Chavin de Huntar is one of the most ancient and mysterious archaeological sites in Peru. It’s located in the central part of the country, about 100 Km from the town of Huaraz.
Chavin de Huantar was the ceremonial and healing centre of the Chavin culture. Although the history of this civilization is still shrouded in mystery, it is known that the hallucinogenic plants like San Pedro were the protagonists of its rituals.
Chavin de Huantar was the ceremonial and healing centre of the Chavin culture
The mysteries related to the construction
Chavin de Huantar was built 3,180 metres above the sea level, in the valley between the Wacheqsa and Mosna rivers.
Its construction probably dates back to 2,000-1,500 B.C. . However, the dating is still uncertain as human remains have never been found (only llama bones and remains of hallucinogenic plants).
The big stones used to build Chavin de Huntar are mainly in granite.
The big stones used to build Chavin de Huntar are mainly in granite
The closest granite mine is 45 Km away. How was it possible to move the stones from the mine and to cut them so perfectly?
Similar mysteries concern the history of more recent civilizations like Tiahuanaco and the Incas, who probably learned the art of building and stone cutting from Chavin.
The transformation of the human being into the jaguar
As it’s still visible in important artefacts of the Chavin culture, like the Raimondi Stele, the Lanzon and the Tenon Heads, the main Chavin god was a being with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic traits: bird’s talons and feet, hair made of anacondas, jaguar’s face and so on.
The Chavin worshipped the strength of the condor, the anaconda, the caiman and the jaguar. A certain kind of power was associated to each one of them.
As other civilizations from the Amazonia, the Chavin believed in the myth of the man turning into a jaguar
As other civilizations from the Amazonia, the Chavin believed in themyth of the man turning into a jaguar to achieve the feline’s power. Symbolically, the shamanic ceremonies were aimed at undertaking this process of transformation through the ingestion of hallucinogenic plants, like the cactus San Pedro.
For this reason, the Chavin gods are always portrayed with dilated pupils, which are one of the effects of hallucinogenic substances.
The cactus San Pedro
Many bass-reliefs and sculptures in Chavin de Huantar include representations of the cactus San Pedro.
Today, as in pre-Columbian times, many Andean and Amazonian cultures perform rituals which involve the use of native plants like coca leaves, tobacco, San Pedro and Ayahuasca.
These plants have always been used to reach other levels of consciousness, to get to know oneself, to connect with the divine as well as medical plants.
The San Pedro, very important for the Chavin culture, still has this purpose. The cactus, which in quechua is called Wachuma and grows between 2,000 and 3,000 metres, contains mescaline.
The cactus San Pedro, as many other medical plants, has been widely used by the Chavin culture
Photo credits Forest Starr & Kim Starr
The Spanish name was coined by the indigenous people after the arrival of the Spaniards. They tried (with no success) to make the Christian priests understand their culture and the importance of this sacred plant.
Like the San Peter Apostle guards the doors of the Christian heaven, so the cactus San Pedro guards the doors of the Andean spiritual world. The Christian priests condemned the San Pedro and the whole culture related to it as the work of the devil.
In Chavin de Huantar the ceremonies involving the consumption of San Pedro used to take place in the 45 underground galleries of the temple.
The end of Chavin
It is thought that Chavin de Huantar and the entire Chavin civilization ended around the 500 B.C. . The cause was maybe a natural disaster that destroyed most of the buildings. The place and its priests lost their prestige.
However, the culture of San Pedro is still strong today on the Andes.
Neither a natural disaster nor a priest from far away have managed to destroy it yet. This plant is still considered sacred by many indigenous people and the benefits of its consumption, if guided and in a context of spiritual growth, are undeniable.
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