Ayahuasca in the Amazon Jungle

It starts with a gentle pressure between the eyes, an energy flow through the spine and some noisy sound. In half an hour your body melts away and you become an unique spirit what you actually are, and the journey begins! But each person describes it different and each person is different. There is no special formula and there is nothing special you can prepare yourself to. It's death, rebirth and love all in one. It's the mother of all psychedelic experiences and it is all for you, for the individual soul having a conversation with mother Ayahuasca and with itself.

I took a journey into the Amazon jungle, one hour with the boat form Iquitos and one hour of walking on a muddy path. I went alone and only by the description of a guy on the telephone. 

The path.. :)

I came to a nice little village where Don Lucho, the shaman of the village organized a nice hospitality with a nice energy and where all the people and the animals are friends. It's a perfect place to relax and think. :) 

That little fellow was eating from my plate.. :)

If you don't believe here's a video. :)

Actually we all where living together and eating form the same place. There where people, parrots, cows, dogs, cats, some birds, some butterflies, chicken, ducks and more.  

My shaman, curandero Don Lucho was guiding my through all the experiences I had and all the ceremonies. There are many different kinds of shamans. An ayahuasquero knows how to cook the Ayahuasca brew and to sing the sacred icaros, magical songs that keep the bad spirits away at the ceremony and that guide you. But as people described to me, curanderos are those who can heal also and those you have to find. There are also many other differences but I wont describe them now. 

The icaros are sacred songs and Don Lucho sings them in a way you really get lost and "travel". There is a glimpse of his singing. All of the icaros tell a story and relate to nature or the soul or spirits. Listen to it here..

This was our bathroom.

Here we cooked.

This is the "bird size" magical butterfly that came everyday.

This is chakruna (plant with blue flowers) which is also added to the Ayahuasca brew but is not unavoidable. Actually the brew contains more plants and is cooked 24 hours till all the water in a big barrel evaporates and one litter of the sacred brew is left. Now what is the science telling us about all plants used.
The brew contains the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and Psychotria viridis or Diplopterys cabrerana leaves. The vine contains harmine and harmaline which are MAO-A inhibitors, and tetrahydroharmine which is a weak serotonin uptake inhibitor. The leaves contain dimethyltryptamine (DMT), the strongest hallucinogenic known to man.

This is Ayahuasca, the sacred vine and the leaves.

The shaman sits on a chair and sings the icaros and makes percusion rattle sounds with the leaves you see on this picture.

In the central tent after the sun sets the ceremony begins. Everybody chills out and after we drink the brew everybody lies down on the beds and relaxes. I was the only one who did it the first time. Everybody did it for at least 100 times (this is an actual number and a fact). After half an hour Don Lucho starts singing and the journey begins. I was glad and had the privilege to do it with Mexican shamans who visited Don Lucho. People describe the trip with having visions, having extreme fear, extreme happiness, experiencing past events, death and resurrection, reviving death relatives and stuff. You can literally experience everything and you are able to guide your trip as well. So prepare yourself and ask some questions. For me it was a pleasurable and nice warm experience where I travelled to discover my first writing in my "hard disc" and a lot of visions which are not to be described here. To me nothing scary happened. Actually I had the feeling like I did it before and my spirit just went with it. It's powerful and only for people who are set and who are open in my opinion. You can not move much for at least 4 hours only a bit if you need to puke or to go to the toilet. Puking and having diarrhea is normal. I didn't puke but I had diarrhea the first time in the night when everything stopped. But I did a strong "La Dieta". Ouh, yes, you have to do a diet for at least three days without sex, meat, alcohol, spices, salt and sugar. :) So, don't be afraid, prepare yourself, and as the Mexican shaman woman said to me: "Enjoy the ride!" :) And remember, everything you experience is important and you need to discover what it means.. :)

Some pictures of vision of other people..

Everyday I went into the mighty jungle for some walks. It's a harsh environment and you need to be on the guard all the time. :) The trees have spines and sometimes they are full with spiny larvae of butterflies.

But there was a special little place I found. A woman, not shaman, but with the knowledge of jungle plants and others preparing paint and tinctures and with one of the most honest smiles ever. She showed my her garden of plants, we ate fruits and she invited me to her house. She actually said her element is the butterfly, the big blue one, and he said to her I would come.

Her plants for red paint and fruits..

And these are some of her paintings.