European Journal of Ecopsychology 4: 32-43 (2013)

Interspecies communication
in the Western Amazon: Music as a form of
conversation between plants and people
Christina Callicott
Department of Anthropology, rop!cal "onser#at!on an$ De#elopment %rogram,
&n!#ers!ty of 'lor!$a, &(A
Abstract
Among the indigenous peoples of the Western Amazon, where animistic cosmologies
are the norm, relationships between human and other-than-human are mediated by
various forms of communication. In this paper, I examine a type of shamanic song
called !caro!, found in Western Amazonian indigenous and mestizo communities.
"sing examples from the ethnographic literature, I discuss the ac#uisition and use of
these shamanic songs to communicate with spirits and to e$ect change in the
material world. %hen, using the theory of phytosemiotics in con&unction with new
research into plant communication, I show how the process of shamanic
apprenticeship and the ac#uisition of !caros is a form of inter-species communication
in which the apprentice intercepts and interprets the phytochemical signals inherent
in plant communicative processes.
Keywords: interspecies communication, shamanism, Amazon, icaros, shamanic
apprenticeship, ayahuasca
Introduction
In the Western Amazon, many indigenous and mestizo communities practice a form
of shamanism that, due to its use of the psychoactive brew ayahuasca, has captured
the world's attention. (owever, the shamanism of the Western Amazon is a complex
ritual and ethnomedical practice that uses not only psychoactive plants but also non-
psychoactive plants, diet, and especially music as central elements of the shamanic
process. In this paper I explore a type of shamanic music found in indigenous and
mestizo communities of the Western Amazon, !caros. %he ac#uisition of !caros
through shamanic apprenticeship and their deployment in a ritual setting comprise a
)*
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
form of interspecies communication, which in a broader sense is characteristic of the
animistic cosmologies that have traditionally been the hallmar+ of indigenous
Amazonian cultures. (ere I review some of the ethnographic literature discussing the
!caros, and I conclude by providing a theoretical framewor+ in which this form of
interspecies communication may be better understood by the Western scienti,c
mind.
%he ethnographic literature on the indigenous cultures of the Western Amazon
recognizes the universal importance of music in shamanism. %he musical form that is
most often associated with Amazonian shamanism, usually glossed as ayahuasca
shamanism-, are those songs +nown as !caros. .uis /duardo .una writes that the
term !caro! comes from the 0uichua verb 1!,aray', which means 1to blow smo+e' in
order to heal! 2.una, 344*5 *))6. %he ethnomusicologist 7ernd 7rabec de 8ori
2*9336, however, writes that his :u+ama 2Cocama6 advisers say that it is from the
word !,arutsu, to sing, and that any song in :u+ama is !,ara. Among other groups,
there are di$erent +inds of music with various names and uses, but even among these
groups, those songs associated with ayahuasca shamanism are still called !caros
27rabec de 8ori, *9336.
.i+e other forms of music found in the Amazon 27rabec de 8ori *933; <iol, *994;
<ubenstein, *93*; "zendows+i, *99=6, the singing of !caros is believed to have real
e$ects in the material world. 8any practitioners claim that !caros are the very
embodiment of the healing properties of the plants with which they are associated
2.una > Amaringo, 34446, and that a shaman's power is directly correlated with his
+nowledge of !caros 2.una, 344*6. .una 234?@5 3*A6 gives some examples of how
the !caros are ac#uired and used5
%he spirits of the plants will appear Bto the initiateC in his dreams to teach him 1 !caros-, magic
songs, with the help of which he can perform di$erent activities, such as curing speci,c diseases,
reinforcing the action of medicinal plants, calling special guardian spirits to assist him, attracting
game or ,sh, causing a rival shaman to fall asleep, or attracting the attention or love of a woman.
