Bøker om plantemedisin som Ayahuasca o.l. og vitenskapelige kilder

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Her er det endel solide kilder ang Ayahuasca delt inn i flere kategorier. For dem som vil gå enda mer i dybden av Ayahuasca-emnet:

Basic scholar readings - A commented bibliography

Basic scholar readings on ayahuasca

It is a relevant query of kreepmusic that prompted me to post a list of some of the readings I consider basic to think ayahuasca. This is a selection from our (Partner and I) own modest collection of documents. Stock and choice are personal and I assume the indicative rather than comprehensive nature of this list.

In order not to restrict too much the panel of good quality informative readings, I did prefer to put the following commented bibliography under the broader heading adjective "scholar" rather than "scientific". For example Wizard of the Upper Amazon and its sequel Rio Tigre and Beyond, the first person autobiography of the famous mestizo ayahuasquero Manuel Córdova-Rios, narrated by Bruce Lamb, have not been written and published like academic/scientific works. Yet, two anthropologists specialists of ayahuasca, who have met Don Manuel (including LE Luna), and I, consider this story as a valuable piece of ethnographical work, worth to be included in scholar and scientific bibliographies (the early critics of Amahuaca specialist Robert Carneiro, relayed by Jonathan Ott, are largely irrelevant).

I have three golden rules with the documentation I'm using:

- When dealing with academic authors, I prefer primary literature, i.e. peer-reviewed papers, to other sources. This rule is not always applicable, depending notably on discipline and historical period. I look then for references, and systematically check some of them in order to evaluate the reliability of the author vis-à-vis his/her sources.

- With biomedical research, I prefer papers to abstracts. On ayahuasca and related close topics I have a zero tolerance for abstracts. Only whole article-based references are included in the list.

- I read all thrice.

A last preliminary note on the organization of the list: for practical reasons I've split it in two parts. The first is about documents in English only that normally are easy to obtain and, often but not always, easier to read than the other. Those in the second part are in varied languages, generally less easy to obtain, and, often but not always, more difficult to get to grips with. I haven't checked the availability of all and there may be some misdirection. In addition, as I preferred to post as soon as possible, entries are lacking and some comments are a bit short. I shall complete it in the future.

PART 1: easily available (can be find, or bought at reasonable prices, on the Internet or in bookstores):

Anthropology:

ATRAN Scott (2002) In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
A densely and widely referenced thought-provoking book on the recent approach labeled "cognitive anthropology of religion". Proposes some cognitive universals of religions and replaces them in an evolutionary perspective: we humans have spent most of our history as illiterate hunter-gatherers. Something must have survived in our neurocognitive apparatus. Religions are based on it. Food for thought.

DOBKIN DE RIOS Marlene (1984) Visionary Vine: Hallucinogenic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon, 2nd publ. Prospect Heights, USA: Waveland Press. (First publ.: 1972).
DOBKIN DE RIOS Marlene (1992) Amazon Healer: The Life and Times of an Urban Shaman. Bridport, EU: Prism Press.
Classic anthropological approach of Peruvian mestizo ayahuasqueros. The second book is more personal and living.

FURST Peter T. (Ed.) (1972) Flesh of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens. New York, USA: Praeger.
With the Harner (see below), a basic (republished) you-must-have-it. Be it just for the contribution of Reichel-Dolmatoff.

HARNER Michael J. (Ed.) (1973) Hallucinogens and Shamanism. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
Who hasn't it? Contains notably the famous joint papers of Michael Harner (still then considered an academic anthropologist) and Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo on "common themes" in visions reported either by Indians after ayahuasca drinking or Westernized city-dwellers after pure beta-carbolines administration (Naranjo was apparently convinced ayahuasca could be reduced to harmaline, much like today some seem convinced it can be reduced to DMT. An outdated, irrelevant, dogmatic, and scientifically counterproductive attitude).

CÓRDOVA-RIOS Manuel & LAMB F. Bruce (1971) Wizard of the Upper Amazon. New York, USA: Atheneum.
LAMB F. Bruce (1985) Rio Tigre and Beyond: The Amazon Jungle Medicine of Manuel Córdova. Berkeley, USA: North Atlantic Books.
Already presented. It is the famous story of Córdova-Rios' abduction during his adolescence by Indians he named "Amahuaca", but also sometimes "Huni Kui" (a more interesting indication as it is the name Cashinahua give to themselves), that has attracted much attention (it inspired John Boorman for his film The Emerald Forest) and criticism (Carneiro and Ott). The sequel is sufficient as it contains a well-done digest of the first book.

LUNA Luis Eduardo & AMARINGO Pablo ([1991]1999) Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman. Berkeley, USA: North Atlantic Books.
LUNA Luis Eduardo & WHITE Stephen F. (Eds.) (2000) Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon's Sacred Vine. Santa Fe, USA: Synergetic Press.
Two musts made at the initiative of Luis Eduardo. The anthology Ayahuasca Reader notably contains Spruce's seminal account "on some remarkable narcotics of the Amazon valley and Orinocco". I recommend both.

MATTESON LANGDON E. Jean. & BAER Gerhard (Eds.) (1992) Portals of Power: Shamanism in South America. Albuquerque, USA: University of New Mexico Press.
A lot of good anthropological stuff on ayahuasca shamanism in this collective volume.

"SACHAHAMBI" Gayle
Many good quality informations about Ecuadorian Napo Runa ayahuasca tradition posted on the Ayahuasca Forum by this learned pillar of the very same board. Just browse with the search engine... and pray it will work.

SHOEMAKER Alan (updated 2001) Grace and Madness. Online ed.: http://chinchilejo.yage.net/grace.html
A living personal account and an interesting introduction to Peruvian ayahuasca mestizo shamanism in Iquitos area from the neither naïve nor skeptical point of view of a man whose life has been changed by his encounter with ayahuasca and its shamanic rituals. A very good illustration of the difficulties and promises of ayahuasca-mediated interculturalism. Self-published on the Internet and generously put in free-access. Only lack references and a bibliography. With this text Alan became the main non-academic portal to Peruvian ayahuasca shamanism for many English-speaking people.

TAUSSIG Michael (1987) Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing. Chicago, USA: University of Chicago Press.
Recently a noted French anthropologist warned me against Taussig's reliability. This doesn't affect the large recourse to quoting one finds in this very original and brilliantly written book. On the horrors of the rubber boom in Amazonian Colombia, and first person descriptions of ayahuasca sessions, Taussig is excellent.

WILBERT Johannes (1987) Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press.
On tobacco but mentions joint uses with ayahuasca. A model of scholarship and multi-interdisciplinary work. To retain: all possible ways to prepare tobacco and introduce it in the body (parenteral route excepted of course) have been explored by Amerindians.

Psychology:

SHANON Benny (2002) The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
Clearly there's a before and an after Benny's breaker in the history of ayahuasca tea appraisal by Western science. An unprecedented collection of reports of ayahuasca visions and a magisterial essay in their classification. A rich bibliography, an exposition of arduous psychological and philosophical topics or debates in a clear style, many truly interesting ideas and propositions (e.g. ayahuasca visions are different from dreams, the ritual drinking of ayahuasca tea may be compared to the practice of music). One major weakness: the excessively narrow disciplinary scope and scientific/epistemological approach in which Benny confined himself (radical phenomenological cognitive psychology). Renders unnecessarily problematic the interpretation of his own most significant data.

Pharmacology:

LIN Geraline C., GLENNON Richard A. (Eds.) (1994) Hallucinogens: An Update. NIDA Research Monographs, 146, available online for free at: http://www.drugabuse.gov/pdf/monographs ... ad146.html
I sought after this monograph during ten years. As it was in no French academic library I even convinced some years ago the Paris academic library of pharmacy to acquire it. They didn't succeed. And now it's online for free... Nothing particular about ayahuasca but the state of the art in preclinical neuropharmacological research on "hallucinogens" (in 1992) by some of the best specialists. In addition some interesting reflections here and there.

SPINELLA Marcello (2001) The Psychopharmacology of Herbal Medicine: Plant Drugs That Alter Mind, Brain, and Behavior. Cambridge, USA: MIT Press.
Moderately accurate on ayahuasca but deals with many other plants and contains a good basic introduction to psychopharmacology.

Botany, Phytochemistry:

OTT Jonathan (1996) Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, their Plant Sources and History, second ed. densified. Kennewick, USA: Natural Products Co.
Is it necessary to present this unique, excellent reference book? I'm unsure the Pharmacotheon still is easy to find in English at a reasonable price. But it's certainly the case of its more recent Spanish version.

Chemistry:

SHULGIN Alexander & SHULGIN Ann (1997) TIHKAL: The Continuation. Berkeley, USA: Transform Press.
The chemistry of tryptamines and beta-carbolines depicted in an inspired and living gourmet style. An entertaining introduction to basic biochemistry. The anthropology-like part about ayahuasca and its terminology evidences Sasha's limitations out of chemistry.

PART 2: not so easily available (either expensive, notably the "pay per paper" on academic publishers websites, or necessitates access to academic libraries)

Anthropology:

AIGLE Denise, BRAC DE LA PERRIÈRE Bénédicte & CHAUMEIL Jean-Pierre (Eds.) (2000) La politique des esprits: chamanismes et religions universalistes. Nanterre, EU: Société d'ethnologie.
The very interesting rewritten proceedings of the fourth international conference of the International Society for Shamanic Research, dedicated to interactions between shamanic societies or subcultures and universalistic religions. Amazonian indigenous shamanism displays incredible openness and adaptability. The maintaining of ayahuasca practices seems a positive facilitatory factor.

ARÉVALO VALERA Guillermo (1986) El ayahuasca y el curandero Shipibo-Conibo del Ucayali (Perú). América Indígena, 46: 147-161.
Guillermo Arévalo-Kestembetsa is the son and grandson of reputed Shipibo shamans (his father is no other than Benito Arévalo, one can see in the MAPS-archived little film Sespe did provide a link to http://www.pot-tv.net/archive/shows/pot ... -2253.html in the "NPR show on Ayahuasca" thread ["Media" section of this board]). He undoubtedly has become the most famous living indigenous ayahuasca expert and shaman in the world. With this paper, published in a reputed Spanish-speaking journal of anthropology, and a book on Shipibo traditional medicine with plants, also written in Spanish, Guillermo showed how gifted he is. Courted by many anthropologists for his extended knowledge, he's actively promoting traditional medicine and ayahuasca shamanism (he was the initiator of an apparently unprecedented original event: Shipibo shamans did teach ayahuasca use to their neighbours Amahuaca who had abandoned and forgotten it since decades). He acquired in 2004 a surplus of celebrity in playing almost his own role in Jan Kounen's film Blueberry. Threats for his life in Pucallpa lead him to recently move to Iquitos where he did open his new center a few weeks ago. Guillermo is also known for his massages of feet during ayahuasca sessions, and for a very special tea, extremely strong, he sometimes prepares (without Solanaceae).

ATKINSON Jane Monnig (1992) Shamanisms today. Annual Review of Anthropology, 21: 307-330.
A well-done review on shamanism. The author also dealt with the still growing phenomenon of neoshamanism. Hence the plural in the title.

CHAUMEIL Jean-Pierre (1988) Le Huambisa défenseur. La figure de l'Indien dans le chamanisme populaire (région d'Iquitos, Pérou). Recherches Amérindiennes au Québec, 18: 115-126.
CHAUMEIL Jean-Pierre (2000) Voir, savoir, pouvoir. Le chamanisme chez les Yagua de l'Amazonie péruvienne, 2nd ed. Genève, Switzerland: Georg.
Difficult to make a choice in the production of this first rank anthropologist. I've selected the second edition of his classic study (his thesis) on Yagua shamanism because it's easier to get it, has an updated bibliography, and contains a highly interesting addendum. The paper is an illuminating study of the dense, complex, and reciprocal relationships between forest indigenous shamans and (sub)urban mestizo ayahuasqueros in the Iquitos area. Of utmost interest is the statement that each kind of practitioners credits the other with special power. At least for this area, a corollary of this essential study is that the idea of a pristine, isolated, and purely indigenous ayahuasca "traditional setting" is a Western myth (see comment of Rivier & Lindgren 1972).

FRIEDBERG Claudine (1965) Des Banisteriopsis utilisés comme drogue en Amérique du Sud. Essai d'étude critique. Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale et de Botanique Appliquée, 12: 403-437, 550-594, 729-780.
A BIG article that is a remarkable review of the anthropological and ethnobotanical literature on ayahuasca uses published before 1965. The breakdown of the infos according to relevant ethnogeographical areas from North to South is very well done and useful.

FRÓES Vera (1988) Santo Daime Cultura Amazônica. História do Povo Juramidam, 2nd ed. Manaus, Brazil: SUFRAMA.
Initially a thesis and probably one of the best histories of the Santo Daime movement. Better than the MacRae. Contains an account of the drinking of daime by the author during pregnancy and delivery. Like almost all Brazilian anthropologists who have written on Santo Daime, Vera Fróes is a fardada, i.e. a graduated member of this multicephalous sect. A noted and respected one.

HENMAN Anthony Richard (1986) Uso del ayahuasca en un contexto autoritario. El caso de la União do Vegetal en Brasil. América Indígena, 46: 219-234 (available online for free here [pdf document]).
By a noted anthropologist famous for his study of coca tradition, one of the very few field studies on UdV easily available in academic libraries out of Brazil. The title, "use of ayahuasca in an authoritarian context", has confused some people who have cited this paper while manifestly having limited their reading of it to its title: it referred not to the UDV but to the military regime ruling Brazil at the time of Henman's study.

KEIFENHEIM Barbara (1999) Zur Bedeutung Drogen-induzierter Wahrnehmungs-veränderungen bei den Kashinawa-Indianern Ost-Perus. Anthropos, 94: 501-514.
A remarkable, fine-grained study of Huni Kuin (Cashinahua) males' collective ayahuasca practices. Huni Kuin do visualize the songs, sung by specialized cantors, as colored paths to follow. It is absolutely clear from this study that these Indians do culturally discern and code two stages of the ayahuasca effects and experience; stages which reality has been challenged by Benny Shanon (2002). Keifenheim's article highlights thus another limitation of Shanon's approach (besides Benny's apparent ignorance of Keifenheim's work): its inability to apprehend the major influence of social-cultural phenomena. If all the persons who drink ayahuasca in a given community agreed there are two stages, and that everyone has to go through these stages in following the same sequence, as synchronous with the others as possible, in order for all to live a safe experience, then 1) there are two stages, and 2) a good reason for.

LABATE Beatriz Caiuby & ARAÚJO Wladimyr Sena (Eds.) (2004) O uso ritual da ayahuasca, 2nd ed. Campinas, Brazil: Mercado de Letras.
A classic-becoming collective book containing translations in Portuguese of published and unpublished texts of non-Brazilian authors (Carsten Balzer, Barbara Keifenheim [the previous ref.], Jean Langdon, Luis Luna, Jacques Mabit, Jonathan Ott, Benny Shanon), and original or adapted contributions of Brazilian researchers on Indian and, for the most part, neoreligious ritual ayahuasca uses: Santo Daime (with fine distinctions between currents, e.g. Alto Santo, Cefluris), Barquinha, and UdVs (on the latter, a rare, remarkably lucid and un-apologetic contribution of Afrânio Patrocínio de Andrade. A welcomed contrast with the one made by current members). Of utmost interest in this second edition is a paper, based on field work, by Bia Labate and Gustavo Pacheco on the sources of Santo Daime liturgy, costumes, and paraphernalia in traditions of Afro-Brazilian communities in the State of Maranhão (Nordeste region), where Raimondo Irineu Serra, the founder, lived until the age of 20. One also finds an adaptation of some Hoasca Project papers, realized by members of the medical branch of one UdV, who participated to it (the least interesting part I think, as most of this material had already being published in easily available sources. Some previously unpublished numerical data though, notably on cardiovascular parameters).

LUNA Luis Eduardo (1986) Vegetalismo: Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon. Stockholm, EU: Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm Studies in Comparative Religion.
THE most complete work to date on Peruvian mestizo folk shamanic healers called vegetalista, those specialized in ayahuasca being named ayahuasqueros. Surpasses in many aspects the work of Dobkin De Rios, who did initially react in an unfriendly manner to this excellent piece of work (Taussig [1987] and other, including Doctorcito, have noted the close resemblance between shamanic and academic conflicts and rivalries). Probably one of the first published texts mentioning Pablo Amaringo and reproducing one of his paintings. Since then Luna became the active center of gravity of an incredible array of events about ayahuasca (including research) in the world.

