ABSTRACT
This chapter exposes the modus operandi of archetypes that culminate with outward behaviour and/or [quasi-]thoughts in participants of [neo]shamanic rituals. It exposes the phenomenological hermeneutical method inspired by the theory of interpretation (Paul Ricoeur). It discusses the fourteen categories of meaning subtracted from these populations: (1) the personal background of Ayahuasqueros, (2) experiencing oneness, (3) images triggered by Ayahuasca, (4) Ayahuasca ingestion and one’s shadow, (5) The concept of ‘reality’, (6) Phenomenon as one is, and not as it is – categories present for both populations; (7) the Santo Daime doctrine, (8) the reformation of the self, (9) the Santo Daime as an initiation school, (10) mind and body as one – categories found in the Brazilian population; (11) The harmful effects of Ayahuasca, (12) Ayahuasca and healing, (13) the collective in the Ayahuasca ritual, and (14) Atypical structure of thoughts in the ritual, categories from the European data. It proposes six main findings, which are (A) lack of ownership in the creation of thoughts, (B) lack of direction in the association of thoughts, (C) possession of an absolute knowledge, (D) dissolution of the personal identity, (E) consciousness as located outside of the individual, (F) the unusual perception of time and space.
