DMT: The Spirit Molecule

[Nordic]

Seems like a decent place to put this article:

Mushroom Tea Murder: Man Removes Friend's Still-Beating Heart

http://deadspin.com/5549389/mushroom-te ... ting-heart

Wow, that certainly takes the cake for "worst trip I've ever heard of".

I'll sleep well tonight.

[Belligerent Savant]

Seems like a decent place to put this article:

Mushroom Tea Murder: Man Removes Friend's Still-Beating Heart

http://deadspin.com/5549389/mushroom-te ... ting-heart

Why would this thread be a 'decent place' to put such an article?

That article couldn't be farther from the essence of this thread.

[happenstance]

Yeah, I was putting it here because it struck me as a very clear example of the demonization of sacred drugs by the media. This man HAD to be on speed, crack, PCP, or had an array of mental problems. This is just not an effect of psilocybin.

[Belligerent Savant]

Yeah, I was putting it here because it struck me as a very clear example of the demonization of sacred drugs by the media. This man HAD to be on speed, crack, PCP, or had an array of mental problems. This is just not an effect of psilocybin.

Agreed - on both counts.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Yeah, I was putting it here because it struck me as a very clear example of the demonization of sacred drugs by the media. This man HAD to be on speed, crack, PCP, or had an array of mental problems. This is just not an effect of psilocybin.

Weren't the Aztecs into psilocibin?

[SonicG]

Aztecs and Psilocybin: Most definitely. Here's a good overview. It's been years since I read Wasson and I can't remember if he or anyone else has provided some way to reconcile the two- sacrifices and psilocybin use. Except for some who propose that the sacrifices were completed invented by the conquistadores.

From that article:

One of the most remarkable pieces of evidence testifying to the exalted role conferred upon the psilocybin mushroom by the Aztecs, is in the form of an early sixteenth century statue of the god Xochipilli or 'The Prince of Flowers'. The significance of this magnificent piece of art was first recognised by Wasson and thereafter the real message that it conveyed became glaringly apparent.

The statue represents a cross-legged male figure - the god Xochipilli - caught up in an ecstatic trance. There can be no mistake. The very essence of ecstasy has been captured in stone. The arms, legs, and base of this stone-carved ecstatic prince carry stylised engravings of flowers, and on each of the four sides of the base of the statue are carved mushroom motifs. These mushroom motifs also appear upon the subject so enraptured.

Until these carvings came under the attentive gaze of Wasson, they had never been botanically identified. Wasson realised that the stylised flowers were the key to deciphering the true meaning of the Aztec statue and, moreover, the very meaning of 'flowers' in classic Aztec literature. As soon as Wasson intimated the statue's full raison d'être, he immediately contacted noted ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes at Harvard's Botanical Museum, who was the obvious man to consult regarding botanical analysis of the motifs.

Schultes was subsequently confident enough to identify the carved 'flowers' as; Nicotiana tabacum - the common tobacco plant considered sacred by almost all native American cultures; Turbina corymbosa - a species of morning glory whose hallucinogenic seeds are known to have been employed by Mesoamerican cultures; and another identified as Heimia salicifolia - also a psychoactive species. Wasson noted that these species were representative of the Aztec's most revered plants, hence there were no depictions of less esteemed plants such as were employed by the Aztecs to make pulque or maize beer.

Wasson believed that previous ignorance of the statue's true nature reflected the aforementioned widespread failing of historians to acknowledge the important role that psilocybin mushrooms and other sacred flora played in Mesoamerican history. He writes:

"Our statue of Xochipilli serves us as a touchstone, as a cultural Rosetta Stone, bypassing the friars encumbered with their theological preconceptions, speaking to us directly with the voice of the pre-Conquest Aztecs."

It appears then, that the Spanish clergy were ultimately unsuccessful in silencing the claims made by their subdued and conquered subjects; messages in stone speak louder than words and provide rock-hard testimony to the Aztec's sacred links to the natural environment, with its varied potent botanical offspring. What exactly the Aztecs experienced through psilocybin remains debatable, although we can be sure that their psychedelic visions were vivid and convincing enough for them to regard the mushroom as being a link to the divine realm, no less than the appearance of God's flesh upon the Earth.

That statue was on the back of a 100-peso bill:



He is definitely in the clutches of a plant-induced ecstasy- Ithink there is something about the toes slightly curling upwards.
Personal note: I have a tattoo of the mushroom motif at the base of the statue.

[undead]

It's been years since I read Wasson and I can't remember if he or anyone else has provided some way to reconcile the two- sacrifices and psilocybin use.

There isn't much to be reconciled there. It's the same as MKUltra LSD experiments. Psychedelic means "mind manifesting". Evil minds manifest evil deeds. Some basic research into the higher Amazonian plant medicines shows that they may be used for violent and destructive ends as well as healing and positive ends. Also, Maria Sabina tells us in her autobiography that healers who are wise in the ways of the mushroom will sometimes sacrifice a baby chicken and use its life force to heal a patient.

The acknowledgment of the Mayan priests' use of psilocybin forces us to look a them as something beyond mere savages. Like the UFC fighter in the article, these fearsome characters show us that mushrooms are not for everybody. I'm not surprised that a UFC fighter ripped somebody's heart out while he was on mushrooms. That was just his mental program manifesting. He probably thought he was going to get high and have a fun afternoon.

We haven't really changed that much since the Mayan priests. Now when the evil priests rip out organs they save them to transplant into rich people instead of just eating them.

[justdrew]

DMT and the Pineal: Fact or Fiction?
by Jon Hanna
Jun 3 2010

A well-known factoid bandied about by psychedelic drug geeks is the idea that DMT, or some other psychoactive tryptamine, is produced by the pineal gland. When did this idea originate? And is it actually true?

