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el mundo magico Ayahuasca: The Magical Brew of the Amazonian Shamans
Two outstanding Shipibo shamans: Don Mariano (right) and Don Alfredo (left) during an ayahuasca ceremony
There are many local designations for the visionary and healing brew that goes under the common name of Ayahuasca. Yaje' or Yage' (in Colombia), Caapi, Hoasca or Daime (among Brazilian religious adepts), among the Shipibos it's Oni, among the "Amawaka" (Yora) Indians it's Oni xuma, the Ashaninka natives call it Kamarampi, whilst the Jibaros call it Natema.
In Peru it is generally known as Ayahuasca - simplified Spanish rendering of the Quechua neologism Ayawaska or Ayawaskha. The word can be translated as "Rope-of-the-Soul", "Vine-of-the-Spirit", "Vine-of-the-Ancestor", or "Vine-of-the-Dead". It is - at once - the name given to the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and to the magic, mysterious and visionary concoction which has been used ritually - from immemorial time - by the indigenous people of the Amazon basin, specifically for prophecy, divination, telepathy, shape-shifting, cleansing, diagnosis of an illness, and also for healing. A shaman specialized in the use of ayahuasca is known in Peru as ayahuasquero (or ayahuascero).
Cooking of the Ayahuasca brew in the Amazon
The Ayahuasca brew - which has powerful consciousness-expanding properties, has strong antihelmintic effects (kills parasites) and is prepared by boiling for several hours (from six-eight to fourteen, depending on where and by whom it is made) the pounded, scraped stems of the Cielo Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi) vine, together with the leaves of the Chacruna (Psychotria viridis) green shrub.
At times, many other plant ingredients too are added, the most common of which are usually the black jungle tobacco called Mapacho (Nicotiana tabacum/Nicotiana rustica), the leaves of the shrub Chagropanga (Diplopterys cabrerana), along with a couple of leaves of the powerful Toe' (Brugmansia suavolensis) plant.
Chagropanga - also known by the name of Ojo Yajé or Huambisa chacruna - may be combined with, as as well as being a substitute of, the Chacruna plant in the making of the Ayahuasca drink.
Toe' plant, often an additive to the Ayahuasca brew
Toe' - a plant of the Solanaceae family, somehow affiliated to the Datura - has beautiful bell-shaped flowers and is always used very sparingly by indigenous and mestizo shamans (vegetalistas) alike. It's a toxic plant which demands extreme care in preparations. Don Alfredo - being also a Toesero (i.e. a shaman specialized in working with Toe') - only add two leaves of Toe' in the ayahuasca concoction he prepares.
Ayahuasca cooking in the jungle
Each shaman has his or her own (often jealously and secretly kept) recipe, and hardly exist two which can be considered the same, for ingredients used, and time and way of cooking and preparing the brew. Don Mariano, for instance, interviewed by us on the topic, maintains that ayahuasca can be prepared also with sugar (!!) or with honey, but that this will make the brew much stronger and more concentrated than normal, will deliver a strong intoxication, and therefore the quantity one would need to drink has to be very very little, almost tiny.
The power of the Ayahuasca medicine emanates from the bubble formations, according to Don Alfredo
The Chemistry
The Banisteriopsis caapi vine is a source of various harmala alkaloids (like harmine, harmaline, and others) once called Telepathine and Banisterine - and all of which are monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI). The low percentage (0.3% to 1.2%) of harmala alkaloids present in the Banisteriopsis vine is not enough - taken on its own - to trigger psychotropic effects, which may otherwise be slightly experienced with the intake of an higher concentration. The Psychotria viridis - on the other hand - is a botanical source of Dimethyltryptamine (known as well as DMT and N,N-dimethyltryptamine), and is found and produced in small quantities also by our own brain. DMT alone would not work - taken orally - without the intervention of the MAO inhibitors. The power of the medicine - "el poder de la medicina" - according to Don Alfredo, resides in the bubble formations that are produced and may be seen during the boiling process.
