Ayahuasca this Way Comes

Meher Baba discoursing at Meherabad, India in 1935.

by Laurent Weichberger (June 2008)

Ayawhat?

A Google search for Ayahuasca (pronounced “ayah-wha-scah”) brings up over one million results. Ayahuasca is a vine (Banisteriopsis Caapi) native to the Amazon jungle, and is now widely known as the main ingredient in a psychoactive “tea” which is then swallowed by people seeking spiritual enlightenment.

A couple months ago, I was flying from Flagstaff to Kansas City for business when I looked in the overhead bin and saw a magazine to read – yay! It was the May 2008 issue of Men’s Journal, with a cover blurb of “Do Drugs, Save Your Marriage,” which looked puzzling. Upon reading the associated article within, about the writer’s visit to Peru for the specific purpose of eating Ayahuasca, I found myself in shock from his vivid descriptions of joining what he called a “drug camp” led by Peter Gorman, the former editor-in-chief of High Times.

Upon return home a few days later, rather perturbed, I wrote my first-ever letter to the editor. I couldn’t decide which was more troublesome, the idiotic cover wording “Do drugs, save your marriage…” or the article itself which showed that Ayahuasca had managed to seduce all types of people, including a 35-year old female yoga teacher, and a 19-year old petite female college student who “bled from one nostril” after using the substance. [1]

What disturbed me the most was that it confirmed my fear that we as an American culture (whatever that might be) seem to have learned nothing from the false promises and failures of LSD to deliver anything of real or lasting value. Our drive-through (immediate results) mentality is at least one reason that Ayahuasca seems appealing. Here we are again, only now the leaders are not hippies, or drug gurus promising “better living through chemistry,” but Peruvian “shamans” who will lead the curious to a near-death state (sometimes called “little-death”), and through a potential series of psychedelic hallucinations, to give you an experience.

Now Ayahuasca has come to the Southwestern states, including Arizona. Night parties or weekend retreats are being led here and in Sedona by people who are obviously not indigenous shamans.

Is this supposed to be the new spirituality imported from Peru?

Flashback to the 60s

In the 1960s, LSD was undoubtedly all the rage, a new drug with fantastic promises: a new path to enlightenment, a shortcut to the Truth.

Rick Chapman, who lived through that time both experimenting with psychedelic drugs as well as making a journey to India to meet his spiritual master Meher Baba in person, concluded from his own experience that the allure of consciousness-expansion through drugs was “hollow.” Mr. Chapman has worked since the 1960s to educate people about the true nature of the spiritual path and the dangers of even well-meaning experimentation with drugs for the purpose of “expanding” one’s consciousness, so I naturally contacted him as one who had first-hand experience of that amazing time period many have only heard of as the “Summer of Love.”

Concerning the new wave of interest in substances like Ayahuasca and Salvia, Mr. Chapman comments: “It’s not that the ‘sacred plant’ path has not had a role, but the Avatar of the Age has, for this time, stated that it is not helpful, but rather, very dangerous.

“While there may certainly be authentic shamans, healers and spirit guides in every culture, there is a continental divide between the ritual practices in such shamanistic cultures and the great majority of civilization, East and West, as it stands today. The assumption that one can pick esoteric practices out of the context and history of such cultures and use them positively in 21^st century America is painfully wrong-headed, as much so as trying to impose ‘modern life’ on traditional Indian cultures. Want spiritual insight and real progress? Follow the direction of the greatest Masters of spiritual history.”

Those who use Ayahuasca will swear it is not a drug, but rather a “spirit plant medicine,” which immediately creates a false dichotomy. Another major problem is confusion between experiences obtained through substances as opposed to spiritual experience. There is no difference between these substances and plant medicines from the point of view of toxicology. It is the active ingredient in the substance itself that is so physically dangerous, which is why they are intended to be used under the direct medical supervision of a qualified physician.

