Singing To The Plants: A Guide To Mestizo Shamanism In The Upper Amazon - Plot & Excerpts
Beyer PLANT KNOWLEDGEAmong riberenos in the Upper Amazon, there is a body of traditional lore regarding both the uses and the administration of a relatively large number of Amazonian medicinal plants. My jungle survival instructor, Gerineldo Moises Chavez, who made no claims at all to being a healer, knew dozens of jungle plant remedies, including insect repellants, treatments for insect bites, snakebite cures, and antiseptics.Most riberei os know, for example, that the latex of the sangre de grado tree can be used to stanch wounds and stop bleeding, both internally and externally; that an infusion of the leaves, bark, or roots of chiricsanango can be used to treat fever; that chuchuhuasi is a male potency enhancer; that the latex of the oje tree is an emetic; and that a drink or poultice made from jergdn sacha can be used to treat snakebite.Several compendia of such lore have been published, containing scores of plant descriptions, which organize plant knowledge widely distributed among riberenos.' While mestizo shamans claim to have learned the uses and administration of their medicinal plants from the plant spirits themselves, it is also true that their uses of the plants are, in most cases, consistent with widespread folk knowledge about the plants.Dona Maria, for example, was familiar with hundreds of plants, their indication, their preparation, and their application.
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