Seduction, Sorcery & Spiritual Warfare: The Real History of Plant Medicine
What If It Was Never About Healing?
Welcome to the Psychedelic Blog. I write about the Impact of Psychedelics on Grieving, Relationships, Culture & Death. This week: What if Plant Medicine was never about healing—but seduction, sorcery & spiritual warfare?
"Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome." - Charlie Munger
Introduction: Debunking the “Ancient Healing” Narrative
Modern wellness culture (and charlatans in wide-brimmed hats & white linen button-downs) love to tout Amazonian Plant Medicines like Ayahuasca as ancient healing sacraments used for millennia. Media profiles & bestselling books parrot the same claim: that indigenous shamans have been using Plant Medicines for deep psychological healing for thousands of years.
This romantic narrative, however, omits a more complex reality. Recent research & indigenous testimonies reveal that while Amazonian peoples certainly revere their Plant Medicines, traditional uses have spanned far beyond benign healing. Many tribes employed psychoactive plants in contexts of sorcery, spiritual warfare, black magic, and esoteric power.
So why the misrepresentation? It makes business sense in impoverished areas. As anthropologist Brabec de Mori, who lived with the Shipibo-Konibo in Peru for six years, discovered:
“People start to tell the tourists – and I found that most Shipibo people did not distinguish tourists from researchers – the stories they think are interesting for them and not what they really live with.”
In examining the historical & traditional uses of Plant Medicine among various Amazon tribes, I found practices centered on sorcery, spiritual combat, sexual seduction, mating rituals, and cosmological exploration—far removed from the healing-centered story sold in the West.
Ancient Psychedelics: Myth vs. Reality
The idea that Plant Medicines were universally ancient healing tools is highly questionable. Brabec de Mori uncovered a “double discourse” around Ayahuasca: locals tell outsiders what they want to hear—timeless healing tales—rather than their actual practices.
Ethnohistorical research suggests that Ayahuasca’s use is relatively recent. Among the Shipibo-Konibo, it’s believed the brew came from the Kukama & was adopted only a few generations ago. Linguistic & musical similarities across tribes support this late adoption, pointing to a spread over the last 200–300 years, likely along missionary & rubber trade routes.
What’s also misrepresented is the purpose. The so-called “global archaic Psychedelic shamanism” hypothesis (GAPS), as named by author Manvir Singh, claims universal, ancient healing use—a seductive narrative built on shaky ground.
Historians like Erika Dyck note that many of these myths serve modern agendas. Investors & Psychedelic advocates project their therapeutic ideals onto indigenous practices. We recast shamans as proto-therapists. In truth, their roles included warfare, divination, and social control more than healing.
Sorcery & Shamanic Warfare
Among Amazonian groups, shamans used Plant Medicine as weapons in spiritual warfare. One striking example comes from the Yanomami, who used potent snuffs like Yopo to launch mystical attacks on rival villages. Shamans would embody enemy infants, wail like babies, and summon lethal spirits to devour souls—believing they had killed from afar.
This was not enlightenment—it was supernatural aggression.
These weren’t outliers. Shamans used Plant Medicine for a range of purposes: altering weather, uncovering secrets, countering curses, and sometimes healing. Illness was often seen as spiritual attack. Healing meant fighting back.
In Jivaroan cultures, Ayahuasca was taken to engage in magical combat: extracting spirit darts, neutralizing hexes, or sending attacks in return. The drinker entered the supernatural realm to do battle.
These visions also served as tools in real-world warfare. The Jivaro drank Natem to seek spirits for protection or invincibility before raids. Others used visions to find lost objects, spy on enemies, or check on distant relatives—essentially spiritual intelligence gathering. The CIA would be impressed.
Tobacco was another major tool—blown over patients to purge or toward enemies to curse. Toxic plants like Brugmansia (toé) were used for aggressive magic or to spike tourist brews for more intense effects. Even today, toé is risky: some shamans warn it can strip willpower or cause death in overdose.
Love Magic, Seduction, and Sexual Rituals
Plant Medicine wasn’t just for battle—it extended to love & sex. Many cultures have love charms or aphrodisiacs, and the Amazon is no exception.
Among the Yine & Shipibo-Konibo, there are magic songs (Icaros) for seduction. A Nexati song attracts partners; a Metsati chant enhances beauty. These were sung in ceremony or trance to influence attraction.
There’s also the Pusanga—a love potion made of roots, flowers, and alcohol. Shamans brewed them to help clients attract or rekindle love. Some believed they captured the allure of nature itself, making the wearer irresistibly magnetic.
Shamans would also use visions to monitor lovers, divine infidelity, or send messages—essentially spiritual matchmaking or surveillance.
Some adolescent rites involved plant-based intoxication linked to sexuality or fertility. Among Tukanoan tribes, male-only Yagé ceremonies taught sacred knowledge, including sexual duties. Think of it like sex ed—Amazon edition.
