Eagle’s Wing

General Information about Ayahuasca

After being virtually ignored by Western civilization for centuries, there has been a huge surge of interest in Ayahuasca recently. There is a growing belief that it is a kind of ‘medicine for our times’, giving hope to people with ‘incurable’ diseases like cancer and HIV, drug addictions and inspiring answers to the big ecological problems of modern civilization.

Spirituality is at the centre of the Ayahuasca experience. Purification and cleansing of body, mind, and spirit in a shamanic ceremony can be the beginning of a process of profound personal and spiritual discovery and transformation. This process can continue indefinitely even if one never drinks Ayahuasca again. One thing is sure, and that is that every person gets a unique experience. We believe that by seriously looking at the way Ayahuasca is used we can improve our life experience and benefit more from this medicine.

Ayahuasca is the jungle medicine of the upper Amazon. It is made from the ayahuasca vine ( Banisteriopsis Caapi) and the leaf of the Chacruna plant (Psychotria Viridis). The two make a potent medicine, which takes one into the visionary world. The vine is an inhibitor, which contains harmala and harmaline among other alkaloids, and the leaf contains vision-inducing alkaloids. As with all natural medicines, it is a mixture of many alkaloids that makes their unique properties. For example, Peyote, the cactus used by the North Native Americans, is said to contain 32 active alkaloids, so when one of those alkaloids, mescaline (LSD) is synthesised in a laboratory, contrary to popular opinion, the result is not at all the same.

The oldest know object related to the use of ayahuasca is a ceremonial cup, hewn out of stone, with engraved ornamentation, which was found in the
Pastaza culture of the Ecuadorian Amazon from 500 B.C. to 50 A.D. It is deposited in the collection of the Ethnological Museum of the Central
University (Quito, Ecuador). This indicates that ayahuasca potions were known and used at least 2,500 years ago.

Ayahuasca is a name derived from two Quechua words: aya means spirit, ancestor, deceased person, and huasca means vine or rope, hence it is known as vine of the dead or vine of the soul. It is also known by many other local names including yaje, caapi, natema, pinde, daime, mihi, & dapa. It plays a central role in the spiritual, religious and cultural traditions of the Indigenous and Mestizo (mixed blood) peoples of the upper Amazon, Orinoco plains and the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador.

The plants are collected from the rainforest in a sacred way and it is said that a shaman can find plentiful sources of the vine by listening for the ‘drumbeat’ that emanates from them. The mixture is prepared by cutting the vines to cookable lengths, scraping and cleaning them, pounding them into a pulp. Meanwhile the Chacruna leaves and picked and cleaned.

So what, perhaps, is the advantage of ayahuasca over other disciplines? In the words of Padrino Alex Polari de Alverga of the Santo Daime Community in Brazil, “Daime (ayahuasca) is basically a shortcut, it’s as if we had been travelling down the same highway as the rest of humanity, but then, in order to arrive at our destination more quickly we took a side road. When taking such a shortcut, however, we must be very careful and clear-minded. It is a shortcut that leads us to truth, but only if we follow in the footsteps of the Masters who have preceded us.”

Medicines like ayahuasca can help us along our path but we still have to do the work ourselves. My experience is that these kind of allies can help us open the doors of perception, but what we do when we get there is entirely our own challenge.

To understand ayahuasca in the local context, one cannot avoid taking a look at the ecological environment, such as the forest, cultural environment and indigenous cultures. This has structured the cultural content of ayahuasca.

There are many legends and myths about ayahuasca, one the more romantic is from the Shipibo people who live up the river in the heart of the jungle in the Peruvian Amazon.

This tale is centered around women, more so than men, as they look after the children and their health, whilst the men are out hunting and fishing. Men are more interested in plants that aid their inner spirits whilst hunting. Women are more interested in plants that will allow their children to grow.

There was one particular woman who was very interested in plants, who liked to pick the leaves of different plants. She would then crush the leaves into a pot and soak them in water over night. She would then take a bath every morning before sunrise (the way to find out about various plants and their effects is to bathe in them). She bathed in them every morning until she had a dream. In her dream a woman came and said, “why are you bathing every day?”

