Among the Wiradjeri of Australia, the shamanic neophyte becomes "enlightened" by being sprinkled with a "sacred powerful water" that is considered liquefied quartz. Eliade observes, "All this is as much as to say that one becomes a shaman when one is stuffed with 'solidified light,' that is, with quartz crystals." He suggests, "they feel a relation between the condition of a supernatural being and a superabundance of light."'The perception of the shaman as one who is giving off light, particularly in a "crown," an aura from the head, is also true of the Jivaro. The halo, which is multicolored, forms only when the shaman is in an ayahuasca-induced altered state of consciousness. It can only be seen by another shaman in a similar state of consciousness (see Plate 1).
(edited)