In a more disturbing example I shared last week, ‘Toloache’, also known as Datura, was used to by shamans to cast ‘love spells’ on unsuspecting guests. Unfortunately, this deliberate coercion doesn’t solely live in the past:
I once heard the story of a couple that traveled to the Amazon and took part in a Toloache ceremony. The shaman running the ceremony used the plant to cast a spell on the woman. She fell in ‘love’ with him (or so she thought). Her boyfriend left. She stayed behind in the jungle, completely under the influence—not just of the plant, but of the man who gave it to her.
Months later, she finally made it out. But she struggled to regain her mind for years. She went through multiple treatments just to feel grounded again. And even now, years later, if she takes as much as a small dose of mushrooms, she’s launched right back into the jungle. Like the spirit of Toloache never fully let go.
Modern retreat-goers are seldom told about love spells & “romantic icaros” during their week of trauma-healing ceremonies, but such elements are indeed part of the tapestry of Amazonian shamanic tradition.
Cosmology, Divination, and Esoteric Knowledge
Beyond love & war, Plant Medicines were used to understand the cosmos. Among the Tukano, Yagé was used to consult nature spirits and maintain ecological balance.
Shamans acted as ecological brokers—drinking Yagé to discern when the forest was angry, which animals not to hunt, or what rituals were needed to restore balance. Visions showed where imbalance lay and how to correct it.
These rituals weren’t for personal healing. They were about cosmological renewal—keeping the world alive through spiritual maintenance.
Other groups like the Shipibo drank to receive new songs or teachings from plant spirits. The Secoya held group ceremonies to reconnect with ancestors and retell the story of human origins. Visions of cosmic serpents or celestial beings were interpreted for communal guidance.
Importantly, not all traditions saw these plants as purely benevolent. Some myths warned of chaos if misused. Power without discipline was dangerous. Shamans needed ethics—without it, they risked becoming sorcerers.
Reinventing Traditions for Tourists
With the rise of Ayahuasca tourism, narratives shifted. Indigenous shamans began emphasizing healing & downplaying sorcery, partly to meet Western expectations.
Marlene Dobkin de Rios noted that shamans in Peru practiced differently with locals versus tourists:
For Locals: talk of witches & spiritual attack.
For Foreigners: healing energy, inner trauma, and personal transformation.
One Shipibo healer running a Western-facing retreat described clients with “psychosis, fear, paranoia,” mirroring Western psychiatric language.
Ethnographers documented how rituals were softened for tourists. Aggressive Icaros, used to fight spiritual attackers, were misunderstood and sometimes feared by visitors who didn’t grasp the intent.
Some indigenous groups expressed concern over this trend. The Union of Indigenous Yagé Medics (UMIYAC) emphasized maintaining ethical practices & cultural integrity, wary of reducing sacred rites to commercial therapy.
Still, tourism brings money and renewed interest in fading traditions. So practices evolve—but the narratives Westerners are given reflect what they want to believe.
As anthropologist Helene Collado observed, we are witnessing an "invented tradition"—blending real rituals with myths that sell.
Two Worlds of Meaning
Indigenous use of Plant Medicine was deeply embedded in a world of spirits & communal cosmology. Shamans were not therapists—they were warriors, spies, healers, and sometimes sorcerers.
Modern portrayals reframe these substances as personal medicine. But these are new interpretations. As Glenn Shepard noted, there's no single "authentic" Ayahuasca ritual—only dynamic traditions evolving through contact.
Acknowledging the full spectrum of uses—power, seduction, warfare, and cosmology—offers deeper respect for these plants and the cultures that hold them. It also cautions against naïve interpretations.
Plant Medicines aren’t inherently good or evil—they tend to reflect the intent of both the user & the facilitator. In the wrong hands, they harm. In the right hands, they heal. But either way, they are powerful—and deserve reverence, not fantasy.
As one Shipibo elder said:
“People like romanticism, but if we change the picture, it’s kind of unromantic.”
Maybe. But the truth is far more interesting.
Conclusion: Does it Matter?
Yes—but not in the way you might think.
It’s important to understand & respect the full history of these substances. When a shaman, facilitator, retreat center—or the most annoying guest at a dinner party (you know the type)—whitewashes that history, especially by omitting the darker parts, it’s a massive red flag.
That said, the origin story isn’t the final word. Penicillin was discovered by accident. Viagra was designed for blood pressure and we all know how that story ends. MDMA was initially investigated for bleeding disorders—it now saves marriages & treats PTSD.
Likewise, DMT, the active ingredient in many Plant Medicines, has been shown to promote neuroplasticity, reduce inflammation through immune modulation, and facilitate profound emotional breakthroughs. In the right setting, it supports healing—even if it wasn’t used that way in the past.
So yes, we should honor the cultural roots & stop romanticizing them. But we can also apply modern science & technology to refine these tools & integrate them into systems that serve human flourishing. The point isn’t to choose between tradition or innovation. It’s to move forward with both eyes open.
Respect the past. Stay honest in the present. Build wisely for the future.
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Excellent reporting! Always be on the lookout for whomever might be trying to seize the narrative.
https://peterwebster.substack.com/p/how-to-change-your-story
It’s almost as if Indigenous people do all the bad shit that regular people do. War, conquest, slavery, profit, social control. It’s almost as if they are prone to all the same human defects that regular humans are. It’s almost as if they are as human as us and subject to the same frailties and depredations 🤔