Shipibo shaman Don Mariano pounding Ayahuasca vine cuts, in preparation for the making of the brew
The Brew: Plant Alchemy of the Amazon Basin
Of all identified species of Banisteriopsis in the entire Amazon basin, the most common one used by the shamans and vegetalistas in Peru, is the Cielo ayahuasca variety, believed to induce heavenly visions (cielo means "heaven" in Spanish). It also goes under the name of Ayahuasca amarilla ("yellow ayahuasca", in Spanish). There is also an immense variety of recipes for the preparation of the brew, which have the purpose of enhancing the experience of taking the ayahuasca, boosting the mareacion (status of inebriation and intoxication following the drinking of the brew), in either length or quality/intensity, or both. Specifically, the Chagropanga (Diplopterys cabrerana), used more widely in the Colombian Amazon - is a powerful source of 5-MeO-DMT.
Chacruna leaves layer Pounded Ayahuasca vine cuts layer
The essential ingredients of the brew in the Peruvian Amazon remain the ayahuasca vine and the leaves of the chacruna shrub.
The ayahuasca as prepared in Onanyan Shobo contains these two essential ingredients, with the addition of Toe', Mapacho and - from very recently - Coca (Erythroxylon coca) leaves, which enhance dramatically the potency of the brew. Ojo Yajé may also be added as substitute for the chacruna, or in addition to it.
Shipibo maestro Don Mariano - being the very cautious and traditional maestro he is - maintained that using too many plant additives in the making of the concoction would not be the correct thing to do, as one would first need to properly diet with these other plants, instead than taking them directly through the ayahuasca without previous preparation. Doing otherwise - i.e. taking the shortcut of adding too many plants without "knowing" them first through a proper dieta - could only make the potential side effects of the brew stronger, and may only increase the mareacion (intoxication). There is no intrinsic advantage in using other plants for the making of the brew, without having gone through a proper apprenticeship first, via the shamanic plant diet.
However, in special cases, the brew can be made adding Sacha piña (Aechmea sp.) and Azucar huayo (Hymenaea sp.), among other plants.
Don Alfredo attending the preparation of the Ayahuasca medicine
A beverage prepared with the ayahuasca vine cuts alone wouldn't normally produce visions (just purging), and the same would happen if one was to take a concoction prepared with the chacruna plant on its own. By means of an apparent very simple process - which reveals, however, at close range examination, an utterly sophisticated research and knowledge on side of the indigenous people who made first this discovery - the two plants prepared together work wonderfully in synergy and each one maximize the benefit of the other.
Ayahuasca and chacruna work synergetically not only on the biochemical plane - making possible the assimilation of the alkaloids otherwise attacked by the enzymes present in our digestive system - they are also believed to be, respectively, a "grandfather" and a "grandmother" plant spirit.
One may be blessed by wonderful visions and/or amazing revelations, without ever having hoped to see or know anything, whilst others yet may see nothing at all. Nothing is granted with ayahuasca. Many factors - visible and invisible, ranging from one's own attitude, psycho-physical conditions and sensitivity, to the respect of the dietary prescriptions, to climatic conditions, to the icaros sang by the maestros, to changes in the electromagnetic field and even the moon, to quote a few - may contribute in different degrees to the depth of the visionary experience given by the ayahuasca medicine.
And...not everybody may drink the sacred brew of the Amazonian shamans....
The Ayahuasca concoction almost ready, before being filtered
A Note of Caution: Please Read it Carefully
Ayahuasca & Medical Precautions
People affected by chronic heart conditions and high blood pressure, schizophrenia or other psychiatric conditions must not take ayahuasca. Those under treatment with anti-depressant drugs like Prozac, Seroxat, Zoloft, Effexor, Paxil, Welbutrin (bupropion) - also sold under the trade name of Zyban as aid therapy to the urge to smoke - and similar, must not try ayahuasca, unless their treatment has already ended - under medical guidance - for at least 6 weeks. Depending on length of administration, type of medication and individual response times, it may take up to 6-7 weeks for the system to clear from the prolonged use of certain anti-depressants pharmaceutical drugs. You are required to always inform your doctor and get professional medical advice on the potential risks involved in taking a Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor (MAOI), in conjunction with your medical prescriptions. The ayahuasca concoction is a MAOI, albeit weaker than most pharmaceutical drugs available on the market today.
