Livro de Jimmy Weiskopf sobre o Yagé na Colômbia é publicado em inglês
Acaba de ser publicada em inglês uma nova versão, atualizada, do livro de Jimmy Weiskopf: Yajé, el nuevo purgatorio. (Villegas Editores, 2002): Yajé, the new purgatory - Encounters with ayahuasca, publicado pela mesma casa editorial. Veja um resumo do livro, a biografia autor e informações de como obtê-la.
About the book:
This book is a testimony of the living experience of yajé (or ayahuasca), the sacred plant of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, known throughout the world for its curative and visionary powers. For more than a decade, its author, Jimmy Weiskopf, has drunk yajé with some of the most renowned indigenous shamans of Colombia and also participated in rituals in Peru and Brazil. Ever more convinced that yajé is a unique channel to good health and spiritual enlightenment, Weiskopf has written a dramatic book about a ritual that, like every esoteric discipline, requires its share of suffering. Yajé is the “new purgatory” that subjects the body and the soul of the drinker to a violent and prolonged purification in order to bring about his spiritual transformation.
The book gives an account of his own experiences with this miraculous shamanic tool, as well as the principles of the indigenous tradition and the latest anthropological and botanical research. Above all, it is a literary work, though nothing in it is fiction. It sets out to communicate the terror, joy, poetry and humor of his encounters with the world of the spirits. Excerpts from the book, published in U.S. magazines like Shaman´s Drum, Earthwatch and Americas, have already roused the interest of a broad international public.
The book gives an account of his own experiences with this miraculous shamanic tool, as well as the principles of the indigenous tradition and the latest anthropological and botanical research. Above all, it is a literary work, though nothing in it is fiction. It sets out to communicate the terror, joy, poetry and humor of his encounters with the world of the spirits. Excerpts from the book, published in U.S. magazines like Shaman´s Drum, Earthwatch and Americas, have already roused the interest of a broad international public.
This book chronicles his visits to an indigenous community typical of many in the jungle. He describes the work of a yajé shaman, his techniques of healing, the plants he uses and their preparation. The book also discusses the sociological, therapeutic, philosophical and ethical meanings of yajé, which is becoming incorporated into new therapies and religious rites all over the world.
It seeks to find, in the endangered indigenous tradition, universal principles that may be adapted to Western culture without losing the ancient sense of reverence.
All this is narrated in the context of the author´s struggle to acclimatize himself to an alien culture and environment. His search for wisdom in a troubled wilderness region leads him to run into cocaine traders, tribal elders wary of white men, militant indigenist leaders, jealous anthropologists… and the Colombian guerrilla, whose threats bring his quest to an exciting climax that gives this real-life story a novelistic touch.
It seeks to find, in the endangered indigenous tradition, universal principles that may be adapted to Western culture without losing the ancient sense of reverence.
All this is narrated in the context of the author´s struggle to acclimatize himself to an alien culture and environment. His search for wisdom in a troubled wilderness region leads him to run into cocaine traders, tribal elders wary of white men, militant indigenist leaders, jealous anthropologists… and the Colombian guerrilla, whose threats bring his quest to an exciting climax that gives this real-life story a novelistic touch.
About Jimmy
JIMMY WEISKOPF was born in New York City and studied modern history at Columbia University and Cambridge University, England. He is a veteran of the foreign press corps in Colombia and contributor to an anthology written by some of its members. He has translated more than forty books for the Colombian publisher Villegas Editores, and Colombian poetry for the cultural magazine of the Colombian Foreign Ministry. A full-time resident of Colombia for 25 years, he is a naturalized Colombian citizen.
JIMMY WEISKOPF was born in New York City and studied modern history at Columbia University and Cambridge University, England. He is a veteran of the foreign press corps in Colombia and contributor to an anthology written by some of its members. He has translated more than forty books for the Colombian publisher Villegas Editores, and Colombian poetry for the cultural magazine of the Colombian Foreign Ministry. A full-time resident of Colombia for 25 years, he is a naturalized Colombian citizen.
The pioneering study of yajé, Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia, amply confirmed the extraordinary properties of this plant:
“Through use of this ´vine of the soul´, the payé (shaman) believes he can diagnose and treat illnesses… With these religious and superstitious foundations, he is thought to be able to regulate birth and death; …hunting and fishing; the weather; travel on the rivers and trips through the forests; the consecration of foods; agriculture… medicinal, toxic and hallucinogenic plants; the rearing of children; the construction of canoes; the preparation of curare”.
The paperback edition is now available from Amazon.com, VillegasEditores.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com and other online bookstores. At the moment the quickest shipping is offered by the Independent Publishers Group
“Through use of this ´vine of the soul´, the payé (shaman) believes he can diagnose and treat illnesses… With these religious and superstitious foundations, he is thought to be able to regulate birth and death; …hunting and fishing; the weather; travel on the rivers and trips through the forests; the consecration of foods; agriculture… medicinal, toxic and hallucinogenic plants; the rearing of children; the construction of canoes; the preparation of curare”.
The paperback edition is now available from Amazon.com, VillegasEditores.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com and other online bookstores. At the moment the quickest shipping is offered by the Independent Publishers Group
To get in touch with directly with Jimmy: jimmy_weiskopf@hotmail.com.