Ayahuasca: Jungle Shamanism and The Vine of the Dead.

Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez in Amazon Magic says, "Ayahuasca is the death vine, the plant through which we can experience death, or in some cases a physical disappearance, but then return. A transmutation can take place, whereby our body and soul can travel through space, and heal someone… During four or five hours the shaman works with the people, healing them through his dancing, music, mariris, icaros, and blowing of tobacco. If there are sick people, the shaman sometimes needs to suck out the illness" (199).

This paper will examine the tradition of the Ayahuasca ceremony as practiced by South American Quichua Indian shamans known as ayahuasqueros. These shamans are both doctors and spiritual leaders of the Native American Indians of the Montane Rain Forest, which covers parts of Peru, Columbia, and Brazil. We will explore several of the mysteries of the Ayahuasca ritual and conclude that whatever the cause, the ceremonial use of ayahuasca, as a medical treatment, is successful and effective.

The Shaman’s Brew
Ralph Metzner, PhD., editor and co-author of the book Ayahuasca: Hallucinogens, Consciousness, and the Spirit of Nature, says, “Ayahuasca is widely recognized by anthropologists as probably the most powerful and most widespread shamanic hallucinogen” (3). Ayahuasca, a Quechawa word, translates to mean “rope of death” or “vine of souls” (Metzner 1). Although ayahuasca is the name of the vine, it is also used to describe the finished potion, which consists of more than one type of plant. The potion may also be referred to as yagé. Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff anthropologist and long-term researcher of Latin-American cultures, says in his paper, The Cultural Context of an Aboriginal Hallucinogen: Banisteriopsis Caapi.: “The purpose of taking yagé is to return to the uterus, to the fons et origo of all things, where the individual ‘sees’ the tribal divinities, the creation of the universe and humanity, the first couple, the creation of animals, and the establishment of the social order” (102). It may also allow ones spirit to leave their body and gain an elevated perspective into what causes illness (Reichel-Dolmatoff 103). This inner exploration and traveling psychocosm, made possible by powerful narcotics, is guided by the shaman who is the overseer and teacher. In his journal entry entitled: The Beta-Carboline Hallucinogens of South America, Richard Evans Schultz says this “The Shamanism of this valley may well represent the most highly evolved narcotic consciousness on earth.” (206).

Daniel Pinchbeck, in his article The Vine of Souls, says that shamans of the “Incas used ayahuasca, but knowledge of the drug is thought to predate them by thousands of years” (48). Terence McKenna has made a lifetimes work out of studying the use psychoactive drugs. He has traveled extensively to study with shamans. In his book Food Of The Gods: The Search For The Original Tree of Knowledge he says “Shamanism has always, in its most authentic expressions, taught that the path requires allies. These allies are the hallucinogenic plants and the mysterious teaching entities, luminous and transcendental, that reside in the nearby dimension of ecstatic beauty and understanding that we have denied until it is now nearly too late” (274).

Chemical Composition
The Ayahuasca vine, known as Banisteriopsis caapi, contains harmala alkaloids. Of these, primarily harmine and tertrahydroharmine are the main psychoactive components of Ayahuasca (Metzner 256). These alkaloids temporarily inhibit the enzyme MAO in the central nervous system and simultaneously increase serotonin levels by blocking reuptake (Metzner 258). The harmala alkaloids are not psychedelic in nature but act as a catalyst (Metzner 259). The Chilipanga plant, known as Psychotria viridis, is the second main ingredient of yagé. The leaves contain Dimethyltriptamine also known as DMT (Metzner 259). “DMT, closely related to serotonin, is the hallucinogenic compound central to Amazonian shamanism, and is the most powerful of all hallucinogens in human beings” (McKenna 248). DMT is not orally active but after MAO inhibition, the stomach is able to metabolize it. The onset of yagé is about twenty minutes and intoxication generally lasts for ninety minutes (Metzner 263).