She answered, “I am doing this as I want you to teach me.” The other woman said, “You must seek out my uncle, his name is Kamarampi. I will show you where to find him”. The woman led the other woman to her uncle. The uncle showed her how to mix the leaves of the chacruna, which was a bush she had taken leaves from to bathe in. He showed her how to prepare the brew of Ayahuasca, he told her to go and tell the people the knowledge of how to use the brew. The Indigenous people past and present have taken Ayahuasca to enable them to focus on other dimensions. One example: – To enable them to be more successful on a hunting trip they would contact the Mother spirit of certain species, through the Ayahuasca. The hunt would be more successful.

One of the many mysteries surrounding Ayahuasca is how the vine became to be used with the Chacruna leaves as although they both come from the same soil but always grow apart otherwise the ayahuasca winds around the Chacruna and kills it. No one knows this but we get a clue from how the shamans interact with the plant. Javier Arevalo a shaman from the Peruvian Amazon told us “ in the old days his grandfather and uncles used to sit around after taking ayahuasca and he said that ayahuasca was originally taken alone and in the visions they saw that Chacruna was missing. Ayahuasca would say I am the doctor that gives the vision. His grandfather responded, how can we find this plant? The response in the vision was, you can find it by turning two corners. So they went around two corners and found a bush which attracted them which was Chacruna i.e. the ayahuasca showed them.

This is a fundamental principle, in the visions it is the spirit doctor of ayahuasca which tells them what is wrong with their patient, what medicine they need, or who has caused the illness or malaise.

The Icaros

Integral to the ceremony are the chants that the shaman sings. These are known as Icaros, and the chant will direct the nature of the ceremony or visionary experience for the group and for individuals as the shaman during the ceremony will chant specific Icaros for that person’s needs.

The words of the chants are symbolic stories telling of the ability of nature to heal itself. For example the crystalline waters from a stream wash the unwell person, while coloured flowers attract the hummingbirds whose delicate wings fan healing energies etc. You might see such things in your visions but the essence which cures you is perhaps more likely to be the understanding of what is happening in your life, allowing inner feelings to unblock so that bitterness and anger con change to ecstasy and love. To awaken from the ‘illusion of being alive’ is to experience life itself.

There are several different kinds of Icaros, at the beginning of the session. Their purpose is to provoke the mareacion or effects, and, in the words of Javier Arevalo, ‘to render the mind susceptible for visions to penetrate, then the curtains can open for the start of the theatre’.

Other Icaros call the spirit of Ayahuasca to open visions ‘as though exposing the optic nerve to light’. Alternatively, if the visions are too strong, the same spirit can be made to fly away in order to bring the person back to normality.

There are Icaros for calling the ‘doctors’, or plant spirits, for healing, while other Icaros call animal spirits, which protect and rid patients of spells.

Healing Icaros may be for specific conditions like manchare, which a child may suffer when it gets a fright. The spirit of a child is not so fixed in its body as that of an adult, therefore a small fall can easily cause it to fly. Manchare is a common reason for taking children to ayahuasca sessions.

Preparation for the Ayahuasca Experience

In the West there are lots of stories like ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ reminding us that plants have spirit power, Alice in Wonderland explored this world too. There is a large body of knowledge of power plants even if the form has been adapted to fairy tales and ‘domesticated’, not to under rate the richness of Grimms’ tales.

When a person drinks Ayahuasca, especially with a trusted shaman, there is a chance to learn and trust the plant. You discover that it works in its own way. It is a great moment getting to this point. Then there is the question of whether the plant trusts us, because it can be abused and used for getting the wrong kind of personal power. Without intention, vision, preparation, and a shaman, it is a drug not a healing medicine.

A major difficulty for Westerners is the diet and the living conditions in the rainforest. There is also the care clients need afterwards, as one is extremely vulnerable after drinking Ayahuasca. Also some of our attitudes need to change, for example some people find vomiting unpleasant.

