Yagé

Yagé is a hallucinogenic drink consumed in indigenous religious rituals in South America. Ayahuasca, as it is known in the native Quechua language, is an Amazonian plant combination that is made by cooking the stem of Banisteriopsis caapi, a vine of the family Malpighiaceae, with the leaves of Psychotria viridis, of the Rubiaceae. In areas of Colombia and Ecuador, the admixture plant is Diplopterys cabrerana, also of the Malpighiaceae, where it is known under the name yagé (also written yajé). B. caapi contains the alkaloids harmine and tetrahydroharmine, with traces of harmaline, while both P. viridis and D. cabrerana contain the powerful visionary alkaloid dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT is not orally active, being readily inactivated in the gut and liver by the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO). Harmine is an MAO inhibitor, protecting DMT from deactivation, which is then able to cross the blood-brain barrier and bind on serotonin receptors sites in the central nervous system.

Travelers and anthropologists have reported the use of ayahuasca/yagé by numerous indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon, where it is mainly used to get in touch with spiritual realms, for healing and divination. In some instances, especially in the past, it is also used in great collective ceremonies of a religious character. Ayahuasca permeates the cultural lives of many indigenous groups, including their art, narratives, and general cosmological ideas. Its use was adopted by the riverain mestizo population of Peru, Ecuador, and to a certain extent also Colombia, Brazil, and Bolivia, probably in the beginning of the 20th century, where practitioners use it in ceremonies of a shamanic nature, for healing, for divination, and for “learning from the plants.” A rigorous training involving a special diet and sexual segregation is a requirement to become an ayahuasquero. However, it is sometimes also taken simply to see the visions that it often elicits, ayahuasca being often referred to as the jungle cinema or TV.

In contemporary Brazil, ayahuasca is considered as a sacrament by the three main Christian syncretic religious organizations, which emerged in the Amazonian states of Acre and Rondônia, its use then being extended in the past decades to all states in Brazil, as well as to other countries. These religious organizations are the creation of three religious figures, all coming from the Brazilian Northeast, Raimundo Irineu Serra (1892–1971) and Daniel Pereira de Matos (1904–1958), who established their religious organizations in Rio Branco, Acre, and José Gabriel da Costa (1922–1971), who in 1961 created in Porto Velho, Rondônia, the Uniâo do Vegetal (UDV). A fourth religious leader, Sebastiâo Mota (1920–1990), a follower of Irineu Serra, created after his death, a new religious branch, which separated from the matrix. The Centro Eclético de Fluente Luz Universal Raimundo Irineu Serra (CEFLURIS, Eclectic Center of Fluid Universal Light Raimundo Irineu Serra), created in 1972, first expanded to urban areas of many Brazilian states and later into other countries in Europe, the Americas, and Japan. The [Page 1392]original nucleus created by Irineu Serra, known as Alto Santo, divided into several small nuclei, all located in Rio Branco, plus an offshoot in Porto Velho. The religious organization created by Daniel Pereira de Matos, known as Barquinha, has also divided into various churches in Rio Branco, with smaller units in Brasilia and Salvador. The UDV is experiencing the greatest growth. It is found in almost every major Brazilian city, has members in all levels of society, and is spreading to other countries. Followers of Irineu Serra, Pereira de Matos, and Sebastiâo Mota call the sacred brew Santo Daime, while those of José Gabriel da Costa call it Vegetal. All of these religious organizations have been influenced by kardecism and by European esoteric traditions. They all believe in reincarnation. There is a strong popular Catholic ethos in Barquinha and Santo Daime (Alto Santo and CEFLURIS), while stronger Afro-Brazilian elements are found in Barquinha, as manifested in Umbanda or Candomblé. There is a frequent movement of persons between different ayahuasca doctrinal lines, and schisms occurred within these religious organizations with the emergence of new charismatic religious leaders and the gradual incorporation of the use of ayahuasca by other religious organizations. This has contributed to the appearance of more and more groups led by new ayahuasqueros in religious, therapeutic, musical, or artistic settings in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador, while indigenous shamans travel the world or Western ayahuasqueros conduct sessions in their own countries. There has been a revival of ayahuascamediated shamanism among some indigenous communities, to a great extent set in motion by Western interest in the brew and its economic value. Caution is thus in place when people present themselves as ayahuasca experts, as not all of them have undergone proper training or adhere to high ethical standards. On the other hand, there is a growing scientific and popular interest in ayahuasca for the possibilities it offers in the study of consciousness and also as a tool for personal growth, creativity, and healing in general.

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