Shamanism vs. Capitalism: The Politics of Ayahuasca

Wander long enough through the bustling passageways of any crowded village marketplace in the Northwest Amazon and you'll come upon herbalist stands with dried plants, hanging animal parts, and lots of bottled medicines. Among the local offerings you'll inevitably find "ayahuasca," a fearsome, foul-tasting, jungle brew sold by the liter.

Pronounced 'ah-yah-waska,' the word is from the Quechua language; it means "vine of the soul," "vine of the dead," or "the vision vine." Known by various names among 72 native ayahuasca-ingesting cultures in Peru, Columbia and Ecuador, this legendary, industrial-strength hallucinogen is used by curanderos, or witch doctors, to heal the sick and communicate with spirits. Many rainforest shamans simply refer to ayahuasca as el remedio, "the remedy."

Revered by indigenous people as a sacred medicine, a master cure for all diseases, it is without a doubt the most celebrated hallucinogenic plant concoction of the Amazon. But it is also under threat from both anti-narcotics agencies and corporations that want to patent it and corner the market on its use.

"Plant Teachers"

Long ago, South American Indian medicine men and medicine women became adept at manipulating an array of ingredients that were mixed and boiled into ayahuasca or "yage," as it is often called. An elaborate set of rituals governed every step of the process, from gathering leaves, roots, and bark to cooking and administering the intoxicant.

Ayahuasca is unique in that its powerful psychopharmacological effect is dependent on a synergistic combination of active alkaloids from at least two plants -- the banisteriopsis caapi vine containing the crucial harmala alkaloids, along with the leafy plant psychotria virdis or some other hallucinogenic admixture that contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT) alkaloids.

Most curious is the fact that when taken orally, DMT is metabolized and deactivated by a particular gastric enzyme. But certain chemicals in the yage vine counter the action of this stomach enzyme, thereby allowing the DMT to circulate through the bloodstream and into the brain, where it triggers intense visions and supernatural experiences.

Contemporary researchers marvel at what chemist J.C. Callaway describes as "one of the most sophisticated drug delivery systems in existence." Just how the Amazon Indians managed to figure out this amazing bit of synergistic alchemy is one of the many mysteries of yage.

The ayahuasqueros, the native healers who use yage, will tell you that their knowledge comes directly from "the plant teachers" themselves. Hallucinogenic botanicals are viewed as the embodiments of intelligent beings who only become visible in special states of consciousness and who function as spirit guides and sources of healing power and knowledge.

According to indigenous folklore, ayahuasca is the fount of all understanding, the ultimate medium that reveals the mythological origins of life. To drink yage, anthropologist Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff once wrote, is to return to the cosmic uterus, the primordial womb of existence, "where the individual 'sees' the tribal divinities, the creation of the universe and humanity, the first couple, the creation of the animals, and the establishment of the social order."

The Great Cleansing

Ayahuasca was never used casually or for recreational purposes in traditional societies. Only a ritually clean person who maintained a strict dietary regimen (low on spices, sugars and animal fat) for several weeks or months was deemed ready to partake of the experience. Shamanic initiation rites entailed a lengthy period of preparation, which included social isolation and sexual abstinence, before novices got to ingest yage with the curandero.

A connoisseur of the chemically-induced trance-state, the curandero provides guidance to those who wish to embark upon a "vision-quest." But rainforest shamans typically "resist the heroic mold into which current Western image-making would pour them," says anthropologist Michael Taussig. Instead, they often exude a bawdy vitality and a funny, unpretentious, down-to-earth manner.