Ayahuasca - Plant Of The Gods

Judging by the richness of associated mythology, the utilization of Ayahuasca, pronunced EYE-a-was-ca, for visionary experiences appears to be primeval. Pre-Colombian rock drawings are like recent ayahuasqueros pantings, which are said to represent vage visions. However , earliest known record of the practices associated with this botanical wasn't set down till the middle of the 19th century.

Harmaline and other harmala alkaloids appear throughout the plant world and are the principle psychoactive ingredient in the'magical' drink yage, recounted YAH-hey. These substances are also present in cigarettes and even in the human pineal gland.

Although these three-ringed compounds are widespread in the plant kingdom, their use as an entheogen is known in only 2 explicit, geographically separate practices. First is the scraping of the bark of Banisteriopsis vines to make a drink in the Amazon, and second, digestion of the seeds of Syrians. The Amazonian practices are better documented and colorfully illustrated the purgative, healing, visible, telepathic, sexual, creative, spiritual and healing potentials in entheogens.

Several early explorers of northwestern South America referred to ayahuasca, yage and caapi, mentioning a forest liana but offering tiny detail. In the early 20 th Century, it was learned that the employment of Banisteriopsis vines for healing, initiatory and shamanic rites extended to Peru and Bolivia.

Thanks to the substantial interest in the psychedelic experience that the introduction of LSD triggered reports about ayahuasca that ordinarily would have been prohibited to the technical literature received fairly wide circulation. There has been discussions about ayahuasca, which spread the news about the vine and its use for divinatory and auspicious purposes.

Many researchers went to South America looking for ayahuasqueros, looking to have an individual ayahuasca experience. Some related an ayahuasca-psilocybe experience that lasted reportedly for a month in the jungle. Their fascinating hopeful testimonials called attention to ayahuasca while considering topics of mind-body interactions.

Maybe the best wide-ranging examination of the diverse states of ayahuasca experience comes out of a professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Bernard Shamon. He tried the experience himself many times and interviewed locals, city folks, shamans and travellers. Shamon lays out what he suspects is a structure that may be applied to the experience and which he also feels is applicable to other entheogenic use.

Psychedelic Ayahuasca Tourism

Many groups offer journeys to the Amazon with the idea of pilgrims taking ayahuasca under their auspices. Ayahuasca SpiritQuest, for instance, advertises "transformative workshop retreats exploring the essence of standard shamanic Ayahuasca healing practices and ethnobotany in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon."