Цитаты из книги Sorcery and shamanism. Curanderos and clients in northern Peru

(...) a curandero's attribution of problems to daño can further intensify, rather than reduce, existing hostilities.

(...) in Peru's highly stratified society, where opportunities are limited by rigid class boundaries, individuals are frustrated by social inequities but are denied direct expression of their envy and hostility because they are forced to depend on those who are above them on economic ladder. As a result, they employ…

Daño, in its many forms, is always a purposeful attack on another individual's physical, economic, or social health. Daño, in its most dangerous aspect, involves the evil intent of a human enemy (at least an acquaintance of the victim and often a family member) who, because of jealousy, envy, or revenge contacts a wizard…

(...) the medieval Christian world view brought by the Spaniards to Peru, (...) divided the universe into two clearly defined and opposing spheres: the world or virtue and the world of vice. On the one hand Christians--the servants of God--were upholding a moral order of goodness against onslaughts made by the servants of…

Shamanic balance is a particular stance. It is not a balance achieved by synthesis; it is not a static condition achieved by resolving opposition. It is not a compromise. Rather it is a state of acute tension, the kind of tension which exists ... when two unqualified forces encounter each other, meeting headlong, and are…

While the reactions to mescaline may be organic responses, they become cultural events by the imposition of meaning. The symbolization of the physical experience in Peruvian healing rituals is an irreducible cultural phenomenon; investigating the physiological effects merely helps to illustrate the bounds within which the…

(...) mesa objects are representations of visionary imagery experienced by the shaman as a result of ingesting the mescaline-bearing San Pedro potion. Serving as a kind of visionary map, the mesa anchors the curer's visions and helps him control them. (...) the left/right associations of mesa symbols are consistent with…

The mesa, as it is understood by the shamans, is a game-board, a symbolic paradigm against which the ritual is played. It represents the struggle between life-taking and life-giving forces, between left and right. But the struggle, this opposition, becomes a resolution, by the shaman's re-affirmation of mastery over both…

(...) Curandero/Ganadero dualism frequently translates into Christian versus pagan, that is, good versus evil, or, to put it in societal terms, order and stability versus chaos and disruption. In effect, a ritual movement from the right , with its predominantly Christian icons and healing herbs, to the dangerous left,…

The shamanic journey is in three phases. The shaman sets forth from the realm of the mundane; he then journeys to the supernatural and returns. Always the passage involves these three destinations or locations. ... The shaman travels to the edge of the social order each time he undertakes these journeys. He enters…