During his talk "Psychoactive Drugs Throughout Human History" at a 1983 University of California at Santa Barbara conference, Andrew Weil mentioned in passing, "Dimethyltryptamine [...] is almost certainly made by the pineal gland in the brain." Meanwhile, at U.C. San Diego, Rick Strassman had begun to wonder whether or not the pineal might produce psychedelic compounds. That same year, in his booklet Eros and the Pineal: The Layman's Guide to Cerebral Solitaire, Albert Most claimed that: "A pair of naturally occurring pineal enzymes [...] is capable of converting serotonin into a number of potent hallucinogens." Most stated that the pineal could transform serotonin into 5-methoxy-N-methyltryptamine, and then make that into 5-methyoxy-N,N-dimethyltrptamine. Alas, no references were provided to support Most's description of pineal catabolism. Nevertheless, it seems likely that this general line of thinking--that some psychoactive tryptamine is created in the pineal--was birthed in the early 1980s.1

It took a couple of decades for the meme to spread into the wider drug-geek pop culture, more recently and rapidly due to the Internet, after the 2001 publication of Strassman's popular book DMT: The Spirit Molecule. Consider the following transcription from a radio rant [audio file online here] given circa 2005/2006 by the actor-comedian Joe Rogan, host of the TV show Fear Factor:

It's called dimethyltryptamine. It's produced by your pineal gland. It's actually a gland [...] that's in the center of your brain. It's the craziest drug ever. It's the most potent psychedelic known to man. Literally. But the craziest thing [about it is that] it's natural, and your brain produces it every night as you sleep. You know, when you sleep, during the time you're in heavy R.E.M. sleep, and right before human death, your brain pumps out heavy doses of dimethyltryptamine. Nobody knows what sleep is all about. Nobody knows why dreaming is important. But dreaming is hugely important. If you don't dream, you'll go fucking crazy and you'll die. While you're dreaming, while you're in heavy R.E.M. sleep, you are going through a psychedelic trip. And very few people know about this. But it's been documented.

There's a great book on it called DMT: The Spirit Molecule by a doctor named Dr. Rick Strassman. And he did all of these clinical studies at the University of New Mexico on it. And you take this shit, and literally you are transported into another fucking dimension. I don't mean like, you feel like you're in another dimension. I mean you're in another dimension. [...] There's fucking complex geometric patterns moving in synchronous order through the air all around you in three-dimensional space; and it's like they're arteries, except there's not blood pumping through them, there's fucking light--pulsating lights with no boundaries. And you couldn't really understand it. And there's an alien communicating with me. There's a dude who looks like, like sorta like a Thai Buddha, except he's made entirely of energy and there's no, there's no, like, outline to him--he's just one thing. And he's concentrating on me, and he's trying to tell me not to give in to astonishment. Just relax, and try to experience this. And I'm like, 'You gotta be fucking shittin' me.' And I'm a stand up comedian, you know. 'Cos as a stand up comedian, we pride ourselves in being able to describe things. So I'm like, 'How the FUCK am I gonna talk about this?!'

Rogan does an excellent job of expressing a number of bullet points from Strassman's book in a humorous manner. But the problem is that none of these points are known to be true. And although Strassman clearly states that his ideas about DMT and the pineal gland "are not proven"2, many people have accepted them as fact. As of June 2010, there is currently no scientific evidence that the pineal gland produces DMT, much less any evidence for the more far-out speculations that Strassman makes about DMT being a chemical modulator of the human soul. When Strassman examined the pineal glands from "about ten" human corpse brains, there was nary a trace of DMT to be found in them. This doesn't invalidate his theory, since DMT is metabolized quickly, and none of the corpse brains were fresh-frozen. Further tests on fresh-frozen brains could be done. Someday there may be evidence that DMT is produced in the pineal gland, but that day has not yet arrived.

By the end of his book, Strassman proposes that DMT may provide access to parallel universes (and alien beings) via superconductive quantum computing of the human brain at room temperature, or via interactions with dark matter. Strassman states: "Because I know so little about theoretical physics, there are fewer constraints reining me in regarding such speculations." And for those who know virtually nothing about any given topic, there appear to be no constraints on speculation. It is for exactly this reason that Strassman's theories have both been accepted as fact by many people, and then expanded into creative new directions. A few offshoot theories include the idea that ancient prophets produced more DMT, that electro-magnetic fields increase DMT production, that spending a couple of weeks in total darkness increases DMT production, and that fluoridated water suppresses DMT production. An Internet search will turn up a bounty of wacky spin-offs, all of which cite Strassman's speculations as the facts backing up their further claims.

Is DMT produced by the pineal gland? Maybe...

notes and links at source

never tried DMT myself, but anyone know how to order a Phantom Tollbooth?



"this is crazy, here I am riding along a road I've never seen, to a place I've never heard of"

[Luther Blissett]

A friend of mine sent me some DMT over Christmas break. Another of our mutual friends did his batch tonight and is posting about it. I've been preparing myself and am really excited to try it. Does anyone have any advice?

[Metric Pringle]

[background=][/background]

A friend of mine sent me some DMT over Christmas break. Another of our mutual friends did his batch tonight and is posting about it. I've been preparing myself and am really excited to try it. Does anyone have any advice?

Hi Luther,
I have had it once and it was absolutely incredible. For my first time, my friend prepared some of my favorite music, and prepared the pipe for me also. Have a sofa or mattress ready to lie down on, then once you have smoked it all just lie down, close your eyes and listen to the music. If neither of you have smoked it before, just read a little on Erowid Vaults I guess, lots of people's experiences are posted there, but I wouldn't bother. You just need to make sure you hold it in inhalation for as long as you can, little smoke will come out. You will need to do a few burns on it. One thing I won't do next time is to smoke it with weed. I don't smoke weed anymore as it sets my mind off badly, so once i came of the wonderful DMT trip, i was left completely stoned which I didn't like. If that's the case for you, use tabacco. Also, your tolerance will increase immediately. You have to space out the trips by an hour at least I think. I would also go all out on your first smoking of it if you have done hallucinogens before, don't do a "half" dose. Well, have a good one, it's quite an experience. As someone said once, can't remember who... If mushrooms are a bicycle, DMT is a ferrari. : )

Edit -

As for the music, some don't use any... so ask around I suppose, this was just my experience.

[undead]

A friend of mine sent me some DMT over Christmas break. Another of our mutual friends did his batch tonight and is posting about it. I've been preparing myself and am really excited to try it. Does anyone have any advice?

The advice that I give everyone with regards to DMT is to smoke it as far away from any kind of electrical infrastructure as possible. That you should be away from people and noise and disturbances that would distract you goes without saying, but electromagnetic radiation from appliances and lines fucks with your biological ability to experience higher states. I first realized this while reading Credo Mutwa, the Zulu medicine man who is friends with David Icke and is the person who revealed the Reptilian Anunaki/Chitauri meme, which is a part of his people's folklore. While reading his book Zulu Shaman, formerly published as The Song of the Stars, he talks about how modern electrical appliances such as computer screens, televisions, microwaves, etc. degrade the psychic abilities of humans which are electrical in nature. When I read this I realized that the most intense DMT experience I have ever had was when I smoked it camping in the woods miles away from any kind of civilization. All the other times I was indoors and the experience could not compare in the slightest.

That, and you should smoke all of your DMT at once and as fast as possible in order to get the most out of it,

DMT
HOW AND WHY TO GET OFF
a note from underground by Gracie and Zarkov

Number 3.

