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Book Plant Teachers

Download or read book Plant Teachers written by Jeremy Narby and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2021-08-31 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A trailblazing anthropologist and an indigenous Amazonian healer explore the convergence of science and shamanism “The dose makes the poison,” says an old adage, reminding us that substances have the potential to heal or to harm, depending on their use. Although Western medicine treats tobacco as a harmful addictive drug, it is considered medicinal by indigenous people of the Amazon rainforest. In its unadulterated form, it holds a central place in their repertoire of traditional medicines. Along with ayahuasca, tobacco forms a part of treatments designed to heal the body, stimulate the mind, and inspire the soul with visions. In Plant Teachers, anthropologist Jeremy Narby and traditional healer Rafael Chanchari Pizuri hold a cross-cultural dialogue that explores the similarities between ayahuasca and tobacco, the role of these plants in indigenous cultures, and the hidden truths they reveal about nature. Juxtaposing and synthesizing two worldviews, Plant Teachers invites readers on a wide-ranging journey through anthropology, botany, and biochemistry, while raising tantalizing questions about the relationship between science and other ways of knowing.

Book Ayahuasca Wisdom

    Book Details:
  • Author : Jules Henry Rivers
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2020-10-15
  • ISBN : 9781735729305
  • Pages : pages

Download or read book Ayahuasca Wisdom written by Jules Henry Rivers and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A science-based proposition about how to achieve spiritual healing using a proposed quantum model of the psyche. Fascinating chapters on quantum psychology covering the abstractions of the ego and subconscious, and how subpersonalities and entities control our lives. Find step by step advice to re-program the subconscious using techniques while immersed in your ayahuasca experience. By using simple quantum concepts, ayahuasca spiritual advisors, psychedelic-assisted therapists, and advanced ayahuasca practitioners will be able to adopt a common language with their clients and patients to effectively communicate and enroll them in their own healing processes. Richly illustrated with diagrams and images, this book explains with remarkable simplicity, quantum physics concepts as they relate to the proposed model of the psyche, and its practical applications for ayahuasca integration work, coaching, and spiritual healing. Bonus section containing nine intriguing stories describing in uncanny detail, the emotional breakthroughs experienced by some of the authors' ayahuasca session participants.

Book Forest of Visions

    Book Details:
  • Author : Alex Polari de Alverga
  • Publisher : Inner Traditions / Bear & Co
  • Release : 1999
  • ISBN : 9780892817160
  • Pages : 302 pages

Download or read book Forest of Visions written by Alex Polari de Alverga and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 1999 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Santo Daime--a new religion that blends elements of Christianity with older Amazonian indigenous spiritual practices--and the ecologically sound and spiritually centered utopian community it has inspired - A true story of a classical spiritual encounter, as well as an intimate account of the genesis of an important religious tradition that continues to grow worldwide - Edited and Introduced by Stephen Larsen, author of "The Shaman's Doorway" Alex Polari de Alverga spent years as a political prisoner during the rule of the military junta in Brazil, enduring torture, brutality, and deprivation. On his release from captivity and in search of something to restore his spiritual connection to life, he had a transformative encounter with one of the two revered founders of Santo Daime, Padrinho Sebastiao Mota de Mela. Santo Daime--an Amazonian religion, born out of jungle entheogens, mediumship, and healing, that is a potent and unique synthesis of Christianity and indigenous practices--provided Alverga with an alternative to his disillusionment with modern society. His quest for spiritual initiation eventually led him deep into the heart of the rainforest to Mapia, one of the spiritual centers of Santo Daime, where he became a teacher and leader of the Daime community. "Forest of Visions" is a story of a classic spiritual encounter comparable to the Tibetan Saint Milarepa's search for his teacher Marpa. It is also an intimate account of the genesis of an important religious tradition that from modest beginnings in Brazil has now spread throughout the world and continues to grow. It provides an inside look at the spiritually centered village of Mapia, a model for communities in the 21st century.

