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Healing with Plant-Spirits

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Healing with Plant-Spirits View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives Healing With Plants and Spirits A Phenomenological and Ontological Perspective of the Treatment Practice of Patients and Visitors in Takiwasi, Peru. Roger Håland Master thesis submitted to the Department of Social Anthropology UNIVERSITY OF OSLO November 2014 Healing With Plants and Spirits A Phenomenological and Ontological Perspective of the Treatment Practice of Patients and Visitors in Takiwasi, Peru. Figure 1: The entrance to Takiwasi. Photo: Roger Håland Roger Håland i ii Abstract My fieldwork was conducted in Takiwasi, Centro de Rehabilitación de Toxicómanos y de Investigacíon de Medicinas Tradicionales in Tarapoto, Peru. The center combines psychotherapy with traditional medicine in treating in-patients with addiction problems to narcotic substances. The length of treatment for the patients is normally up to nine months. They also receive visitors coming to the center for a shorter period lasting from days to a few months. Most of the visitors I spoke with did not have addition problems, but often had other motives for coming to Takiwasi. Most of my informants came from Europe or The United States. I have a phenomenological perspective in this thesis, and my focus was to see how with their occidental background adhered, adapted to and experienced the treatment in Takiwasi. I also investigated how they understood and adapted to the ontology related to the treatment which is different from conventional treatment in the occidental world. The traditional medicine used in Takiwasi is plant based, where the clients and patients ingest plants often in ceremonies conducted by curanderos (shamans). Some of the plants have psychotropic properties that induce vivid visions and where the participants in the rituals experience forming bonds with spirits associated with the plants. I argue that Patients and visitors enter into a personalized relationship with some of the medical plants received in Takiwasi, and that the visions and experience the individual patients and visitors have with plants motivates them to make positive life changing steps, promoting their own health. At least the short term positive changes for some of the patients can be seen in forms of ending drug abuse and destructive behavior, increased respect for themselves, other people and nature, and an increased spiritual awareness. Key Words: ANT, spirituality, ayahuasca, plants, spirits, phenomenology, animism, medical anthropology, ontology, ritual, transformation. iii iv Acknowledgements There are many people who have assisted and helped me with the process that has resulted in this thesis. First I would like to thank my supervisor Arnd Schneider for sharing your knowledge and wisdom, and for giving me valuable support and encouragement while writing this thesis. I would also like to thank my initial supervisor Rune Flikke for your support before going to the field. I would like to give thanks to Jacques Mabit and Fernando Mendive for letting me conduct my fieldwork in Takiwasi, and for support during my fieldwork. Thank you to all my informants who patiently answered my questions and opened up their most intimate experiences with the treatment they went through. Not to forget the guys in the library of Takiwasi for making me feel welcome and helping me find relevant literature. I want give a special thanks to Salvador, Milenka, Manuel and Amanda for opening their home and hearts to a strange tall Norwegian. I’m going to miss our conversations Manuel. Big thanks to the three musketeers Kjetil, Ingeborg and Marianne for your wise support and input while writing your own thesis. I also want to thank my brother Alexander for sharing your wise reflections on our walks around the neighborhood whenever we needed to take a break from our studies. Thanks to my parents for their support, especially to my mother for reading through and editing the thesis. Thanks to my friends Lisa and Liz for their support during this process. Finally, thank you very much my dear Claire for pointing out my grammatical mistakes. Roger Håland Oslo, November 2014 v vi Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................. - 1 - Geography and facts of Peru ........................................................................................................... - 2 - Tarapoto .......................................................................................................................................... - 3 - Background ..................................................................................................................................... - 3 - Choosing a direction ........................................................................................................................ - 4 - Conceptual clarifications ................................................................................................................. - 7 - Maloca ......................................................................................................................................... - 7 - Emic terms referring to shamanism ............................................................................................. - 8 - Informants ................................................................................................................................... - 9 - Plantas maestras or master plants .............................................................................................. - 10 - Spirituality ................................................................................................................................. - 10 - Illness, disease and sickness ...................................................................................................... - 11 - Ethical considerations .................................................................................................................... - 11 - Methodology ................................................................................................................................. - 12 - Takiwasi .................................................................................................................................... - 13 - Presentation of some important therapies in Takiwasi .................................................................. - 14 - The patients therapy .................................................................................................................. - 14 - The visitors therapy ................................................................................................................... - 15 - Outline of the thesis and a literary orientation .............................................................................. - 15 - Summary ....................................................................................................................................... - 17 - Chapter 2: Rituals as a pathway to healing and connecting with spirits .........................- 18 - Healing rituals ............................................................................................................................... - 18 - Rituals in Takiwasi ........................................................................................................................ - 22 - Preparations for the rituals......................................................................................................... - 25 - Purga rituals ............................................................................................................................... - 25 - Ayahuasca ritual ........................................................................................................................ - 28 - Summary ....................................................................................................................................... - 35 - Chapter 3: Phenomenological experiences of the treatment process ............................- 37 - Phenomenological notions on plant therapies in Takiwasi ........................................................... - 38 - La purga ..................................................................................................................................... - 38 - vii La dieta ...................................................................................................................................... - 40 - The Ayahuasca experience ........................................................................................................ - 46 - Psychotherapy ........................................................................................................................... - 49 - Summary ....................................................................................................................................... - 50 - Chapter 4: Plants with Spirits and Agency.....................................................................- 52 - Drinking tobacco – a masculine experience .................................................................................. - 52 - Relationships between people and plants .....................................................................................
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