Vegetalismo is a term used to refer to a practice of mestizo shamanism in the Peruvian Amazon in which the shamans—known as vegetalistas—are said to gain their knowledge and power to cure from the vegetales, or plants of the region. Many believe to receive their knowledge from ingesting the hallucinogenic, emetic brew ayahuasca.
Terminology
The term vegetalismo is used to distinguish vegetalistas from other such healers as oracionistas (prayer healers) and espiritistas (spiritist healers). The term is used by followers of Brazilian new religious movements to refer to both indigenous and mestizo ayahuasca shamanism in contrast to their practices. However, among mestizos in the Peruvian Amazon, the term vegetalismo is used to distinguish mestizo shamanism from the traditional shamanism practiced by indigenous peoples. Related religious movements include the more formal União do Vegetal and Santo Daime.
Structure of vegetalismo
The vegetalismo practice combines deep Catholic elements with the animistic religious beliefs common to indigenous tribes throughout the region. Though many vegetalistas declare themselves to be Catholics, they receive their knowledge and power to heal from their special relationship with the spirits of the Amazon rainforest. Vegetalistas maintain relationships with two types of spirits: the spirits of the healing plants, often appearing in human form, and protective spirits, often appearing as powerful animals, birds, or humans. There are other spirit-beings (non-human entities) that exist in the visionary world that can assist the shaman; beings that come from other planets and galaxies, beings that come from infinite labyrinths of crystal rooms, and beings who live in the deep rainforest and beneath the dark waters. In contrast to indigenous shamanism in the upper Amazon, which is based within a rural environment and whose focus is to maintain or restore social balance, mestizo shamanism is based within an urban environment and is focused on individual healing. Many of these mestizo shamans have consultarios (clinics), where they provide consultations and healing ceremonies for patients, as well as other services such as massages and general, simple healing sessions, which usually involve the shaman sucking out the sickness from the patient's body, protecting the body with shacapa and tobacco smoke, and then prescribing an herbal remedy to help the patient in their recovery from the sickness.
Initiation
Although vegetalismo is strongly influenced by indigenous Amazonian cosmology, and to become a vegetalista one must abide by prescriptions that conform closely to those found among Indian tribes of the upper Amazon, vegetalistas do not associate themselves with any specific tribe, therefore there is no community to support the initiation and recognize that the individual has become a vegetalista. One becomes a vegetalista out of personal choice or vocation, and their shamanic powers become recognized gradually as they build up their reputation in the community in which they live.
La Dieta
In order to dominar, or master the plants, one must first prove to the plants that he or she is worthy of their trust. They must show the spirits that they are strong and faithful individuals, and in order to do this they must spend generally a minimum of six months in isolation, living deep in the monte (the wilderness) in order to take on the odor of the jungle and take in the gifts of the spirits, while following la dieta, the restricted diet in order to become a very powerful shaman. La dieta is key to forming a relationship with the plants, for the plants will not reveal themselves, their uses, and their icaros (sacred songs) to those not following the restricted diet. While a neophyte is undertaking la dieta, he or she must abstain from sugar, salt, and sex, and often oil and fat as well. Generally, human beings smell bad to the spirits, so one must go on this long diet in order to purify oneself from this bad odor. One must practice abstinence while on la dieta in order to eliminate the smell of human sex, for to the spirits this smell is vile and repulsive. However, one must do more than the restricted diet in order to learn the plants, one must also ingest the plant, stay loyal to the plant while taking it into his or her body and allowing it to teach from within. Once the neophyte has undergone la dieta and has won the love of the plants, the spirits of the plants will appear to the neophyte either in visions or dreams. It is then that the plants begin to teach the neophyte their magical healing and protective songs, or icaros.