Psychedelic Snuffs of South America: Yopo, Willka, & Epena
Decoding one of the oldest psychedelic traditions — snorting psychedelic plants…
In the Amazon, tribes carry knowledge of countless plants that Western botanists haven't even categorized yet.
Across the Andes, elites in ancient civilizations prized snuffs of various botanical origins — what, exactly, they were taking remains a mystery.
Potent psychoactives like N,N,DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and bufotenine found in various plants are inactive if eaten. But when snorted (snuffed), these compounds are able to bypass a series of enzymes in the gut that aggressively attack and destroy these psychoactive molecules before they take effect. The main deactivating enzyme for DMT is called monoamine oxidase (MAO for short). But even that is only the tip of the snuff iceberg.
If you ask vegetalistas (Amazonian plant experts), they will tell you there's much more going on here. Plants have spirits or personalities, and if you care to include a shaman’s unique energy, songs, prayers, or seasonal rituals, snuffs become a pretty complex cocktail. Not to mention intentions varying from healing to shamanic warfare.
Ayahuasca can serve as an analogy for understanding the challenges of categorizing snuffs. Often, ayahuasca is simply described as a potion of ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and chacruna (Psychotria viridis) leaves. But in practice, a long list of both active and inactive plants may be added to brew.
Choices of what to include will depend on the skill and goals of the person brewing the medicine, with some plants having unique pharmacological properties or shamanic significance. The process of making a snuff is not so different. The Amazon is the world's biggest pharmacy and the people who dwell there use it in an incredible variety of ways.
Much like ayahuasca, snuff traditions are a mixed bag. Different tribes or regions may use snuffs for healing, warfare, magic, or understanding life. Other groups can take snuffs casually and socially, unwinding after a long week and enjoying time with friends.
Even if magic isn’t your thing, there is something to be said for the context such a rich system of beliefs creates — a very distinct set, setting, and expectation, which are well known through scientific research to influence the effects of psychedelics.
Yopo Traditions
Yopo is maybe the most well-known psychedelic snuff. Made from the seeds of the Anadenanthera peregrina tree and is still used in the Orinoco River basin in modern-day Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. A remote region of the Amazon rainforest with dense jungle, no cell service, and boat or walk-in access is home to many different tribes connected only through similarities in language and landscape.
Yopo doesn’t grow natively in the region. Although some cultivate it in agroforestry gardens, yopo trees come from a tropical savannah called cerrado. Certain trees are prized and those looking for the best seeds will travel great distances to get them.
The thorny trunk of the Anadenanthera tree can stretch up to 20 meters, with feather-shaped foliage and white to greenish-yellow flowers. These give way to 30 cm long seed pods full of magic beans, which are harvested, toasted over fires, ground up, and mixed with ash and other plants.
Competition between tribes for this hot commodity led to the seeds and tradition spreading, making it all the way to the West Indies, where it was used as Cohoba. Indeed, early Spanish reports are aghast at locals performing cohoba traditions with these snuffs to prophesize and commune with spirits.
Missionaries called the snuffs devil worship, and it wouldn’t be until more curious explorers like Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes sampled snuffs that the practices and the intense psychedelic effects would become appreciated by outsiders.
The origins of yopo are tough to know precisely and how much longer the tradition will survive is uncertain. Environmental destruction by illegal logging and mining combined with youth pulled into the modern world threaten the tradition. The Orinoco yopo is still used in healing, social, and shamanic contexts.
We don’t have a date for when yopo first appeared. One group, known as the Piaroa people, practice shamanic yopo traditions and include yopo in their origin myths, saying that the drugs preceded thought — communicating how fundamental the snuff is to them.
Performing both healing and sorcery, a shaman may use yopo frequently, but Piaroa stories also contain lessons about the dangers of overusing or misusing mind-altering substances.
Willka Traditions
In Northwest Argentina, tombs estimated to be almost 4000 years old were discovered in the unforgiving San Pedro de Atacama desert. The mummified bodies were buried with paraphernalia used to consume a snuff called Willka, representing the oldest evidence of psychedelic use we have.
Willka means ‘sacred’ in Quechua, and you can still buy it in markets in South America, making it the oldest psychedelic tradition. The practice is a shadow of what it once was, though. Surviving archeological evidence of the Tiawinaku and Wari cultures shows that as much as 20% of adult males once used the snuffs. Today, you would be lucky to find more than a few merchants with the snuff.
