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Shamanism and San Pedro Through Time

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Shamanism and San Pedro Through Time Shamanism and San Pedro through Time: Some Notes on the Archaeology, History, and Continued Use of an Entheogen in Northern Peru bonnie glass-coffin Utah State University Logan, UT bonnie.glasscoffi[email protected] abstract This paper discusses archaeological, historical, and contemporary ethnographic evidence for the use of the San Pedro cactus in northern Peru as a vehicle for traveling between worlds and for imparting the ‘‘vista’’ (magical sight) necessary for shamanic healers to divine the cause of their patients’ ailments. Using iconographic, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic evidence for the uninterrupted use of this sacred plant as a means of access to the Divine and as a tool for healing, it describes the relationship between San Pedro, ancestor worship, water/ fertility cults and also the common symbolic associations between San Pedro and wind-spirits. It closes by suggesting that the more than 2000 year time-depth of using this plant as a means for accessing the realms of Spirit and as a tool for healing should serve to challenge the unfortunate tendency in the contemporary United States to consider this plant as a ‘‘recreational drug.’’ keywords: San Pedro cactus, Peru, shamanism, ancestor worship, cosmology, ecology & introduction Shamanic healingFthat archaic technique of ecstasy in which extraordinary individuals ‘‘journey’’ to other worlds in order to mediate between spirits and Anthropology of Consciousness, Vol. 21, Issue 1, pp. 58–82, ISSN 1053-4202, & 2010 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-3537.2010.01021.x 58 shamanism and san pedro through time 59 the human communityFis a vibrant and continuing tradition in northern Peru that has been amply described by Peruvian and foreign authors (cf. Sharon 1978; Polı´a 1988a, b; Camino 1992; Joralemon and Sharon 1993; Glass-Coffin 1998 to name just a few). Here, as in many other parts of the Americas, the ability to disassociate spirit from body, to enter into modified states of con- sciousness, and to embark on the ‘‘magical flights’’ to other planes of existence that are characteristic of the shaman’s mediatory role is facilitated by the in- gestion of a psychotropic substance. In northern Peru, from the desert coastal regions of Trujillo and Lambayeque to the northern highlands of Huancabamba and Ayabaca, ethnographic reports since at least the 1940s (Camino 1958; Gillin 1947) have documented the ritual use of a mescaline-bearing cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi1 and related species) as a tool to facilitate the shaman’s ‘‘journey’’ in order to diagnose and heal the ‘‘magical’’ illnesses, including ‘‘soul loss’’ and ‘‘sorcery’’ from which patients are believed to suffer. More recently, the use of this cactus by those seeking access to ‘‘other worlds’’ for spiritual enlighten- ment,2 or just for recreational ‘‘escape’’ from the stresses of daily living (Vivanco 2000), has been increasingly popular throughout the Andes, as well as in the United States and Western Europe. Legality of the use of this mescaline-bear- ing plant substance in the United States is questionable, because, unlike peyote, Echinopsis/Trichocereus is not listed as a Schedule I hallucinogen by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/ scheduling.html), even though mescalineFthe psychoactive alkaloid respon- sible for its effectsFis specifically named. However, preparing, using, distributing, and selling the plant with intent to ingest is specifically cautioned against by many because of the ambiguity of the law (cf. http://www.erowid.org/ plants/cacti/cacti_law1.shtml). In South America, Echinopsis/Trichocereus has been used throughout pre- historic and historic periods and has been known by many local names including achuma or huachuma, giganto´n, agua collay, and Cardo Santo. The most well-known name by which it is known today is that of San Pedro.Itis considered by contemporary shamans as a planta viva (or ‘‘living’’/spirit-filled plant) that facilitates shamanic journeys to other worlds (cf. Polı´a 1988a, b; Glass-Coffin 1998). Even the name San Pedro alludes to this. As contemporary shamans often remark, like the Christian Apostle by the same name, San Pedro is a keeper of the keys; the guardian of the gates to other, unseen, worlds. It is through ingestion of San Pedro that vista (vision) into these other realms is made possible.3 Because of the time-depth, cultural context, and because of its traditional use in ritual context as a means for accessing the sacred, I will utilize the term entheogen4 when discussing this plant in the remainder of this essay. In this paper, I want to discuss the prehistoric and historical continuity of the use of San Pedro on the north coast and in the northern highlands of Peru in order to better establish its legitimacy as an entheogen that deserves to be 60 