Aya-huasca (meaning "vine of the souls" in Quechua) is an entheogenic potion typically prepared from the liana Banisteriopsis caapi and the leaves of the small tree Psychotria viridis. Also called caapi and yajé among other names, traditional ayahuasca use is widespread in South America, having been reported in Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. No less than 72 indigenous groups are reported to have used entheogenic ayahuasca potions, and 42 different indigenous names for the potions. Archaeological research has shown that the use of ayahuasca in Ecuador dates back as many as five millenia.
Normally the ayahuasca brew is ingested orally, usually in a shamanic or ethnomedicinal context. Ayahuasca visions are an important component of Amazonian art. The visonary experience of ayahuasca is so important and fundamental to the world view of the Amazonian Indians that the use of the potion by curenderos has largely survived the forces of acculturation, and metizos consult the ayahuasca plant teachers even in modern day cities.
The base of the ayahuasca brew, Banisteriopsis caapi, contains the Beta-carboline alkaloids harmine and harmaline, the same alkaloids found in the Syrian rue Peganum harmala. Indeed these alkaloids are widespread, having been found in well over 100 species in more than 27 families representing more than 60 genera.
More than 90 different plant species from 38 plant families have been reported as ayahuasca admixtures. The admixture plants may be categorized into the three broad categories therapeutic, stimulants, and entheogenic or visionary additives. The last category may be divied into four broad subcategories: Nicotiana [nicotine]; Brugmansia [tropane alkaloids]; Brunfelsia [scopoletine]; and Chacruna/Chagropanga [DMT]. All of these plants have the same pharmacological purpose in ayahuasca -- to enhance the entheogenic/visionary quality of the potions as an aid to shamnaic divination. All of the plants in the first three subcategories are members of the family Solanaceae, whereas the tryptamine containing category involves plants in the families Malpighiaceae and Rubiaceae.
The most common ayahuasca admixture plant in use in Amazonian Peru, also used in Amazonian Ecuador and Brazil, is Psychotria viridis. It is known as chacruna in Peru, and sami ruca or amirucapanga in Ecuador. The leaves of this shrub are added to the ayahuasca brew to strengthen its entheogenic potency. The short term MAO inhibiting property of the Beta-carbolines allows the normally orally inactive DMT to be orally active producing the entheogenic effects of the potion.
The pharmacological principles of the ayahuasca potion are present in many plants throughout the world, not just limited to South America. By combining these plants in appropriate combinations, several thousand ayahuasca-like potions are possible.