Dtephan 7eyer writes that the !caros have three purposes5 to call spirits, to 1cure'
ob&ects and endow them with magical power, and to modulate the visions induced by
ayahuasca! 27eyer, *9945 EE6. Dimilarly, Form Whitten, describing a healing session
among the <una of /cuador, notes the use of song to communicate directly with the
sprits, with the shaman +eeping the words bottled up in his throat, so that only the
supa!s BspiritsC can hear it! 2Whitten, 34AE5 3=A6.
.i+ewise, some indigenous groups of the Western Amazon have a class of songs
called anent, which li+e the !caros, are believed to have eGcacy in the world of
))
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
human, plant and animal relationships. <iol 2*9946 writes that these secretive songs,
of mythical origin and passed down along family and gender lines, are used to solve
practical problems of everyday life.
%hese supplications can be addressed to any entity possessing a .a,/n BsoulC,
meaning it can be convinced, seduced or ca&oled via the highly symbolic character of
the songs. %hese enchantments can therefore be directed to human beings,
supernatural entities, and even certain categories of animals or plants 2<iol, *9945
*=6.
While anen may be regarded as shamanic in nature, due to the singer's ability to
create changes in their world 2"zendows+i, *99=6, they remain primarily a tool of
human agency. %he !caros, however, introduce a di$erent element5 the agency of
other-than-human beings. .una shows that the !caros are a product of the two-way
communication between shaman and plant-spirit5
It seems the preeminent mode of communication between the shaman and the spirits is through
magic chants or melodies. %he spirits often present themselves to the shaman while singing or
whistling a particular !caro. When the shaman learns these !caros, he can use them to call on the
spirits when he needs them. 7y singing or whistling the !caro of the plant teachers, the shaman
invites the spirits to present themselves. Also, the guardian spirits, which may be
anthropomorphic or theriomorphic, that all informants claim to possess are called through !caros
2.una, 344*5 *@9-36.
.una's wor+ highlights that aspect of the !caros that is of particular interest, namely,
the mode of ac#uisition and transmission of these songs and accompanying
information. Anthropologists report a widespread belief that these songs may be
ac#uired directly from the spirits of certain plants, animals or other entities during
dreams or in trance during the course of the shaman's apprenticeship and ongoing
career 27eyer, *994; .una, 344*; <ittner, *99A6. Hauregui 2*9336 found agreement
on this sub&ect among the participants in his study, which too+ place in the "cayali
<egion near Iucallpa, Ieru, and included healers of Dhipibo-Conibo, Ashanin+a,
8atsiguenga and mestizo identity. According to the participants' beliefs!, he writes,
+nowledge is not transmitted orally by healers but through the mothers, spirits or
entities that inhabit the natural world. %herefore, the +nowledge transmission is of a
trans-verbal nature as it occurs via dreams, visions and !caros! 2Hauregui, *9335 A=96.
Direct communication with plants?
%his #uestion of direct communication with plants is of interest to a number of
scholars of various persuasions. %upper 2*99*6, an education specialist, and Wright
)@
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
2*9946, a religionist, have both written on the sub&ect of teacher plants! among
various groups, and Hauregui 2*9336 and .una 234?@, 344*6 have both identi,ed the
concept of teacher plants-, also called plantas con ma$res! 2plants with mothers6
or $octores!, as one of the central elements in the complex practice of ayahuasca
shamanism.
%he notion of teacher plants! re#uires further explication, especially with regards to
the !caros. %he shaman's apprenticeship centers on the practice of the $!eta, whereby
he or she will spend periods of days, even wee+s, isolated in a small shelter in the
&ungle, removed from human interaction except for the person bringing food or
medicine. %he food is very plain, and a number of proscriptions severely restrict the
apprentice's activity. /ach $!eta is focused on a speci,c teacher plant, and the
ingestion of this plant preparation may be alternated with or combined with the use
of ayahuasca, which facilitates communication with other plants. %he $!eta, at its
purest, is a process of physical and spiritual puri,cation, rest and meditation. Dtephan
7eyer 2*9945 E96 explains, %he goal of the diet is to maintain an ongoing connection
and dialogue with the plant; to allow the plant to interact with the body, often in
subtle ways, and to wait for its spirit to appear, as the spirit wishes, to teach and give
counsel!. What exactly does the plant teach the apprenticeJ A song. %hat is how the
plants teach you K sitting #uietly in the &ungle, with no place to go, listening for their
song!, he writes 27eyer *9945 =E6.