Book Sacred Ayahuasca

    Book Details:
  • Author : Jacqueline Grace
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2023-03-15
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 0 pages

Download or read book Sacred Ayahuasca written by Jacqueline Grace and published by . This book was released on 2023-03-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Guide to Wisdom & HealingYou are considering consuming ayahuasca. Now what?You did some Google searches, talked to a few friends, maybe watched a documentary or two, but you still feel unsure and confused. I understand, and I hear you. While ayahuasca has the potential to heal and impart wisdom, there is much to know before beginning this life-changing journey.Sacred Ayahuasca: A Guide to Wisdom & Healing will help you safely cultivate a healthy, happy, spiritually exhilarating, and ultimately uplifting experience with ayahuasca. I will impart the knowledge necessary to safely navigate this soul bending experience, as well as answer every question you may have and perhaps didn't even think of.As your guide, I have shared everything you need to know before partaking in an ayahuasca ceremony including what ayahuasca is, how to prepare for a ceremony, what to expect before, during and after ceremony, and ayahuasca's kinship with other jungle medicines. After you have been prepared by this book, perhaps the sun will set on a ceremony that you personally participate in. If you fall in love with ayahuasca or any of the plant medicines as I did, you may find your state of mind is always in a beautiful ceremony. I certainly hope you find your healing. Because when you heal, I heal. And the world can use so much more of that!

Book Visionary Ayahuasca

Download or read book Visionary Ayahuasca written by Jan Kounen and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-12-15 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “what to expect” guide for first-time ayahuasca users paired with accounts from the author’s extensive shamanic experiences in the Amazon • Describes how to prepare for the first ceremony, what to do in the days afterward, and how to maintain a shamanic healing diet • Details some of the author’s own ayahuasca experiences, including an intensive trip in 2009 when he underwent 17 ceremonies • Explores the many other plants that are part of the ayahuasca healer’s medicine cabinet as well as the icaros, healing songs, of the ayahuasca shaman Since 1999 Jan Kounen has regularly traveled to the Peruvian Amazon to participate in ayahuasca ceremonies. At first only a curious filmmaker, over multiple trips he transformed from explorer to apprentice to ayahuasquero and often found himself surrounded by other foreigners coming to the jungle for their first taste of ayahuasca medicine. Knowing how little guidance is available on how to prepare or what to expect, he naturally offered them advice. Part visionary ayahuasca memoir and part practical guide, this book contains the same step-by-step advice that Kounen provides first-time ayahuasca users in the jungle. He describes how to prepare for the first ceremony and what to do in the days afterward. He explores how to deal with the nausea and details the special preparatory diets an ayahuasca shaman will put you on, often lasting for months but necessary for life-transforming results and teachings from the plant spirits. He also explains how it is far easier to maintain these restrictions in the jungle than in the city. Detailing his own ayahuasca experiences over hundreds of sessions, including a trip in 2009 when he underwent 17 ceremonies in 25 days, Kounen describes how ayahuasca transformed him. He tells of his meetings with Shipibo healers, including Kestenbetsa, who opened the doors of this world for him, and Panshin Beka, the shaman to whom Kounen became an apprentice. He details the many other plants and foods that are part of the ayahuasca healer’s medicine cabinet, such as toé and tobacco, as well as their icaros, or healing songs. A veritable “what to expect” guide, this book should be your first step prior to committing to ayahuasca.

Book Ayahuasca  Between Cognition and Culture

Download or read book Ayahuasca Between Cognition and Culture written by Ismael Eduardo Apud Peláez and published by PUBLICACIONS UNIVERSITAT ROVIRA I VIRGILI. This book was released on 2020-03-01 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book summarizes Ismael Apud’s ethnographic research in the field of ayahuasca, conducted in Latin America and Catalonia over a period of 10 years. To analyze the variety of ayahuasca spiritual practices and beliefs, the author combines different approaches, including medical anthropology, cognitive science of religion, history of science, and religious studies. Ismael Apud is a psychologist and anthropologist from Uruguay, with a PhD in Anthropology at Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

Book Ayahuasca

    Book Details:
  • Author : Joan Parisi Wilcox
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2003-10-10
  • ISBN : 1594775648
  • Pages : 180 pages

