Kambô: A Shamanistic Ritual Arriving in the West - Description, Risks and Perception by the Users

Abstract

The impact of priests and their institutions is vanishing in our culture. This depletes the society from religious experiences. However, many are looking into new ways of experiencing the essence of life. One of the new sources inspiring people to reconnect with themselves and with nature can be found in shamanism. Since some decades now rituals from the Amazon based on herbal products such as Ayahuascaare increasingly seen in Europe and the United States. Recently, people started to experiment with Kambô, a skin secretion from an Amazonian giant leaf frog, containing a number of neuroactive and vasoactive peptides, such as phyllocaerulein, phyllokinin, sauvagine, adenoregulin, deltorphins, and dermorphin. From a pharmacological and medical perspective, the Kambôritual is based on voluntary inducing a mostly relative brief period of intoxication, from a shamanistic perspective it is about a medicine which brings healing and classically prepares tribe members for more efficient hunting. There are even reports from patients claiming to be cured of cancer. We will present both some medical as well as shamanic and transpersonal perspectives related to this ritual, discuss adverse events, interactions and contra-indications and add some recommendations for its use.

Is Kambô psychoactive? Acute and subacute effects of the secretion of the Giant Maki Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) on human consciousness

“…Notably, to date none of the substances that have been identified in the Kambô secretion display any serotonergic activity. However, from its Amazonian origins to its use in the context of Brazilian syncretic religions like the Santo Daime and the União do Vegetal 5 and, finally, to its use in Western healing circles, Kambô has often been associated with the spread of the serotonergic psychedelic ayahuasca 7 . Ayahuasca is an Amazonian shamanic concoction of different plants, including plants (e.g.…”

“…Notably, different names used for the frog’s secretion include “Kambô”, “kampu”, “vaccino da floresta” and also “sapo”, which incorrectly means “toad” in Spanish. This variability of the terms has sometimes led to a confusion of Kambô with the secretion of the Sonoran Desert Toad (Bufo alvarius), which is also referred to as “sapo” 7 . In contrast to Kambô, however, the toad’s secretion contains the potent serotonergic psychedelics 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) 11 and bufotenine, which is usually smoked or snorted, immediately inducing strong psychedelic experiences 12 .…”