Shamanic Understanding:
"What is fascinating to consider is how these early shamans figured out that a potent brew could best be made from these two ingredients being mixed together."
‘Huasca – Ayahuasca, Yaje, Anahuasca
Most hallucinogens or “entheogens” are derived from plants. Entheogens – meaning “to generate the divine within” might possibly be the source of the very concept of gods or God… in fact entheogens or psychedelics as they are also called could be the defacto source of all religions. Quite possibly the most complex of the psychedelics is ayahuasca – also called yaje or ‘huasca – as it combines at least two plants, neither of which alone would give much effect. But brew these two plants together and they deliver an Amazonian elixir of entheogenic delights. It is only synergistic action between the two plants that makes the brew psychoactive. If that isn’t magic, I don’t know what is!
While the existence of ‘huasca has been well known for ages, the exact ingredients of the
South American drink had been a well guarded secret, with the true facts only beginning
to surface in the late 1980s. This awareness also brought ayahuasca-tourism to parts of
South America as Westerners sought the “authentic” ayahuasca experience, thereby
contaminating that very thing they sought. In the words of Jonathan Ott, one of the
world’s huasca experts, this tourism “can only disrupt the evanescent remnant of
preliterate religiosity struggling to make a place for itself in the modern world.”
Ayahuasca is used extensively in the Western Amazonian regions, and the Pacific coasts
of Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Columbia. While ayahuasca can have many additives, the
two main ingredients are plants containing ß-carbolines and plants containing DMT
(N,N-dimethyl-3-2-aminoethyl indole) and possibly other tryptamines. In South America
the ß-carboline plant is a creeping vine called Banistereopsis caapi, while the tryptamine
content is usually satisfied in the southern regions of the Amazonian by Psychotria
viridis and in the northern regions by Diplopterys cabrerana or “chacruna.”
Ayahuasca/anahuasca components:
Banisteriopsis caapi - the Vine at home in Seattle.
Fields of Phalaris araundinacea growing in the Puget Sound area.
Where the road goes
The Church of the Gnostic Vine hopes to educate you to be an honest person, a genuiine person, not a fake. The gnostic meditation is the main vehicle to accomplish that and the Vine encourages the gnostic experience so we can do things without deception. After imbibing just let the breathe flow. The basic concept of joining heaven and earth is that you are there fully, personally, genuinely.
The many, many varieties of mystical gnostic experience reflect a variety of psychological processes - our selves experience unions and visions, and are not to be interpreted at face value as though they were extra-sensory perceptions of objectively existing spiritual quiddities. We are The One. Revelation happens.
The Word "Church"
The word 'church' is used to convey the idea of a spiritual community, not of any building or place. Worshippers of the Sacred Mushroom need neither a special place ('cathedral') nor special people (priests, popes) to practice their religion - the only being they need to experience religion is the Sacred Vine.
Who's behind this?
Ayahuasca.us is maintained by Muraco Kyashna-tocha, an anthropologist living in the Pacific Northwest with her Moluccan Cockatoo Big Bird Bubba. Muraco has had a life long interest in entheogens and entheogenic exploration, and entheogenic virtual communities.