On the one hand - it is illegal; and not only in Poland. On the other - anthropologists analyze its influence on Indian traditions, and doctors experimentally treat addiction, Alzheimer's and depression, among others, with it. Finally, on the third hand - it is adored by artists and hippies. Ayahuasca (also: ayalaska, ahawaska) is a decoction that is a mixture of two plants, whose hallucinogenic effects of use have raised concerns and curiosity for hundreds of years.
It is just as often referred to as a "soul climber" as it is as a "little death." Ayahuasca is a psychedelic drug that, although illegal in Poland, many famous people, such as Kasia Kowalska, Jim Carrey and Sting, admit to trying it. What effects can be expected from its use and for whom it is dangerous - these and other questions about ayahuasca are answered in the following compendium.
Ayahuasca - table of contents:
1. What is ayahuasca (ayalaska)?
2. Effects of ayahuasca (ayalaska)
3. Ayahuasca - where is it legal?
4. Art and ayahuasca (ayalaska)
5. Scientists about ayahuasca (ajawasca)
6. Ayahuasca (Ayalaska) ceremony
7. Ayahuasca - risks
What is ayahuasca (ayalaska)
In fact, we all know it - at least from books and movies. The rituals performed by the Indians involving chanting, dancing, summoning spirits and drinking special vapor... yes, that very vapor is ayahuasca, and we could see a variation on the shamanic ceremony that accompanies its drinking, if only in "Born Killers."
The name ayahuasca was created by combining two words of the Quechua language: aya ('body, soul') and whaska ('rope, liana, vine'). Ayahuasca is a thick decoction with a bitter taste, which is taken mainly to induce psychedelic visions. It is prepared from two Amazonian plants, cooked together: twisted vines Banisteriopsis caapi and shiny leaves Psychotria Viridis (also known as chacruna). Occasionally, instead of the second of these plants, another plant is used for cooking containing DMT, namely Diplopterys cabrerana (also known as chaliponga).
Ayahuasca was known to the Indian population in the era before the conquest of the continents by the conquistadors; for hundreds of years they have used it both in ritual ceremonies (birthdays, initiations) and as an infusion to enhance performance, concentration and cleanse the body of toxins. In the Amazon basin, ayahuasca is called a "powerful medicine," and dozens of communities living in the rainforests of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil still boil it.
Effects of ayahuasca (ayalaska)
After drinking ayahuasca there is a strong intoxication, similar to the effect of LSD use, which brings a drug-induced trance that lasts 4 to 6 hours, bringing hallucinations. There may be a sensation of having extrasensory perception; telepathy, clairvoyance, contact with the spirits of the dead or coexistence with the soul of the world. There is often a sense of a separate soul from the body, and visual hallucinations in the form of multicolored, geometric shapes.
"...The psychoactive effects produced by ayahuasca... appear thirty, maximum forty-five minutes after taking it and are usually accompanied by nausea. Sounds begin to echo, distances between objects become distorted, and body temperature fluctuates rapidly. Complex geometric patterns often appear in front of open or closed eyes. Many people recall memories of the distant past, and some simply fall asleep... In the initial phase of the activity, people often feel fear, but a little later they usually experience a deep calm, which usually leads to euphoria, and an overwhelming sense of self-realization and happiness...."
Benny Shanon - "A. Cognitive-Psyhological Study of Ayahuacka," 1997
In addition to the psychedelic effects, drinking ayahuasca is also accompanied by a whole pool of purely physical effects, especially nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, which are presented in the ceremony as cleansing activities for the body, which gets rid of toxins in a way thanks to ayahuasca. At the same time, the effects of alkaloids on the brain can cause various types of anxiety and psychosis, which can manifest themselves especially in people with psychiatric problems; we write more about this at the end of the compendium, under ayahuasca - risks.
Ayahuasca - Where is it legal?
Banisteriopsis caapi contains psychoactive components, such as the β-carboline alkaloids tetrahydroharmine (THH), harmine and harmaline. It is these, taken in larger doses, that have hallucinogenic effects. Psychotria viridis contains another psychoactive ingredient - N,N- dimethyltryptamine (DMT). These ingredients are listed as illegal substances in Poland. In most countries of the world, possession of these plants is prohibited; in Brazil, they are allowed conditionally, for religious consumption. It is interesting to note that dimethyltryptamine has been detected in its natural form in people suffering from schizophrenia; it is probably responsible for their abnormal perception of reality.
So where is ayahuasca legal? It's not that simple, because a distinction must be made between consuming ayahuasca for ceremonial purposes and trading in the decoction itself or its ingredients. Today it is legally used in the ceremonies of several religious communities operating mainly in Latin American countries. In the Czech Republic, the ayahuasca church Santo Daime is legal, but on the other hand, DMT is a banned psychoactive substance in our southern neighbors, and a court in Ostrava in early 2022 convicted a Polish couple of trafficking ayahuaca.
In Poland, the use of ayahuasca is allowed only for scientific purposes. In case of offers that break the law, one usually does not buy the decoction itself, but an ayahuasca ceremony, the cost of which is several hundred zlotys per person.
Art and ayahuasca (ayalaska)
This thread about ayahuasca is quite spectacular. Many popular artists from many different fields of art admit to taking it: music, painting, cinema, literature... It has influenced the creation of well-known songs, novels and films, and has also had a considerable impact on social change as a specific often used in hippie and squatter subcultures. Among those who admit to drinking Ayahuasca are Sting, Courtney Lowe, Jim Carrey or in Polish circles e.g. Kasia Kowalska or Ilona Felicjańska.