In the Ayahuasca ceremony purgative cleansing of the physical body is an essential preparation for the new level of emerging consciousness. Vomiting and occasionally brief diarrhoea are common effects during the initial sessions.

The Shaman’s Diet

An integral element of this preparation is to undertake a diet intended to reduce excessive sugar, salt, oils, pork, fat, and spicy food in the body in
preparation to be in communion with the spirit of Ayahuasca. Reduction of these should commence as soon as one commits to the experience.

Pork in particular is considered to be impure and is studiously avoided by Ayahuasca practitioners. Complete abstinence from pork and lard for at least two weeks prior to the first ceremony is recommended to participants to reduce the impact of the purge. It is also recommended that this abstinence continue for at least two weeks after the final ceremony.

In the initiatory diet for those seeking personal cleansing and healing, chicken, fish, wild game meat, fruits, and vegetables may be eaten but with little if any salt, sugar, oils or spices. The cleansing effect and strength of the visionary experience can be greatly enriched by one’s commitment to these preparations.

Sexual abstinence also forms part of the diet and is a traditional requirement of Ayahuasca cleansing and healing. We recommend abstinence from sexual activity for a few days prior to the ceremony, and to continue a day or two after the last ceremony.

As all Amazonian shamans will tell you, and in the words of Dona Cotrina
“ Sex is bad. The ‘mother plant’ loves you and if you make love to another person, you are being unfaithful to her”. For this reason it is often said that Ayahuasca is jealous, and if you do not respect her, she makes you ill instead of healing you. You will also not be able to see any visions. The ill effects from not respecting the diet are called cutipa and range from a sense of trauma and stress to skin problems.

Menstrual cycle.

This is a complex issue in the Amazonian tradition. Basically women in their menstrual cycle are not permitted by Amazonian shamans and curanderos to be present in the preparation of the brew, drink Ayahuasca or attend the ceremonies. This is an ancient tradition rooted mainly in safety considerations rather than sexism, as female shamans in the Amazon also follow these prohibitions.

Some shamans say the presence of a woman in menstrual flow prevents them from “seeing” the causes of illness among those present in the ceremony, thus obstructing their ability to make diagnoses and facilitate healing.

Although Eagle’s Wing are unable to make any exception as this rule is observed by shamans in the Ayahuasca tradition, our experience is that shamans have a degree of flexibility and can perform a special chacapa session with participants to address this.

Medical Precautions

It is important to know that, in some cases, the consumption of Ayahuasca in combination with some groups of prescription & non-prescription medicines can bear health risks.

1. Prescription Medicines
If you are taking prescription medication (including antibiotics), are subject to high blood pressure, have a heart condition, or are under treatment for any health condition), please consult your GP.

1.1 Anti-depressants
Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis Caapi) contains MAOI’s (monoamine oxidase inhibitors) generally in the form of harmine and harmaline therefore Medical consultation is essential if you are taking Prozac or other antidepressants affecting serotonin levels, i.e. serotonin selective re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI).

SSRI’s block the reuptake of serotonin in the brain and because MAOI’s inhibit breakdown of serotonin, the combination of MAOI’s and SSRI’s can lead to too high levels of serotonin in the brain. SSRI’s are much more common than MAOI’s which are found in some anti-depressants. Consult your GP about the use of temporary monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI).

These medications generally require a period of six to eight weeks to completely clear the system and must be reduced gradually.

2. Non-Prescription Medicines
Non-prescription medications such as antihistamines, dietary aids, amphetamines and derivatives, and some natural herbal medicines, i.e. those
containing ephedrine, high levels of caffeine, or other stimulants, may also cause adverse reactions. We recommend that you discontinue all such medications, drugs, and herbs for at least one week prior to and following work with Ayahuasca.

3. Recreational Drugs
Avoid all recreational drugs, in particular MDMA (Ecstasy), cocaine, heroin. Also do not drink alcohol on the day of the ceremony.

4. Herbal Remedies
Use of herbal remedies for depression such as St John’s Wort (which also influence the serotonin levels) need to be discontinued as per 2 above.

