AYAHUASCA PLANT
The Grandmother of all plants, it is a medicine that helps you to find the sources of evil both internal and external. It will show you the solution and help you to cure the evils.
This ancestral medicine is only used by shamans to heal a variety of illnesses and to give initiations to people, to help them in their process of personal development and growth.
The name “Ayahuasca” comes from the QUECHUA (inca language), means “Death’s Rope” (Aya means Death and Huasca, Rope). this name in Quechua makes it clear that the Incas also took AYAHUASCA.
The Inca Empire TAHUANTINSUYO spanned from southern Colombia to northern Argentina and Chile, thus they also conquered the jungle, always aiming to unite cultures and take the best of them, so they took the ayahuasca from the jungle. Those who tell these stories are indigenous forest communities, explaining how the Incas came to their ethnicity, which is why the Incas called this medicine Ayahuasca in Quechua (Inca language).
Shipibo language “nishi rao” which means “Medicine Rope”Scientifically, ayahuasca is known as Banisteriopsis caapi and is a liana which only grows in the Amazon basin of Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia.
CHACURUNA PLANT
The preparation of Ayahuasca is carried out exclusively by shamans; it is boiled for several hours along with other plants such as chakuruna which gives the medicine its psychotropic effects. This process is accompanied by shamanic chants or “Iqaros” (prayers or mantras typical of the amazonian Shipibo culture) which convert the ayahuasca into a powerful medicine.
To take ayahuasca is to enter into the primordial source of existence and to establish the true social order ruled by the laws of nature and the universe.
Throughout the Amazon region, Ayahuasca is
AYAHUASCA PLANT
known by different names. In Ecuador it is called “natema”, in Brasil it is know as “jurema”, “chá”, or “daime”, and in Colombia it is “yagué”.
Traditional Use
Ayahuasca can be used to cure various diseases and dysfunctions in general, to make important decisions, to ask direction from the divinities, to resolve personal conflicts -between families and between tribes-, to communicate with the different forces of nature, to develop your capacity for wisdom and understand the mysteries of the universe and nature, to solve thefts and disappearances, and to indentify the intentions of people and enemies.
It is used to harmonize various aspects of life such as love, family, social, health, economy, career or profession, spiritual, consciousness and many others.
Ayahuasca hasn’t been included on any list of prohibited substances (thanks to the fact that it does not lead to any type of dependence and isn’t toxic. (TAKI WASI)
Why is Ayahuasca necessary for man in these times?
Man has moved away from his natural roots and split into a terrible materialistic confusion. He has fractured the harmony with the intrinsic root of the universe (God).
The results are physical, psychological, and spiritual illnesses such as stress and more. We have illnesses at the global level and we don’t realize it. Ayahuasca helps us to see the most unconscious part of a person and shows us the negative aspects and how to change them.
The Ayahuasca Ceremony
The most important thing is to make a firm decision about why you want to take ayahuasca and what you want the ayahuasca to help you with, keeping faith in the fundamental power of the universe, in the medicine, and in the forces of nature.
The ayahuasca ceremony is lead by the master healer or master “ayahuasquero”. Because of tradition and custom, the ceremonies are carried out at night and two or three ayahuasca sessions can be done in one week.
PREPARATION BEFORE THE SESSION
Why do you fast before the session and why are there strict instructions?
Ayahuasca is a delicate plant which does not just require spiritual and mental preparation, but also physical. Certain combinations can result in chemical shock which can be dangerous.
It is strictly instructed that you do not consume drugs, alcohol, coffee, or chocolate for three days prior to the ayahuasca ceremony. Avoid canned foods, red meat, pork, processed meat like sausage, and excess salt and sugar for one day prior. You shouldn’t consume prescription drugs, antibiotics, injections, pills and other medications for three days before the ceremony. You also must abstain from sex and masturbation for one day. Women who are menstruating or pregnant should not participate.
Why can you not have sex relations before the ceremony?
You lose energy and your visions (under the effects of the ayahuasca) are not as clear. Losing bodily secretions weakens the body and the mind and causes you to be sleepy and exhausted when you ingest the medicine.
The day of the ceremony the patient must fast which facilitates the absortion of the ayahuasca and leads to better physical cleaning, stronger “mareación” (being under the effects), and better concentration which reduces the nausea.
The Start of the Session
The session starts between 7:00 or 8:00pm. The participants sit on pillows and cushions on the floor, against walls of the room. The session lasts three or four hours.
First, iqaros are chanted to the whole bottle of ayahuasca to purify it and ask for protection when opening the world of the ayahuasca. “Mapacho”, a strong tobacco, is smoked to help clean the room and the body. Afterwards, a dose is served depending on the person’s physical make-up and their problems.
The patient receives the ayahuasca while sitting in a meditation position. Later, the master healer gives them perfumes and mapacho to help with their “mareacíon” and their concentration, opening the world of the ayahuasca in their body. These both enter the body through smell.
