The making and effects of Ayahuasca,
Darryl Hawkinberry
ENG101 1PM
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive beverage that has been in consumption by humans for thousands of years. Human use of it has been recorded back to the people of the northern South America, but even before that animals have been using the ingredients behind this beverage for its hallucinogenic properties. The name for Ayahuasca is derived from two Quechua words (A South American Indian language): aya meaning ancestor, and huasca meaning vine, which is why it is often known as the vine of the dead. This may also be because, after drinking Ayahuasca, it tends to allow people to believe that they are communicating with their fallen ancestors. It is legal down in South America, where it is commonly used for religious reasons. However, its illegal in the USA unless the person drinking it is a member of a church that administers it. The parts of the plants made to produce Ayahuasca are legal to buy and sell, however once you produce them into Ayahuasca, they become illegal.
There are many ingredients behind Ayahuasca, but its formula is quite simple. The beverage requires a mix of two distinct plant vines or seeds. The reason that there are many ingredients behind it, yet it only requires two at a time, is because its not always prepared for the same reason. For example, Ayahuasca that is made to treat an illness might vary in ingredients from a concoction that is bred for recreational or spiritual purposes. The two main ingredients in the drug are plants that contain DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) mixed with a plant that contains MAOIs (Monoamine oxidase inhibitor). In order to feel the full effects, one must have both. In the beverage, DMT is hallucinogenic part. However, it is important to mix it with a MAOI, which is what allows the DMT to be effective when ingested orally. Otherwise, one would feel little effects.
To start the process of making Ayahuasca, you must first select an appropriate pair of plants. The most commonly chosen pair is the Ayahuasca vine (B. Caapi) mixed with Chacruna (P.Viridis). These are the two most commonly available ingredients and they do provide for a very vivid spiritual experience. These are sometimes available at local herb stores, but are usually ordered online. Using these two ingredients, the appropriate amount of each ingredient to use would be a ratio of 4 parts ground ayahuasca to 3 parts ground chacruna. To make enough for just one person, you would probably boil about just 8 grams of ayahuasca and 6 grams of chacruna. They must be finely ground, or the extraction process might be messed up. You could use a blender, coffee grinder, or anything similar to make sure that theyre ground up perfectly.
The next step is to boil the Ayahuasca ingredients into water. The water theyre boiled in should be pure, because the natural minerals found in water might inhibit the amount of DMT your body absorbs when you finally drink it. You might want to add a drop or two of lemon juice to adjust the pH in the water, otherwise the chemicals might not extract properly. You should let them boil for about 3 hours before straining them, which is usually through cheesecloth or something really fine. After that, separate the water it was in and put that aside. You should now put the ingredients in a new batch of water, and let them re-boil for a couple more hours. The purpose behind this is just to extract as much as possible. When youre finished with this, strain it again, and toss the plant material aside. Now, you must combine all of the extract, and continue to boil it down until you have a reasonable amount of liquid that you can drink.
Now, the last step would be to just drink the solution. Before drinking, one should be aware that the concoction has MAOI ingredients, which are prescribed nowadays as an anti-depressant and could cause complications with prescribed medication. The effects of Ayahuasca tend to last anywhere from 3-8 hours, with a similar high to psilocybin mushrooms. However, it tends to be a lot more intense and with a shorter duration. Some of the simple effects of it include time-dilation, and visual and audio hallucinations. However, most people have experiences that cant even be verbally described. In a study done from 1990-1995 at the University of New Mexico, it was found that many volunteers who were injected with DMT had experiences involving a perceived alien entity. The entities were described as being from an independent reality the subjects reported visiting while on DMT. According to psychiatrist Rick Strassman, Subjectively, the most interesting results were that high doses of DMT seemed to allow the consciousness of our volunteers to enter into non-corporeal, free-standing, independent realms of existence inhabited by beings of light who oftentimes were expecting the volunteers, and with whom the volunteers interacted.
Ayahuasca is considered a very religious drug, and has a very large spiritual following all around the world. There are Ayahuasca ceremonies commonly held around the world. Although they take place everywhere, including the United States, it is considered normal to tour to a more spiritually-active place. The most common of these being Peru, but there are also many other places in South America which are highly active. This is called Ayahuasca Tourism. These ceremonies are widely varied, although there are usually a few things commonly associated with them. They tend to take place in a ceremonial setting, such as out in the woods in the middle of night. There are shaman leaders who headline the events, called ayahuasquero. These are the ones who typically brew the ayahuasca and hand it out to the patients. The ceremonies usually last about 9 hours, and during this time the shaman leaders and their apprentices usually dance around the fire and sing. The singing serves a purpose, and it is to keep the people who are being administered ayahuasca more attached to the real world. People tend to drift off into a spiritual dream-state, and the singing helps to calm nerves and to keep people from getting too anxious about such hallucinations. There are usually requirements to attend these ceremonies, such as having fasted the day before and to have abstained from sex, alcohol, and other drugs. These rules are usually there to prevent anything from interfering with the trip. One common aspect of the ceremony is called the purge, which is a strong involuntary vomiting which occurs at some point during the ayahuasca trip. An example of how an ayahuasca ceremony differs from another would be how the ayahuasquero acts when a patient is purging. Some ceremonies might have the apprentices lift the patient above a fire during said purging, so that all the evil that is being rid from their body during this time may be burned away by the devil himself. Another example would be just let them vomit, and have the shaman leaders open up their mouth, and breathe new life into them after their purge.
One of the reasons behind why Ayahuasca is still considered so spiritual now-a-days and is receiving a large amount of recent attention is because the psychoactive compound (DMT) has been found to be naturally-occurring in the human body. Its produced primarily in the brain and has been believed to play a role in many parts of our lives. Recent research has connected the natural release of DMT in the body to the visual aspects of dreaming, and possibly even lucid dreaming. Its been extensively studied as the most likely reason behind the near-death experience phenomenon (NDE), whereas people who were close to death believe that theyve seen god or that their life actually flashed before their eyes.
That being said, I conclude that Ayahuasca is a very interesting beverage that has been in consumption for thousands of years and will probably continue despite its legality. Its effects are quite unique and deserve all of the active research that big Universities are currently putting into it. It would be a good explanation to a lot of naturally occurring unexplainable health conditions, like dreaming and NDE. Its also easily made and available for anyone wishing to expand their mind and help themselves develop a more religious or spiritual self.