anthropology of consciousness 21.1 treated as a vehicle for accessing the sacred among those who use it ritually. I believe that an extended treatment of cultural continuity and context for the use of this entheogen are important for a number of reasons. First, as San Pedro usage becomes more popular as a potentially ‘‘legitimate’’ form of mescaline- based ‘‘tripping’’ in both the United States and South America, because of its ambiguous legal status, my concern is that it will become named as a Schedule I substance in the United States unless steps are taken to demonstrate the an- tiquity and cultural context of its traditional use. Second, in at least one town in southern Ecuador where ‘‘psychedelic tourism’’ has replaced more traditional use of San Pedro, there is evidence that indiscriminate overharvesting is seri- ously impacting sustainability of this natural resource in addition to contributing to serious community conflict in the area (Vivanco 2000). While I do not personally condemn those who choose to use this plant med- icine in nontraditional settings or in nontraditional ways, the tendency of U.S. policy makers over the last hundred or so years to criminalize all usage of non- addictive psychoactives as soon as there is public awareness of use by any group for any reason causes me considerable concern. With every web-based article that provides detailed instructions for preparing San Pedro in order to maxi- mize its potency in order to have a better ‘‘trip,’’ I fear we move yet another step closer to explicit criminalizing of this most ancient entheogen. In order to pro- vide the context for cultural continuity of its usage and its fundamental association with ancient religious and spiritual traditions in northern Peru, I will focus in some detail on iconographic depictions of this cactus in prehistoric Peru, as well as on historical and ethnographic evidence for its continued im- portance in the region. & cultures, ecologies, and cosmologies in ancient peru The importance of Echinopsis/Trichocereus on the desert coast and in the central highlands of Peru has a time-depth that long preceded the dawn of written history in this part of the world. This is evidenced by the ancient de- pictions of this plant on pottery, textiles, and in rock art created long before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores.5 These depictions vary widely in terms of time and space, with appearances on pottery on the southern coast near Nazca (from about 2,100 b.p.), stone sculptures in the central highlands of Ancash (from about 2,900 b.p.), and a multitude of representations in the Cupisnique pottery from the northern coast of modern-day Lambayeque as well as the val- leys that rise steeply from there to the Andes mountains of Cajamarca (from about 3,500 b.p.). There is even evidence of San Pedro usage in preceramic times on the northern coast of Peru (from about 4,000 b.p.) and in the area just north of Lima (from about 3,500 b.p.).6 shamanism and san pedro through time 61 Because of the lack of writing systems in early Peruvian societies, the mean- ing given to this entheogen and its association with cosmological principles of ancient religious systems can only be inferred. Because of the isolating nature of Peru’s geography, it has often been suggested that we cannot know to what de- gree the meanings associated with the use of this cactus was shared by the societies in highland and in coastal settings who have left us these iconographic traces (Millones 1982;Donnan Christopher personal communication, UCLA, 1989). Just as customs, languages, food ways, social and political complexity, and religious beliefs vary among the coastal, highland, sylvan, and riverine peoples of Peruvian ecosystems today, archaeologists have been hard-pressed to decipher the degree of diffusion and independent invention of Peru’s ancient coastal, highland, and tropical forest dwellers (cf. Peregrine and Ember 2001). In general, archaeologists agree that Peruvian prehistory on the coast and in the highlands from about 3,000 b.p. until the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532 went through several eras of political and cultural unification and expansion followed by periods of more autonomous regional development (Longhena and Alva 1999:32). As Sharon has recently demonstrated in his wonderful mono- graph entitled Shamanism and the Sacred Cactus (2000), San Pedro seems to have been an important element of cultural traditions throughout Peruvian prehistory, even before the beginning of the first ‘‘expansion,’’ associated with that highland center of religious power and theocratic rule known as ‘‘Chavı´n.’’ Although the most widely published of ancient San Pedro representations is probably the famous Chavı´n stone-tablet depiction of an avian-fanged-serpent- god holding a ‘‘staff’’ of San Pedro cactus from about 2,900 b.p.7 representations of the San Pedro cactus are frequently found in coastal Cupisnique ceramics from 3,500 b.p.
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