by Jeremy Narby
Review by Cate Montana

In 1985 Jeremy Narby was an eager, 25 year-old anthropology student doing fieldwork for his doctorate in anthropology from Stanford University. For two years he lived amongst the Ashaninca natives in the community of Quirishari in the Peruvian Amazon’s Pichis Valley. "My training had lead me to expect that people would tell tall stories," relates Narby. "I thought my job as an anthropologist was to discover what they really thought, like some kind of private detective."

The only "tall story" Narby heard however, was a consistent one. In conversations about plants, animals, the forests, herbal remedies, and all things related to Nature, Narby was told over and over again that the source of all the native’s deep knowledge was gained by the work of ayahuasqueros, the shamans who would drink a hallucinatory preparation of the ayahuasca vine. "Each time, I would ask myself what they really meant when they said this," he says.

Despite the astonishing botanical knowledge of the people, whose gardens were masterpieces of seemingly random but actually highly sophisticated companion planting, and whose pharmacopeia from over 80,000 Amazonian plant species was nothing short of miraculous… Narby, like anthropologists before him, maintained a jaundiced air of Western superiority. The only crack in the veneer came when he actually experienced an ayahuasca journey under the supervision of a native guide, well trained in the vine’s use. As visions and non-verbal knowledge poured into him during his experience, he was appalled to witness the "bottomless arrogance of my presupposition." The experience changed his life.

Narby returned to his native Switzerland, finished his dissertation and went to work with an organization dedicated to promoting community development in Third World countries. He also started writing a book on Amazonian shamanism and ecology. But his real breakthrough in understanding came when he decided to abandon the Western position of intellectual skepticism that said that plants can’t communicate and that knowledge can only be transmitted verbally. He embraced the shamans at their word - and was shocked to discover how precisely the images and "language" of ayahuasceros and other shamans from around the world matched modern genetic discoveries in DNA.

On all five continents, shamans recognize the existence of animate essences, or "spirits," common to all life forms, both human and non-human. Their descriptions, whether emanating from the Amazon, or the deserts of Australia are remarkably consistent, referring to spiral ladders, stairways, vines, braided ropes, and two-headed serpents linking heaven and earth. Creation stories from all five continents refer to the cosmic serpent. The images exactly match the double helix form of DNA and chromosome structures which are identical in all life forms on Earth.

Aboriginal rock art, it appeared, could have been copied from images taken from under an electron microscope.

Clearly and engagingly written, The Cosmic Serpent is a journey of revelation and a healing of cultures. The humbling discoveries of one scientist, and the shattering of narrow-minded viewpoints and prejudice, are a delight to behold. And bless him, Narby never misses an opportunity to give credit to the wisdom of his "simple" native friends.

Returning to the Pichis Valley after nine years, he sat down with one of his local mentors, eagerly relating his discoveries. "Uncle," he writes. "Remember all those things you explained in the tape recorder that I had trouble understanding? Well, after thinking about it for years, and then studying it, I have discovered that in scientific terms all the things you told me were true."

"What took you so long?" he said.