Here's a few things i've cut and pasted from the web, just some info about Ayahuasca i think may be of intrest.


Description
by Jim DeKorne

From the Amazonian rain forst comes one of the most potent catalysts for expanded awareness yet discovered by human beings. In Ecuador and Peru this medicine is known as Ayahuasca, a Quechua Indian word meaning, ironically, "vine of the dead". In Columbia and parts of Brazil, the Tupi Indian name Yage (pronounced Ya-hay) is used, and among Amazonia's proliferating mestizo relious cults it is called Daime...

"Ayahuasca" as a hallucinogenic substance does not properly refer to one single plant, but to a singular mixture of two very different plan species...there is no such thing as an "ayahuasca plant," or a "yage plant", any more than there is a simple liquor simply called "Martini." Ayahuasca correctly refers to a psychedelic combination of plants which varies in potency according to the skill of its maker.

While each shaman has his own secret formula for the mixture (with probably no two exactly alike), it has been established that true ayahuasca always contains both beta-carboline and tryptamine alkaloids, the former (harmine and harmaline) usually obtained from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine, and the latter (N, N-dimethyl-tryptamine, or DMT) from the leaves of the Psychotria viridis bush. (There may be variations among plant species, but the alkaloids are always consistent.

It is significant to note that neither one of these plant substances by itself is normally psychoactive in oral doses. (Harmine/harmaline is said to effect hallucinosis at highly toxic levels, but in less heroic quantities it is at best a tranquilizer, at worst an emetic.) DMT, in any quantity, is not orally active unless used in combination with a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor. This principle is precisely what makes ayahuasca effective; the harmala alkaloids in the Banisteriopsis caapi vine are potent short term MAO inhibitors which synergize with the DMT-containing Psychotria viridis leaves to produce what has been described as one of the most profound of all psychedelic experiences.

The Science

The use of ayahuasca under a variety of names is a widespread practice among various indigenous aboriginal tribes endemic to the Amazon Basin (Schultes, 1957). Such practices undoubtedly were well established in pre-Columbian times, and in fact may have been known to the earliest human inhabitants of the region. Iconographic depictions on ceramics and other artifacts from Ecuador have provided evidence that the practice dates to at least 2000 B.C. (Naranjo, 1986). Its widespread distribution among numerous Amazonian tribes also argues for its relative antiquity.

Considerable genetic intermingling and adoption of local customs followed in the wake of European contact, and ayahuasca , along with a virtual pharmacopoeia of other medicinal plants, gradually became integrated into the ethnomedical traditions of these mixed populations. Today the drug forms an important element of ethnomedicine and shamanism as it is practiced among indigenous Mestizo populations in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. The sociology and ethnography of the contemporary use of ayahuasca (as it is most commonly termed) in Mestizo ethnomedicine has been extensively described (Dobkin de Rios, 1972, 1973; Luna, 1984, 1986)

Syncretic Religious Use of Ayahuasca

From the perspective of the sociologist or the ethnographer, discussion of the use of ayahuasca or hoasca can conveniently be divided into a consideration of its use among indigenous aboriginal and mestizo populations, and its more recent adoption by contemporary syncretic religious movements such as the Uni' do Vegetal (UDV), Barquena, and Santo Daime sects in Brasil. It is within the context of acculturated groups such as these that questions regarding the psychological, medical, and legal aspects of the use of ayahuasca become most relevant, and also, most accessible to study.

The use of ayahuasca in the context of mestizo folk medicine closely resembles the shamanic uses of the drug as practiced among aboriginal peoples. In both instances, the brew is used for curing, for divination, as a diagnostic tool and a magical pipeline to the supernatural realm. This traditional mode of use contrasts from the contemporary use of ayahuasca tea within the context of Brazilian syncretic religious movements. Within these groups, the members consume ayahuasca tea at regular intervals in group rituals in a manner that more closely resembles the Christian Eucharist than the traditional aboriginal use. The individual groups of the UDV, termed nucleos, are similar to a Christian Hutterite sect, in that each group has a limited membership, which then splits to form a new group once the membership expands beyond the set limit. The nucleo consists of the congregation, a group leader or mestre, various acolytes undergoing a course of study and training in order to become mestres, and a temple, an actual physical structure where the sacrament is prepared and consumed at prescribed times, usually the first and third Saturday of each month. The membership of these newer syncretic groups spans a broad socio-economic range and includes many educated, middle-class, urban professionals (including a number of physicians and other health professionals). Some older members have engaged in the practice for 30 or more years without apparent adverse health effects.

The UDV and the Santo Daime sects are the largest and most visible of several syncretic religious movements in Brasil that have incorporated the use of ayahuasca into their ritual practices. Of the two larger sects, it is the UDV that possesses the strongest organizational structure as well as the most highly disciplined membership. Of all the ayahuasca churches in Brasil, the UDV has also been the most pivotal in convincing the government to remove ayahuasca from its list of banned drugs. In 1987, the government of Brasil approved the ritual use of hoasca tea (see footnote) in the context of group religious ceremonies. This ruling has potentially significant implications, not only for Brasil, but for global drug policy, as it marks the first time in over 1600 years that a government has granted permission to its non-indigenous citizens to use a psychedelic substance in the context of religious practices.

Botanical, Chemical, and Pharmacological Aspects of Ayahuasca


Ayahuasca is unique in that its pharmacological activity is dependent on a
synergistic interaction between the active alkaloids in the plants. One of the components, the bark of Banisteriopsis caapi, contains ß-carboline alkaloids, which are potent MAO-A inhibitors; the other component, the leaves of Psychotria viridis or related species, contains the potent short-acting psychoactive agent N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT is not orally active when ingested by itself, but can be rendered orally active in the presence of a peripheral MAO inhibitor - and this interaction is the basis of the psychotropic action of ayahuasca (McKenna, Towers, & Abbott, 1984).

1 Botanical sources of ayahuasca

In a traditional context, Ayahuasca is a beverage prepared by boiling - or soaking - the bark and stems of Banisteriopsis caapi together with various admixture plants. The admixture employed most commonly is the Rubiaceous genus Psychotria, particularly P. viridis. The leaves of P. viridis contains alkaloids which are necessary for the psychoactive effect (see the sections on chemistry and pharmacology, below). There are also reports (Schultes, 1972) that other Psychotria species, especially P. leiocarpa or P. carthaginensis, are used instead of P. viridis, but such reports may be due to a botanical misidentification; in any case, use of Psychotria species other than P. viridis is rare. In the Northwest Amazon, particularly in the Colombian Putumayo and Ecuador, the leaves of Diplopterys cabrerana, a jungle liana in the same family as Banisteriopsis, are added to the brew in lieu of the leaves of Psychotria. The alkaloid present in Diplopterys, however, is identical to that in the Psychotria admixtures, and pharmacologically, the effect is the same. In Peru, various admixtures in addition to Psychotria or Dipolopterys are frequently added, depending on the magical, medical, or religious purposes for which the drug is being consumed. Although a virtual pharmacopoeia of admixtures are occasionally added, the most commonly employed admixtures (other than Psychotria, which is a constant component of the preparation) are various Solanaceous genera, including tobacco (Nicotiana sp.), Brugmansia sp., and Brunfelsia sp. (Schultes, 1972; McKenna, et al., 1995). These Solanaceous genera are known to contain alkaloids, such as nicotine, scopalamine, and atropine, which effect both central and peripheral adrenergic and cholinergic neurotransmission. The interactions of such agents with serotonergic agonists and MAO inhibitors are essentially unknown in modern medicine.

2 Chemistry of ayahuasca and its source plants

The chemical constituents of ayahuasca and the source-plants used in its preparation have been well characterized (McKenna, et al., 1984; Rivier & Lindgren, 1972). Banisteriopsis caapi contains the ß-carboline derivatives harmine, tetrahydroharmine, and harmaline as the major alkaloids (Callaway, et al., 1996). Trace amounts of other ß-carbolines have also been reported (McKenna, et al., 1984; Rivier & Lindgren, 1972; Hashimoto and Kawanishi, 1975, 1976) as well as the pyrrolidine alkaloids shihunine and dihydroshihunine (Kawanishi et al. 1982). The admixture plant, Psychotria viridis, contains a single major alkaloid, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), while N-methyl tryptamine and methyl-tetrahydro-ß-carboline have been reported as trace constituents (McKenna, et al., 1984; Rivier & Lindgren, 1972). The admixture plant Psychotria carthagenensis has been reported to contain the same alkaloids (Rivier & Lindgren, 1972) but a subsequent investigation could not confirm the presence of DMT in the single collection examined (McKenna, et al., 1984). The concentrations of alkaloids reported in Banisteriopsis caapi range from 0.05 % dry weight to 1.95 % dry weight; in Psychotria, the concentration of alkaloids ranged from 0.1 to 0.66 % dry weight (McKenna, et al., 1984; Rivier & Lindgren, 1972). Similar ranges and values were reported by both groups of investigators.

The concentrations of alkaloids in the ayahuasca beverages are, not surprisingly, several times greater than in the source plants from which they are prepared. Based on a quantitative analysis of the major alkaloids in several samples of ayahuasca collected on the upper Rio Purœs, Rivier & Lindgren (1972) calculated that a 200 ml dose of ayahuasca contained an average of 30 mg of harmine, 10 mg tetrahydroharmine, and 25 mg DMT. Callaway, et al., determined the following concentrations of alkaloids in the hoasca tea utilized in the biomedical study with the UDV (mg/ml): DMT, 0.24; THH, 1.07; harmaline, 0.20; and harmine 1.70. A typical 100 ml dose of hoasca thus contains in mg: DMT, 24; THH, 107; harmaline, 20; harmine, 170. Interestingly, these concentrations are above the threshold of activity for i.v. administration of DMT (Strassman & Qualls, 1994).

