AyahuascaAyahuasca Informationintroduction to ayahuascachemistry of ayahuasca traditional ayahuasca and ayahuasca analogs choosing ayahuasca ingredients how to make ayahuasca preparation notes notes of caution when using ayahuasca set and setting the effects of ayahuasca ayahuasca and food ayahuasca related links ayahuasca terminology ayahuasca related books Introduction To Ayahuasca Ayahuasca is a sacred drink that has been consumed for thousands of years, by the indigenous people living in the Upper Amazon area of South America. People consume the drink for divination, medicinal, religious, and other shamanic purposes. The word ayahuasca can be translated to English as vine of the soul or vine of the dead. This is most likely due to the fact that after taking ayahuasca, a person often feels a freeing of the soul. It may also be attributed to the fact that one of the functions of ayahuasca has been to allow a person who consumes it to communicate with the souls of dead ancestors. Ayahuasca is usually made by mixing two or more distinctive plant species capable of producing psychoactive effects when brewed together and consumed. It can be prepared from a number of ingredients that can vary. Rather than having a set list of ingredients, custom ayahuasca brews are concocted based on the intended application of the ayahuasca. For example, ayahuasca intended to be ingested in order to diagnose or treat illness would be made from different ingredients than ayahuasca that was intended to be ingested for casting magic spells. The drink is a sacred medicine that has been brewed and consumed in South America for thousands of years. Objects related to the preparation and use of ayahuasca can be dated to about 500 BC. It can be assumed that ayahuasca goes back hundreds, if not thousands of years prior to 500 BC. Hallucinations and deep personal visions are possible if enough ayahuasca is consumed. Visions induced by the drink often include birds, dead ancestors, demons, fractals, geometric patterns, gods, jaguars, jungle scenes, plants, snakes, spirit helpers, waves of color, and wild animals. Shared visions may occur if ayahuasca is consumed in a group setting. Chemistry Of AyahuascaThe two main constituents (of most types of ayahuasca) are plants that contain MAOI's mixed with plants that contain DMT. The reason for mixing plants that contain MAOI's with plants that contain DMT is to increase the amount of DMT absorbed by the human body. Normally, DMT is not effective when ingested orally, it must be smoked or injected. If plants that contain DMT are consumed by themselves, the person taking them will feel very little (if anything at all) in the way of psychoactive effects. DMT is active orally only when combined with an MAOI. By mixing Banisteriopsis caapi (or other plants that contain MAOI's) with plants that contain DMT, the human body is able to effectively absorb the DMT orally. The harmala alkaloids (because they are MAOI's) present in Banisteriopsis caapi serve the purpose of potentiating DMT in ayahuasca by reducing its breakdown in the digestive tract. This allows more of the DMT to enter the bloodstream and reach the brain. Harmala alkaloids can also extend some of DMT's effects for up to 6 hours. When DMT is smoked or injected, the effects usually last for less than an hour. Plants that contain harmala alkaloids in sufficient quantity to make ayahuasca include Banisteriopsis caapi (commonly called the ayahuasca vine) and Peganum harmala (commonly called syrian rue). Banisteriopsis caapi is said to always be part of the preparation of traditional ayahuasca because it contains a plant intelligence that can (among other things) reveal the path to follow when one is having emotional or psychological problems. Tetrahydroharmine occurs in greater concentrations in Banisteriopsis caapi when compared to other plants that contain harmala alkaloids. This may account for the plant intelligence traditional ayahuasca reveals to those who ingest it to alter consciousness. However, Peganum harmala (syrian rue) contains larger concentrations of harmala alkaloids than Banisteriopsis caapi (the ayahuasca vine). Therefore lesser amounts of Peganum harmala can be added to produce ayahuasca (than would be needed if ayahuasca made with Banisteriopsis caapi were being prepared). Plants that contain DMT in sufficient quantity to make ayahuasca include Diplopterys cabrerana (commonly called chaliponga) and Psychotria viridis (commonly called chacruna). The high alkaloid content of Diplopterys cabrerana (chaliponga) is utilized when making potent brews. It can be several times more potent than Psychotria viridis (chacruna). Some South American shamans believe that an ayahuasca user must graduate to ayahuasca made with Diplopterys cabrerana (chaliponga) after four or five Psychotria viridis (chacruna) ayahuasca experiences. Experienced ayahuasca brewers sometime substitute Diplopterys cabrerana (chaliponga) or Psychotria viridis (chacruna) with Mimosa hostilis (jurema). Mimosa hostilis contains a higher concentration of DMT than either of the other plants. Mimosa hostilis should only be considered by someone with extensive experience. Traditional Ayahuasca And Ayahuasca AnalogsIn the traditional preparation of ayahuasca, one of the plants always included is Banisteriopsis caapi (or another species of Banisteriopsis). South American shamans mix sections of Banisteriopsis caapi with leaves from a number of other potential plants. The other plant or plants that are combined with Banisteriopsis caapi usually contain tryptamine alkaloids, like DMT (dimethyltryptamine). The plants that were most often mixed with Banisteriopsis caapi to produce traditional ayahuasca were the leaves of Diplopterys cabrerana (chaliponga) or the leaves of Psychotria viridis (chacruna). Traditional ayahuasca can also be made with no plants that contain DMT. These non-DMT brews are made by mixing Banisteriopsis caapi with plants from the Brugmansia genus. Tobacco is often added to traditional brews and other common additives include various species of Anadenanthera and Datura. There are even ayahuasca brews made with no plants other than Banisteriopsis caapi itself. Modern ayahuasca preparations can be made by mixing plants (other than Banisteriopsis caapi) that contain MAOI's (in the form of harmala alkaloids) with plants (other than Diplopterys cabrerana or Psychotria viridis) that contain DMT. These non-traditional ayahuasca brews are known as ayahuasca analogs. The most common substitutions in ayahuasca analogs are: Choosing Ayahuasca IngredientsVarious types of plants can be combined to make ayahuasca. Each of these combinations will have a different effect upon the person