The AYAHUASCA READER is a four-part celebration of a sacred plant which grows in the Amazon rainforest and which, throughout the rainforest history, has been instrumental in allowing medicine men (and others) to leave their bodies behind and travel with their souls. Their experiences and the invaluable information they return with are so impressive that many anthropologists have felt the inclination to question them about these trips and the mythologies of their ancestors regarding them. Hence, part one of the AYAHUASCA READER consists of information divulged in such interviews. Part two consists of essays by (or about) the scientists themselves upon experiencing Ayahuasca in ceremonial settings. Part three discusses the use of Ayahuasca as a present day religious sacrament, and finally, in part four, well known celebrities from the literary world discuss their experience of Ayahuasca. All of this renders the AYAHUASCA READER the most comprehensive collection ever written on the subject, with essays translated from nearly a dozen languages. The many contributors include Françoise Barbira Freedman, Wade Davis, Philippe Descola, Allen Ginsberg, Jean Langdon, Peter Matthiessen, Dennis McKenna, W.S.Merwin, Richard Spruce, Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, Mario Vargas Llosa, and more. As the myths within confirm, Ayahuasca has been a means of reconnecting with the invisible layers of the cosmos for millennia. Not surprisingly, the myths make for very fascinating reading in and of themselves, and certainly no study of world mythology is complete with them. The additional scientific, religious and literary points of view, then, are all wonderful bonuses. There is a lot at work here: As if the various stories from these disparate groups were not enough, there are depictions of the artwork of the indigenous peoples, photographs of a few of the Ayahuasca practitioners (including Ginsberg), a copy of a Brazilian watercolor depicting Ayahuasca, a copy of an oil painting depicting visions induced by the plant, and much more. From the religion section there are hymns a plenty, and from the literary section, as much eloquent prose and spirited poetry as a reader is likely to find in any literary anthology. Only a sacred vine (and perhaps a universal craving for a narcotic that promises at the end, you see God ) could so beautifully tie all these riches together.
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"Obviously the finest collection on the subject and a must-read for anybody interested in ayahuasca." --Jeremy Narby
What sets Ayahuasca Reader apart from the works of Castaneda, Aldous Huxley and other tripping-for-science authors is its multitude of viewpoints, adding up to an impressive body of evidence. Readers who are fascinated by the uses of psychotropic plants among indigenous people will find Ayahuasca Reader one of the most impressive works in the field, and certainly the definitive book on this strange, little known plant. --Southwest Book Views, Winter 2004 Vol.3 No.1
"Its contents are so personal and appealing...inside we find reports of every possible perspective- from Richard Spruce's provincial, 19th century depiction...to the explorations of Westerners...to first hand encounters with the shamans, talking about their wars with other shamans, and their relationships with the plant teachers." --Runyan Wilde, Psychedelic Illuminations
What sets Ayahuasca Reader apart from the works of Castaneda, Aldous Huxley and other tripping-for-science authors is its multitude of viewpoints, adding up to an impressive body of evidence. Readers who are fascinated by the uses of psychotropic plants among indigenous people will find Ayahuasca Reader one of the most impressive works in the field, and certainly the definitive book on this strange, little known plant. --Southwest Book Views, Winter 2004 Vol.3 No.1
"Its contents are so personal and appealing...inside we find reports of every possible perspective- from Richard Spruce's provincial, 19th century depiction...to the explorations of Westerners...to first hand encounters with the shamans, talking about their wars with other shamans, and their relationships with the plant teachers." --Runyan Wilde, Psychedelic Illuminations
About the Author
Luis Eduardo Luna, born in Florencia, in the Colombian Amazon region, is co-editor with Steven F. White of the Ayahuasca Reader. He received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Comparative Religion at Stockholm University. A Guggenheim Fellow and Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, he is also the author of Vegetalismo: Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon and, with Pablo Amaringo, Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman, a project that grew from their work to establish the internationally-recognized USKO-AYAR Amazonian School of Painting in Pucallpa, Peru. From 1994 -1998 he was a Professor in Anthropology at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Florianpolis, Brazil. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Spanish at the Swedish School of Economics in Helsinki, and, since 1986, an Associate of the Botanical Museum of Harvard University.
Steven F. White, born in Abingdon, Pennsylviania in 1955, is co-editor with Luis Eduardo Luna of the Ayahuasca Reader. He received a B.A. in English from Williams College as well as M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Spanish from the University of Oregon. He has lived and worked in many Latin American countries, an opportunity that enabled him to edit bilingual anthologies of poetry from Nicaragua, Chile and Brazil. He also translated, with Greg Simon, Federico Garca Lorca's Poet in New York. He is the author of the critical study Modern Nicaraguan Poetry: Dialogues with France and the United States. Recent books of his poetry include From the Country of Thunder, Paisagem com uma vela e abelhas assirias (Florianpolis, Brazil) and Fuego que engendra fuego (Madrid). He has been teaching at St. Lawrence University since 1987, and is one of the co-founders of its Caribbean and Latin American Studies program.
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23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A compilation of texts translated from several languages,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ayahuasca Reader : Encounters with the Amazon's Sacred Vine (Paperback)
Ayahuasca is a sacred drink of the indigenous peoples of the Upper Amazon and Orinoco basins, and is used for divination, healing, and other cosmogonic/shamanic purposes. The Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters With The Amazon's Sacred Vine is a compilation of texts translated from several languages on the ayahuasca experiences. These accounts including indigenous mythic narratives and testimonies, religious hymns, and narratives related by western travelers, scientists, and writers who came into contact with ayahuasca in a variety of contexts. The Ayahuasca Reader is a seminal, benchmark publication and will be of intense interest to students of Amazonian indigenous culture, Native American spirituality, and metaphysical studies.
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