the respective group. With seemingly increasing frequency, such people have reported visions of beings perceived to be extra- terrestrials, apparent both from the appearance of the entities and from their behavior and intentions. These scenarios have motivated this phenomenological study, which aims to map experiences and beliefs associated with extraterrestrials that spread within groups using ayahuasca. Thus, a specifically Brazilian manifestation of ayahuasca religion and its psychedelic effects can exhibit connections with world-reported and characteristically contemporary beliefs and experiences linked to alleged ex- traterrestrials.

Method

This study is of a qualitative nature and uses data from ethnographic inci- dents that occurred between 2011 and 2019 in Brazilian ayahuasca user groups and in groups linked to , including the so-called “Brazilian ufological community”. These groups are based in the southeastern and central-western

1 Clinical Psychologist and Researcher. Ph.D. student in Social Psychology at the University of São Paulo (with a research internship at University of Greenwich). Master’s degree in Religious Studies from Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Degree in psychology from the Macken- zie Presbyterian University. Study field: anomalistic psychology, psychedelics, western esotericism, spirituality and mental health. E-mail: [email protected]. 2 Collaborating professor at the Institute of Psychology of the University of São Paulo (USP). He has a post-doctorate, a doctorate and a master’s degree in social psychology from USP, as well as a degree in psychology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). He is a researcher and member of several laboratories, research centers and academic groups. Contact: [email protected]. La Rosa di Paracelso 1/2020 La Rosa di Paracelso regions of the Brazilian territory and are predominantly urban. In addition to observation and participation in their rituals (with consequent consumption of ayahuasca), the research procedures included extensive semi-open interviews and theoretical analysis.

An introduction to Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is a South American Quechua word. It is the union of the prefix “aya”, which means dead person, soul, or spirit, with the suffix “waska”, which means rope, or vine. Therefore, the translation of the word ayahuasca would be something like “rope of the dead” or “vine of the spirits”. However, this is the name used to define a visionary psychoactive mixture usually made from a vine and a leaf, used generally, but not only, in several religious and therapeutic contexts.3 There are several different mixtures to obtain the brew, and many are the groups that make use of it. It is known that at least 72 indigenous tribes make ceremonial use of the beverage in western Amazonia, in addition to the typically Brazilian religious ayahuasca groups and the contemporary neo- shamanic groups. 4 The vine used in the mixture is usually some kind of Banisteriopsis, the most common being Banisteriopsis caapi, popularly known as jagube or mariri. The most commonly used foliage is Psychotria viridis, natively known as chacrona or queen, believed to reinforce and sustain the visionary effects. Despite this “clas- sic recipe”, several different mixtures result in a drink with similar effects, and just over two hundred additional substances.5 In scientific literature, the term ayahuasca has been used to name this type of mixture, but there are others. Although this is the most common, there are more than forty known names for the drink, the most common in the literature being the terms yagé, caapi, camarambi, nixi pae, vegetal, hoasca.6 The effects of ayahuasca are wrongly attributed to the molecule of DMT (N, N-dimethyltryptamine) present in the queen’s leaves. The effects are the result of combining DMT from the leaves with the beta-carboline alkaloids – harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydro harmine – present in Banisteriopsis vines.

3 Beatriz. C Labate and Clancy Cavnar, (ed.), The Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca (Berlin: Sprin- ger, 2014); Ricardo A. Santos, “A híbrida Barquinha: Uma revisão da história, das principais influências religiosas e dos rituais fundamentais” (MA diss., Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2017). 4 Charles S. Grob, “The psychology of ayahuasca,” in Ayahuasca: Hallucinogens, Consciousness, and the Spirit of Nature edited by Ralph Metzner (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004). 5 Luis Eduardo Luna, Vegetalismo: Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of Peruvian Amazon (Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell International, 1986); Edward MacRae, Guiado pela Lua: Xama- nismo e uso ritual da Ayahuasca no culto do Santo Daime (São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1992). 6 Luna, Vegetalismo . 22 Visions from Other Worlds