McKenna et al. (1984) reported somewhat higher values for the alkaloid content of several samples of Peruvian ayahausca. These investigators calculated that a 100 ml dose of these preparations contained a total of 728 mg total alkaloid, of which 467 mg is harmine, 160 mg is tetrahydroharmine, 41 mg is harmaline, and 60 mg is DMT. This is well within the range of activity for DMT administered i.m. (Szara, 1956) or i.v. (Strassman & Qualls, 1994) and is also well within the range for harmine to act effectively as a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). In vitro, these ß-carbolines function as MAOI at approximately 10 nM (e.g., harmine's IC50 for MAOI is ~1.25 x 10-8 M; cf. McKenna, et al., 1984; Buckholtz & Boggan, 1977). In mice, harmaline administered i.p. at 5 mg/kg causes 100% inhibition by 2 hours post-injection, the activity falling off rapidly thereafter (Udenfriend et al. 1958) This dose corresponds to approximately 375 mg in a 75 kg adult, but, based on the measured concentration of harmine in the liver, it is likely that one half this dose or less would also be effective. The reasons for the discrepancy in alkaloid concentrations between the samples examined by Rivier & Lindgren (1972) and those examined by McKenna, et al. (1984) are readily explained by the differences in the methods of preparation. The method employed in preparing ayahuasca in Pucallpa, Peru, where the samples analyzed by McKenna et al. (1984) were collected, results in a much more concentrated brew than the method employed on the upper Rio Purœs, the region which was the source of the samples examined by Rivier & Lindgren. The concentrations and proportions of alkaloids can vary significantly in different batches of ayahuasca , depending on the method of preparation, as well as the amounts and proportions of the source-plants.

ß-carbolines, by themselves, may have some psychoactivity and thus may contribute to the overall psychotropic activity of the ayahuasca beverage; however, it is probably inaccurate to characterize the psychotropic properties of ß-carbolines as "hallucinogenic" or "psychedelic" (Shulgin & Shulgin, 1997). As MAO inhibitors, ß-carbolines can increase brain levels of serotonin, and the primarily sedative effects of high doses of ß-carbolines are thought to result from their blockade of serotonin deamination. The primary action of ß-carbolines in the ayahuasca beverage is their inhibition of peripheral MAO, which protects the DMT in the brew from peripheral degradation and thus renders it orally active. There is some evidence, however, that tetrahydroharmine (THH), the second most abundant ß-carboline in the beverage, acts as a weak 5-HT uptake inhibitor and MAOI. Thus, THH may prolong the half-life of DMT by blocking its intraneuronal uptake, and hence, its inactivation by MAO, localized in mitochondria within the neuron. On the other hand, THH may block serotonin uptake into the neuron, resulting in higher levels of 5HT in the synaptic cleft; this 5-HT, in turn, may attenuate the subjective effects of orally ingested DMT by competing with it at post-synaptic receptor sites (Callaway, et al., 1997).

3 Pharmacological actions of Ayahuasca and its Active Alkaloids

The psychotropic activity of ayahuascais a function of the peripheral inactivation of MAO by the ß-carboline alkaloids in the mixture. This action prevents the peripheral oxidative deamination of the DMT, which is the primary psychotropic component, rendering it orally active and enabling it to reach its site of action in the CNS in an intact form. (McKenna, et al 1984; Schultes, 1972). DMT alone is inactive following oral administration at doses up to 1000 mg (Shulgin, 1982; Nichols, et al. 1991). DMT is active by itself following parenteral administration starting at around 25 mg (Szara, 1956; Strassman & Qualls, 1994). Because of its oral inactivity, various methods of parenteral administration are employed by users. For example, synthetic DMT is commonly smoked as the free base; in this form, the alkaloid volatilizes readily and produces an immediate, intense psychedelic episode of short duration (5 -15 min), usually characterized by multicolored, rapidly moving visual patterns behind the closed eyelids (Stafford, 1977). The Yanomamo Indians and other Amazonian tribes prepare a snuff from the sap of various trees in the genus Virola, which contain large amounts of DMT and the related compound, 5-methoxy-DMT, which is also orally inactive (McKenna, et al. 1985; Schultes and Hofmann, 1980). The effects of the botanical snuffs containing DMT, while not as intense as smoking DMT free base, are similarly rapid in onset and of limited duration [unpublished data]. The ayahuasca beverage is unique in that it is the only traditionally used psychedelic where the enzyme-inhibiting principles in one plant (ß-carbolines) are used to facilitate the oral activity of the psychoactive principles in another plant (DMT). The psychedelic experience which follows ingestion of ayahuasca differs markedly from the effects of parenterally ingested DMT; the time of onset is approximately 35-40 minutes after ingestion, and the effects, which are less intense than parenterally administered synthetic DMT, last approximately four hours. The subjective effects of ayahuasca include phosphene imagery seen with the eyes closed, dream-like reveries, and a feeling of alertness and stimulation. Peripheral autonomic changes in blood pressure, heart-rate, etc., are also less pronounced in ayahuasca than parenteral DMT. In some individuals, transient nausea and episodes of vomiting occur, while others are rarely affected in this respect. When ayahuasca is taken in a group setting, vomiting is considered a normal part of the experience and allowances are made to accommodate this behavior (Callaway, et al., 1997).

The amounts of ß-carbolines present in a typical dose of ayahuasca are well above the threshold for activity as MAOI. It is likely that the main contribution of the ß-carbolines to the acute effects of ayahuasca results from their facilitation of the oral activity of DMT, through their action as peripheral MAOI. It is worthy of note that ß-carbolines are highly selective inhibitors of MAO-A, the form of the enzyme for which serotonin, and presumably other tryptamines, including DMT, are the preferred substrates (Yasuhara, et al., 1972; Yasuhara, 1974). This selectivity of ß-carbolines for MAO-A over MAO-B, combined with their relatively low affinity for liver MAO compared to brain MAO, may explain why reports of hypertensive crises following the ingestion of ayahuasca have not been documented. On the other hand, Suzuki, et al., (1981) has reported that DMT is primarily oxidized by MAO-B; it is possible, therefore, that high concentrations of ß-carbolines, partially inhibit MAO-B as well as MAO-A; but the greater affinity of tyramine for MAO-B enables it to compete for binding to the enzyme and displace any residual ß-carbolines. This mechanism would explain the lack of any reports of peripheral autonomic stimulation associated with the ingestion of ayahuasca in combination with foods containing tyramine (Callaway, et al., 1997).

DMT and its derivatives and the ß-carboline derivatives are widespread in the plant kingdom (Allen & Holmstedt, 1980) and both classes of alkaloids have been detected as endogenous metabolites in mammals, including man (Bloom, et al. 1982; Barker, et al. 1981a; Airaksinen & Kari, 1981). Methyl transferases which catalyze the synthesis of DMT, 5-methoxy-DMT, and bufotenine have been characterized in human lung, brain, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, liver, and heart, and also in rabbit lung, toad, mouse, steer, guinea pig, and baboon brains, as well as in other tissues in these species (McKenna & Towers, 1984). Endogenous psychotogens have been suggested as possible etiological factors in schizophrenia and other mental disorders, but the evidence remains equivocal (Fischman, 1983). Although the occurrence, synthesis, and degradative metabolism of DMT in mammalian systems has been the focus of recent scientific investigations (Barker, et al. 1981b), the candidacy of DMT as a possible endogenous psychotogen essentially ended when experiments showed comparable levels in both schizophrenics and normals. At present the possible neuroregulatory functions of this "psychotomimetic" compound are incompletely understood, but Callaway (1988) has presented an interesting hypothesis regarding the possible role of endogenous DMT and ß-carbolines in regulating sleep cycles and REM states.

ß-carbolines are tricyclic indole alkaloids that are closely related to tryptamines, both biosynthetically and pharmacologically. They are readily synthesized via the condensation of indoleamines with aldehydes or alpha-keto acids, and their biosynthesis probably also proceeds via similar reactions (Callaway et al., 1994). ß-carbolines have also been identified in mammalian tissue including human plasma and platelets, and rat whole brain, forebrain, arcuate nucleus, and adrenal glands (Airaksinen and Kari, 1981). 6-methoxy-tetrahydro-ß-carboline has been recently identified as a major constituent of human pineal gland (Langer et al. 1984). This compound inhibits the high-affinity binding of [3H]-imipramine to 5-HT receptors in human platelets (Langer et al. 1984), and also significantly inhibits 5-HT binding to type 1 receptors in rat brain; the compound has a low affinity to type 2 receptors, however (Taylor et al. 1984). 2-methyl-tetrahydro-ß-carboline and harman have been detected in human urine following ethanol loading, (Rommelspacher, et al., 1980) and it has been suggested that endogenous ß-carbolines and other amine-aldehyde condensation products may be related to the etiology of alcoholism (Rahwan, 1975). At least one ß-carboline has been identified as a by-product of the oxidative metabolism of DMT in rat brain homogenates (Barker, et al. 1980).

ß-carbolines exert a variety of neurophysiological and biological effects (McKenna and Towers, 1984). ß-carboline derivatives are selective, reversible, competitive inhibitors of MAO-A (Buckholtz and Boggan, 1976, 1977). Other neurophysiological actions of ß-carbolines include competitive inhibition of the uptake of 5-HT, dopamine, epinephrine, and norepinephrine into synaptosomes (Buckholtz and Boggan, 1976; PŠhkla, et al., 1997), inhibition of Na+ dependent membrane ATPases (Canessa, et al. 1973), interference with biosynthesis of biogenic amines (Ho, 1977), and vasopressin-like effects on sodium and water transport in isolated toad skin (de Sousa and Gross, 1978). ß-carboline-3-carboxylate and various esterified derivatives have been implicated as possible endogenous ligands for benzodiazepine receptors (Lippke et al. 1983). ß-carboline ligands of these receptors can induce epileptiform seizures in rats and in chickens homozygous for the epileptic gene (Morin, 1984; Johnson, et al. 1984); this proconvulsant action can be blocked by other receptor ligands, including diazepam and ß-carboline-carboxylate propyl ester (Morin, 1984; Johnson, et al. 1984).

