Before reintegrating the soul to the body of the sick person, the pajé extracts the sickness both from the “Other World” and from the patient’s body, visibly vomiting out all traces of the material forms of the sickness and throwing them away. Then the patient’s heart-soul is joined together from all its endpoints (blowing tobacco smoke from the tips of the fingers of both hands of the patient held together, and blowing down over the crown of the patient) to the body’s center. The heart-soul is completely reintegrated within the body of the sick.
Sickness and healing are both processes that involve (1) the separation of immaterial from material forms in This World (soul from body of sick; immaterial form of payment from material; soul of pajé from his body); (2) in the Other World, an exchange of dawai for the sickness and/or soul of the sick; (3) in the Other World, the transformation of the Sickness-Owner into the “shadow-soul” of the primal healer; (4) back in This World, the reintegration of immaterial with material (soul of the pajé back to his body, soul of the sick back into the body, the immaterial form of the sickness into its material form, which is thrown away).
The master pajé continues to observe his apprentice for a period of five months after the first phase is over, during which time the apprentice must continue his restrictions. He must especially avoid the confusion brought on by contacts with girls or crowds of children. The master then evaluates how the apprentice has done, giving him counsel as to how he should safeguard his newly acquired
knowledge and powers. This concludes the first stage of training.
The new pajé will work mainly in his community; however, he will only be able to handle the more serious cases of assault sorcery (manhene) after he has obtained “the pajé’s body” (maliri dakipe), which involves a more advanced form of knowledge and power including transfiguration of the entire body and acquiring the perspective of a jaguar shaman.
Baniwa shaman intiating a cure.
Robin Wright, 1977.
Hunters and Warriors
Shamans are, in Roberte Hamayon’s phrase (1990), “hunters of souls.” Sicknesses are understood to be detachments of the “heart-soul”
from a person’s body due to a spirit attack, the actions of sorcerers, or the appearance of omens of death (hinimai). The detached soul is taken away to any one of the Houses of the Souls of the Dead, or to the layers where Kuwai resides, where his “secretary” resides, or to any of the layers below This World. Sickness-giving spirits are found in the air, water, earth, forest. Over many years of practice, pajés acquire the capacity to recognize the signs of illness specific to each of the enormous variety of spirits. Acting on that diagnosis, the pajés’ heart-souls undertake a perilous journey of hunting throughout the cosmos in search of the lost souls. It is usually in the pariká-induced trance that the pajé makes a diagnosis of the patient’s problem, advising the patient before the cure that he has seen in his dreams where the soul was taken and by which of the spirits.
One of the most important services that the pajé performs is protecting clients from spirit attacks. As part of their warrior selves, the apprentices acquire a host of spirit armaments: an arsenal of spirit darts (walama); at least four kinds of “revolvers” that produce lightning bolts, which are supposed to mark the presence of the pajé to others but which can also be used as weapons; “swords” to decapitate the enemy; “boots” for long-distance travel; “clubs,” and an array of hawk feathers, pieces of wood, and thorns attached to his body.
All of their perceptions are a1tered in training to support their system of defense: they are trained to see the double of any being (its invisible personhood, its shadow-soul ; they see, for example, a sorcerer as a furry animal whose body walks in front of the sorcerer, but whose soul is inyaime (the spirit of the dead). Their sight is enhanced immeasurably through the use of crystals.
They learn the art of divining, how to interpret signs, omens, dreams, and unusual body sensations. It is said they are surrounded by
“mirrors” (likanaale) that allow them to see the world from all angles. As long as those mirrors accompany him, the pajé’s fractal vision renders him invulnerable to attacks by sorcerers. But once the light from their mirrors begins to fade, even the most powerful of the jaguar shamans is unable to protect himself from attack. Such has been the story of the jaguar shamans and prophets.
