The practice of drinking ayahuasca-a psychoactive brew indigenous to the Amazon-has been investigated in several studies and shown to have positive long-term effects on mental states, and a particularly strong positive effect on perceptions of identity. This article discusses if these previous findings can be found in the experience of gay people, who are often taught by their culture and...
Por primera vez en el Perú se realiza un estudio del "ayahuasca" que comprende los aspectos folklóricos, botánicos y farmacognósticos que le son correlativos, así como un ensayo experimental de la acción farmacodinámica y toxicológica de su principio activo, previo reconocimiento de su identidad química y el de una de sus fuentes vegetales obtenida en la región del Alto Ucayali. Tal estudio...
O artigo estuda o bem-estar subjetivo dos adeptos de ayahuasca, a partir dos conceitos de qualidade de vida e bem-estar subjetivo. Discute os estudos que tratam da beberagem do chá nos rituais religiosos e a percepção desses sujeitos em relação a esses elementos psicossociais. Metodologicamente, o artigo relata os resultados de uma pesquisa qualitativa, de revisão bibliográfica e dados...
La ayahuasca es una liana que crece en la Amazonía y con la cual se prepara una sustancia con potentes propiedades psicoactivas, también denominada ayahuasca. Esta sustancia está ligada con la cosmovisión de los pueblos amazónicos que la consideran una planta espiritual y medicinal por las visiones y percepción de los efectos que produce. Las investigaciones en laboratorio muestran que la...
This essay frames an invitation to pastoral counselors and pastoral theologians to examine connections and perhaps interactions between themselves and traditional shamanic healers who use ayahuasca in their healing ceremonies. Indigenous people in South America have used ayahuasca for centuries, and the ritual has become common among the mestizo populations in urban areas of the Amazon,...
Santo Daime, a Brazilian religion organized around a potent psychoactive beverage called ayahuasca, is now being practiced across Europe and North America. Deeming ayahuasca a dangerous "hallucinogen," most Western governments prosecute people who participate in Santo Daime. On the contrary, members of Santo Daime (called "daimistas") consider ayahuasca a medicinal sacrament (or "entheogen")....
AbstractThis article explores how women's sexual/spiritual lives were transformed with sacred Amazonian plant teachers (i.e. plants believed to have spirits that communicate with humans). The research was guided by the belief that the practice of vegetalismo (a South American healing tradition that uses plant teachers for healing) holds important lessons for guiding women's sexual/spiritual...
This is an autoethnography that provides a thick description, analysis and reflection of my personal Multiple Sclerosis healing journey, supported by a transpersonal modality based on an ancient shamanic wisdom.This research explores Ayahuasca as a transpersonal therapy, which is facilitated by a spiritual plant that has been used for centuries by Indigenous Peoples in the Amazonian region for...
Resumo: este artigo faz uma reflexao sobre a ayahuasca como uma beberagem de origem indigena considerada pelos diversos grupos usuarios como uma planta professora por meio da qual e possivel obter conhecimentos. Com base nas reflexoes de Boaventura de Sousa Santos analisa a epistemologia xamânica subjacente a experiencia da ayahuasca no sentido de evidenciar sua contribuicao para a dissolucao...
Výzkum je zaměřen na osoby, které se vydaly do amazonských pralesů užívat přírodní halucinogen ayahuasku v kontextu „šamanského“ rituálu. Tento jev popisovaný antropology od 70. let. 20. stol. jako tzv. „šamanský turismus“ je stále aktuálnější především mezi obyvateli zemí Evropy a USA. Našim cílem bylo zmapovat, jakým způsobem ayahuaskový šamanský turismus probíhá – motivaci osob, které tento...
This qualitative empirical study explores the ritual use of ayahuasca in the treatment of addictions. Ayahuasca is an Amazonian psychedelic plant compound created from an admixture of the vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the bush Psychotria viridis. The study included interviews with 13 therapists who apply ayahuasca professionally in the treatment of addictions (four indigenous healers and nine...
Can drugs be used intelligently and responsibly to expand human consciousness and heighten spirituality? This two-volume work presents objective scientific information and personal stories aiming to answer the question. The first of its kind, this intriguing two-volume set objectively reports on and assesses this modern psycho-social movement in world culture: the constructive medical use of...
Substances known as psychedelics, hallucinogens and entheogens have been employed in ethnomedical traditions for thousands of years, but after promising uses in the 1950's and 1960's they were largely prohibited in medical treatment and human research starting in the 1970's as part of the fallout from the war on drugs. Nonetheless, there are a number of studies which suggest that these...