DMT, N,N-dimethyltryptamine is not orally active (by itself), and must be smoked to experience its effects. Tolerance for the drug builds almost immediately. If you don't get enough in the first 30 seconds, smoking more will not put you into the far out visionary DMT state, but will only result in a more "ordinary" hallucinogenic state. If on an attempt, you don't get enough, you must wait at least one hour before trying again (smoking multiple doses within the hour can result in you seeing the patterns but it is almost impossible to break through to the extreme states described below). Furthermore, the actual mechanics of smoking DMT can be quite tricky. In our experience, without careful attention to technique, about half the DMT shots misfire. Therefore, it is essential to use effective technique in order not to waste the drug. In this paper we offer three different tested techniques in an easy to follow step-by-step format; We have also included our description (however inadequate) of what a DMT trip is like.

We are well aware of how scarce a substance DMT is. We had to undertake a long, intensive search to secure a supply of this marvelous drug in the smokeable, freebase form. The search was well worth it! One of the reasons for writing this paper is, hopefully, to increase the demand for DMT. If this paper intrigues you, we suggest that the you seek out a supply of your own. Look for DMT in the smokeable freebase, not hydrochloride form. You will not be disappointed.

Getting Ready

1. We recommend a uniformly, though not brightly, lit room. Unlike with mushrooms, in total darkness the DMT visions are rather drab. In full sunlight the colors are unbelievably intense with red and gold predominating but we feel that bright sunlight tends to obscure some of the intricate detail so characteristic of DMT visions. We usually do it during the day in a room that is brightly lit with indirect light.

2. Get comfortably seated where you can lie back and rest your head during the trance. If you smoke DMT standing up, you will almost certainly fall on your ass if you get a good hit!

3. We recommend a dosage of about 40-50 mg. The dosage should be weighed out and not eyeballed. Dosages below 25 mg yield only physical and threshold psychedelic effects. Dosages between 25 mg and 40 mg are usually not enough to display the full range of the unique DMT effects described below. Dosages in excess of 55 mg, particularly if you are successful in holding all of the vapor in your lungs, can be VERY heavy and are not recommended for f irst time users.

Method One: The "Freebase" Method

4a. Obtain a "freebase" airpipe such as the one illustrated below. Use with the largest funnel type bowl you can find. Insert the largest fine mesh stainless steel screen that will fit into the bowl. Then sprinkle the DMT uniformly over the center of the mesh screen. Make sure to keep thE DMT away from the edges of the screen so that when it melts it does not run over the edge of the screen.

5a. Hold a match or torch above the screen and inhale deeply and slowly. Do not let the flame touch the DMT as this will destroy much of the drug. DMT melts and vaporizes easily so the point is to let the hot air rushing by the flame into the pipe vaporize the DMT. It is quite easy to vaporize the DMT and end up with the airchamber full of white DMT vapor.

Method Two: The Classic Psychedelic Ranger Method

4b. If you hanq out around a good glass blower or long time "head" you might be able to obtain a classic DMT pipe such as the one illustrated. Load the DMT into the glass reaction chamber and heat the outside bottom of the chamber with a flame.

5b. When the white vapor appears, breathe in deeply and slowly. If you inhale too soon or too quickly, the powdered DMT will be blown down your throat. It is not active that way. Make sure that all of the DMT is vaporized. In the absence of a classic DMT pipe, some people use a regular 'hash oil' pipe heated from the outside. We find this too tricky to be reliable. You are just as likely to end up with boiling liquid DMT in your mouth. (That's why the classic pipe has a "V" shaped stem.) We personally use the "freebase" method.

In either case...

6. The smoke is very harsh. It tastes like burning plastic. It isn't particularly hot, but you will have a tendency to cough. On each toke try to hold your breath for as long as possible. Exhale and immediately take a second toke. The physical effects, a buzzing or vibration throughout your whole body, come on first. The intensity of these effects is not a reliable guide to the dosage of DMT that you have consumed. Keep taking lungfuls and holding them until all of the premeasured DMT is consumed. Gracie suggests that the best way to smoke DMT is to try to smoke as much as you can before you inevitablly fall into a trance. While not recommended for beginners, it does capture the approach you should take towards smoking your premeasured dose.

One advantage of the "freebase" method is that the 50 mg of DMT can be divided into three toke sized piles. The smaller amount can be easily vaporized and inhaled in one breath with the screen being reloaded with DMT after each toke.

7. Just as you feel yourself "going over the top", exhale. Breathe normally, close your eyes and enjoy the visions.

Your companions should be instructed to take the pipe from you when you close your eyes because you will have poor motor control. Since you will be in a trance for 4-8 minutes, you should also have told them not to disturb you. To them you will look like you are asleep. This is not a social drug or one to be taken casually; you will be entranced.

8. When you come our of the trance, remain seated for about 10 more minutes as you will still have only shaky control of your limbs.

9. In 30 minutes from the time you started you will be pretty much down, but still euphoric. You will be completely down after a total of about one hour.

1O. We do not recommend that DMT be combined with other drugs. It should be done on a clean head. Marijuana fogs the effects. It is not a party drug: the effects are most entertaining experienced in a quiet room. When DMT is smoked at the peak of a mushroom or LSD trip, the effects are spectacular, but only recommended for the experienced, most brave (or some might say, most foolhardy) of investigators. The effects used at the peak of another psychedelic can last for several hours.

Notes on the Visual Stages of a DMT Trip
0—20 seconds : a scratchiness in the lungs

20—30 seconds : a buzzing starts in the ears, rising in tone and volume to an incredible intensity. Its like cellophane being ripped apart (or the fabric of the universe being torn asunder). Your body will vibrate in sympathy with this sound, and you will notice a sharp blood pressure rise. You may feel like you are deeply under water. Wearing a unitard or leotard and tights helps to minimize this sensation. Your visual field will also vibrate in resonance to the sound and will finally be completely obscured by the visions.

30 seconds—1 minute : You break through into DMT hyperspace. Often at this point, users believe that their hearts or breathing have stopped. This is not true. To an outside observer, you are breathing normally and your pulse, while elevated, is strong. We believe that this subjective effect is due to your "internal clock" being slowed so greatly that the subjective time interval between breaths or heartbeats seems like an eternity. Synthetic DMT has been extensively tested by medical authorities here and in Europe. It is perfectly safe with no lasting physical effects at these doses. However, since smoked DMT causes an abrupt blood pressure increase, it is probably not good for people with abnormally high blood pressure.

