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.

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