An abundance of special snuff trays carved from wood and bone have been recovered all over the continent, along with trace amounts of DMT, bufotenine, and 5-MeO-DMT. Hairs of mummified people contained harmine, too — suggesting knowledge of the ayahuasca vine.
The trays are often carved with figures and animals performing rituals. One can imagine these trinkets being prized possessions. The trays are so collectible it’s amazing modern festival goers don’t yet have a modern version. Willka seeds can also be smoked in pipes and cigars as well.
Today, in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, the snuff can still be found under the name Willka those willing to search in open-air markets. In Argentina, names include cebil, chip, and kipi. The seeds are dried and traded as high-value items in areas where they are scarce, including on Etsy.
Willka is derived from the Anadenanthera colubrina tree, a close relative of Anadenanthera peregrina. The tree has a high-priority conservation status in Brazil due to logging for firewood, furniture, and to aid in tanning leather. It also has a thorny trunk, feathered leaves, white to yellowish flowers, and, yes, pods full of psychedelic seeds.
Across South America, the seeds (technically legumes) are still used as amulets to attract luck or ward off evil and as offerings to spirits of sacred mountains and lakes — foundational forces of Andean spirituality.
We don’t know exactly what the Wari or Tiawinaku did with Willka, although archeological interpretations suggest elites added the seeds to chica, a fermented corn beer still beloved in the Andes. Psychedelic enemas may even have been part of the program. Archeologists have speculated that such events were exclusive and that knowledge of how to prepare and use psychedelics could have contributed to solidifying power structures.
What is Epena?
Yopo and Willka are not the only psychedelic snuffs. Indeed, when Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Schultes published a summary of 15 years of studying snuffs in the Amazon, he referenced mixtures that were no longer made, only remembered by elders in communities. It’s entirely possible other psychedelic snuffs have been lost, forgotten, or hidden from outsiders.
Another distinct snuff survives as epena, ebene, or nykwana. Often lumped in with yopo and Willka, epena is unique.
German botanist T-Koch-Grunberg was the first to document epena for outsiders, recording the Yekana people in the Orinoco using a ‘magical snuff’ made from the bark of trees, not seed pods. Epenea is made by extracting the inner sap of the trees and then cooking it down, drying it, and making a powder, often in combination with other plants.
Although there are dozens of Virola species in the Amazon with diverse uses like treatment of malaria and skin conditions, Schultes lists V. calophylla, V. calophylloidea, and V. elongata as favored for snuffing. Native to Central and South America Virola trees are in the nutmeg family, have shiny leaves, and produce clusters of small white flowers.
Epena is used not only by shamans but also by common folk, sometimes being encouraged among males above the age of 14. One translation says epena means ‘semen of the gods,’ and its uses are wide and varied. Snuu Voogelbriender writes that some would take epena to ‘converse with the little people,’ while others partook in frequent ‘almost recreational use.’
Virola is also used in the manufacture of specific dart poisons, and Voogelbriender recounts some individuals scraping darts for snuffing material when they run out.
Will Snuffs Survive?
Snuffing was once a respectable and fashionable thing in the 17th century. The fad took hold shortly after tobacco snuffs like hape were brought back from South America. Clearly, the style has shifted (it seems we prefer flavored vapes today), but this is only after an incredibly long run.
At the capital of the Tiawinaku empire in modern-day Bolivia, massive stones weighing many tons are detailed with intricate carvings show figures brandishing snuff trays. Stones at Chavin in Peru show figures with snot pouring from their nostrils — a common side effect of snuff use.
Of all the possible parts of their culture that could be depicted, these snuffs were chosen with a clear reverence. The many tribes and empires of South America would not be the last group to create shrines to honor their sacraments or sacred paraphernalia to enjoy them with.
Today, disappearing landscapes and cultures make snorting anything other than cocaine, ketamine, or tusi rarer and rarer.
Perhaps that is simply the way culture progresses.
Like our ancestors, we also pursue altered states, much like I assume future generations will. Along that timeline, the context and intentions of drug use will always change, and it does make one wonder what the humans of the future will say about how we used our drugs.
Further Reading
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