Listening to Ayahuasca

Used for over 8000 years as a medicine in the Amazon rainforest, ayahuasca is a powerful psychedelic with a fully formed shamanic cosmology. Central to the indigenous belief system is the plant teacher, Grandmother Ayahuasca, who communicates with people both during and after ceremonies. DMT (Dimethyltryptamine), the active ingredient in ayahuasca, is illegal in this country, listed on Schedule 1 as a dangerous drug with high potential for abuse and no medical benefits. Despite the legal risks and the unfortunate fact that ayahuasca is a powerful purgative as well as a powerful psychedelic, there are increasing numbers of people in Western countries who have experienced the medicine. This fast-growing group of people is highly educated, mature and sophisticated, often dubbed cultural creatives. Some have suffered with intractable psychiatric illnesses who, failing to find relief from Western medicine, are seeking new hope with ayahuasca. Others are psychospiritual explorers who have learned about the benefits of ayahuasca, are connected enough to the subculture to find a safe opportunity to take it and are willing to run the risk of an exotic, illegal experience.

Author Biography

Psychologist Rachel Harris, PhD, has been in private practice for thirty-five years. She has received a National Institutes of Health New Investigator’s Award, published more than forty scientific studies in peer-reviewed journals, and worked as a psychological consultant to Fortune 500 companies. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine and in the San Francisco Bay Area.