1 minute—2-5 minutes : depending on dosage: DMT hyperspace. For all practical purposes, you will no longer be embodied. You will be part of tne intergalactic information network. You may experience any of the following:

* Sense of transcending time or space
* Strange plants or plantlike forms
* The universe of formless vibration
* Strange machines
* Alien music
* Alien languages, understandable or not
* Intelligent entities in a variety of forms

Do not be amazed and do not try to actively direct your observations but merely pay attention. The beings can show you amazing things, but if you try to impose vour personal trip on the DMT you will find that you cannot and may become frightened.

At the end of the "flash" of the visions you will have an after-vision of circular interlocking patterns in exquisite colors. It has been described as looking at a vaulted ceiling or dome. If you did not "breakthrough" to the levels described above, this "chrysanthemum" pattern, as we call it, is all you will see. It is worth the trip, too.

You may begin to wonder how you will ever find your way back to your body. If you have taken enough DMT to fully "breakthrough", by the time you can even wonder about it, you are almost back. Trust in your own wetware; your psyche and your body will be reunited. Worrying will only prolong the process.

5—12 minutes : The visions have subsided. There are still patterns when you close your eyes, but with eyes open the world is back. At this point a flood of information may rush through your mind. The phase is fleeting. In order to preserve your DMT ideation, we recommend that you begin talking as soon as you come out of the visionary state. Don't try for complete sentences but get as many ideas out as you can while you can. Have a tape recorder running during the trip and you can review your thoughts at a later time.

15—30 minutes : The ideation flood subsides leaving you euphoric. You may still have a trace of the vibrations in your body.

30—60 minutes : The euphoria subsides.

60+ minutes : You are completely down.

Note: While we recommend above not to combine DMT with other hallucinogens, we have had excellent results using DMT as a "pre-dose" for LSD, MDMA, MDA, or mushrooms. The technique is to take the second hallucinogen orally just as you come out of the vision state. The resulting trip will be more profound and will help you to understand the strange and alien vistas which you were shown while on the DMT. (For more details, see our Note from underground no. 4.)
Method Three: The Tryptamine Giggles
If the description of the DMT effects sound too heavy for you, (we certainly don't deny that DMT can be a heavy trip) 25 mg of DMT can be mixed with some dope in a joint or in a pipe and smoked in a liesurely fashion. The giggley mood lift is quite pleasant. The occasional breaking through of abstract hallucinatory patterns can liven up an otherwise quite ordinary stoned-again evening. However, we would recommend that before you burn up all your DMT in this fashion that you at least try one high dose trip as described.

Finally, while there is no such thing as a 'typical' DMT experience, we have attached a note of ours (reprinted from High Frontiers, issue 2) to this paper which describes one of our DMT trips. The most accessible information on DMT is Peter Stafford's Psychedelics Encyclopedia. Terence McKenna, who offers, in our opinion, the most sophisticated analysis of the DMT experience, has two excellent cassette tapes which discuss the DMT state: Mind, Molecules and Magic. June 1984; and Tryptamine Hallucinogens and Consciousness, December 1982. They are available from Dolphin Tapes, P.O. Box 71, Big Sur, CA 93920 for $9.00 plus tax and $2.00 postage. (Note: this is dated, try SoundPhotosynthesis)
a hit of dmt 10/9/84 - zarkov
i loaded about 40-50 milligrams of dmt into a glass pipe on top of a small amount of damiana. even though i had been warned, i was still shocked at how harsh the first toke was. it tasted and smelled like burning plastic. i involuntarily exhaled. i immediately took a second toke. the heavy white smoke rushed up the pipe as harsh as before, but i was somewhat better prepared for the terrible taste and i was able to hold the smoke for a few seconds. i exhaled, took a third toke, and was able to hold this last lungful. suddenly i began to hear a loud, moderately high-pitched carrier wave. immediately, the room started vibrating in sympathy. the pattern on the wall hangings oscillated madly in time to the buzzing that overlaid the carrier wave's fundamental tone. simultaneously, a heavy, trembling feeling swept over my entire body as if i were being propelled at multiple g acceleration by some giant rocket engine. my visual field dissolved in the most amazing colors. i could not see the room over the intensity of the visual effects. the events of the preceding paragraph occurred in the space of a few short seconds.

closing my eyes, i got a glimpse of several entities moving in front of a giant complex control panel. the visions were not crystal clear and seemed as if i were viewing it through a scrim. the creatures were bipedal and of about human size. it was impossible to say more other than they did not move like the giant insect creatures i have seen clearly under the influence of stropharia mushrooms. there was a direct awareness of an overwhelmingly powerful and knowledgable presence! it was neither frightening, nor encouraging. it was just mentally there. a thought came, unbidden, into my head. i realized that i was viewing 'god central.' the central panel i saw was the control panel for the entire universe.

the vision was fleeting and dissolved into a vision of much greater clarity. a gaggle of elf-like creatures in standard issue irish elf costumes, complete with hats, looking like they had stepped out of a hallmark cards "happy saint patrick's day" display, were doing strange things with strange objects that seemed to be a weird hybrid between crystals and machines.

this vision was also fleeting, and it dissolved into a visual pattern unlike that experienced by me on any other psychedelic or combination of psychedelics. the visuals were interlocking sinusoidal patterns arranged in a japanese chrysanthemum pattern that filled my entire visual field. the pattern was ever-changing and the colors of the individual patterns changed independently of the underlyng pattern. the colors were intense and came in a magnificent variety of colors: metallics, monochromes, pastels, each flickering in and out of existence as if obeying some undetected ordering principle.

an idea came into my head that i was seeing the "true universe" or universe as it really exists. that is to say, i was seeing directly the vibrations of every particles in the universe that "i" was somehow in contact with. "i" was directly "seeing" the universe withough ordering it into an arbitrary reality tunnel—i.e., perceived "solid, objective reality." the visual pattern seemed to be a sort of n-dimensional lissajous curve formed by the intersection of "i" with the shock wave of space-time causality.

the carrier wave remained strong throughout the experience. while definitely the same type of phenomena as the carrier wave heard under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms, the dmt carrier wave was much louder than even the loud carrier wave heard under the influence of ten grams of very potent, dried stropharia mushrooms. also, by comparison to the mushroom experience, the carrier wave sounded as a "purer" tone—i.e., the sinusoidal component dominated the buzzng component. my throat was too sore from the harsh smoke and the control of my breathing was hindered by the intensity of the expereince, so i was unable to sing or even generate a solid tone, to attempt audio driving of the visuals.

the overwhelming sense of a presence did not disappear when the vision changed to visual patterns, but remained an almost palpable entity as lon as the visuals remained intense. i never felt the foreboding—let alone the direct challenges—i have felt under the influence of stropharia mushrooms whenever the feeling of contact with the presence has been strong. the presence was just there and very powerful. i felt that i had glimpsed Whitehead's god.

the period of intense visuals lasted about eight minutes. the side effects remained unpleasant, but easily ignorable. the dmt left me euphoric and very bemused for about an hour.

definitely far out and very impressive!