MACRAE Edward ([1992] 1998) Guiado por la Luna: Shamanismo y uso ritual de la ayahuasca en el culto de Santo Daime. Quito, Ecuador: Abya-Yala. (Orig.: 1992. Guiado pela lua: Xamanismo e uso ritual da ayahuasca no culto do Santo Daime. São Paulo, Brazil: Editora Brasiliense).
I've read both versions but found more convenient to have it in Spanish. A standard reference book on Santo Daime. The stress on shamanism is a bit far-fetched and has been criticized. MacRae also is a fardado.

NARANJO Plutarco (1969) Etnobotanica de la ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis sps). Religion y medicina. Ciencia y Naturaleza, 10: 3-92.
I did choose this big paper rather than other better known and more often cited later publications of the Ecuadorian scholar Plutarco Naranjo because this one contains the photograph of an ancient decorated beaker made of stone resembling those used nowadays by Indians to serve ayahuasca tea. Found in an area peopled today by Shuar Indians, it may be 2000 years old according to Naranjo. In a later paper (1986), he is the one who proposed to consider that ayahuasca uses have more than 4000 years.

REICHEL-DOLMATOFF Gerardo (1975) The Shaman and the Jaguar: A Study of Narcotic Drugs Among the Indians of Colombia. Philadelphia, USA: Temple University Press.
The best known classic study of ayahuasca practices and symbolism in Indian context, among Eastern Tukano groups of Colombia, by one of the most famous Americanist anthropologists of the 20th century. The jaguar complex, the two stages of ayahuasca effects, the synchronized collective dancing, and many other things that have durably marked the field of ayahuasca research.

Ethnobotany, phytochemistry:

BRACK EGG Antonio (1999) Diccionario enciclopedico de plantas utiles del Peru. Cuzco, Peru: Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos "Bartolomé de Las Casas".
An invaluable tool to know the botanical name, chemical content (if determined), and cultivation details (if existing) of the plants the ayahuasquero is prescribing you or gives you as preliminary purge.

McKENNA D.J., TOWERS G.H.N. & ABBOTT F. (1984) Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in South American hallucinogenic plants: tryptamine and beta-carboline constituents of ayahuasca. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 10: 195-223.
A very good study of the chemical content of mestizo standard teas and the plants they are made of. The first in vitro demonstration of the MAOI property of the tea and, BTW, the first empirical confirmation of the role of the caapi beta-carbolines in protecting DMT from deamination in the liver and intestine.

RIVIER L. & LINDGREN J.-E. (1972) "Ayahuasca", the South American hallucinogenic drink: an ethnobotanical and chemical investigation. Economic Botany, 26: 101-129.
The best and still unsurpassed analytical biochemical study of caapi vines and teas; still the sole of this quality in Indian context. The only published modern study where different parts of the vine were analyzed.
It is a great pity that the Swiss Laurent Rivier recently wrote intellectually ugly texts on ayahuasca and is supporting some ignorant, reactionary, and prejudiced French toxicologists. On the basis, shared with Rivier, of an improbably simplistic opposition between an undefined, paternalistically idealized "indigenous traditional setting" (just talk with Guillermo Arévalo, or see Chaumeil 1988; Aigle et al. 2000), and "out-of-the-traditional-setting" practices, these toxicologists are attempting to criminalize ayahuasca rituals, at least in France, in waving their brand new scarecrow: "chemical submission" (see [in French]: http://www.sfta.org/Consensus/protocole ... 1%2003.pdf). Of course, these scary ignorant buffoons are just bluffing: their first hand experience of ayahuasca, its rituals and drinkers, is limited to incomplete chemical analysis of the content of bottles "filled with an orange-colored liquid" seized by the police in 1999 among French daimistas. They don't have a single case description to cite, a single clinical vignette to quote about "chemical submission" with ayahuasca tea. Only vague or blatantly false allusions, evidently without the slightest reference, written in an indirect style ("cases have been reported..."). Vexed interests are certainly not foreign to this attitude: the mentioned toxicologists have private or public analytical facilities, get money from forensic toxicology business, have taken advantage of a right-wing government to promote their views and to besiege an official commission in charge of delivering advices about "drug scheduling". The more they criminalize ayahuasca uses, the more money and prestige they can expect. Evidently short-sighted (people will become more discreet or go in neighbouring countries where the legal situation is less insane) and a two-edge sword: they have attracted Doctorcito's attention, who's henceforth tracking them.

C'mon Mr. Rivier, stop degrading your reputation with poor quality writings and don't commit yourself further with these freaks. Or I regretfully will have to write about you and them elsewhere than on this forum. You already know how precise and generous I can be with quotes and references. With yours as well: no doubt the following quote will permit to members of this board to effortlessly appreciate your new objectivity.

Quote:
In South America, the traditional use of ayahuasca has spread among mestizo members of the rural population and, more recently among the urban middle class with the expense of major changes in the observance of traditional taboos and rituals (MacRae, 1998). The issues of abuse liability or toxicity of ayahuasca are becoming increasingly important with the advent of syncretic religious groups such as Union de Vegetal and Santo Daime in Brazil which utilize the decoction as a ritual sacrament (Callaway et al., 1994).
Moreover, the suggested application of ayahuasca as a pharmacotherapy for cocaine addiction by groups such as the Takiwasi treatment clinic in Peru (Mabit, 1996), its increasing consumption in several European countries, the USA and Japan are indications of the radical changes which have occurred in the practice of ayahuasca ceremonies compared to the original ritualistic and shamanistic practices of South American Indians. The recent proliferation of web sites advocating ayahuasca use and proposing the selling of the drink itself (e.g.: http://www.yage.net ), the very detailed indications to select plant or chemical substitutes to make the so-called "Pharmahuasca" or Ayahuasca borealis (Ott, 1999) make such pressure even more intense.
Finally, in search of exotic and possibly original psychedelic experiences, Western visitors are flooding into the tropic forests, contacting shamans to buy the right to sit at an organized ayahuasca setting. This aspect associated with the raising interest for ethno-eco-tourism traveling in the Amazon basin these last 10 years have brought considerable pressure on the small villages inhabited by isolated ethnic groups of various Indian tribes. The clients of these adventure trips in the Amazon region are searching only for the entheogenic experience with little interests in meeting the natives. They want their hallucinogenic trip rapidly and are not at all interested in following the taboos that traditions might impose to them, nor worried by the impact their brutal arrival may cause on the fragile bio-ecosystem. As consequence, one can understand why the local shamans, adapting to the new demand, change the original settings of the ayahuasca ceremony their ancestors have taught them to follow and respect. Very soon, parts of the orally transmitted tradition will be lost forever.
Source: http://www.rivier-consulting.ch/dossier ... I_2002.pdf

The last paragraph is particularly edifying. It is at best badly informed sensationalizing journalism, betraying an unfathomable ignorance of decades of anthropological studies on ayahuasca. Interestingly Rivier is here on the same line of arguments previously put forth by... Jonathan Ott [1996] [rejoining of the extremes?]! Alan Shoemaker [see Part 1] and Luis Eduardo Luna have already pinpointed the weaknesses of this largely fantasized argumentation. What follows is just a digest and slight extension of these counterarguments). To visit remote, "isolated" Indian communities, one not only needs at least one official authorization in most countries, but transport costs are simply prohibitive for "tourists". The Indians who opened their ayahuasca practices to Westerners have chosen to do it (yes Mr. Rivier, they are capable to decide by themselves: some refused to do so) and the adaptation of their rituals for these newcomers doesn't mean one second they are abandoning their own tradition. Quite the reverse as this phenomenon valorizes ayahuasca practices and traditions to the eyes of their communities.

SCHULTES Richard Evans (1986) El desarrollo historico de la identificacion de las malpigiaceas empleadas como alucinogenos. América Indigena, 46: 9-47.
No need to present the regretted Dick Schultes; and to precise that a bibliography on ayahuasca without him is like a tree without a trunk. A not too ancient comprehensive and very detailed paper on the ethnobotany of ayahuasca. Has the particularity to be in Spanish. Another great ref., richly illustrated, is: SCHULTES Richard Evans, RAFFAUF Robert F. (1992) Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia. Oracle, USA: Synergetic Press.

Pharmacology:

CALLAWAY J.C., McKENNA D.J., GROB C.S., BRITO G.S., RAYMON L.P., POLAND R.E., ANDRADE E.N., ANDRADE E.O., MASH D.C. (1999) Pharmacokinetics of Hoasca alkaloids in healthy humans. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 65: 243-256.
The first and unique study of standard ayahuasca tea pharmacokinetics among authentic ayahuasca drinkers. Harmine, tetrahydroharmine, DMT, and harmaline were all found in the blood (plasma).

DELIGANIS A.V., PIERCE P.A. & PEROUTKA S.J. (1991) Differential interactions of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) with 5-HT1A and 5-HT2 receptors. Biochemical Pharmacology, 41: 1739-1744.
On different occasions Stephen Peroutka showed a remarkable intuition and propensity for hypothesis proved sooner or later to be wrong (a useful but certainly uneasy role to have repeatedly). During some years he believed so-called hallucinogenic, psychotomimetic, psychedelic, entheogenic, or psychointegrator substances were antagonists at 5-HT2A receptors. That's what this paper, based on an in vitro experiment, claims about DMT. Randy Smith et al. (1998) proved he was wrong, as usual [yes, that's ferocious and unfair, but how much was this guy paid to err?] Normally the results on binding affinity and agonist efficacy of DMT at 5-HT1A receptors are correct: there was and still is no controversy on this point (the significant affinity of DMT at 5-HT1A receptors was, again, confirmed in Glennon et al. 2000).

FORSSTRÖM T., TUOMINEN J. & KÄRKKÄNEN J. (2001) Determination of potentially hallucinogenic N-dimethylated indoleamines in human urine by HPLC/ESI-MS-MS. Scandinavian Journal of Clinical & Laboratory Investigation, 61/7: 547-556. (Available online for free here [pdf document]).
To my knowledge the most recent detection of DMT, bufotenine (5-OH-DMT), and intermediate compound N-methyltryptamine (NMT) in a human body fluid. Urine samples of a total of 65 "patients" (23 "surgical", 13 "internal medical", and 29 "psychiatric") were analyzed. DMT was detected only in 5 persons (~8%): 3 "surgical", 2 "internal medical", but no "psychiatric". No 5-MeO-DMT detected in any sample. Only bufotenine was regularly found at significant levels, and significantly more in "psychiatric patients". A short but clever and pondered discussion. About the determination of DMT or 5-MeO-DMT in urine: "probably not very informative, because, owing to their lipid solubility, they are excreted in urine in very small amounts and therefore are not expected to reflect the changes in the levels of these compounds in plasma or tissues." (p. 554). Different but much more credible results and statements than in Pomilio et al. 1999. Demonstrates in passing that Lisa Melton [see "Lisa Melton's paper" thread] didn't do correctly her job and gave precedence to nationalism over science.

GLENNON R.A., DUKAT M., GRELLA B., HONG S.-S., CONSTANTINO L., TEITLER M., SMITH C., EGAN C., DAVIS K., MATTSON M.V. (2000) Binding of beta-carbolines and related agents at serotonin (5-HT2 and 5-HT1A), dopamine (D2) and benzodiazepine receptors. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 60/2: 121-132.
When NIDA's pet Richard Glennon and his collaborators investigate basic neuropharmacological features of beta-carbs. Unexpected finding: a surprising lack of binding affinity of harmine and harmaline at benzodiazepine receptors (it's a common assertion in the pharmacological literature that they are antagonists or inverse agonists at these receptors). Unsurprising: "modest" binding affinity and no efficacy (second messenger activation) of harmaline at 5-HT2A receptors. Oddly enough, harmine efficacy has not been evaluated even though it displayed an at least 10-fold better (i.e. lower) binding affinity than harmaline at 2A receptors in this study. But remember Claudio Naranjo's studies (e.g. in Harner 1972): oral harmine was considered two times less potent than harmaline in producing a "hallucinatory experience".

GUAN Y., LOUIS E.D., ZHENG W. (2001) Toxicokinetics of tremorogenic natural products, harmane and harmine, in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part A, 64: 645-660.
By the same Wei Zheng's team, with the same analytical technique than in Zheng et al. (2000). To be taken with the same caution, two very intriguing results about harmine in what is to my knowledge the first pharmacokinetic study of orally administered harmine in rats: 1) rapid but low oral bioavailability of harmine (3% absolute oral bioavailability, to be contrasted with 19% for harmane), 2) great variations in blood concentration-time profiles after oral administration, in rats that have similar pedigrees, more controlled than for any racehorse. Fully confirms harmine vulnerability to first pass metabolism in the liver (Yu et al. 2003). But did evidence low -not null- oral bioavailability (I guess those concerned by this allusion will discover this reference in 2005).

LIN K.-M. & POLAND R.E. (1995) Ethnicity, culture, and psychopharmacology. In: BLOOM F.E. & KUPFER D.J. (Eds.) Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of Progress. New York, USA: Raven Press, p. 1907-1917.
A basic interesting review of pharmacogenetic- and culture-based variations in the effects of psychotropic drugs. Mentions notably the different ethnic distributions of the genetic polymorphism of the liver drug-metabolizing enzyme CYP2D6. The topic of culture has disappeared in the disappointing last "generation" of what constitutes the bible of psychopharmacology researchers: DAVIS K.L., CHARNEY D., COYLE J.T. & NEMEROFF C. (Eds.) (2002) Neuropsychopharmacology: The Fifth Generation of Progress. Philadelphia, USA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

RIBA J., VALLE M., URBANO G., YRITIA M., MORTE A. & BARBANOJ M.J. (2003) Human pharmacology of Ayahuasca: subjective and cardiovascular effects, monoamine metabolite excretion, and pharmacokinetics. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 306/1: 73-83.
The only paper of the Barcelona team I will include here. Odd finding with their gel-capped lyophilizate: almost no harmine was detectable in the blood of the volunteers, only its metabolite harmol. Notably complicates the picture of what and how much enters the general circulation. A more relevant, externally valid, and culturally respectful third pharmacokinetic study with the tea is now needed to decide between Jace and Jordi. Unfortunately not in sight...

ROSENBERG D.E., ISBELL H., MINER E.J. & LOGAN C.R. (1964) The effects of N,N-dimethyltryptamine in human subjects tolerant to lysergic acid diethylamide. Psychopharmacologia, 5: 217-227.
When the CIA-MKULTRA-related and funded freak team of Dr Harris Isbell experimented with DMT on Americans, most of them of African descent, sentenced for illicit opiate use, in the infamous "Kentucky narcotic farm". After a crazy regimen of daily LSD during 36 days (increased from 1.5 µg/kg once a day [injected intramuscularly at 6 a.m!!?] to 3 µg/kg twice daily), the six "volunteers" displayed only partial cross-tolerance to half the initial test dose of DMT, with no significant effect on pupillary dilation. After 13 days of 1.5 µg/kg daily LSD, evaluation with the initial DMT test dose (1 mg/kg i.m.) showed no cross-tolerance where a LSD test dose produced a "negligible response". Ethically very very unsettling, and neuropharmacologically very very puzzling.

SAI-HALÁSZ A. (1963) The effects of MAO inhibition on the experimental psychosis induced by dimethyltryptamine. Psychopharmacologia, 4: 385-388.
In humans, four days of a therapeutic dose of a non-selective irreversible MAOI (iproniazid) did blunt the responses to a regular dose of pure DMT administered intramuscularly the seventh day. Intriguing.

SCHWARZ M.J., HOUGHTON P.J., ROSE S., JENNER P., LEES A.D. (2003) Activities of extract and constituents of Banisteriopsis caapi relevant to parkinsonism. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 75: 627-633.
Amazing recent in vitro assessment of MAOI (rat liver) and dopamine (DA) release (from rat striatal slices) activities of a B. caapi extract compared to known industrial MAOIs and pure harmine or harmaline. The caapi extract was shown to be the most selective toward MAO-A (with 15% maximal inhibition of MAO-B vs. 25% and 20% for clorgyline and harmine, respectively) and to surpass the MAO-A inhibition efficacy of pure harmine by at least two orders of magnitude, being efficient, in term of equivalent concentration, in the low picomolar range (where harmine is in the low nanomolar range). DA release was, again, effective with the extract at a dose where harmine and harmaline alone did not significantly increase it. A synergistic effect (not found by McKenna et al. 1984) or the presence of an unknown highly active compound is postulated by the authors. Highly interesting and to be replicated.

SMITH R.L., CANTON H., BARRETT R.J. & SANDERS-BUSH E. (1998) Agonist properties of N,N-dimethyltryptamine at serotonin 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 61: 323-330.
Clear demonstration of DMT agonism at 2A and 2C receptors with complementary tests (binding and efficacy at cloned receptors in cell culture; drug discrimination study on rats with an agonist-antagonist discrimination paradigm). Invalidates the conclusions of the previous study by Deliganis et al. (1991) where DMT was proposed to be an antagonist at 2A receptors!

