Mystical and Ego-Dissolution Experiences in Ayahuasca and Jurema Holistic Rituals: An Exploratory Study

ABSTRACT

Mystical and even ego-dissolution experiences can be elicited from entheogens, like sacred potions of ayahuasca and jurema. Although composed of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and having met at a historical moment, ayahuasca and jurema have different rituals, symbolic references, and origins. This article aims to describe ayahuasca and jurema rituals, in psychometric measures of mysticism and ego-dissolution experience and set/settings. Observational data were collected through the Hood Mysticism Scale and Ego Dissolution Inventory in a sample of 26 participants, and semi-structured interviews (n = 7), in a natural environment. Results showed that in the ayahuasca session, means for temporal quality, ineffability, and religious quality were significantly higher than in the jurema session, but no significant differences were found in the other facets of the ego-dissolution. In the ayahuasca session, EDI was positively significantly correlated with temporal and unifying quality, whereas in the jurema session, EDI was positively significantly correlated with religious, unifying, and inner subjectivity qualities. Ethnographic observations and interviews reveal that the setting plays a key role in those differences and the meaning of the experience. More studies are needed to improve our understanding of how the set/setting interacts in mystical experiences.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all participants and ceremony leaders who contributed to the present research. We also would like to thank Anajara Amarante and Toye Aribisala for their language comments, adaptations and reviews.

Author contributions

Robson Savoldi: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Software, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing, Visualization. Antonio Roazzi: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Review & Editing, Visualization. Rita de Oliveira Salles: Methodology, Data Collection, Visualization.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee. The Ethics Committee approved the research project of the Federal University of Pernambuco (CAAE: 38631120.7.0000.5208). Informed Consent for anonymous publication of results was obtained from participants included in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of the research, due to ethical supporting data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed in part by the National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. This work has been supported by the following Brazilian research agencies: National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). The first author was funded by grant #Process nº 142191/2019-1