If someone ingests a tea from the leaves, even in high doses, for example, it does not have the expected effects due to the action of monoamine oxidase (MAO). Pro- duced in the liver and small intestine, this enzyme acts to prevent the absorption of DMT by the nervous system, an effect that is only circumvented due to the action of beta-carbolines, which temporarily inhibit MAO enzymes and allow DMT to enter the bloodstream, reach the brain and finally the central nervous system. 7 The DMT molecule is found in several living organisms, from at least two hun- dred species of plants, fungi, algae, fish, but especially mammals, and all humans. Therefore, it is an endogenous molecule. Strassman8 theorized that the molecule would be synthesized by the pineal gland, and would be responsible for several unusual experiences and states of consciousness, like states of deep meditation, lucid dreams, and even experiences with aliens and abductions. The hypothesis is that these experiences are subjective, resulting from a spontaneous release of DMT in the brain of the so-called “contacted”. Quantitatively, 200ml of ayahuasca has approximately 30mg of harmine, 10mg of tetrahydro-harmaline and 25mg of DMT, and approximately 20 minutes after drinking, effects such as nausea and vomiting, tingling, increased body tempera- ture, and the cognitive and visionary effects, natively known as “mirações” – from the verb to aim – are commonly reported.9

Spontaneous mental images and Aliens

As pointed out, mirações, or “spontaneous mental images” 10 is the name given to the visionary experiences of drinking ayahuasca tea. It is one of the main phe- nomena resulting from this experience, but not the only one. This phenomenon is the major effect responsible for qualitative changes in the lives of those who experience the beverage, “acting mainly in the consciousness that the individual has of himself and the world, especially from a spiritualist bias, encouraging au- tonomy and consciousness”.11 These visionary experiences are also responsible for the formation of the Brazil- ian Ayahuasca religions – constituted mostly from the previous visionary experi- ences of their founders. These visionary experiences modulate both the individuals and the groups, to which they belong re-signifying their beliefs and cosmology.

7 Dennis McKenna and Jordi Riba, “New World Tryptamine Hallucinogens and the Neuroscience of Ayahuasca,” Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences 36 (2015): 283-311. 8 Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule. A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences (Vermont: Park Street Press, 2001); Rick Strassman et al., Inner Paths to Outer Space: Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Tech- nologies (Vermont: Park Street Press, 2008). 9 McKenna and Riba, “New World Tryptamine Hallucinogens and the Neuroscience of Ayahuasca.” 10 Marcelo S. Mercante, Imagens de cura: Ayahuasca, imaginação, saúde e doença na Barquinha (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fiocruz, 2012). 11 Ricardo A. Santos, “A híbrida Barquinha”, 30. 23 La Rosa di Paracelso

Also, we must consider that images linked to UFO cultures, such as extrater- restrial beings, spaceships, planets, and alien architectures are common in DMT- induced visionary processes and also correlate with abduction experiences.12 In his study categorizing the phenomenology of ayahuasca visions, Shanon 13 points out that in the category of figures/entities perceived in ayahuasca ses- sions, extraterrestrials are the third most commonly viewed entities. These vi- sions generally follow spaceships and other technological paraphernalia, and are more common for individuals experienced with the use of the tea. Luke 14 also points out that insectoid beings, especially hybrid praying mantises that may perform brain surgeries, are a category of alien beings widely described in experiments with DMT. In a recent study, Davis et al. 15 researched the phenomenology of the expe- riences with smoked DMT. The term “alien” was used to define 39% of the entities seen in the visionary experiences, demonstrating that experiences of this nature are very common. Luke16 points out that the psychonaut Terence McKenna (1946-2000) is the first to postulate a correlation between visions of aliens and the experience of psilocin (4-HO-DMT), and that later, Rick Strassman complemented this hy- pothesis by considering that UFO experiences could be associated with sponta- neous fluctuations endogenous of DMT, since such experiences would share the visions of energy tunnels, cylinders of light, and the loss of fear of death.