YU A.-M., IDLE J.R., KRAUSZ K.W., KÜPFER A. & GONZALEZ F.J. (2003) Contribution of individual cytochrome P450 isozymes to the O-demethylation of the psychotropic beta-carboline alkaloids harmaline and harmine. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 305: 315-322. Available online (free) at: http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/cgi/conte ... /305/1/315 (link found by Dagger)
Ex-vivo evidence that, in addition to CYP1A2, the liver (and brain) polymorphic CYP2D6 (cf. Lin & Poland 1995) is the major cytochrome P450 isozyme metabolizing harmine and harmaline. The measured rate of biotransformation of harmine by CYP2D6 is without precedent. Tends to confirm that harmine may have low oral bioavailability.

ZHENG W., WANG S., BARNES L.F., GUAN Y. & LOUIS E.D. (2000) Determination of harmane and harmine in human blood using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorescence detection. Analytical Biochemistry, 279: 125-129.
The first alleged detection of endo-harmine in human organism. EndoDMT (see Forsström et al. 2001) + endoharmine? Mmm, no wonder standard ayahuasca tea "speaks" to our organism... I've discussed this finding with Jace Callaway. He remains skeptical: according to him the analytical technique used doesn't allow a precise identification. Maybe... but published in Analytical Biochemistry though... Better to be replicated by another team with another, less controversial, technique.

Medicine, psychiatry:

BERINGER K. & WILMANNS K. (1929) Zur Harmin-Banisterin-Frage. Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, 55/50: 2081-2086.
A paper signed by Kurt Beringer, famous for his monograph on mescaline, that has the interest to take stock of two hot topics of the time: the possible identity of (telepathine)/yageine/banisterine with harmine [they do agree with] and the effectiveness of these/this alkaloid in the treatment of motor diseases of the Parkinson type. Beringer had started a pilot therapeutic trial with banisterine/harmine one year before and specified in this paper the doses and routes he found optimal: 20-50 mg subcutaneous, up to 120 mg orally in capsules, 20-40 mg in suppository. Results were considered very good and encouraging. Having accepted the identity of banisterine (a name given by Louis Lewin) with harmine, he also began to prescribe an extract of Peganum harmala to see if a combination of alkaloids was more efficient than harmine alone. A prescient and enlightened attitude, especially in view of the Schwarz et al. (2003) results. A pity he hadn't caapi extract at his disposal...

GROB C.S., McKENNA D.J., CALLAWAY J.C., BRITO G.S., NEVES E.S., OBERLANDER G., SAIDE O.L., LABIGALINI E., TACLA C., MIRANDA C.T., STRASSMAN R.J. & BOONE K.B. (1996) Human psychopharmacology of Hoasca, a plant hallucinogen used in ritual context in Brazil. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 184/2: 86-94.
The most cited paper resulting from the Hoasca project. Sync did post a thorough critical review of this paper in this section. But never forget it was a pilot study privately funded: if they had waited public grants, they certainly would still wait today. From an ethnoscientific point of view, they translated into a form acceptable for Western societies a knowledge Amazonian Indians have since... centuries ? millennia ?

POMILIO A.B., VITALE A.A., CIPRIAN-OLLIVIER J., CETKOVICH-BAKMAS M., GÓMEZ R., VÁZQUEZ G. (1999) Ayahoasca: an experimental psychosis that mirrors the transmethylation hypothesis of schizophrenia. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 65: 29-51.
A bizarre paper from an Argentinean team I should have skipped if Lisa Melton, also Argentinean, hadn't recently alluded to it in The New Scientist[posted in this section]. Its form is confusing: it hesitates between a review and a research paper, but is weak in both. Neither a good review (there are many basic references bizarrely missing, like three previously published papers of the Hoasca Project when they supposedly also dealt with UdV members, or Dobkin de Rios 1972; Harner 1972; Reichel-Dolmatoff 1975; Henman 1986; Luna 1986; Fróes 1988 or MacRae 1992; etc.) nor a correctly presented research. When I read it first rapidly I immediately felt something was wrong with the presentation of the research. A second careful reading revealed a major anomaly: there are learnedly discussed figures representing pharmacological and neuropsychological data gathered in 2 groups of "subjects" -one supposedly being composed of experienced UdV members, the other of first-timers [???]-, but nowhere, I insist, nowhere in the paper is the number of persons, least their basic characteristics, indicated. The location where the study supposedly took place also isn't specified. I never saw this before in any of the thousands of primary literature papers I've read (including in the last published academic article written and signed by Timothy Leary [1963], which is an uproariously funny deadpan caricature of research papers): at least in the presentation of the research and its results, this paper is an authentic scientific swindle. Furthermore the authors display a confounding ignorance of the identity of their claimed field ("Hoasca teas were obtained from Brazil, 'União do Vegetal' (UDV) ('Santo Daime')" p. 36; a confusion repeated p. 47). Not forgetting a narrow-minded uncritical adherence to the model-psychosis/transmethylation paradigm (more detailed in a previous paper) based on a biased sample of the relevant literature. Frankly, this paper is too bizarre and I've decided not to include its results in my academic writings (notably the chemical analysis of standard teas which supposedly evidenced a compound never found in other studies, but lacks crucial details, like the reference compounds used). I still wonder why the Journal of Ethnopharmacology did publish such an unusable and partly off-topic article? After reception they waited two years before publishing it. Easy to understand why they did hesitate, but not why they finally did it without having asked and obtained profound revision.

Miscellaneous:

ROUHIER Alexandre (1924) Le Yajé: plante télépathique. Paris Médical, 15: 341-346.
An exceptional French pharmacist, completely forgotten in his own country by his profession (despite years of multiple attempts I have been unable to find his dates of birth and death). He probably displayed too much overt interest in so-called "metapsychical research" (telepathy, remote vision) for a very conservative professional milieu. Even not translated, his outstanding published thesis on péyotl (1926) remained a world reference on the subject in anthropology until the first edition of La Barre's Peyote Cult in 1938 (who cited him on numerous occasions). To my knowledge he was the first, before Heinrich Klüwer, to clearly describe and delineate what have subsequently been called "hallucinatory form constants", and a progression through stages, from simple geometrical patterns to complex figurative scenes. On ayahuasca, in this and another paper, plus in a little book entitled Les plantes divinatoires (Divinatory Plants), he included generous translated quotes of important contributions of Colombian scholars of the early 20th century, notably Zerda Bayón, Fisher Cardeñas and Barrriga Villalba. One finds in this paper what probably is one of the first published photographs of a caapi stem cutting.

WINKELMAN Michael (1995) Psychointegrator plants: their roles in human culture, consciousness and health. Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness, 5: 9-53.
This anthropologist, who proposes essentially the same, outdated, psychophysiological model of trance since decades, has created a new word for plants and/or substances also called psychotomimetic, hallucinogenic, psychedelic, or entheogenic in the scholar literature. Purely anecdotal if Luis Eduardo Luna had not become fond of this name. I find interesting to include the notion of integration in the name but I'm dissatisfied with the psycho- root. Not because of association with other psycho- words, but precisely because of "integration": if the purpose is to convey this idea, then isn't the minimum to integrate in the name the different relevant levels or scales, which the intermediary psycho- scale doesn't and can't fully achieve? Either one may juxtapose the scales in a word like biopsychosociointegrator, or may choose the highest level (or coarsest grain scale), which integrates all more elementary levels (or finer grain scales), with a name like ethnointegrator or culturointegrator. The latter names would better reflect the major influence of shared, cultural representations on the experience, as seen from a psychoscientific point of view. For instance I'm aware of more than one Westerner having had a truly psychodisintegrating experience with ayahuasca tea because of incapability to integrate the animistic representations conveyed in Amazonian indigenous or mestizo ritual settings. Cultural differences may generate transient or more persistent psychological disintegrations (a fact known by generations of émigrés, exiles... and anthropologists). Only inside a given culture, with time (training of specialists, large diffusion of shared specific myths) and many precautions (rituals), can a substance like standard ayahuasca tea become a psychointegrator for many people. In multi- or intercultural conditions, initially only a limited number of particularly emotionally stable and/or open-minded members of the "host" culture can derive psychological benefits. It is after reciprocal co-adaptation, which possibly leads to the emergence of a new, hybrid, cultural form, that a growing number of persons can, in turn, plainly integrate the experience. I'm inclined to think standard ayahuasca tea is a facilitator or a catalyst in this process. But, similar to many other intercultural phenomena, the time scale is graduated in generations...

GjenopprettetMedlem

Hola David.

Applaus for godt utført speiderarbeid. Stevn fram i samme retning, er du snilll. Innsatsen verdsettes..

Mvh

Jacobsen

Anonymous

ANTIPODES OF THE MIND - av Benny Shanon

Fra en på Ayahuasca.com forumet:
this book was recommended to me by jeremy narby, author of the cosmic serpent ; dna and the origins of knowledge when i met him this summer. it's clearly a very important piece of work. i really want it but it's expensive like a university textbook... over 600 pages long. i will save for it.

antipodes of the mind ; chartering the phenomenology of the ayahuasca experience .... by benny shannon if you follow this link you'll find that amazon offers the option of reading part of the book online. very cool.

here is a note from the publisher:

This is a pioneering cognitive psychological study of Ayahuasca, a plant-based Amazonian psychotropic brew. Benny Shanon presents a comprehensive charting of the various facets of the special state of mind induced by Ayahuasca, and analyzes them from a cognitive psychological perspective. He also presents some philosophical reflections. Empirically, the research presented in this book is based on the systematic recording of the author's extensive experiences with the brew and on the interviewing of a large number of informants: indigenous people, shamans, members of different religious sects using Ayahuasca, and travellers. In addition to its being the most thorough study of the Ayahuasca experience to date, the book lays the theoretical foundations for the psychological study of non-ordinary states of consciousness in general.

Psychology:

SHANON Benny (2002) The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
Clearly there's a before and an after Benny's breaker in the history of ayahuasca tea appraisal by Western science. An unprecedented collection of reports of ayahuasca visions and a magisterial essay in their classification. A rich bibliography, an exposition of arduous psychological and philosophical topics or debates in a clear style, many truly interesting ideas and propositions (e.g. ayahuasca visions are different from dreams, the ritual drinking of ayahuasca tea may be compared to the practice of music). One major weakness: the excessively narrow disciplinary scope and scientific/epistemological approach in which Benny confined himself (radical phenomenological cognitive psychology). Renders unnecessarily problematic the interpretation of his own most significant data.

W3 [Sitesearch]

psychedelic shamanism - jim dekorne

Anonymous

http://www.maps.org/reviews/yaje.html

Book Review: Yaje, the New Purgatory: Encounters with Ayahuasca
by Jimmy Weiskopf
2005

Har egen hjemmeside:

http://www.drugwar.com/wphotos.shtm

--------
Yajé(annet ord for Ayahuasca) is, first of all, a strong purgative which provokes attacks of vomiting, and diarrhea, accompanied by feelings of nausea, dizziness, cold sweats and similar reactions which are sometimes very frightening.. At times the loss of normal self-control is so strong that the person who drinks yajé may feel the close presence of death. But it generally does not hit those who are in good physical and mental health so violently and in any case, the purgation has a curative purpose. The cleaning out of physical or psychological impurities effected by the purge simultaneously works to unblock obstacles to an innate visionary capacity which all men have. When you drink yajé, you enter into an aetherial realm where the spirits are very real. It enables one to see and communicate with such spirits through sharp and colourful visions.

The native shamans - or "taitas", as they are called - emphasize that yajé is not a drug but a sacred plant which chastises the drinker in order to reform him. In some cases, the harsh physical reactions are not provoked by a bodily illness but a moral disequilibrium that comes from and/or is reflected in bad conduct, negative thoughts, psychological trauma and the like. Drinking yajé causes a total therapeutic experience, in which the purification of the body takes place alongside a sharpening of self-knowledge, the recognition of a universal ethical code and ultimately, a direct contact with the divine. It is an empirical psychotherapy, practiced in a ritual context, that combines physical healing and a humbling of the ego. Yajé works a magical transformation of self through a sequence of feelings that begin in dread, lead to self-acceptance and repentance, and climax in an ecstasy that reinforces the lesson.

Yajé, the master plant of the potion, is a nondescript vine easily confused with many others in the jungle. But it is the only liana there that has a genie - a strict but benevolent spirit guide that humiliates its followers in order to teach them wisdom. One does not simply drink the brew and receive visions. This only happens after one has achieved certain dominion of oneself, because these and other extra-sensorial effects only occur when one is "drunk" with the potion and in order to take advantage of this intoxication you have to put up with its ugly, bitter taste and endure a state which causes distress, confusion and fear in the beginner. Purification brings more endurance, endurance enables one to drink more yajé and, through a cumulative proces that may take years, the yajé drinker is able to tune into the sixth sense which all human beings latently possess. In the traditional indigenous apprenticeship, youngsters are initiated as adolescents and, if they have the vocation for it, will drink yajé at least once a week for decades before reaching the rank of a "knower", a person with esoteric powers and the ability to heal others.

Our perception of the spirits under the influence of yajé depends on our physical and moral purity, previous experience of the drink and the dosage. The shamans say that there is only one rule for achieving mastery of yajé - apart from applying its teachings on health and right conduct to your normal life. The "secret' is to drink as much as you can take for as long as possible.

On the most rudimentary level you become aware of the spirits in the way that you feel the presence of another person in a room without being able to see him. On a more intense one, you perceive a dense field of energy, a kind of spirit static, charged with sparkling but undefined points of light.. In the visionary stage, the spirits turn into concrete images. These mind pictures are characterized by a range of brilliant, transmuting colours; repeating geometrical forms; effects of kaleidoscopes, rainbows and fireworks; and a whole assortment of abstract designs, among other characteristics. This primary visual field may equally resolve itself, in a fluid and dynamic way, into representational figures of jungle totems, Buddhas or Christs and even scenes from past lives or encounters with extra-terrestrials.

Such representations, however, are not merely images on an inner movie screen. They speak to the person about his health, his life and the meaning of existence. They embrace his body and bring fire to his guts. They have a taste, a smell and an electricity.

GjenopprettetMedlem

Du e bare helt rå, David

GjenopprettetMedlem

Livets bok. Skrevet av hver enkelt leser.
Det er nå den beste boken om plantemedisin da.. Og forøvrig alle andre emner også.
On topic? Ikke veldig.
Men helt siden jeg var rundt 9 år.. Og nabogutten brant seg på brennesle, og jeg bare på innstinkt plukte noen blader av forskjellig ugress som var rundt der, knuste dem mens jeg ba litt, smurte på der han brant seg... Og han ble bra... Så... Eh.. Jah...
Jeg er ganske pragmatisk i min søken...

Anonymous

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158542 ... 9?n=283155

Intelligence in nature
av Jeremy Darby
--------
From Publishers Weekly
In The Cosmic Serpent, anthropologist Narby hypothesized that Amazonian shamans can "gain access in their visions to information related to DNA" comparable to what molecular biologists know. In this intriguing treatise, he carries his project of syncretizing all forms of knowledge a step further, arguing that animals and plants exhibit intelligence comparable in many ways to that of humans. His shaman friends heartily endorse the idea, regaling him, over a friendly pot of hallucinogenic ayahuasca brew, with conversations they have had in the trance state with animal and plant spirits. For further confirmation, he talks to Western scientists who have done remarkable research on cases of nonhuman intelligence, like bees with abstract reasoning, crows that manufacture standardized tools, pigeons that distinguish between the works of Van Gogh and Chagall about as well as college students do, octopuses that break out of and into their tanks and slime molds that solve mazes. Scientists may find Narby's ongoing efforts to assimilate shamanic mysticism to Western science - he associates, for example, Amazonian legends about humans turning into jaguars with Darwin's theory of evolution - naïve and illogical. But Narby has done his homework - the endnotes themselves make excellent reading - and his well-researched and engagingly presented account of the "braininess" of even literally brainless creatures raises fascinating questions about the boundaries between man and nature.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
Anthropologist Jeremy Narby has altered how we understand the shamanic cultures and traditions that have undergone a worldwide revival in recent years. Now, in one of his most extraordinary journeys, Narby travels around the globe-from the Amazon basin to the Far East-to probe what traditional healers and pioneering researchers perceive about the intelligence present in all forms of life.

Intelligence in Nature offers overwhelming illustrative evidence that independent intelligence is not unique to humanity. Indeed, bacteria, plants, animals, and other forms of nonhuman life display an uncanny proclivity for self-deterministic decisions, patterns, and actions. The Japanese possess a word for this universal knowing: chi-sei. For the first time, Narby presents an in-depth anthropological study of this concept in the West. He not only uncovers a mysterious thread of intelligent behavior within the natural world but also probes the question of what humanity can learn from nature's economy and knowingness in its own search for a saner and more sustainable way of life.

