Ayahuasca Visions

by Pablo Amaringo

Every tree, every plant, has a spirit. People may say that the plant has no mind. I tell them thatthe plant is alive & conscious. A plant may not talk, but there is a spirit in it that is conscious,that sees everything, which is the soul of the plant, its essence, what makes it alive. The channelsthrough which the water & sap move are the veins of the spirit.

PART I: PLANT-TEACHERS AND SHAMANIC POWERSVISION 1PREPARATION OF AYAHUASCA

Here we see the jungle of the Ucayali with its native trees, bushes, plants, herbs,and underbrush. There, a peasant type of house, with its roof of

shebon

leaves

[Scheelea

sp.], its fork-shaped props of

incira

tree

[Chiorophora tinctoria],

itsfloor of

ponas [iriartea exorrhiza, Socratea

sp., and a hammock in the centre.We see a certain riverside

vegetalista

who for many years has been dedicated toobtaining knowledge through

ayahuasca.

He begins by cutting an

ayahuasca

lianathat is climbing up a

capirona

tree

[Calycophyllum spruceanum].

To do just this,the

vegetalista

had to follow a required discipline. He has not been with his wife forthree days. He has had no contact with ill-tempered or bad-living people. He haseaten no salty, sweet, or bitter food. He has not gotten drunk. He is clean, accordingto the requirements of this purge.He gets up early in the morning and goes to takean

ayahuasca

rope or liana.

He goes out with his cigarette, taking with him histobacco. He puts at the foot of the

ayahuasca

plant an offering of tobacco, matches,and some dry leaves of the heart of the banana tree in the manner of paper to wrapthe tobacco. Then he says to the grandfather [the

ayahuasca

spirit]: "Here I putyour tobacco for you, your matches, your banana leaf for you to wrap your tobacco.I ask you, grandfather; to permit me to take your plant for medicine, not to causeany harm to anybody, but to cure sick people. Then the

vegetalista

observes the

chicua [Piaya cayana],

a bird that is always flying about. We can see it up on thefar left side of the painting, and also in another tree close to the

capirona,

at theright. If this bird says "chis, chis," it is good to take the vine. But if the animal says

"chicua," then it must not be taken. The

vegetalista

just has to leave it for anotherday, because there can be danger, the enemy can attack him, he can be killed, orsomething else can happen. If the animal says ~~chis, chis, chicua," it means that atfirst things will go well, but afterwards they will go wrong. Perhaps he will not beable to cure the sick person as desired.After obtaining the

ayahuasca,

the

vegetulista

cuts it into pieces, makes it into a roll, and takes it to his house. There hecuts it into smaller pieces and starts to crush and boil them. After boiling for threeor four hours, he pours the juice into other pots. He continues to crush and to putnew pieces of the vine into the now empty pot, and again boils it. He goes on likethis. He always has three or four pots very full, taking out the juice of the

ayahuasca.

Then he adds fresh

ayahuasc

a. The

vegetalista

puts in the

chacruna

thathe has taken in the morning while fasting. First he puts the

ayahuasca

in the pot,whistles an

icaro

~ power song, and blows on the pot. Then he adds the

chacruna,

putting the side which has received sun downwards with the "spurs" upwards.

Thenhe puts another layer of crushed

ayahuasca

on it, the twelve to fifteen pieces he hasground. He again takes two handfuls of

chacruna

leaves and pours water on them,filling the pot to the top.In order for the purge to be effective, the pot must be made of clay, not aluminiumor other material. The

vegetalista

adds a handful of tobacco to make the mixtureboil, and any other ingredient he may usually add when he prepares the

ayahuasca

purge. He can add two leaves of

toe [Brugmansia

sp.],

or also two pieces of ground

motelo huasca [Bauhinia guianensis],

or he may try the

chicuro [Cyperus

sp. withthe

shillinto [Mascagnia psilophylla],