Sting, in his biography "Broken Music," compared drinking ayahuasca to "learning about the world on a molecular level," in which he could feel each blade of grass individually, Tori Amos talked to flowers after it, and Jim Carrey started painting pictures under its influence. The aforementioned Kasia Kowalska said she used it while working on her album "Aya," while Wojciech Cejrowski spoke negatively about drinking ayahuasca.
Scientists about ayahuasca (ajawasca)
The aforementioned psychoactive components of the plants used to prepare ayahuasca, taken in small doses, show antidepressant effects. Ben Sessa, in his book "Psychedelic Renaissance," mentions the therapies carried out with its help, signaling that this is a vast subject worth devoting a separate publication to. At the same time, he points to a number of studies and sources touching on the topic of the healthful use of ayahuasca, including the works of Ralph Metzner, Luis Eduardo Luna and Joel Porfirio, which deal with medical analyses of the treatment of severe addictions with controlled, medical doses of ayahuasca.
"...Participants in the retreat in British Columbia were subjected to psychotherapy based on psychosomatic techniques for four days, accompanied by two ayahuasca ceremonies led by specialists.
This combination of Western psychotherapeutic techniques and South American shamanic healing rituals produced such a result that participating individuals reduced their use of cannabis, alcohol and tobacco, and significantly reduced their use of cocaine. In addition, they observed an increase in optimism, a sense of power and attentiveness..."
Ben Sessa - "Psychedelic Renaissance", p. 410, Okultura Publishing House, Warsaw 2019
Ayahuasca is being touted as an experimental drug in therapies related to alleviating conditions of traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), led by neuroscientist Jessica L. Nielson of the University of Minessota, symptoms of depression and grief in a study led by Dr. Laura Williams, head of the psychiatric unit at Texas Children's Chospital or Flávia L. Osório from the University of St. Paolo or neuroboliogical conditions such as autism and Alzheimer's - research into their treatment with ayahuasca is being conducted by Dr. Jordi Riba of the Drug Research Center at St. Paul's Hospital in Barcelona. He has hypothesized that "...DMT present in ayahuasca temporarily binds to 5-HT receptors in the brain and increases the release of serotonin, the neurotransmitter responsible for regulating mood...." he also discovered that: "...The alkaloids in ayahuasca cause neurogenesis (i.e. the process of creating new brain cells) in the hippocampus..." - The results of his research on the medical use of ayahuasca were published in 2017 in the journal Scientific Reports vol. 7.
Ayahuasca (Ayalaska) ceremony
The purpose of the ayahuasca (ayalasca) ceremony is to enter a trance and connect with the spirits through visions. So much for the theory. In practice, like all psychoactive drugs, ayahuasca stimulates the mind, and how it reacts to this stimulation depends largely on the circumstances of its ingestion. That's why the ceremony of its consumption is so important, to put those consuming ayahuasca in a good mood and reduce the risk of bad trip. And since the recipe for creating this brew comes from an ethnic South American population, it's no surprise that those conducting the ceremony are called ayahuasqueros (i.e., Ayahasca shamans.
First of all, before taking ayahuasca, a preparatory diet is necessary, which includes abstaining from alcohol, sex and many foods. The ceremony itself begins with crushing the plants in a mortar, which are then boiled in a cauldron of water until a thick, dark decoction is formed - this is the ayahuaca. In ritual ceremonies conducted by Indian tribes of the Amazon region, they chant during the ceremony icaros, or shamanic, healing songs. In North American cities, the role of the shaman is often played by Indians from the Shipibo or Quechua peoples, usually who are curanderos, local healers; in the reality of Europe, they are most often simply people with access to ayahuasca.
Ayahuasca - risks
Although one of the names the indigenous Indians gave to ayahuasca (ayalaska) was "little death," the name was not taken literally by them, but indicated the connection between the living world and the hereafter that was formed as part of the ritual. Proponents of ayahuasca signal that it is safe and not addictive, but some doctors assess it as an afterburner that can lead to health problems. Opinions on the subject are extremely divided. On the one hand, as we have already mentioned, some doctors point to the positive aspects of its use in therapies for addiction, PTSD, eating disorders or depression....
"...The Takiwasi Center in Peru has been treating addicts with ayahuasca for years. MAPS is currently conducting an evaluation of this method..."
Ben Sessa - "Psychedelic Renaissance", p. 410, Okultura Publishing House, Warsaw 2019
On the other hand, it is classified as a drug, and there are also negative stories, especially regarding reactions after taking it. There are reports of mental deterioration in those suffering from depression and reports of sexual abuse suffered by those under the influence of the specific. There are also - sporadic - reports of deaths of people under the influence of ayahuasca, especially when it activates in the body burdened with chronic diseases, such as diabetes; however, there has been no such case in Poland to date.
Regardless of the awareness of the fact that it is an illegal drug in Poland, it should also be remembered that by many medics it is evaluated as an afterburner, which very strongly changes the rules of functioning of both mind and body. There are unequivocally indicated groups of people who should not take ayahuasca, and these are primarily people suffering from schizophrenia, split ego and other strong mental illnesses. Ayahuasca is definitely not recommended for use also by pregnant women, people after heart attacks, with hypertension, hyperthyroidism, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and neurological problems. It should also not be combined with medications (especially antidepressants, Parkinson's disease drugs, weight loss supplements, psychiatric and cough medicines), including painkillers, energy drinks, alcohol and antibiotics.
Jim Carrey on the use of psychedelics: