Is Yagé a Religion?

Yagé is a plant cure. Also known as Yage. It is a blend of two plants. The yagé and chacruna. Some of the indigenous people of the Amazon use this cure for thousands of years for sacred purposes. These people follow shamanism and as part of their shamanic rituals they use yagé as a transcendental powerful cure. Where there is yagé, there is always ceremony. It is very important to drink yagé properly and in a ceremonial setup.

There is no agreed-upon inference if shamanism is a religion or not. However, mostly shamanism seems as a system of religious practices and there are not dogmas like most religions have. Shamanism doesn’t have a holy book. They say the holy book of the shamanism is the nature. In addition, shamanic practices and applies are distinctively in different parts of the world and some shamanic cultures do not use any kind of entheogens (a class of psychoactive substances that induce spiritual type of experience) like yagé.

Brazilian Amazon

In Brazilian Amazon, there is Santo Daime tradition where yagé usage is more religious like practice. Santo Daime incorporates elements of several spiritual traditions and it contains folk Catholism, Kardecist Spiritism, African Animism and indigenous South American Shamanism. It was established in 1930 in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Acre by Raimundo Irineu Serra. Santo Daime practice does the yagé ceremonies in their churches and they sing collectively and dance in geometrical formation.

Therefore, yagé itself is not a religion and is used by some of the Amazon tribes for sacred and healing purposes. So, it is the part of their shamanic practices. Above all, when they drink yagé, they do it in a ceremonial way. Because it is a holy cure for indigenous people.

When you participate to a ceremony, it doesn’t mean that you will start to follow a certain religion. It means that you will become a participant of a spiritual practice.