re MDMD Mason on ayahuasca p. 433

[Doug Millison]

Mason, of course.

A bit more on those snakes.


http://diseyes.lycaeum.org/fresh/yagecomm.htm

A certain yaje belonging to the Desana makes one see "feather crowns that
jump" or snakes in the form of necklaces that coil around the houseposts.
Another kind of yaje is said to produce hallucinations of "snakes that
jump."

Koch-Grunberg (1909: 190), in a chapter on the Tukano and Desana Indians,
similarly says that the Indians see "brightly- colored snakes winding up
and down the house-posts."

Chaves (1958: 134) reports that among the Siona of the upper Putumayo River
in Colombia:

When the drinker of yage' is a novice, he sees serpents, tigers, and other
nonsense. These snakes represent the vines of the yage; at times many
snakes are seen in one bunch and one can- not escape from them. For this
reason, he who conquers yage' also conquers nature and all the dangers
which attack men. Thus the Siona explain the taking of yage.

A Siona informant described his first yage' experience as follows (Mallol
de Recasens, 1963: 65):

After drinking the yage, I went to lie down in a hammock; shortly I began
to see small snakes in great quantity, then a large snake in a shrub which,
when it shook, dropped something like scales.

For the Piro of eastern Peru, Baer (1969: 6) states that an informant
reported that under the influence of ayahuasca:

.. he had seen a great boa constrictor in his trance, that he had become
afraid and had attempted to keep the boa away or to fend it off with his
hands. In the attempt to take hold of it, he had recognized that no boa was
there.

Tessmann (1930: 517) says that among the Ikito (Iquito) In- dians of
northeastern Peru:

Enough of the drink is taken so that one collapses. There- after an alien
substance takes possession. Even though one may see many animals, for
example jaguars and great serpents rushing about, one is to have no
feelings of fear.

Zerba-Bayon states (Fabre, '955: 50) that the Indians in the Caqueta
region, after taking yage, "always end up being seized by a mad delirium;
believing themselves to have been taken by fero- cious beasts, they plunge
into the forests in order to imitate their howling and break to pieces
everything they find in their path . . ."

Santesson and Wassen (19~6: 341) report that the previously mentioned
half-breed woman interviewed by Snethlage in Bolivia said that her people
took a drink made from Banisteriopsis and known locally as "huascar"
[ayahuasca?] and "when properly drunk they had visions of animals,
particularly snakes . . ."

Under the influence of the Banisteriopsis drink, the Conibo- Shipibo
Indians of the Ucayali River region in eastern Fern com- monly see giant
anacondas, poisonous snakes, and jaguars, and, less frequently, other
animals. The novice shaman, taking the drink, believes he acquires giant
snakes which are to be his per- sonal demons to be used in defending
himself against other shamans in supernatural battles. The Conibo-Shipibo
shamans, under the influence of the drug, believe they capture and recover
other persons' souls with supernatural boats whose demon crews are led by a
yellow jaguar and a black puma.