Black Smoke: Healing and Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon

This book was amazing! It actually took me into the Amazon. very well written and in my case being of Inca decent and an Empath/Energy Healer/massage therapist after reading it my Spirit was awoken to the power of Ayahuasca. Just before reading this book my "Soul Sister" and I had been talking about a trip to the Amazon for an Ayahuasca retreat. After reading Black Smoke, both of realized just how important it is for the two of us to make this journey. My son, Barrick, a follower of Palo, also read the book, as with Bindi and myself, he felt the Amazon calling him back home to our roots.Thank you Margaret for writing about your experiences. Believe me when I say, it touched my Spirit in the most profound way.Sincerely,Guerrera Del Rio

This book started off very well and was fascinating reading for a while. But half way through it began to drag. It became obvious that the shaman guy was just using the author for his own purposes. I wondered how she could have been so thick as not to realize that much. The book would have been much better if she had stopped writing after she found herself cured of her illness. The second half of the book is just too full of sickening hype for her so called teacher. I can't imagine how she could have tossed her husband and daughter aside for such a faker.

Another “Spiritual” book that has a lot to learn about spirituality and compassion.Let me just pull a single line directly from the book to sum up the narrative and the Ahimsa shown by the author and I’ll leave it at that:“I love cats but learned that the guinnea pigs at my feet would be quite tasty (when slaughtered)”Let that one sink in and pass on this unnecessary violence wrapped in religious trappings.

Love this book. We reference it all the time. “Burry yourself.” Lol you gotta believe.

This is an amazing journey from fear and sickness to health and wisdom.It shows the costs and rewards of taking on the shaman's way of life.Magnificent.

Awesome book..once again....Love this author. A true awakening.... will buy all books from this author!!

Black Smoke: A women’s Journey of Healing, Wild Love and Transformation in the Amazon was published in 2009. It tells the story about an upper middle class white woman who, in the year 2000, attends a meeting in Guatemala of Healers from across the Americas. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was seeking a cure. At this gathering she was initiated into the “Vine of the Maestros or La Mendicina Sagrada;” otherwise known as Ayahuasca. The Uwishin, Carlos, tells her that the vine has allowed him to see a black smoke residing in her breast and, by using the same medicine, he can help her. Our lady is shocked at his diagnosis as she has told no one about it in South America!WHY IS THIS BOOK IMPORTANT TO ME?I first learned of this plant in Michigan during a 1993 weekend gathering led by Luz Clara, a Mapuchi Shamaness that included a healing ceremony and education about various techniques the Mapuchi employs. During a break in our studies, I sat with others in circle and listed to an American physician of Hispanic ancestry talk about his experiences with what he called the vine of death. Someone in the group asked if this plant was anything like LSD:“Not in any way! This is a sacred plant used to teach those who cannot use ordinary means to access knowledge about spiritual dimensions. It is called the “Vine of Death” and believe me, I felt like I had died after my first round with it.”He then reported the vine itself had to be pounded into pulp and then boiled so that its hallucinogenic capacities could be extracted. A drink was made from this and other ingredients:“We drank the Ayahuasca and I was afraid of dying; afterwards, we all started throwing up and this convinced me I was going to die in spite of being told otherwise by our Teachers in the amazon. I had to try this several times before I had any visions but when I did I experienced reality in a completely different way. My senses were enhanced and an ant crawling on my skin felt like the brush of a comb. I had visions of how everything in life works together. Even stones impact humanity and visa versa. I know from this experience that everything is one….there is no separation.”After hearing those things I was both intrigued and fearful about the possibilities of using Ayahuasca for myself as a teacher plant! Since that time I have increased my knowledge about this plant, its use and preparation, and the legacy to human kind it can offer. I have not used it – yet! The closest I have come is by using Maria Juana in a sacred way versus just trying to get a buzz!So I read “Black Smoke” in the hopes of learning more about the relationship between Teacher and Student; when I say Teacher, I am referring both to La Mendicina Sagrada and to Margaret’s teacher, Carlos. But I learned there are many ways to look at this after reading the book.THE RELATIONSHIPSMargaret’s relationship to both Teachers was fraught with emotional, spiritual and physical boundary issues. She became willing to test those limits only after developing a life threating illness. Unbeknownst to her, the cure to the illness was a death sentence to parts of her life that had long ago withered. Much has been written in both allopathic and holistic literature about the nature of the teacher – student relationship. There are strict and moderate views of what is acceptable. A twist on a popular saying illustrates this: “When the student is ready, the teacher will come… when the teacher is ready the student arrives!” Carlos the Uwishin also had his boundaries tested: how would he deal with the luxuries provided for him when he began healing in the western world? And, after that world imprisoned him following the death of a group member post Ayahuasca ingestion, how would his own boundaries change? The larger question is how might a capitalist society change in response to the plants impact?It seems important for me to note that some spiritual seekers can gain access to knowledge and experience without the use of hallucinogenic drugs and others cannot (i.e., Don Juan’s use of hallucinogenic plants with Carlos Casteneda). Balance is the real energy behind all healing.So, yes; read this book and take from it what your highest self needs!

She was ahead of the curve, before ayahuasca was mainstream. This book is basically authentic....altho there might be some embellishment...(i've read alot on the subject...so i think there's some exageration in it. Her writing style is unscintillating ( not good, not really bad either).

I suppose if what you're looking for is a cheap romance novel set in the Amazonian jungle, you will definitely love this book. This is a mediocre book about an American middle-class woman who goes to the Amazonian rainforest and, after a series of smaller and boring events, starts an affair with a shaman called Carlos, who claims he wants to turn her into a shaman to be his heir, while giving the impression of being simply bent on using her to reach North America and its wealthy, intellectual/bohemian bourgeoisie-which he eventually succeeds in doing, at least temporarily. I found especially embarassing the supposedly erotic account of De Wys' first sexual encounter with Carlos, with him panting like a jaguar as in the cheapest erotic movie. The book does pick up in the last chapters, when it talks about Carlos in North America and observes the effect western society has on him, and him on the western patients he meets in New York.

One of the most honest and eye opening books about the Aya journey. Realistic, not idealistic. Very moving and beautiful.

A must read for anyone on a healing and Spiritual path. Very informative. I would strongly recommend you read this.

Heard M. De Wys on a podcast, the book didn't disappoint.