Is Gender Important in Consciousness Exploration? The Modification of Male & Female Consciousness with Chichaja Brew

Abstract

Gaultheria insipida is a plant native to the Andes used traditionally by female indigenous Inga healers near the Colombian Amazon to prepare a brew currently known as Chichaja. This brew is an element that allows distinguishing a very original type of Colombian shamanism, but Gaultheria insipida and Chichaja have not yet been studied by psychedelic researchers or ethnobotanists. In this text, we argue that the brew made from Gaultheria insipida tends to modify the consciousness and bodies of female and male drinkers in different ways. We present here six testimonials from Chichaja drinkers collected during ethnological fieldwork started in December 2010 and finalized in July 2011, conducted in different parts of Colombia, particularly the west Amazon forest. The active components of Gaultheria insipida, as well as the very special psychotropic properties of the brew elaborated from this plant, are so far unknown for science.