Excerpt from
Witchcraft: Past And Present by Marika Kriss
(Sherbourne Press Inc; 1970) ISBN-13: 978-0820200194

p. 54-58

The Jivaro of South America are ideal for our purposes, because they are untouched by Western skepticism and in fact by almost any aspect of urban society.

Witches flourish among the Jivaro. Probably few societies in the history of man have had as many witches per unit of population as they.

They do not claim as a people to have a superior aptitude for magic. Rather, they are grateful for having available to them a superior means of uncovering occult talent. Natema, a powerful hallucinogenic drug, perhaps more effective as a mind-bender than LSD, is the key to Jivaro sorcery. Their witches say that natema is the door to the real universe, and that the world the non-user experiences a pitiable illusion.

Natema, the witches say, arouses the senses. Once its power has entered the human body, a man sees with is own eyes the world of the spirits that is invisible to him wihtout the drug. The usual invisibility of the spirits does not reduce their impact on the world of man. Therefore, according to the Jivaro, it is only good sense to drink natema as the first step toward becoming an actor in the supernatural universe rather than an object being acted upon.

Recently, however, one student, Michael J. Harner, had the curiosity and the courage to drink the potion the witches claimed was the only door to the spirit world and the only means of participating in magic.

After ingesting the beverage, Mr. Harner found himself in an environment stronger than the jungle. He was conversing with creatures whose bodies looked human but who had the heads of birds, and with others that were as big and frightful as dragons. These beings informed him that they were the true gods of this world. With their help, he flew through inner stellar space towards the outer limits of the galaxy.

The drug that powered Mr. Harner's trip and the magic of the Jivaros comes from the Banisteropsis vine and is found throughout Central and South America. To brew the potion, leaves are stripped from the vine and boiled in water, together with chunks from the vine's woody stalk. Chemically, the resultant tea has been found to contain harmaline, harmine, and traces of dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Called yaje in Columbia, caapi in Brazil, and ayahuasa in Peru, the drink produces vivid heightening of sound, taste, smell and sight, in addition to the mystic visions that last from three to seven hours. Initiatlly the drug is apt to upset the gastrointestinal tract, bringing on nausea, diarrhea, and even vomiting. However, repeated doses accustom the body to its use. Witches rarely suffer from these symptoms.

Among the Jivaro witches, as in effective sorcery anywhere, drug-taking is not random but functional. The witches drink natema because it opens the door to the spirit world and allows the witch to acquire his own pack of tsentsak. The tsentsak are legion, shaped like figures from a psychedelic dream: giant butterflies, brilliant serpents, elephant-sized jaguars, and forms unknown to the world of man. In behavior they are something between a virus and a guided rocket. By following certain procedures, a witch can obtain a force of tsentsak who will perch on his head and shoulders and cling to his arms, alert to do his bidding.

There are both healing witches and blighting witches in Jivaro sorcery….Both kinds of witches go through identical training, and both use the tsentsak in their long duels for the life or death of the object of their conjuration.

It is important to realize that the blighting witch is not performing bootleg magic against one of his own. He will only attack victims outside his immediate community, and usually outside his tribe, so that the victim is nominally his enemy and the death will benefit his people in addition to being a professional victory for himself.

The witches are professionals. Payment is necessary to obtain their services.

After a witch has agreed to take on an assignment, his first act is to drink the natema that allows him to enter the real stage of battle and activates the tsentsak. In the first hour of darkness, the witch sneaks up to the house of his victim. As soon as he has positioned himself in a safe hiding place, he drinks green tobacco juice. The juice strengthens his psychic powers, enabling him to set loose the tsentsak on the enemy.

The wound at first is painless. The victim putters around his house unaware that an attack has been made. Inside his body, the tsentsak begin their work. "Multiply" is the wrong word for their action; "fester" is enexact. The presence of the tsentsak is inimical to health. The victim's strength is vitiated, and without help his condition will worsen.

Peculiarly enough, the absence of tsentsak in the victim's body can be more serious than their presence. If the blighting witch's tsentsak were strong enough to pass entirely through the victim's body, leaving only an empty wound, the attack is fatal. Nothing can be done for the injured man except to wait the days or weeks it takes him to die.

The healer cannot diagnose his patient's condition until he, too, has entered the spirit world. Natema, has breen tobacco juice, piripiri (another hallucogenic), and evening shadows are the necessary condition for its examination. When this combination is achieved, the healer's eyes can penetrate flesh and see what lies beneath. When the healer sees one of the blighting witch's tsentsak lying among the bowels of the patient, a duel in sorcery begins.

Usually, the healer recognizes the tsentsak and by this means identifies his opposite number. The information is important only in terms of possible revenge. The cure can take place without it. This begins with the healer whistling, then singing, a curing song. The song excites his tsentsak, making them eager to begin their task. At the proper moment, he vomits two of them from their residence in his stomach up inot the buccal cavity. These two will act as his personal watchdogs, protecting him from the blighting witch's weapons. Additional tsentsak hover like an aura or a band of protective angels around his person. While he works, the healer nourishes and strengthens them by taking freuqent sips fo the green tobacco juice. Thus armed and protected, the healer sucks the blighting witch's weapons out of his patient's body, drawing them into his own mouth.

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