ß-carbolines also exhibit other biological activities in addition to their effects on neurophysiological systems. For instance Hopp and co-workers found that harmine exhibited significant anti-trypanosomal activity against Trypanosoma lewisii (Hopp et al., 1976). This finding may explain the use of ayahuasca in mestizo ethnomedicine as a prophylactic against malaria and internal parasites (Rodriguez, et al. 1982). Certain ß-carbolines are known to exert mutagenic or co-mutagenic effects, and the mechanism responsible may be related to their interactions with nucleic acids (Umezawa, et al. 1978; Hayashi, et al. 1977). The ultra-violet activated photocytotoxic and photogenotoxic activity of some ß-carbolines has also been reported (McKenna & Towers 1981; Towers & Abramosky, 1983).

Recent Biomedical Investigations of Ayahuasca

Although achieving some notoriety in North American literature through the popular press and the writings of William Burroughs and Allan Ginsberg (Burroughs and Ginsberg, 1963), the psychological and physiological phenomena induced by ayahuasca have received little or no rigorous study. Various travellers to the Amazon have reported their own first hand experiences with ayahuasca (Weil, 1980; Davis, 1996), while both formal and informal ethnographic narratives have excited the public imagination (Lamb, 1971; Luna and Amaringo, 1991). Interest in the exotic origins and effects of ayahuasca have attracted a steady stream of North American tourists, often enticed by articles and advertisements in popular and New Age magazines (Krajick, 1992; Ott, 1993). Concern over possible adverse health effects resulting from the use of ayahuasca by such naive travelers has recently been expressed by a noted authority on Mestizo ayahuasca use (Dobkin de Rios, 1994). These concerns are in marked contrast to testimonials of improved psychological and moral functioning by the adherents of the syncretic hoasca churches in Brasil.

The individuals who are attracted to the UDV seem to belong to a slightly more professional socio-economic class than those who join the Santo Daime. Of the approximately 7000 members of the UDV in Brasil, perhaps 5 - 10 % are medical professionals, among them physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, chiropracters, and homeopathic physicians. Most of these individuals are fully aware of the psychologically beneficial aspects of the practice, and evince a great interest in the scientific study of hoasca , including its botany, chemistry, and pharmacology. The medically educated members can discuss all of these aspects with a sophistication equal to that of any U.S.-trained physician, or other medical professional. At the same time they do have a genuine spiritual reverence for the hoasca tea and the experiences it evokes. The UDV places a high value on the search for scientific truth, and sees no conflict between science and religion; most members of the UDV express a strong interest in learning as much as possible about how the tea acts on the body and brain. As a result of this unique circumstance, the UDV presents an ideal context in which to conduct a biomedical investigation of the acute and long-term effects of hoasca /ayahuasca.

Due to a fortunate combination of circumstances, we were invited to conduct such a biomedical investigation of long-term hoasca drinkers by the Medical Studies section of the UDV (Centro de Estudos Medicos). This study, which was conducted by an international consortium of scientists from Brasil, the United States, and Finland, was financed through private donations to various non-profit sponsoring groups, notably Botanical Dimensions, which provided major funding, the Heffter Research Institute, and MAPS, (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies). Botanical Dimensions is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study and preservation of ethnomedically significant plants, and MAPS and the Heffter Research Institute are non-profit organizations dedicated to the investigation of the medical and therapeutic uses of psychedelic agents. The field phase of the study was conducted during the summer of 1993 at one of the oldest UDV temples, the Nucleo Caupari located in the Amazonian city of Manaus, Brasil. Subsequent laboratory investigations took place at the respective academic institutions of some of the principle investigators, including the Department of Psychiatry, Harbor UCLA Medical Center, the Department of Neurology, University of Miami School of Medicine, the Department of Psychiatry, University of Rio de Janeiro, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Amazonas Medical School, Manaus, and the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Kuopio, Finland.

Since this study was the first of its kind, there was virtually no pre-existing data on the objective measurement of the physical and psychological effects of ayahuasca in human subjects. As a result, this study was in some respects a pilot study; its primary objectives were modest, representing an effort to collect a basic body of data, without attempting to relate the findings to either possible detrimental effects of ayahuasca, or to possible therapeutic effects. The study had four major objectives:

- Assessment of Acute Psychological and Physiological Effects of Hoasca in Human Subjects
- Assessment of Serotonergic Functions in Long-term Users of Hoasca Tea
- Quantitative Determination of Active Constituents of Hoasca Teas in Plasma
- Quantitative Determination of Active Constituents of Hoasca Teas

Most of these objectives were achieved, and the results have been published in various peer-reviewed scientific journals (Grob, et al., 1996; Callaway, et al., 1994; Callaway, et al., 1996;. Callaway, et al., 1997) Some key findings are summarized briefly below.

Assessment of Acute and Long-term Psychological Effects of Hoasca Teas (Grob, et al., 1996)
The subjects in all of the studies consisted of a group of fifteen healthy, male volunteers, all of whom had belonged to the UDV for a minimum of ten years, and who ingested hoasca on average of once every two weeks, in the context of the UDV ritual. None of the subjects actively used tobacco, alcohol, or any drugs other than hoasca. For some comparative aspects of the study, a control group of fifteen age-matched males was also used; these individuals were recruited from among the friends and siblings of the volunteer subjects, and like them were local residents of Manaus having similar diets and socio-economic status. None of the control subjects were members of the UDV, and none had ever ingested hoasca tea.

The psychological assessments, administered to both groups, consisted of structured psychiatric diagnostic interviews, personality testing, and neuropsychological reviewuations. Measures administered to the UDV hoasca drinkers, but not to the hoasca-niave group, included semistructured and open-ended life story interviews, and a phenomenological assessment of the altered state elicited by hoasca, was quantified using the Hallucinogen Rating Scale developed by Dr. Rick Strassman in his work with DMT and psilocybin in human subjects (Strassman, et al., 1994).

The UDV volunteers showed significant differences from the hoasca-naive subjects in the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) and the WHO-UCLA Auditory Verbal Learning Test. The TPQ assesses three general areas of behavior, viz., novelty-seeking, harm avoidance, and reward dependence. With respect to novelty-seeking behaviors, UDV members were found to have greater stoic rigidity vs exploratory excitability, greater regimentation vs disorderliness, and a trend toward greater reflection vs impulsivity; but there was no difference between the groups on the spectrum between reserve and extravagance. On the harm reduction scale, UDV subjects had significantly greater confidence vs fear of uncertainty, and trends toward greater gregariousness vs shyness, and greater optimism vs anticipatory worry. No significant differences were found between the two groups in criteria related to reward-dependence.

The fifteen UDV volunteers and the control subjects were also given the WHO-UCLA Auditory Learning Verbal Memory Test. Experimental subjects performed significantly better than controls on word recall tests. There was also a trend, though not statistically significant, for the UDV subjects to perform better than controls on number of words recalled, delayed recall, and words recalled after interference.

The Hallucinogen Rating Scale, developed by Strassman et. al (1994) for the phenomenological assessment of subjects given intravenous doses of DMT, was administered to the UDV volunteers only (since control subjects did not receive the drug). All of the clinical clusters on the HRS were in the mild end of the spectrum compared to intravenous DMT. The clusters for affect, intensity, cognition, and volition, were comparable to an intravenous DMT dose of 0.1 to 0.2 mg/kg, and the cluster for perception was comparable to 0.1 mg/kg intravenous DMT; the cluster for somatesthesia was less than the lowest dose of DMT measured by the scale, 0.05 mg/kg.

The most striking findings of the psychological assessment came from the structured diagnostic interviews, and the semi-structured open-ended life story interviews. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used for the structured diagnostic interview. None of the UDV subjects had a current psychiatric diagnosis, whereas two of the control subjects had an active diagnosis of alcohol misuse and hypochondriasis. Only one subject among the controls had a past psychiatric disorder that was no longer present; an alcohol misuse disorder that had remitted two years previously. However, prior to membership in the UDV, eleven of the UDV subjects had diagnoses of alcohol misuse disorders, two had had past major depressive disorders, four had past histories of drug misuse (cocaine and amphetamines), eleven were addicted to tobacco, and three had past phobic anxiety disorders. Five of the subjects with a history of alcoholism also had histories of violent behavior associated with binge drinking. All of these pathological diagnoses had remitted following entry into the UDV. All of the UDV subjects interviewed reported the subjective impression that their use of hoasca tea within the context of the UDV had led to improved mental and physical health, and significant improvements in interpersonal, work, and family interactions.

Assessment of Serotonergic Functions in Long-term Users of Hoasca (Callaway, et al., 1994)

Another objective of the study was to investigate whether long-term use of hoasca resulted in any identifiable "biochemical marker" that was correlated with hoasca consumption, particularly with respect to serotonergic functions, since the hoasca alkaloids primarily affect functions mediated by this neurotransmitter. Ideally, such a study could be carried out on post-mortem brains; since this was not possible, we settled on looking at serotonin transporter receptors in blood platelets, using [3H]-citalopram to label the receptors in binding assays. The up-or down regulation of peripheral platelet receptors is considered indicative of similar biochemical events occuring in the brain, although there is some controversy about the correlation between platelet receptor changes and changes in CNS receptors in patients receiving antidepressant medications (Stahl, 1977; Pletscher and Laubscher, 1980; Rotman, 1980);. However, platelet receptors were deemed suitable for the purposes of our study, as our objective was not to resolve this controversy but simply to determine if some kind of long-term biochemical marker could be identified. Neither did we postulate any conclusions about the possible "adverse" or "beneficial" implications of such a marker, if detected. We conducted the assays on platelets collected from the same group of 15 volunteers after they had abstained from consuming the tea for a period of one week. We also collected platelet specimens from the age-matched controls who were not hoasca drinkers. We were surprised to find a significant up-regulation in the density of the citalopram binding sites in the hoasca drinkers compared to control subjects. While the hoasca drinkers had a higher density of receptors, there was no change in the affinity of the receptors for the labelled citalopram. The significance of this finding, if any, is unclear. There is no other pharmacological agent which is known to cause a similar upregulation, although chronic administration of 5-HT uptake inhibitors has been reported to decrease both Bmax (the density of binding sites) and 5-HT transporter RNA in rats (Hrinda 1987; Lesch et al., 1993). Increases in Bmax for the uptake site in human platelets have been correlated with old age (Marazziti et al, 1989) and also to the dark phase of the circadian cycle in rabbits (Rocca et al., 1989). It has been speculated (Marazziti et al, 1989) that upregulation of 5-HT uptake sites in the aged may be related to the natural course of neuronal decline. Although our sample size was limited, we found no correlation with age, and the mean age of the sample was 38 years. Also, none of our subjects showed evidence of any neurological or psychiatric deficit. In fact, in view of their exceptionally healthy psychological profiles, one of the investigators speculated that perhaps the serotonergic upregulation is associated, not simply with age, but with "wisdom" -- a characteristic often found in the aged, and in many hoasca drinkers.

