By Mark Pilkington — 2005
In 1985, Swiss-Canadian anthropology student Jeremy Narby spent a year at Quirishari in the Peruvian Amazon, studying how the Ashaninca tribe made use of indigenous resources.
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The growing popularity of "authentic" ayahuasca rituals in Western circles can present multiple problems, including indigenous fetishization, a lack of cultural context for traditional ceremonies, and potential abuse from untrustworthy shamans, all of which can be problematic or sometimes even...
Interventions rooted in indigenous traditions are helping to prevent suicide and addiction in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
In 1995 I published a book called The Cosmic Serpent that dealt with ayahuasca and other subjects. The enthusiasm of many readers took me by surprise. In the book I describe ayahuasca as foul-tasting and my experience drinking it as an ordeal involving vomiting and frightening visions of serpents.
Mona Polacca, Havasupai/Hopi, spoke at the Rights of Mother Earth Conference, about the foundation of life. From the first water inside the mother’s womb, to the prayer upon which life depends, Polacca spoke of the spirituality of life.
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We live in water in our mother’s womb,’ Hopi grandmother Mona Polacca explains. ‘Moments before we come into this world, the water of our mother’s womb gushes out, and we follow behind. That is why the Hopi call water our first foundation of life.’
One patient had just left. Another was due in an hour. Rita Blumenstein -- Doctor Blumenstein -- sat in her easy chair and recalled her first memory of healing someone, the day almost 60 years ago when she prevented an infection from dog bites. The patient was her mother. Rita was 4 years old.
In the years that I have had the honor of calling Rita Pitka Blumenstein "Auntie," I have felt privileged every time this renowned healer has invited me into her home.
Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein was the first inhabitant of Alaska to be certified as a traditional healer even though she had never attended an official school. Instead, she spent much of her time with the wise female elders of her tribe.