The Legend of Kambo
Legend has it that once upon a time the Kaxinawa tribe of the Upper Amazon were struck down by a mysterious disease that defied all of their known remedies.
At night, surrounded by groaning and grieving, the elders gathered around the fire, trying to work out what was happening. Perhaps they had been cursed by a rival tribe. Perhaps it was something the Spaniards had brought into the forest.
A dire fate–even extinction–beckoned. At this realization, Pajé Kampú, one of the tribe's older shamans, decided to venture deep into the forest on a vision quest. In a remote spot, far from everyone and everything, he cooked a potent brew of ayahuasca and drank it at sunset.
That night, in answer to his prayers, the Queen of the Forest appeared in his vision. Beckoning him to the trunk of an enormous tree, She flicked her eyes upwards. Old Pajé Kampú followed her gaze. Something was moving up there among the leaves...
You can imagine Pajé Kampú's surprise–and relief–when a bright green frog climbed down onto his shoulder. With no claws or teeth (actually, frogs do have bony protuberances in their mouths to help them chew, but these are not sharp or dangerous) Pajé Kampú wondered how this harmless creature could help him.
'Don't be deceived,' said the Queen, reading his thoughts. 'This amiable little fellow is a prince of the forest. No one ever bothers him–not even the great anaconda Sachamama! 'Is he poisonous?' said Pajé Kampú. Yes, but as you know, the poisons of the forest are medicines, if you know how to use them.' And without further ado the Queen showed Pajé Kampú how to work with the frog.
Pajé Kampú returned to the tribe and at once set about treating them with the new medicine. Needless to say, it worked! Not only did it cure the tribe of the mysterious disease, it served to cure snakebite, malaria and curses.
Indeed, the wonder medicine infused them with the spirit of the frog–a power nobody would have guessed was housed in such a little green body.
“Kambô circulates in the heart. Our shaman said that when we take kambô it makes the heart move accurately, so that things flow, bringing good things to the person. It is as if there was a cloud on the person, preventing the good things to come, then, when it takes the kambo;
it comes a ‘green light’ which opens its ways, making things easier.”
— from “Kambô, The Spirit of the Shaman” by Professor Marcelo Bolshaw Gomes