Another interesting self-experiment related to this finding was carried out by one of the investigators, Jace Callaway, following his return to Finland after the field phase of the study was completed. Dr. Callaway has access to Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (SPECT) scanning facilities in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Kuopio. Suspecting that the causative agent of the unexpected upregulation might be tetrahydroharmine (THH), Dr. Callaway took SPECT scans of his own brain 5-HT uptake receptors prior to beginning a six week course of daily dosing with tetrahydroharmine, repeating the scan after the treatment period. He did indeed find that the density of central 5-HT receptors in the prefrontal cortex had increased; when he discontinued THH, their density gradually returned to previous levels over the course of several weeks. While this experiment only had one subject, if it is indicative of a general effect of THH that can be replicated and confirmed, the implications are potentially significant. A severe deficit of 5-HT uptake sites in the frontal cortex has been found to be correlated with aggressive disorders in violent alcoholics; if THH is able to specifically reverse this deficit, it may have applications in the treatment of this syndrome. These findings are especially interesting when viewed in the context of the psychological data collected in the hoasca study (Grob, et al., 1996). The majority of the subjects had had a previous history of alcoholism, and many had displayed violent behavior in the years prior to joining the UDV; virtually all attributed their recovery and change in behavior to their use of hoasca tea in the UDV rituals. While it can be argued that their reformation was due to the supportive social and psychological environment found within the UDV, the finding of this long-term change in precisely the serotonin system that is deficient in violent alcoholism, argues that biochemical factors may also play a role

Assessment of the Acute Physiological Effects of Hoasca Tea (Callaway, et al., 1997)

The major focus of the biochemical and physiological measurements carried out for the study was on the acute effects subsequent to consuming hoasca tea. One of the objectives was simply to measure the effects of hoasca on standard physiological functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and pupillary diameter, subsequent to ingestion. We found that all of these responses were well within normal parameters. Hoasca, not surprisingly, caused an increase in pupillary diameter from baseline (pre-dose) levels of 3.7 mm to approximately 4.7 mm at 40 minutes, which continued to 240 minutes after ingestion at which point measurements were discontinued. Breaths per minute fluctuated throughout the 240 minutes, from a low of 18.5 at baseline to a high of 23 breaths per minute at 100 minutes. Temperature rose from a baseline low of 37 ° C at baseline to a high of 37.3 ° C at 240 min (although the ambient temperature also increased comparably during the course of the experiments, which were conducted from 10:00 - 16:00). Heartrate increased from 71.9 bpm at baseline to a maximum of 79.3 bpm by 20 minutes, decreased to 64.5 bpm by 120 minutes, then gradually returned toward basal levels by 240 minutes. There was a concomitant increase in blood pressure; both systolic and diastolic pressure increased to maxima at 40 minutes (137.3 and 92.0 mm Hg respectively) over baseline values (126.3 and 82.7 mm Hg respectively) and returned to basal values by 180 minutes. We also measured nueroendocrine response for plasma prolactin, cortisol, and growth hormone; all showed rapid and dramatic increases over basal values from 60 minutes (cortisol) to 90 minutes (growth hormone) to 120 minutes (prolactin) after ingestion. The observed response, typical of serotonergic agonists, are comparable to the values reported by Strassman & Qualls (1994) in response to injected DMT. In our study, however, the response to oral DMT was delayed by a factor of four or five. Dr. Russell Poland, of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, carried out the neuroendocrine measurements.

Characterization of the Pharmacokinetics of Hoasca Alkaloids in Human Subjects (Callaway, et al., 1996; 1997)

The fourth objective of the study was to measure pharmacokinetic parameters of the hoasca alkaloids in plasma following ingestion of hoasca tea, and to correlate this to the amounts of alkaloids ingested. The UDV collaborators held a special "preparo" to prepare the sample of hoasca that was used forall subjects in the study. The mestres confirmed the activity in the usual manner, via ingestion, and pronounced it active and suitable for use in the study. Subsequent analysis by HPLC found the tea to contain, in mg/ml: harmine, 1.7; harmaline, 0.2; THH, 1.07; and DMT 0.24. Each subject received an aliquot of tea equivalent to 2 ml/kg body weight, which was consumed in a single draught. Based on the average body weight (74.2 ± 11.3 kg), the average dose of tea was 148.4 ± 22.6 ml, containing an average of 35.5 mg DMT, 158.8 mg THH, 29.7 mg harmaline, and 252.3 mg harmine. These doses are above the threshold level of activity for DMT as a psychedelic, and for harmine and THH as MAO inhibitors; harmaline is essentially a trace constituent of hoasca tea (Callaway, et al., 1996, 1997).

Only 12 of the 15 volunteers had sufficient plasma levels of DMT to permit pharmacokinetic measurements, possibly due to early emesis during the course of the session. Of these, the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) (15.8 ng/ml) occurred at 107 minutes after ingestion, while the half-life (T1/2 was 259 minutes. THH was measured in 14 of the 15 subjects; the Cmax was 91 ng/ml, reached at 174 min. This compound displayed a prolonged half-life of 532 minutes, in contrast to harmine which had a half-life of 115.6 min. The Cmax for harmine and harmaline was 114.8 and 6.3 ng/ml, respectively, and time of maximum concentration (Tmax) was 102 and 145 minutes, respectively. The T1/2 for harmaline could not be measured (Callaway, et al.,1997).

In many ways this study was conceived because of the need to collect some basic data on the physiological and pharmacokinetic characteristics of hoasca, since none had existed previously. The conclusions to be drawn from the results, if any, are interesting and potentially significant, particularly in that these findings may offer a physiological rationale for the marked improvements in psychological health that is correlated with long-term hoasca use. Not surprisingly, the highest plasma concentrations of DMT correlated with the most intense subjective effects; however, the psychological measurement (Hallucinogen Rating Scale) indicated that comparable plasma levels of injected DMT in Strassman & Qualls (1994) study were more intense than the effects reported from the hoasca tea. One possible explanation is that THH, by acting as a 5-HT reuptake inhibitor, may have resulted in a greater availability of 5-HT at the synapse, and this may have competed with DMT for occupancy at serotonergic synapses.

Another point worthy of remark is that the activity of THH in hoasca is apparently more a function of its inhibition of 5-HT uptake than to its action as an MAOI. THH is a poor MAOI compared to harmine (EC50= 1.4 x 10-5 M vs 8 x 10-8 M for harmine), and while the plasma levels for harmine are well above the EC50 values, those for THH are well below the EC50 value for this compound as an MAOI.

Future Studies

The major objectives of the initial biomedical investigation of hoasca have been met, including the overall objective, that of developing a basic body of descriptive information on the physiological and psychopharmacological characteristics of the tea. These investigations have laid the groundwork that will enable future studies to focus on specific areas of interest. It seems clear that ayahuasca is relatively safe; it can be taken, on a regular schedule, for months or even years without producing any adverse effect; indeed, all of our subjects were highly functional individuals who attribute much of their "coping" skills to the tea and the lessons it has taught them, albiet within the doctrinal context of the UDV. None of them showed any signs of physical disease, or neurological or psychological deficits, indeed, many had higher scores in some of the psychometric testing regimes than comparable control subjects who had never imbibed hoasca. Yet many questions remain, and it is to be hoped that future investigations will be done, and that some of the most relevant questions will be at least partially answered. Among areas which suggest themselves for future research, the following seem obvious:

Effect of hoasca on women, particularly pregnant and/or lactating women. For simplicity's sake, our initial study included only male subjects who had imbibed the tea on a regular basis for at least ten years. Thus our sample was deliberately restricted; it included only experienced, male hoasca drinkers, just to minimize the number of variables. But women also drink hoasca, and moreover, most do so throughout pregnancy and lactation; indeed, children in the UDV are baptized with a tiny spoonful of hoasca, although they are not usually exposed to pharmacologically active amounts until at least age 13. There are many issues here worthy of study. For example, women claim that hoasca has positive benefits both in managing their pregnancy, and in assisting birth; many will take hoasca during labor to facilitate the process. The role of hoasca during pregnancy and lactation, whether adverse or positive, is just one of a score of questions which could be answered by followup studies using women hoasca drinkers.

Prospective studies, with children and new members. For similar reasons, our study did not include any recent converts to the UDV, nor any children, who, if they choose, are allowed to attend UDV sessions and imbibe smaller amounts of hoasca as early as age 13. Nor did the study include any recent adult converts to the UDV. Clearly, prospective studies of both groups could add a great deal to our knowledge. In view of our finding that hoasca apparently brings about long-term increases in serotonin uptake receptor densities, the implications of this need to be further investigated, and prospective studies may clarify this question. For instance, is the increase in serotonin uptake sites a consequence of regular imbibition of hoasca, as would seem the obvious conclusion, or are hoasca drinkers as a group biased toward those who are predisposed toward naturally high receptor densities? And what are the implications of either finding? Similar questions, as well as a host of sociological and developmental questions, could be addressed in a prospective study of children of UDV members who remain in the group and start to imbibe hoasca regularly in adolescence. An obvious question to answer in this context would be an assessement of children and adolescents who were exposed to hoasca in utero, to determine the impact, if any, of prenatal hoasca exposure on their subsequent neurological and psychological development. Another question germane to the possible long-term health benefits of regular hoasca use is that of whether the practice might prove to be prophylactic against alcohol and drug misuse for adolescents who consume the tea within the UDV structure.

