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#  A Visit to the Second Heaven: A Siona Narrative of the Yajé Experience  

 





March 16, 2026

 

 

Transformation, in the context of Siona shamanism, takes the form of an apprenticeship journey deeply rooted in the cosmological fabric of the Amazon rainforest. This entry presents the account of Ricardo Yaiguaje, an apprentice from a prestigious shamanic lineage—the son of Leonides Yaiguaje and brother of Arsenio, both recognized as the last great master shamans of the Siona people in northwest Amazonia, Colombia. Ricardo’s story offers a personal narrative of his initiation and transformation as a shamanic apprentice.

Anthropologist Ester Matteson Langdon provides a translation of Ricardo’s learning journey with the use of the sacred medicine *yajé*. The use of this sacred medicine among shamans or *curacas* (ritual healers) allows them to travel between different realities: the ordinary, everyday reality, and the “other side,” an invisible realm where shamans encounter other shamans, mediate with non-human entities like the spirit of the forest, and acquire valuable knowledge for their practice, such as the *ícaros* (healing songs) (see *main entry*).

The relationship between Siona cosmology and *yajé* is best understood as a sacred assemblage between the body and the plant. This relationship lies at the core of Siona’s notions of well-being and health and serves as the foundation for their understanding of “occult reality.” Ricardo’s account offers insight into this reality—particularly his ascent into the “Second Heaven,” a celestial realm above the earth where he sought to master the domains of the High River. In Siona cosmology, the occult reality is conceived as a stratified cosmos, “beginning with the level under the earth and extending up to the end of the heavens.”i For the apprentice, one of the key aims of the shamanic journey is to learn the “designs” of these various realms under the guidance of a master shaman.ii In Ricardo’s case, such guidance came in the form of *yajé* songs—“the heavenly language he sang,” as Ricardo describes the beginning of his ascent into the Second Heaven.

Ricardo’s narrative reveals the dual nature of these visionary experiences. His initial journey is marked by joy, harmonious encounters with various entities, and celestial music. On the second night of *yajé* consumption, he struggles to enter the visionary state and instead encounters a chaotic and dark realm, inhabited by black-winged beings and grotesque, mud-covered spirits. This stark contrast demonstrates the ambivalent power of *yajé*, capable of facilitating both healing and harm. Such dualism is characteristic of many Indigenous Amazonian cosmologies, where acquiring spiritual knowledge often requires navigating both luminous and perilous dimensions of reality. The overwhelming swooning sensations Ricardo experienced reflect the vulnerability and danger inherent in these states. In such moments, the presence and intervention of an experienced shaman becomes crucial, as novices alone may be unable to return safely to the ordinary world.

These challenging passages, however, are never traversed in isolation. Ricardo’s story ultimately underscores the deeply social and relational character of *yajé* practice. At the height of his visionary ordeal, his older brother—an accomplished shaman—intervenes to cleanse and protect him. This act highlights the collective and intergenerational nature of Siona shamanism, where master shamans not only guide apprentices but also safeguard their well-being and help interpret the meanings of their visions.



 

 

 

##  Source 

This is an excerpt from the story of three nights of apprenticeship sessions with yage, as recounted by Ricardo Yaiguaje and translated by anthropologist Esther Jean Matteson Langdon.

