Ralph Metzner
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Sacred Vine ofspiritt: AYAHUASCA ALSO BY RALPH METZNER Green Psychology: Transforming Our Relationship to the Earth Sacred Mushroom of Visions: Teonanacatl (Editor) The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience The Well of Remembrance: Rediscovering the Earth Wisdom Myths of Northern Europe Opening to Inner Light: The Transformation of Human Nature and Consciousness Through the Gateway of the Heart: Accounts of Experiences with MDMA and Other Empathogenic Substances (Editor) Maps of Consciousness: I Ching, Tantra, Tarot, Alchemy, Astrology, Actualism The Ecstatic Adventure: Reports of Chemical Explorations of the Inner World The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead (with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert) Sacred Vine of Spirits AYAHUASCA EDITED BY RALPH METZNER, PH.D. JBMb*. rm in wssm Park Street Press Rochester, Vermont Park Street Press One Park Street Rochester, Vermont 05767 www.InnerTraditions.com Park Street Press is a division of Inner Traditions International Copyright © 1999, 2006 by Ralph Metzner Originally published in 1999 by Thunder's Mouth Press under the title Ayahuasca: Human Consciousness and the Spirits of Nature All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Sacred vine of spirits : ayahuasca / edited by Ralph Metzner. p. ; cm. Originally published: New York : Thunder's Mouth Press, ©1999, under the title Ayahuasca. Includes bibliographical references. Summary: "A compilation of writings on the chemical, biological, psychological, and experiential dimensions of Ayahuasca"—Provided by publisher. ISBN 1-59477-053-0 (pbk.) 1. Ayahuasca—Psychotropic effects. 2. Shamanism—Amazon River Region— Psychology. [DNLM: 1. Hallucinogens—therapeutic use—South America—Personal Narratives. 2. Banisteriopsis—South America—Personal Narratives. 3. Ethnopharmacology— South America—Personal Narratives. 4. Indians, South American—South America—Personal Narratives. 5. N,N-Dimethyltryptamine—therapeutic use—South America—Personal Narratives. 6. Phytotherapy—methods—South America—Personal Narratives. 7. Shamanism—South America—Personal Narratives. QV 77.7 S123 1999a] I. Metzner, Ralph. II. Ayahuasca. BF209.A93A93 2006 615.8'80985—dc22 2005027165 Printed and bound in the United States by Lake Book Manufacturing, Inc. 10 987654321 Text design and layout by Virginia Scott Bowman This book was typeset in Sabon, Gill Sans, and Agenda with Delphin, Avenir, Schneidler Initials, and Mason Alternate as the display typefaces To send correspondence to the author of this book, mail a first class letter to the author c/o Inner Traditions • Bear & Company, One Park Street, Rochester, VT 05767, and we will forward the communication. conTEnTs Introduction: Amazonian Vine of Visions 1 RALPH METZNER, PH.D. 1. Ayahuasca: An Ethnopharmacologic History 40 DENNIS J. MCKENNA, PH.D. 2. The Psychology of Ayahuasca 63 CHARLES S. GROB, M.D. 3. Phytochemistry and Neuropharmacology of Ayahuasca 94 J. C. CALLAWAY, PH.D. 4. The Experience of Ayahuasca: Teachings of the Amazonian Plant Spirits 117 Initiation into Ancient Lineage of Visionary Healers 118 RAOUL ADAMSON We Are Experiencing the Joyful Phenomenon of Re-creation 129 CRISTINA SANTOS Having So Recently Experienced My Death, It Felt Miraculous to Be Alive 135 STEFAN C. Breaking from the Bondage of the Mind 142 KATE S. A Vision of Sekhmet 146 GANESHA The Pieces of My Life Fell Together in a More Meaningful Pattern 155 AVA S. Knowledge Was Graciously Invoked in Me by the Plant Teacher 160 OREGON T. Here Began a Series of Teachings about the Nature of the Heart 165 JOSEPH S. A Vision of the Fabric That Is Woven by Us All 171 CAROLINE S. Ethereal Serpents Held Me in Thrall 174 SHYLOH RAVENSWOOD I Was Exploring Being with Greenness 178 PAMELA C. Liquid Plum'r for the Soul 181 I. M. LOVETREE The Plant Spirits Help Me to Heal Myself and Others 188 EUGENIA G. The Great Serpentine Dance of Life 193 RAIMUNDO D. A Most Palpably Buddhist-like Experience 196 RENATA S. Journey to the Emerald Forest 199 RICHARD N. The Long, Multifaceted Journey of Jewish Experience 206 ABRAHAM L. Teaching the Body Its Relationship to the Spirit 212 WAHTOLA H. Ancient Augury of My Resurrection 217 BARRY F. An Entirely New World of Spirit Beings 220 FRANK OWINGS Death and Rebirth in Santo Daime 225 MADALENA FONSECA Nature Has Embraced Me, Blown the Breath of Life into Me 229 STEFAN C. The Buddha, the Christ, and the Queen of the Jungle 237 GANESHA Agony and Rapture with Santo Daime 240 RAOUL ADAMSON 5. Conclusions, Reflections, and Speculations 247 RALPH METZNER, PH.D. Notes on Contributors 262 This volume is dedicated to the