This page respects the original work's rights terms and independently introduces its bibliography, abstract, main results, and limitations. It is not a full translation.
About this resource
This page is an independent, detailed introduction rather than a full translation. The article compares Santo Daime, urban neoshamanism, and Pano shamanism within an ayahuasca-centered circuit of “forest medicines.” Rapé is explicitly included among several substances, but the article centers on ayahuasca and ritual networks. It is therefore adjacent ethnographic evidence, not a direct study of rapé chemistry, user experience, or clinical effects.
Study design
The study combines multi-year fieldwork in ayahuasca groups with a literature review. The author discloses that he had been a Santo Daime member since 2009 and discusses the boundary between participation and observation. The analysis presents 3 models: Santo Daime, urban shamanism or neoshamanism, and Pano shamanism.
It maps a circuit in which people, materials, songs, knowledge, and claims of tradition move through alliances among groups. This is a qualitative analytical framework, not a statistical comparison.
Content
Santo Daime is described as historically incorporating several religious elements while remaining centered on ayahuasca. Urban neoshamanism combines ideas of “tradition,” Indigenous practices, New Age currents, psychotherapy, and music. Pano practices are likewise changing through contact among cities, villages, and religious organizations.
Rapé is mentioned as a powder that generally contains tobacco and other materials and circulates both within and outside ritual settings, but no samples were analyzed. Sananga, kambô, ayahuasca, and rapé are grouped under “forest medicines” even though they are materially distinct. The article asks why the circuit connects them; it does not establish that they are pharmacologically equivalent.
Results
The 3 models are not independent. They are linked through alliances and collaboration: urban participants travel to Indigenous territories, Indigenous leaders travel to cities and abroad, and rapé enters Santo Daime spaces. In this circulation, rituals and ideas of “tradition” are continually reconstructed.
The circuit also contains disputes over legitimacy, authority, ownership, and religious difference. Participants occupy unequal positions, and the network remains heterogeneous. The result is a dynamic model of circulation, not evidence of a treatment effect.
Limitations
The 3 types are analytical models and do not exhaust the diversity of actual groups. Long participation provides access, but the author’s membership may affect selection and interpretation. The research does not use participant counts, standardized questionnaires, or clinical follow-up.
For rapé, it does not measure ingredients, ash, pH, total or free nicotine, amount used, or independently monitored adverse events. Because several substances, songs, expectations, and social relationships coexist in the observed settings, causal effects cannot be isolated.
Safety
“Medicine,” “healing,” and physical or spiritual “cleansing” are categories used by participants and within the circuit. They are not evidence from diagnosis, control groups, adverse-event monitoring, or dose-response analysis. Indigenous origin or ritual use does not by itself establish product safety.
This resource provides no instructions for preparation, administration, or self-treatment. Umbrella terms such as “forest medicines” should be kept separate from substance-specific evidence.
Source and rights
Original source: Fernandes SC. Xamanismo e neoxamanismo no circuito do consumo ritual das medicinas da floresta. Horizontes Antropológicos. 2018;24(51):289–314. DOI: 10.1590/s0104-71832018000200011.
The article is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). This page is independently worded and is not a full translation. It does not reproduce extended quotations, procedures, lyrics, or figures.