Det er blanding av litt av hvert inkl plantelærere.

Anonymous

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/090779 ... s&v=glance

Luis Eduardo Luna - Ayahuasca Readers - encounters with the sacred vine of Amazones.

Luna virker å ha flere fine bøker om Ayahuasca. Leser akkurat nå Ayahuasca Visions. Mye fine bilder ang Pablo Amaringos egne erfaringer med Ayahuasca.

SUPERNATURAL MEETINGS WITH THE ANCIENT TEACHERS OF MANKIND - av Graham Hancock:
http://www.amazon.com/Supernatural-Meet ... F8&s=books

Less than 50,000 years ago mankind had no art, no religion, no sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic and electrifying change, described by scientists as "the greatest riddle in human history," all the skills and qualities that we value most highly in ourselves appeared already fully formed, as though bestowed on us by hidden powers. In Supernatural Graham Hancock sets out to investigate this mysterious "before-and-after moment" and to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the modern human mind.

Hancock's quest takes him on a detective journey from the stunningly beautiful painted caves of prehistoric France, Spain, and Italy to rock shelters in the mountains of South Africa, where he finds extraordinary Stone Age art. He uncovers clues that lead him to the depths of the Amazon rainforest to drink the powerful hallucinogen Ayahuasca with shamans, whose paintings contain images of "super-natural beings" identical to the animal-human hybrids depicted in prehistoric caves. Hallucinogens such as mescaline also produce visionary encounters with exactly the same beings.

Scientists at the cutting edge of consciousness research have begun to consider the possibility that such hallucinations may be real perceptions of other "dimensions." Could the "supernaturals" first depicted in the painted caves be the ancient teachers of mankind? Could it be that human evolution is not just the "meaningless" process that Darwin identified, but something more purposive and intelligent that we have barely begun to understand?

About the Author
Author of the major international bestsellers "The Sign and The Seal", "Fingerprints of the Gods" and "Heaven's Mirror", Hancock's books have sold more than 5,000,000 copies and have been translated into 27 languages. His TV appearances and lectures have put his ideas before audiences of tens of millions. "Hancock has invented a new genre" (The Guardian).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anonymous

http://www.akasha.de/~aton/NeoDMT.html

Noen utdrag ang DMT:

MYSTICISM AND DMT:

Despelling the mysticism that has appeared in places of this chat forum, due to lack of gathered intelligence by which to adequately integrate perspectives. By the age 12 the pineal gland calcifies, hardens, and the production of Pinoline, DMT, 5meoDMT decreases. Power Thinking, Einsteins focussing techniques, and image streaming aid in reawakening this, or maintaining it.

Most people are enzyme deficient. The Amino acid Tryptophan is destroyed by cooking, and so are the relevent enzymes that enable it to convert to 5meoDMT and Pinoline (Harmine, beta carboline).

Hence, even with years of enzyme supplementation the enzyme level for Zon Power thinking (Neo Tech jargon for Unified Integrated Thinking), for the majority of humanity, is difficult to revert to.

The specialised diet mentioned by Tony Schneider, appears to have enabled a 3 month process of pineal gland decalsification, so that his own higher cortical neurotransmitters could be reawakened, as antennas to his Vortexjah Field. Also 14 hour day shifts, or work stress, force the body to produce DMT - hence Integrated Power Thinking that taps the Civilisation of the Universe.

"Since these same Psychoactive tryptamines occur in humans, it is possible that their activity may be promoted by the actions of endogenous beta-carbolines for normal psychological processes; e.g. the production of visual / emotive imagery in sleep. The periodic altering of consciousness in sleep may even be necessary for the maintenance of normal mental health, since only a few days of sleep deprivation will result in a seepage of hallucinatory phenomena into the waking state."

--Tryptamines, Beta-carbolines and You. Dr J.C. Callaway, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Kuopio, Finland

DMT AND MYSTICISM 2:

Dr. Callaway of the University of Kuopio, Finland, has after all, conclusively demonstrated that the Near Death Experience, Out Of Body Experience, and death itself (by blood plasma spinal tap readings), are based on Pinoline, DMT, and 5meoDMT release.

Every night we produce Pinoline, 5meoDMT, and DMT, in fact they are in the cerebral spinal fluid right NOW. LUCID dreams are induced by DMT, again Dr. Callaway demonstrated this objectively.

When we are born our brains are flooded with 5meoDMT, the brain is 40% more active and open, the inner Onion is being imprinted. These are objective facts, demonstrated in rigourous experiments. When we are in puberty the Pineal gland calcifies, and we loose this contact with Neo Think and C U, our diets and education systems play a major role in this, clearly.

DeMystifyingTendencies of Addiction and DMT.

As to dependency. DMT with Harmine, or Pinoline, has objectively been demonstrated to not wear out the brain, as non-essential external drugs do. But rather enhance the long term neural pathways of the brain, into better pathways. This is reflected in greater value production in the life of the experimenter.

Dr. Denise McKenna with a team of specialists, has now conclusively shown by testing, (via cerebral spinal fluid, blood plasma, and psychological analysis), that Amazonian Ayahuasca elexiers, (which are used as medecine with many reports in rejuvination), actually increase the effectivity of Serotonin pathways, rather than decrease them slightly, as Psychedelics do.

Linear I.Q. and long term memory increased. Those tested had been working in Ayahuaca communities for 10 years, and participated in the Elexier 1-3 times a week. Psychological analysis, showed:

a. that they could handle stress far better than the comparison test group and general comparison data base;

b. had dropped addictive habits from their lives (alcohal, nicotine, cocain),

c. were able to run a more integrative and effective business life, then before. Most in fact, rather than becoming "drop outs", became integratives, introducing values into society, at the practicle business level - creating their own effective companies. There was also a greater sense of Group Mind, or Neo Think, amoungst the members of the community, hence better integration between all participents.

No negative physical side-affects were seen from these long term experimenters, and psychological health, as well as physical health, were optimal, with evidence of being enhanced.

As opposed to addictive drugs, or to psychedelics not produced by the brain, or being in the DNA synthesis library - taking exogenic Harmine, actually stimulates the Pineal gland to produce more Pinoline for itself, increasing the other essential neurotransmitters recycling.

Furthermore, Harmine itself is a key to medecines in treating Parkinsons disease, and now even a cure for maleria, and has been used in the Vinager of the Four Theifs, associated to the Eucharist of Christ, to treat the plague, via the Assyrian Rue. It was also the holy plant of Mohamid, over which stood 7 angels, and which he drank as the Espand, to speak the Koran. It is the red colouring in Persian Rugs, and hence lead to the concept of the Flying Carpets. There are also several case testimonies of cancer being cured with it.

Anonymous

Anerkjente National Geographic har en solid artikkel om Ayahuasca-seremonier i Peru inkludert videolink.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adven ... /peru.html

Artikkelforfatteren fikk iallefall erfaringer han ikke glemmer.

"The taking of ayahuasca has been associated with a long list of documented cures: the disappearance of everything from metastasized colorectal cancer to cocaine addiction, even after just a ceremony or two. It's thought to be nonaddictive and safe to ingest. Yet Western scientists have all but ignored it for decades, reluctant to risk their careers by researching a substance containing the outlawed DMT. Only in the past decade, and then only by a handful of researchers, has ayahuasca begun to be studied."

At the vanguard of this research is Charles Grob, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at UCLA's School of Medicine. In 1993 Dr. Grob launched the Hoasca Project, the first in-depth study of the physical and psychological effects of ayahuasca on humans. His team went to Brazil, where the plant mixture can be taken legally, to study members of a native church, the União do Vegetal (UDV), who use ayahuasca as a sacrament, and compared them to a control group that had never ingested the substance. The studies found that all the ayahuasca-using UDV members had experienced remission without recurrence of their addictions, depression, or anxiety disorders. In addition, blood samples revealed a startling discovery: Ayahuasca seems to give users a greater sensitivity to serotonin—one of the mood-regulating chemicals produced by the body—by increasing the number of serotonin receptors on nerve cells.

Unlike most common antidepressants, which Grob says can create such high levels of serotonin that cells may actually compensate by losing many of their serotonin receptors, the Hoasca Project showed that ayahuasca strongly enhances the body's ability to absorb the serotonin that's naturally there.

"Ayahuasca is perhaps a far more sophisticated and effective way to treat depression than SSRIs [antidepressant drugs]," Grob concludes, adding that the use of SSRIs is "a rather crude way" of doing it. And ayahuasca, he insists, has great potential as a long-term solution.

While it's tantalizing to wonder whether such positive physiological changes took place in me when I was last in Peru, I'm also intrigued by the visions I had, which seemed to have an equally powerful role in alleviating my depression: It was as if I'd been shown my own self-imposed hells and taught how to free myself from them. What was really going on?

According to Grob, ayahuasca provokes a profound state of altered consciousness that can lead to temporary "ego disintegration," as he calls it, allowing people to move beyond their defense mechanisms into the depths of their unconscious minds—a unique opportunity, he says, that cannot be duplicated by any nondrug therapy methods.

"You come back with images, messages, even communications," he explains. "You're learning about yourself, reconceptualizing prior experiences. Having had a profound psycho-spiritual epiphany, you're not the same person you were before."

But the curious should take heed: The unconscious mind holds many things you don't want to look at. All those self-destructive beliefs, suppressed traumatic events, denied emotions. Little wonder that an ayahuasca vision can reveal itself as a kind of hell in which a person is forced—literally—to face his or her demons.

"Ayahuasca is not for everyone," Grob warns. "It's probably not for most people in our world today. You have to be willing to have a very powerful, long, internal experience, which can get very scary. You have to be willing to withstand that."

Their perspective is not unlike that presented by quantum theorists, such as David Bohm, who describe a holographic universe with coexisting realms of reality. To Amazonian shamans, there are an infinite number of such realms, each as distinct from one another as London or Paris, each inhabited by beings with certain appearances, abilities, and customs. To become a master shaman, they contend, one must learn to negotiate these worlds, to enlist the assistance of their various denizens, to become comfortable working in places of light and darkness. For, they will tell you, there is no doubt that there is a heaven and hell—many levels and manifestations of each, in fact—which are as real as Tokyo or Palm Beach. Yes, one finds angels and demons in such places. Hollywood got that part right.

But to the mind trained in the West, such notions of spirit travel and multidimensional reality are a long stretch for the imagination. "I do not believe that there are beings and creatures just like us who reside elsewhere in other realms," wrote Benny Shanon, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He drank ayahuasca in more than 130 ceremonies, studying his and others' vision experiences and producing one of the most extensive books on the subject to date, The Antipodes of the Mind, in which he concludes that the visions are simply hallucinations of the highest order: "Under [ayahuasca's] intoxication, people's imagination and creative powers are greatly enhanced. Thus, their minds are prone to create the fantastic images they see with the brew."

In Shanon's view, as well as in those of other Western scientists, DMT-created visions are simply extraordinary reflections of the contents of the unconscious mind. Grob, the UCLA psychiatrist and ayahuasca researcher, agrees with this in part, though he adds: "Sometimes the visions are uncanny and don't seem to reflect personal experience. . . . People consistently have very profound spiritual experiences with this compound."

And this notion of a spiritual experience marks the very juncture where Western science and analytic thought depart on the subject of ayahuasca and where indigenous culture and mysticism come in. Most ayahuasca researchers agree that, curiously, the compound appears to affect people on three different levels—the physical, psychological, and spiritual—complicating efforts to definitively catalog its effects, let alone explain specific therapeutic benefits. Says Ralph Metzner, psychologist, ayahuasca researcher, and editor of the book Sacred Vine of Spirits, "[Healing with ayahuasca] presumes a completely different understanding of illness and medicine than what we are accustomed to in the West. But even from the point of view of Western medicine and psychotherapy it is clear that remarkable physical healings and resolutions of psychological difficulties can occur with this medicine."

Anonymous

Her er det mange fine vitenskapelige kilder til Ayahuasca:

Ayahuasca, shamanism, and curanderismo in the Andes
Steve Mizrach

Introduction
The term ayahuasca comes from the Quechua, meaning literally "the vine of souls," although it is also called "the visionary vine" or the "vine of death." The folk term refers to the botanical species of liana known as Banisteriopsis Caapi , which is also known as Yage among the Indians of Brazil. For simple ease of writing, I will generally refer to it as Yage throughout the paper. Yage is used in conjunction with several other psychoactive compounds in Andean ceremony, including tobacco, epena or yopo snuff (made from psychotria viridis), and coca. It contains several neurally active alkaloids, of which perhaps the most significant are the beta-carbolines (MAO inhibitors), and the most important of those being harmine and harmaline. When the caapi vine is used (as it often is) in conjunction with another subspecies of banisteriopsis, whose active compound is dimethyltryptamine (DMT), the synergistic effect creates a powerful psychedelic experience in the user. (Villoldo 1990.)
Due to the activity of Western ethnobotanists, chemists, and anthropologists in the late 20th century, the Western world has become quite interested in yage. William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg were convinced it might hold the cure "junky" addiction to "hard drugs" like heroin. (Burroughs 1963.) Research scientists were so impressed with the plant's ability to heighten mental sensitivity that they were sure it conferred extrasensory perceptions, and dubbed it telepathine. The experience that the Yage plant confers on Western users is so similar to accounts of the Near-Death Experience (NDE) (as noted by would-be shamans such as Alberto Villoldo, Michael Harner, and Terrence McKenna) that some are sure it's practically a gateway to the spirit world. Many psychotherapists (like Claudio Naranjo) still working on the somewhat verboten practice of using psychedelics in therapy still experiment with Yage, claiming that it produces the catharsis necessary for some dramatic cures of alcoholism and neurosis. (Naranjo 1974.)

Yage is used throughout the Amazon, particularly in Brazil and Colombia, in addition to Peru. In this paper, I am of course focusing primarily on its usage among indigenous Andean tribes such as the Cashinahua , and particularly on its use in healing and divination rituals. Much has already been written about the use of Yage in Peruvian curanderismo , especially the sort of pseudo-New Age-spiritual tourist cults that seem to have grown around its use in urban areas. In this paper, I am trying to argue three significant points that have not been paid much attention to in the study of Peruvian shamanism. One, that ayahuasca trance is often accompanied by a critical acoustic component involving the use of rattles and whistles. Two, that the shamanic trance may make use of the peculiar lines that line the Peruvian sierra (the ceques ) which link together its many sacred places (huacas.) Third, that yage use is part of an important cosmological culture-complex involving a fascinating ethnoastronomy on the part of its users. And also that the way in which Yage healing is performed has been changing in urban areas.

Shamanism, one of the perennial fascinations of anthropology, may represent one of the most archaic forms of religious consciousness on the planet. Mircea Eliade calls it an "archaic technique of ecstasy" and suggests that in most cultures, the shaman serves multiple roles, the most important perhaps being his mediation between the temporal and spiritual realms. (Eliade 1964.) R. Gordon Wasson thinks that American shamanism, and perhaps other forms, derives from a Siberian-Altaic circumpolar culture-complex that developed around Amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric/Soma) mushroom use some 100,000 years ago, and which spread with Asiatic migrants across the Bering strait. (Wasson 1986.) In almost every culture, the shaman is thought to be able in his visionary state to climb the 'world pillar' of the 'world navel' (omphalos ) which links the underworld, middle world, and the heavenly realm of the Polestar. To some, the shaman is merely a schizophrenic, psychotic individual indulged by other members of his tribe; to New Age romantics, he is the figure of the "wounded healer," a mystical guru par excellence.

In Peru, I would argue, shamanism primarily revolves around healing (curanderismo ) and that today, it has Indian and mestizo practicioners (one of the most famous in the lattery catgeory being Eduardo Calderon.) Much, though not all, of the ceremony involves the use of Yage, and today such rituals can be found in urban, montane, and jungle areas. Not surprisingly, the content of Yage visions in the Andean context is strongly influenced by the cultural set and setting. Users of Yage frequently report hallucinations of jaguars, the souls of the ancestors, and out-of-body type experiences. It is important to realize that the particular kind of Altered State of Consciousness (ASC) created by Yage use is affected by other concomittants, and thus researchers may not fully understand the Peruvian shamanic experience without taking those into account. However, we also need to look, to some degree, at what is happening with Yage at a basic neurological level.

