4

BANISTERIOPSIS CAAPI

Ayahuasca

The remedy, universally known by its native South American name, was proved in December 1993 by both groups of the meditation circle. Each member of the group was given a single dose of the 30^th potency to take prior to the meditations. (A twig of ayahuasca was present in the room at the time.)

The Background

Ayahuasca grows in the heart of Amazonia. It is a forest liana or vine, and amongst the many tribes that live in the region it has many names. In Quechua, the word aya means ‘spirit’ or ‘ancestor’ and the word huasca means ‘vine’ or ‘rope’. It is believed by the indigenous people that ingesting the ‘vine of the souls’ will invest the user with the power to communicate with the spirit world. It is also believed, as a consequence, that the vine will facilitate the diagnosis of ailments and heal illnesses and even give the power to predict the future.

Ayahuasca has only been known to Western science since 1851 when an explorer, Richard Spruce, was invited to join a ceremony being held by Tukanoan Indians. Although Spruce took a little of the drink they offered him, he found it disgusting and failed to record the hallucinatory effects it may have had on him. However, he did observe the effect it had on his hosts and wrote about the plant, specimens of which he was able to collect while they were in full flower. In the last 20 years the plant has been of increasing interest to both psychiatrists and chemists as well as journalists and those keen on researching hallucinatory drugs – many, it must be said, in search of a new form of mind experience for its own sake.

The drug is prepared by soaking the crushed stem of the vine in fresh water (either cold or hot) and making an infusion. The plant material is strained off and the remaining liquid is drunk. However, there are other preparations. It is not uncommon to add to the brew flavouring and stimulants such as caffeine, nicotine or DMT (dimethyltriptamine: a psychoactive product prepared from the Virola tree and used by Indians in the form of snuff). Every ayahuasquero or healer who uses ayahuasca would have his own recipe. It is recognized that DMT makes the hallucinatory experiences of ayahuasca more elaborate, powerful and potentially visionary. In the 1950s scientists discovered that intramuscular injections of DMT caused similar effects on the body to those of mescaline and LSD.

Ayahuasca is related to a group of chemicals known as harmala alkaloids. These are hallucinogens which work in a particular way and have an effect on the pineal gland, an organ that is important to the materia medica of Ayahuasca. The pineal stores and secretes melatonin and serotonin. Melatonin is directly related to seasonal changes undergone by the body as a result of changing patterns of sunlight; with the increase of melatonin in the body as a result of less or no light (i.e. in the winter or at night while asleep), the subject succumbs to drowsiness. There are also longer-term effects of melatonin which are related to sexual maturation. Serotonin, on the other hand, is a neurotransmitter which is stored in the synapses and has its greatest concentration within the pineal gland. It facilitates the speedy promotion or inhibition of nervous responses. These two chemicals are linked. Their connection with ayahuasca is that the drug contains beta-carboline alkaloids which inhibit monoamine oxidase (MAO), an enzyme (usually found in the gut) which is essential to the breakdown of monoamines that are found in food and which could disturb the balance of our monoamine neurotransmitters in the brain. Serotonin and other neurotransmitters are rendered inactive by MAO but when the MAO is itself broken down by beta-carboline there is a consequent build-up of serotonin which, when in excess in the pineal, can be converted by certain other enzymes into a chemical (5-MeDMT) that has strong similarities to DMT and which has similar hallucinatory properties. Furthermore, it has been shown that the biochemistry and molecular structures of some hallucinogens (such as the harmala group) are remarkably similar to that of neurotransmitters such as serotonin. The corollary of this is that the brain has the potential to produce its own hallucinogens within the pineal which can create effects similar to powerful drugs such as LSD, DMT, ayahuasca and others. This would lend credence to the long-held belief that the pineal gland is the third eye or part of it (the pituitary and hypothalamus being inextricably linked), responsible for intuitive second sight, the mystic eye.

The ayahuasquero will learn his craft from a spirit plant teacher; he will receive from the teacher ritual songs which come to him during the visionary stage of an ayahuasca-induced hallucination. Both visions and songs are memorized for use during healing of the sick. Such visions, with their vivid colouring, have become central to Amazonian art. During a healing session the ayahuasquero will paint a design on his body that represents the healthy energy of the patient. When the patient is sick he is able to see the distortion in the pattern. By a mixture of massage, phytotherapy, hydrotherapy and suction he is able to restore the patient’s health.