After the use of ayahuasca, Severi also observed the similarity between MSEs, psyche- delic-induced shamanic initiations, experiences of and high psychic sensitivity, as well as previous researchers. However, Baruss notes that despite the sim- ilarities, experiences of DMT and abduction by aliens lack specific similarities, such as the absence of the classic “greys” (alleged small gray aliens) in experiences with DMT. However, Hancock argues that there are substantial similarities between aliens and “elves”, whether induced by DMT or appearing in legends and historical-folklore testimony, speculating that the latter also have a DMT-induced etiology and, adopting the theory proposed by Vallée, that these elves are the prototypes of encounter/abduc- tion experiences. It should be noted that few doubt the reality of their encounters with aliens or DMT entities.17

12 Strassman, DMT: The spirit molecule ; David Luke, “Discarnate Entities and Dimethyltryptamine (DMT): Psychopharmacology, Phenomenology and Ontology,” Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 75 (2011): 26-42. 13 Benny Shanon, The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomena of the Ayahuasca Experience (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). 14 Luke, “Discarnate Entities and Dimethyltryptamine (DMT),” 26-42. 15 Alan K. Davis et al., “Survey of Entity Encounter Experiences Occasioned by Inhaled N, N- Dimethyltryptamine: Phenomenology, interpretation, and enduring effects,” Journal of Psycho- pharmacology 34, no. 9 (2020): 1008-1020. 16 Luke, “Discarnate Entities and Dimethyltryptamine (DMT).” 17 Luke, “Discarnate Entities and Dimethyltryptamine (DMT),” 35. 24 Visions from Other Worlds

Besides the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca,18 the beverage also serves the maintenance and social cohesion of groups that make use of it. Luna19 points out three main contexts in which the drink is used: the indigenous/shamanic use; the vegetalista use and the context of the Brazilian ayahuasca religions. In this classification, it is possible to add a new category: the use of ayahuasca in urban centers, in a context known as neo-shamanic and/or New Age.20

The use of ayahuasca and the Neo-shamanism and New Age context

It’s possible to illustrate the use of ayahuasca in Brazil in four key moments. 21 The first would be the original use, shamanic, which refers to the use of the drink by the original indigenous peoples. The second is an intersection between the native and communities different from his own, which provides the indigenous with the status of a specialist in different plants; for example, the ayahuasqueiro, which uses the ayahuasca as the master plant. The third movement is constituted by the Brazilian Ayahuaqueiras religions: Santo Daime, Barquinha and União do Vegetal, which are cultural reorganizations of the tea rituals, in a hybrid process with other religions, such as popular Catholicism. A fourth and final context of the use of the brew is of extreme importance for our debate: the neo-shamanic or exo-shamanic, which fits into the so-called New Age movements. For the religious scholar Ana Luisa Prosperi Leite, 22 in indigenous groups, the title of a shaman is attributed and confirmed from an innate aptitude, interpreted by the ethnic group. The neo-shaman from Latin America is an individual who acquires a technical attitude, that is, the new shaman obtains his title according to courses and thematic workshops, which results in “performative adaptations of rituals and the essentialization of shamanism”. 23 We can understand the term New Age in two ways, which Hanegraaff 24 divided into strictu and latu sensu . The strictu sensu form is linked to the historical origin of the term, coined by the theosophist Alice Bailey (1880- 1949), who advocated a “New Age of Aquarius”: a new historical period that humanity would be entering, maturing and available for new spiritual transformations.

