Sacred Way of Ayahuasca in the Ecuadorian Amazon

This small community is known for driving mining companies out of their Amazonian territory in northern Ecuador. But the natives of Kofan Awi have another mysterious and fascinating trait: they are masters of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic medicinal plant and a gateway to the “spirit world.”

“God once lived here on this planet,” says Isidro Lucitante, 63, patriarch and “taita” (shaman) of the nine families that make up the community in the village of the Bermejo Ecological Reserve. The sparse population of Kofan Avi is scattered across 55,000 hectares of jungle and rivers along the Colombian border.

“God tore out one of her hair and planted it on the ground. Thus was born ayahuasca, the source of wisdom,” he adds.

Also known as yage, this is a concoction traditionally made by the peoples of the western Amazon basin from the Banisteriopsis caapi creeper.

very popular in United States and Europe, Ayahuasca has become known as a miracle cure, a recreational hallucinogen, or even a dangerous psychotropic drug.

IN Peru, and to a lesser extent in Ecuadorjuicy industry psychedelic tourism around this plant, which is already available in capsules or infusions and sold online.

ecological Nobel

For Cofán Avie, ayahuasca is part of them culture And ancient cosmogonypassed down from generation to generation and nature lush surrounding them. Several privileged visitors, including AFP, are gearing up for the experience.

Every weekend, family members, neighbors, some university students, and a few tourists sit in the hammocks of a maloki, or indigenous community home, and drink a strange, bitter, brownish liquid.

Under the supervision of the “taita” Isidro and his assistants, between tobacco, chants, nausea And monologues feverish participants begins a chaotic, hypnotic journey, taking consciousness into unknown spaces.

“Our culture comes from the knowledge of our ancestors about yage medicinean ancient sacred plant,” explains Isidro, his bronzed face streaked with make-up.

Yage “is first and foremost a medicine,” he emphasizes.

Pick up at forestthe liana “is crushed, mixed with water and boiled for hours. The cook must fast, follow a special diet,” he adds.

The Lucitante ceremony takes place at twilight in a family wooden malok, painted with parrots, snakes, colorful panther heads and the faces of the illustrious elders of the community.

Kofan Avi are famous in Ecuador for a historic legal victory over the mining industry in 2018. Local court annulled 52 gold mining concessions granted Ecuadorian state without consulting or informing the community as required by law.

Their fight was awarded in 2022 Goldman Awardknown as the Nobel Prize for Environmental Defenders, awarded to Alex Lucitante, one of the leaders of the community.

“It’s not a drug”

Alex, 30, one of the sons shamanorganized local security and drone surveillance to gather evidence of the miners’ abuses.

“It has been a long and difficult struggle to protect our territory and nature, a path inspired by the wisdom of the ancients and the knowledge of the yage,” Alex told AFP.

He wears a necklace of peccary teeth (a medium-sized mammal that looks like a hairy pig) on ​​his chest, a red scarf around his neck, and a feather on his nose. This “biodiversity hero,” as he is called by some NGOs, performs at night as his father’s assistant and a singer with a guitar to accompany the trans participants.

“Thanks to yage medicine, we can communicate with spirits and (…) balance the world. yage it is a sacred path that invites us to live in harmony with nature,” explains Alex.

Fashionable in different parts of the world, ayahuasca However, it can be dangerous for those who take antidepressants, suffer from heart or psychotic problems, epileptics, and asthmatics.

Even though the recipe Kofan Avi not identified, this mixture usually contains hallucinogen DMT (dimethyltryptamine), banned in the US and other Western countries.

“Yage is not a drug,” Isidro insists in his cavernous voice. “My grandfather drank yage every week and died at the age of 115,” he says.

According to experts, ayahuasca does not cause addiction, but on the contrary, it can serve as a means of treating certain addictions. “They come sick, some drug addicts. They leave calm or in better health,” says an old shaman who started using it when he was five years old.

Delete

“Contact with this other world can be dangerous, and the role of the shaman is to guide and protect the student,” warned the main documentary on the subject, Other Worlds, directed by Jan Koonen, in 2004.

Drinking “ayahuasca is a risky proposition,” as the drink “acts as a psychic opener, and no one ever knows until they take it that this powerful hallucinogen will tell about itself (…),” he warns. book “Two Plants That Teach: Tobacco and ayahuascaJeremy Narby.

It’s the same “deleteas the ritual is also known. “You are spewing out all the bad food and negative energy that has accumulated in your body. It’s like a big cleaning,” Isidro describes.

Only then “can visions come. Colors first. Then, focusing, the jungle appears. Animals come, a boa-owner of rivers, a catfish or a jaguar. And finally, people and spirits (…) but not everyone sees them,” the old sage explains enigmatically.

V maloka everyone is preparing for the inner “journey”. The chicks are anxiously silent. The most tanned, chatting and joking. “Taita” calls on each participant in turn to drink a cup of the disgusting concoction.

Ordered to turn off the camera and finish reporting. Everyone settles down in their hammocks, wishing to walk the “way of the serpent.”

AFP