There doesnt seem to be much info that goes into detal about the traditional preperation of yopo seeds..especially concerning the barks they use for ashes as a base and the use of caapi vine as an admixture..
I found this..hopefully someone finds it useful..origionally posted by Guest_reville_* at shaman-australis.com..
"Excerpte from;
Snuff Synergy reparation,Use and Pharmacology of Yopo and Banisteriopsis caapi among the Piaroa of Southern Venezuela
Robin Rodd
PhD candidate, Anthropology Dept.
University of Western Australia
Abstract
Current understanding of the preparation and use of yopo, a hallucinogenic snuff made from the ground seeds of the Anadenanthera peregrina tree, has departed little from the accounts of Scientistsand travellers made over a century ago.Schultes and others have made refinements to these early accounts.While several Scholars have drawn attention to the fact that little ethnographic work has been conducted to assess the ethnobotanical diversity and cultural framework of the snuff hallucinogen complex, few subsequnt studies deal with botanical variations in preparation and use.
This article contrasts historical accounts of yopo preparation with ethnographic data I have recently collected among the Piaroa of Southern venezuelato demonstrate one way in which yopo preparation and use deviates from the basic model established by Humboltd,Spruce and Safford.Piaroa shamans include B.caapi cuttings in the preparation of yopo and consume doses of B caapi prior to snuff inhalation concommittant with the strength of visions desired for particular tasks.I argue that the combined use of yopo and B caapi by Piaroa shamans is pharmacologically and ethnobotanically significant, substantiates claims of the use of admixtures in snuff, and demands further ethnographic investigation of the snuff hallucinogen complex.
Piaroa Yopo Preparation
as part of ongoing ethnographic fieldwork expedition, I lived for six months in 2000 with Jose-Luis Diaz, a highly respected Piaroa shaman of the middle Parguaza river.During this time i was able to witness the preparation of yopo on two occasions. The same process was followed each time and i was assured that the same process was and had been followed for all Piaroa shamans, although some were said to make stronger yopo than others.Jose-Luis maintained that potency depended partly on the quality of the ingredients used and partly on the shaman's timing and technique of blending ingredients.
Yopo seeds (Nua nu) are collected by the Piaroa from established tree stands as thet come to maturation from october to february. Suficient seeds are harvested at this tme to enable Piaroa shamans to prepare fresh yopo throughout the year, as necessity requires. Seeds from different areas are considered to be of various strengths and carry different names. Seeds derived from the grasslands of the lower Parguaza River( referred to as wekmanua) are recognised as the strongest in the entire area of Piaroa occupation and have attracted the interest of at least the neighbouring Hiwi and Piapoco.
A Piaroa shaman might collect from one or more stands of trees and give or trade seeds he has collected from certain stands with shamans living and collecting in other areas so that a diversity of seeds is kept at any given time. The current practice of yopo seed trade is consistent with historical accounts of long distance treks undertaken by Piaroa ritual specialiststo obtain powerful yopo or seeds sourced from the mature trees of the grasslands of the lower parguaza River (Mansutti Rodriguez 1986).
On the day yopo is to be made, a Piaroa shaman will begin by collecting the bark of a particular tree, valued for the fineness and whiteness of the resultant ash. The Piaroa use four diffrent trees for this purpose , depending on regional availability.
A tree reffrred to in Piaroa as nonyero is the prefferred wood of the Parguaza River shamans.Piaroa shamans maintain that the ash of this tree preserves the strength of yopo for the greatest duration.
For the Piaroa it is imperative that the strips of bark to be converted to ash appear intact and of good constitution when removed from the tree.Seitz (1979)noted a similar insistence on the use of only barks of impeccable physical constitution in those selected for their ash in the Waika preparation of epena. The bark of the firts five trees Jose-luis located in the forest near his house were 'too deteriorated' to be deemed adequate for use. The bark , removed with a machete had come off in stringy and insufficeintly large strips.Jose Luis assured me that the larger the sheets of bark that obe is able to peel away , the higher the quality of the resultant ash .Piaroa insistence on the selection of large , Healthy strips of bark for ash from specific trees is echoed in Seitz's decription (1979) of the Waika preparation of epena.bark is immediately cut into strips 10 to 15 centimetreswide and tied together.This bundle is suspended above a metal tray and lit from th bottom.Strips burn upwards and a white ash is collected from the tray below
While thebark is being reduced to ash, seeds are poured from various yopo tree stands are mixed in a large, purpose built mortarwith several fresh B.caapi cuttings. A. peregrina seeds and B caapi cuttings are pilverised with a heavy wooden pestle for 10-15 minutes.None of the pulverised seeds and B caapi mix can be allowed to fall on the ground while it is being reduced to paste. The piaroa regard such carelessness as a sign that the yopo maker has been poorly taught.Form and fluidity are important aspects in the yop making process. The makers'aesthetics of motion relate to the degree to which the end product takes the maker, one a smoothe voyag and the extent to which the shaman can demonstrate self-control under duress.
Piaroa shamans consider the manual process of working ash into the seed/ B caapi dough, and the attainment of a particular texture, as crucial to the sucess of the resulting yopo. As Jose-luis explains "It took me three years to learn how to make yopo with my father and my grandfather. The first time i lost it. The second time i lost it. The texture wasnt right. Now i know" When the correct amount of ash has been sufficientlt massaged ino the paste it "cpmes out like butter". In incremental doses an equal amount of ash as seed and caapi mix is massaged in. The resulting dough , containing pulverised A.peregrina seeds, B caapi cuttings and ash , is worked continuously and hard in the shamans hands for 30 minutes, throughout whuch time the shaman deveops a thick sweat. When the desired texture is achieved the dough (Tsunua asi) is flattened out on a plate like a large cookieand set within a grate made of thin wooden slats to stand vertically by the side of the fire. Piaroa yopo cooks for approximately 20 minutes.
Piaroa yopo preparation deviates in few but significant ways from early accounts made by humboldt and Spruce for middle orinocan tribes, and more contemporary cross- cultural accounts of its preparation. A quantity of B caapi was added to the yopo mixture on the two occassions I itnessed its preparation by Jose luis. I was assured by a further two Piaroa shamans of the parguaza river and two from the Carinagua river that B caapi was always used in the preparation of yopo. Jose luis, who had lived with the Hiwi and trained with a yanomami shaman maintained that the yopo of other tribes was far weaker than that of th piaroa.This could be attributable to the addition of B caapi in Piaroa snuff "
Long live the unwoke.