Background: preparation, physiology, context, cross-cultural effects
While many Andeans are familiar with the preparation of Yage, it is commonly utilized in ritual settings by vegetalistas , shamans who are known for their specialization in ethnobotanical knowledge. (Luna 1986.) The typical procedure is to scrape the bark from the woody vine and boil it in water, creating an intoxicating tea. Other plant materials will then be added, resulting in a unusually bitter concoction. Users drinking this tea typically have extreme feelings of nausea and intestinal discomfort, resulting in diahrrea and vomiting. For this reason, yage is frequently known as the purgate (purge), and users are strongly counselled to undergo a period of severe fasting and abstinence prior to using the substance. The plant contains a number of physiologically active chemicals in addition to harmine, harmaline, and DMT, and these can create other symptoms of physical discomfort, which makes some people feel like they are dying - slowing of the pulse, chills, numbness, and the blurring or fading of sensory stimuli from the external world. (Lamb 1985.)
I emphasize this fact, because in many of the cross-cultural studies of "Yage," harmine extract has been used without many of the allied compounds found in the plant. Naranjo and other therapists claim they do this for the benefit of patients, and rightfully so, but it should be emphasized that for shamans who take the "heroic dose" of Yage for their initiations, this deathlike crisis is part and parcel of the experience. The purgate is thought to remove toxic substances from the body, and the crisis is thought to liberate the shaman's soul to allow for "spirit flight," and to be an important trial preparing him for his work with the spiritual world. "Bad trips" with Yage do occur, where the shaman is tormented by demonic beings, attacked by serpents, or imprisoned underground, but these are culturally rationalized and understood as part of the experience. It is the shaman confronting what is thought to be sorcery and freeing himself from attachments to his previous life. Thus, when harmine is used in a Western context, not only is the cultural rationale not present, but the "total package" physiological experience is not there either.

In the native context, Yage is commonly used to divine the causes of illness and effect cures. Anthropologists believe it is most commonly used in the case of culture-bound syndromes (CBSes) (what are sometimes clumsily called "psychosomatic illnesses" by Western medicine), such as the condition of susto or soul loss. However, sorcerers are also known to employ it in witchcraft for the causing of illness as well, by summoning "spirit darts" that will attack their enemies. It is also used for divining the future and the whereabouts of missing persons and things; for contacting and controlling spirit beings; for the "spirit flight" of the shaman; and for facilitating intergroup harmony and sociability. Ethnographers report that the most common elements of Yage visions are: 1) the feeling of separation of the soul from the body, and taking flight 2) visions of jaguars (interpreted as positive), and snakes and other predatory animals (usually thought to be negative) 3) a sense of contact with supernatural agencies (Andean demons and divinities) 4) visions of distant cities and landscapes (thought to be clairvoyance) and 5) detailed reenactments of previous events (thought to be retrocognition.) (Villoldo 1990.)

Visual elements of the Yage trance in the native context inevitably involve: brightly colored, large snakes; jaguars, ocelots, and other jungle cats; spirits of ancestors and others; large, falling trees; lakes, often filled with alligators or other predators; and villages and gardens of other Indians. These visions are usually preceded initially by swirling, moving geometric patterns, bright visual flashes (phosphenes), sensations and sounds of rushing water, and sudden, descending darkness that seems to swallow the individual. (Harner 1980.) These share some commonalities with the hallucinogenic experiences of shamans using psychedelics in other Native American cultures. But in order to understand the "bottom line" neurological effect of Yage, it's worthwhile to look at the effects it causes in Westerners. Naranjo reports that urban, elite Chileans using harmaline in a clinical, experimental setting reported the following experiences: feelings of being transformed into a "ball of energy" and rushing rapidly through the sky; becoming a winged being and flying; visions of Negroes or black people; religious (Catholic) imagery; sensations of turning or swirling violently; and malicious dwarves. (Naranjo 1974.)

Like the Indians, his Chilean subjects reported seeing ferocious cats (usually tigers or panthers), reptiles (not always snakes; usually, lizards or dragons), predatory animals, deep lakes and abysses, and previous events which had happened either to themselves or close personal friends. Naranjo insists that any possible "contamination" from suggestions or guidance on the part of he and his aides was carefully controlled, so perhaps we do have with Yage a certain cross-cultural "rock bottom" experience involving disembodiment/soul flight and visionary patterns. It's hard to tell; the Chileans may have been familiar with Indian legends and stories. Various researchers suggest the effects of harmaline may be due to the presence of an indole ring which is chemically very similar to serotonin, a naturally produced neurotransmitter in the brain. The alkaloids in Yage are isotropically close to those found in mescaline, psilocybin, and lysergic acid diethlamide (LSD), and may interact with the neurotransmitter inhibition system in the brain. There is much evidence to believe that the "locks" for psychedelic "keys" such as harmaline are "built" into the brain, by close coevolution... as Wasson suggests, mushroom use may be millennia old. (McKenna 1993.)

I consider it somewhat significant that cross-culturally, Yage appears to cause the sensations of near-death experience and 'soul flight.' There are researchers who feel this is a particularly powerful hallucination common to the use of many psychedelic compounds, and it may be the basis for many cross-cultural ideas and complexes in humanity's religious imagination, such as the belief in a transcendent soul. This may be the case; however, those who use the drug do not always report heavenly palaces or hellish abysses. Many claim their "soul flight" takes them to familiar locations which are close-by, and that they navigate among landscapes using recognizable landmarks. I am not here suggesting that this constitutes a "real" or "objective" Out-of-Body-Experience (OOBE), in any scientific, verifiable sense. But the Indians certainly do believe that during this "soul flight" they can view distant places and find missing objects. Further, I will argue that even if this is purely a symbolic, imaginal journey, shamans at least use imagined elements of the Andean landscape and cosmos to navigate on their "journeys." And that it is thought to allow for interactions with the dead and the spiritual realm that coexist with us. (For the Jivaro Indians, indeed, these interactions are more real than our earthly ones.)

Curanderismo: Urban ayahuasquero healing
In her work with urban healers in Iquitos, Dobkin de Rios discovered that the majority of them were cholos or mestizos who used Yage in their curing sessions, usually with patients who were mestizos that dwelled in urban slums. (De Rios 1972.) Usually, the healer would take a circle of clients into the forests outside Iquitos, and there administer the Yage to both himself and the patient (he would work with each one individually.) A careful pre-screening process would select out people the healer thought were suffering from severe organic illness (they would unashamedly refer such patients to biomedical physicians in Iquitos) or psychosis. Usually, the healer would choose to work with patients believed to be suffering from what might be called Culture-Bound Syndromes - illnesses understandable and 'treatable' within an Andean cultural context. These included:

Susto: The condition of "soul loss," whose symptoms often include alteration of metabolism, nervous disorders, feelings of fear, and a loss of appetite and energy. Yage is thought to help the healer discover the whereabouts of the missing soul.
Dan~o: Dano is thought to occur when someone harbors feelings of envy or vengeance toward a person. The symptoms of Dano include hemorrhaging, muscular pain, fatigue, suffocation, tumors, and consistent bad luck (known as saladera. ) It is a magical illness, which may have been caused by a Yage-using sorceror who has slipped the person a noxious potion, or has thrown a chonta or evil magic thorn. Thus it requires magical treatment.
Pulsario: Pulsario is sometimes described as a ball at the top of the stomach which blocks ordinary digestion. Mainly diagnosed in women, pulsario's symptoms include restlessness, hyperactivity, anxiety, and irritability. The healer often proclaims this ball to be crystallized (repressed) pain, sorrow, or anger, thus requiring Yage divination to find the proximate emotional cause.

Mal de Ojo: The symptoms of the "evil eye" were varied, but included such manifestations as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, weight loss, insomnia, and depression. It can result from an improper glance from a person, which is not always maliciously intended. Mothers often seek to protect their children from the evil eye through amulets or tobacco smoke. A healer is thought to be able to discover who cast the glance.
As a form of magical healing, the action of a ayahuasquero is thought traditionally not only to discover the sorceror, spirit, or other being of ill will who caused the illness, but also to expel the bad sorcery and return it to that person. The shaman attempts to locate the sorceror's tsentsak or spirit darts within the body of the victim (these are then removed in the form of needles or other objects "sucked" out of the patient) and return them to their conjuror. What has happened is that in the urban setting these beliefs have been moralized (Christianized) and naturalized. (Chaumeil 1992.) The mestizo healer usually tries to locate the source of the suffering of the patient in some kind of moral or interpersonal transgression on the part of the urban dweller, and thus in divination discloses to the client what acts of prayer, penitence, restitution, and apology are necessary for a complete cure. This will often also be accompanied by some type of physical regimen, including recommended changes in diet; hydrotherapy, herbalism, or similar naturopathic 'treatments'; and even recourse to Western biomedicine. (Joralemon 1993.)

The curandero's clients often consult him because they either do not trust, cannot afford, or have had no successes with Western medicine. This may be due to the presence of such culture-bound illnesses. Thus, it can be seen that the urban healer works as a sort of psychotherapist and social worker as well. Urban dwellers in Iquitos often face severe stresses in their lives (prominently, annual flooding of their homes, nonexistent sanitation, and lack of steady employment) which often leads to sharp intra-familial conflict. In locating the sources of their illnesses in conflicts that they must resolve, de Rios suggests the healer is not all that different from a psychoanalyst 'uncovering' repressed memories and trauma. However, unlike Western psychoanalysis, transference occurs from the healer to the client, as the client must recover through internalizing the healer's vision of what steps are necessary for recovering spiritual 'balance' and health. This may be a novel use of Yage, different from its original usages in aboriginal Andean shamanism; but it is not altogether dissimilar from the way Western therapists are using harmaline and other psychoactive substances in treating their patients today.

The acoustic component: the "Whistling Bottles"
In a short article published in 1971, "Hallucinogenic Music," Marlene Dobkin de Rios and Fred Katz attempt to argue that there is an important acoustical component to the Yage ceremony. (Katz and de Rios 1971.) Certainly, others had noted the shaman's use of a schacapa or rattle to mark important points in the ceremony. And other ethnographers have noted that in other cultures, the use of drums or other percussive instruments is part and parcel of the ceremony, creating conditions of "sonic driving" which may help entrain brainwaves. But de Rios points out that one of the most important parts of the Yage folk music performed by the shaman was whistling - the use of certain precise tones at different parts of the ceremony. What significance did this have? She mentions the ancient Pythagorean belief of musical effects on consciousness, with musical progressions linked to states of mind, and the synaesthetic experience that some hallucinogen users report between musical tones and color perceptions or emotional experiences. And admits that even today, knowledge of psychoacoustics (the neurological effects of music on the brain) is in its infancy.

So while it could purely be a cultural component - i.e. the melody creates certain folk associations on the part of the listener, providing content for the visionary experience - she questions whether a more direct effect might not be involved. The shaman would whistle, she noted, to help bring a 'client' out of a 'bad trip' or negative experience, or to assist the person with some transitional point in the psychedelic visions. Certain tonic progressions would coincide precisely with these transitions. She suggests, "...the preponderance of the tone G could be viewed as the dominant tone away from the tonic C. Perhaps this contrastive situation potentiates the activation of the ayahuasca alkaloids..." De Rios seems to suggest that mostly oral (i.e. non-instrumentally augmented) whistling was involved in the ceremonies she saw, but this may not be universally the case. And this musical component of the ceremony (the need to generate specific whistling tones) may provide the clue to some mysterious Moche artefacts - the so-called "whistling bottles."

These ceramics were made by pre-Columbian peoples living along the coast of Peru between 500 BCE and up until the Spanish Conquest. They were made primarily by the Moche craftsmen, but can also be found in Chimu and other cultures. The vessels are generally dual-chambered: one chamber is the "inside" of some type of effigy figure, and the other chamber contains a spout. The two chambers are linked on the exterior by a bridge handle which contains a whistling cavity, and an inner cavity. Most archaeologists assume they are drinking vessels, with their whistle being used as "an amusing vent to facilitate the passage of air when pouring and filling with liquid." However, there is some reason to believe that these curious artefacts were used for more than just imbibing beverages. Daniel Statnekov, an amateur collector, reported that when he blew into one of these whistling vessels, it generated an eerie, high-pitched tone, and he had a sudden feeling of perceiving himself as a moving luminescence rushing rapidly through space, before he confronted an inky black cloud that chilled him "like death" and suddenly forced him to snap out of his vision. He had not used any drug prior to this experience - but it was extraordinarily similar to that reported by yage users! (Statnekov 1987.)

Statnekov set out to prove scientifically that these "whistling bottles" were not used primarily for drinking. He and acoustic physicist Steven Garrett tested about seventy of the bottles, from different cultures and time periods, using the following analysis: pressurized air was sent through the bottles in an anechoic chamber, and the resulting sound passed through a spectrum analyzer. Often as many as seven partials, harmonics of the fundamental frequency, could be detected. They found that the average frequency of the Moche/Huari bottles was around 1320 Hz, whereas the Chimu/Chancay bottles averaged a tone of about 2670 Hz. The earlier cultures tended to produce "enclosed-type," dual-tone low-frequency whistles, where the second tone could be achieved by halving the blowing pressure, creating a tone about 0.65 of the original frequency. They concluded, "The frequencies of a bottle produced by a specific set of cultures tend on average to be within +/- 14% of the average frequency. On the basis of the small octave range... we are reasonably sure they were not used as musical instruments... however, the clustering of frequencies... in the range of the ear's greatest sensitivity... and the high sound levels produced by the whistles when blown orally... suggest they were produced as whistles..." (Garrett and Statnekov 1987.)

So, they're not used as musical instruments, and people very likely didn't hear very much when drinking from them, so they probably weren't useful as ritual beverage containers either. What were they? I suspect Statnekov's experience holds the key. The whistling bottles may have peculiar psychoacoustic effects on their own when blown orally. But more likely, as Dobkin de Rios suggested, such whistles may have been used to potentiate and synergistically amplify the Yage experience. They may have been used by Moche shamans to generate the specific tonal sequences thought to be necessary for guiding the Yage 'trip.' After the conquest, shamans may have resorted to purely oral, non-amplified or instrumentalized whistling as an alternative, which is why de Rios didn't find such things in use among her subjects. However, the manufacture of such vessels may not have stopped with the Spanish Conquest; I suspect careful examination by ethnographers may turn up their continued use in Yage ceremonies in the Andes today. Their effects on consciousness require some more psychophysical study.

The Mystery Lines: shamanism and ceques
For a long time, anthropologists have pondered the mysteries of the ceques or lines which cross the Andean sierra. Many originally thought them to be paths or roads for trade and travel. This seems unlikely, however, as many of them are extremely narrow (about 2 cm in width), and they tend to terminate in rather undesirable destinations, such as cliffs and chasms, rather than other villages. The ceques which surround Cuzco are thought to radiate out from the capital, symbolizing the extent of the Inca "Sun King's" power. Ethnographers have found that other ceques are used to demarcate the boundaries of different ayllus ' territory, representing the extent of their authority as well. It is quite apparent that the ceques definitely link the many huacas (sacred spots) of the countryside, where pilgrims will often leave stones and other offerings for the resident divinities. And that some ceques have an ethnoastronomical significance, terminating at a point on the horizon where the setting or rising of a particular celestial body can be observed on a specific day of the year. (Hadingham 1988.)
But what about that other mystery of the Andes, the Nazca markings? While much ink has been spilt over discussion of the enormous landscape figures found on the Nazca plain, representing flora and fauna that are visible only from high above the ground, few have mentioned the network of lines that cross the figures. These lines cross them somewhat haphazardly, almost as if to suggest they preceded the figures. In any case, they are definitely too narrow to be spaceship runways, so what are they? Maria Reiche and Paul Kosok provided an initial suggestion when they claimed to have found significant lunar, solar, and stellar alignments. However, when Gerald S. Hawkins rechecked their work, he found little of verifiable significance. (Hawkins 1973.) I suspect that Anthony Aveni may provide a better idea when he suggests that the lines may be "a ritual writ large." Many of the lines originated from Cahuachi, a prominent Nazca ceremonial centre. (Aveni and Silverman, 1991.)

Aveni found that many of the Nazca lines paralleled water concourses, and that they terminated on the promontories of mountaintops from which water would flow following seasonal downpours. However, they are not irrigation channels. Rather, they serve a ceremonial and symbolic function. Aveni found that even today many people perform ceremonies at endpoints of the lines for the purposes of summoning water. And he found a link with the ceques; Aveni also observed that many ayllus would place sacred offerings in streams that bent alongside ceques in order to maintain the flow of the water. Aveni points out, "...the ceques were more than mundane property boundaries, since water was a gift of ancestors residing in the underworld... the geometric connection we found between the lines and water, together with the analogy of the ceques, suggests the lines may have played some part in ceremonies designed to summon water from its sources underground or high in the mountains." But Aveni doesn't suggest what kind of ceremonies these were. And what does this all have to do with Yage and shamanism?