Honoring the Experience

Ayahuasca has been used by Peruvian shamans as a “medicine,” the taking of which should never be confused with spiritual progress. To explain how a shaman relates to medicine, one would have to delve deeply into anthropological discussion of these issues, but suffice it to say, a shaman intends to bring “healing” to an individual. Allan Cohen, Ph.D. is the Vice President and Founder of the Center for Advanced Planning and Evaluation, which delivers substance abuse prevention training. He wrote eloquently regarding these issues when we collaborated on a substance abuse awareness book: “(1) The drug experience is always temporary; (2) Even with the best of drug experiences, individuals gain only a distorted perception of the lower levels of the inner life; that is entirely different in nature from the experience of true spiritual advancement; and (3) Long-term non-medical drug involvement, leading inevitably to psychological imbalance or chemical dependency, is an unnecessary waste of vast human potential.” [2]

Kelly McCabe, head of the Temple of the Divine Mother, and a former monk of 15 years in the Ramakrishna Order, offered this perspective: “When the mind becomes still to some degree it is not unusual to have profound experiences such as visions or deep insights. My teachers say that to the extent these experiences have a lasting positive effect on our life they are real and useful. Sometimes, however, they are just interesting fluctuations of the mind that are of no real importance.

“The goal of spirituality has nothing to do with having exciting, far-out ‘experiences,’ but coming into close, intimate contact with our own true, infinitely beautiful self in the silence of our heart. The goal of spirituality is expanding our heart, expanding our conception of our ‘self’ to include the whole universe. My teachers emphasized that this is best accomplished in a gentle, natural way through regular practice of stilling the mind.

“In a genuine and sincere desire for real spiritual growth, it may be tempting to think that psychedelic drugs or extreme breathing exercises may provide a shortcut to spiritual experience. In this matter, as in most matters relating to spiritual life, I personally think that it is wise to look to the lives of genuine holy men and women who clearly are manifesting the sacred joy and love in their lives that we all seek. These are the people who really know and understand the ins and outs of the inner spiritual journey.

“In the opinion of all the great Hindu and Buddhist teachers I know of, drugs are totally unnecessary and can cause genuine harm. They can open up or break down doorways of perception that really should be kept closed until they open in the natural order of things. It is much, much healthier to let these experiences come in a natural organic way. Trust your higher self. You will know what you need to know when you need to know it ... What’s the big hurry? There is no hurry. Controlling the mind is a process that requires practice, moderation, gentleness with oneself and patience. There really is nothing but the present moment anyway!” [3]

Hearing his perspective helped me feel that the natural ways of achieving transformative inner experience will not be lost.

Warning the Community

There are now Ayahuasca groups forming all over, not just in South America. One rather unusual community actually created a new religion by mixing Ayahuasca with a type of South American Catholicism in the 1920s.

Adam, a friend of mine who is an acupuncturist and healer, was involved with this community in California, as he explained: “I was part of a Brazilian Church community called the Santo Daime [4], for roughly a two-year period. We would drink ‘Daime’ — which means ‘give me’ in Portuguese — in a ceremonial setting within a sacred context approximately every two weeks. This period of my spiritual life opened me up in ways that transformed my perception of the universe, the Earth, and myself. I received deep insights into the world of possibilities. But, I came to a point where I realized that I no longer needed the brew to experience deeper spiritual teachings, I found the tea inside me, and at that point I let it go.

“If I was to give someone advice about drinking this very powerful medicine I would say to them:  ‘Search your soul, ask yourself what are you looking for? Are you being called to drink this tea on a deep level?’

“… In my experience it is your relationship to the tea that is the most vital. It is my belief that spiritual life and growth as well as healing is completely personal, don’t let anyone tell you what the truth is or where to go to find it, find it for yourself.

“One word of caution, if you do decide to drink the tea, and I can’t stress this enough, make sure you find a shaman or healer who has integrity and experience. Do the research. Ask around. Above all, listen to your heart, and then be ready to die and accept whatever the tea has to offer.”

