While wandering the streets in San Blas, Cuzco, Peru, I came across an elegant pottery shop. The pieces were exquisite, crafted by artisans with years of experience with designs inspired by Inca, Nazca, Paracas, Moche and Chavin culture.
When I saw the bizarre designs of the Nazca and Paracas inspired pieces, I was shocked with how they were perfect depictions of the ‘energy beings’ that one experiences on ayahuasca. The owner told me that they were not his designs, but they were copied from traditional Nazca pieces. My immediate idea was that these ancient people used the sacred plant medicine and from their visions, they created this incredible art. Things get even more interesting.
The Nazca are the same people that made the lines in the desert that can only be seen from the sky. They are also the people that elongated their skulls. All these seems to point to a relationship with aliens. There is also recent research by Rick Strassman and others that point to the similarities between the DMT experience (the ingredient in ayahuasca tea that produces the visions) and stories of alien encounters.
Doing bit more research I found out that images of the cactus San Pedro (known as Wachuma in the Quechua language) are found in ceramics of these cultures, along with images of shamans. The active ingredient in San Pedro is mescaline, known to produce equally powerful visions sometimes similar to ayahuasca.
So my theory is that the Nazca people were taking San Pedro cactus, having profound visions that led them to their bizarre art and practices. With a little more evidence that theory could be accepted by academia, (and perhaps already is.) But I have an even more radical theory, that the Nazca people were actually in contact with alien-like beings – the ones depicted in their pottery – via the hallucinogenic cactus. And these aliens exist in other dimensions of reality beyond our familiar world of space and time, and they are as real (or as unreal) as ourselves.
(Note: This post was updated on Aug 24, 2009 to include the San Pedro Cactus.)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I love these images. Birthing, dancing, puking power and beauty, inner and outer woven of one cloth . . . . Usually when we think of aliens, we think of beings from other planets. This sounds more like beings from parallel universes. Perhaps in various dream or trance states we access these other dimensions. I wonder if the Jungian theory of archetypes and collective unconscious is also an exploration of the wisdom of inconnectedness that goes beyond what we think of as humanity. Many indigeneous cultures had practices that carried people beyond their ego structures so that they opened to other dimensions of knowing. So often art and literature from around the world accesses vivid dreamlike creatures and places that we all seem to recognize -
- and another question is how does this speculation help us in our day to day being/ living/ choices ? . . .
Hi Robin, when i encounter these other dimensions of reality, either in art, literature, stories of psychedelic explore, or in my own experience, I cannot help but wonder, what is going on? what are these place? are they all self created (it doesn’t seem 100% so) are they windows to other ‘real’ worlds? are they connecting us to the grand mystery, which is nothing other than consciousness? but your final question is the most vital one? how does it help us be good honest, loving, open hearted humans now? I’m not sure how it all connects, but i feel in my heart that it does somehow. The adventure continues…
The Nazca People used to take a cacti called “San Pedro” (Wachuma on their native language) wich is similar to peyote (mescaline). This cacti actually makes you see other surfaces on the world while you’re on a non-ordinary state of consciousness.
Miruku, Thanks for your comment. In the months since I wrote the above post, I’ve changed my understanding to exactly what you mention. What surprises me, is that I can’t find any reference in academia of this theory. Most books and papers on the subject of Moche, Nazca, and Paracas civilizations mention the use of hallucinogenic plants such as San Pedro, but when it comes to explaining the fantastic imagery, they don’t connect the dots.
Deryk, your theory is interesting, I’m really skeptic about the chaman culture, here in Perú they still use the ayahuasca, san pedro, coca and other stuff from the jungle, all those plants mixed allows them to get mental states besides the conscience… about the Paracas and Nazca culture you have to know that this region is near to the tectonic plate(which is the main cause of a lot of earthquakes in this region), well some people say that the alien ships hide inside the cracks of Nazca plate; personally I don’t believe in this theories but who knows… if you like those bizarre images in Nazcca pottery, you have to check the Mochica culture…
There’s a text on the net ‘enter the jaguar’ which discusses the use of hallucinogenic cacti and dmt containing plant sources at the south american ‘chavin de huantar’ site. There’s also a documentary on youtube about it. Paul devereux mentions the site as well in his book ‘the long trip: a history of psychedelia’. Some other antropologists who wrote about the plant hallucinogens include reichel dolmatoff, dobkin de rios and stefan de borhegyi. Another good read is ‘hallucinogens and culture’ and of course the writings of Terence Mckenna. This is a very fascinating subject, there’s been a small but dedicated crowd, and there’s still a lot to be discovered. have a nice day!