Witchcraft in the Amazon

Many witches use the hallucinogenic drugs in the Peruvian Amazon as a way to harm others rather than help them, in contrast to the other ayahuasqueros who use these drugs. People with love problems come to brujos for charms or pusangos to bewitch the man or woman they love (Dobkin de Rios 93). They use techniques on the ones that think they have been bewitched such as singing, whistling, and blowing tobacco smoke over the "sick person".

The witches specialty however is evil-doing. One such example is about a jungle farmer named Alfonso. After mourning the death of his beloved Clothilde, whose father made her run away and ge

One writer, John G. Kennedy, has pointed out how

Most likely these illnesses are from a virus or a bacteria. They probably could all be cured with an antibiotic, but this culture is very different than ours. They use things like hallucinogenic healing instead. It is very strange, but seems to work for the people of the Peruvian Amazon. Witches seem to do good and evil for the people in Peru. Using witchcraft makes this community unique and sets it apart from the many other areas around the world.

Very few ayahuasqueros will admit to being witches. Most of the tales of these spells that witches put on people usually end with the person dying a sudden death. There are two kinds of ways that seem to cause these unexplainable deaths. One kind is when a person believes he is bewitched he goes into a state of shock and dies (Dobkin de Rios 95). Another kind accounting for these magical deaths could be poisoning.

Some topics in this essay:
Peruvian Amazon, John Kennedy, Peru Clients, Peru Using, Witchcraft Amazon, de rios, dobkin de rios, dobkin de, Amazon Witches, peruvian amazon, rios 96, rios 93, everyday lives, rios 95, de rios 96, hallucinogenic healing, de rios 93, de rios 95,