If you can't vaporize it, I don't suggest melting it onto cannabis because cannabis will make you cough and loose it. Instead, I suggest a mixture of herbs commonly called kinnikinnick by native Americans. This can include sage and most importantly mullein, which makes it very smooth and perfect as a medium for DMT smoking.

http://www.herbcraft.org/kinnikinnick.html

Besides all that, keep in mind that this is pretty much the most intense experience you will ever have besides near-death experiences or other extraordinary circumstances. A good way to describe DMT smoking to the uninitiated is having a near-death experience without the stress of possible death, because it is impossible to die from it. There is usually a tendency to feel like you are dying when you loose consciousness of your breath and it feels like you are not breathing, so it is important to keep in mind that everything will be fine and there is nothing to be afraid of. I think the best way to smoke it is with a dry bong hit, so you can take it all at once and hopefully you will be completely gone before you exhale.

Having a sitter is a good idea, since it is never a good idea to leave your body unattended in public, and you will notice when you smoke DMT that everywhere is public with many bystanders passing by. The sitter should be a loved one or person that you trust on the deepest level.

That's all I can think of. One last thing, it helps to have an idea of what will happen but after a point when it starts to take effect you can't expect anything or have any ideas about what should happen, because this will cause friction. You should really have an attitude of total surrender and basically be ready to die, so this should never be done when you have outstanding concerns or issues in the normal everyday world. Usually when I think about smoking DMT I think of it as ending my life and if I am not prepared to actually die at a given time I will not smoke DMT. That's just a thought.

Enjoy!

[stillrobertpaulsen]

This is a great thread! I wanted to relate two experiences - my own on salvia divinorum and my friend's experience on ayahuasca. My experience smoking salvia leaves was not as intense as some of the DMT experiences I've read about on this thread - no sound buzzing, no entities with alien languages. But it was extremely profound nonetheless. I was alone in my apartment sitting on my couch. I can't recall if I was playing music or not. But I initially recall the sensation of my environment closing in around me. Looking at the walls, they seemed to have a liquid quality. Gradually, the walls became my primary point of connection as I felt they were breathing. At some point, I began to feel a profound connection as being part of the wall, or to abbreviate a John Lennon lyric, "I am the wall!" This connection gave me a deeper emotional and spiritual empathy with the environment than I had ever experienced. Everything in the wall connected with the Earth, and I was just a small part of the living whole. At this point, I no longer feared death. When my body perishes, I will connect with the Earth on a different level. There may be separation from the previous state of being, but I now had experienced the comfort of consciousness: there may be different states of being, but all is connected. That was my personal discovery. And it only took about 10-15 minutes to achieve that.

My friend e-mailed his experience on ayahuasca, which was considerably longer and significantly more intense:

I´m going to get into the very heavy details of my Trip, so for those of you turned off--or merely bored--by tales of weird drugs, skip it. But it was profound to me, so I have to elaborate.
Here´s the fast lowdown on ayahuasca: it´ a brew whose chief component is a huge jungle vine , a woody creeper that grows to gigantic sizes in the Amazon Basins of Peru and Ecuador. This ayahuasqueros (men and women who take this as a spiritual sacramnent) are a cult older than mushroom cults of Mexico, and larger, and more complex, and far more powerful. This has been going on for centuries.
It is known for its colorful, sometimes terrifying hallucinations, as well as its ability to produce Visions of vast landscapes & strange cities & jungle beasts,tell your future, explain your past, allow you the power to fly, to be invisible, and go on voyages to the heart of the Milky Way and other worlds.
But mainly, it´s used as a curative, a panacea, with an ability to cure addiction, depression, sex hangups, relationships, etc. that has made it legendary. It´s not a drug, it´s Medicine.
And it´s administerted by a Curando, a witch doctor in the best sense.
The trick is finding the right one. Remember Laurent, the crazy Frenchmen, who wants to be a curando (and will be a great one...I can´t wait in a few years to have him guide me on a voyage)?
He´s been searching the Amazon for someone to apprentice under, and found one in Pucallpa. But he heard good things about a doctor who works out of Eco Amazonia. I was planning to go to Iquitos in my search, but he steered me away.
"Many ayahuasqueros are charlatans, especially in Inquitos. There are zese places like Blue Morpho, Loving Light, with gringos working under shamans. You sign up for a 10 day course of fasting, and 5 sessions. Ít is done in a safe environment deep in ze jungle. Zey all speak english, went to univerisity, have Masters degrees and zat sheet. But zey charge $2000, or more. For what...no food, no running water, no private rooms to get your head together. It is ze fucking commune. I ask zem, ´Why not work on a slidng scale? If you can afford $2000, you pay. If not, donate what you can.´ But financial success and the cover of National Geographic has made them foget the basics. Hamilton (the Californian who founded Blue Morpho) is a slapdish. He had ze right intentions, but became corrupt. Now, he is a fucking guru!"
What Laurent taught me is that is doesn´t have to be a a deep forest Indian who is a master of the ayahuasca medicine-- it is simply someone who knows how to prepare it.
"Zese men make their reputations on ze quality of their brew, ze chants, and ze cures. They are sought out all over Basin for their highly individual personalities.
"See, shamanasism in Peru is like alchemy in old Europe, in that it utilizes psychic involvement in matter, but European alchemy is stuck on metals and elements, while shamanism is centered on living matter...plants, where alkaloids and other biodynamic sheet connect to the human nervous and brain-stem system."
Lauent is the craziest fucking Frenchmen I´ll ever meet.
"Try zis man in Eco Amazonia. Report back."
So I was on a mission.

It was arranged by Rodolfo, the owner, for me to meet the shaman my second day there. On day one I fasted, eating only rice and juice. I went on a 12 km walk with the Canadians to Lost Lagoon´ that was good for my energy, as I hadn´t hiked since Machu Piccu. Jungle hikes bring out some serious sweats. I was covered in that repellent to keep away the mosquitos, which were legion.
Gary was actually on the fence about joining me in my session the next night. But he wasn´t sure he was ready to "face himself" so soon after his wife´s death. And once Christian was told you couldn´t drink as least the night before, he was out. He´s Canadian, love his beer.