Download or read book Ayahuasca written by Joan Parisi Wilcox and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-10-10 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive autobiographical account of the transforming experiences possible with ayahuasca • Reveals the protocols of a traditional ayahuasca retreat and the importance of its ritual diet, isolation, and sacred songs • Relates an extensive personal account of the traditional indigenous use of ayahuasca for healing and revelation Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul is an autobiographical account of the author’s work with ayahuasca, a potent and sacred plant brew of the Amazon region that is known for its extraordinary visionary and healing powers. As she learned from her experience, with the help of ayahuasca we are able to grasp our paradoxical nature, the first step to acceptance of ourselves in both our glorious and dark aspects. Ayahuasca teaches us how to release the illusions we hold about ourselves and makes it possible to integrate our many diverse aspects to acquire our true power. This book reveals the ritual protocols that must be followed prior to partaking of ayahuasca, including the traditional preparatory “diet”--which requires enduring austere conditions, isolation, and only small amounts of bland food before receiving the powers of the plant spirit from an ayahuasquero, a healing master--and the sacred songs, icaros, that are sung when imbibing the substance. Although the use of ayahuasca is growing among “underground” spiritual seekers and through the burgeoning ayahuasca tourism trade in South America, few of its seekers understand how it is used traditionally and the importance of the rituals the indigenous people follow. With this book, the author hopes to restore the importance of these indigenous practices so that we may truly understand all the gifts of ayahuasca.

Book Ayahuasca Reader

    Book Details:
  • Author : Luis Eduardo Luna
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2016
  • ISBN : 9780907791492
  • Pages : 464 pages

Download or read book Ayahuasca Reader written by Luis Eduardo Luna and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Ayahuasca Reader is an expansive anthology of texts translated from several different languages covering multiple aspects of the ayahuasca experience. The book is a classic in ayahuasca literature and a must read for those interested in learning more about this sacred plant medicine.

Book Ayahuasca

Download or read book Ayahuasca written by J.D. Rockefeller and published by J.D. Rockefeller. This book was released on with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What remained confined to the indigenous tribes of the Amazonian rainforest has now gone global in the last 25 years. We are talking about the powerful brew known by the name of ayahuasca, or yage. Ayahuasca is a brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and Psychotria viridis leaf. Traditionally, the plant mixture was used for divination and making contact with the spirit world. Taken as a brew, ayahuasca induces altered states of consciousness which last 4 to 8 hours after drinking. These visions can be mild or extremely visionary. Traditionally, people would drink yage in a ceremonial session as a shamanic means of communication, but usually under the watchful eye of an experienced drinker. So, what is ayahuasca and why is it becoming so popular these days? Should you be giving it a try? Read more about this powerful hallucinogenic plant mixture and decide for yourself.

Book The Ayahuasca Diaries

Download or read book The Ayahuasca Diaries written by Caspar Greeff and published by Jacana Media. This book was released on 2009 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lively travelogue, this book follows the author's psycho-spiritual odyssey in search of ayahuasca--a dark, psychedelic brew known as "the vine of the dead." Trekking through the rain forests of Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador in search of enclaves where ayahuasca is taken in the dark of night at ceremonies presided over by shamans, the author shares his experiences with otherworldly songs that are both magical and healing and ignite in him a new enchantment with life and a burgeoning sense of connection with the natural world.