Ayahuasca has been used in church ceremonies as well. Priests have long added it to the communion chalice in certain parts of South America and the idea has spread north towards the United States. Many parents among the tribes of the Amazon basin use ayahuasca in a semi-baptismal rite. The first thing that is given to a baby is an oral dose of the infusion as there is the strong belief that the drug is a true gift of the gods.

The symptomatology that arises as a result of taking ayahuasca is variable from one person to another. Amongst the tribes that traditionally use it there is a consensus: visions will include those of snakes, crocodiles, jaguars and other jungle animals. Most common are visions or dreams of snakes which portend good or evil; they appear either with an open mouth that threatens to swallow, or in motion. Snakes and wild animals are often used by the shaman for divination. However, such hallucinations occur among people who have certain expectations through a strong cultural heritage and through group or tribal discussion prior to the ingestion of the drug. Among non-native users the results are different. Ayahuasca has been noted to produce lethargy, immobility, a desire to close the eyes and a sense of withdrawal from the environment. Some users have also experienced extreme spiritual fear. This is often followed by giddiness, nervousness, nausea and sometimes vomiting accompanied by profuse sweating. There are flashes of light such as one might experience with the early symptoms of a migraine and this can be followed by seeing a bluish haze on closing the eyes. There is a general lassitude and a heightened awareness and appreciation of colours. Sleep follows which is deep and dream filled. On waking there is a common urgency to pass diarrhoea. The net result of the whole experience is one of a physical purging and peace of mind. Many of the writers of articles about ayahuasca, it should be noted, are familiar with many other forms of hallucinogens. These authors have already used LSD, mescaline and cocaine, all of which will have left their long-term effects on the psyche. It is amongst such users that the experience of extreme spiritual fear seems to be most prevalent while undergoing an ayahuasca trip – a fact which is a signature of the remedy when it is being considered for a patient who has had too long an association with recreational drugs. (It is worth noting that one cultural researcher amongst the Amerindians became aware that in order to talk with authority on the subject of shamanism she would have to experience taking ayahuasca. She was reluctant to do so and felt that the best way to introduce herself to it was by taking a dose of mescaline which she was extremely wary of doing because she knew of its propensity for inducing self-awareness. She was particularly afraid of incurable neuroses that would be uncovered. She avoided taking mescaline but took LSD instead, as she already knew that it had been used in controlled medical conditions; she found it to be 'a fantastic experience'. This then enabled her to go ahead and take the ayahuasca. This anecdote fairly well illustrates some of the aspects of a patient with a history that would lead the homoeopath to prescribe Ayahuasca.)

Apart from the symptoms listed above, some people taking ayahuasca as a material drug would be likely to experience a sleep-like trance (in which the person would want to keep the eyes closed) but in which, paradoxically, there would be a sense of alertness with greatly increased intensity of awareness and insight into metaphysics or into personal problems of the moment. There are various ‘themes’ that users have described:

• a soul journey in which soul and body separate; there is often the sense of flight, sometimes at high speed

• visions of jungle animals which all seem in some measure to do with cautions, warnings or predictions and afford some insight into the user’s behavioural patterns that need attention in order to avoid or enhance certain events

• mystical visions of angels, Christ or, negatively, the Devil

• clairvoyance; the user experiences a vision of a future event or goes on a journey which shows such an event

• the visual experience of an event from the past that in some way illuminates the present so that the user can see what needs to be done in either some personal problem or in a more global problem.

