Aceno - Revista de Antropologia do Centro-Oeste
July 7, 2019
Wagner Lins Lira
1 citation
This essay reflects on cultural and ethnological phenomena related to Amerindian knowledge and perspectives on the use of entheogenic substances, tangentially the ayahuasca beverage, whose roots lie in indigenous contexts since pre-Columbian times. It also discusses vegetalista shamanism in rural and urban areas, where healing and sorcery techniques align with Catholicism and European esotericism in ways that allude to the mythical and ritualistic reinterpretation of consuming 'power plants.' Finally, it indicates how such knowledge is re-signified in light of contemporary South American models, allowing dialogue among doctors, psychologists, and shamans focused on treating individuals affected by substance addictions.
Cadernos de Pesquisa Interdisciplinar em Ciências Humanas
June 30, 2010
Wagner Lins Lira
1 citation
In a schismatic branch of the União do Vegetal in Riacho das Almas, Pernambuco, participants experience spiritual phenomena during ayahuasca sessions that connect them to the Superior Astral. The group's doctrine, rooted in the principles of founder José Gabriel da Costa, embraces a complementary, non-reductive dualism of spirit and matter. Dialogues and interviews with followers reveal the manifestation of religious ecstasy and the prescribed routes for processing information received in ayahuasca rites, which are understood as a teacher drink that tests pupils through contact with spiritual reality.
Ponto Urbe
December 1, 2009
Wagner Lins Lira
1 citation
This article, the second chapter of a dissertation, examines the institutional mobilizations of the Sociedade Espiritualista União do Vegetal (SEUDV) in Pernambuco, Brazil, a dissident ayahuasca group whose doctrine follows the principles of Master José Gabriel da Costa. Through an ethnography of two dissident ayahuasca groups—the SEUDV in Riacho das Almas and the Centro de Harmonização Interior Essência Divina in Riacho Doce—the text traces the agreements, conflicts, and dissipations that arise when new groups emerge within the ayahuasca religious field. It aims to understand how these groups claim legitimacy amid the relative institutional and spiritual legality of dissident ayahuasca practitioners.
Mediações: Revista de Ciências Sociais
October 5, 2022
Wagner Lins Lira
The therapeutic practices of the Ayahuasca Center Flor de Jasmim, a religious brotherhood, are described through ethnographic observation. The center's effectiveness in establishing health and treating diseases rests on the central roles of healers, patients, and spiritual entities in complex interactions. These interactions are key both for acquiring health and for expelling diseases and other misfortunes that affect the lives of those assisted by the center.