Ayahuasca*, the liana of the Soul
Ayahuasca, also known as Yagé or Caapi, is a hallucinogenic drink native to the Amazon basin, made from the decoction of two plants with complementary active ingredients: the Banisteriopsis Caapi liana, and the leaves of Psychotria Véridis, a shrub in the coffee family. The use of this drink is associated with the shamanic practices of the Indians, who have been using it for magical-medical purposes since before the Spanish and Portuguese conquests.
Its exact composition and psychoactive principles have remained an enigma for researchers for decades. First dubbed telepathine, then banisterine, the alkaloid responsible for the visions produced by Ayahuasca is today identified by the barbaric name Dimethyl tryptamine (DMT),
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*Ayahuasca means in Quechua: Liane of the dead, or Liane of the soul.
Text & images © Hervé Merliac/Kaleidos-images – All rights reserved
Games at dusk
Stretch of liana
Tarapoto, Peru. Takiwasi Center. Section of Banisteriopsis Caapi liana (Ayahuasca).
Sections of creepers
Tarapoto, Peru. Takiwasi Center. A bundle of Banisteriopsis Caapi liana cuttings used to prepare a ceremonial beverage.
Leaf against the light
Pucallpa, Pérou. The painter of the series “Visions of Ayahuasca”, Pablo César Amaringo.
Main street
San Francisco, Pucallpa region, Peru. Main street in a Shipivo Indian village.
Musical evening
Tarapoto, Peru. A musical wake, bringing together adults and children, in a family in this mid-altitude Amazon town.
Preparing Ayahuasca
Tarapoto, Peru. Preparing Ayahuasca. The “vegetalista” crushes pieces of liana to facilitate extraction of its active ingredients during cooking.
Chacruna
Tarapoto, Peru. Leaves and fruits of “Chacruna”, the leaves of this shrub are used in Ayahuasca because of their high DMT content (scientific name: Psychotria Veridis).
Creeper defibration
Tarapoto, Peru. Preparing Ayahuasca. Defibration of liana sections.
Takiwasi Center
Tarapoto, Peru. Takiwasi Center: the healer collects the juice of the plant before the ceremonial intake of Oja de Sangre.
Oja de sangre
Tarapoto, Peru. Takiwasi Center. Oja de sangre or Ayar Panga. Blood-colored sap, whose powerfully emetic juice is used in the purges that precede Ayahuasca intake.
Ayahuasca preparation
Tarapoto, Peru. Preparation of Ayahuasca at the Takiwasi center for the study of traditional medicines.