Article Source: Preparation for the Ayahuasca Experience

]]> http://www.ayahuasca.com/ayahuasca-overviews/preparation-for-the-ayahuasca-experience/feed/ 15 http://www.ayahuasca.com/ayahuasca-overviews/an-introduction-to-ayahuasca-2/ http://www.ayahuasca.com/ayahuasca-overviews/an-introduction-to-ayahuasca-2/#comments Sat, 15 Mar 2008 16:27:58 +0000 admin http://www.ayahuasca.com/?p=21 Ayahuasca (aya-spirit/dead, waska-vine/rope) or Yage (ya-hey) are native Amazonian names for the jungle vine Banisteriopsis Caapi, and the medicinal tea prepared from it. Ayahuasca is used throughout the Upper Amazon to enable access to the visionary or mythological world that provides revelation, blessing, healing, and ontological solace (Dobkin de Rios 1972, Grof 1994, Andritsky 1984).

Constituents

The Banisteriopsis caapi vine is a Malpighiaceous jungle liana found in the tropical regions of Peru, Bolivia, Panama, Brazil, the Orinoco of Venezuela and the Pacific Coast of Colombia/Ecuador. The vine is the common base ingredient of the Ayahuasca tea. B. caapi contains beta-carbolines that exhibit sedative, hypnotic, anti-depressant, monoamine oxidase inhibiting, and threshold visionary activity.

Ayahuasca is a synergystic potion. A wide variety of admixture plants is used by the indigenous tribes of the Upper Amazon. Vine-only brew is sometimes used. Most typically the vine is mixed with a tryptamine carrying plant. The foliage of Psychotria viridis (Chacruna) is the principal admixture of Ayahuasca potions employed throughout Peru and Brazil. In Columbia and Amazonian Ecuador, the plant Diplopterys cabrerana (Chaliponga) is often used instead.

These plants provide the “light” or the visionary qualities, but these tryptamine-containing plants are not orally active alone. The monoamine oxidase inhibiting action of the B. caapi vine makes it possible for the tryptamines to produce powerful visions. In turn, the admixture plants potentiate the Vine.

The combination of the Caapi vine with Chacruna or Chaliponga is sometimes known as a marriage of Power and Light. This marriage unlocks the full shamanic mareacion and its visionary mythological vistas.

This medicine has been used for millennia in order to enter the sacred supernatural world, to heal, divine, and worship.

Antiquity

The use of Ayahuasca may well be primordial, its use extending back to the earliest aboriginal inhabitants of the Upper Amazon region. Abstract liminal patterns such as zigzags, serrated lines and geometric forms found on ancient relics and traditional textiles, pottery and body art of various tribes represent the perceptual threshold between everyday and transpersonal realms of consciousness. These relics, combined with an abundance of myths describing the origin of Ayahuasca as deeply intertwined cosmologically with the creation of the universe, earth, and tribal people, indicate a long history of human use.

Ayahuasca is a revered and respected sacred medicine, considered a spiritual and physiological panacea par excellence, because its medicine can instruct in healing, visionary insight, and the art of using plants for various purposes. Sometimes it is referred to simply as La Medicina – the Medicine.

For indigenous people such as the Napo Runa of Ecuador, Ayahuasca is “the mother of all medicines” and “the mother of all plants.” Other peoples regard Ayahuasca as a Grandfather or Grandmother. Ayahuasca, “the Vine with a soul,” is perceived as a communicating being who guides, teaches, and heals. Ayahuasca also acts as a mediator and translator between the human and plant worlds, and teaches humans how to communicate with plants and use them for various purposes.

Modern use

In modern times, many new Ayahuasca traditions have continued to grow like the spreading tendrils of the Vine. Ayahuasca seems to adapt itself to the needs and intents of those who use it the way the vine adapts its form to the shape of the tree on which it grows.

