NAVIGATION TIP:
Use the Firefox browser with the CoolPreviews add on. CoolPreviews will give a magnifying glass icon at every link when you put your cursor on the link. Click on the icon and it will open a separate, smaller window with the definition of the term in it. You can either lock the window by clicking the padlock icon in the top bar of the little window, or move your cursor off the window and it will automatically close. This is almost as good as mouseovers.
Bactris (Pyrenoglyphis sp.): (n) Elder payés transmit their supernatural power to young initiates by putting a number of splinters of this palm on the pupil’s forearm and pressing them firmly with the magic quartz crystal. These are also virotes by means of which payés send sickness and death to distant enemies and to all who have broken the moral code. AYV
bamba (Span): (n) The Spanish pronunciation and spelling for the Quechua pampa.
banco (Span), bancu (sp.): (n) One of the three levels of vegetalista, a shaman who masters the jungle realm and has contact with the sky spirits, understand the secrets of the earth. The banco lies face down in the mosquito net and the spirits descend and sit on him, giving correct diagnoses and the cure. In some traditions, the banco is unable to enter the underwater realm. In others (the Lamista), a sinchi runa must live near a waterfall or the tributary of a large river to gain direct contact with the underwater world. Bancos have the power to immerse themselves for hours and days during which time they cease to have relations with their wives in order to dedicate themselves to their yaku warmi. AYV
bautisay: (v) To baptize. PSL (n) Baptism. RS (sp.)
bautisakuy: (v) To be baptized (sp.). PSL
bejuco de las calenturas (Span): (n) Literally, vine for fevers (Mascagnia psilophylla), its mama is the boa, but it also has other mamas: a dwarf dressed in red, needles and pins. Fire, too, is its mother. Mixed with ayahuasca, it is most powerful in curing extreme cases, patients with convulsions or typhus. The root is used for curing high fevers. AYV
bell (Eng): When rung by the paq’o in ceremony, it calls the Apus. IGMP (See, chanrara.)
bendición: (n) Blessing (sp.). PSL
bendeciy: (v) To bless (sp.). PSL
black ayahuasca: See, ayahuasca trueno, ayahuasca india.
blowing (Eng): (n) The exhalation of air by the shaman is an expression of his/her power. Singing, chanting, naming are variationof the act of creative and transformative blowing. Shamans can blow spells. A manifestation of the soul or spirit, when done along with the uttering of spells or prayers, the shaman can direct the power of spirit toward a specific end. Blowing has curative and protective power, imparts life force and can change the state of being of the client. AYV (See, camay, phukuy, samay, saminchaska)
boa: (n) A large terrestrial and arboreal constrictor snake, the embodiment of the sach’amama. AYV
boa negra (Span): (n) The black anaconda which acts as a bridge between the earth and the water. Can also be yakumama or sach’amama. AYV (See, yana puma, k’uychi.)
Brugmansia suaveolens: (n) Angel’s trumpet, a datura shrub in the nightshade family. Smoked or brewed by individuals in lone quests within the spirit world. WCE [Caveat: all daturas are very toxic, even deadly, when abused.] (See, toé.)
brujeria (Span): (n) Refers to the practice of the brujo, or to a magically induced illness. EMM
brujo, bruja (Span): (n) Male/female wizard, sorcerer, or witch. CSE Generally associated to a sorcerer or witch-doctor whose practice is focused on causing harm to his/her enemies, either for personal gain (i.e., paid by a client to induce illness or kill a person) or revenge. The title is full of negative association in the Peruvian Amazon, almost without exception, although in some areas of the Andes (Ecuador) it may refer to a shaman who is equally capable of causing harm or to heal. EMM The brujos know how to prepare potions to cause love, hate, pity, or to drive a man crazy. Impartial and disinterested practitioners, they administer according to the needs of their clients. TAV
bubinzana (Amaz): (n) Also called an icaro; a sacred song which is an invocation, a musical prayer. THIM
bufeo colorado (Span): (n) The pink river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) which legend has given the powers of shapeshifting into human form in order to have sex with humans (some pregnant women attribute their condition to the bufeo); when they have shapeshifted, then can often be spotted because they become ch’ullan chakis, or wear hats to conceal their blowholes. Large dolphins are the authorities of the river world; small dolphins are the police. They are considered to be powerful shamans, probably because of their behavior of whistling and blowing forcefully from their blowholes, very much like a shaman blowing virotes or whistling an icaro. AYV Some sorcerers are said to capture a female bufeo and cut a ring of tissue from around her vagina to make a talisman to attract women. THIM