Keynote effects

Ayahuasca is useful in both acute and chronic situations. In the acute it should help to resolve injuries that are characterized by having an element of ‘twist’ in them (see below) and gastric conditions that often seem to indicate Arsen-alb: nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, anxiousness and restlessness. When given to babies and children Ayahuasca affords swift relief from physical and psychic stress with very little or no aggravation. In chronic cases its chief effects are to give patients the opportunity to express and resolve problems that have their aetiology deep in the past and that are in some fashion connected to mother issues or issues that have to do with female ancestry. Being able to treat so far back into a patient’s history frequently means that often-indicated remedies such as Nat-mur, Aurum, Carcinosin, Thuja, and others that are only able to bring partial relief or resolution, despite being well indicated, become ‘unlocked’. In cases where these remedies have already been given, it is as if they are held recorded by the system and are waiting until the Ayahuasca ‘key’ is introduced.

General symptoms

Tiredness, exhaustion. Anything from feeling sleepy to utter exhaustion and debility. Unable to move from tiredness. Shakiness and disorientation. Unable to recover one’s energy with rest. Feelings of detachment, poor memory and vagueness with the exhaustion. Muscular soreness (and weakness) from tiredness. Limbs go to sleep; pins and needles. Spinal sensations: tightness, tingling, aching and drawing. Rushes of energy which are associated with raised heart beat and that cause some anxiety. Heightened sensitivity of the five senses – mostly vision and hearing though touch can be extremely acute. Numbness and general malaise. Anaesthesia. Muscle wastage; necrosis. Easy dislocation of joints. Crumbling of bone tissue. Poor assimilation and metabolization. Nausea and vomiting; chronic or acute. Digestive tract malfunction; imbalance of bowel flora causing psychological symptoms such as depression. Pains can be sharp, sudden on appearance and quick to go; tend to be < night. Autism. Ailments from injuries – < the spine or the head. AIDS. Cancer. ME. Parkinsonism. Strong history of drug abuse: one of the most useful remedies for the clearing of a hallucinogenic drug ‘layer’ that may be regarded as a block to cure for deeper-seated trauma and injury. After injuries in which the patient has sustained potentially chronic damage due to a twist pattern being established in the patient’s musculoskeletal structure (as the patient sustains the injury, the movement and posture of the body or the part is twisted).

Mental and emotional symptoms

Disorientation and feelings of being disconnected < tiredness or stress, anxiety or fear. Sense of unreality (perceived by the practitioner) which, nevertheless, is often quite comfortable for the patient – their state of unreality can seem more real to them than otherwise; out-of-body state when the body is a thoroughly uncomfortable place to be in; a feeling as if drugged (all of which may well be due to a history of having taken recreational drugs). Contentedly abstracted. Spiritual pride. Clear-sightedness; absolute clarity. Clairvoyant and clairaudient. Telepathic phenomena. These positive aspects can also be illusory; telepathic messages can be false as can the clairvoyance. Patients can be convinced of their psychic abilities but actually be deluded – this is where Ayahuasca shows its sycotic connections. Loss of purpose; a sense of uselessness and frustration at not being able to find one’s path. A sense of having been derailed. Grief – of the deepest and most unrelieved kind. Anxiety – desperate, acute; prolonged anguish and fear which has heightened every sense. Unmitigated misery. Mood swings between extremes of rage and well-being. Changeable attitudes. Jealousy – especially sexual. Irritable and negative. Awareness of childhood feelings (usually painful) – and its opposite, inability to remember what it was like to be a child. Forgotten memories that are important to relive as they have a bearing on the inability to move forward and develop. Inability to feel connected to the mother. A sense of oppression by a mother or a grandmother or of abuse (physical or sexual) especially by a female relative, or after abuse where the mother has provided no protection. Useful for those who have been adopted (see ‘Author’s note’ below). A sense of being oppressed by familial ties or ancestral energy. Hears voices or receives messages.

Physical symptoms

Head

A sense of being stuffed up with cotton wool; cannot think straight. Heat in the vertex or cold as ice.

Eyes

Acute vision or blurred. Sees images superimposed on walls or doors or other people’s faces or whatever is being looked at. Doubts what is apparently seen; has to look again.

Ears

Hears acutely. Hears as if from a distance.

Respiration and chest

Restricted breathing from emotional disturbances. Emphysema; asthma; chronic constricted airways.

Heart

Congenital heart disease. Pains – either real or phantom. Raised heart rate.