18 Labate and Cavnar, The Therapeutic Use of Ayahuasca. 19 Luna, Luis Eduardo. Vegetalismo: Shamanism among the mestizo population of Peruvian Amazon (Stockholm: Almquist and Wiksell International, 1986). 20 Beatriz C. Labate, A reinvenção do uso da ayahuasca nos centros urbanos (Campinas, SP, Mercado das Letras: Fapesp, 2004). 21 Santos, “A híbrida Barquinha,” 97. 22 Ana L. P. Leite, “Neoxamanismo na América Latina,” Último Andar 29 (2016): 204-217. 23 Leite, “Neoxamanismo na América Latina,” 207. 24 Wouter J. Hanegraaff, New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secu- lar Thought (Leiden: Brill, 1996.) 25 La Rosa di Paracelso

In this context, there are beliefs in aliens and/or beings from other planets and dimensions, who would be “older brothers” of humanity, who would assist our planetary evolution with advanced spiritual technologies and techniques. In latu sensu,25 New Age is the name given by researchers of new religious movements that contemplate a specific body of beliefs and ways of thinking about the world which include spiritual growth and self-improvement as a cen- tral objective, being strongly linked to the post-1960s consumer culture. In Brazil, Labate26 first studied the use and adaptation of ayahuasca by urban center groups and individuals. The core characteristics of these groups were a disconnection with the “original” shamanic context, and the perception of sub- stances – especially ayahuasca – as tools of self-knowledge and therapy, connect- ing spirituality and psychic health. From this steaming melting pot of traditions, ideologies, symbols, and prac- tices, a certain perception of the world will emerge, which integrates the use of plants and psychoactive substances, a constant search for individual improve- ment – especially of the spiritual realm – and the internalization of conspiracy theories and pseudo-sciences, with alien beliefs on top.

Conspiracy theories in Neo-Shamanic contexts: a line linking the dots

Worldviews assumed in neo-shamanic contexts often clash with certain as- pects culturally accepted aspects outside these circles. Examples include the worldviews of the scientific mainstream and urban western society, which tend to consider unreal or even ignore the experiences in ayahuasca contexts and their respective meanings. Thus, mirações , altered states of consciousness and alternative dimensions of reality, seem to unveil themselves in an appealing and, therefore, convincing way to people in these neo-shamanic contexts, sug- gesting to the concrete and self-evident existence of parallel dimensions and sophisticated non-human entities, while externally to these groups such reali- ties are widely discredited. Such asymmetry or even splitting between what is experienced in these con- texts and the consensual reality external to them tends to produce psychologi- cal effects. In this sense, various studies have shown, since the middle of the 20th century, that strong differences between worldviews, or between what is experienced and what is believed tend to act as a trigger for the search for ex- planations and a corresponding resignification of reality. The theory of causality attribution27 is among such examples, showing that the mismatch between what is lived and what is expected tends to cause an automatic, involuntary search

25 Hanegraaff, New Age Religion and Western Culture, 98. 26 Beatriz C. Labate, A reinvenção do uso da ayahuasca nos centros urbanos. 27 José Augusto Dela-Coleta and Maília Dela-Coleta, Atribuição de causalidade. Teoria, pesquisa e aplicações (São Paulo: Cabral Editora e Livraria Universitária, 2016). 26 Visions from Other Worlds for explanations. In the face of the affecting subjective experiences lived in aya- huasca contexts, which point to culturally denied realities, intuitive explanations often conform to conspiratorial contours: the existence of extraordinary realities is known by scientists and governments but denied for reasons in which a second explanatory movement is necessitated. The antagonists would operate, per the usual perspective in these contexts, as part of a power game: “materialist” and “Cartesian” science would seek to protect its hegemony when threatened by spiritual realities, while governments would seek to control the population through selected information that prevents it from understanding the role played by entities (often) understood as alien and evil (such as the famous ‘reptilians’). Thus, both science and official governmental agencies tend to suffer a general loss of credibility in these contexts, which, as a counterpoint, feeds many various conspiracy theories. Such theories often question the validity of both general and specific scientific knowledge (e.g., regarding allopathic medicine), as well as re-signifying political and social events that range from the terrorist attacks of September 11 to the manned landings on the moon (the aliens based there would have prohibited the return). Some groups that assume neo-shamanic practices even have their versions of terraplanism (the belief that earth is flat) 28 and more usually defend their own models of disease and cure. Therefore, in these contexts the conspiracy theories exercise the role of con- ferring an intuitive sense to dimensions of reality whose coexistence seem con- flicting, linking the dots in a way that makes sense and, as predicted by the theory of causality assignment,29 enabling the subjective and comforting sense of pre- dictability and control over reality. Thus, it becomes explainable that extrater- restrial beings, and those of other origins and natures, that are so benevolent as to assist individual humans in their spiritual journey have their obvious existence not recognized by the scientific and political mainstream of various countries. In a complementary way, such theories and worldviews become progressively armored to refutation. Any evidence contrary to them tends to be readily dis- credited and understood as part of the conspiracy, systematic and reprehensible denial of conventional science and governments, while favorable evidence (e.g., new experiences with beings and lights) and confirmatory perspectives are over- valued. Thus, the well-known psychological process of cognitive dissonance is apparent here, a classic theme of psychology born precisely from the study of a group of aliens contacted in the 1950s. 30 Any attempt to demonstrate, there- fore, that one is mistaken in the assumption of such conspiracy theories ends up