Brain imaging and electrophysiological studies. To the degree that facilities can be made available, brain imaging and electrophysiological studies of the acute and chronic effects of hoasca would further fill in the picture of its pharmacological characteristics.

Therapeutic applications of hoasca in treatment of alcoholism and other forms of substance misuse. The experience of UDV members, recounted in the structured "life-story" interviews, would seem to indicate that hoasca has real potential as a therapeutic agent in treating substance misuse and/or alcoholism as well as other psychopathologies. Most of the subjects interviewed were involved with substance misuse prior to joining the UDV, and have since ceased. Most attribute their recovery to the tea; it would seem that confirmation of their experience and further information could be collected relatively easily, perhaps through a prospective study using recent converts to the UDV with prior involvement with substance misuse or other addictive disorders.

Immunomodulatory effects of hoasca. Another parameter that could be easily assessed, that may have important implications for the long-term health effects of hoasca, is the question of its possible effects on the immune system. Hoasca may be an immunostimulant, and thus potentially beneficial in maintaining resistance to disease; on the other hand, it could be an immunosuppressant, and this would also have serious implications for long-term or frequent use. Although hoasca tea is customarily used as a ritual sacrament rather than a medicine, anecdotal reports suggesting that hoasca may facilitate recovery from serious illnesses such as cancer, and well-designed studies are needed to investigate this question. One possibility is that discontinuation of the use of alcohol, tobacco, and drugs of misuse, as is common in UDV members, may contribute to long-term salutory effects on health.

Prospective and epidemiological study of hoasca and Parkinson's disease. Earlier in this century, harmine, then known as banisterine, was investigated for its potential utility in the treatment of postencephalitic parkinsonism (Sanchez-Ramos, 1991). Despite some initially encouraging results in early clinical trials, further explorations of this promising pharmacotherapy were abandoned in the 1930's in favor of synthetic drugs, without really resolving the question of whether harmine may have some benefits as an anti-parkinson's agent. Both prospective and epidemiological studies of the incidence of parkinson's among UDV members, compared to the general population, could shed some light on the possible applications of harmine or other ß-carbolines in the treatment of parkinson's disease.

Summary

Ayahuasca, or hoasca, whether known by these names, or any of numerous other designations, has long been a subject of fascination to ethnographers, botanists, psychopharmacologists, and others with an interest in the many facets of the human relationship with, and use of, psychoactive plants. With its complex botanical, chemical, and pharmacological characteristics, and its position of prime importance in the ethnomedical and magico-religious practices of indigenous Amazonian peoples, the investigation of ayahuasca in its many aspects has been an impetus to the furtherence of our scientific understanding of the brain/mind interface, and of the role that psychoactive plant alkaloids have played, and continue to play, in the quest of the human spirit to discover and to understand its own trancendent nature.

Now, the process which has unfolded in Western culture since Richard Spruce first reported on ayahuasca use among the Indians of the Norwthwest Amazon in 1855 (Anon, 1855; Spruce, 1873) has reached a new stage. Ayahuasca has emerged from the Amazonian jungles where it has remained cloaked in obscurity for thousands of years, to become the sacramental vehicle for new syncretic religious movements that are now diffusing from their center of origin in Brasil to Europe, the United States, and throughout the world. As the world observes this process unfolding (with joyous anticipation for some, and with considerable trepidation for others), the focus for the scientific study and understanding of ayahuasca has shifted from the ethnographer's field notes and the ethnobotanist's herbarium specimens, to the neurochemist's laboratory and the psychiatrist's examining room. With the completion of the first detailed biomedical investigation of ayahuasca, science now has the basic corpus of data needed to ask further questions, regarding the pharmacological actions, the toxicities and possible dangers, and the considerable potential ayahuasca has to heal the human mind, body, and spirit. Humanity's relationship with ayahuasca is a long-term commitment, expressed on an evolutionary timescale, that has already taught us much, and from which we can still learn, provided we have the courage, and the tools, to ask the right questions.


Healing With Ayahuasca by Marlene Dobkin

Taken from Visionary Vine: Hallucinogenic healing in the Peruvian Amazon, by Marlene Dobkin de Rios. 1972, Waveland Press


Throughout the history of medicine we find that many cures have been effective despite the irrational concepts of disease that members of a society might hold. To the Western observer it might appear in fact that ayahuasca use is totally irrational in terms of the magical world view in which such healing occurs. After all, how can "spirits" of inanimate nature or the malice of people possibly make one ill, when microbes, viruses, organic malfunctions, and the like are the true offend- ers? Yet, to the Amazonian man or woman whose be- liefs are thus oriented, ayahuasca can only be viewed as a valuable adjunct in reaffirming one's own suspicions about illness and its etiology. Once the premises con- cerning the philosophy of causation are accepted, the system of healing itself has an inner rationale that is quite in accordance with a richly developed historical tradition.


Healing Techniques
The use of ayahuasca to heal does not include a well-defined sense of the hallucinogen as a curative agent, per se. Rather, the vine is seen to operate as a powerful means to a desired end--it gives the healer entry into the culturally important area of disease caus- ality, enabling him to identify the nature of the illness from which a person is suffering, and then to deflect or neutralize the evil magic which is deemed responsible for illness. When we examine the successes attributed to the healer, we fine that in general terms a selection process is at work in which healers accept patients whom they feel they will have a good chance of reaching. Simple illnesses are rarely treated with the drug, but herbs, plants, and store-bought medicines are prescribed by the healer for these types of affliction. Nor are psychotic patients given ayahuasca.

Needless to say, drug healers do not accept all patients who come to them for help, nor are they able to cure everyone with an infusion of ayahuasca. But many of the patients who do find their way to the jungle sessions are precisely those whose anxieties, fears, projections of hostility and hatred toward others would in Western medicine be grist for psychiatric help. Drug healing in the Peruvian jungle in many ways represents a very old and honored tradition of dealing with psychological problems that predates Freudian analysis by centu- ries.

In addition to the use of the powerful vine, a healer will practice time- honored curing traditions, including whistling, singing, praying, and reciting orations, called icaros, which are believed to be preventative, to assure a patient that no evil will befall him from a friend's betrayal or a spouse's scorn. Acting as counters to evil magic, icaros may be used for diverse ends. A healer may also suck at afflicted regions of the body to extract thistles that have been magically placed there to cause illness, or else blow mapacho cigarette smoke over the body of the patient. Ayahuasqueros often make an immediate diagnosis by taking a patient's pulse without the use of a clock or watch. They say that such activity tells them what type of illness the sick man or woman is suffering from and may be one way to determine the presence of deep anxiety stemming from belief in witch- craft. Healers often prescribe a drink of cane alcohol mixed with camphor, which acts to "pep-up" or stimulate and is often prescribed in daily dosages. It is a cerebral excitant (Lewin, 1964: 145) and can produce some mild eu- phoria. In addition, ayahuasqueros use varied techniques such as reassurance, important in many cases, to offer at least temporary help. On the negative side of the ledger, depending on the degree of anxiety, this kind of reassurance must be constantly repeated to be effective (Weiss and English, 1956: 12). Suggestion and persuasion are also of great importance in order to convince a patient that the healer's advice is good and that benefits will accrue to him, should he follow his advice (Ibid.: 154).

To return to an earlier point, ayahuasca is not the only hallucinogenic substance used in healing. Other plants such as a leaf called chacruna (B. rusbyana. believed to contain N-N-dimethyltryptamine) may be added to the preparation to increase the effects. Others may use a substance called toe' (Datura suavoleons), which by itself is strong enough to alter states of con- sciousness. Not very much is known at present about the effects of mixing together various hallucinogenic substances, but different healers in the rain forest prefer those mixtures they know best from their apprenticeship days. At times a tobacco that has hallucinogenic effects and feelings of mareacion (dizziness) and probably containing Nicotiana tabacum may be used by a healer for particular cases. This latter substance grown in the rain forest is several times stronger in effect than similar species grown in North America (see Janiger and Dobkin de Rios, Md.).


Ayahuasca and the Non-Verbal
Very much a part of healing techniques is the use to which special songs or whistling incantations are put. Although some recent psychological studies of drug therapy have focused upon the importance of the non-verbal (see in particular Eisner, 1966), many drug-adjuncted therapeutic sessions in Western society are closely directed situations in which talking plays a most important role. Yet, as Eisner argues, during the most crucial moments of life words often interfere with the main flow of communication. In fact, much of the therapeu- tic interaction can and does take place at the non-verbal level (Ibid.: 542).

While verbal performance in Western society may be highly valued and re- warded, Peruvian rain forest residents are much less geared to verbal excesses. During many of the ayahuasca sessions, for example, patients are left to themselves to experience the effects of the drug with little if any verbal prod- ding on the part of the healer. Caldwell (1968) points at the similarity in some European clinics today where hallucinogens are incorporated into psychother- apy. When music is part of the drug experience, it is probable that the experi- ence, per se, is a more integrative one. Music may actually potentiate the drug experience, removing it from the realm of the intellectual and into the area of pure feelings. Music, of course, can also help to manipulate mood. Both modern and traditional healers who use such auditory aids in many ways enrich the experience by presenting stimuli that can enter all channels of a person's perception. The use of perfumed water (agua florida), which is drunk by the patient during the ayahuasca session, is no doubt another way in which non- verbal olfactory aspects are capitalized upon.


