433 Chapter Seven Cosmos For the Matsigenka of Shimaa, kameti ...

Matsigenka religion is based on splitting: “the kama’garini are the reverse of the
saanka’rite” (Baer 1984: 176). As we see in the folktales, the primary characteristics of
demons are their aggressive and self-centered desires for sex, companionship, and food
(although just as often, the evil done in folktales flows from humans). Of the seven deadly sins,
the ones most prominent in Matsigenka stories are Anger first and foremost, followed by Lust,
Gluttony, and Sloth (all of which can cause anger). Greed and Envy make occasional
appearences, as perhaps does Pride if we count self-centered disregard of others and willful
disobedience. We know these impulses are treated as sins in the tales because the protagonists
who act on them are punished, almost always by death, loss or metamorphosis into animals or
demons (Baer 1984: 187). And we know that individuals are afraid that their own
transgressions will result in spiritual attack.
On the other side of the split are the unseen ones. Their living is easy, they eat little and
yet all their wants are satisfied. They are pure, imperturbable, immortal. The shaman who seeks
their help must avoid sexual intercourse before drinking ayahuasca, and must in general live an
exemplary life (Baer 1979: 115).
Yet into this happy dream comes an unwelcome intrusion: even the unseen ones are not
unambiguously good to us. They can be offended by our bad behavior, and so we must be
careful lest they withhold the benefits we seek from them. Like the ambiguity surrounding
animal spirits, who can either help us or harm us, the ambiguity of the unseen ones signals the
reservoir of ambivalence, originally felt toward parents and other loved ones, in which the
splitting originates.
There is a rough parallel here between the Matsigenka triad of
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