28 Leonardo B. Martins, “Extremistas religiosos, terraplanistas, alienígenas e além: a dinâmica da espiral ascendente de complexidade na formação de crenças e experiências contraintuitivas,” Nu- men 21, no. 2 (2018): 129-144. 29 Dela-Coleta and Dela-Coleta, Atribuição de causalidade. 30 Leon Festinger et al., When Prophecy Fails. A Social and Psychological Study of a Modern Group that Predicted the Destruction of the World (New York: Harper & Row, 1957). 27 La Rosa di Paracelso strengthening them even more because the attempt adds another example of the systematic disinformation perpetrated directly or indirectly by governments, militaries or evil aliens. As for the latter, it is common for skeptics of the reality of aliens to be “diagnosed” by advocates of such conspiracy theories as people controlled by reptilians through implants, or so-called “chips’31 . Other broader human cognitive biases (which do not depend, therefore, on the neo-shamanic contexts treated here) are also at work, such as confirmation bias, which is the common and involuntary tendency for us to be selective in the face of reality, becoming aware only of what confirms our beliefs, systemati- cally ignoring examples and contradictory cases.32 Due to such bias, we tend to remember, for example, only the occasions when we feel better after a healing ritual, ignoring the times when there was no result. Because of this, the suggestion, anchored in common sense, that conspiracy theories have no evidence in their favor and are sustained by irrationality and paranoia, becomes incorrect. On the contrary, such theories have ample support, with the condition, however, that such evidence is significant personal experi- ences in neo-shamanic contexts, gradually confirmed by rational elaborations that give them meaning. Such a process of mutual validation between elaborations and first-hand ex- periences ends up diluting the counterintuitive character of these beliefs and allowing highly heterodox perspectives to be assumed as self-evident. Martins, 33 through the study of neo-esoteric groups centered on contact with aliens, named this phenomenon as an ascending spiral of complexity. Therefore, although such experiences are not considered valid evidence out- side those contexts, this is quite distinct from an absence of evidence. What could be questioned externally to these groups and contexts, therefore, is the na- ture of this evidence, which is enhanced precisely by the process of the ascending spiral of complexity. Nor is the suggestion of the irrationality of the worldviews sustained there a coherent critique, which, on the contrary, demand a broad (though not hegemonic) rational exercise based on alternative premises socially validated in these cultural environments.