Indeed, among most groups of the Western Amazon, it is through the $!eta that one
learns how to heal, and the way to heal is through the !caros. .una writes that during
the $!eta5
%he spirits, or mothers, of the plants present themselves to the initiated, either during the visions
they elicit or during dreams, and teach the shamans how to diagnose and cure certain illnesses,
how to dominate evil spirits of the earth, water or air domains, how to travel through time and
space, and how to perform other shamanic tas+sL %hese powers are ac#uired mainly through the
memorization of magic melodies or songs, called !caros, which the future #egetal!stas learn from
the spirits of plants, animals, stones, la+es and so forthL the number and #uality of his !caros are
the best gauge of the +nowledge and power of a shaman 2.una, 344*5 *)*-)6.
/ach plant has its own song, and if the apprentice has prepared him or herself well,
the spirit of the plant, often conceptualized as its mother!, will present herself to the
apprentice and teach him her !caro.
In his study on plantas con ma$res!, Hauregui ,nds that an important step in the
shaman's apprenticeship focuses on improving the student's sensitivity and intuition,
and particularly his or her ability to listen, to learn, and even to sing the !caros of the
)=
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
plants with which he or she will be studying.
Muring this phase, the initiates are also obliged to develop the capacity to listen!, a fundamental
faculty that will help them learn one of the essential therapeutic resources within the healers'
heritage, the !,aros or sacred shamanic melodies 2Hauregui, *9335 A@A6.
Nne of the plants administered during this phase of the shaman's apprenticeship is
ch!r!c sanango 20runfels!a gran$!1ora6, said to aid in dreaming. A non-psychoactive
"henopo$!um species 2related to common food grains such as #uinoa and amaranth6
is used speci,cally to improve the memory 2Hauregui, *9336. Certain "yperus, or
sedge, species are used to improve singing, an application that Olenn Dhepard also
reports among the 8atsigen+a 2Dhepard, *9336. %his phase of the apprenticeship is
so important precisely because of the importance of !caros to the shaman's ability to
heal5
Mue to the fundamental role of the aforementioned !,aros within the practice of traditional
medicine, the apprentices must learn to be more receptive, listen with greater attention, and
soften their voice in order to achieve the correct vibrations that permit them to sing the !,aros
properly. %hey must also learn the art of seduction, a s+ill that healers use with ex#uisite s+ill due
to their good command and +nowledge of psychological and cultural parameters 2Hauregui, *9335
A@?6.
While purgatives and puri,ers, including a decoction of the 0an!ster!ops!s caap! vine
by itself, dominate the ,rst phase of the shaman's apprenticeship, it is during this
second phase, the improvement of the apprentice's sensory capacities and learning
abilities, that the well-+nown form of ayahuasca, the 0an!ster!ops!s2%sychotr!a
mixture, becomes an integral part of the process. %ertiary admixtures, Hauregui's
plantas con ma$res!, may be included in the ayahuasca tea as well, and the
ayahuasca acts as a sort of mediator, allowing apprentices to have clearer visions
that will facilitate their communication with the plant 1mothers'! 2Hauregui, *9335
A@A6.
Indeed, ayahuasca is often considered the master teacher, because its use facilitates
+nowledge of the healing e$ects of a range of other plants and substances. Whitten,
in his ethnography of the Canelos 0uichua, indicates that the role of ayahuasca is to
facilitate communication with the spirits of other plants5
Ayahuasca mama, the serpentine vine spirit, and the orphan female! spirit Pa&i allow shamans
and powerful shamans to maneuver in the domain of spirits. Where datura allows any <una to
collapse space and time and see all the spirits, Ayahuasca mama, herself a spirit of the huandu&,
provides the necessary lin+age to sprits which have ac#uired human souls 2Whitten, 34AE5 3=)6.