Maliri Dakipe: The Jaguar Shaman’s Body, Alterity, and Intentionalities
The process of the pajé’s “becoming other” is the result of (1) the continued acquisition of knowledge and power and their icons, especially the rattle, the bone for inhaling or blowing the pariká, sacred stones, and a series of outer skin coverings, like shirts; (2) the experience of spiritual death, body detachment, and rebirth and learning to move freely between the Other and This World, through the mastery of song journeys; and (3) the highest degree of jaguar shaman holds the power of the jaguar tooth necklace. The complete alteration of the pajé’s body (remade and adorned) produces the desired alteration in his perspective.
The pajé’s “becoming Other” can be understood in several senses depending on the task at hand: in order to pass on knowledge, the
pajés transform into other-than-human beings of the natural world that periodically change their skins and regenerate at certain times of the annual cycle. This is the importance of the cicadas. In the pajés’ cycles of transformation, “the months of June and July are said to be the times for taking pariká daily, so that throughout the month of August, the pajé transforms into the cicada” (pers. comm., Alberto Lima da Silva, June 15, 2010); pajés become one with the “universe people” as they transmit their knowledge and power to their apprentices.
As the pajé’s body fills up with medicines from the eternal (midzaka) Other World, he acquires a dimension that transcends human time and limitations. “He doesn’t have anything more that is human,” Mandu said, meaning that he “dies” (to his human existence),
“exchanges his life” for that of the jaguar shaman spirit other.
The pajé is one who is constantly in the process of “becoming other,” so we can hardly talk about his “being” in terms of fixed forms.
It makes more sense to speak of the shaman as “a multiplicity of intentionalities,” like the spirits and deities, constantly transforming (“napadamawa dzaui malinyai”): “the shaman is a multiple being, a micro-population of shamanic agencies sheltering within a body:
hence neither are his ‘intentions’ exclusively his, nor can he ever be certain of his own intentions” (Fausto 2002: 121).
A jaguar shaman who has a “jaguar spirit” intentionality is in synchrony with the subtle changes in the environment, important for hunting lost souls. He is actually a force behind the cosmic, meteorological transitions that occur during the time of the pajé’s transformation; with eagle feathers, he may help bring on the summer season. He has the vital role of guarding the food resources of the environment against potential attacks by sorcerers.
He experiences several worlds, conversing with the other jaguar shaman spirits of the Other World, the deities themselves, and the souls of the dead. Ultimately he transcends the irreversible death that awaits everyone. After physically departing This World, it is said that the heart-souls of the savants may return to their tombs and continue to counsel their kin.
The pajé learns what it means to “die” to This World, “become Other” in order to enter the Other World, and “transform” his heart-soul into powerful beings, such as the harpy eagle, jaguar, or serpent. Their acquisition of “otherness” is accompanied with many mantles or cloaks, thought of as clothing with which he can become a jaguar, for example, by covering his body with a multiplicity of animal spirit subjectivities. These cloaks allow the pajé to assume the perspectives and agencies of their otherness, often--but not always--predatory qualities as hunters and warriors of the Other World. At the height of their powers, the maliiri shaman, in Baniwa may actually assume the subjectivity and agency of the Creator deity, the sun god Nhiãperikuli, whose powers of vision, prescience, and moral counsel are sought especially during historical moments of uncertainty and disorder.
In short, the jaguar shamans have been an elite group with advanced knowledge and power, with access to the higher realms of the universe. On the lower levels in This World, the jaguar pajés of enemy tribes can act in devastating ways. The Tukanoan pajés to the northwest of the Baniwa, for example, are still said to be active, though much reduced in number, and are feared, for they may penetrate This World, where their souls are believed to incorporate the bodies of live jaguars to attack and take lives.
One extraordinary case of a Tukano jaguar shaman’s attack on a Baniwa child occurred in the year 2000 at Tunui Rapids on the mid-Içana River. According to the old shaman Matteo of the Dzauinai phratry, in the upper levels of the cosmos, there are “Guardians of the Cosmos,” pajés who are responsible for preventing food resources from becoming depleted. It is necessary “to open a small hole”
in the cosmos, he said, so that the snakes, jaguars, beasts, and demons of This World leave, for otherwise they would eat all the food.
