SAN PEDRO, AN INTERVIEW WITH AN ANDEAN HUACHUMERA

San Pedro (Trichocereus pachanoi), the sacred mescaline cactus and visionary teacher plant of the South Americas, is especially associated with the shamans and healers (curanderos) of the Peruvian Andes. It has other names among these healers as well, including “El Remedio”: The Remedy, which refers to its healing and visionary powers which, they say, help us let go of “the illusions of the world”.

Even its post-Hispanic name, San Pedro, embodies these qualities because Saint Peter is the holder of the keys to Heaven and its name therefore speaks of an ability to open the gates into another world where those who drink it can heal, discover their divinity, and find purpose on Earth.

It is also known as huachuma and this is how it is most often referred to by the shamans who use it, who call themselves huachumeros (male) or huachumeras(female). The earliest archaeological evidence so far discovered of its use as a sacrament and healer is a stone carving of a huachumero found at the Jaguar Temple of Chavín de Huantar in northern Peru, which is almost 3,500 years