Digestion and stomach

Craves alcohol. ++ stimulants such as coffee and tea. No appetite. Would prefer to do without food. Sensitive stomach which reacts to many foods. Nausea and vomiting after stimulant food and drink. Feels relieved for vomiting. Nausea and vomiting with anxiety and dread.

Abdomen

Malabsorption and malnutrition from defective gut. Multiple allergy syndrome.

Male and female

Total loss of libido especially after use of hallucinatory drugs. Heightened libido which can lead to excessive masturbation. Excessive libido in those who enjoy it as if it were only a spiritual experience. Sex without grounding. Has been suggested as a remedy for those who have suffered from sexual abuse and now have a crippled sex life. Difficult, prolonged or late periods. Prostate trouble relating to longterm impotency. Impotency arising from too-long use of recreational drugs.

Urinary organs

Very weak kidney energy. Frequent urinary infections or pains in the kidneys.

Back

Injuries to the spine and coccyx. Tension in the neck. Scoliosis and kyphosis.

Extremities

Muscle wasting. Poor extension and abduction of limbs due to inelasticity of tendons and ligaments. Poor circulation; coldness and numbness of extremities. Possible remedy for gangrenous states.

Sleep

‘Sleeps like the dead’. Full of dreams. Many and varied dreams; some are bizarre, some are revelatory, others resolve issues from the past. Dreams seem more real than life. Desire to go back into the dream to continue it. Insomnia. Insomnia from drug abuse or from overuse of sleeping pills.

Considerations for the use of the remedy

• Arsen-alb has several correspondences with Ayahuasca: both are anxious and fearful, both suffer terrible abdominal pains with diarrhoea and vomiting, both are < at night. If Arsen-alb is called for in diarrhoea and vomiting, but fails to act, Ayahuasca may well be of service. Ayahuasca, however, is far more terrified of specific horrors such as fierce animals or spirit entities. There is less likely to be blood in the discharges of Ayahuasca in extreme acute cases. Arsen-alb has just as much burning but is more exhausted and yet demanding.

• Lachesis comes from jungles where ayahuasca grows. There is a strong affinity between them. It is not uncommon for Lachesis to follow Ayahuasca, particularly when the latter is given as a first prescription (see page 97). The obvious differences include the typical Lachesis verbosity, vitriol and poor sequential thought which are not nearly as strongly part of Ayahuasca’s picture. Both have considerable fears of spiritual entities. Ayahuasca patients may have a fear of snakes or have dreams of them.

• Emerald is easily differentiated but, confusingly, a patient may seem to indicate both of these remedies simultaneously, making it hard to know how to prescribe. Emerald is likely to be the second remedy in the sequence; it follows Ayahuasca well and its mental and emotional troubles are nearer the surface than Ayahuasca’s. Emerald has more anger and hurt and damage to the ego; Ayahuasca has more fearfulness and anxiety about what the past may hold in terms of what needs to be addressed for true long-term healing.

• Thymus Gland is a remedy to study in relation to Ayahuasca. They work admirably in each other’s company either in the context of a constitutional remedy with a support, or when prescribed in combination.

Works well with all the main constitutional remedy types: Sulphur, Calc-carb, Silica and Phosphorus. Often needed before or after Lachesis or other snake remedies and may well be indicated in a patient who needs Latrodectus Mactans for a history of trauma around parental issues. In a detoxification programme it works well with Rainbow; Rainbow precedes Ayahuasca well. (Rainbow 10M followed by Ayahuasca LM is invaluable in clearing the crown and brow chakras of the influence of recreational drugs; successful prescriptions have been recorded in which Rainbow 10M is given daily with the Ayahuasca till the patient is more ‘present’ in the body.) Is compatible with all the nosodes but particularly so with Syphilinum and Medorrhinum Americana. Is well supported by or followed by Emerald. In cases where there is considerable tension and anxiety with lack of groundedness (but where there is no history of drug abuse) Ayahuasca is very well supported by Oak. It is common to find that deep trauma remedies follow Ayahuasca as it unlocks past or ancient grief and fear. Any of the following may be indicated: Aquamarine, Japanese White Oleander, Winchelsea Sea Salt, Himalayan Crystal Salt, Berlin Wall or Chalice Well Water. Sandalwood is another remedy that follows well and helps the patient to feel released from past relatives. In cases where there is fear and a sense of psychic attack from another or others, Holly Berry supports Ayahuasca better than any other remedy.