Aliens and Neo-shamanism

Beings from other planets commonly referred to as aliens or extraterrestrials are a relevant cultural icon in Western culture. Evidence of this comes not only from the constant presence of aliens in copious profitable works of fiction, but

31 Leonardo B. Martins, “Na trilha dos alienígenas: uma proposta psicológica integrativa sobre experiências ufológicas e paranormais,” PhD diss., University of São Paulo, 2015. 32 Joshua Klayman, “Varieties of Confirmation Bias,” Psychology of Learning and Motivation 32 (1995): 385-418. 33 Leonardo B. Martins, “Extremistas religiosos.” 28 Visions from Other Worlds from the numerous and incessant claims of contact with such entities since at least the 18th century, with a significant increase during the 20th century.34 From the second half of the 1940s, however, with the emergence of (initially unrelated) flying saucers, aliens gradually began to represent the most accepted explanation for the mystery of the origin of those UFOs. Thus, before the 1940s, aliens would (according to reports) be contacted through out-of-body experi- ences, channeling, and other directly or indirectly esoteric means. The following decades, however, saw the emergence of a new cultural icon, in the form of aliens who would fly spaceships, abduct humans for experiments, draw on grain plantations, mutilate animals for apparently scientific purposes, invade the airspace of countries and be chased by their planes, etc.35 For most of the second half of the 20th century, official and popular attempts to investigate these mysterious episodes fell to the armed forces of different countries,36 the press 37 , and since then the so-called ufologists.38 Such initiatives typically sought, with varying degrees of success, to assume a scientific perspec- tive. It was quite common at that time to hold so-called “scientific congresses” of ufology,39 which illustrates the world view in which the aliens were circum- scribed and allows one to understand, contextually, the almost total extinction of reports of contact by esoteric means. However, with the advent of the counter-culture movement from the 1960s onwards, which came to substantiate alternative practices and diverse esoteric traditions, the aliens began, albeit gradually, to regain their non-material conno- tation. Although the esoteric dimension of the aliens associated with UFOs dates back to the 1950s, their supposed manifestations remained almost exclusively physical, until the late 1990s and the early 2000s40 . From then on, contacts with aliens by out-of-body experiences and other “en- ergetic” means began to gain popularity, and was also gradually reflected in the emptying of the “scientific congresses” of ufology, which began to be replaced by “spiritualist” events. More popular representatives of ufology itself, once proud to be “scientific”, began to refer to “holistic” ufology and related terms. As this scenario unfolds, it has been increasingly difficult for researchers to find first-hand accounts of physical contacts with alleged aliens and flying saucers,

34 James R. Lewis (Ed.), The Gods Have Landed. New Religions from Other Worlds (New York: SUNY Press, 1995). 35 Leonardo B. Martins, “Experiências anômalas tipicamente contemporâneas e psicologia: uma revisão da literatura,” Boletim Academia Paulista de Psicologia 36, no. 91 (2016): 310-328. 36 Edward U. Condon and Daniel S. Gillmor, Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (Lon- don: Vision, 1970). 37 Rodolpho G.C. Santos, A invenção dos discos voadores: Guerra Fria, imprensa e ciência no Brasil (1947-1958) (São Paulo: Alameda Casa Editorial, 2017). 38 Leonardo B. Martins, “Na trilha dos alienígenas: uma proposta psicológica integrativa sobre experiências ufológicas e paranormais,” PhD diss., University of São Paulo, 2015. 39 Martins, “Na trilha dos alienígenas,” 325. 40 Martins, “Na trilha dos alienígenas.” 29 La Rosa di Paracelso while “subtle” and “energy” contacts are abundant.41 This cultural phenomenon is characteristically urban, in tune with other examples of contemporary esoteri- cism proper,42 so that physical aliens aboard spaceships (i.e., flying saucers) tend to be found much more easily in rural areas far from urban centers.43 In this way, aliens gradually began not only to assume energetic or subtle as- pect but also mainly perform religious and esoteric functions, assisting the rescue of the spiritual dimension of life among people for whom traditional religions no longer proved sufficient. Therefore, as part of the ascending spiral of complexity dynamics, in which beliefs and experiences support each other,44 aliens began to be reported with increasing frequency in rituals of neo-shamanic and related groups, as exemplified by the ayahuasca religions mentioned here. Such an understanding that the experiences in these contexts are due to the manifestation of aliens, as well as the broader phenomenon of flying saucers, offers a radical divergence from what the scientific mainstream thinks about ex- traterrestrial life forms. In this respect, although it is commonly expected among scientists in the field that there are forms of (due to the known dissemination of chemical elements and other conditions conducive to life on Earth), and that a fraction of them have industrial development, this point still needs demonstra- tion, remaining only hypothetical, despite such demonstration being the objec- tive of various scientific initiatives since the 1960s.45 Even more distant from scientific consensus is the subjective notion that aliens often contact with humans (something that, as we have seen, is nourished by the combination of culturally sustained experiences and beliefs). Thus, despite the frequent use of scientific terms (e.g., energy, quantum physics, pineal gland) 46 in neo-shamanic contexts, such appropriation finds sense and appropriateness only in those contexts, being fundamentally distinct from proper scientific ones.