Daniel Pinchbeck says, "without the ayahuasca vine, the full potential of the Chilipanga plant may not have been discovered. It’s interesting to note that the sacred vine which ayahuasqueros revere is not actually the strongest component of yagé. DMT is naturally present in the body and is activated when a person dies. In short, drinking Ayahuasca affects the pineal gland the same way that dying of natural causes does. This is how it gets its name, 'the vine of the dead'" (49).

Spiritual Beliefs
The discovery story of ayahuasca is tied to the native mythological tale of origin. The Tukano people believe that the first people came down from the sky in a canoe, made from a living serpent. When they reached the ground, the sun promised to give them a magical drink as a gift. This drink would give them the powers of the heavens, which they could use to heal people. The men tried to make the drink by themselves but could not do it. Then the first woman went off into the forest to give birth. When she came back, she had a child that was glowing with golden light. This boy was the gift from the sun and he was the vine. Each of the men cut off a living piece of the vine and it provided the first rules for how to live and speak (Reichel-Dolmatoff). Terrence McKenna speculates that chemicals such as those present in Ayahuasca may have spurred the developmental beginning of language and human consciousness (52). The Native Americans further believe that every living thing in the jungle, plant and animal, has a spirit. The guardian spirit and master of the jungle is Chullachaqui (Vasquez and Bear 32). Yacarunas are a special type of spirit that live underneath the rivers where modern day electrical technology doesn’t bother them. Magical songs called icaros when played during an ayahuasca ceremony, summon these spirits and assure healing (Vasquez and Bear 25). Icaros will be further described in the following sections.

The Ceremony
The ceremony begins with the harvesting and preparation of the plants to be used. The shaman speaks to the plants with reverence and sings icaros with respect (Vasquez and Bear 115). The chilipanga leaves and crushed ayahuasca vine are boiled together to make a thick tea, while the shaman blows his breath into the infusion and sings more icaros (Vasquez and Bear 116). Shamans often have Shacapas (musical instrument made from dried leaves), maracas (gourds used as rattles), arcos (bow shaped string instrument), pipes, tobacco, and perfumes available and ready for use in the ceremony (Vasquez and Bear 115).

According to Metzner, under normal conditions, the shaman may need several ayahuasca sessions in order to diagnose the problem by perception of energy fields. When the problem is understood, there are three main types of ayahuasca healing ceremonies. In the first kind, the shaman goes into the patient’s body to remove a tumor or toxin implanted by evil sorcery or another shaman. The second is the search and retrieval of a missing fragment of the patients psyche or soul. The third, reserved for serious illness, constitutes the destruction and dismemberment of the patient’s body followed by reconstitution and replacement with a stronger, healthier body (17).

Icaros
Icaros are magical songs that summon the spirits of plants and animals (Vasquez and Bear 117).

"The effectiveness, sophistication, and dedication of an ayahuasquero is predicated upon how many magical songs he or she has effectively memorized. In the actual curing sessions, both patient and healer ingest Ayahuasca and the singing of the magical songs is a shared experience that is largely visual" (McKenna 228).

According to Metzner, intoxication takes the shaman and patient on a mental/spiritual journey which is conducted in low light to precipitate powerful hallucinations. The soft, soothing drumming and singing of an icaro sets the pace for the ritual, moving it along and keeping the patient calm. Icaros are essential to the healing process. When a shaman has memorized a sufficient number of icaros, he will no longer need to ingest ayahuasca in his ceremonies (16).