Late that second afternoon, after a solo 2 km hike in the jungle (that scared me, all those sounds) I met the shaman. His name is Panduro Rumayna, or Maestro, or Medico Vegetalista. He was in his 40´s, with a round face and barrel chest, cropped black-gray hair, and a gold tooth. Nice smile, warm.
We met in the dining hall. Rodolfo acted as a translater. Panduro spoke little english but I was told that once a session begins, words are not neccessary....it´s all telepathic.
He wanted to know my drug experiences (plentiful), what I wish to find out ("My own interest is the vision state"), what my sign was (he´s also an Acuquarian, born one day after me on Feb.1...."a good omen," he said)
He also wanted to know why I was taking it alone, as he usually works in groups of 4 or more.
"I am alone, at present. And I´m not afraid."
He said I was a sound healthy person for ayahuasca.
(I was lying, I was very afraid.)
"I cure, that is my gift," he explained to me. "This is medicine, a restorative. You must be open to the messages of the plant. Visions often come later, after several sessions....the ´icing on the cake.´ I am there to give you directions, but you are driving."
"Are you taking it with me?" I asked him in spanish.
"Claro," he said.

So on the night of June 5, at 8pm, Maestro and I walked down a long stone path, past the bungalows, to the Ceremonial Hall, which rested in a small field on the outskirts of the lodge. It was a large, screened in, thatched hut surrounded by the deepest jungle, with no light around at all. It looked like small jungle church, or school (both, turns out). Inside was a wood floor, with a small alter, candles, mats, and down the hall, a basic toilet and shower (which I would need, turns out).

He lit a bunch of candles to give the Hall a peaceful, ambient glow and took out his brew from a white bag. It had been prepared fresh from the banisteriopsis caape plants that grow in the wet, swamp jungle near the lodge. It´s mixed almost half & half with with a strong catalyst, a leaf called chacaruna, the admixture with the vine´s DMT that produces the visions. You cant have a real brew without it.
The Brew was a thick, dark amber colored liquid, like rich coffee sludge. It was in a large water bottle. Smelled rotten.
He lit a large wood tobacco pipe and purified the room with smoke, then me by blowing smoke all over my body in rhythmic puffs. Then he poured the liquid into a small metal tea cup, blew tobacco smoke over the cup, whistling a sad tune through the smoke.
He passed the cup to me, told me to shoot it in one gulp. It didn´t taste awful, not great....like a very bitter, thick tea. Smelled worse than it tasted.
He took his portion, which was a bit more than mine. I asked him "un poquito mas, para me?" and he laughed. "Tarde, tarde, OK?"
He told me to lie down on the mat, eyes closed. Then, he did something I wasn´t expecting. He blew out the candles. I mean, lights out!
Pitch darkness in that place, and the sounds of the jungle all around.
He began singing and it brought me into the medicine´s water gently. I roved and scanned like a swimming fish as it came on pretty quicky, after about 10 minutes.
"This is not so bad," I said to myself, because it was familiar to LSD, or San Pedro...some spirals, mandelas, flickers of light outside the hall.
But then I got a sharp, almost painful tingling in myhands, like when your hand falls alseep. I held my hand up to the screen to see a blue circle of light inside my hand. I reached with other hand to see how it would feel, expecting flesh, but it was alive, like blue mercury liquid and quickly the blue disc retracted from my touch and spun away, incandescent in the dark, growing smaller, then fading into ceiling.
"Uh oh," I thought. "I´m in for it."

I shut my eyes tight, expecting Gow knows what, slowly drifting away but still thinking inside my body...until my body became totally fucking immobilized...paralyzed....passive wood. I couldn´ reach for my water 6 inches away.
My soul started rocking back and forth, and soon I had slid into an Eternal Journey in the dark. Basically, the whole fucking cosmos broke open before me, broke loose and untamed, and I entered the threshold of the most intense, strongest (and worst) psychedelic experinence I´ve ever had. Much stonger than any other psychedelic I´ve ever tried.
It´s supposed to trigger intense vomiting, but physically, I felt the come-in was rather smooth. Mentally, I was fucked.

I entered what I called The Great Being, because in in my Minds Eye I saw a small white hole, and through it I went.
My concentration was disturbed by mosquitos buzzing around and creatures scurrying about the hall floor, but eventually I just accepted their high pitched whine as part of the Jungle Music of crickets, frogs, birds, locusts, and the distant music coming from lodge bar.
I couldn´t move anyway, so I just lay still and allowed them to bite and buzz...."all part of the same universe," I convinced myself.
The images were very science fiction orientated at first...lots of buttons and levers I had to pull, machines I could see outside hall when I tried to lift my head.
"Ojos cerrado," the Maestro reminded me.
But it was ugly in my Mind, with a great snake of Eternity opening and closing its mouth in vast slow motion in the inner phantasmal recesses of this imagination-hallucinated state.

I didn´t so much feel I was confronting Death, but I saw Death, these annoying skull trances in my vision, and what looked like a devil worshipper.
I heard someone walking down the stone path and got very paranoid. At first I thought it wsa a snarling, savage cat outside thehall, but then I recognized the figure. "Its Phil!", I said aloud (my friend who died--I saw his face for a second). But the maestro said something in Spanish and he walked away--I guess it was a guest peeking in and I guess I was dreaming there for a second...or traveling.

All this time, the maestro was whistling these haunting tunes, called de los brassleros. Then he would sing, then chant, then blow tobacco smoke, then be silent. These songs and whistles continued for many hours.
This guy is a doctor, and knew when I needed singing, chanting, whistling, or the silence.
Occassionally he blew tobacco smoke in all corners of room, and on me and his face would light and look like it was melting.

The nights imagery was drifting, inconsistent as I sort of drifted through the Past...saw lots of faces (so many of you were with me) and places.
I had a long wordless dialogue with my gramma in the form of a letter that I saw myself writing in the air and sending, in which her death had (will) rededicated me to being serious. A major lesson I saw, that I felt I should live up to something for her.
The whole trip was extremely internal, unlike mushrooms, which is an encounter with an oraganized Other. This is serious self-exploration. Remember, I literally was not moving. My hands were folded across my chest on that mat for hours.

Also, Other Lessons came to me, like a stream of all my fuck-ups...I saw that I smoke too much, I pass up on too many good women because they´re not hot enough, I don´t call my parents enough, I take too many pills.
I mean, I aleady knew all this, but I SAW it in the form of little movies....hard to describe. But it´s all there, your life, like a TV show that keeps changing channels.

