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Reichel-Dolmatoff – Amazonian Cosmos

The Milky Way is conceived as a large skein of fibers of the cumare palm (Astrocaryum) that floats in a turbulent current arching over the Earth. This current is called mirunye boga/"wind skein," and comes from the lower zone, flowing from east to west.

The fibers of cumare, which are yellow or whitish, symbolize sperm among the Desana, and the Milky Way is interpreted as an immense seminal flow that fertilizes all of the intermediate zone.

This principle of fertilization has, however, a somewhat ambivalent character. In the first place, the Milky Way is the zone of communication where contact between terrestrial beings and supernatural beings is established. These contacts are obtained by means of hallucinogenic drugs or, at least, by means of visions induced by a state of profound concentration.

The Milky Way is directly designated as the "zone of hallucinations and visions" into which the paye and other persons who take a hallucinogenic drug can penetrate and thereby pass from one cosmic level to another. This zone is dominated by Viho-mahse, the divine personification of the viho powder (Piptadenia) who, in a state of perpetual trance, travels along this celestial way observing the earth and its inhabitants.

In their trance the payes rise to the Milky Way to ask Viho-mahse to serve as intermediary with the other divine personifications, Emekori-mahsee, Diroa-mahse, or Vai-mahse. But on the other hand, the Milky Way is the dwelling place of the sicknesses. It can be thought of as a large, rising river in whose turbulent and foaming waters float residue and waste; these are the essences of putrefaction and, consequently, are very dangerous pathogenic factors for living beings.

Putrefaction is the same as illness, and Viho-mahse can channel the current in such a way that illnesses come to contaminate the earth. The Milky Way is also the place where the vultures live, or the "ancient eagles."