Two authors, Paul Devereux and Tony Morrison, may hold the key. Devereux originally studied a similar system of lines (he called them leys ) crisscrossing the British countryside. He found the leys would often connect sacred spots such as stone crosses, megaliths, churches built atop earlier Celtic holy places, holy wells, and landscape figures. Further, the leys (called the "old straight track" by Alfred Watkins) would often parallel underground streams and end at points where one could find blind springs. Devereux was fascinating by myths which told of Druids who would fly following the leys in stone chariots. British legends tell of spirits that walk the lines on saints' days, and how dowsers use them to find underground water. He became convinced that these stories of aerial travel were not literally true, but might have been describing the use of the ley lines for the sort of 'spirit flight' found in indigenous American shamanism. Devereux travelled to South America, and discovered that there were stories there also of how shamans would use the ceques to navigate using their 'spirit body.' (Devereux 1994.)

Morrison observes that in the Andes, the dead are also thought to walk on the ceques during certain days. (Morrison 1978.) It hit me like a thunderbolt. Two of the functions that the Andean shaman uses Yage, "the vine of souls," for are to contact the dead and to divine the location of water. The ancestors' spirits residing within the huacas are thought to guard underground water. Perhaps one of the "ceremonial" uses of the lines are for the shaman to travel during his "spirit journey," guiding him like a magnet to the places of the dead where he can bargain for water. Indeed, during their "soul flights," shamans typically report that they are "guided" on their journey by "spirit paths" that lead them to the appropriate destination. One of the ayllus' main responsibilities are water rights, and they maintain this role through their link to the ancestors who guard the water for their descendants. (Lamadrid 1993.) This may not be a (meta)physical journey, per se, but the shaman at least uses the lines as a symbolic , imaginal path for the journey to the places of the dead.

Certainly this does not solve all the riddles of the ceques. On the Nazca pampa, the Indians still quite physically travel the lines from huaca to huaca, leaving offerings on a "round" or circuit of visits which seems to be timed coincidentally with important seasonal periods (esp. climactic changes, such as the onset of heavy rainfall.) While Morrison at first argues that Reiche and Kosok were wrong about their "Stonehenge-type clock/computer" hypothesis for the Nazca markings, he later admits weakly that the Great Rectangle's eastern extremity apparently did align with the setting of the Pleiades around 525 AD, during the Nazca period, and that some other lunar alignments may be present. (Ibid., 1978.) He leaves the possibility open that the timing of the visits to places along the ceques may have been based on important points during the year marked by the setting or rising of the sun, moon, or other stellar bodies, now culturally remembered as saints' days or the mortuary dates of key ancestors. Which of course leads us on our next 'journey,' if you will, into ethnoastronomy.

The cosmological component: the Milky Way as road of souls
Morrison admits that Aymara star-lore was "extensive," and that they worshipped the moon, noting its complex 18-year cycle. The quipus , he notes, might have been used to record astronomical data. The Indians' words for "east" and "west" were derived from positions of the sun, they were able to fix the solstices through watching the sun over key geographic points, and east was a key ceremonial direction toward which many monuments were faced. The evening star (Venus, Ururi in Aymara and Quechua) was thought to be particularly important. While Andean ethnoastronomy might not have been sophisticated as that of the Maya, they still had made significant calendrical and other achievements. He suggests that Aymara and Quechua people had similar beliefs concerning constellations and asterisms such as the Pleiades and the Magellanic Clouds. Perhaps most importantly, they both referred to the Milky Way as the "way of Santiago" (St. James), a Christianization which coverred up its earlier names - the "river of stars," "the road of souls," or the "way to infinity..." (Ibid., 1978.)
As I suggested earlier, in many cultures' shamanic traditions of tripartite cosmology, one place the shaman journeys during 'spirit flight' is into the underworld (the nagual in the Andes) to commune with spirits, find water, and locate lost souls. However, he is also thought to be able to climb the "world tree" into the sky. In many societies in the northern hemisphere, the "world tree" (also often thought to be a mountain or mill) is believed to stretch from the "world navel" to the Pole Star, the one body in the heavens around which all the others spin in deference. Santillana feels that many ancient peoples were aware of the precession of the equinoxes, which causes the Earth's axis to point toward a different pole star every two millennia or so. They would represent the "falling" of the pole star below the horizon (and its eventual replacement by another star - even faithful Polaris will give up his throne eventually) as a cosmic flood or cataclysm. Their shamans would need to find new routes to climb up into the heavens. (Santillana 1969.)

However, in the southern hemisphere, the Pole Star is hardly that prominent, and hangs in a somewhat low position on the horizon - hardly as spectacular as it might be for someone living in, say, the Arctic. Indeed, in the native ethnoastronomy, it's hardly mentioned at all. However, the Milky Way is quite visible, and it arcs brilliantly across the vault of the southern sky. We might expect the Milky Way to be an alternate route for the shaman seeking to climb the sky. And indeed it is - to reach the celestial spirits (as opposed to those that live in the underworld), Jivaro and other South American shamans claim that they climb the Milky Way. They are explicit about the use of yage in doing so. In their visions, the "vine of souls" stretches out to become a milky serpent, becoming the Milky Way, "the road of souls" which they use as a rope to climb into the heavens. But are such beliefs found among the indigenous peoples of the Andes?

Schultes reports that indigenous shamans using Yage in the Andes claim to feel a "rushing wind" pushing upwards which then they realizes is the torrent of "water" forcing them up the Milky Way. (Schultes 1992.) After ascending the Milky Way, they are then able to talk with those ancestors who were also able to ascend to the "celestial Paradise." As a mortal, however, the shaman cannot remain, but while in his 'spirit body' he may ask questions of the heavenly beings, who may know antidotes for sorcery he has not otherwise been able to counteract. There seems to be the mythic belief that rainbows and the Milky Way are diurnally related phenomena. A shaman trapped in the underworld may not be able to return unless he can find the "rope" of the Milky Way. So it seems somewhat clear that this ethnoastronomical understanding is an important component of the visionary experience of using Yage in the Andes.

Conclusion
It is clear that Yage works cross-culturally because it has evident biochemical effects on the brain. It does effect healing for indigenous and mestizo people in the Andes, and may be useful in this way for Westerners as well. However, anthropologists wishing to study Yage or even recommend it as a panacea for ills in their own societies have perhaps once again been suffering from one of their common delusional maladies: failure to note complete context. Yage may work for people in the West, and it may well lead to positive experiences. However, Westerners using Yage not only fail to create the Andean "set and setting" in which Yage is used; they also lack the important concomitants for the experience of the drug - consensual understandings of the nature of health and illness; acoustic accompaniments; symbolic connections to alignments in the natural landscape; and cultural conceptions of the cosmos. Perhaps only the second variable can easily be remedied; certainly the technology for generating precise sonic tones exists today, and is even used already in so-called "mind machines."
And, as I noted earlier, the problem is further compounded by Western insistence on using chemical extracts rather than natural plants. This may reduce side-effects, but also results in different physiological results. It is like the difference between coca and cocaine. This is not to say that therapists like Naranjo might not be able to obtain beneficial results. But certainly administering one isolate compound, harmaline, from the plant, in a clinical medical setting, is likely to produce ones radically different from those seen in a "native" Andean context. The fact that there are similarities at all raises interesting questions, for which we have no answers. Why should Westerners also see cats and reptiles? It might be the Jungian archetypes, or the fact that these were predators with which the early hallucinogenic-discovering Cro-Magnons had to deal with. Who knows? I would repeat that the facts that both "control groups" make reference to sensations of dying and 'soul flight' are significant.

The fact that harmaline and DMT create such powerful religious feelings in people cross-culturally is likely not to be coincidental. In dealing with these substances, we may be on the verge of obtaining fundamental insights about the biological-chemical nature of consciousness. It is clear that they and other hallucinogens do not merely cause temporary 'psychoses' in people or 'mere hallucinations' (in the traditional unreflective sense of "things that aren't there and should be ignored") but instead work with existing, adaptive, well-evolved mechanisms in the brain for generating ASCs. The Andean shaman is not a maladjusted, indulged individual, but instead one who uses Yage to allow him to fulfill the multiple responsibilities to the community that his role requires. We will not understand fully how Yage is used in the Andes, or what human potentialities it might unlock in other contexts, unless researchers are allowed to experiment with the drug in their own laboratories and cultural settings. Due to the abuse of hallucinogens in most Western countries, mainly stemming from the lack of a cultural/ritual tradition of controlled use, overreaching legal structures prevent such experimentation. But progress will not be made unless such barriers to researchers are removed.

Bibliography
1.Aveni, Anthony, and Silverman, Helaine, "Between the Lines: reading the Nazca markings as rituals writ large," in 2.The Sciences , July-August 1991, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 36-43.
3.Browman, David L., and Schwarz, Ronald, eds., Spirits, Shamans, and Stars: Perspectives from South America, Mouton Publishers, New York, 1979.
4.Burroughs, William S., and Ginsberg, Allen, The Yage Letters, City Lights Books, San Francisco, 1963.
5.Chaumeil, Jean-Pierre, "Varieties of Amazonian Shamanism," in Diogenes , No. 158, Summer 1992, pp. 101-112.
6.Demarest, Arthur A., Viracocha: The Nature and Antiquity of an Andean Solar Divinity, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1981.
7.Devereux, Paul, Shamanism and the Mystery Lines, Quantum Books, London, 1994.
Dobkin de Rios, Marlene, Visionary Vine: Psychedelic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon, Chandler Publishing, Toronto, 1972.
8.Eliade, Mircea, Shamanism: an archaic technique of ecstasy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1964.
9.Garrett, Steven, and Stat, Daniel K., "Peruvian Whistling Bottles," in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America , Vol. 62, no.2, August 1977, pp. 449-455.
10.Hadingham, Evan, Lines to the Mountain Gods: Nazca and the Mysteries of Peru, University of Oklahoma Press, London, 1988.
11.Harner, Michael, ed., Hallucinogens and Shamanism, Oxford University Press, New York, 1973.
12.Harner, Michael, The Way of the Shaman, Bantam Books, New York, 1980.
13.Hawkins, Gerald S., Beyond Stonehenge, Harper & Row, New York, 1973.
14.Joralemon, Donald, Sorcery and Shamanism: curanderos and clients in northern Peru, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1993.
15.Katz, Fred, and De Rios, Marlene Dobkin, "Hallucinogenic Music: an analysis of the role of whistling in Peruvian ayahuasca healing sessions," in The Journal of American Foklore , 1971, vol. 84, pp. 333-336.
16.Lamadrid, Enrique R., Treasures of the Mama Huaca: oral tradition and ecological consciousness in .Chinchaysuyu, Latin American Institute, Albequerque, 1993.
17.Lamb, Frank Bruce, Rio Tigre and Beyond: the Amazon jungle medicine of Manuel Cordova, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 1985.
18.Luna, Luis Eduardo, Vegetalismo: shamanism among the mestizo population of the Peruvian Amazon, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm, 1986.
19.McKenna, Terence, True Hallucinations: being an account of the author's extraordinary adventures in the Devil's paradise, HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1993.
20.Morrison, Tony, and Hawkins, Gerald S., Pathways to the Gods: the Mystery of the Andes Lines, Academy Publishers, Chicago, 1978.
21.Naranjo, Claudio, The Healing Journey: new approaches to consciousness, Pantheon Books, New York, 1974.
22.Santillana, Giorgio de, and Dechend, Hertha von, Hamlet's Mill: an essay on myth and the frame of time/an essay investigating the origins of human knowledge and its transmission through myth, Godine Publishers, Boston, 1969.
23.Schultes, Richard Evans, and Raffauf, Robert F., Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, their Plants and Rituals in Amazonia, Synergetic Press and Conservation International, Tucson, 1992.
24.Statnekov, Daniel K., Animated Earth, North Atlantic Books, Berkeley, 1987.
25.Villoldo, Alberto, and Jendresen, Erik, The Four Winds: a Shaman's Odyssey into the Amazon, Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1990.
26.Wasson, Robert Gordon, Persephone's Quest: entheogens and the origins of religions, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1989.
27.Weil, Andrew M., M.D., Health and Healing, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1983.
Return to MindWarp

Anonymous

Alberto Villoldo kjenner flere San Pedro-sjamaner og ble avbildet sammen med en i Peru i Shaman`s Drum issue 69 fra 2005. Alberto Villoldo er helt sikkert tilhenger av plantelærere/plantemedisin siden han har erfart det selv - han kjenner flere som driver på med slike healingsseremonier og det er mye om plantemedisin/plantelærere i Shaman`s Drum hvor han er med som utgave rådgiver sammen med flere. Rune Heivang har gått i lære hos Alberto Villoldo.

Anonymous

Ny studie tyder på at hippienes 'magiske sopp' har positiv effekt. Det svært velrennomerte medisinske fakultet ved Johns Hoskins University har testet en pille med stoffet psilocybin på 36 forsøkspersoner. Resultatet er oppsiktsvekkende.
Stoffene psilocybin og psilocin finnes i nærmere 190 sopptyper, blant annet i fleinsopp. Stoffet beskrives gjerne som et hallusinogen, men det er en upresis betegnelse.

Livsglede

Det psykoaktive stoffet har lenge vært kjent for sine bevissthetsendrende (eller bevissthetsutvidende) egenskaper og hyllet som 'magisk' av hippier og andre brukere. Den nye studien tyder på at lovordene har noe for seg.

TV-selskapet ABCs helseredaksjon skriver at de 36 forsøkspersonene var friske. To måneder etter at de fikk psilocybin i kontrollert dose og under ellers trygge forhold, svarte 79 prosent at deres velvære og tilfredshet med livet hadde økt 'moderat til kraftig'. 60 prosent opplevde selve rusen som 'en mystisk erfaring'.

Deltakerne i forsøket kjente til at de fikk stoffet, noe som kan ha påvirket utfallet. Forsøkspersonene hadde også en religiøs bakgrunn til felles, og kritikere mener det kan innebære en skjevhet i studien.

Interessant forskning. Det står mer om dette her sånn:
http://www.dagbladet.no/dinside/2006/07/12/471319.html
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sectio ... id=4356299

Anonymous

http://www.wasiwaska.org/research.htm

Endel vit.forskning fra organisasjonen til Luis Educardo Luna - Wasiwaska om Ayahuasca hovedsaklig. Flere kjente personer som Stanislav Grof,Alex Grey,Jeremy Narby,Dennis McKenna,Rick Strassman,Benny Shanon,Ralph Metzner blant annet er med i denne organisasjonen:

Research Centre for the study of psychointegrator plants,visionary art and consciousness.

Anonymous

FLUX NR 4 - 2006
Flux er et livsfilosofisk magasin om vitenskap,kunst,filosofi og dialog
http://www.flux.no
(jeg fikk tillatelse til å kopiere deler av deres artikkel så lenge jeg la ved deres magasin)

Ayahuascas virkninger er underlige og sterkt fremmedartede, men også sædeles meningsfylte, opplysende og moralsk veiledende. Professor i kognativ psykologi ved Hebrew University i Jerusalem,Benny Shanon, har 140 egne Ayahuasca-opplevelser bak seg, i tillegg til forskningsstoff fra flere hundre informanter. I mange år definerte han seg selv som ivrig ateist. Etter 10 års Ayahuascaforskning kom han tilbake fra Sør-Amerika med en radikalt fornyet verdensanskuelse. En gang under inntak av Ayahuasca-brygget tenker han med seg selv: "Hvis dette ikke er virkelig, men noe som frembringes i min egen bevissthet, må menneskesinnet være mye mer fantastisk, mye mer mystisk enn psykologer forestiller seg. Sannelig,hvis dette er noe som bare stammer fra meg,vet kognitive psykologer ingenting om menneskesinnet.

Visjonene, som alltid er intenst virkelige og som regel i sterke farger,omfatter:

-avgjørende menneskelige begivenheter som fødsel,død og gjenfødsel.
-feminine og maskuline aspekter av tilværelsen
-meningen med livet
-menneskelig historie og lidelse
-helse og helbredelse
-flora og fauna
-naturens grunnleggende fysiske krefter
-naturen som overjordisk,guddommelig
-livskreftene(med verdenssjelen,anima mundi)
-kjærlighet og velvære
-storslagne kulturelle scener
-monarkiske scener
-musikk
-konfrontasjon med kosmiske mysterier,slør faller
-mytologi,gjerne forbundet med identifikasjon med dyr
-overmenneskelige og guddommelige møter
-en kosmisk energi som driver alt liv,all bevegelse, ut fra en overordnet harmoni
-det fulle og hele kosmos som en stor symfoni av prakt og lovsang
-metafysiske og filosofiske visjoner
-perspektiver på evighet

Ayahuasca gir dype forandringer i opplevelsen av rom og tid - f.eks som utvidet rom og raskere eller saktere tid. Man kan drives inn i en slags kosmisk spiral,hvor tid plutselig synes å opphøre. Deltakere kan oppleve at de er satt utenfor, over eller bak tiden. Det kan være i form av den store stillhet,eller det kan være alt som noensinne har skjedd og alt som noensinne kommer til å skje, synes å være tilstede. Shanon bruker bildet av en bok - hvor hele boken er skrevet og foreligger,og hvor du kan gå inn og lese bitvis hvor det måtte passe.