This is a powerful statement, and after hearing Adam share so passionately his experience, I asked myself: Are people so empty that this is the best way they know how to approach deeper experience?

Then last week I was introduced to a young woman named Deana Tatro who shared that she plans to open an Ayahuasca center in Peru. She self-identifies as an “Eternal Student of the Earth School” and she spent four months in 2007 in South America. She thinks of Ayahuasca as the “umbilical cord to the universe,” with a few stars in her eyes as she shares that borrowed phrase.

The "Tierra Vida" center she envisions will be “a healing, trauma release center. This is going to be a 40-minute boat ride from a tiny village called named Neuva de Luz where native Shapibo and people of Spanish descent currently live. This has the blessing of the people of Nueva de Luz as well as myself and my dear friend Jill.” Jill Levers has just returned from Peru last week, and I discussed this project with her at my downtown office the morning after she landed. She explained that construction on this center has begun, and Deana added, "we will have it ready for the fall 2008, both Jill and I will be down there."

I asked Deana, “How will your healing center use Ayahuasca?”

And her response was spontaneous: “We are going to let the Ayahuasca use us … [it] is going to do the work, and all you can do is go there with an open mind. In terms of logistics, only indigenous people who have been blessed by the plant herself will be performing these ceremonies. This is very important to us. As humans we have two choices: to heal or not. My preference is to heal.

“I was offered a wonderful invitation to work with Ayahuasca, and felt it was right for me. Under the conditions of a positive intent, open mind and where the plant lives and thrives under the direction of an indigenous healer, I feel Ayahuasca offered a new contour to my heart, and for that I am eternally grateful and at peace.”

While we were speaking at a coffee shop, a friend of hers walked by and told her he wants to try Ayahuasca. Deana says she is now moving on to Hawaii. When I hear of someone like sweet Deana (and her friend Jill) inspired to head to Peru to create a center of this nature, I wonder: Wow, where is all this heading, and what can I do to help raise awareness of this new phenomenon when there seems to be little in the way of qualifications at work in this practice?

Harmful Effects

As of this writing, Ayahuasca tea is classified as a Schedule I illegal substance by the Drug Enforcement Agency because it contains the drug Dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Ingesting this tea can be fatal. Some lose control of all their bodily functions, rolling in their own excrement, oblivious to their state for hours at a time, with possibly days of memory loss, and worse.

My research found a case of death linked to DMT (in Ayahuasca), this one in particular involving a 25-year old white male found dead the morning after consuming herbal extracts containing DMT. [5]

Many report feeling as if they are “about to die” while under the influence of this purgative substance, and almost always its toxic nature causes violent and prolonged vomiting. DMT causes intense psychotropic experience (including vivid hallucinations) for most people, although some have no change to their mental state at all. Further, “the drug also exerts marked autonomic effects elevating blood pressure, heart rate, and rectal temperature, and causes mydriasis.” [6] (extreme pupil dilation).

Shamans became trendy

To try to put this in perspective, let me say I believe we have on this planet a fresh tidal wave of spiritually-minded, yet misguided, brilliant youth (much like the 1960s), who are longing for real, deeper experience. In the absence of guidance, it is only natural that most have no gauge against which to judge the quick-fix provided by such seductive drugs as Ayahuasca and Salvia Divinorum.

Somewhere along the line, shamans became trendy. Tom Cowan is a well known self-proclaimed “shamanic practitioner specializing in Celtic visionary and healing techniques,” who writes, “The full shamanic experience occurs in a trancelike, non-ordinary state of consciousness ... and it appears to be a unique mode of awareness similar to, but significantly different from, other visionary states such as dreaming, hypnotism, uncontrollable hallucinations, out-of-body experiences, and near-death experiences.” [7]

My wife, Lilly, who works in the shamanic area as well, contributes, “There are true shamans of every culture. The use of plant spirit medicines, while part of some shamanic traditions, were generally used by a very few individuals, usually the shaman and or his apprentice who was dedicated to years of study, which included spiritual preparation for the experience and plenty of guidance and processing afterward.

