What the F*ck is Ayahuasca?
Photo by: JoelRHarris
This isn’t your everyday hallucinogen. But if those aren’t cutting it anymore, up the psychedelic ante and venture into the mysterious world of ayahuasca. Native to Amazonian tribes, locals consider ayahuasca a medicine (don’t call it a drug) that allows them to transcend a multidimensional universe, encounter demons from their past that live within, purge them from their bodies, and ultimately arrive in an unprecedented state of nirvana.
Photo by: JoelRHarris
That’s because it is. And that’s just beginning. This is no poppable, happy little party pill to make your nightmares go away so you can stop sleeping in your parents’ bed. Ayahuasca, which means “vine of the soul” in Quechen, is a sludgy, brown, gag-reflex inducing combination of the ayahuasca vine and chacruna leaves. One user described the taste as “Baileys Irish Cream mixed with prune juice.” Let’s get you all sauced-up:
For You Science Nerds:
The vine and leaf combo is necessary as neither plant produces the mind and body trip for which ayahuasca is famous on its own. According to the western medicine explanation, the chacruna leaves contain the hallucinogen DMT. But our body contains monoamine oxidase (MAO) which destroys tryptamines such as DMT before they they can be absorbed. However, the ayahuasca vine contains harmala alkaloids, which act as MAO inhibitors and allow the DMT to be absorbed in our blood stream and the hallucinations to begin.
For Us Regular People:
The chacruna plant has DMT, which is the awesome college dorm party just waiting to happen. MAO, which is in our bodies, is the lame-ass RA next door who will write you up as soon as the noise gets above librarian-pleasing levels. The ayahuasca vine is an MAO inhibitor – the clever roommate who just baked the RA a sedative-laden apple pie. Let the DMT party commence.
Endless, inescapable darkness surrounds you. Evil spirits circle like vultures in the distance, taking turns darting through you and tearing off a piece of your soul. One stops and pierces you with its stare. Transfixed by the fiery red eyes glowing from its skull, you hear a dark whisper. “You are trapped here. Forever.” Its mouth does not move, but its eyes flare with every syllable like gasoline on a fire. You scream out to your shaman who calmly walks over. ”Está bien,” you hear, followed by the ruffling of leaves and the massaging sound of spirit songs. The skull is sucked away like a vacuum into the abyss. Feeling returns to your extremities, and you are again in your own body. You open your eyes and see your shaman holding a small branch and sitting cross-legged next to you. His eyes, flickering in the candle light, are a warm blanket on a cool summer night. The entire episode overwhelms you, and you roll over to vomit violently into the bucket next to your mat.
Photo by: Howard G Charing
Ayahuasca rituals occur deep in the Amazon jungle and last for several days. It’s a spiritual retreat, not a night club or rave. The ceremonies are led by master shamans, who spend years apprenticing under elder shamans to earn the coveted title. Curriculum includes learning the healing properties of various plants, navigating alternate realms, learning ‘spirit songs’ to guide retreatants, and drinking enough ayahuasca to make Charlie Sheen say “No thanks.” Shamans have been wandering other dimensions since before Jesus walked on water, although no one knows who was first responsible for this crazy concoction. Ceremonies take place at night in a quiet candle lit jungle lodge. When the ayahuasca is dispersed, the retreatants choke down the sludge, each with their own specific recipe and quantity, and the trip begins. Many call it the worst experience of their life: unforgiving darkness, suppressed emotions and fear manifested as evil spirits and voices, vision of hell and the devil himself, and endless terror and misery. Buckets are provided to handle the inevitable vomiting.
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Don’t paddle away yet, there’s a pay off. The shamans say confronting and defeating these evil spirits within us is the only way to absolve our souls of their existence. A cultish, yet sizable, following of people agree and attribute ayahuasca to curing everything from depression to cancer. One such user says ayahuasca launches you to a reality you’ve never seen or even imagined, as opposed to the likes of acid and mushrooms which only mind-fuck the world around you. ”Other-worldly” is a pretty universal description among those that have braved the ordeal. The shamans say the vomiting is the embodiment of our purged demons. The trip lasts roughly six hours, but our pedestrian concept of time really has no meaning when realm-trotting. It may take several sessions, but once the internal demons are defeated and the darkness is broken, vivid heavenly visuals accompany a serene state of bliss. This follows the user back to our linear universe, vindicated from a lifetime’s worth of suppression and despair.
Iquitos, Peru is the unofficial capital of ayahuasca tourism. At the airport, people will scream “ayahuasca” at you as you step outside, but do your homework beforehand and find a recommended master shaman. When you are transcending dimensions and plunging to the depths of inner hell, it helps to have a good tour guide.
One life is just not enough for this world.
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