What is it about?
This chapter explores how a spiritual center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—called Arca da Montanha Azul—uses ayahuasca and other entheogenic plants as part of healing rituals. These rituals combine plant medicine with music, dance, meditation, and group sharing. The house welcomes people from different spiritual backgrounds and believes that healing is not just physical but also emotional and spiritual. By participating in these ceremonies, people may experience personal transformation, visions, and inner peace. The process is guided by experienced practitioners in a supportive, non-hierarchical community.
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Why is it important?
This study offers an in-depth ethnographic look at how entheogenic healing works in a multi-religious urban context outside the Amazon. It is unique in presenting Arca da Montanha Azul as a space that blends Indigenous knowledge, psychotherapy, artistic expression, and spiritual teachings from multiple global traditions. The focus on “phenomenological healing” and the ethical protocols around power, gender, and consent also makes this work especially relevant in contemporary discussions on psychedelics and mental health. The chapter contributes to the anthropology of healing, psychedelics, and religion at a time of growing global interest in sacred plant medicines.
Perspectives
Writing this chapter was a meaningful opportunity to share years of field research and personal connection with Arca da Montanha Azul, a space that bridges healing, spirituality, and community care. As someone who has walked this path both as researcher and participant, I hope the text honors the depth and complexity of the practices described. I also hope it helps illuminate the transformative potential of entheogenic healing when rooted in ethics, compassion, and collective wisdom. Sharing these insights is, in itself, part of the reciprocity that this work demands.
Frederico Romanoff
Federal University of Santa Catarina
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Plants of God? The Healing Process with Entheogenic Plants in the Arca da Montanha Azul, June 2025, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004729759_012.
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