Those who are currently on - or have recently finished an - antibiotic therapy are equally required not to drink ayahuasca to avoid potentially strong adverse reactions. Also, if taking phenylalanine, non prescription drugs like antihistamines, systemic vase-constrictors or decongestant - both natural (ephedrine) and synthetic formulations (pseudo-ephedrine and other similar formulations) - normally used in case of cold & flu, asthma inhalers, or drugs with high content of caffeine, please discontinue their use from at least a week before until a week after your ayahuasca retreat.
Other medications non-compatible with ayahuasca include: narcotics, sedatives, tranquillizers, antihypertensive agents (used to treat high blood pressure), analgesics like Meperidine, antiparkinson drugs (medicines used to reduce the symptoms of Parkinson's disease) like Levopoda, drugs used to treat heart conditions, like Dopamine (brand name: Intropin), neurological prescriptions like Carbamazipine (a drug that eliminates seizures, but has also severe side effects), and sympathomimetic drugs (substances that mimic the effects of the hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline) like amphetamine and tyrosine. This list is not exhaustive. Please refer to your practioner for official and extensive professional medical advice.
Strictly, with no exceptions, people with diabetes must not drink the ayahuasca medicine. If you are a user of any substance - like dope, cocaine, heroine, crack, mescaline - or Phenethylamines (homologues of amphetamines), you must please inform us at the time of your booking. Most of these substances are, on top of been illegal, not compatible - at various degrees - with a safe taking of the ayahuasca medicine. Equally, if you have any alcohol dependency, please inform us beforehand.
Women in their menstrual cycle normally should have no problem with the intake of ayahuasca, but again please refer ultimately to the maestro for this matter. The way this is approached by the shamans in Onanyan Shobo is that they will sing special protective icaros on to those in their period and who wish to partake to the ayahuasca ceremony. Pregnant women may not take the ayahuasca medicine, as for the risk of miscarriage.
If any of the above conditions apply to you, first and foremost inform your medical practioner on the compatibility of your health status with MAO Inhibitors (which ayahuasca is), and then - in total confidentiality - us and the shaman(s) of your conditions, to ascertain whether it would advisable or not for you to drink the ayahuasca brew.
Please also read the information on recommendations and food to avoid for the ayahuasca diet.
You are kindly reminded that the responsibility of taking accurate and timely health precautions - alongside professional medical advice - remains entirely with you. You are the exclusive agent responsible for the following of these precautions and the liability for any adverse effect that may result during the ingestion of the ayahuasca medicine, in the contest of a retreat organized by El Mundo Magico, remains - with no exceptions - entirely with you. Your are ultimately the sole agent liable for ascertaining the compatibility of your health conditions with the use of ayahuasca, and in order to do so you must make sure yourself to seek appropriate professional medical advice, well in advance of your retreat.
Ayahuasca brew being filtered
The avoiding of sexual intercourse and any form of sexual activity - from three days before, until three to five days after each ayahuasca ceremony is of paramount importance, especially in light to preserve one's "distilled" sexual energy during the challenging, magical encounter with the ayahuasca spirit.
Don Mariano - interviewed by us on this matter - maintained a rather "provocative" position: "la ayahuasca no se dieta antes, si no despues", that is: the ayahuasca medicine is not to be dieted before [taking it], but after!
Equally important is refraining from pork meat and derivates (ham, bacon, prosciutto, pepperoni, salami, etc), for 15 days before your first ceremony, until 15 days after your last ceremony. You need to arrive at the ceremony in the most possible energetically pure conditions, in order to benefit the most from this experience.