> He arranged, singing, playing yajé flutes; playing the yajé liquid he arranged' (…)
> 
> I drank and went and lay in the hammock (…) and shortly the yajé came to me.
> 
> Ah thus it came for Ignacio already had begun chanting (…)
> 
> As he sang, the yajé came very strongly to me! (…)
> 
> It swooned, and then for the High River fire canoe people
> 
> Heavenly language he sang (…) I was immediately in that place.
> 
> In that place many people were, heavenly people.
> 
> Whites were with them, the whites, blue clothing wore (…)
> 
> “We live in this place, son. What are you thinking as you come?”
> 
> I listened, then Ignacio chanted yajé songs.
> 
> “Now that fire canoe, High River fire canoe is coming,” he sang; yajé words he sang.
> 
> As he sang, on this side I was very intoxicated and I was now seeing that place.
> 
> I was seeing and the High River fire canoe, a very large canoe, came.
> 
> As it came, I entered that canoe (…)
> 
> It was; the people of that place were like us.
> 
> With crowns of red macaw feathers, people they were yajé people.
> 
> They were, and also white people, white chiefs, were there (…)
> 
> “Good, then now come and see. We are like this,” the people spoke.
> 
> “If you drink again you will be a transformed one,” they said.
> 
> “Okay, that is good,” I thought and thinking, my heart was happy (…)
> 
> “It is swirling well,” I thought seeing from hammock.
> 
> A while passed and suddenly right in the middle, only black winged creatures were everywhere; the place was all dark as the yajé came to me (…)
> 
> I was reclining and then very black people said to me “zieeeee zi'ceecezieeeee ti ti ti ti ti ti”
> 
> All the noise stopped up my ears.
> 
> Filled with sounds, I couldn’t speak at all; I was a lost person lying there and seeing
> 
> As I lay, “Why has the yajé come swoon-ing’ in this way?
> 
> Why is it swooning those black winged creatures?” (…)
> 
> They came and threw out metal chains trying to catch me
> 
> Then cotton, like a cotton fishing line, a people catcher
> 
> They were casting, a black line they hurled out, trying to catch me. On the other side, I was resisting (…) They threw, but didn't catch me.
> 
> “They are doing evil to you in that place,” the yajé people said.
> 
> “They are trying to catch you, that black house is bad for you and they want to make you lost forever,” they said to me (…)
> 
> That house had a black emptiness!
> 
> Then I saw women-like creatures, with dirty clothing, like clothing rubbed with mud, these women came dressed.
> 
> I lay there and then others, the drunken spirits!
> 
> All pulled out their tongues, falling then growling and rolling and wallowing on the ground they came I lay there seeing them come.
> 
> As I lay, “oh it is very bad for you,” the yajé people said to me.
> 
> “We are going to make you die,” the drunken people said.
> 
> I just saw, and then my older brother asked
> 
> “Has the yajé swirled good for you now, child?” he said.
> 
> “No, it isn't swooning well for me,” I said (…)
> 
> “Only all black insects, the yajé swoons like night and doesn't show any yajé designs to me,” I said.
> 
> “Then why didn't you tell me? If you had cold, I would have cleansed you with the leaf whisk,” he said.
> 
> He spoke and then got water and sprinkled and cleansed me
> 
> “Now has it changed and the evil left?”
> 
> “The bad is passing,” I said.
> 
> “That is good, but why didn't you tell? Do you want to die?” he said.
> 
> “Why did it swoon in that way?”
> 
> “I was lost in that swooning and so I couldn't speak,” I said (…)
> 
> “Yes, now all the swooning has left,” I said to him (…)
> 
> Thus being, very good,” he said
> 
> I have spoken.
> 
> (Matteson Langdon 2016, p.58)



 

##  Bibliography 

Langdon, Esther Jean Matteson. “Shamans and Shamanisms: Reflections on Anthropological Dilemmas of Modernity.” *VIBRANT-Vibrant Virtual Brazilian Anthropology* 4, no. 2 (2007): 27–48.

Langdon, Esther Jean Matteson. “A Visit to the Second Heaven: A Siona Narrative of the Yagé Experience.” In *Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon’s Sacred Vine*, 2nd ed., edited by Luis Eduardo Luna and Steven F. White, 46–59. Synergetic Press, 2016.



 

Author Biography

### Paola Andrea Sanchez-Castaneda 

 

Paola Andrea Sánchez-Castañeda is a cultural anthropologist working in the fields of critical Indigenous studies and urban environmental studies, particularly in Latin America. Her research focuses on the ontological dimensions of indigeneity, territory, nature, and the sacred among the Muysca of Suba, an urban Indigenous community located in Bogotá, Colombia, with whom she has collaborated for more than eight years.

Sánchez-Castañeda earned her PhD in Global and Sociocultural Studies, with a concentration in anthropology, and her MA in Religious Studies from Florida International University. She served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Religion and Indigenous Plant Medicine Traditions of the Americas at the Center for the Study of World Religions from 2024 to 2025. During her fellowship, she worked collaboratively with the Muysca community to document the use of sacred plant medicines and their vital role in Indigenous revitalization and territorial defense in the city of Bogotá.

She is currently Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies at Florida International University.



 



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 See also:- [ Archive of Mystical Experiences ](/topic-tags/archive-mystical-experiences)