Comments
Ayahuasca music is utilized only in drug ceremonies, and contrasts musico- logically to the considerable corpus of music which falls within a secular category. This latter group comprises music played on happy occasions, such as religious festivals within the Roman Catholic Church, and melodies played during wakes. On the latter occasions, friends and relatives accompany the body of the deceased throughout an evening to dawn vigil. Such melodies are generally played with a drum (tambor), quena (wooden reedless flute found in the Andean highlands), and a four-string violin, probably of Spanish origin.

It is tempting to suggest a comparison between ayahuasca whistling incan- tations and such music as the Gregorian chants, at least insofar as basic function goes. Just as one can argue that Gregorian chants and ecclesiastical modes represent tonal relationships in which scales are structured so as to evoke a spiritual experience within the context of Christianity, so too might the ayahuasca music be viewed as an essential component of a non-ordinary reality sustained by the sensory overload inherent in drug-induced alteration in consciousness. Such music, of course, cannot be divorced from its social context. We should reflect, for a moment, on the nature of hallucinogenic experience, per se, and the quality of reality alteration for the individual. Such phenomena as the slowing down or changing of time perception (see Ludwig, 1969: 14) must be related to how music is perceived by the individual under the effects of the powerful alkaloids present in the ayahuasca potion. The number of metronomic markings in a given piece of music may not, indeed, be perceived as they would be in an ordinary state. In fact, during my own experience under ayahuasca, some interesting aspects of the relationship of the music and the content of my visions could be determined. Fast-moving visions and detailed panorama of primary colors and variegated forms, difficult to focus on, could be correlated with my perception of the speed of the healer's music. When don Antonio slowed down his pace and a full-sized portrait of a woman appeared before me, I could, on later reflection, relate the vision's appearance to the slowing down of the healer's whistling incantations. Visions do change frequently from fast to slow, and seem to be controlled or evoked by the healer who is the creative force in deciding which melodies to call upon. When I was further into the drug experience and became nauseous and vom- ited, don Antonio reassured me that his continuing melodies would alleviate the nausea and cause it to pass away.

During ayahuasca sessions, both healer and patient take the drug together. Nonetheless, the healer is generally quite occupied in the performance of his ritual activities mentioned earlier and leaves his patients generally seated by themselves for major portions of the ceremony, only occasionally counseling or treating them directly. Healers state that certain melodies evoke certain types of visions. As I illustrated above, slower incantations may be responsible for the often-reported visions of men and women who are later identified as evil-doers. Perhaps, and one can only speculate here, faster incantations are crucial in the changeover from one reality to another. Such sensory overload has been frequently reported to produce anxiety in the individual, especially in initial drug-induced states. In Western society, LSD-like substances have been utilized in psychotherapy, often by Freudian-oriented analysts. Vomiting and nausea, which may occur in such cases, have occasionally been related to the inability of individuals to deal with anxiety generated by rapid access to unconscious realms. It may be that the role of such music as the whistling incantations during such anxiety states is to help carry the individual more easily into this second realm.

One additional facet of drug-induced experience that should be mentioned is the role that the guide or guru plays as an important other, toward whom the patient may turn in an anxious or highly suggestible state as the result of his alteration in consciousness. Masters and Houston (1966) discuss the vital place of the guru in guiding such sessions. It is possible that augmented suggestibility on the part of the patient encounters in the presence of the healer a creative source and origin of music which alleviates anxiety, tranquilizes, and causes a turning inward, by the musical evocation of particular visions.'

I might further speculate that fearful visions in an ayahuasca session could generally be attributed to the inadequate musical ability on the part of a particular healer.


Placebo Effects of the Ayahuasca Potion
When people who believe they have been bewitched visit a healer, they are frequently given a potion of ayahuasca to help them see who it is that has caused their illness. As with other hallucinogenic drugs, a non-ordinary state of reality fills the hours of drug experience and is one that is unlike any other than most men or women have ever had.

The possibility suggests itself that the plant operates merely as a placebo an inactive or inert drug given merely to produce a "satisfying" effect upon the patient. Is it possible that faith in the curative power of the drug itself is enough to cure? It think we have to dismiss this possibility, which may enter into a discussion of LSD therapy in the United States and Canada. There, insights into personal problems have often been examined by an analyst who guides the session.' Ayahuasca is not used to obtain verbal insight, and external rather than internal forces are viewed as responsible for disease. Man is, in effect, absolved from any responsibility. Especially in cases of saladera and situations involving interpersonal stress, the impact of such external forces is most clearly seen. Moreover, little of the biochemical effects of ayahuasca's healing properties are known. From my own personal experience, I would guess that strong hallucinogens like ayahuasca manage to relieve feelings of anxiety and tension which can build up to intolerable levels. Yet, although one would hesitate to call the purge a healing hallucinogen, it is possible that future evidence may point up more clearly the curative potential of the drug from a pharmacological point of view. Nonetheless, both healer and patient are crucially concerned with identify- ing the nature of the illness, which in psychosomatic disorders may be very generalized pains and aches throughout the body. When people known to the patient or even total strangers appear in his visions, a skilled healer will attribute his patient's illness to such apparitions. Generalized, free-floating anxiety which immobilizes can then be changed into straightforward fear and placed squarely on the shoulders of the acknowledged evil person or spirit. A healer is especially successful in those cases when his patient believes him to be imnipotent and if an aura of personal success surrounds him. Thus, the healer may be able to relieve his patient's symptoms quickly and dramatically, when the patient believes the healer is powerful enough to counteract the evil magic directed against himself.

People rarely focus upon ayahuasca by itself as a curative agent. The hallucinogen is a means toward an end--a way in which healing can begin. Special diets, rituals, orations, particular spells, and counter magic are the ways in which healing takes place. Reassurance, suggestion, counseling as well as other techniques to be discussed shortly are all part of the cure, but the drug's role throughout is strongly diagnostic and revelatory.


The Omnipotence of the Healer
Attempts are made by the healer to radiate total control and mastery over the unknown, especially in the realm of illness. Although he may turn to magical means in his healing procedures, nonetheless he employs very definite pragmatic means such as modern medicines, herb baths, and teas as well as a host of plants whose effects he has studied. The role of ayahuasca is con- nected to the aura of omnipotence surrounding the healer. Certainly the purge is a powerful persuader in its own right. Yet, given the belief system existing in the jungle, what seems to be most important to his patients is the healer's ability to deflect evil magic and neutralize its effect, or diagnose the sickness by means of the drug. Ayahuasca gives him entry into a world of magic by which he can effect his cures all that much more effectively. Even techniques such as his subtle reassurance, boasting in a generally non-boasting society, an all-knowing manner, subtle use of cues to let present and perspective patients know of his successes, his show of wealth, and his skills all enter into the picture. Two examples that illustrate healers' techniques come to mind here. In one case connected with dona Teresa mentioned earlier, after she had taken ayahuasca and her hemorrhage stopped, she was able to move about and take on some of her daily household chores. The next time her healer stopped by to see how she was doing, he stayed only a short while, as he had to visit another patient who was really ill (the healer's emphasis), and not nearly as well and thriving and about to recover as Teresa was. She repeated this conversation to several of her neighbors and family during the next few days and in fact did feel much better, no doubt in part because of this reassurance and support that the healer provided her.

In another case, I was present at a preliminary interview in which a healer chatted with two girls who had love problems and were looking for his help to try to capture their boyfriends' souls once and for all. Don Fernando, the healer, sat comfortably on a bench and talked about his many successes in healing. He boasted that in his home, an expensive fishing net costing well over $100 was sitting idle and rotting. Although he could make a good living at fishing, he was forced to give it up by the press of patients, he said, who came to him to be healed. Both girls were visibly impressed by his stated affluence and by his confident, assured manner, which indicated to them that he would and most definitely could help them in their love problems. The myth of the omnipotence of some healers has become so strong that tales of ayahuasca millionaires have grown up and become repeated with some frequency. Both Iquitos and Pucallpa are known for at least one such ayahuasca millionaire men who achieved fame in healing and who overnight built fine brick houses for themselves and their families. One famous healer in Pucallpa was imprisoned by the local police, finally to be released when a political demonstration followed in the wake of this incident. A spiritualist healer in Iquitos recounted the story of another colleague who had recently died. He had made his fortune in ayahuasca. Multiple property holdings and an affluent family attested to this healer's success with the purge.

Peruvian medical writers, much closer in time and space to folk healing than their American counterparts, are quite aware of its influence on large segments of their society and at times become threatened by the apparent successes and popularity of drug healers. Many such writers, in fact, have labeled both drug-adjuncted and popular folk healing charlatanism. One writer makes a fine distinction between highland healers who work within the confines of their Indian peasant community and the so-called charlatans of other regions. Tricking patients while under the effects of drug used in healing has been another accusation that has been leveled. These aspects of folk healing are difficult to dismiss lightly. Collective belief in the efficacy of the drug, the suggestibility engendered by such drug use and the skill of the healer who effects cures to patients often suffering from psychosomatic or psychoneurotic illness must be taken into account. Whether these cures are temporary remis- sions are not important here. The first-rate empirical knowledge of many healers concerning the rich pharmacopoeia available to them is undeniable.

The ability of the healer, whose skills are well-touted, his firm and confident manner in dealing with his patients, his boasts of the healing he has and will achieve--in short, the potency of the suggestive phenomena at work cannot be ignored. Certainly artifice is employed in the curer's art. One writer has maintained that "cultural symbols and values are the medium through which the individual patient approaches what is offered to him in a psychotherapy situation and that his response to the strategies of the therapist will be circum- scribed by the meaning they have for him in terms of his general life view." Healers do work within a belief system held by their patients and are able to manipulate the symbols shared by their patients in order to heal them that much more effectively.