After 20 to 30 minutes the patient feels the effects. Later, the patient starts to feel the “mareación” which increases gradually. It can be accompanied by shivers, exhaustion, weakness, sleepiness, nausea, relaxation, teary eyes, aches or cramps. Vomiting and diarrhea are also normal side-effects. Ayahuasca is a medicine that expels all impurities from the body. It cleans the body and the inner being. If it is the first time taking ayahuasca, vomting is almost always a side-effect.
The patient will always be meditating with eyes closed but not sleeping, instead concentrating. The room will be dark to help their vision and their concentration.
Keep control, relax and concentrate, keep quiet to be able to contact the inner being. When concentration is lost, so is the vision.
It is also important to let others concentrate. Ayahuasca heightens the senses. The position helps maintain good concentration and good vision.
The tobacco, “mapacho”, gives more strength and clarity to the ayahuasca and keeps the patients relaxed.
Iqaros
Iquaros are chants containing energy from the plants, from nature and of the universal power. All iqaros contain energies. They can be sung in Aimara, Shipibo, Asháninca, Quechua, and Spanish. People who want to learn to sing in their own language. The science is absolute and has no end.
Iquaros are chanted to open the world of the ayahuasca and with these chants the patients are guided. They are taken and brought back. If the “mareación” is too strong it can be controlled and lowered. The Iquaros also clean the body and the inner being, in the session, the energy flows through everyone.
The ayahuasquero can’t see the same vision as the patients. Everyone has different visions but the ayahuasquero can see their problems and their worries. According to what is seen, the right Iqaro is chanted so the body can cleanse itself.
Visions
It is important to emphasize that visions are different from simple hallucinations for several reasons: a trance has internal coherence and meaning, Visions can be superficial or very deep, introducing the subject to a world made-up of their own capacity for “sight”.
Visions are a reading of one’s personal history. They come from the unconsciousness and must be translated into consciousness to receive the message. Hallucinations are only seen by people with mental illness.
In visions you can see negativity both internal and external and know how to make it positive.
A person won’t always have the visions that they want but will be cleansed and have heightened consciousness (that is the most important).
As the effects disappear and the patient returns, little by little, to a normal state but with weariness and weakness. They will feel joy from their cleansing, peace at heart, tranquility, love, and happiness. Some cannot stop smiling and they laugh and laugh. Some don’t recognize themselves and don’t know who they are. Having transcended their unlimited potential, they feel liberated from their being and recognize their inner being of love.
To end the session, the ayahuasquero uses perfumes to harmonize the aura like in aromatherapy, and to help the patients feel calm and to relieve everything.
Later, the patients can go to sleep or, if they want to share their experience, they can stay in the room. Others prefer to simply keep it to themselves like a secret between themselves and the ayahuasca.
After finishing the session, the patient will not eat until breakfast the next morning.
The Experience
The expansion of the consciousness.
Until a person has a spiritual experience, they aren’t conscious of their true consciousness, the true infinite, eternal potential that each person has. The universal consciousness.
Recognize that you are bigger than the Universe.
Long-Term Effects
The first beneficial effects will be 7 days of natural trance. This state of total spiritual transcendence makes the brain produce diverse substances. The patient will have a clearer conscience and vision of life. Some effects take 2 months to a year. These patients will have a positive inner transformation that will bring happiness and victory to their life. Their experience gives them a starting point for their growth, which has no limits. Inner transformation happens every day and everyone should work towards personal growth throughout their life or as the druids say, “The heart never finishes being born.”
Botanical, Chemical, and Pharmacological Aspects of Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is unique in that its pharmacological activity is dependent on a synergistic interaction between the active alkaloids in the plants. One of the components, the bark of Banisteriopsis caapi, contains ß-carboline alkaloids, which are potent MAO-A inhibitors; the other component, the leaves of Psychotria viridis or related species, contains the potent short-acting psychoactive agent N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT is not orally active when ingested by itself, but can be rendered orally active in the presence of a peripheral MAO inhibitor – and this interaction is the basis of the psychotropic action of ayahuasca (McKenna, Towers, & Abbott, 1984).
The Scientific Investigation of Ayahuasca: A Review of Past and Current Research
Of the numerous plant hallucinogens utilized by indigenous populations of the Amazon Basin, perhaps none is an interesting or complex, botanically, chemically, or ethnographically, as the hallucinogenic beverage known variously as ayahuasca, caapi, or yage. The beverage is most widely known as ayahuasca, a Quechua term meaning “vine of the souls,” which is applied both to the beverage itself and to one of the source-plants used in its preparation, the Malpighiaceous jungle liana, Banisteriopsis caapi (Schultes, 1957). In Brazil, transliteration of this Quechua word into Portuguese results in the name, Hoasca. Hoasca, or ayahuasca, occupies a central position in Mestizo ethnomedicine, and the chemical nature of its active constituents and the manner of its use makes its study relevant to contemporary issues in neuropharmacology, neurophysiology, and psychiatry… Read More »
Designation as Cultural Patrimony of the nation extended to the Knowledge and Traditional Uses of Ayahuasca as practiced by native amazon communities.