Avoid altogether - for at least 12 hours before the ayahuasca ceremony - any food containing stimulants, caffeine, spices, chilli, fats, oil, salt and sugar. And please refrain from having any fermented stuff like Soya sauce/Tamari, Soya beans paste/curd (like miso or tofu), beer, vermouth wine, aged/mouldy cheese (cheddar, parmesan, Swiss cheese, blue cheese), yeast and all other food which is a potential source of tyramine, like mature avocados, eggplants, figs, grapes, pineapples, plums, raisins, prunes, broad beans, fava beans, lentils, peanuts, dried milk, sour cream, yogurt, buttermilk, chocolate, Vegemite and sauerkraut. Taking foods containing tyramine in conjunction with monoamine oxidase inhibitors, can trigger hypertensive crisis and migraines.
We recommend to fast on the day of taking ayahuasca, or else, to only have a light breakfast and a very light lunch, and - by all means - no dinner. It will be also much beneficial to drink plenty of water, on the day of drinking the purge, up until one hour before the ceremony begins. No water must be drunk during the ayahuasca ceremony: doing so will only make the side effects of the medicine last longer, with no visionary effects. Remember that whatever food you may take on the day of the ceremony, will most certainly come out of your body via the "lower" or "upper" ways, after drinking the medicine.
Ethnobotanical Garden Circuit
The Ayahuasca Journey
The "Shamanistic" v. "Psychonautic" Perspective
We support and fully embrace the traditional "shamanistic" view on ayahuasca and plant spirit medicine, over and above the D.I.Y. "psychonautic" perspective which lacks - in our humble view - the discipline, solidity and depth that a proper, traditional shamanic training and initiation in the jungle - with respected elder shamans as guides - would be able to offer one. The degree of depth of this experience is always intrinsically dependent on your own tuning with the shamans' and the plant teachers' world, with intent, humbleness, respect and dedication.
Neither the ayahuasca or the plant diet retreat have anything to do with a psychedelic adventure, nor is something offered to escape the "reality" of everyday world. To the contrary, it's an experience meant to enlighten people, for them to discover their inner nature, their position in the planet, to shed off what is not anymore necessary in their lives. We take ayahuasca with the spirit of trappers in search of our lost self. Paradoxically, to invert the proportions of what we may perceive as real today, there are some Amerindian tribes who repute the world to be truly real only when one drinks ayahuasca. We tune in very much with this vision. As much as we value your personal evolution, development and healing over and above the mere sensorial experience of "hallucinations", and to a certain extent, even over and above the "visions" you may receive.
There is too much emphasis in our Western world on to the "psychedelic aspect" of the ayahuasca experience, with little or virtually no attention to the healing itself, or else - to the visions and/or revelations, which are often in tune with the mysterious realms of prophecy and divination that may be accessed when taking the ayahuasca medicine. These may all happen simultaneously or else, as separate, distinct events. Traditionally, the most important thing in an ayahuasca session is mainly for the shaman to have revelatory visions on the status of the participant in need of healing, whilst the mere "psychedelic" experience itself is confined to a realm of absolute non-importance for the subject receiving healing.
We distinguish between visions and hallucinations. The first belonging to an orderly - however inexplicable - realm of knowledge one can receive teachings from, the second - conversely - being a disordered, confused, chaotic visual and/or perceptual experience of little to no intrinsic value to the one who experience it.
With "visions" - we reiterate - we mean structured, meaningful, mysterious, organic - even though at times unphantomable - fully cogent, clear, revelatory visual experiences (which could have a value of their own, or else, be combined with other subtle perceptive means), versus a disordered, potentially meaningless and purely recreational witnessing of colours, spatial forms, and/or free-floating geometric patterns more in tune with anarchic "states of hallucinations".
Not everybody may receive visions as such - especially (but not exclusively) the first times one is taking ayahuasca. Some people are naturally more tuned with the unknown and more sensitive than others - especially women - and may be exposed more rapidly to the ayahuasca "visionary mysteries". Others will need a longer period, or even many different cycles of encounters with the "Vine of the Soul", before anything at all can be experienced/revealed. Healing - medicine willing, in one form or another - may come to all, regardless of visions, when we approach the plant teachers, and their guardians, the shamans, with humility and respect.
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