For example, before allowing their patients to take the purge, many healers will undergo periods of up to a week of exorcising the evil believed to afflict such patients. This becomes a very necessary part of therapy because many people in this community operate in a confused social reality where magical beliefs function close to and at times in competition with scientific ones. The healer, in order to alleviate anxiety generated by emotionally precipitated illness, must retain his omnipotent stance. Should a patient be a doubting Thomas, something which is not at all unusual initially, the chances of the treatment being effective will be lessened. Using a series of exorcistic rituals which often include prescribing the tobacco mentioned earlier (which gives no visions but induces a feeling of non-ordinary reality), the healer can elaborate his treatment before the actual drug experience is undertaken. Prospective patients may then attend a few sessions in which others take ayahuasca in order to acquire an awareness or expectation of what people say happen to them under the drug.

To repeat an earlier point, the reappearance of certain elements in the drug experience by innumerable patients points to the important role that cultural expectations play. It is possible that the focus of the healer on a boa or another snake as the mother spirit of the vine which is beginning to heal or to anticipate healing by her appearance verifies and consolidates the magical learning that has taken place prior to the ayahuasca ingestion. Peoples' expectations that they will, in fact, be visited by such a boa or snake, as well as their belief in the curative prediction of success anticipated by that snake's appearance pro- vides them with reassurance that healing is indeed occurring. In many ways, the omnipotence of the healer is increased by his symbolic presentations--his insistence upon the magical world of spirits or allies which he controls and that he can conjure up through his particular songs and incantations to appear before his patient. At sessions one often hears a healer advising his patient who is experiencing visions that the next song will cause a certain event to happen, or that a difficult moment will pass, with pleasant visions to follow. The healer in many ways is conditioning the patients. Given a widely-shared belief system among members of the community and those versed in esoteric healing lore, these remarks of the healer must be seen in terms of their full impact upon the patient. Called upon as a creative source to interpret the symbols that may visually appear to a patient under his care, the healer sees in his patient's productions his own set of symbols, which he attributes to the magical causal- ity of misfortune or disease.

This kind of occurrence, which Ehrenwald (1966), a medical historian, has called "doctrinal compliance," is important to consider in this context. In an interesting book tracing the continuity between present day scientific therapy and primitive healing, he coins this term to explain the fact that in Western therapy, despite the particular school of allegiance to which a psychiatrist may subscribe, his patient ends up doing what his doctor wants him to. If, for example, a healer is a Freudian, his patients' dreams tend to recreate early memories of childhood or family conflict. The patient in many ways complies with the therapist's unconscious wishes and expectations in order to validate his analyst's theories. Unlike the phenomenon of suggestion, which on the part of the therapist, at any rate, operates on a conscious level, doctrinal compliance seems to be an unconscious process, occurring in both magical and modern therapy procedures. This would seem to be the case in Peruvian healing with hallucinogens, since patients tend to see certain kinds of visions while under the effects of ayahuasca, after working with healers who share a common tradition of magical etiology.

Finally, Ludwig's comments on suggestibility are applicable here (1969: 17). He maintains that sensory overload, inherent in an hallucinogenic experi- ence, can cause a person to attend most specifically to a guide's advice and counsel for reassurance in moments when he is in an altered state of conscious- ness.


The Healer as Moral Arbiter of the Society
If we look at the kinds of health and social problems that the ayahuasquero treats, it is evident that much of his role is that of moral arbiter of society. This is especially so in light of the philosophy of causation which attributes illness and bad fortune to witchcraft. Not only is the healer's job to restore people to health, but he must take upon himself the omnipotent power and responsi- bility to punish evil doings. These healers who have made their moral commit- ment to paths of socially valued behavior often state they are deeply religious and will not perpetrate evil upon others. This contrasts, nonetheless, to their quickness to accept patients who believe they have been wronged. In the name of their patients, such men will not hesitate to punish others for their evil through the application of counter-magic. Although witches maintain that ayahuasca can give a man unlimited sexual access to women, nonetheless another important function of ayahuasqueros is to use their powers when under the drug to bring recalcitrant spouses who have strayed back to their homes once again.

As Herskovitz pointed out long ago (1946), Western dualistic categories of good and evil often do not properly convey non-literate and folk beliefs con- cerning magic. For example, although most ayahuasqueros are called upon to heal patients who believe they have been bewitched, there is an element of true moral arbitration on the part of a healer who often uses counter magic to return evil to its perpetrator in order to relieve symptoms of illness. Easy categorization of good and evil does not adequately deal with the subtleties of ayahuasca use among Peruvian Mestizo populations in the rain forest region.


Ayahuasca Healing and Psychotherapy
Perhaps the term psychotherapy is inadequate to describe and categorize the type of drug healing which is the subject of this book. This term is generally used in psychology to delineate a relationship between doctor and patient in which words play a very prominent part in the healing process. Although a certain amount of verbal exchange between healer and patient in the form of counseling, advising, suggesting, and exhorting does occur in Iquitos, many of the drug sessions described earlier are extremely subjective activities. The man or woman who takes the potion is left much to himself during the major part of the experience. As pointed out earlier, drug-adjuncted therapy in Western medicine employs much more directed verbal therapy.

Psychotherapy is seen by some as a learning process where new attitudes, feelings and behavior enter into a person's readaptation after he comes to a realization that his present way of life is distressing, ineffective, or damaging. Maladaptation marks the habits of a lifetime and must be changed in order for healing to occur. In considering the role that relearning plays in ayahuasca healing, we see that such therapy is of a short-term nature compared to the much longer periods of counseling involved in Western-type psychotherapy. Jungle patients may remain in treatment for only a week or two, with the longest periods of healing rarely running more than a few months in duration. The desire for the relief of symptoms seems to be the most pressing motivation for people to enter such sessions, accounting for the relatively short period of treatment time when compared to Euro-American psychological healing. An- other factor should be taken into consideration. During my fieldwork in Belen, I constantly listened to complaints of physical illness, anxiety, lack of appetite, and the like, complaints comparable to those reported by other investigators working among urban poor throughout Peru. High rates of psychosomatic complaints characterize the life of the destitute poor throughout much of South America and some research even sees such stress as necessary for effective modernization (see Kellert et at, 1967). When such daily stress and anxiety reaches intolerable levels, a person may look for help from a healer. Yet, we should keep in mind that the constant companion of many such people may be organic pain, discomfort, free-floating anxiety, general debility, and lack of energy coming from the many parasitical disorders with which they live. When such men and women finally find themselves in an ayahuasca session, they tend to look for relief of immediate problems. In speaking to both healers and patients, one rarely if ever hears these problems acknowledged to be personal maladjustment. Explaining illness as individual responsibility for misfortune or citing chance as a major factor does not occur. Rather, illness or misfortune is attributed to the evil of others--either malicious men and women who have brought magical harm, or else capricious, uncontrollable natural spirits that have punished a person who has violated a taboo.

Another important component of psychotherapy in Western medicine is the nature of the transference experience between a patient and his therapist, generally emerging after a reasonably long period of treatment. During this period, an emotional relationship to the therapist may be established, child- hood memories may be recalled, abreaction of emotion may take place, and a new orientation for future living take place. As Freud wrote long ago, transference is usually described as the patient's tendency to see in his analyst the reincarnation of some important figure out of his childhood past, with the patient transferring to him feelings and reactions that undoubtedly applied to his model. In this way, the analyst may become the target of the patient's love or resentment which may have originally been directed to a parent.

In short-term ayahuasca healing, the mechanism of transference that is so important to theoretical conceptions of Western psychoanalysis is practically non-existent. It is quite true that healers tend to be older men or women who may have a relatively high status accorded them because of age, and who may serve as a parent-substitute. However, the short amount of time in which the patient is in treatment and the nature of the healing itself differ immensely from Western techniques we have been discussing.

As Kiev has pointed out (1968: 176), "the kind of illness that an individual has and how it may be treated is a function of his culture." The culture-specific methods used to reduce anxiety that characterize universally valid strategies throughout the world are no doubt enhanced by the properties of the hal- lucinogen itself. Reactions to both good and bad experiences--namely a feeling of relaxation, well-being, and ease with others can only reflect to the healer's benefit.

Ayahuasca is indeed a powerful hallucinogen that is used effectively in Peruvian rain forest healing. It has not been the purpose of this book to present statistics showing how many patients have been "cured" by this hallucinogen in emotional or psychological illness. Rather, it is hoped that the setting and background in which such healing takes place throws some light on the thera- peutic potential of many different plant substances. In particular, the role of cultural variables such as beliefs, attitudes, and expectations in determining subjective experiences are important to stress. In some superficial ways, aya- huasca healing is comparable to Western techniques of psychotherapy, but such a comparison is doomed to an uncomfortable fit of theory with recalci- trant fact. The use of directed verbal interchange between therapist and patient in Euro-American society contrasts markedly with mechanisms of healing utilized in a society held together by a magical order of things.


Conclusions
We have looked at the plant hallucinogen, ayahuasca, as an example of man's traditional use of such substances in the treatment of disease. As I pointed out at the beginning of this book, although it is convenient to separate out categories of drug use in which disease is viewed apart from supernatural concerns, it is important to reiterate here that ayahuasca healing in the Peruvian Amazon has very definite supernatural components of etiology, diag- nosis, and cure as well as being viewed by healers and patients alike in terms of a philosophy of causation. The visions induced by the plant are interpreted by the ayahuasca healer to be the personal or spiritual force responsible for illness, a major concern prior to the effecting of any cure.

Although it is tempting to conclude that ayahuasca is functionally related to the social stresses and economic problems that beset members of the slum community and the jungle region today, one might hesitate to state that interpersonal strife is less now than it may have been or is presently among primitive populations in scattered rain forest villages. Perhaps a more convinc- ing argument is that throughout time this powerful hallucinogen has been used in similar ways. Anxiety and stress, both today and in the past, can reach intolerable levels, so that a drug healer receives a call to ameliorate acute symptoms. In such situations of distress, ayahuasca has received its most varied elaboration-entering into the realm of tenuous, uneasy interpersonal relations and acting as a restorer of equilibrium in difficult situations.