I have always wanted to have a psycheldelic experience in the environment of true sensory deprivation. After all the trips wandering around Dead shows or forests or cemetaries and parks....to lie in complete darkness and silence and watch the back nof your eyelids and see the mental phenomenon uncontaminated by by any outside sources of stimulation...can´t be dupicated.
It is to leave your body and journey into mental space, which is an area as large as outer space.
We want music, movies, to walk around Redwoods or Joshua Tree and talk. Which is all beautiful in their own right, but very deep shit is happening in the utter blackness behind your eyelids while lying still in silent darkness punctuated by the nececcesary songs and whistles of the shaman.
This is where mystery comes from and goes to.

It was all very intense and very scary, like I was pertrified to move even an inch. It took me 10 minutes to decide to move my legs and switch their positions. But I thought I did OK. But then at around midnight the shaman told me I should try to stand up and go to the bathroom, because I had been holding too much in for 4 hours. He pulled me up....and that was it.
I stood up into Total Horror. He had a flashlight to show me the way the bathroom, and on the floor I saw some red ants. Then a line of them. Soon, I was covered in red ants. I couldn´t walk, and--to his discredit--he missed me when I fell back onto the mat.
I vomited all down my shirt, followed by a total loss of bodily control. I exploded and shit came from everywhere, through my pants, down my leg, into my socks. He tried to get me to the bathroom but I was dead weight.
"OK, OK....no malo," he said.
But it was malo because bright red ants were crawing up my body. Then when I closed my eyes I felt I was an ant. I vomited up the universe, this time in the bucket he handed me.
"Why can´t I lie on the mat?" I cried out.
But this is supposed to happen, sooner or later.
He helped me crawl on all fours into the bathroom, where I pulled off my shit-covered pants and sat on the toilet, shat more as I vomited into the bucket.
Back in the hall I could hear him chanting, but now it wasn´t working because I was breaking into a freezing sweat on a filthy tiolet. When I used my flashlight to look into my bucket, I saw a million, or thousands anyway, goddmamn ants, eating themselves.
"Holy shit, I´m vomiting ants!"
I sat on that toilet for an hour, promising: "I will never do this again!!"
This was the PURGE that people talk about.
Sounds fun, huh?

Eventually, I stripped naked and through away all my clothes....my shirt, pants, underwear, and socks. None of them could be saved. The maestro held a flashlight on me in the shower as I washed all the crap off my leg and hands...and watched the ants go down the drain....
Til there were none.
The maestro patted me on the back, and walked me NAKED to my cabin, his sweater draped around me. I could barely put one foot in front of the other.
Once I was safe inside, he said, "No walk...stay on all fours, like un perro."
So I crawled in the dark on all fours...to my rucksack to get new underwears, my ipòd, a sweater.
Know how I felt?
Fantastic!

I took another cold shower in my room (on all fours) and got under the covers, still reeling from the experience but feeling the drug leave my body slowly. The comedown is heavy and long, and the DMT does´t allow you to sleep, and by 6 am I felt invigorated instead of exhausted. There were no adverse side effects and at breakfast, about 8 am, I had some juice and eggs with Gary and Christian and the other lodge guests, feeling clarified and revitalized.
I also realized that I had never payed the maestro the $140 the session cost.
"A god shaman is not concerned about money," Laurent had told me.

What did I learn from all this? That Ayahuasca consciousness is more valid than normal consciousness.
That in my long quest to enlarge the field of experience, I have finally found a drug that enables me to encounter the great cycle of birth and death...to understand my mother´s illness, and how that´s affected me sexually, to understand my gramma´s death, my friend Phil´s death and future deaths. How much certain people mean to me.
It is nothing short of Psychedelic Analysis.

There is so much to learn, but the answers and cures come from repeated and careful experiences...some say 3 times, some say 7, some say 50. Luarent has done it 37 times (the last I saw him, more by now). And the scary parts are terrifying.
But I am obsessed and MUST try again, but not alone. I want to do it with with some key people in my life who will benefit from the lessons...my brother, Seb, Tracey, Dave Neabore (if he promises not to lose his shit), Tony Rodgers, of course. A few others.
The question is where....Laurent says Peru is ideal, but there is something to be said about doing it against the famailiar background of your own environment, and the key is a good shaman. There are some in California and Hawaii.

But I came from first experience convinced I was meant to live up to a Call. I always knew I had a Call, but living up to it has been hard for me. Now I have a lot of work to do on my craft, as well as myself, and I think with more sessions I can get over my self doubt and lack of confidence. Addictions. Just about anything.

"I have come home, and I demand admittance through the gates," Ginsberg said after his first 5 trips and I know what he means.

I ended up giving the money to Rodolfo, who said he would give it to Panduro.
I said goodbye to Gary and Christian, the jungle, took a solo river boat ride up river this morning at dawn to catch my flight from Puerto Maldanado to Lima, where I am now, in the airport Radisson of all places.

I have seen so much and my eyes are tired. Lima, like Ireland, Scotland, Argentina, Africa, ET ALL...can wait.

[fruhmenschen]

I prefer the old fashioned method of getting a teacher who knows and putting my fate into that person's hands as far as
controlling my psychological evolution. Two books I own that have become time worn from repeated readings are MIRACLE OF LOVE by Ram Dass
aka Richard Alpert and By His Grace by Dada Murkjhee. Both books contain anecdotal stories about the teacher Neem Karoli who allegedly passed away on 9-11-73.
I suspect this man is a Rishi. If the Carlos Casteneda books are to be viewed as real then Don Juan is a Rishi.
I like to balance these two books with the writings of Jane Roberts and her SETH SPEAKS series The former books present evidence for manipulating time and space in this dimension of reality, the latter looks at possible journeys of human consciousness into other dimensions of reality.
My personal preferences are not to take chemical shortcuts especially when they involve the pineal gland because when the chemistry wears off you arrive back
to where you were.

[elpuma]

Ayahuasca: A Plant for Healing the Soul

By Chris Kilham

Published January 05, 2011 | FoxNews.com



True healing puts into order the body, mind and spirit with the past, present and future. What kind of agent or method or formula or treatment can help to effect such sweeping, integrated healing? I offer for your consideration ayahuasca, a psychoactive potion indigenous to the Amazon rainforest. Made from the vine Banisteriopsis caapi (called caapi) and the leaf Psychotria viridis, (known as chakruna) ayahuasca is considered among natives in the Amazon to be a sacred plant medicine. Among those for whom the ceremonial healing use of ayahuasca is a way of life, the brew is referred to as “La Medicina,” meaning The Medicine. Ayahuasca ceremonies have become quite popular among non-natives over the past few years, as seekers worldwide have investigated non-ordinary forms of healing and spiritual exploration. Among participants are many medical doctors from the US and Europe.