Hallucinations
Harvard ethnobotanist, Wade Davis, in his book, One River: Science, Adventure and Hallucinogenics in the Amazon Basin, described the onset of an ayahuasca trip like being "shot out of a gun barrel lined with Baroque paintings, and landing in a sea of electricity" (124). The reason shamans consider intoxication indispensable to healing is because it allows them to meet with “plant teachers” (Metzner 251). These hallucinatory beings are the mythological spirits of the jungle, come to teach secrets of healing and other special knowledge. “The tryptamine entities offer the gift of a new language; they sing in pearly voices that rain down as colored petals and flow through the air like hot metal to become toys and such gifts as gods would give their children” (McKenna 258). Hallucinations are filled with complexity and stunning beauty best captured here by the words of Terrance McKenna;

Under the influence of DMT, the world becomes an Arabian labyrinth, a palace, a more than possible Martian jewel, vast with motifs that flood the gaping mind with complex and wordless awe. Color and the sense of a reality-unlocking secret nearby pervade the experience. There is a sense of other times, and of one’s own infancy, and of wonder, wonder, and more wonder (258). McKenna believes that ayahuasca is a doorway to a nearby dimension filled with important insight (258). This be the case or not, he says “the profundity of this state and its potential for a positive feedback into the process of reorganizing the personality should have long ago made psychedelics an indispensable tool for psychotherapy” (250).

Testimonies of Healing
Western medicine has taken little interest in the possibility for DMT as a psychiatric treatment but there are several documented cases of healing. Montero, a Quichua shaman, in the article Shaman Teaches Love of Nature says, “practitioners need to understand that medicine by itself does not cure. People heal themselves by having faith in the spirits and the healing power of plants” (B9). Javier Arevalo, in the article Love Magic and the Vine of the Soul, tells us, "I had a patient who was HIV positive and had been in hospital a fortnight", said Javier. "That night we drank [ayahuasca, and] I saw in my vision that HIV was like the devil destroying him and that he was getting worse. He stuck to the [ayahuasca] diet for two months [and] he also took bitter tasting herbs which cure internal wounds. After three times [three ayahuasca sessions] he was better and, when tested, proved HIV negative" (42).

Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez says in another account, that one AIDS patient's hemoglobin level rose dramatically after only one ayahuasca ceremony (200). Another man had suffered trembling and a failure to coordinate his movement for his entire life. During a ceremony, he realized the cause of the trembling was stemming from an event in early childhood. After a few more treatments, he was able to control his body’s movement again. (Vasquez and Bear 196).One common side effect of drinking yagé is diarrhea. This has proven to be an effective way of killing intestinal parasites of the jungle. In some parts of the jungle, ayahuasca is known as "la purga", the purge (Pinchbeck 49).

Conclusion
We have examined ayahuasca on the nuero-chemical level and also explored the many facets and mysteries of the ayahuasquero’s ceremony. The Quichua Indians do not clearly distinguish between the healing of the physical, psychological, or spiritual (Metzner 16) but the results are evident. Ayahuasca affects the mind and body in several profound ways. In the hands of the shaman, this ancient potion of the jungle is an efficient healer.

Works Cited
1) Revalo, Javier and Peter Cloudsley and Howard Charing. "Love Magic and the Vine of the Soul" Sacred Hoop, Apr. 2002: 39+.
2) Davis, Wade. One River: Science, Adventure and Hallucinogenics in the Amazon Basin. New York: Touchstone, 1998.
3) McKenna, Terence. Food of the Gods: the Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge. New York: Bantam, 1992.
4) Metzner, Ralph, ed. Ayahuasca – Hallucinogens, Consciousness, and the Spirit of Nature. New York: Thundermouth, 1999.
5) Montero and Bill Broadway, "Shaman Teaches Love of Nature" Washington Post 11 Sept. 1999: B9.
6) Pinchbeck, Daniel. "The Vine of Souls." The Village Voice 43.2 (1998): 47-49.
7) Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. "The cultural context of an aboriginal hallucinogen: Banisteriopsis Caapi." Flesh of the Gods – The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens Ed. Peter Furst. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1990. 84-113.
8) Schultz, Richard Evans. “The Beta-Carboline Hallucinogens of South America” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 14. 3 (1982): 205-220.
9) Vasquez, Don Agustin Rivas. Amazon Magic: The Life Story of Ayahuasquero and Shaman Don Agustin Rivas Vasquez. Trans. Jaya Bear. Taos, NM: Colibri, 2000.