taking them. Traditional ayahuasca is made with the same ingredients that have been included by South American shamans for thousands of years. Ayahuasca analogs are made by substituting the plants traditionally used with plants that contain larger amounts of active compounds. Someone looking for an experience for magical, medical, spiritual, or a related purpose should choose traditional ayahuasca. Someone looking for a strong psychological experience should choose an ayahuasca analog. The potency of these ayahuasca brews vary, in strength and psychoactive effect, from one batch to the next. The potency is determined by the plants included in the mixture and the skill of the brewer. Natural variations in plant alkaloid levels will also affect the potency of the ayahuasca. Because of the variability in the potency of the particular plants you have access to, giving exact amounts of the ingredients needed to produce ayahuasca that is right for everyone, is impossible. Here are some possible combinations for making ayahuasca. You should experiment with changing the amounts of various ingredients to produce a type of ayahuasca that you are comfortable with. Ayahuasca preparations in these proportions can be used as a starting point. Ayahuasca Analogs Traditional Ayahuasca There are various types of Banisteriopsis caapi available for making ayahuasca. These categories are divided according to the potency they impart to ayahuasca, rather than being different varieties of Banisteriopsis caapi. You can buy these ayahuasca related plants at bouncing bear botanicals. They ship from the US to most countries. How To Make AyahuascaAyahuasca is legal in most parts of South America where it is a sacrament for religious and spiritual purposes. However, it is illegal in the USA unless a person is a member of a church that administers ayahuasca in religious services (there are Santo Daime churches in the US that do). The plants that ayahuasca can be prepared from are themselves legal in the USA, but once combined to produce ayahuasca they become illegal. If you reside in a country where ayahuasca is illegal, it is suggested you refrain from producing or consuming ayahuasca. If you reside in a country where ayahuasca is legal, read this article on how to use ayahuasca before trying it yourself. The object of brewing various plant material in boiling water is to extract the active ingredients into water so they can be consumed orally (by drinking). The extraction process will last a few hours, and it requires monitoring and stirring. If you have to stop, you can put whatever you were working on in the fridge until you are ready to resume. To start, it is very important to dry and grind whatever ingredients you have chosen into material as fine as possible. A blender, coffee grinder, or something that will do a similar job can be used. If you haven't chosen your ingredients, see this. Do not reduce any plant material to powder until you are ready to make ayahuasca. Doing so will probably speed the breakdown of active ingredients, causing a reduction in potency. The water the ayahuasca ingredients are boiled in should be pure (distilled or reverse osmosis water is best). This is because minerals may limit the amount of DMT your body is able to absorb. Water with a pH of between 4.0 and 5.0 is best. Most people add some type of acid (like lemon juice) to lower the pH of the water When ready add the plant material into the pH adjusted water and to boil for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Do this in a stainless steel pot (ayahuasca will stain materials other than stainless steel) and boil gently. Add pH adjusted water as needed to keep the liquid from boiling off completely. After 1-2 hours you should strain the plant material through a cheesecloth, panty hose, strainer, or something else that will separate the plant material from the water. Save the water in another container and repeat boiling the plant material (that was strained out of the previous boiling) in pH adjusted water. Continue this process until the water does not change color when the plant material is boiled. Throw away the plant material when it no longer changes the color of the water Then mix all of your boilings and gently boil them down to a quantity you can drink. As you boil the mixture, water will evaporate and leave a more potent concentration of ingredients. The taste is very bad (to many people) so try to boil it down to an amount you can drink in one shot. Preparation Notes --- If you are using Peganum harmala (syrian rue) seeds as an MAOI in your ayahuasca preparation, you can grind them up and put them it into empty gelatin capsules (rather than boiling them in water) and taking the capsules with a glass of water. Ingest the capsules 20-60 minutes before you drink the DMT part of the ayahuasca. You only need to ingest 3-5 grams of Peganum harmala seeds if they are taken in capsules (regardless of how much Peganum harmala seed you recipe instructed you to boil). --- Ayahuasca can be frozen in a dark, plastic, air tight container if it has to be stored for any period of time. You should be able to store it for a month (or a bit longer) under the proper conditions. --- Do not eat for 12-24 hours prior to ayahuasca ingestion. Drink water only. This will increase the amount of active compounds your body absorbs and reduce the chance of vomiting. --- The water the ayahuasca ingredients are boiled in should be between 4.0 and 5.0 pH. If you want to ensure the pH is within the ideal range, get a pH meter or test kit. Some liquid pH meters and test kits might not measure down to 4.0 pH or lower, so use a pH meter or pH test kit that can show readings in the 3.0 to 6.0 pH range. A pH meter is usually more accurate but for most people a pH test kit is probably better, because kits are cheaper (under $20). Do not try to measure the pH of liquids with anything made for measuring the pH of soil. A pH test kit designed for measuring the pH of liquids can be found at hydroponic stores and aquarium supply stores. Hydroponic plant growers measure the pH of liquid nutrient solutions with them and aquarium owners measure the pH of water in freshwater, saltwater, and reef tanks with them. Lemon juice or ascorbic acid can lower the pH of water into the correct range. Ascorbic acid can be made by grinding up vitamin c pills. Making sure that the pH is between 4.0 and 5.0 will allow a maximum amount of alkaloids to be absorbed in the human body. copyright © www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/ Books Ayahuasca Visions Plants of the Gods Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca The Antipodes of the Mind Visionary Vine Other Related Titles |