Perhaps, the old pajé speculated, someone opened the way out but didn’t know how to close it. For the Baniwa of the Içana River, in the past this could be a justification for warfare against whomever it was that left the way open. In this case, most likely enemy pajés from the headwaters of the Uaupés River came in to kill the girl. So, the old shaman warned people that “if you have a bad dream, don’t go out at night, it’s too risky.” Such were the explanations of the elder jaguar shaman, which everyone took seriously, whether evangelical or not.
In one other case that involved Mandu, once a group of Tariana men visited Uapui village to film the rapids at Hipana, for both the Tariana and the Baniwa say that their ancestors emerged from the holes at these rapids. Thus the Tariana consider part of the rapids to be “theirs,” so they got the idea to film the place of power and emergence. Mandu was not happy at all about the visit because of the possibility that the Tariana could put a curse on the river that would kill off all the fish, causing a famine for the villagers. Mandu sent his son to watch them (all of this is documented on film). Several years later, Mandu confronted the same Tariana, Pedro de Jesus, accusing him of having thrown a spell on the fish that killed them all, to which Pedro replied: “How could I have done that? I’m not even a pajé!” Whether he was or not is beside the point. The Tariana man’s idea was the result of an external NGO and government incentive to establish a major culture center that neglected to recognize that the Baniwa were caretakers of Hipana Rapids.
Singing the Other World into Being
The advanced pajés learn to sing in the specific language and from the perspectives of the deities. These songs record their journeys in the Other World, and pajés say the songs are actually the voice of the “Spirit of Power,” Dzuliferi, primordial pajé and master of all shamans’ sacred substances (pariká and tobacco) who narrates the pajé’s journey and encounters in the Other World. The songs are among the most valuable sources of knowledge we--as outsiders and observers--have for understanding what the Other World is like.
In a healing ritual, after snuffing the pariká, jaguar shamans immediately open the connection with the Other World. They arise from their seated position and begin to dance and sing in a circle around a designated space. It is said that, although we see them moving about inside the dance space, they are really “in the Other World,” and their heart-souls are moving in the space/time of the Before World. Simultaneously, the Before World “turns around” and “comes to” the pajés.
The jaguar shamans and the spirits and deities of the Before World establish encounters, a meeting of two subjectivities through which communication and understanding are possible. Evidence to support the assertion that this actually happens comes first from the sacred stories and second from the pajés’ songs.
Whenever, in the sacred stories having to do with shamans, a person of the story (medzawaniri, -ro, man or woman character) meets
a spirit of the Other World, there is first a vertical displacement (down-to-up, or up-to-down, from one world to the other), followed by a horizontal displacement (from here-to-there), and the first question the spirit of the Other World asks the person of the story, “You were looking for me?” is answered by “Yes, I was looking for you,” “Ah, yes, it is good.” This establishes common ground for exchange to take place between the two, the starting point of spiritual encounters.
It is preceded by a desire of the person in the story to go between the two worlds, ultimately to “see” as the Other sees, “feel” as the Other feels, make powerful sounds (khemakani, of thunder), to “open the way” of the shaman apprentice to the Other World, and to hunt for the lost souls of the sick. Unless one can experience all of these alterations, one cannot fully understand the shamanic experience.
One of the key ways jaguar shamans “walk with” (or, it is said, “walk in the knowledge of”) the spirits and deities is through the songs of their voyages and encounters with other jaguar shaman spirits, other spirit peoples of the cosmos, and the deities who entrust them to communicate their messages to humans. These messages are expressed in a certain way, for it is the voice of Dzuliferi that is constructing the terrain of the Other World.2
At the beginning of their songs, the pajés sing that they travel back “before us” in time (waaka wapedza) to the Other World, that the Other World “turns around” in space (likapoko) “among us,” to face the pajés who behold the Jaguar shaman spirits, dzaui malinyai of the Other World. Their journeys are then sung, step by step, through the poetic and lyric reconstruction of all places they walk through in the Other World of the sky, the places where there are traps, the moment when they approach a deity’s village or when they drink pariká with the other jaguar shamans. Above all, a question constantly motivates their search: “Is it here that I will find the soul of my sick companion/friend?”