At the turn of the twentieth century, during the Rubber Boom, mestizo rubber tappers entered Amazonia. Because rubber had to be harvested from wild, separated trees, these men worked mostly alone in the forest. (Many Indians were brutally enslaved by rubber companies as well, but that is another story.) When these mestizos fell ill, they had to turn to Indian curanderos. Some of them ended up apprenticing to the curanderos and learning the Ayahuasca practices. In other cases, mestizo rubber tappers were kidnapped by Indians and lived several years with them.

From that, as the mestizo cities of Iquitos and Pucallpa grew, so did a mestizo Ayahuasca tradition that blended indigenous Ayahuasca practices with some Catholic worldview.

The next branch of new Ayahuasca tradition also came from a rubber tapper. The Afro-Brazilian Raimundo Irineu started Santo Daime, a church that blends African traditions with esoteric Christianity and Ayahuasca. Santo Daime replaces the older practice of individual shamanism with a kind of group shamanism, in which an entire group of people can perform healings collectively.

Other syncretic Ayahuasca churches followed, such as the Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal (UDV) and Barquinha in Brazil and Soga del Alma in Peru. Santo Daime and UDV have become international, with meetings in many countries in the world.

There are also syncretic movements with Sufism (Fatimiya Sufi Order), Gnosticism (Gnostisismo Revolutionario de la Concienca de Krishna, based in Colombia), Sikhism, and Wicca (Padeva). New syncretic movements will undoubtedly continue to appear.

Another syncretic movement is between Ayahuasca shamanism and western psychotherapy. The most famous center for this is Takiwasi, a treatment center for drug addiction in Tarapoto, Peru, in which Ayahuasca shamans and western psychotherapists work together using Ayahuasca to help treat addicts of cocaine and other drugs.

Yet another Ayahuasca tradition, which began in the 1980s but became stronger in the late 1990s, is that of the western psychedelics tradition. Within this tradition, a custom started of using the word “ayahuasca” to mean any combination of MAOI and DMT, because the chemical action on the brain was what mattered. Their perspective was that Ayahuasca was simply an orally active form of DMT, the B. caapi vine was merely the potentiator of the DMT, and that any combination of plants, or even of pharmaceuticals and laboratory chemicals, that similarly resulted in orally active DMT was basically the same as Ayahuasca. Within the western psychedelic tradition, the term “ayahuasca” is often used to refer to a brew made of Peganum harmala and a DMT source, typically Mimosa hostilis.

Since some in the western psychedelic movement are serious spiritual seekers, within the western psychedelic movement has developed a tradition of using Ayahuasca primarily for mystical experiences, and for that purpose Ayahuasca and Mimosa/Rue can both serve — they can both be good catalysts for profound cosmic mystical experiences — as can many other Plant Teachers. But they are each distinct Teachers, each with its own distinct personality, each to be be respected for itself.

A new Ayahuasca syncretic tradition is developing via what is known as “Ayahuasca tourism.” Individuals from industrialized countries are traveling to South America to drink Ayahuasca with Amazonian healers, and Amazonian healers are learning to adapt their healing traditions to the needs of patients from the western world. This is creating a new syncretism, because, just as mestizo curanderismo adapted to the issues of mestizo people, the needs, issues, and quests of people from industrialized countries are deeply different from kinds of problems and illnesses that Amazonian indigenous and mestizo curanderos have traditionally had to address. As a result, a new tradition is developing as some curanderos learn to adapt to the needs of foreigners; some curanderos are creating retreats specifically geared to foreigners (often in partnership with foreigners) and many of these have web sites.

The Ayahuasca tourism industry is centered in Iquitos, Peru, and to a lesser extent Pucallpa. Traditional healers in the Amazon, both indigenous and mestizo, charge for their services; reciprocation is important in Amazonian and Andean culture, and in the Amazonian world one’s willingness to offer something of value communicates the seriousness of one’s intent to the spirits. Needless to say, since foreigners represent money, there are increasing numbers of charlatans in these regions who represent themselves as trained shamans and offer Ayahuasca to tourists. These individuals can copy the outward forms of ceremonies they have witnessed, but in the Amazon a real shaman, or curandero, or vegetalista, or yachak, or paye, or paqo, has undergone highly disciplined training. People considering visiting these regions to drink Ayahuasca are encouraged to do research and educate themselves first.