Book The Ayahuasca Experience

Download or read book The Ayahuasca Experience written by Ralph Metzner and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-03-02 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the chemical, biological, psychological, and experiential dimensions of ayahuasca • Details the scientific discovery of ayahuasca’s sophisticated psychoactive delivery system in the brain and body and its potential applications in medicine and psychology • Includes contributions from Dennis J. McKenna, Ph.D., J. C. Callaway, Ph.D., and Charles S. Grob, M.D., on the ethnopharmacology, psychology, phytochemistry, and neuropharmacology of ayahuasca • Provides 24 firsthand accounts of ayahuasca experiences and resulting life changes Widely recognized by anthropologists as the most powerful and widespread shamanic hallucinogen, ayahuasca has been used by native Indian and mestizo shamans in Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador for healing and divination for thousands of years. Made from the Amazonian vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the DMT-laden leaf of Psychotria viridis, ayahuasca is regarded as the embodiment of intelligent plant beings who can offer spiritual teachings and healing knowledge to those who respectfully engage with them. Many Western-trained physicians and psychologists now acknowledge that ayahuasca allows access to spiritual dimensions of consciousness, otherworldly realms and beings, and visionary experiences indistinguishable from classic religious mysticism. With contributions from leading psychoactive scholars Dennis J. McKenna, Ph.D., Charles S. Grob, M.D., and J. C. Calloway, Ph.D., on the ethnopharmacology, psychology, phytochemistry, and neuropharmacology of ayahuasca, Ralph Metzner provides a comprehensive exploration of the chemical, biological, psychological, and experiential dimensions of this Amazonian hallucinogen. He includes more than 20 firsthand accounts from people who have participated in ayahuasca rituals and experienced major life changes as a result. He details the scientific discovery of ayahuasca’s sophisticated psychoactive delivery system in the brain and body as well as the deep psychological impact of this potent entheogen. He concludes with his own findings on ayahuasca, including its applications in medicine and psychology, and compares the worldview revealed by ayahuasca visions to that of modern cultures.

Book Psychedelic Wisdom

Download or read book Psychedelic Wisdom written by Richard Louis Miller and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-12-20 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shares wisdom-bringing psychedelic experiences from authorities well-known in psychedelic history, therapy, and research • Reveals how these scientists, doctors, therapists, and teachers have applied their entheogenic experiences in their professions, leading to therapeutic advancements, scientific discoveries, and healing for thousands • Includes contributions from scientific psychonaut Amanda Feilding, psychedelic swami Dr. Allan Ajaya, “America’s Doctor” Dean Edell, convicted psychiatrist Frederike Meckel Fisher, love doctor Charley Wininger, professor of psychedelics Thomas B. Roberts, ethnobotanical explorer Dennis McKenna, the “Sunshine Makers” Tim Scully and Michael Randall, as well as many others Over the past decade, many famous entrepreneurs and celebrities have begun to open up about their life-changing experiences with psychedelics that led to their personal successes. But less well-known are the wisdom-bringing psychedelic experiences of many top psychologists, psychiatrists, researchers, and others who have taken what they learned from their entheogenic experiences and applied it in their professions, leading to therapeutic advancements, scientific discoveries, and healing for thousands. In this profound book, Dr. Richard Louis Miller shares stories of psychedelic transformation, insight, and wisdom from his conversations with 19 scientists, doctors, therapists, and teachers, each of whom has been self-experimenting with psychedelic medicines, sub rosa, for decades. We hear from scientific psychonaut Amanda Feilding, founder of the Beckley Foundation; ethnobotanical explorer Dennis McKenna; research advocate and head of MAPS Rick Doblin; and the “Sunshine Makers”: Tim Scully, the scientist taught to make LSD by Owsley Stanley, and Michael Randall, the leader of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. We learn about recasting “bad trips” as unfamiliar challenges from psychedelic swami Dr. Allan Ajaya, therapeutic uses of MDMA from “the love doctor” Charley Wininger, decades of insights from psychedelic professor Thomas B. Roberts, as well as several others. Revealing the psychedelic wisdom uncovered in spite of decades of the “War on Drugs,” Dr. Miller and his contributors show how LSD and other psychedelics offer a pathway to creativity, healing, innovation, and liberation.

Book Black Smoke

    Book Details:
  • Author : Margaret De Wys
  • Publisher : Simon and Schuster
  • Release : 2014-05-14
  • ISBN : 1620551322
  • Pages : 191 pages

