What is Ayahuasca?

Ayahuasca is used largely as a religious sacrament. Those whose usage of ayahuasca is performed in non-traditional contexts often align themselves with the philosophies and cosmologies associated with ayahuasca shamanism, as practiced among indigenous peoples like the Urarina of Peruvian Amazonia.

The word "Ayahuasca" refers to a medicinal and magical drink incorporating two or more distinctive plant species capable of producing profound mental, physical and spiritual effects when brewed together and consumed in a ceremonial setting. One of these plants is always the giant woody liana vine called ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi or other species). The other plant or plants combined with ayahuasca generally contain tryptamine alkaloids, most often dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The plants most often used are the leaves of chacruna (Psychotria viridis and other species) and oco yagé; also known as chalipanga, chagraponga, and huambisa (Diplopterys cabrerana).

Ayahuasca sacred medicine is a used to provide access to other dimensions to communicate with spirits and understand our true nature. This medicine represents the roots of plant spirit medicine, the foundation of ancient wisdom in the Amazon. Thanks to a group of dedicated healers, these roots have supported the jungle communities for thousands of years. These healers, called curanderos, have protected and preserved this wisdom as it passed from generation to generation, in cultures with no written language. Will the next generation still follow the path of the curandero, or be tempted by the lures of modern society?

The shamans or Curanderos of the Peruvian Amazon generally refer to themselves as vegetalistas. These plant-doctors help the people of rural areas and the urban poor who often have no other available help in critical situations requiring medical attention. Most vegetalistas tend to specialize, using just one or few plant teachers in their practices. The shamanic use of ayahuasca is usually within the context of healing. The shaman or ayahuasquero takes ayahuasca to better diagnose the nature of the patient's illness. Vegetalistas claim they receive their healing skills from certain plant teachers, who are believed to have a madre or spirit-mother. The role of the shaman is to mediate the transmission of medicinal knowledge from the plant teacher to the human world for use in curing.

The plant teachers are believed to teach the neophyte shaman a number of power songs or supernatural melodies called icaros, either during an ayahuasca session or in dreams following the ingestion of other plant teachers. The plant teachers give the magical songs to the vegetalista so that he or she may sing or whistle them during healing sessions. When a person becomes sick, their energy pattern becomes distorted. Under the influence of ayahuasca, the shaman can see the distortion in the patient's energy pattern and attempt to restore a healthy pattern using suction, massage, medicinal plants, hydrotherapy, and restoration of the patient's soul. The similarities between these shamanic methods and techniques used in traditional Chinese chi-gong, or "energy directed" medicine, should be noted. Interestingly, a shaman usually chooses medicinal plants based on visible characteristics, like shape or color.

The drinking of Ayahuasca will certainly prove very beneficial to those people under chemotherapy treatment, given the powerful cleansing properties of the brew. It will help the body to get rid of the poisonous chemical toxins accumulated during the therapy. In some cases, people have reported nearly-miraculous healing from cancer, by drinking Ayahuasca. The extraordinary power of this magical brew may work such in-depth into our DNA, so to - seemingly - even re-establish an inner order into the anarchical behavior of the crazy cancerous cells, and turn cancer into remission. The traditional avenue always recommended by all indigenous Amazonian shamans is, however, to follow the healing plant diet to cure and treat even cancer cases.