Ayahuasca
We believe that Ayahuasca is uniquely suited to accelerate communion with Nothingness, the quality of enlightenment of surrendering all positionalities and identity in service of pure essence.
Ayahuasca is an entheogenic brew or tea made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the Psychotria viridis leaf. P. virdris contains DMT, a powerful psychedelic, and B. caapi contains monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), notably β-carboline, which work synergistically with DMT to produce a long-lasting psychedelic experience. It is used in traditional ceremonies among the indigenous tribes of Amazonia.
We use Ayahuasca as sacrament in the Heal journey of our 3-stage Arc of Transformation because we believe it has the essential and unique capacity to let go of beliefs and resistance that guide our way of being from the shadows. We believe that the purgatory effect of Ayahuasca–long since part of the sacred, shamanistic tradition of Ayahuasca–is the particular gift from God to allow us to heal wounds that no other medicine or sacrament could before.
History
The use of ayahuasca is a widespread practice among indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Such practices were almost certainly well established in pre-Columbian times, with some speculating that the practice goes back to the earliest human inhabitants of the region. Ayahuasca, along with many other medicinal plants, gradually became integrated into the ethnomedical traditions of the mixed populations following European contact in the New World.
The therapeutic use of ayahuasca tea is experiencing unprecedented expansion worldwide and is the object of increasing biomedical research. Its constituent plants were central to indigenous cultures in the New World and were used in medicine, religious ceremonies, and rites of passage. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, small groups of indigenous people continued to use these plants in traditional ceremonies and other cultural practices.
These practices continued without external interference until more recent times, likely due to the relative isolation of many of these groups in the Amazon rainforest. During the 1980s, over 70 different names were recorded for ayahuasca preparations from disparate indigenous tribes, illustrating its widespread use by isolated groups.
In Brazil, the practice and use of ayahuasca have been blended with Christian and Afro-Brazilian religious beliefs, giving rise to the Santo Daime, the União do Vegetal, the Barquinha, and other spiritual movements. These new forms have contributed to the spread of ayahuasca use to mainstream South American society and greater awareness among other people outside of the continent.
While DMT is a Schedule I drug in the United States, effectively banning it for all uses including medical and research purposes, several religious groups have litigated and won the right to use it in spiritual/religious practices.
Research
Various studies have shown that ayahuasca therapy may be effective in the treatment of depression and addiction. Many who seek experiences of personal growth with ayahuasca report a sense of connectedness and compassion with others around them. Some report spiritual awakenings that lead to long-term, stable perspective shifts. This is likely a result of achieving a particularly intense level of introspection that leads to profound self-awareness and clarity regarding personal issues and belief systems.
Many lines of anecdotal evidence suggest that ayahuasca holds promise as a healing tool for disorders like addiction, several mental illnesses, and immune disorders. One recent study of a ceremony in Canada found significant effects on the treatment of addictive behaviors. With appropriate supportive settings that include talk therapy and social network support, regular and long-term use may aid in lasting lifestyle changes. This is most notable for substance abuse and addiction.
In a qualitative study surveying a group of people who joined the ayahuasca church UDV, a large number of the members had histories of alcoholism, substance abuse, domestic violence, and other problem behaviors and lifestyles. These dysfunctional behaviors were virtually resolved after joining the UDV and attending regular ceremonies.
Ayahuasca may also help ameliorate serotonin deficiencies, which have been related to a host of different disorders, including alcoholism, depression, autism, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and senile dementia.
A recent study has become the first to analyze the antidepressant properties of ayahuasca in a controlled setting. Twenty-nine patients with severe depression were given either one session of ayahuasca or a placebo, then analyzed for changes in their depression scores. One day immediately following the sessions, the ayahuasca group scored significantly lower on depression tests compared to the placebo group. After seven days, the placebo group had returned to a normal depression level, while the ayahuasca group was still on a much lower depression score.
People who work with ayahuasca 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 the Peruvian Amazon.
Shamans, curanderos and experienced users of ayahuasca advise against consuming ayahuasca when not in the presence of one or several well-trained shamans.
Preparation
The traditional shamanic way of brewing ayahuasca (for the purposes of healing and divination) is without any admixture plants, purely from the “vine of the soul.” The parallel can be seen in linguistics: although Quechua is the main language related to ayahuasca use in South American Indians, and ayawasca the most common name for the brew, even in other indigenous language groups the same name is used both for the vine and the brew.
Indigenous peoples of the Amazon hold the vine in high regard. The different cultures all have their own classifications, with some tribes recognizing and using upward of 20 different strains. These are all botanically identical to B. caapi, but the shamans don’t concern themselves with plant taxonomy as instated by western science—they differentiate the strains based on the type of soil they come from, the time of harvest, their spiritual value, and the types of visions they can incur, or healing they can facilitate.
As such, some strains serve to determine strategies for different aspects of tribal life, such as hunting or migrations; others give the shaman an ability to locate a missing object or person; some are there to ascertain which brujo or bruja (witch) struck evil magic upon a member of the tribe who’s fallen ill; certain types give visions of heaven or “Seronhai, a place where the dead stay”; others yet give shamans the tools to perform various healing rituals, or the tribe inspiration for a ceremonial dance or other magico-religious activity.
Through this extensive familiarity with the various types of B. caapi having distinct spiritual purposes, we can understand that the vine originally served as a potent visionary tool on its own. In fact, some of the names for strains come from the colors of the visions they induce: red, blue, white, black, yellow, etc. Some come from the visions of animals that are projected under the effects: boa, jaguar, monkey head, or the desired prey of tomorrow’s hunt. The interesting part is that these visions aren’t necessarily visual, but can manifest in all the senses, as well as in extrasensory ways. The shamans know how to feel them with their spirit.