Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca

272 Pages·2006·8.71 MB·English

by  Ralph Metzner

Sacred Vine ofspiritt:
A Y A H U A S CA
ALSO BY RALPH METZNER
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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
A Y A H U A S CA
EDITED BY
RALPH METZNER, PH.D.
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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.
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Text design and layout by Virginia Scott Bowman
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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
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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.
I n t r o d u c t i on
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