Vine of the Souls by Charlie Kidder

Vine of the Souls

A Closer Look at Amozonia's Visionary Medicine

by Charlie Kidder
..............
DEEP IN THE HEART of the Amazonian rainforest grows a sacred vine known for its magical powers. This vine is known by many names, but the most well known of them all may be ayahuasca (aye-yah-wah-skah). In the Quechua language, aya means spirit or ancestor, and huasca means vine or rope. It is reputed that those who consume this vine of the souls are bestowed with the ability to commune with spirits, diagnose illness, treat disease, and even predict the future. While the existence of this vine is certainly no big secret, it is only recently that western science has decided to study the magical properties of this sacred medicine.

Archaeological evidence may date ayahuasca use in Ecuador back five millennia. However, western knowledge of ayahuasca dates back only as far as 1851 when a group of Tukanoan Indians invited British botanist and explorer Richard Spruce to participate in a ceremony which included a visionary drink they called caapi. Spruce only drank a small amount of the "nauseous beverage," but he couldn't help noticing the profound effect it had on his new friends. The Tukanoans showed Spruce the plant from which the caapi was made, and he was able to collect good specimens of the plant in full flower. Spruce named the plant Banisteria caapi, and further research led him to conclude that caapi, yage, and ayahuasca were all Indian names for the same potion made using this one vine.

Since these early findings, indigenous use of various ayahuasca potions has been reported throughout the Amazon as far east as the R’o Negro in Brazil and as far west as the Pacific coastal areas of Colombia and Ecuador. It is also found as far north as the Panama coast, and southward into areas of Amazonian Perœ and Bolivia. At least 72 indigenous groups have been found to use similar preparations known by a total of over forty different names.

Preparation

Ayahuasca potions are normally prepared by soaking or steeping lianas of Banisteriopsis caapi or related species for various lengths of time. The specific method varies from group to group, but the simplest method is a cold water infusion where pieces of the stem are first pounded and allowed to stand in cold water, after which the plant material is strained off and the remaining potion drunk. Some groups will immerse the pounded stems in hot water, cooking the plant material anywhere from an hour to all day long. The longest of these preparation methods involves repeated boiling and filtering of the plant matter and extract until only a thick concentrate remains. This process normally comprises a whole day's work, taking up to fifteen hours to prepare a single batch.

Banisteriopsis caapi is often the only plant used to make ayahuasca. However, it is not an uncommon practice to add one or more admixture plants to the brew during its preparation. Admixture plants help to flavor the experience of each specific batch of ayahuasca, and often contain stimulants or visionary compounds, like caffeine, nicotine, or DMT. In ayahuasca potions made using DMT-containing additives, it is most likely that DMT is the key visionary ingredient, responsible for most if not all of the potion's powerful entheogenic effects.

Pharmacology of Ayahuasca

DMT was first synthesized in 1931, fifteen years before it was discovered to be a naturally occuring compound. DMT is found in many psychoactive Amazonian snuffs prepared from the resin of numerous species of Virola trees, and was first naturally extracted from a shamanic snuff made from the crushed seeds and pods of Anadenanthera peregrina in 1955. In 1956, Stephen I. Szara and colleagues became the first to experience the effects of the hydrochloride salt of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine via intramuscular injection at doses ranging from 0.7 to 1.1 mg per kg body weight. He found the drug to produce what he described as a "psychotic effect partially similar to that caused by mescaline or LSD-25." Szara found that after injecting 50 to 60 mg of DMT, entheogenic effects commenced within two to three minutes, lasting about 45 minutes to an hour. He described the effects thus: "Eidetic phenomena, optical illusions, pseudo-hallucinations and later real hallucinations, appeared. The hallucinations consisted of moving, brilliantly colored oriental motifs, and later I saw wonderful scenes altering very rapidly. The faces of the people seemed to be masks. My emotional state was elevated sometimes up to euphoria..."

By 1977, it was established that smoking DMT free base produces a more potent and rapid effect than does injection. Thirty mg of DMT smoked was found to produce almost instant peak effects, lasting a total of only five to ten minutes. However, DMT has been tested in doses of up to an entire gram ingested orally without producing any effects whatsoever. So the question remained: Since DMT appears to be completely inactive orally, how can the average 29 mg found in an orally ingested dose of ayahuasca produce a visionary effect?

The answer to this question lies in the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO). This enzyme normally functions in our digestive systems to break down any monoamines present within the foods we eat so that they do not upset the balances of monoamine neurotransmitter metabolism going on in our brains. DMT, being a monoamine, is completely oxidized and decomposed by MAO in the gut when it is ingested orally. However, the §-carboline alkaloids from the Banisteriopsis liana are know to inhibit MAO to the point where the accompanying DMT from the admixture plant can survive in the digestive tract and make its way to the brain.

The structure of DMT (as well as those of other entheogenic compounds) is remarkably close to that of the important modulatory neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT). Such neurotransmitter shuffling is thought to bring about the disinhibition of normally controlled and regulated processes within the brain. The binding of serotonin-like molecules to the 5-HT receptors affects serotonergic neurons which can stimulate a wide range of things - from repressed emotions and memories to the brain's image-processing system. This unique combination of neural stimuli results in a wondrous explosion of transcendent emotion and internal kaleidoscopic imagery.

Shamanic Use of Ayahuasca

The mestizo shamans 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. Thus there are tabaqueros who use tobacco; toeros who use various Brugmansia species; catahueros who use the resin of catahua (Hura crepitans); paleros who use the bark of various large trees; perfumeros who use the scents of various fragrant plants; and ayahuasqueros who use ayahuasca.

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. Some shamans place so much emphasis on the healing power of the icaros that once he or she has learned a good number of them, the ayahuasca is no longer necessary for healing.

Artist and Peruvian vegetalista Pablo Amaringo has painted a series of his past ayahuasca visions, depicting them in great detail. In order to do this, Amaringo will attempt to recall one of his visions, sometimes by singing the icaro he sang at the time of the vision. This brings back the image so vividly that Amaringo is able to project it onto a canvas and then simply trace it adding colors later. Images from ayahuasca visions are a predominate feature of Amazonian art. It has been suggested that this visual art along with the melodies of the icaros combine with the synaesthetic effects of the potion to produce an "aesthetic frame of mind" central to the healing process. The design the shaman paints onto his or her body is believed to represent a healthy energy pattern, and is often revealed by the ayahuasca.

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. For example, a plant which produces flowers shaped like an ear may be used to treat ear diseases. Part of the novice shaman's training involves scrutinizing nature to learn about the properties or "hidden virtues" within the surrounding plants and animals.

Modern Interest in Ayahuasca

From the first written mention of ayahuasca by a Jesuit priest near the end of the 17th century to current research dealing with ayahuasca, our knowledge of this ancient Amazonian ethnomedicine has grown considerably. In just the last few decades, a fair number of publications have been written on the topic; anthropologists have begun studying how ayahuasca is used to heal; and research groups have started studying the potion's long-term physiological and psychological effects. Another interesting modern phenomenon is the growing number of Christian churches throughout South America who have opted for ayahuasca as their sacrament during communion instead of the usual symbolic bread and wine sacraments. These churches claim that the potion helps to promote intense concentration and direct contact with the spiritual plane.

The first of these ayahuasca churches were initially formed in the 1920s in Brazil, and today two groups, the Uni‹o de Vegetal (UDV or 'Herbal Union') and the Santo Daime [see related article], continue to flourish. These neo-Christian churches now mainly exist in urban areas, and represent the modern movement of ritual ayahuasca use from the primal rainforest into the big city.

In these churches mass is held once a week. The church members cultivate the plants needed to make the potion, and oversee its preparation and storage. On special occasions, ayahuasca is dispensed in small cups at communion. The dose is only a couple of ounces, but the ayahuasca they produce has been reported to be very strong. As the celebration usually lasts all night long, it is not unusual for members of the church to take several doses during the course of the evening.

In 1985, the Brazilian government added the ayahuasca liana to its list of controlled substances. The UDV soon petitioned the ban and the Brazilian government appointed a commission to investigate the issue. The commission found no evidence of social disruption associated with the sacramental use of ayahuasca (which the commission members tried themselves) and ayahuasca was removed from the Brazilian controlled substances list in August of 1987. More problems arose in 1988 when an anonymous source alleged that the churches consisted of fanatics, drug addicts, and ex-guerrillas given to smoking Cannabis and taking LSD during their rites. Yet another study of the issue was ordered by the government, this time to investigate the physiological aspects of ayahuasca's pharmacology. The conclusions of this study prompted the Brazilian government in June of 1992 to exempt Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis - as well as the ayahuasca potion - from its illicit substances list. This legal decision has opened the doors to the further expansion of these churches, which have since held ceremonies in several cities all over the world. An international scientific research team, the Hoasca Project, has recently begun studying the long term effects, both psychological and physiological, of chronic ayahuasca use by these church members.

Ayahuasca and the Future

It is hard to say what the future may hold for ayahuasca. It could prove to be a useful tool in helping science better understand the biochemistry of consciousness and the genetics of pathological brain function. Pharmaceutical MAO-inhibitors are widely used in western medicine as anti-depressants, and further research into the psychotherapeutic benefits gained from the tryptamines remains to be done.

As far as religion is concerned, the potential for expansion of ayahuasca-using churches seems unlimited. Incorporation of a powerful psychoactive sacrament into religious ceremonies could have far-reaching effects on modern spiritual practices and beliefs. However, it remains to be seen whether entheogen users here in the U.S. would be attracted to the idea of psychedelic Christianity.

All in all, ayahuasca represents a unique plant-based medicine. The fact that its traditional use by Amazonian Indians has survived the continual influence of Western acculturation is testimony to the central and important role it has in their world-view. In fact, in many Amazonian tribes the first thing the parents will give a newborn baby is a drop of ayahuasca - right in the mouth. To them it is the supreme medicine, and a true gift from the gods.