)E
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
(ighpine 2*93*6 reiterates Whitten's and Hauregui's ,ndings. Among the Fapo
<una!, she writes, one of Ayahuasca's vital roles is teaching humans about other
plants besides herselfL Dhe taught people the practice of sas!na B$!etaC so that they
could use it to learn to communicate with other plants, not only herself! 2(ighpine,
*93*5 336.
Music and song
%he use of music in magico-religious contexts in the Amazon has been well
documented and analyzed throughout the Amazon, from some of the earliest
researchers 2:atz > Mob+in de <ios, 34A36 to the most recent 27eyer, *9946. (ill
2*9945 39@6 cites a number of authors to support his conclusion that the auditory
capacity is a privileged sensory mode among the indigenous peoples of the Amazon5
8ore generally, sound production and auditory perception are regarded as the main sense modes
for mediating between humans, animals, and spirits throughout .owland Douth America 27asso,
34?=; 7eaudet, 344A; Chaumeil, 344); Oebhart-Dayer, 34?=; (ill, 344); (ill > Chaumeil, *933;
8enezes 7astos, 344=; Deeger, 34?A6.
(ill's notion of materializing the occult! 2*9945 39)6 leads toward 7rabec de 8ori's
conclusion 2*93)6 that the spirits themselves are sonic beings!, summoned into
existence by the actions of the shaman during a curing ceremony. "zendows+i
2*99=6, addressing women's music, asserts that the power of shamanic song is in
mimesis and in the perspectival shifts that it enables. Mob+in de <ios and :atz
234A=6 provide a uni#ue theory in which shamanic music provides a sort of metrical
structure, a &ungle gym! for the consciousness, which shamans use to restructure
their participants' mental states toward culturally appropriate ends.
Qew authors, however, address the agency of the plants or the plant spirits in this
process, as might be warranted by the wealth of ethnography that discusses teacher
plants and the transmission of songs and +nowledge experienced by shamans during
the $!eta. Dwanson 2*9946 addresses the percept!on of plant agency by <una, in
which songs addressed to food and medicinal plants are meant to seduce, pacify,
resist, or otherwise engage productively in exchange with a potentially dangerous
plant supa!, or spirit. <ubinstein suggests that song is the language of the spirits, but
he dismisses the impenetrability of the language as an attempt by the Dhuar to create
a space in the mundane world where the truth of the imagination may abide!
2<ubenstein, *93*6. Duch explanations, relying as they do on sub&ectivity, symbolism
and the solitary imagination, don't explain why one person's inner experience, as
expressed in particular forms of song, should be so e$ective in producing change in
)A
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
the material world, as both anent and !caros are believed to do.
Oiven the fact that human consciousness is so notoriously diGcult to measure, it may
not be possible to reconcile the Western Amazonian belief in plant agency and
interspecies communication with a Western scienti,c point of view. (owever, I
would li+e to provide a new way of loo+ing at the sub&ect, using emerging research
about the nature of plant communication as a starting point.
lant agency
Dcienti,c studies have shown that plants do communicate with each other, recognize
self and +in, and alter their growth form or physiology appropriately so as to ensure
the greatest chance of success for themselves and their genetic relatives 28urphy >
Mudley, *9946 or to defend themselves from predators 2:arban > Dhio&iri, *9946.
Ilants are capable of altering their environment, and inRuencing the behavior of both
predators and allies, through the creation and release of secondary phytochemical
compounds 27uhner, *99*6. %hese secondary compounds, the products of the
sophisticated processes of phytochemistry, are what generate the medicinal, toxic,
and hallucinatory e$ects of plant medicines.