anonymous men and women, shamans and curanderas of the Amazon rain forest, who preserved and passed on the knowledge and practices of ayahuasca, vine of the spirits, for our benefit and ail sentient beings. Introduction AmAZonlAn ViriE 7 OF Visions RALPH METZNER, PH.D. Ayahuasca is an hallucinogenic Amazonian plant concoction that has been used by native Indian and mestizo shamans in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador for healing and divination for hundreds, perhaps thou- sands, of years. It is known by various names in the different tribes, including caapi, natema, mihi, and yage. The name ayahuasca is from Quechua, a South American Indian language: huasca means "vine" or "liana" and aya means "souls" or "dead people" or "spirits." Thus "vine of the dead," "vine of the souls," or "vine of the spirits" would all be appropriate English translations. It is however slightly mislead- ing as a name, since the vine Banisteriopsis caapi is only one of two essential ingredients in the hallucinogenic brew, the other one being the leafy plant Psychotria viridis, which contains the powerful psychoac- tive dimethyltryptamine (DMT). It is the DMT, derivatives of which are also present in various other natural hallucinogens, including the magic mushroom of Mexico, that provides visionary experiences and thus access to the realm of spirits and the souls of deceased ancestors. DMT is not orally active but is metabolized by the stomach enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO). Certain chemicals in the vine inhibit the action of MAO and are therefore referred to as MAO-inhibitors: their I 2 INTRODUCTION: AMAZONIAN VINE OF VISIONS 2 - presence in the brew makes the psychoactive principle available and allows it to circulate through the bloodstream into the brain, where it triggers the visionary access to otherworldly realms and beings. The details of this remarkably sophisticated indigenous psychoactive drug delivery system, and the history of its discovery by science, will be described and explored in this volume. As a plant drug or medicine, ayahuasca is one of a group of simi- lar substances that defy classification: they include psilocybin derived from the Aztec sacred mushroom teonanacatl, mescaline derived from the Mexican and North American peyote cactus, DMT and various chemical relatives derived from South American snuff powders known as epena or cohoba, the infamous LSD derived from the ergot fungus that grows on grains, ibogaine derived from the root of the African Tabernanthe iboga tree, and many others. As plant extracts or synthe- sized drugs, these substances have been the subject of a large variety of scientific research approaches over the past fifty years, particularly as to their potential applications in psychotherapy, in the expansion of consciousness for the enhancement of creativity, and as amplifi- ers of spiritual exploration. They have been called psychotomimetic ("madness mimicking"), psycholytic ("psyche loosening"), psychedelic ("mind manifesting"), hallucinogenic ("vision inducing"), and entheo- genic ("connecting to the sacred within"). The different terms reflect the widely differing attitudes and intentions, the varying set and setting with which these substances have been approached. We will be describ- ing the Western scientific psychological and psychiatric approaches to ayahuasca in this book also. The concepts of shaman and shamanism are not peculiar to South America; the terms themselves are derived from a Siberian language. In recent years they have come to be used for any practice of healing and divination that involves the purposive induction of an altered state of consciousness, called the "shamanic journey," in which the shaman enters into "nonordinary reality" and seeks knowledge and healing power from spirit beings in those worlds. The two most widespread shamanic techniques for entering into this altered state are rhythmic drumming, practiced more in the Northern Hemisphere (Asia, America, and Europe), and hallucinogenic plants or fungi, practiced more in INTRODUCTION: AMAZONIAN VINE OF VISIONS 3 - the tropics and particularly in Central and South America. Ayahuasca is widely recognized by anthropologists as being probably the most powerful and most widespread shamanic hallucinogen. In the tribal societies where these plants and plant preparations are used, they are regarded as embodiments of conscious intelligent beings that only become visible in special states of consciousness, and who can function as spiritual teachers and sources of healing power and knowledge. The plants are referred to as "medicines," a term that means more than a drug: something like a healing power or energy that