What is Ayahuasca?
Ayahuasca is a ropy vine whose name means “Vine of the Soul”. In Columbia and Ecuador, it is called yaje. In Brazil, it is known as caapi, and indeed the scientific name is Banisteriopsis Caapi. This holistic plant medicine is made from boiling this vine along with at least one other important plant, usually the leaves of the chacruna plant. This complex combination releases the potency of the vine and the leaves once it is reduced down to a kind of tea and taken as a drink. This substance has been used in this manner for literally thousands of years. Many thousands of people take and use Ayahuasca on a regular basis today for many purposes. The expert shaman who uses and guides others in the use of this amazing plant medicine is called an Ayahuascero. It is difficult to speak of Ayahuasca without incurring profound misunderstandings and misinterpretation by any Western audience. We are products of our modern civilization , a wonderful culture of science and progress when aimed at the
Ayahuasca is a psychedelic brew traditionally produced by some Amazonian peoples. A number of different decoctions are referred to as ayahuasca, with varying peoples having their own version of this compound, and outside of South America, brews which lack the traditional ingredients may still be referred to as ayahuascas, which can add to the confusion. In South America, ayahuasca is used in religious ceremonies and also in certain types of medical treatment. Outside this region, people may take it because they are interested in the psychedelic experience. One of the key traditional ingredients in ayahuasca is Banisteriopsis caapi, a vine native to the Amazon basin. This vine has high concentrations of dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a psychoactive alkaloid. In addition to bark and stems of this vine, ayahuasca can include psychoactive substances from other jungle plants, and some brews leave out the vine altogether, depending on regional norms. Alternative names for ayahuasca include yage,
“Ayahuasca” refers to a medicinal and magical drink incorporating two or more distinctive plant species capable of producing profound mental, physical and spiritual effects when brewed together and consumed in a ceremonial setting. The word ayahuasca can be translated to English as vine of the soul or vine of the dead. This is most likely due to the fact that after taking ayahuasca, a person often feels a freeing of the soul. Ayahuasca is usually made by mixing two or more distinctive plant species capable of producing psychoactive effects when brewed together and consumed. One of these plants is always the giant woody liana vine called ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis Caapi). The other plant or plants combined with ayahuasca generally contain tryptamine alkaloids, most often dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The plants most often used are the leaves of chacruna (Psychotria viridis and other species) and oco yag; also known as chalipanga, chagraponga, and huambisa (Diplopterys cabrerana). This drink
The word “Ayahuasca” refers to a medicinal and magical drink incorporating two or more distinctive plant species capable of producing profound mental, physical and spiritual effects when brewed together and consumed in a ceremonial setting. One of these plants is always the giant woody liana vine called ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi or other species). The other plant or plants combined with ayahuasca generally contain tryptamine alkaloids, most often dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The plants most often used are the leaves of chacruna (Psychotria viridis and other species) and oco yag; also known as chalipanga, chagraponga, and huambisa (Diplopterys cabrerana). This drink is widely employed throughout Amazonian Per, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, western Brazil, and in portions of the Ro Orinoco basin. It has probably been used in the western Amazon for millennia and is rapidly expanding in South America and elsewhere through the growth of organized syncretic religious movements such as Santo
by Diego Palma This is a summary of the book “El Ayahuasca – La medicina del alma” (Ayahuasca – The medicine of the soul) published in the internet in July 2002. Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi) is a vine of the jungle, which grows in the entire Amazonia, from Columbia to Peru, Bolivia, Brasil and Guyana. It is known to and respected by all indigenous peoples as a healing plant or master “teacher plant” and represents the basis of their traditional medicines. Ayahuasca is boiled together with the leaves of a shrub called “Chacruna” (Psychotria viridis), giving a brew or sacred drink of psychoactive character that is consumed in a ritual ceremony leading to reflection and cleansing. This brew, named also Ayahuasca, has been used for more than 5,000 years by the shamans of the Amazon as a way to reach amplified states of consciousness. The psychoactive effects of Ayahuasca can be attributed to Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a substance that is produced by our own body and is responsible for o
