Banisteriopsis caapi / Ayahuasca / Malpighiaceae (Malpighia family)
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Other Names
Ayahuasca, Caapi, Yage, Yaje, Natem, Datem, Pinde, Dapa, Vine of the Soul, Vine of the Dead, Spirit of the Dead, Spirit Vine.
Description
The Ayahuasca brew is considered by the Amazon's tribes as one of the masters "teacher plants". It has been used by shamans of the Peruvian Andes and Amazon jungle for centuries as an essential part of their traditional medicine, their cultural identity, and as a way of expanding consciousness. In Quechua, the term "Aya" means "Spirit" or "Soul", while "Huasca" means "rope" (the soul's rope). Banisteriopsis caapi is a vine, connecting the earth with the heavens. The plant and the usage has first been described by the botanist Richard Spruce who came across it in the Amazon in 1851 and 1853. The working-mechanisms of Ayahuasca, however, have been unclear until the 1980's.
Contents
Telepathine was originally thought to be the active chemical constituent of Banisteriopsis caapi. This isolated chemical was so named because of the reported effects of Ayahuasca among the indigenous users, including: collective contact with and/or visions of jaguars, snakes, and jeweled birds, and ancestral spirits; the ability to see future events; and as the name suggests, telepathic communication among tribal members. It was assumed to be a newly discovered chemical at the time, however, it was soon realized that Telepathine was already more widely known as "harmine" from its previous discovery in Peganum harmala (Syrian Rue).
Constituents:
Harmine: 7-methoxy,1-methyl-bC, Harmaline: 3,4-dihydroharmine, Harmine-N-oxide, Harmine acid: methylester: Methyl-7-methoxy-b-carboline-1-carboxylate, Harmilinic acid: 7-methoxy-3,4-dihydro-b-carboline1-carboxylic acid
Harmanamide: 1-carbamoyl-7-methoxy-b-carboline, Acethylnorharnine: 1-acethyl-7-methoxy-b-carboline, Keto-tetrahydronorharmine: 7-methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-1-oxo-b-carboline.
Principal active biochemicals: the beta-carbolines harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine are present in the bark, stems, and trunk of B. caapi (B. inebrians), and other species of Banisteriopsis. Tetrahydroharmine occurs in greater concentration in B. caapi than in other plants bearing harmala alkaloids such as Peganum harmala (Syrian rue). This may account for the more profound and lasting effects produced by genuine Ayahuasca compared to "analogue" preparations.
Additional Remarks
When the Ayahuasca is used for healing purposes, the shaman is the person to take the drink, not the patient. Sometimes the patient has already tried conventional medicine. If that fails, they will turn to the shaman for treatment believing that the source of the illness may be magical. During this treatment the shaman will imbibe in the drink and translate the visions he sees while under the influence. He interprets these visions so he can discern what caused the illness and fight it symbolically. The shaman will sing to the patient about the fight and in the process is freeing him from the evil (Rivier and Lindgren 1972). This is not the only way the drinks are used medicinally. In some cultures, the shaman and the patient will ingest the drink (Bennett 1992).
Shamans, as the tribes medicinemen are sometimes called, take the Ayahuasca, Natem, or Pinde, which ever name their tribe uses, for religious and spiritual reasons and healing purposes. The shamans "drink hallucinogenic beverages to communicate with the spirit world, diagnose illnesses, determine guilt, and see the future" (Bennett 1992).
Historical
The use of Ayahuasca for visionary experiences appears to be primeval, to judge from the richness of associated mythology. Pre-Columbian rock drawings are similar to contemporary Ayahuasqueros paintings, which are said to represent Yage visions. (See page 127 of "Plants of the Gods" by Richard Evans Schultes and Albert Hofmann for a fine example of such a drawing on granite). However, the earliest known record of the practices associated with this botanical wasn't set down until the middle of the nineteenth century.
The author was Richard Spruce, a one time British schoolteacher, who was among the early explorers to make the perilous journey into the Amazon. Spruce almost died of dysentery and malaria but survived to become one of botany's greatest collectors. In 1851, while exploring the upper Rio Negro of the Brazilian Amazon, he observed the use of Yage. He came upon it twice in Peru in 1853. In his "Notes of a Botanist on the Amazon and Andes", he described its sources, its preparation and its effects upon himself. Unfortunately, Spruce's experience was characterized mainly by his getting sick.
Spruce's Notes didn't appear in print until 1908. Alfred Russel Wallace, who simultaneously with Darwin conceived the theory of evolution, edited them. Spruce suspected that additives were responsible for the psychoactivity of this beverage, although he noted that Banisteriopsis by itself was considered mentally active. The samples he sent to England for chemical analysis weren't located and assayed until more than a century later. They were still psychoactive when examined in 1966.
The first widely read description of Yage practices was published in 1858 by Manuel Villavicencio, an Ecuadorian geographer. The experience made him feel he was "flying" to most marvelous places. Describing how natives responded, he reported that natives using this drink were able to foresee and answer accurately in difficult cases, be it to reply opportunely to ambassadors from other tribes in a question of war; to decipher plans of the enemy through the medium of this magic drink and take proper steps for attack and defense; to ascertain, when a relative is sick, what sorcerer has put on the hex to carry out a friendly visit to other tribes to welcome foreign travelers or, at least to make sure of the love of their womenfolk.
Several early explorers of northwestern South America -Martius, Crevaux, Orton, Koch-Grunberg and others- also referred to Ayahuasca, Yage and Caapi. They all cited a forest liana but offered little detail. In the early twentieth century, it was learned that the use of Banisteriopsis vines for healing, initiatory and shamanic rites extended from Peru to Bolivia.