Individuals who want less touristic, gringo-oriented settings, who want to share Ayahuasca in the context of real life of Amazonian people, may go to other regions, including Colombia (dangerous), Ecuador, or other parts of Peru. Indigenous as well as mestizo people are very open about sharing Ayahuasca (but payment is expected in return). By sharing Ayahuasca with foreigners, the Indians gain allies, because Ayahuasca drunk in the rainforest frequently converts the drinker into a passionate defender of the rainforest. (Indeed, Ayahuasca may have something to do with why the Amazon rainforest has become a passionate international cause in the past couple of decades.)

Sometimes Amazonian healers actually take on western apprentices and train them in their ancient practices. These western apprentices — who may remain in South America helping to run Ayahuasca retreats, or who may bring their healing practices back to their own countries, and who may blend their ayahuasquero training with other training they have had — may be considered part of the broader “neo-shamanic” movement, a movement to adapt shamanism to the needs and problems of the industrialized world.

The Ayahuasca forum aspires to create a spaciousness in which all these traditions, and individual seekers of all backgrounds, can communicate and exchange insights.

Legality

No plants (natural materials) containing DMT are at present controlled under the United Nations 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Consequently, preparations (e.g.decoctions) made of these plants, including Ayahuasca are not under international control and, therefore, not subject to any of the articles of the 1971 Convention.
http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca_law.shtml

In Brazil, a protracted legal battle in the 1980’s ended with the Brazilian government finding Ayahuasca churches use of Ayahuasca was safe and showed no signs of harming the members. In 1992, Brazil formally legalized the constituent plants and Ayahuasca tea.

In the United States, the plants that are used to make Ayahuasca are legal. However, the chemical N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is contained in the admixture plants, is a controlled substance. While it is not illegal to possess or sell plants containing DMT, processing, preparing, or having the intent to prepare for consumption would be considered illegal. However, brewing Ayahuasca with the B. caapi vine alone would be completely legal in the United States.

In Canada, harmaline (contained in the B. caapi vine) is a Schedule III controlled substance, therefore Ayahuasca brews may violate the law

In 2005, France added Banisteriopsiis caapi, Peganum harmala, Psychotria viridis, Diplopterys cabrerana, Mimosa hostilis, Banisteriopsis rusbyana, harmine, harmaline, tetrahydroharmine (THH), haroml, and harmalol to the list of controlled substances.

In Australia, harmala is a controlled substance, but the vine is not.

The Santo Daime church has successfully established its right to use Ayahuasca for spiritual/religious purposes, first in Brazil, and then through legal battles in Netherlands and Spain. In 2006, the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of the UDV church right to use Ayahuasca in their services.

Legal issues forum is found at http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=15

Cultivation

Growing these plants will be one of the most rewarding aspects of your experience. Growing the plants yourself helps you develop a relationship with the plants. Using an Ayahuasca brew with plants you grew deepens the experience; the plants will have gotten to know you and this will emerge as a very important aspect in your journeys with Ayahuasca.
Even growing them as companion plants can deepen your experience with the Ayahuasca brew.

The Cultivation forum is found here:
http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=13

Preparation

A basic preparation for Ayahuasca (Caapi and Chacruna) can be found here:
http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=9588

Prepared Ayahuasca brew can keep its potency in storage almost indefinitely, although its taste may become more unpleasant. The unbrewed plant material loses some potency in the original drying process, but after that remains stable for years.

The Preparation forum is found here:
http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=2

Safety precautions

Care should be taken with foods (e.g tyramine/protein containing foods) and drugs (e.g SSRI s) that have a contraindication for MAOI’s.

The beta-carbolines present in Banisteriopsis caapi, primarily harmine and tetrahydroharmine, inhibit the enzyme Monoamine Oxidase and reduces the metabolism of serotonin. Due to the MAO-inhibiting action of the vine, otherwise non-orally-active tryptamines such as N-N DMT and 5-MEO DMT from the admixture plants (Psychotria viridis or Diplopterys cabrerana) can reach receptor sites in the brain, unlocking the entheogenic mareacion.