National directorial resolution Number 836/INCLima, June 24 2008-07-14
Having read Report No. 056-2008-DRECP/INC dated May 29, 2008, prepared by the Directorate of Registration and Study of Contemporary Culture in Peru:
CONSIDERING:
That Article 21 of the Political Constitution of Peru indicates that it is the function of the State to protect the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation.That part 1, Article 2 of the Convention for the Preservation of Non-material Cultural Patrimony of the UNESCO, establishes that “it is understood that ‘Cultural Patrimony is defined as the uses, representations, expressions, knowledge and techniques-together with instruments, objects, artifacts, and cultural spaces that are inherent to them—that the communities, groups, and in some cases individuals, recognize as an integral part of their cultural patrimony’. This non-material cultural patrimony, which is transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly re-created by communities and groups, by means of their location, their interaction with nature and their history, inducing a feeling of identity and continuity and therefore contributing to promote respect toward cultural diversity and human creativity”.
That Article VII of the Preliminary Title to Law NO. 28296 General Law on Cultural Patrimony of the Nation disposes that the National Institute of Culture is charged to register, declare and protect the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation within the confines of its responsibility;
That part 2) of Article 1 of Title 1 of the above mentioned Law establishes that part of the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation consists of the creations of a cultural community, based upon traditions, to be expressed by individuals unilaterally or in groups, and that consensually respond to community expectations, as an expression of cultural and social identity, in addition to the values transmitted orally, such as autochthonous languages, tongues and dialects, traditional knowledge and wisdom, be it artistic, gastronomic, medicinal, technologic, folkloric or religious, the collective knowledge of peoples, and other expressions or cultural manifestations, which jointly comprise our cultural diversity;
That National Directorial Resolution No. 1207/INC dated November 10, 2004, approved Directive No. 002-2004-INC “Recognition and declarations of active cultural manifestations as Cultural Patrimony of the Nation”;
That it behooves the National Institute of Culture, in order to carry out its function as assigned by law, with the active participation of the community, to conduct a permanent identification of such traditional manifestations of the country that should be declared as Cultural Patrimony of the Nation;That by means of the proper document, the Directorate of Study and Registration of Culture in Contemporary Peru requests a declaration as Cultural Patrimony of the Nation the knowledge and traditional uses associated with Ayahuasca, and practiced by native Amazon communities, according to the Report prepared by Dona Rosa A. Giove Nakazawa, of the Takiwasi Center-Tarapoto and submitted by the Regional Office of Economic Development of the Regional Government of San Martin to the Regional Directorate of Culture of San Martin;
That the Ayahuasca plant-Banisteriopsis caapi-is a vegetable species which garners an extraordinary cultural history, by virtue of its psychotropic properties, used in a beverage associated with a plant known as Chacruna-Psychotria viridis;
That such plant is known by the indigenous Amazon world as a wisdom plant or plant teacher, showings initiates the very fundaments of the world and its components. Consumption of it constitutes the gateway to the spiritual world and its secrets, which is why traditional Amazon medicine has been structured around the Ayahuasca ritual at some point in their lives, indispensable to those who assume the function of privileged carriers of these cultures, be they those charged with communication with the spiritual world, or those who express it artistically.
That the effects produced by ayahuasca, extensively studied because of their complexity, are different from those produced by hallucinogens. A part of this difference consists in the ritual that accompanies its consumption, leading to diverse effects, but always within the confines of a culturally determined boundary, with religious, therapeutic and culturally affirmative purposes.
That available information sustains the fact that the practice of ritual ayahuasca sessions constitutes one of the basic pillars of the identity of the Amazon peoples, and that the ancestral use in traditional rituals, warranting cultural continuity, is closely connected with the therapeutic attributes of the plant;
That what is sought is the protection of traditional use and sacred character of the ayahuasca ritual, differentiating it from Western uses out of context, consumerist, and with commercial objectives;
That the Manager, the Director of Registration and Study of Culture in Contemporary Peru, and the Director of the Office of Legal Affairs, being cognizant of the above information;In conformity with the dispositions of Law No. 28296, “General Law of the Cultural Patrimony of the Nation” and Supreme Decree No. 017-2003-ED, which approves the By-Laws of the Organization and Operation of the National Institute of Culture.
ITS IS RESOLVED:
Sole Article.-To declare as CULTURAL PATRIMONY OF THE NATION, the knowledge and traditional uses of Ayahuasca practiced by the native Amazon communities, as a warranty of cultural continuity.Be it registered, communicated, and published.
JAVIER UGAZ VILLACORTA
Manager of the National Directorate National Institute of Culture