Indigenous Healing Practice: Ayahuasca. Opening a Discussion
Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling Advancing theory and professional practice through scholarly and reflective publications March 1, 2014 Robert Prue, Richard W. Voss 11 citations
Pastoral counselors and theologians are invited to consider connections with traditional shamanic healers who use ayahuasca in healing ceremonies. Indigenous South Americans have used ayahuasca for centuries, and the ritual is now common among mestizo populations in urban Amazon areas, particularly as a curing ritual for drug addiction. Like peyote use among indigenous people in the United States, ayahuasca use in the Amazon is a form of cultural psychiatry. Literature on shamanic practice in pastoral counseling is scant and often antithetical. This essay provides basic information on ayahuasca's ritual use and offers a rationale for pastoral counselors to engage in dialogue about its utility.