Alien forms and behavior

During this historical evolution of the collective imaginary about aliens, they were described in various ways. In the 1950s, the descriptions were almost in- variably anthropomorphic, so that aliens could pass almost unnoticed among humans. In occasional cases from the 1960s onwards, short and large-eyed aliens predominated in the aforementioned scenario of “scientific ufology”. With the advent of the new culture, perfectly human-looking aliens were reported again.

41 Martins, “Na trilha dos alienígenas.” 42 José G.C. Magnani, “O neo-esoterismo na cidade,” Revista USP 31 (1996): 6-15. 43 Martins, “Na trilha dos alienígenas”, 254, 44 Martins, “Extremistas religiosos.” 45 Jill Tarter, “The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI),” Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 39, no. 1 (2001): 511-548. 46 Magnani, “O neo-esoterismo na cidade.” 30 Visions from Other Worlds

In the investigated groups, human-looking aliens, despite their superhuman beauty and aura, proved to be predominant, although reptilian or “grey” ap- pearing entities are also reported. Colors, textures and other sensory elements suggesting disembodied energies are also reported, as relayed by a medium be- longing to one of the groups studied:47

I stayed four nights in the mountain [...]. I went up, stayed there in the mountain, and I prayed, I asked, and I wanted to know if it was Ashtar Sheran [an alien worshipped by several of the groups] even, if there was this being, that I wanted communication with himself [...]. I took my cards, from my clients [from shiatsu] and started praying to them there [...] that’s when I saw nearby, golden, a ball of golden light [...] big [...] that’s when I understood that it was a very big thing there, that it wasn’t just some- thing for me, that it had a relationship with my work, with people [...]. Then I saw a bigger ship [...] began to form like a cloud of energy moving [...] a golden core in the middle and expanded an aura like this, “verdona” [...] then I saw the formation of the commander [Ashtar], I saw that he formed a man himself [...] He was talking a lot of things in my head [...] that a lot was going to happen and that I had a mission, a job to do, that I was very attached to this being [...] when I’m working [on cures], I have an easier time seeing.48

Once the mirações involving aliens begin, the images are often followed by dialogues and other forms of interaction with the entities, including spiritual teachings and energy healings. All of this corroborates the belief of many mem- bers of these groups that the experiences and the aliens are real. Severi49 observed that accounts of experiences involving some kind of symbol- ic death of the ego are frequently reported, and these experiences are very simi- lar to shamanic initiation experiences or anomalous near-death and out-of-body experiences. The author complements his conclusions from the work of Kenneth Ring “Omega Project’ who suggests the hypothesis that near-death experiences (NDE) and alien abductions have the same structure as an initiation journey, with the narrative adapted to current technological conditions. However, for Severi the phenomenon of UFO abduction is based on the story of some people who report being abducted by aliens and taken in their space- craft to undergo a surgical procedure often involving the grafting of a mysterious object into their body. Finally, their return to the place where their experience began, often with a momentary amnesia of what happened. Santos50 observed and interviewed Brazilian ayahuasca groups that fall into the New Age neoxamanist category, and collected some data that reinforce and amplify Luke’s51 and Shanon’s52 readings.