The vine Banisteriopsis caapi, also known as “the vine of the soul,” contains a group of compounds called harmala alkaloids. These compounds are MAO inhibitors. They prevent the activity of naturally-occurring agents in our bodies called monoamine oxidase. Think of MAO’s as doormen standing in front of the night club of your brain. Psychoactive compounds, notably the potent vision-inducing agent DMT, want to get into the club and attach themselves to your brain’s receptors. But the MAO doormen prevent this from happening. The harmala alkaloids in Banisteriopsis caapi, however, tell the doormen to take a nice log coffee break. They do. That’s when the Psychotria viridis, rich in DMT (N,N Dimethyl Tryptamine), comes into play. DMT is the most potent vision-inducing agent known. And oddly, DMT is not only found in many hundreds of plants all around the world, but it is also manufactured in our own bodies. But thanks to MAO’s, we do not trip on DMT all day long.

Ayahuasca is made by pounding sections of the vine Banisteriopsis caapi, to remove the outer bark, and to soften up the rope-like fibers of the vine. A large amount of pounded caapi vine is placed into a large cooking pot. Atop the pounded vine, a large quantity of Psychotria viridis (chakruna) leaves are added. Then another layer of pounded vine is added, then another layer of leaves. When the pot is pretty filled almost to the top with pounded vine and leaves, then water is added. If the pot is large enough, as much as forty litres of water may be added. Then the mixture is cooked over a fire for several hours. Over time, the liquid in the pot begins to evaporate. After several hours, perhaps eight or so, the ayahuasca is finished. The pieces of vine and leaves are filtered out through a strainer. Perhaps only a liter of viscous fluid remains. This liquid is “La Medicina.”

While ayahuasca ceremonies vary from one shaman to another and from one tribal tradition to the next, certain features remain constant. According to the native explanation, a well-conducted ayahuasca ceremony brings together the ayahuasca brew, the shaman(s), and the plant spirits. This triune force effects healing, and opens up the doors of the spirit world to the participant.Typically an ounce or two of the brew is drunk. The ayahuasca brew is intensely bitter, and the taste is unpleasant, even for those who are experienced drinkers.

In some ceremonies, the shaman(s) sit quietly with the participants in the dark for about forty-five minutes or so after drinking, as the effects of the ayahuasca start to come on. However, some shamans begin to sing and make ethereal whistling sounds as soon as the brew has been drunk. Some shamans wave chacapas — noisy leaf fans — and others do not. It is typical for the shaman to blow smoke of potent Amazonian tobacco (called mapacho) on participants, to cleanse the atmosphere and to establish an aura of protection.


Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter who researches natural remedies all over the world, from the Amazon to Siberia.

Within about an hour after drinking the brew, visions usually commence. There is a geometry common to the ayahuasca experience, and this geometry is beautifully represented in the textiles and ceramics of the Shipibo native people of Peru. Most people who journey with ayahuasca see that geometry. As the visions increase, the shaman(s) sing healing spirit songs known as icaros. These evocative, haunting tunes bring the traveler deeper into the ayahuasca mystery.

There are many thousands of cases in which people have been healed of physical, mental and emotional disorders, and many curious cases of recovery from grave and even fatal disorders. There is much to investigate about the healing properties of ayahuasca. A large number of people have been cured of addictions through ayahuasca ceremonies, and the cases of post-ayahuasca cancer remission are too numerous to ignore. Researchers from all over the world are interested in ayahuasca, attempting to understand its healing properties.

People see and experience all kinds of phenomena while on an ayahuasca journey. You may see deceased relatives, spirits of every kind, vast landscapes of natural or manufactured forms, animals, insects, serpents, birds, and various creatures of nature. And as you engage in ceremonies over time, you start to learn to negotiate the spirit landscape, and to enlist the aid of certain spirits for your own healing and spiritual awakening. I personally have brought several people to the Amazon for healing in ayahuasca ceremonies. One was healed of a four year long bout of chronic fatigue. Another was healed of an ongoing stomach problem.

For the person who has never participated in an ayahuasca ceremony, it is easy to assume that the brew causes the drinker to hallucinate, and that this explains the ayahuasca experience. But when you have engaged in ayahuasca ceremonies with highly trained shamans who make the brew correctly, such a simplistic explanation falls apart completely. The spirit landscape, in all its mystery, beauty, splendor, terror, majesty and strangeness, is its own world, and the ayahuasca lets you into that world.

Ayahuasca is clearly not for everybody, as the experience is typically intense. The spirit landscape is beautiful, but can also be overwhelming. Still, ayahuasca helps to put into order the body, mind and spirit with the past, present and future. Because of this extraordinary healing power, ayahuasca is a revered brew, and ayahuasca ceremonies are increasingly sought after by people from all over the world. Some flock to Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador to participate in ceremonines in the Amazon, and others drink in urban and suburban venues, in ceremonies led by shamans who tour.

If you are interested in experiencing the potent healing effects of ayahuasca, I know of two places in the Peruvian Amazon where you can do this safely and with proper guidance. One is a rustic and tranquil center called Espiritu de Anaconda, run by master shaman Guillermo Arevalo. I have sat in ceremony with Guillermo many times, and he is the real deal. The web site for Espiritu de Anaconda is http://www.espiritudeanaconda.org. Another wonderful place for ayahuasca ceremonies is the highly publicized and very comfortable Blue Morpho, run by guide American Hamilton Souther and master shaman don Alberto Torres Davila. Both men conduct the ceremonies, and both are extremely talented. I have also participated in ceremony with them, and cannot speak highly enough about it. The web site for Blue Morpho is http://www.bluemorphotours.com.
In many ways, through a great many people, ayahuasca, La Medicina, is making itself known. This potent Amazon brew has the power not only to heal, but to transform your understanding and experience of reality.

Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter who researches natural remedies all over the world, from the Amazon to Siberia. He teaches ethnobotany at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is Explorer In Residence. Chris advises herbal, cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies and is a regular guest on radio and TV programs worldwide. His field research is largely sponsored by Naturex of Avignon, France. Become the Medicine Hunter's Facebook Fan. Read more at http://www.MedicineHunter.com

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/05/ayahuasca-plant-healing-soul/

[undead]

Chris Kilham is a great guy, I audited one of his classes once at a public university. There are many medicinal plants that are under-appreciated, because the pharmaceutical industry is corrupt and racist. They would be out of an obscene fortune if people knew that cancer could be reversed with cannabis and ayahuasca.