In 1923, a film of Indian Yage ceremonies was shown at the annual meeting of the American Pharmaceutical Association. Other noteworthy publications drawing attention to the effects of this drink came from Rusby and White, who observed Yage practices in Bolivia in 1922, from the Russians Varnoff and Jezepezuk, who did Colombian fieldwork in 1925-1926, and from Morton, who in 1931 published "Klug's southern Colombian notes about Banisteriopsis inebrians".
Untill the middle of the eighteenth century, the use of Ayahuasca was only known by the indigenous populations on the south-American continent. But around that time, the knowledge of Ayahuasca and it's use spread. Probably rubber-tappers, increasingly penetrated the dense jungle, learned about Ayahuasca. The use of Ayahuasca as an important folkmedicine appeared also in urbanised areas of the Amazon. This use has extensively been studied by Dobkin de Rios.
One of the persons who travelled the Amazon and came across Ayahuasca was Raimundo Irineu Serra. In an Ayahuasca vision, Irineu claims he was visited by a woman whom he called both "Our Lady of Conception" and the "Forest Queen". She told him to found a spiritual doctrine in which the drinking of Ayahuasca would be central to the ritualistic worship. The Forest Queen also gave the drink a new name, "Daime". The name in Portuguese means "give me," which has been interpreted to mean both a gift and a prayer to "give me love, give me light, and give me strength." His experience appeared to be a religious revelation, and he decided to found a new religion in Rio Branco in 1930: the "Santo Daime". Along with the ritual use of Ayahuasca, the doctrine of the Santo Daime includes worship of nature, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and other icons of the Christian faith. This combination of Christianity and nature religions is common in South America, and creates a unifying belief system where all can find comfort and healing.
More churches came into existence that combine a shamanic use of Ayahuasca with the Christian faith. Today, the "Uniao do Vegetal" is the largest church. Both the Santo Daime and the Uniao do Vegetal, using Ayahuasca as a sacrament, are official churches under the Brazilian law and can be found in most Brazilian cities. Especially the Santo Daime spread around the world.
Ayahuasca might be the last traditional hallucinogenic drug increasingly becomming popular in the west. Ayahuasca is a complex brew of which Banisteriopsis is only the most important ingredient. In the past decennia, more and more research has been done, and our understanding of this complex tea slowly becomes bigger.
Plant Description
Banisteriopsis caapi (Spruce ex Griseb.) Morton. Malpighiaceae, Pyramidotorea, Tribus Banisteriae. One hundred species of plants in tropical America. Three of these are known for their hallucinogenic effects in Ayahuasca. These three plants are B. inebriens, B. caapi (Schultes 1970) and B. quitensis (Schultes 1995). The best known of these three species and the main component of Ayahuasca is Banisteriopsis caapi. The geographical origin is not known because the plant is cultivated throughout the entire Amazonion region. The plant grows in Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Equador etc.
It is a shrub or extensive liana in tropical forests. Bark usually chocolate-brown, smooth. Leaves opposite, oval-shaped, green, marginally entire, 8-18 cm long, 3.5-8 cm wide, upper surface glaborous. Inflorescence axillary or terminal cymose panicles. Flowers 12-14 mm in diameter 2.5-3 mm long, 1.5 mm wide. Petals pink, 5-7 mm long, 4-5 mm wide. This liana is mainly propagated vegetatively because it rarely blossoms and sets seed. The fan-like shaped seeds are green when fresh, but turn brown with age.
Legal Remarks
Ayahuasca is not controlled by international conventions.
In the criminal procedure against the
Santo Daime churches in the Netherlands, the District Attorney delivered an official letter from Mr. Herbert Schaepe, Secretary of the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board. The letter answered some questions from the Dutch Ministry of Public Health about the use of a preparation called "Ayahuasca" by religious groups in the Netherlands.
The letter says: "The above-mentioned issue was consulted by the INCB Secretariat with the Scientific Section and the Legal Advisory Section of the United National International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP). It is our understanding that "Ayahuasca" is the common name for a liquid decoction prepared from plants indigenous to the Amazon basin of South America, essentially the stem bank of different species of a jungle vine (Banisteriopsis sp.) and the tryptamine-rich plant
Psychotria viridis. According to the scientific literature, Ayahuasca commonly contains a number of psychoactive alkaloids, including
N,N dimethyltryptamine which is a substance included in Schedule I of the
1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances.
The letter concludes with the statement: No plants (natural materials) containing
N,N dimethyltryptamine are at present controlled under the
1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Consequently, preparations (e.g. decoctions) made of these plants, including Ayahuasca are not under international control and, therefore, not subject to any of the articles of the 1971 Convention.
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Articles
Any information provided about products on this website, including any links to external websites,
is purely intended for historical, scientific and educational purposes and should never be
interpreted as a recommendation for a specific use of the products.
Ayahuasca Dreams
Ayahuasca Homepage
Banisteriopsis caapi - by Susan Emmert
Banisteriopsis caapi - Vine of the Soul - taken from "Plants of the gods, their sacred, healing and hallucinogenic powers"
France Control Ayahuasca Plants & Chemicals
Freedom of Religion versus the Psychotropic Substance Treaty - Court Case in Holland against the use of Ayahuasca
Harmaline
Harmine
Peganum harmala - TiHKAL Entry on Harmaline
Pharmahuasca, Anahuasca and Vinho da Jurema - Jonathan Ott
Santo Daime - Wikipedia
Telepathine
Tetrahydroharmine
Uniao do Vegetal
Uniao do Vegetal - Wikipedia
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