Download or read book Black Smoke written by Margaret De Wys and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-05-14 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A diagnosis of cancer leads to healing and transformation in the Amazon jungle • Explains in vivid detail De Wys’s experience of being healed from cancer through visionary ayahuasca rituals in Ecuador • Describes her apprenticeship and relationship with the shaman who cured her • Explores the ways this spiritual medicine can heal the emotional origins of disease now plaguing our modern technological culture • Chosen as one of the “Top 10 Books of the New Edge” by Jonathan Talat Phillips on The Huffington Post When composer and Bard College music professor Margaret De Wys learned she had breast cancer, the diagnosis shattered her comfortable life. Seized by fear, crushed by existential loneliness, she couldn’t respond when her loved ones reached out to her. To everyone’s concern, the illness propelled her away from her family and deep into the Amazon to work with Carlos, a charismatic Shuar shaman and master of medicina milenaria, an ancient mystical tradition with a highly sophisticated and precise technology of healing. In Black Smoke, De Wys writes of her amazing encounter with Carlos as he guided her into a world of potent visionary plants, harrowing initiations, ritual purification, and miraculous healings, including the complete disappearance of her cancer. It was, as Carlos called it, “the path of the warrior.” Sharing a journey not only through cancer but also through self-transformation, De Wys provides an intimate inside look at the shamanic ceremonies of ayahuasca and the ways this spiritual medicine can heal the emotional origins of disease now plaguing our modern technological culture. Capturing her physical, emotional, and “holy voyage” through a world that differs vastly from our own in its perception of healing and wholeness, she offers a revealing chronicle of spiritual insight and a trenchant exploration of the limits of idealism. She not only provides a probing look at how our society can learn and benefit from indigenous wisdom but also weaves a cautionary tale about how potentially dangerous it is--on both sides--to try to cross those frontiers.

Book Awakening with Ayahuasca

    Book Details:
  • Author : Thiago Zaupa
  • Publisher : Independently Published
  • Release : 2023-10-25
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 0 pages

Download or read book Awakening with Ayahuasca written by Thiago Zaupa and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2023-10-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Prepare to embark on an extraordinary journey that will awaken your spirit, expand your consciousness, and ignite the profound power of transformation within you. In 'Awakening with Ayahuasca: A Guide to Healing, Wisdom, and Transformation, ' the tapestry of the Amazon rainforest comes to life in all its vibrant splendor, revealing its ancient secrets and the timeless wisdom of its indigenous and spirit guardians. This is not just a book; it is a luminous guide-a beacon of light for those who seek to transcend the boundaries of the ordinary and delve into the extraordinary. Within these pages, you will find the keys to unlocking the deepest chambers of your heart and soul, receive sacred empowerments and blessings from the queen Ayahuasca herself, connect to spirit and elder shaman's most sacred wisdom, harnessing the transformative force of the sacred Ayahuasca brew, a potent elixir with the power to heal, inspire, and illuminate. As you traverse the pages, you'll encounter the timeless teachings of shamanic masters and the spirits of nature itself, the rich tapestry of the Amazon's healing traditions, and the profound insights of a guide who has spent years honing his expertise. This is an invitation to embark on your own quest for healing, self-discovery, and spiritual awakening, under the guidance of a master who has walked the path before you. Our shamans have spent years of research, living with shaman elders within the tribes, investing hundreds of thousands of euros, and dedicating many valuable years of time and energy to gather this wisdom. This invaluable knowledge is now being made available to you in a single book. We wish we had something like this available when we began our journey, but we are grateful that we can share this with you and be pathfinders on your quest. The wisdom within these pages isn't merely theoretical; it's the result of genuine, heartfelt experiences and profound spiritual revelations. It's an odyssey that transcends the boundaries of the mundane, lifting you into the realm of the extraordinary. In every word, in every chapter, you will feel the heartbeat of the Amazon, the whispers of the jungle, and the profound wisdom that resonates through the generations. It's an invitation to embrace your highest potential, to uncover the treasures hidden within your own being, and to set forth on a path that holds the promise of healing, enlightenment, and transformation together with Ayahuasca, the queen of the forest, and her vast team of spirits. This book isn't just a read; it's a journey. An adventure. An initiation into the mysteries of the Amazon and the profound potential of the human spirit. With each page, you'll sense the subliminal call to take a step closer to your own awakening, your wisdom, and your transformation, and to remember that you are fully loved and guided in every step of this journey. 'Awakening with Ayahuasca: A Guide to Healing, Wisdom, and Transformation' is more than just a book; it's a timeless companion for those who yearn to explore the frontiers of their soul and connect with the ancient wisdom that resides within. To receive valuable shamanic empowerments guided by the queen Ayahuasca herself and the energy and blessings from those healers who have contributed to putting it together, get ready to immerse yourself in a story of healing, growth, and profound self-discovery. This book is the key to unlocking the foundation needed for the extraordinary journey with Ayahuasca. Buy it now, and embark on a spiritual journey that promises to change your life forever."

