Ayahuasca healing rituals have been practiced by shamans for the last 1,000 years (Blakemore, 2021). This is both a mysterious and transformative ritual that has been gaining popularity steadily since the 1980s (Fotiou 2016, 151-79). This ancient tradition portrays every aspect of ritual and what they mean.
In their book Living Folklore by Sims and Stevens they say the following about rituals, “The nature of ritual, the way it’s framed as a separate time and experience outside the everyday world, allows the participants to enter a space that is different from their real-world environment”(Sims, and Stevens 2011, 109). This liminality or transitional aspect of rituals portray the very heart of the ayahuasca healing ritual, which is in it's nature is meant to be transformative. Travelers and natives alike seek out Ayahuasca for a variety of reasons including physical, mental, emotional and/or spiritual healing and discovery. People seeking this kind of healing and transformation will take ayahuasca on many occasions. The time between uses depends on when the knowledge from their previous journey has been integrated into their daily lives, but the first ceremony ushers participants into a community of like-minded travelers and soon a group of strangers form tight bonds as they grow and heal together (Tranquil Eye, 2020). This ceremony is highly symbolic and intentionally designed by Curanderos (now commonly referred to as Shamans) to highlight values and beliefs held by practitioners of ayahuasca. This can be seen in each aspect of the ceremony as well as each of the main genres of folklore.
The ceremony of ayahuasca healing begins with the material aspects as Curandero or Shaman prepares the tea by mixing Banisteriopsis Caapi stems or ayahuasca and, most commonly, Psychotria Viridis or Chacruna (Fotiou 2020, 223-44 ). Each brew will be different and the shaman distributes each batch according to the needs of the group, sometimes making it specifically for the group present (Fotiou 2020, 223-44 ). The setting varies depending on the country and shaman but usually includes a remote location where a small group can gather in a circle at night for the hallucinogenic and conversational parts of the ritual. Participants are provided a matt to sit or lay on during the ceremony as well as a bucket and sometimes all white clothes to wear to help frame the event as sacred and spiritual (Fotiou 2020, 223-44). After the room, the participants and even the tea have been customarily cleansed, participants are encouraged to set and share an intention for their journey with the group. This is another aspect of framing in the ceremony that the shaman uses to highlight the spiritual, healing and transformational aspects of the ayahuasca ritual (Fotiou 2020, 223-44 ).
After each person shares with the group then listens to a message from the shaman about ayahuasca that further frames the journey as sacred and healing, participants finally drink the tea (Fotiou 2020, 223-44 ). The shamans brew will induce an almost hypnotic state that makes the individual hallucinate, cry, vomit and\or defecate (Tranquil eye, 2020). During the ceremony the shaman works to guide the participants journey with the use of verbal instruction and music including whistling, chanting, singing or sometime various instruments, most importantly a rattle thought to direct energy where it needs to go (Fotiou 2010, 6-27).
Once the hallucinations are complete, the group meets again to share their experience, this serves as a final frame that concludes the ritual and further cements the experience as transformative, spiritual, and healing (Fotiou 2020, 223-44 ). The whole experience exposes internally held values of connectedness to each other through their sharing as well as connectedness to nature and the divine seen throughout the materials, customs and hallucinations themselves that are viewed as god like direction (Tranquil Eye, 2020).
It is apparent in every aspect of the ayahuasca healing ritual that it is intentionally designed to create a healing and transformative experience, however, many of the frames and tactics used to establish the context for tourists are not used for locals (Fotiou 2020, 223-44 ). The setting, costumes, and messages from the shamans are far more casual when locals are taking the ayahuasca medicine (Fotiou 2020, 223-44 ). For locals who grow up with the verbal, material, and customary folklore of ayahuasca, the additional framing is unnecessary as they already understand the spiritual and transformational experience of ayahuasca. While some locals benefit financially and local communities may benefit economically from the tourism that ayahuasca brings in, some other have also grown to resent the added attention as appropriation and exploitation also increase (Tranquil Eye, 2020). Despite the differing opinions however, this ritual will only continue to garner attention from the rest of the world.
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