“Behold the village of the pajés’ snuff,
Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee Hee (the transformative song of the jaguar) Behold the Other Jaguar Shamans
We the Children of the Sun” (Heiri-ieni, sacred name for the Hohodene pajés)
The aesthetics of the pajés’ powers to sing are most important to mention here. The pajés’ songs may seem like freestyle, spontaneous creations, quite distinct from the kalidzamai litany-like chants sung at rites of passage. However, the pajé’s chants are believed to be the voice of the deity Dzuliferi. The pajé “hears,” “listens to” Dzuliferi’s voice singing in him; it is Dzuliferi who “gives the pajé his songs,” and this inspires the pajé. These songs appear to be like the icaros of the Ecuadorian shamans. The psychoactive DMT here again brings the spirit world into relation with the shamans. Pajés can only perform cures when they have “received the songs” from Dzuliferi about the sickness of a person to be cured. During their apprenticeship, the master pajé “gives” the apprentices the appropriate song for each task or action of the pajés’ practice.
With time, the pajés grow in their understanding of the perspective of Dzuliferi, which enhances their abilities to translate and communicate their journeys to the Other World. This power is developed at a fairly advanced state of the pajés’ training, when they hear the voice of Dzuliferi and accurately transmit it; the pajé “cannot deceive or lie about what Dzuliferi says,” Mandu emphasized, affirming the truth-value of the pajés’ journey.
The pajé has become sufficiently competent in his knowledge of the Other World to be able to construct convincing poetic images of the Other World. Through a synaesthetic construction of hearing-seeing-singing-body choreography, the pajé communicates these images and information to the patients and observers who are listening and watching, reflecting on the pajés’ voyage and confiding in his powers. It is in this way that Dzuliferi informs humans about their future, important events to come, anything having to do with Baniwa eschatology.
Carneiro da Cunha has argued that the most important labor of the pajé in Amazonia is as “a translator. It is suggested here that translation should be understood in its strong, Benjaminian sense, as a search for resonances and reverberations between different codes and systems” (Cunha 1998).
For Baniwa pajés, the poetics of the Other World as announced through the perspective of the shaman deity Dzuliferi are translated by the pajé into answers that humans seek for their dilemmas.
That is why it is forbidden for the apprentices to simply repeat what they have heard other pajés sing. In “giving the songs,” the master-pajé will indicate key points that must be sung, but constructing the journey is up to the pajé. The songs have to be sung in a certain way--not loudly, screaming, or bellowing, but with a certain cadence and rhythm.
When a group of three or four pajés perform a cure together, their singing produces, to an outsider, a distinct echo-chamber effect in which the lead pajé guides the group’s journey through the Before World, while the other pajés act as respondents, affirming what the lead sees and sings. Resonance and reverberations occur, like wave patterns, among the lead singer and the respondents, as well as--silently--with the audience. During the rite of healing, patients and onlookers listen or converse, commenting on what the pajés sing:
“Where will it be that it will come back and stay with us, His World, Dzuliferi?
Where will it be, that it will come back and stay with us, this hidden place of long ago?
My grandfather Dzuliferi My grandfather Dzuliferi
For now I come and open this hidden place of Long Ago My grandfather, my grandfather ….
I will brush away and brush away their Tobacco Smoke, those Jaguar Shamans.”
The singer leads the way through the Other World, where he sees all the jaguar shamans together smoking tobacco. He clears the
The singer leads the way through the Other World, where he sees all the jaguar shamans together smoking tobacco. He clears the