This MAOI action also makes certain foods and pharmaceuticals hazardous that otherwise would not be.

Lists of foods that should be avoided can be found here:
http://www.ayahuasca.com/?p=10
There are no records of fatalities from eating proscribed foods, but there are numerous reports of severe headaches.

Interaction with pharmaceuticals can be much more dangerous than food interactions.

Many antidepressants (eg, Paxil), tricyclics, heterocyclics, SSRI’s, migraine medication such as sumatriptan (Imitrex) amphetamines, and opiates may also cause serious drug-drug interactions with MAOI’s — even some OTC pharmaceuticals like antihistamines, decongrestants, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, diet pills, and allergy medication can have potentially serious interaction with Ayahuasca.

If you are taking pharmaceuticals, please inform yourself about the potential for MAOI interaction before taking Ayahuasca. If you don’t find an existing thread about your medication on the Information forum, you are encouraged to start one.

Lastly, there is a very rare and idiosyncratic reaction to caffeine and Ayahuasca in a very few individuals. While well under 1% of people have this reaction, it can be life-threatening to those few to combine even a small amount of caffeine with Ayahuasca. There is evidence that this reaction may be linked to a fast metabolism or a history of stimulant abuse. Until you know you are not in this category, be careful combining Ayahuasca with caffeine. A discussion of this may be found here:
http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6509
See also
http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6549
http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7088

Purification

There is another aspect to diet with Ayahuasca, the spiritual dieta. The dieta has many variations, because it is practiced in many cultures (practically all traditional Ayahuasca cultures have a form of dieta, which is remarkably similar across cultures that are otherwise very dissimilar), and because it has various purposes: being healed, learning how to heal others, and learning how to communicate with plants. A dieta can last any length of time from one day to years. In its essence it involves avoiding strongly flavored food and sexual stimulation. In a western setting, it would undoubtedly include fasting from television and mass media as well. For more threads on dieta, click here:
http://forums.ayahuasca.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=7851

The Purge

“When it came, it was earthshaking! ALL the filth, negativity, malice, ill will, and unforgiveness of myself, was loosed from me. Image after image of all life’s unpleasantries, ill will, the dual part of my nature, that evil that is seamlessly woven into the very fabric of much of this world, and pollutes, and deviates us from our true soul/self, it was all gloriously expelled over the course of 20-30 long, glorious, vomit saturated minutes.”

The Purge may be strong or mild, may happen several times in one session or may not happen at all, but it is a central part of the Ayahuasca There are ways to reduce the purge, but if you can learn to accept it and flow with it can actually be very enjoyable. It is a release and purification. If you fight it, it will be more difficult and unpleasant. Give in to it and just go with it. Imagine all of the distractions, discomfort and pain you have within you being released with each purge. Let it flow as it is supposed to. Accept it as part of the experience.

After it is all through you will feel very good, very clean and pure.

The clearer ones system, the better able one is to receive and integrate spiritual energies the knowledge of Ayahuasca. The concept of subtle body phlegm is an important one in Amazonian shamanism. Vegetalistas say that Ayahuasca is needed for cleansing all the flemosidades (phlegm formations) that accumulate in the intestines. The flemosidades are believed to arise from environmental toxins, certain foods, trauma (susto, soul loss), and moral transgressions such as ill will, etc. Analogous to blockages of chi in the meridians, or prana in the nadis, flemosidades disrupt the smooth functioning of the body and mind. Clearing the flemosidades prepares the body to journey deeper into health and wisdom.

Effects

The Ayahuasca potion is a multi-levelled medicine that works on both the soma and psyche. It is very difficult to try to say exactly ‘what’ Ayahuasca does or ‘how’, because it presents a profound mystery to the human psyche.

Since it is for no one person to say what Ayahuasca is and what it does, this forum exists as a means for explorers to exchange information and insight into this profound Medicine.

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