Uma Ranganathan
Japaratinga is a small town on the east coast of Brazil, a couple of hours drive from the cities of Recife in the north, and Maceio towards the south. Up on a cliff facing the sea, is the centre where over seventy of us from Europe, Brazil and India (actually I was the only person from India) took part in a seminar on healing.
The coming together of local shamanistic wisdom with the intelligence of the west, was a treat for many of us working in the field of mental health. A necessary step, we felt, towards the development of a new kind of intelligence linking the ancient wisdom of tribal experience with the sharper more differentiated mental faculties which have been a part of recent human evolution.
Among some of the new features to which we were exposed, was what they call "Frog Medicine" - a process which has had scientists scratching their heads, trying to figure out the exact reason for its efficacy. There were about ten takers for it from our group which, when you hear about what it involves, will make you agree that ten out of seventy or eighty is not a small number!
The Shaman who offers the treatment, sets up shop on the premises, along with an assistant or two. When your turn arrives you go up to him and stick out your arm or the side of your thigh, to be poked six times with the burning end of a small wooden stick. Into these tiny burns which look like cigarette burn marks, is applied the sticky poisonous slime of a frog known in Brazil as the "kambo". The serum, collected from the back and sides of the frog is dried and later re-hydrated before being applied on the skin. This particular frog vaccine (vaccine da sapo) as it is called in Brazil, originally developed by a tribe in a far off corner of the west Amazon is now used in many parts of the country.
In Japaratinga on the west coast of Brazil for example, following our seven day seminar we were offered the benefits of this wonder vaccine, by Andrei, a shaman from the nearby town of Maceio. The vaccine is supposed to energize and to immunize you against various illnesses (the tribals who use it claim it is also a cure for pain and laziness). Silvia, an anthropologist from Brazil who was part of our group, and a great fan of the frog vaccine, said however, that to acquire long term immunity one had to go through the procedure at least four or five times at intervals of about six months.
The compound seems to consist of a mixture of elements including hallucinogenics and tranquillising agents. A couple of those who availed of this offer, claimed that for about half an hour it was like getting high on a psychedelic drug. A woman from Germany, a midwife, revealed that it was like a death experience. She had had the feeling of having come all the way from her homeland, only to die in an unknown country, though once she accepted the feeling, she was suddenly filled with strength and raring to go.
Two valiant experimenters who almost lost consciousness during the procedure, had the shaman mutter and wave his hands and sprinkle water over their heads, an action which revived both of them in no time. Paul, one of my dorm mates, said he felt heavy and sleepy, after the experience but that he was glad to have gone through it. From Magdalena, one of the baby sitters in our group, who had been through the experience the previous year, I learned that it had been a thoroughly unpleasant experience which had had her vomiting a lot (which is a common occurrence) but also, that the year which followed had proved to be a healthy one, free of the usual coughs, colds and fevers to which she was prone in Switzerland.
Well, coming as it did at the tail end of four shamanistic journeys which combined futuristic visions with ancient memories of existence, I said no to the frog medicine this time. But who knows, if I visit Brazil again perhaps I will try it out so that I can give you all a detailed personal account of it.