“The first problem with the widespread use of Ayahuasca as a way of accessing altered states is that it seems for a large majority, it’s being handed out to people with little or no spiritual preparation.  The second and perhaps more concerning issue is that these substances open doorways to other realms that are not always easily closed again, allowing all sorts of energies, some of which might be quite unsettling, into the individual’s life, which can lead to mental disturbances and worse.

“A true shaman has the ability to shift states of consciousness at will. The states which they reach are accessible by very natural, non-hallucinogenic means, via use of drumming and trance work, etc. A shaman is someone whose calling is to keep the balance between the earth and human and spirit realms. It is a path of service, hard work, and dedication. There are no quick fixes, and the use of Ayahuasca as a short cut, over the long term, has the potential to become either a crutch or be psychically, spiritually and physically damaging.”

We recently met Madrone, leader of Goddesses of the Cinder Moon, when visiting her first monthly public Goddess circle in Flagstaff. She says about Ayahuasca: “This is the lazy approach to tapping into both the sensual and sentient relationship with the natural world around us. It is important to learn how to listen to nature and take that seriously, and when I say ‘nature,’ I am talking about both the physical and meta-physical.

“This is not a simple endeavor. It takes time and practice, hence the term — Wiccan practice. That’s why the word ‘practice’ is there. And by taking a drug, I think you cheat yourself from that remembering, that experiential knowledge. I have never been a part of any Neo-Pagan ritual that involves drugs of any kind. I have never been involved with anything like that and I have had some of the most transformative experiences during those rituals, and there were no drugs involved.”

What is desperately needed is real guidance that brings one closer to the truth of who-you-really-are. Ayahuasca can’t do that for you. As Meher Baba said, “One who knows the way, who is the way, cannot approve of the continued pursuance of a method that not only must prove fruitless but leads away from the path that leads to reality. No drug, whatever its great promise, can help one to attain the spiritual goal. There is no short-cut to the goal except through the grace of the Perfect Master, and drugs, LSD more than others, give only a semblance of ‘spiritual experience,’ a glimpse of a false reality. [8]

“… The experiences which drugs induce are as far removed from Reality as is a mirage from water. No matter how much you pursue the mirage you will never quench your thirst, and the search for Truth through drugs must end in disillusionment.” [9]

My goal in writing this article is to help the community to be aware of this new fad as it spreads across America, and to educate the reader to help make sure that no one dies (or is irreparably harmed) through the use of Ayahuasca. In the fourth round of a sweat lodge I attended last weekend, I was guided in relation to this writing. I honor the existence of genuine shamans, the Wildcats of the Way, wherever they may be found. I feel there is wisdom in learning from the suffering of others and their mistakes, such as the thousands who lost their minds or died from drug abuse in the 1960s. So many souls have come before us also seeking spiritual short-cuts and dazzling experiences in a genuine longing for the truth of Oneness. I give this guidance freely for the avoidance of unnecessary suffering, knowing that spiritual revelation comes in the right time to those who walk their path with persistence, and joy. Let us celebrate this wondrous natural world together, with love.

Laurent is the author of A Mirage Will Never Quench Your Thirst and can be reached here at Gaia.

For more information

Ayahuasca:

. The self proclaimed Ayahuasca home page

. Ayahuasca-Wasi Transpersonal Shamanism Research Project at http://www.ayahuasca-wasi.com/

. Wikipedia article on Ayahuasca at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca

Spiritual:

. Meher Spiritual Center at http://www.mehercenter.org/

. Sacred Rites, Temple of the Divine Mother, 4 N. San Francisco Street, 2nd Floor, Flagstaff (Sunday morning public worship).

. Franciscan Renewal Center in Scottsdale, AZ at http://www.thecasa.org/

. Goddesses of the Cinder Moon (meeting monthly) at email: goddess_madrone <at> yahoo <dot> com