Man kan ha store visjoner av krig og forfall, hele sivilisasjoner som kommer og går. Ofte fornemmer man en dyp poengtert og realistisk essens av virkeligheten. Man kan også oppleve intrikate geometriske figurer som formidler en nesten platonsk og meningsfylt matematisk virkelighet, likevel sterkt koplet til et dynamisk og fargerikt livsmangfold.

Som kognitiv psykolog forundrer Shanon seg over hvordan kan det f.eks ha seg at så mange mennesker med forskjellige kulturell bakgrunn opplever slanger og jaguarer? Selv hadde han mange opplevelser av samme art som de innfødte i Amazonas. Samtidig synes det som opplevelsene forandrer karakter over lengre tids bruk av brygget.

Shanon ser Ayahuasca-opplevelsen som noe mer enn å avdekke informasjon lagret i hjernen.
Han stiller opp en metafor med et hvitt lys som strømmer inn i sinnet, og et fullt spektrum av farger og former som kommer ut. Det som mottas kan sees som en perfekt refleks av hva man er, av ALT man er på det angjeldende tidspunkt, av hva man er moden for og hva man på en eller annen måte fortjener og kan ta inn over seg. Det blir en aktiv prosess, en slags skaperakt, en sinnets dans.
For å få fullt og genuint utbytte av Ayahuascas verden må kropp og sinn være renset, da vil også sinnet vise essensen av sin egen natur, med det beste av sitt eget kreative potensiale. Lys er en essens i opplevelsen. Et renset sinn vil oppleve ubegrenset rikdommer. Visualiseringene fristilles fra innhold og bestemte former. Det hele smelter sammen til suverent lys.

Shanon forsøker å sette alt dette i en sammenheng. Han stiller det gamle filosofiske spørsmålet om matematikk(og musikkens harmonier) er noe som skapes eller noe som oppdages. Hva med Ayahuasca-visjonene? Et klart skapende element,ja, men finnes det en form for virkelighet i det? Deltakernes skaperevne synes å være på sitt beste når de surfer på den spesielle energien brygget gir og kanaliserer denne inn i aktiv tilstedeværelse, samtidig som de slipper taket og går fullstendig opp i energien og de effektene den frembringer. Deltakerne opplever dette definitivt ikke som egne fantasier.
Shanon konkluderer med at visjonene er psykiske,skapende og virkelige. Noe bestemt,tydelig og virkningsfullt skjer, utover det vi oppfatter som det normale. Men er det ikke dette også kunstnere,dansere,profesjonelle musikere kan oppleve? Spørsmålet er hivlket potensiale som slumrer i oss alle. Hva slags kosmos vi til syvende og sist deltar i.

Benny Shanon - professor i kognativ psykologi ved Hebrew University Jerusalem. Han har skrevet boka Antipodes of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/Antipodes-Mind-Ph ... F8&s=books

Fint å lese en Ayahuasca-artikkel i et norsk magasin.

Anonymous

Jeg er veldig takknemlig for denne tråden, siden jeg er engasjert i en skapende dialog mellom vitenskapen og sjamanismen. Her ligger en viktig utfordring og et stort potensiale for sjamaner i dagens samfunn - for den som føler kallet. Selvsagt trengs det åpenhet og transformasjonsvilje fra begge sider.
Så thumbs up for Shanon, som også stiller det svindlende spørsmål om hva som oppdages og hva som skapes... han kaster oss rett inntil dobbelthelixen til metaforenes DNA!

Anonymous

Fra Alternativ Nettverk utgave nr 1 - 2003 om Ayahuasca-seremonier - fant jeg dette - spennende lesning for dem som er opptatt av Ayahuasca

DEN LILLE DØD
Ayahuasca-seremonier i Amasonas

Anne Høivik er kunstner og terapeut med ”Master Degree” i kunst og uttrykksterapi fra USA. Hun er også sertifisert av Stanislav Grof som gruppeleder i Holotropic Breathwork. Per Strøm er Cand Real med kjemi som hovedfag. Han er også sertifisert av Stanislav Grof som leder av Holotropic Breathwork. Anne forteller først om reisen og opplevelsene i Amasonas med Ayahuasca, mens Per deretter gir en nærmere generell beskrivelse av hva Ayahuasca er.

av Anne Høivik & Per Strøm

I jungelcampen ”Jushintaita” ved en av Amazonas side-elver, sitter jeg sammen med omtrent tredve mennesker. Det er natt, kunstneren og shamanen Don Augustin Rivas har delt ut Ayahuasca-vinen, stearinlysene slukkes og seremonien kan begynne. Jeg kjenner at kroppen vibrerer og ser visjoner for mitt indre øye. Gradvis overgir jeg kontrollen til Ayahuasca-vinens visdom og undervisning.

Ayahuasca er navnet på en plante, som vokser i Amazonas-jungelen. Sammen med en annen plante, som kalles Chakruna, kokes saften ut og brygget er kjent for å styrke den fysiske og psykiske energien og har evne til å åpne psyken og gi visjoner. I tusenvis av år har menneskene i Amazonasområdet brukt Ayahuasca som en helbredene medisinplante i forbindelse med religiøse ritualer. Navnet er satt sammen av Aya og Huasca og kan bety ”Den Lille Død”.

DØD OG GJENFØDSEL
Det rituelle rommet, hvor vi sitter på rad og rekke langs veggene, fylles med sang og tromming, såkalte ”mariris” –lydvibrasjoner som påkaller shamanens åndelige ”hjelpere”.
Jeg er fullt ut bevisst og samtidig midt inne i drømmerikets virkelighet. Mange års arbeid med meditasjon og drømmearbeide gir meg en følelse av gjenkjennelse og trygghet. Dette er psykologisk død-og gjenfødsel. Ego-kontrollen løsner mer og mer, psyken åpner seg mot transcendens og bundet energi frisettes. Den første visjonen er klar og tydelig:

Det er en vakker glasskuppel med en rund åpning i toppen. Inne i åpningen sirkler en slange, tre til fire ganger viklet rundt seg selv. Gjennom hullet, fra innsiden av kuppelen, ser jeg solen der ute, omkranset av tusenvis av stjerner. Jeg vet at jeg kan ”reise” ut gjennom det hullet, hvis jeg overgir meg... Ritualet varer i 6 –7 timer og avsluttes med en intensivering av musikken mens hele gruppen deltar i en rituell avslutningsdans. Neste dag deler vi visjoner og erfaringer fra nattens seremoni.

Det har gått en uke siden vi forlot Gardemoen, med sekkene fulle av remedier for jet-leg-problemer, moscito-stikk og heteslag. Vi hadde betalt ekstra for å få flyrute direkte til Lima fra Amsterdam. Flyturen gikk over all forventning. I Lima var sikkerhetskontrollen stor pga. sterk økning i kriminalitet, men vi ble møtt av hotellets sjåfør og kjørt rett til Miraflores, hvor vi bodde i to dager, før vi møtte turens leder; Jaya Bear. Noen av de andre deltagerne kom også til Lima og vi reiste videre sammen til Iquitos, hvor Don Augustin Rivas møtte oss. Gruppen vår var på 13 personer, Per og jeg fra Norge, en kvinne fra England og en mann fra Canada. Resten kom fra forskjellige steder i USA. Fire stykker hadde prøvd Ayahuascha tidligere. Per og jeg var to av dem.

Vi hadde funnet fram til Don Augustin Rivas over internett. Først via en CD vi bestilte og som vi likte spesielt godt. Deretter via kursarrangørenes hjemmesider. Etterhvert kjøpte vi boken ”Amazon Magic”, skrevet av Jaya Bear og en video ”Sacha Runa, Spirits of The Rainforest”, laget av Miguel Kavlin. Vår respekt for Don Augustin vokste og på bakgrunn av en spesiell drøm jeg hadde fått sommeren 2001, bestemte vi oss for å reise til Amazonas.

Kurset var lagt opp med fire ayahuasca seremonier spredt utover tolv dager. Vi bodde i små hytter bygget på peler, med en liten veranda utenfor. Det ble servert enkel, smakfull, vegetarisk mat tre ganger om dagen, bortsett fra de gangene vi hadde seremonier, da fastet vi i seks-syv timer før ritualet begynte. Vi renset kroppene våre, innvendig med en plantesaft kalt ”Dr. Ojê”, og utvendig i forskjellige leire og urtebad. Det var bygget en trivelig liten badeplass under palmene og vi kunne slappe av i solen eller i skyggen – alt etter behov. Det ble arrangert vandringer gjennom jungelen, hvor vi lærte om de forskjellige plantene og deres helbredende virkning.

EN DANS I KOSMOS
Neste ayahuasca-seremoni er to dager senere og styrken på brygget øker. Don Augustin måler omhyggelig opp i de små begrene og deler ut, mer til noen mindre til andre. Kroppens vekt og størrelse er avgjørende i forhold til veskemengden. Etter å ha fått min porsjon, setter jeg meg ned – denne gangen på et annet sted i rommet. Jeg føler meg litt mer erfaren, finner lettere en komfortabel kroppsstilling – tross alt – jeg skal sitte på sammen sted i seks – syv timer, mens kropp og psyke åpnes og hverdagsbevisstheten viker plassen for en endret bevissthetstilstand.

I det øyeblikket vinen begynner å virke, vet jeg at dette blir en reise ut gjennom åpningen i katedralens kuppel. Mens kroppen blir sittende i ro på trebenken, flyter sjelen min ut gjennom hullet i glasskuppelen. Jeg nærmest flyr eller strømmer ut i stjernehavet med stor og samtidig myk hastighet. Rundt meg gnistrer og funkler det og jeg farer gjennom verdensrommet uten å være det minste redd. Tvertimot – dette er fantastisk – plutselig ser jeg barn rundt et fødselsdagsbord, barn med ballonger, barn som leker i gresset, solen som skinner – for en glede... Visjonen er krystallklar. Hele seremonien er som en dans i kosmos, fra begynnelse til slutt. Ofte må man kvitte seg med ayahuascaen etter en viss tid, enten ved å kaste opp eller ved å gå på do, men denne natten er det ingen konflikt mellom meg og vinen – vi danser en kosmisk dans sammen og forstår hverandre...

ARBEID I ENDRET BEVISSTHET
I den tredje ayahuasca-seremoneien skal det være shamanistisk healing på slutten. Don Augustin har invitert flere andre shamaner, som delvis er med å lede ritualet og delvis er med
som healere. De er også tilgjengelige i løpet av dagene mellom seremoniene. Per og jeg har fått flere sesjoner hos dem og det har også de andre deltagerne. De arbeider to og to sammen, bruker sine ”mariris” og forskjellige urter, pluss sine helt spesielle teknikker for frisetting av blokkert energi.

Før tredje ayahuasca-seremoni har Don Augustin sagt til meg at han vil gi meg en healing på slutten av seremonien. Det foregår slik at man blir hentet fra sin plass langs veggen og inn i midten av rommet. Shamanen eller shamanene, hvis det er flere, arbeider i en endret bevissthetstilstand, som gjør at de kan ”se” og fornemme ubalanse i energifeltet rundt kroppen på den de jobber med. I samarbeide med deres åndelige ”hjelpere”, som kanskje kan sammenlignes med evnen til å kanalisere helbredende energi, fjerner de blokkeringer og bundet energi. Det kalles ”psykisk operasjon” og jeg er mildest talt forventningsfull og spent på hvordan en slik healing vil komme til å bli.

Ayahuasca-vinen er sterk. Jeg har fått to fulle begre og kjenner umiddelbart at dette blir en stor utfordring. Rundt meg fornemmer jeg at de andre reagerer på samme måten. Etter relativt kort tid begynner folk å kaste opp. Vi har plastikkboller under benkene, slik at vi ikke behøver å forlate rommet, når kvalmen tvinger fram den såkalte renselsen. Det kan foregå renselse på alle plan; fysisk, emosjonelt, mentalt og åndelig. Etter erfaringen fra forrige rituale tenker jeg at det kanskje ikke blir så ille for meg. Tiden går og jeg greier å beholde brygget, men kjenner til gjengjeld at ayahuascaen arbeider intenst med gamle fryktmønstre. Kroppen vibrerer kraftig – i det hele tatt opplever jeg at dette er en sesjon med fokus på bundet, emosjonell energi. Så kommer visjonene.

Jeg står inni glasskuppelen og ser de sorte siluettene på utsiden. Denne gangen reiser jeg ikke ut i kosmos, men jeg klatrer ut av glasskuppelen og kan fra – en høyere posisjon -observere at
skyggene representerer redde barn. I samme øyeblikk, som jeg erkjenner deres identitet, utvider visjonen seg og blir kollektiv. Jeg ser hvordan de fleste mennesker blir født inn i karmiske fryktmønstre, som skapes av grenseløs brutalitet og smertefulle lidelser. Kriger og konsentrasjonsleirer ruller fram for mitt indre øye, jeg ser arvesynden slik den forplanter seg fra slekt til slekt. Bak fryktmønstrene ser jeg redde barn, som lengter etter å bli sett og hørt.

RENSELSE
Kvalmen melder seg og vokser. Dette er mer enn oppkast. Jeg roper ”banjo”, som betyr ”do”. Det tar tid før noen kommer for å følge meg ut. Kvalmen og magekrampen fortsetter. Til slutt kommer det to stykker og hjelper meg ut av rommet. Heldigvis når jeg fram i tide. Jeg blir
sittende lenge der ute, mens visjonene ruller videre. Dette er definitivt ”purging”, jeg overgir meg til det hele og merker hvordan både kropp og psyke renses, frigjøres og fornyes. Vel tilbake i seremonirommet, hviler jeg ut og kommer inne i en døs, fortiden ruller fram og jeg møter mennesker som jeg trenger å avslutte karmiske relasjoner med. På en klar og enkel måte tar jeg avskjed, samtidig merker jeg hvordan nuet og framtiden åpner seg med nye oppgaver og nye muligheter. Når Don Augustin kommer for å hente meg, har jeg frigjort meg fra mange ubevisste bindinger og gammel sorg, som lå lagret i kropp og psyke.

Med stor forundring merker jeg hvordan Don Augustin arbeider med blokkeringene, som fortsatt sitter fast, spesielt i kjevepartiet mitt. Med klare faste grep åpner og modellerer han kjevebena, slik at det traumatiske sjokket, som jeg en gang for lenge, lenge siden fikk, løsner og forlater systemet mitt. Han arbeider rolig og konsentrert. Etterhvert som arbeidet skrider fram, blir jeg klar, åpen og til stede. Spesielt merker jeg hvordan ryggraden har fått ny reisning og smidighet. Når jeg – etter en viss tid – blir fulgt tilbake til plassen min, strømmer takknemligheten gjennom meg til Gud, til Don Augustin, til alle de jeg er glad i. Jeg setter meg stille ned.

Mellom tredje og fjerde ayahuascha-seremoni drar vi til Tamshiyacu, landsbyen hvor Don Augustin er født. Der har han bygget opp en skole for de innfødte. Det er undervisning på alle plan. Helt opp i gymnasiet. Alle klassene har stilt seg opp i rekke og rad, iført fine, like uniformer i gult og grønt. Menneskene i Tamshiyacu er fattige, en skoleplass koster kr. 60 pr. år og i tillegg kommer kostnadene for skoleuniformen. Barna og ungdommene ser friske og kvikke ut. De spiller for oss og det holdes en tale av rektor og av Don Augustin. Deretter blir vi vist rundt på skoleområdet. Vi blir imponert over treskjærer-verkstedet og datautstyret. Lærerne er vennlige og engasjerte. Vi kjøper håndlagde smykker og trefigurer og får vite at en familie kan overleve på 20 kr. pr.dag. fordi de fisker og dyrker grønnsaker og ris. Tidligere var alkoholmisbruk et stort problem i denne lille landsbyen. Foreldrene drakk og lærte opp barna sine til å drikke. Nå håper Don Augustin at den generasjonen, som har fått ut-dannelse, vil oppdra barna sine på en annen måte. Det er rørende å se hvor stor respekt og tillit de innfødte viser Don Augustin. Han på sin side, avbrøt en internasjonal karriere som kunstner, etter en ulykke i jungelen. Det er 10-12 år siden han vendte tilbake til landsbyen, hvor han ble født. Da vi kom, var han nettopp blitt utnevt som leder for 50 shamaner i Amazonas området. De kaller ham ”Grande Maestro”.

