| Ayahuasca, is regarded as the 'gateway' to the Soul. | | | | in our bodies generated from these difficult events. |
| The fifth and concluding part of this article explores | | | | The plants offer us the potential for deep soul |
| this fascinating plant brew from the Amazon | | | | healing so we can become stronger and more able to |
| Rainforest. Ayahuasca is the jungle medicine of the | | | | engage fully in the precious gift of life. |
| upper Amazon. It is made from the ayahuasca vine ( | | | | Developing a personal relationship with Ayahuasca is |
| Banisteriopsis Caapi) and the leaf of the Chacruna | | | | within a background of an ancient body of practices. |
| plant (Psychotria Viridis). The two make a potent | | | | The oldest know object related to the use of |
| medicine, which takes one into the visionary world. | | | | ayahuasca is a ceremonial cup, hewn out of stone, |
| The vine is an inhibitor, which contains harmala and | | | | with engraved ornamentation, which was found in |
| harmaline among other alkaloids, and the leaf contains | | | | the Pastaza culture of the Ecuadorian Amazon from |
| vision-inducing alkaloids. As with all natural medicines, it | | | | 500 B.C. to 50 A.D. It is deposited in the collection of |
| is a mixture of many alkaloids that makes their unique | | | | the Ethnological Museum of the Central University |
| properties. | | | | (Quito, Ecuador). This indicates that ayahuasca |
| In this context, the teacher plants can provide a | | | | potions were known and used at least 2,500 years |
| doorway to great and meaningful insights in the | | | | ago. |
| adventure of personal growth and healing. The | | | | For example, there is a dietary regimen, and |
| growth and healing has therefore to be also in the | | | | prohibitions regarding libidinous thoughts and activity. |
| physical world, thereby offering the opportunity to | | | | These considerations need to be respected and can |
| reveal our emotions, traumatic and turbulent | | | | not be ignored if one embarks on a path of |
| experiences hidden or otherwise and so these can be | | | | communion with the plant. On observation and study |
| released and ourselves restored. This access to our | | | | (also called trial and error), this regime helps us to |
| soul companion (our greater selves) , this flowing | | | | become more 'plant like', therefore increasing our |
| omni-present force guiding our life which presents | | | | receptivity to the plant-spirit-mind. |
| with what are often called euphemistically "growth | | | | Many of my visionary experiences with Ayahuasca |
| opportunities" for us to overcome. The plant | | | | have led to a deeper understanding of my life and |
| teachers can show us these, where we can | | | | the role that various people had played in it. |
| transcend linear time itself, and we journey within this | | | | Sometimes I became those people, lived their lives, |
| eternal now at the very place in time where we | | | | and came to understand why they did what they did, |
| experienced such a difficult event or suffered a | | | | what decisions they had to make in their lives. These |
| troubled pervasive period in our life. We can | | | | revelatory experiences invariably led to some form |
| re-experience this albeit from a different perspective, | | | | of closure with that person, like completing an open |
| learn what happened, the reasons why it occurred | | | | chapter, or a profound healing of my relationship with |
| and the subsequent impact and consequences on our | | | | that person. |
| life, and then to release any pain and trauma locked | | | | Medicines like ayahuasca can help us along our path |
| within our being. This release within the Ayahuasca | | | | but we still have to do the work ourselves. My |
| experience is called 'la purga' our purge, when we | | | | experience is that these kind of allies can help us |
| literally purge this pain from our being, it is not only | | | | open the doors of perception, but what we do when |
| the contents of our stomach which are being | | | | we get there is entirely our own challenge. |
| released but also the deeply stored bile and sourness | | | | |