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A Y A H U A S C A
Contains—
 
Contains—
 
Resembles—
 
Resembles—
 
T
his brew, commonly called
yagé
, or
yajé
in Colombia,
ayahuasca
inEcuador and Peru (Inca "vine of the dead, vine of the souls,"
aya
means inQuechua "spirit," "ancestor," "dead person," while
huasca
means "vine,""rope"), and
caapi 
in Brazil, is prepared from segments of a species of thevine
Banisteriopsis,
a genus belonging to the
Malpighiaceae
.
1
 
 
Sections of vine are boiled with leaves from any of a large number of potential admixture plants (such as
Psychotria viridis,
pictured above)resulting in a tea that contains the powerful hallucinogenic alkaloidsharmine, harmaline, d-tetrahydroharmine, anddimethyltryptamine (DMT).Dimethyltryptamine closely resemblesserotoninand has been discoveredto be a component of normal mammallian metabolism, an endogenoushallucinogen. These compounds have chemical structures and effectssimilar, but not identical to LSD, mescaline of the peyote cactus, andpsilocybin of the psychotropic Mexican mushroom. This brew has beenused in the Amazon for millennia in order to heal, divine, and worship.
2
 With Ayahuasca, an interior sound is commonly heard, which quiteoften triggers a spontaneous burst of imitative vocalizings, markedlyunlike any conventional human speech or facial contortions. Thetryptamines can apparently trigger a kind of rippling of facial muscles,which results in the production of a vocally modulated pressure wave.What is more startling is that the sound, which gains in energy the longerit is sustained, can actually becomevisible—as if the vibrational wavepatterns were shifting into the visible spectrum or inducing a vibrationalexcitation of the air in such a way as to affect light diffraction. Theseobservations suggest that although the wave is produced with sound, itmay possess an electromagnetic component. This peculiar wavephenomenon will continue to be generated out of the mouth and nostrilsand will be visible in the surrounding air as long as the vocalizations arecontinued.
3
 Natives of Amazon have traditionally combined
Banisteriopsiscaapi 
vine, which contains harmine, harmaline and related beta-carbolines, with DMT-containing plants to make an orally active brewcalled
ayahuasca.
Other plants containing harmine and/or harmaline canbe substituted for
B. caapi.
The usual 'North-American ayahuasca' consistsof 
Peganum harmala
seeds and
Desmanthus illinoensis
roots, and inAustralian 'acaciahuasca' leaves of 
 Acacia complanata
are combined withmaterial fromDMT-containing acacias(the effectivity of this mixturehasn't been confirmed).
4
 
Assembled from material by
1
Harner,
2
Luna,
3
McKenna, and
4
Ott.
 
Ayahuasca, a brew made bysorcerers living along theAmazon River in South America
usenet flotsom
 
A
yahuasca is made by brewing the stems of a vinecalled
Banisteriopsis
with parts of at least one
 
other variety of plant. The spirit of the banisteriopsis plant is supposed toact as a guide for the spirits of the additive plants and potentiate theireffects. Different additive plants are used for different purposes: soultravel, telepathy, healing, communicating with spirits, visions, divination,or learningspirit songs(something in which I am particularly interested - Ioccasionally hear music in dreams and write it down or play it after I wakeup), etc. Some of the main additive plants arePsychotria,Justicia, and Tetrapteris. Strangely enough, all three of these plants contain DMT. Theguide plant itself contains a drug called Harmaline.
 
NormallyDMTis not active when taken orally - it has to be smoked(and there are several other snuffs and smoking mixtures in junglesorcery that do contain only DMT). But it's been found thatharmalineprevents the breakdown of DMT by the digestive systemand allows it toenter the bloodstream when one drinks
 Ayahuasca.
Harmaline also extendsDMT's visionary effects for up to 6 hours. So it turns out that DMT, which Ihad always considered to be an exotic laboratory drug, has actually beenused by sorcerers in the Amazon for thousands of years.
 
In Europe and the Middle East, there are also plants which containharmaline and DMT: Syrian Rue and theGiant River Reed. Though there'sno clear evidence that either plant was ever used for sorcery.Now Syrian Rue itself is quite interesting. Seeds of Syrian Rue aremade into a red dye which is used by middle eastern carpet weavers forcoloring Persian Rugs. It has been said that the hallucinogenic propertiesof a brew made from these seeds may be responsible for the legendsabout flying carpets. Perhaps the red dye doubled as a beverage, and thepatterns on the carpets were actually maps into a magical world. Theseseeds also contain Harmaline.The Giant River Reed is significant as well; it's considered the bestreed to use for musical instruments, and is the reed traditionally used inthe construction of Pan Pipes. And it's roots contain DMT.Another funny thing is thattoad skins(often listed as an ingredient inEuropean witches brews) contain a hallucinogen called bufotenine. I'veheard stories of people in Australia actually smoking the skins of roastedCane Toads as a psychedelic. However, I'm a bit of a vegetarian, so thishas limited appeal.
TheSound of Rushing Water
 
 A hallucinogenic drug gives the Jivaro shamanentrance to the 'real' world and gives him the power tocure or bewitch
by Michael J. Harner
 
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