SISTE AYAHUASCASEREMONI
Under fjerde ayahuasca seremoni kan jeg helhjertet gi min støtte til den ærefulle tittelen. Denne kvelden og natten samler han trådene og bringer prosessen fram til en forløsning, via en svakere porsjon ayahuascha og dyktig shamanistisk ledelse av gruppen. Han slår an tonen, velger musikk og sang, som løfter og integrerer. Han er virkelig en stor mester, som håndtverker, kunstner og shaman, der han samtidig bruker trommen, fløyten og sin egen stemme. På intuisjon beveger han seg rundt i rommet, alt etter hvor menneskene trenger oppmuntring, intensivering, gjennomgang eller rett og slett tilstedeværelse.

Min indre reise blir denne gangen en hjemkomst til ”The Great Spirit”. Jeg opplever to store visjoner; I den første ser jeg Kristus korsfestet på Livets Tre. Armene er strukket ut og det drypper blod fra de fem sårmerkene i kroppen hans. Under treet står mange mennesker og tar imot blod-dråpene, som en næring de hungrer etter. Plutselig ”ser” jeg en mindre Kristus-skikkelse inni Den Korsfestede. Skikkelsen stråler og kommer mot meg.

I den neste visjonen ser jeg en moderlig kvinne ri på en skinnende, hvit hest. Hun holder meg, som lite barn, i armene sine. Vi rir inn i evigheten og inn i ritualet. Uansett hva jeg ser og hva jeg opplever, så er jeg trygg i armene på henne, som jeg kaller ”Mother Ayahuasca”.

Opplevelsen av å kommet ”hjem” fortsetter gjennom hele natten og neste morgen. Jeg vet at det handler om dyp integrasjon på et indre plan. Visjonene avspeiler at individuasjons- prosessen, som jeg har arbeidet med i mange år, nå har kommet til et mer forløst sted. Don Augustin bekrefter meg på dette under delingen neste dag, samtidig sier han: ”Jeg kan ikke gjøre noe som ikke er i samsvar med Guds vilje, ” healingen” s k j e r, jeg fungerer bare som en slags ”dirigent” for Den Helbredende Kraften.

Vi avslutter jungelretreaten med et rituale rundt bålet. Hver og en har i løpet av de 12 dagene laget en gjenstand, som representerer, symbolsk det vi vil legge igjen Yushintaita. Vi går fram en etter en, formulerer våre forsetter og kaster gjenstanden inn i flammene. Deretter formulerer vi det vi vil ta med oss inn i framtiden. Jeg legger fra meg gamle fryktmønstre og tar med meg tillit til Gud, som en lysende og levende bevissthet bak og inni alt som finnes.

Hva er Ayahuasca

Shamaner i hele Amasonområdet, og i enkelte distrikter av Andesfjellene, har tradisjonelt preparert ayahuasca til bruk i helbredelsesritualer som ”hellig medisin” og som sakrament for å forbinde seg med den åndelige dimensjon. Ayahuasca oversettes ofte med ”sjelens vin”, ”åndenes vin” eller ”den lille død”.

Ayahuasca hører inn under en gruppe entheogene, planter som kan løse opp traumer lagret i kropp og psyke og gjenopprette forbindelsen til det åndelige. Entheogen betyr å forbinde seg til det hellige i en selv. Virkningen oppleves som en psykisk, fysisk og mental renselse. Erfaringen av fysisk renselse skiller ayahuasca fra andre kjente entheogene planter så som mescaline fra peyotekaktusen, og psilocybin fra aztekernes hellige sopp, teonanácatl. I likhet med de fleste sentralstimulerende stoffer vil de sistnevte over lengre tids bruk ”stjele” noe energi, mens ayahuasca er kjent for å styrke den fysiske helsen. Ingen vet historisk hvor lenge ayahuasca har vært i bruk, men drikken inngår i opprinnelsesmytene hos et stort antall indianske kulturer og er antatt brukt i tusenvis av år. Den lange tiden drikken har vært i bruk gir god dekning for påstanden om at den er fri for uheldige bivirkninger. Selv små barn blir av indianerene gitt ayahuasca som et universalmiddel for å styrke psykisk og fysisk helse.

En klar intensjon for hva man vil oppnå med å delta i en ayahuascaseremoni er ofte utslagsgivende for hva som oppleves og hva som kan bearbeides. Brukt psykoterapeutisk kan f. eks. traumatiske følelser gjenoppleves og deretter bearbeides i en klar og innsiktsfull tilstand. Et slikt arbeid bør imidlertid foregå under god veiledning og med tid til integrasjon.

Bruken av ayahuasca brer seg idag med stor hastighet til den vestlige verden, og det er mye som tyder på at vi her har en medisin som er svært interessant for vår tid med store belastninger på kropp og psyke. Det må på den annen side fremheves at bruk av ayahuasca må foregå innen trygge terapeutiske eller religiøst rituelle rammer. Det er også viktig å fremheve at den krever en åpenhet og seriøsitet hos brukeren og at villigheten må være tilstede for å integrere og manifistere de forandringer som visjonene peker på. Ayahuasca kan derfor aldri bli en behagelig og lettvint erstattning for medisinske ”lykkepiller” eller narkotiske stoffer.

SAMMENSETNING OG VIRKNING
Banisteriopsis caapi er en lian eller slyngplante som vanligvis kalles ayahuasca. Denne planten utgjør basiskomponenten i den drikken som er kjent som ayahuasca. Det finnes idag endel andre formuleringer på markedet som også kalles ayahuasca, men de er ikke utprøvd over lang tid slik som den originale drikken. De andre komponentene kan variere noe, men en av de tilsatte komponentene inneholder alltid DMT (dimethyltryptamine). Den vanligste kilden til DMT er uttrekk fra bladene av Chacruna (Psychotria viridis). DMT-innholdet i ayahuasca er det som gir visjoner, mens uttrekket fra Banisteriopsis dels er helsebringende, dels muligjør opptak av DMT gjennom fordøyelsessystemet. Vanligvis vil fordøyelsesenzymene forhindre at DMT slipper igjennom magesekken. På tross av at fordøyelsesenzymene forhindrer opptak av DMT, finnes DMT naturlig tilstede i små mengder hos pattedyr og i endel planter. Hos mennesker finner man mest DMT i pinealkjertelen hvor den produseres av tryptohan som også er utgangsmaterialet for produksjon av serotonin. Serotonin er en av de viktigste stoffene som overfører impulser fra den ene nervecellen til den andre. DMT er en av de nærmeste kjemiske slektningene til dette stoffet og vil lett kunne erstatte serotonin som overfører av nerveimpulser. Når DMT erstatter serotonin skjer noe som kan sammenliknes med å skifte TV-kanal. En helt annen virkelighetsverden blir tilgjengelig

Foreløpig er det ikke vitenskapelig belyst hva hensikten er med kroppens produksjonen av DMT, men mange tror at den kan være årsak til at vi får drømmebilder mens vi sover. Det er også nærliggende å anta at visse påvirkninger kan øke DMT-produksjonen og på den måten utløse visjonære erfaringer i våken tilstand. Det er interessant at Rich Strassmann i sin bok ”DMT the Spirit Molecule” lanserer den teori at ”nær døden opplevelser”, meditasjons-teknikker og endel andre spirituelle metoder kan gi visjonære eller mystiske erfaringer fordi DMT-produksjonen økes. At det kan være nære forbindelser mellom disse typer erfaringer og DMT, indikeres også av at endel vestlige yoga- og meditasjons-grupper i de senere årene har funnet det naturlig å styrke sin praksis med bruk av ayahuasca.

På bildet under, med sjamanene Don Juan og Don Victor, blir det vist hvorledes oppstykkete ayahuasca-lianer bankes opp før de kokes i kjelen i bakgrunnen.

Banisteriopsis caapi inneholder såkalte harmala-alkaloider. Disse stoffene forårsaker en moderat forhøyning av serotonin-konsentrasjonen i kroppen. Dette foregår dels ved inhibering av monoaminooxidase enzymet, forkortet MAOI, dels ved forhindring av serotonin gjenopptaksprossessen, SSRI. Det er interessant at harmala-alkaloidene i ayahuasca øker serotoninkonsentrasjonen ved hjelp av samme mekanisme som moderne antidepressive medikamenter. Det er av denne grunn samtidig viktig at slike medikamenter ikke brukes sammen med ayahuasca, slik at serotonin-konsentrasjonen ikke blir for høy. Bruk av ayahuasca alene fører ikke til slik risiko ifølge undersøkelser gjort av J.C. Callaway ved universitetet i Kuopio, Finnland. Han har påvist at kroppen ikke dreneres for serotonin i de påfølgende dagene etter inntak av ayahuasca, slik som endel rusfremkallende sentralstimulerende midler gjør. Ayahuasca bidrar tvertimot positivt til den normale funksjonen av serotonin. Når man bruker ayahuasca er det viktig å holde en diett, dels fordi fordøyelsesenzymene ikke som normalt vil bryte ned giftige bestandeler i enkelte typer mat, dels for å øke følsomheten.

ÅNDELIGE BUDBRINGERE OG PLANTELÆRERE
Ser man i sammenheng ayahuascadrikkens spesielle sammensetning, avanserte virkemåte, samt nødvendigheten av å overholde en spesiell diett, er det vanskelig å forestille seg at indianerne kan ha funnet frem til dette ved slumpetreff eller ved eksperimentering. Frivillig utprøving virker ikke sannsynlig da komponentene smaker vondt. I tillegg er spesielt chacruna er en sjelden plante i jungelen. Ifølge Don Augustin kan den bare finnes rundt sjamanenes boplasser og steder hvor den har vært dyrket. Det er vanskelig å tenke seg at kunnskapen har spredd seg til isolerte indianerstammer gjennom hele det tildels meget utilgjengelige store jungelområdet. Tradisjonell vestlig forståelse har likevel vært at slumpetreff eller utprøvning må ha ført frem til oppdagelsen av ayahuascablandingen. Spør man sjamanene selv, får man til svar at plantene og oppskriftene har blitt gitt dem av åndelige budbringere eller plantelærere. Plantelærere betyr her planteånder som kommuniser kunnskap til sjamanene mens de er i endret bevissthetstilstand. Dette har ikke blitt tatt på alvor før i de senere år hvor vestlige forskere har begynt å prøve drikken ut på seg selv. Historisk har det tidligere bare vært gjengitt observasjoner av de innfødtes reaksjoner. Dette gikk som regel ut på at sjamanene var tydelig mentalt forstyrrete personer og at de som drakk ayahuasca kunne kaste opp og få epileptisk lignende anfall. Gjennom de siste 50 år har dette blitt gradvis forandret. En av de første som ydet indianerne mer tilbørlig respekt var antropologen Michael Harner, som bl. a. i boken ”The Way of the Shaman”, beskriver sitt møte med bruken av ayahuasca. På denne bakgrunn forsto han hvilken unik kilde ayahuasca er til avansert kunnskap og helbredelse.

Antropologen Jeremy Narby har tatt for seg evnen ayahuasca har til å gi visjoner på molekylnivå. I sin bok ”The Cosmic Serpent” skildrer han muligheten av å trekke kunnskap fra DNA molekylet under ayahuascavisjoner. Visjoner på molekylnivå er nå en vanlig brukt forklaring på hvordan sjamaner kan se sykdommers årsak og dirigere inn de riktige planteåndene som kan gi hjelp i situasjonen. Med regelmessig bruk av ayahuasca vil stadig dypere nivåer av psyken erfares, og etterhvert vil realiteten av åndelige vesener og andre virkelighetsplan oppleves.

Sjamanen Pablo Amaringo hevder at det er mer enn hundre virkelighetsplan eller parallelle verdener. Han er en habil maler og har utgitt boken, ”Ayahuasca Visions”, sammen med antropologen Luis Eduardo Luna. Luna er en av de første antropologer som har gjennomgått en sjamanistisk opplæring med ayahuasca og som har personlige erfaringer med plantelærere. Han har tatt sin doktorgrad ved universitetet i Stockholm på bruken av ayahuasca blant Mestizo indianerene i Amasonas. Han har sammen med Steven F. White utgitt boken ”Ayahuasca Reader. Encounters with the Amazon’s Sacred Vine”. Don Augustin forteller at etter å ha deltatt i mer enn 1500 ayahuasca sermonier er det stadig mer å lære hver gang. Ifølge Don Augustin vil stadig mer kunnskap bli tilgjengelig gjennom ayahuasca, samtidig som den mentale kapasiteten øker.

HELSEEFFEKTER
Ayahuasca står i en særklasse blant entheogene planter fordi den er like kjent for sine helsebringende egenskaper som for sin evne til å gi visjoner. I dagene etter en ayahuascaseremoni vil man som regel kjenne et fysisk velbehag i kroppen og ellers være i en tilfreds og rolig balansert sinnstemning. Ayahuasca er blant indianerne i Amasonas kjent for å være være en ”mester” blant medisiner og skal kunne helbrede en rekke sykdommer. Det har også vært påpekt av flere vestlige forskere, som har gjort studier i Amasonas, hvor usedvanlig godt ayahuasquero-sjamanene bevarer sin mentale og fysiske helse opp i høy alder. Det er også vanlig blant indianerne at man gir ayahuasca som medisin til barn. Til og med nyfødte kan få noen dråper ayahuasca. Barn kan også delta i ayahuascaseremonier. Bildet under viser den 4-årige datterdatteren av Don Agustin, som deltar på integreringsmøtet dagen etter sin første initiering i en ayahuascaseremoni. Sammen med de andre delte hun sine erfaringer.

Den generelt gunstige virkningen av ayahuasca bekreftes i en studie fra 1993, kalt ”Huasca-prosjektet”, som ble foretatt av en internasjonal forskergruppe i samarbeid med den brasilianske ayahuascakirken Uniâo do Vegetal (UDV). UDV stilte seg til disposisjon for denne undersøkelsen da de var interessert i å vise myndighetene at langtidsbruk av ayahuasca har positive virkninger. Medlemmer av UDV som hadde brukt ayahuasca i 10 år med en hyppighet på minimum to ganger pr. måned, ble sammenliknet med en kontrollgruppe av individer som aldri hadde brukt ayahuasca. Fysiologiske, psykiatriske og neuropsykologiske undersøkelser ble gjort sammen med biokjemiske og farmakologiske analyser av ayahuasca. Resultatene viste en positiv effekt for ayahuascabrukerene i forhold til ikkebrukere på alle undersøkte områdene. Det kan nevnes at i motsetning til i referansegrupppen ble ayahuascabrukere med tidligere psykiatriske og/eller rus-problemer generelt nå funnet uten slike problemer. Det kan i denne sammenhengen nevnes at ayahuasca har vært brukt med suksess ved en avvennings-klinikk i Peru for misbrukere av kokain.
Ayahuasca er så langt ikke tatt i bruk innen vestlig medisin, men det kan være et forvarsel at et amerikansk firma har sikret seg patent med sikte på bruk av planten i forbindelse med Parkinsons sykdom og kreft. At det kan søkes og få innvilget patent på indianernes ”hellige medisin” har på den annen side vakt bestyrtelse blant regnskogsjamanene, noe som har resultert i at de har sendt en protestdelegasjon til USA.

Ayahuasca brukes fortrinnsvis i religiøse sammenhenger. I Brasil har tre forskjellige kirker som bruker ayahuasca, fått relativt stor utbredelse. Det er Santo Daime, Uniâo do Vegetal (UDV) og Barquinha. Alle disse praktiserer en katolsk kristen grunntro som er farget av sjamanistiske erfaringer fra Amasonas. På mange måter er disse kirkene en parallell til blandingen av sjamanisme og buddhisme i Tibet. Særlig Santo Daime og UDV har fått utbredelse utenfor Syd-Amerika, med aktive kirker forskjellige steder i USA, Spania, Holland og Tyskland. Ayahuasca brukes i stor utstrekning i syd-amerikanske land så som Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru og Brasil. I Brasil har bruken blitt offisielt godkjent basert på flere undersøkelser i UDV og Santo Daime kirkene.

I januar 2001 ble det avgitt en offisiell uttalelse fra FN’s ”Drug Control Program” om at plantebaserte remedier som inneholder DMT, deriblant Ayahuasca, ikke er under internasjonal kontroll, selv om DMT som sådan er på narkotikalisten. I Holland ble en seremoni i Santo Daime kirken avbrutt av en politiaksjon i oktober 1999. Saken verserte i rettsvesenet gjennom flere instanser inntil en høyesterettsavgjørelse i mai 2001 slo fast at bruken ikke var ulovlig i religiøs sammenheng. Santo Daime kirken har også vært utsatt for innblanding av politiet i Spania og i Tyskland, men det har ikke resultert i at påtalemyndighetene har reist noen sak. I USA i november 2001 ble bruken av ayahuasca prøvet for retten. Etter snart et års behandlig har retten i august 2002 gitt en uttalelse hvor det heter at bruken av ayahuasca sannsynligvis vil være beskyttet av loven om religiøs frihet.