Book Ayahuasca

    Book Details:
  • Author : J. D. Rockefeller
  • Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
  • Release : 2016-08-29
  • ISBN : 9781537367248
  • Pages : 26 pages

Download or read book Ayahuasca written by J. D. Rockefeller and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-08-29 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What remained confined to the indigenous tribes of the Amazonian rainforest has now gone global in the last 25 years. We are talking about the powerful brew known by the name of ayahuasca, or yage. Ayahuasca is a brew made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and Psychotria viridis leaf. Traditionally, the plant mixture was used for divination and making contact with the spirit world. Taken as a brew, ayahuasca induces altered states of consciousness which last 4 to 8 hours after drinking. These visions can be mild or extremely visionary. Traditionally, people would drink yage in a ceremonial session as a shamanic means of communication, but usually under the watchful eye of an experienced drinker. So, what is ayahuasca and why is it becoming so popular these days? Should you be giving it a try? Read more about this powerful hallucinogenic plant mixture and decide for yourself.

Book A Book of Re Membering  Lessons in Death and Rebirth with Ayahuasca

Download or read book A Book of Re Membering Lessons in Death and Rebirth with Ayahuasca written by B. M. B. and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2009-01-17 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Under the tutelage of the sacred South American ayahuasca plant, as well as a handful of other guides - plant, human, animal and non-corporeal alike - B.M.B. leads the reader down some of the curious roads and vestiges of his psyche, and by extension likewise invites his readers to ask some challenging questions regarding their own self-concepts and the nature of the universe in which they live. This journal provides an unusual insight into the bizarre and often profound world of psychedelic experience, as well as a welcome reminder that entheogens are in fact serious spiritual tools, which, contrary to their reputation for recreational applications, are in the right hands a potent pathway to self-discovery. The author takes us into a disquieting no man's land wherein the experiencer is besought on all sides by egoic projections, doubt and delusion, and is left with only the strength of his own burgeoning wisdom to help him separate truth from illusion. www.BookofRemembering.com

Book Grandmother Ayahuasca

Download or read book Grandmother Ayahuasca written by Christian Funder and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: • Examines how ayahuasca affects the brain from a neuroscientific perspective and how its effects on consciousness relate to ancient esoteric texts • Shares interviews with people who have experienced ayahuasca’s powerful “spirit doctor” effects and the author’s own ayahuasca journey from suicidal depression to a soul at peace • Investigates how ayahuasca is interwoven with the ancient practices of Amazonian shamanism Brewed from a combination of two plants--the leaves of Psychotria viridis and the vine stalks of Banisteriopsis caapi--ayahuasca has been used for millennia by indigenous tribes throughout the Upper Amazon for healing and spiritual exploration. The shamans of the Peruvian Amazon call the plant spirit within the vine Abuela Ayahuasca, Grandmother Ayahuasca. Exploring the history, lore, traditional use, psychoactive effects, and current scientific studies, Christian Funder reveals how Grandmother Ayahuasca is a profound healer, wise teacher, and life-changing guide. Examining ayahuasca from a neuroscientific perspective, the author looks at recent research on the effects of DMT--one of the psychoactive compounds in ayahuasca--as well as fMRI studies of brain activity during altered states. He explores these fi ndings as they relate to the teachings on unified states of consciousness in ancient esoteric texts and to Aldous Huxley’s theory of psychedelics inhibiting the “reducing valve” mechanism of the brain. Sharing interviews with people who have experienced ayahuasca’s powerful “spirit doctor” effects, Funder also details his own revolutionary ayahuasca healing journey from suicidal depression to a soul at peace. He explores ayahuasca’s relationship to indigenous Amazonian shamanism, including an inside look at the Shipibo tribe and the healing songs known as icaros. Offering a holistic picture of ayahuasca--from science to spirit--the author shows that this venerated hallucinogenic tea has immense therapeutic potential and just might be the long-lost shamanic connection to the sacred Gaian mind.