---
name: Ayahuasca
molecule: C12H16N2
compound: "N,N-Dimethyltryptamine"
era: Ancient
origin: Amazon Basin
archetype: Freetekno
ancestor: Mayan
swag_score: 5
image: "https://assets.0xhoneyjar.xyz/Mibera/traits/freetekno_mayan_ayahuasca.webp"
date_added: "2025-01-12"
---

<div align="center">
  <img src="https://assets.0xhoneyjar.xyz/Mibera/traits/freetekno_mayan_ayahuasca.webp" alt="Ayahuasca" width="320" />
</div>


# Ayahuasca

## Effects & Properties

**Effects:** Vivid visual and auditory hallucinations, altered perception of time
and reality, increased heart rate, pupil dilation, and possible vomiting.

**Natural Occurrence:** Traditionally used in Amazonian shamanic
rituals for healing, divination, and spiritual growth. Recreationally consumed for psychedelic
experiences. Ayahuasca ceremonies are facilitated by trained shamans in South America and
increasingly globally.
**Appearance:** Based on Psychotria viridis,
it’s a shrub with glossy, dark green leaves, and small white flowers. Whilst Banisteriopsis caapi
is a woody vine with brown bark and green leaves. Ayahuasca brew is a brown to reddish-brown
liquid, often thick, with a bitter earthy taste and odor.

## History

Ayahuasca has been used by Indigenous Amazonian peoples for at least 1,000 years and possibly much longer, with the earliest archaeological evidence of ayahuasca preparation found in a Bolivian cave bundle dating to approximately 1000 CE. The brew, combining DMT-containing Psychotria viridis leaves with MAO-inhibiting Banisteriopsis caapi vine, was first documented by Western explorers including Richard Spruce in 1851 and later studied extensively by Richard Evans Schultes in the 1940s. The global ayahuasca movement exploded from the 1990s onward through Brazilian syncretic churches (Santo Daime and Uniao do Vegetal) and a growing network of retreat centers, making ayahuasca one of the most culturally significant psychedelic phenomena of the 21st century.

## Connections

**Archetype:** [Freetekno](../../../core-lore/archetypes.md#freetekno)

**Ancestor:** [Mayan](../../../core-lore/ancestors/mayan.md)

**Tarot Card:** [The Fool](../../../core-lore/tarot-cards/the-fool.md)

**PubChem:** [N,N-Dimethyltryptamine](https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/N%2CN-Dimethyltryptamine)

**Paired With:** [DMT](dmt.md)

## Sources

- https://www.erowid.org/chemicals/ayahuasca/ayahuasca.shtml
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca
- https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Dimethyltryptamine
- [Banisteriopsis caapi - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banisteriopsis_caapi)
- [Richard Spruce - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Spruce)