Spirit of the Rainforest: A Yanomamo Shaman's Story

This book reads as though you were there in the middle of it all. I know because I have been there and lived with the Yanomami. If you were to fly into the jungle and get off the plan these are the things you would see and experience. Many great insights into primitive cultures, especially into their view of the Spirit Realm can be gleaned from this book. Most importantly you get the tribal peoples perspective on Missionaries, Anthropologists, as well as who it is that is trying to destroy their culture and who is trying to preserve it. The intelligence of these people is outstanding, and their perception of the outside world is very revealing. If you want to understand primitive cultures, witchcraft, shamanism, and why it is so important to help our fellow man then read this book. By the way it is written in a page turner novel format, so much so once you start the book you wont want to put it down.

This book contains some disturbingly gruesome details of real wars the Yanomamo tribes of the Amazon had with one another.... It is never-the-less an awesome look into the world of evil deceiving spirits who fight for the souls of these indians and who "quake" at even the thought of Jesus, and who the Yanomamosshamans caught lying about Jesus. The Indians know Jesus as "Yai Pada" and the Father, who they call "Yai Wana Naba Laywa". They knew of Jesus before the first white man came. The evil Spirits only wanted to lead these Indians to a life of war and revenge. Which reminds me about what Father Amorth a Catholic Exorcist wrote about these demons: "I have heard demons tell me many times that they suffer more during exorcisms than in hell. When I ask "Why don't you go to hell, then?" they answer, "Because we are only interested in making this person suffer."Jungleman the Shaman wrote: "I wish I had known the truth about Yai Wana Naba Laywa when I was a young man--it would have saved me so much pain and misery. But how could I? My spirits lied so much to me and tricked me. They were so beautiful, so wonderful, so hard not to want. They were the best at telling me split-truth. Now I'm at the end of this life, and I'm ready to begin my real life with Yai Pada."

I bought this book mainly because I've been reading about spiritual warfare and deliverance for the past couple of years and this is an account of a culture that sees into the spirit world, the "unseen realm," as a matter of course. The other thing that interested me in the book was the debate going on in the comments where, I believe it was Shoefoot himself, that refuted some of the claims against it.It's interesting for several reasons. It makes you reconsider what the impact Westerners truly have on the societies they are helping. One thing is very clear is that as it states in 1 Corinthians 13, works (and help) without love is nothing. Going in, thinking we are "above" them without befriending and walking along beside them is meaningless.The story is an account of a group of Yanomamo Indians through several generations told from the point of view of the shaman, Jungleman. It is a harsh and brutal society, the worst actions prompted by their spirit guides. That is part of the uniqueness of the account, that the shamans step from one world to the next like walking through a door. Often that spirit world interjects itself uninvited.Beyond staying alive, the driving force behind the culture is one of revenge, getting one up on their enemies. The savage rape and murder that is a standard practice as recorded in this book is confirmed in other first person accounts.The account shifts when Shoefoot, the apprentice of Jungleman, makes the decision to follow Christ, and in doing so, "throws away his spirits." This begins a clear demarcation between those living in brutality and the new Christ followers who form a new village called Honey Village.This is not written as an evangelical text at all. It is all just very straightforward, but the underlying message is one of transformation through Christ.It was also interesting to read in the appendix of the push back from people reading it (you can see some of in the reviews and comments as well.) I'm not sure what bothers people more about the book, that it paints an unflattering picture of anthropologists and their exploitation and observing the people like they were animals or that it so clearly proclaims the message that Jesus saves.In the appendix, the author relays an exchange between Shoefoot and a college student when Shoefoot came to the U.S. for a tour. The student asked, "Why can't you get rid of the spirits without being religious?" To which Shoefoot replied, "I don't know any other way."Because in their culture, after hosting the spirits throughout their life and following their directions, once they were done with you they killed you. Jungleman resisted Jesus, even though he felt the stirring in his spirit every time he visited the Christ followers in Honey Village year after year, until the moment his spirits turned on him and tried to kill him. Then he called on Jesus.There are so many clear illustrations of spiritual principles in the book that it's hard to remember that it wasn't written as a book for spiritual development. Some things that stood out to me:~ Jungleman said "When you spend time with your spirits, more will come." It is good to remember that when we refuse to let go of thoughts and actions outside of God's will, the unclean spirits we are making room for in our lives call their friends.~ The Yanomamo believers understood very clearly, probably better than the Western church does, that when you decide to follow Jesus you have to "throw away" the old spirits. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 1 Corinthians 5:17 One of the Yanomamo believers identified very quickly when a professed Christian with hidden sexual sin was in their midst while the Western believers were completely unaware, because they recognized the spirit. They didn't understand how someone could be a Christian and still have those spirits. Good question.~ The story clearly illustrates the lie of the demonic. Their spirits claimed to be helping them while they were wreaking havoc and destruction in their lives. They had to hide in the jungle, walking from place to place starving, because they had attacked another village and were in fear for their lives. The children were fed last and the old and weak were left to die alone.Again, this isn't a Christian book, but it is a book about Christ because he is the true hero of the story. In the appendix, the author shared that when the book was first published several Christian organizations pulled back from promoting it because some people felt there was too much violence, rape, and murder in it. The incidences are written factually, not salaciously.To that I would also say, have you read the Bible? Specifically Judges 20 and 21? This book reminded me exactly of that, what society looks like when everyone does what is "right in his own eyes."

During the last couple of days I had the opportunity to read this book in a German translation and I was so hooked by it that I couldn’t stop reading. After two and a half' days I was though! The book describes the story of a former Yanomamö shaman (called “Jungle man”) from his own point of view and it goes beyond the acceptance limit, because of the brutality and the atrocities which are described in details which I never expected. But this book is one of the most important testimonies according tribal people living in their own way of belief and traditions.It gets rid of all these clichés of the “happy savages” which “live in harmony with each other and the nature”. Nothing is more far away than the reality told in this book: infanticide, mass rape and stealing of women, killing of other villages, blood vengeance – and all caused by their religion system. These people live in a terrible fear after the killings and they’re definitely not lucky people!Tribal people don’t live in ideal world as we describe it again and again. Those who postulate those people shall remain as they are condemn them to die out, because in such a culture of death and blood revenge nobody of a small group will survive. If someone refuses to believe this, he will get angry about the book and its message (that a chnage is possible by accepting the love of our Creator and to receive the power of Jesus Christ to be set free from the evil Spirits), but those people who are willing to test their own point of view will be surprised.Those who want the tribal people to remain in their traditions impose unknowingly that these people remain living on the step of stone age without realizing that we in Western culture don’t even want to live like 100 years ago, not to mention 2000 years or more. An absolutely honest and courageous, long overdue book. Thank you very kindly, Mark Andrew Ritchie for providing the testimony of Chief Jungle man. I’m also grateful for the German translators as well! My English copy of this book is just ordered and I can’t wait to read this terrific book in its original language! Highest vote – highly recommended getting a copy now!

This book, which is essentially evangelical missionary propaganda, is criticised in detail in an article on Napoleon Chagnon's 'scientific' work with the same Indians. See [...]