47 Ibid. 48 Martins, “Na trilha dos alienígenas,” 177 49 Bruno Severi, “Sciamani e psichedelia,” Quaderni di Parapsicologia 34, no. 1 (2003). 50 Santos, “A híbrida Barquinha.” 51 Luke, David. “Discarnate Entities and Dimethyltryptamine.” 52 Shanon, The Antipodes of the Mind. 31 La Rosa di Paracelso

He notes that some experiences reported by users share elements in com- mon, such as: the presence of anomalous phosphenes (experiences with lights), eschatological revelations; narratives that reinforce the “special” nature of the alleged contact, usually the charge of a “special mission of light and healing”; broadening of ecological awareness and interest, something that often appears in the narratives as a “mission” of the alleged contact to save the fauna and flora of the planet. (ecopsychology). Some individuals who assume prominent places in these spiritualist groups often perform specific activities throughout the rituals, such as channeling (as oc- curs in Umbanda) allegedly alien beings or channeling special messages sent by them. Usually the messages are filled with discipline and optimism for the future of the earth and its inhabitants. During some rituals, groups make “calls” (singing a song to a specific group or entity) and “give passage” to various entities understood as aliens, usually from Sirius, Orion and Pleiades. It is very common to have symbols, artifacts and mu- sic related to Egypt, or to the mythical continents of “Atlantis” and “Lemuria”. Besides these rituals, in these spaces other activities are usually offered (or better, sold), such as yoga classes, meetings of sacred women and men, shamanic drums, the healing, reiki, family constellation, among other neo-shamanic prac- tices, such as nasal application of snuff (tobacco powder with herbs), drum med- itations and retreats in nature.

Final considerations

As we have seen, the encounter between ayahuasca and the aliens was not innate in their respective fields. While ayahuasca religions and groups did not, at first, mention spontaneous mental images and beliefs that involved al- iens, neither did the UFO contexts of the 1940s and 1950s involve alterations of consciousness. Other cultural developments were necessary for these two symbolic universes to meet and interpenetrate. Such developments include the growing popularity of both aliens and ayahuasca throughout the 20th and 21st centuries which allowed an increasing number of people in various con- texts to know about it and the contamination of both symbolic universes by New Age precepts. Thus, mirações in ayahuasca contexts came to have extraterrestrials among their main protagonists, at the same time that conspiracy theories about the governmental, military and scientific cover-ups of the alien presence on Earth proved to be subjectively necessary to connect the dots and allow the beliefs to be maintained, strengthening the personal and group conviction about the real- ity of the experiences. Finally, the encounter between aliens and neo-shamanic contexts allowed many people and groups to reframe their religious and/or spiritualist beliefs and practices, that were worn out by the clash between emerging possibilities

32 Visions from Other Worlds

(e.g., counterculture movements) and traditional symbolic universes (e.g., Ca- tholicism, Pentecostalism, etc). There is, therefore, hybridization between the traditional and the contemporary, in the form of aliens subordinate to Christ, ascended masters of the Great White Brotherhood, evil extraterrestrials associ- ated with negative energies, etc.53 Instead of distant and dissociated beliefs from everyday life, the ritualistic and neurochemical aspects of ayahuasca make such realities imperative, feed- ing the process of adopting non-hegemonic beliefs known as the ascending spiral of complexity. 54 For all these reasons, the current ayahuasca neo-sha- manic contexts are inseparable from the collective imagination about extra- terrestrials, in addition to being idiosyncratic compared to the scientific and cultural mainstream.

Acknowledgement

The first author thanks the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES) for grating a PhD scholarship allowing the elabo- ration of this paper. The second author thanks the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) for grating a PhD scholarship allowing the elaboration of this paper.

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