/merging research such as this paints a new scienti,c picture of plants as agentive
beings, perhaps even endowed with a form of consciousness, ideas which would have
previously been unimaginable, at least to the scienti,cally minded. Fevertheless, the
#uestion remains how to characterize plant-human interaction beyond the human
manipulation of a plant's phytochemical services. A growing body of linguistic
theory +nown as biosemiosis, and in particular the branches +nown as phytosemiosis
and ecosemiosis, provide new ways of thin+ing about these relationships that more
fully incorporate the indigenous understanding of plant agency and plant-human
communication.
7iosemiosis represents the attempts by linguists to integrate new ,ndings in
biological sciences, such as those referenced above, with Iiercian notions of
signi,cation, interpretation and meaning 27rier, *99E6. %he ,eld has its origin in a
paper 2Anderson et al, 34?@6 that posits the semiotic threshold at the boundary of
life 2:ull, *9996, meaning that all living beings and communities of beings, from
unicellular organisms to human societies, possess or engage in semiotic processes.
%he ,eld has been further subdivided to reRect domain-speci,c analyses such as
zoosemiotics, phytosemiotics and ecosemiotics. While ecosemiotics concerns itself
with the human relationship to plants, phytosemiotics interrogates the semiotic Rows
inherent in the physiological processes of the plant +ingdom. :alevi :ull, a pioneer
)?
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
of this ,eld, emphasizes that phytosemiotics does not include the semiotics of
botanical research, neither the existence of plants as signs in human communicative
systems 2the latter would still be a part of ecosemioticsL6, neither we will argue for
any psychic phenomena in plantsL Nur sub&ect is con,ned to the #uestion of the
existence of 2primitive6 sign processes in plants! 2:ull, *9995 )*?6.
At ,rst glance it may seem that our discussion here would more appropriately fall
into the realm of ecosemiotics, or the communicative relationship between humans
and plants. Indeed, an excellent article by Alf (ornborg discusses ecosemiotics in the
context of the indigenous ecocosmologies and historical ecology of the Amazon
7asin 2(ornborg, *9936. In characterizing ecosemiotics, (ornborg writes,
/cosemiotics thus does not merely provide a vantage-point for understanding
BAmazonian indigenousC cosmologies in theoretical terms, but actually also for
#al!$at!ng them! 2(ornborg, *9935 3*=, emphasis his6. (owever, as a study of the
Rows of human sign systems as they relate to ecology, ecosemiotics de-centers
phytosemiotic processes, and it is with plant agency that we are here concerned.
In the techni#ues of shamanic apprenticeship, on the other hand, phytosemiosis ta+es
center stage. %he theory of phytosemiosis posits that plant-based forms of
communication operate on an indexical level 2:ull, *9996. Index is one of three
types of signs, along with icon and symbol, that Charles Ieirce 23?4@6 outlines in his
seminal paper, What Is a DignJ!. Icons, he writes, act on the basis of li+eness 2as a
map is iconic of a landform6; indexical signs or indices indicate something by virtue
of physical connection 2where there's smo+e, there's ,re6; and symbols are
disconnected from their referent, associated with their ob&ect only through habit or
usage 2the classic example being the written word6. "nli+e symbol, icons and indices
may both be non-linguistic, but index has the added #uality of direct experiential
connection. 2Ieirce, 3?4@; <ubenstein, *93*6 %hus, index remains the one semiotic
realm that creates a space for both direct experience and extra-linguistic signi,cation.
%he ethnographic literature, in turn, paints a picture of shamanic apprenticeship as a
process of inserting oneself into the phytosemiotic processes through the direct
experience and interpretation of non-linguistic, phytochemical cues. Hauregui 2*9336
and 7eyer 2*9946 both depict the apprenticeship process as a form of experiential
learning in which the initiate's body and mind are puri,ed and sensitized to the
e$ects of secondary phytochemical compounds. 7y the very nature of their action
upon the body, plants are able to indicate important information about their healing
properties, and perhaps even the state of their own health and that of the local
biosphere. %he apprentice's &ob is to learn to interpret these signals through their
e$ects upon the body and mind.
)4
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
When the phytochemical cues under study include psychoactive substances or have
been potentiated by psychoactive substances, dietary regimen and isolation in the
&ungle, it stands to reason that the messages thereby engendered may ta+e a variety
of interesting forms that both include and surpass corporeal sensations, forms such as
visual or auditory hallucinations or ethnomedical insight. In the process of
interpretation and reproduction, the initiate organizes and codi,es these signals into
culture-speci,c mimetic responses, in this case, !caros. In other words, a particular
plant might produce a uni#ue auditory e$ect in the apprentice. %he apprentice then
interprets this sound as the !caro of that plant, and strives to reproduce this sound
through song. In this way, the shaman is able to reverse-engineer, so to spea+, that
same phytochemical cue through the reproduction of its characteristic sound, or its
!caro 3 and the singing of the !caro, in turn, constitutes the reproduction of the plant
spirit itself. Fot only does this model explain various aspects of the ethnographic
literature, but it also ,ts well with 7rabec de 8ori's assertion that the spirits are sonic
beings 27rabec de 8ori, *93)6.
A recognition of the hallucinatory #uality of this phytosemiotic process does not
invalidate the information or techni#ues that emerge from it. Dimilarly, the
engagement of human sub&ectivity and cultural parameters does not privilege human
agency over that of the plants, nor does it relegate the product of their interaction to
the sphere of the human imagination. %o the contrary, what we are seeing is a
process whereby the non-human material world manifests itself in human cultural
forms, in a way that grants full agency to both parties. Deen in this way, the !caros
become a Rowering of the symbiosis between plant and human.
Interspecies communication
Anthropology has been long been criticized for its failure to characterize human
interdependence with nature in a way that refrains from idealizing or essentializing
indigenous peoples, or portraying them as passive ob&ects of environmental
determinism. Conversely, modern industrialized culture fails to recognize our
interdependence altogether, with drastic results for all species. %he model of
interspecies communication discussed in this paper has a profound potential for
shifting human cultural discourse to a more eco-centric one that recognizes the
importance of non-human agency and the possibility for a mutually bene,cial
relationship between humans and the rest of nature. %he renowned anthropologist
Oerardo <eichel-Molmato$ recognized the ecological implications of such a
discourse5
Ilants and animals tell the visionary how they want to be treated and protected so they can better
@9
"all!cott )nterspec!es commun!cat!on !n the *estern Ama+on
serve him; how they su$er from carelessness, overhunting, the cutting down of trees, the abuse of
,sh-poisons, the destructiveness of ,rearms. Deen from this perspective we must admit that a
0an!ster!ops!s trance, manipulated by shamans, is a lesson in ecology, in the sense that it gives
nature a chance to voice its complaints and demands in unmista+able terms 2<eichel-Molmato$
344E5 3EE-?6.
Dimilarly, the modern literature on psychedelic studies is full of reports of an
increased awareness of nature, and some writers consider the phenomenology of the
psychedelic experience to be eminently suited to fostering an ethos of
communication with and empathy for non-human nature 2:rippner > .u+e, *9946.
Nn the other hand, what <eichel-Molmato$ +new, and what is important for us to
remember, is that the phytochemical message of the plant, in and of itself, does not
modify human behavior. Instead, it is the s+illful interpretation, reproduction and
application of that message that solves a problem, cures an illness or creates change
in the material world. %his, in fact, is the lesson of the !caros, and it behooves us, in
our &ourney forward, to listen carefully to their song.
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Ac"nowledgements
<esearch for this article was supported by the "niversity of Qlorida Mepartment of
Anthropology, Center for .atin American Dtudies and the %ropical Conservation and
Mevelopment Irogram; the <uegamer Qoundation; the %in+er Qoundation; and the
"nited Dtates Mepartment of /ducation Qoreign .anguage Area Dtudies Irogram.
#orrespondence
Christina Callicott
Ema!l: c.callicott^uR.edu
@)