Ayahuasca is one of the remedies that has been employed in combinations. Perhaps because of its habit (signature) of climbing up other plants, Ayahuasca is very useful when combined with other remedies in cases where single indicated remedies do not succeed as well as might be expected, though there is very likely to be the key theme of past history of issues over birth, mother and female forebears. The following have all been given with success:

• Ayahuasca + Silica + Ignatia is useful to assist in creating detachment where there is a destructive bond between a parent and the child.

• Ayahuasca + Ignatia + Syphilinum is a remedy that delves deep into a destructive family tragedy of the past where expression of the trauma is completely blocked and is forced to find a manifestation in another chakra other than the throat.

• Ayahuasca + Arnica + Oak is a useful remedy for serious injury to the spine when Arnica on its own does not appear to be able to relieve pain and bruising thoroughly.

• Ayahuasca + Purple (or Amethyst) + Syphilinum is excellent for relieving depression and anxiety in those whose suffering stems from an upbringing in a dysfunctional family.

• Ayahuasca + Arsenicum + Oak is useful at the terminal stages of illness to relieve unbearable stress, tension and fear both in the patient and the relatives and carers; it helps the patient to ‘let go’ at the appropriate moment.

• Ayahuasca + Ignatia + Emerald is useful for inconsolable grief that is nevertheless being expressed (rather than buried) when the patient is angry, confused and hurt and has taken things too personally.

See Thymus Gland for the use of Ayahuasca in combination with other remedies for the specific purpose of healing damage to the thymus centre.

Esoteric therapeutics

This remedy can be thought of and has been described as the ‘spiritual umbilicus’. It can forge links not only with relatives and loved ones but also between a patient and his past or a past ancestor. The vital energy of Ayahuasca as it is experienced by the body has a form which is peculiar to itself: it moves from the base centre in a spiral up the spine towards the crown. This dynamic form, which so closely resembles the action of the kundalini energy, suggests that the remedy has the power to heal every chakra, to heal enfeebled kundalini and to forge a connection between all the chakras. Furthermore, it has the ability to create a loop of energy between base and crown and then back down to the base. By integrating the energies of the different chakras Ayahuasca also heals damaged auric fields – the energy of each chakra itself being an integral part of the whole aura. As these facets of its power are seldom likely to appear all at once in a patient, it is reasonable to consider that Ayahuasca can be a remedy that is either given in a continuously repeated dose for some while (especially useful in LM) or often repeated at greater or lesser intervals.

The colours of Ayahuasca’s own aura are said to be green (heart) and purple (crown). However, in keeping with the vine’s material use, these colours can change according to the use to which the drug is put – for good or ill. The green can become corrupted by reds and black (ranging from puce to deepest night-black). These colour changes reflect the state of the patients who require the remedy, and also the miasmatic state in which they arrive for treatment. The colour variations are indicative of states of the psyche from the deepest gloom and depression, despair and misery to the heights of peace, spiritual awareness and euphoria.

Chakras

Crown

When this centre is damaged there is a sense of vacancy about the subject. The patient is open to psychic attack from others or from other abstruse sources of negative energy; this is particularly true of those with a syphilitic or syphilitic/sycotic bias. It is often accompanied by the fearfulness held in the solar plexus. This chakra is particularly affected by hallucinogens such as cannabis, cocaine and Ecstasy, the damage from which will call for Ayahuasca in potency.

Brow

By healing the heart, solar plexus and base, Ayahuasca can give the patient the means with which to ‘see’ – to see what needs to be done to progress further, to become ‘unstuck’. It clears inner perception so that the patient is more able to see how they have been damaging themselves (in the case of recreational drug use) or how negative ancestral energy has been holding them in a destructive pattern. Split states of mind: psychosis, schizophrenia.

Throat

Encourages the freedom of expression; the patient is able to find his voice. The expression from this chakra is limited to physical symptoms, anger and frustration or abject silence in a system that is weighed down and exhausted.

Thymus gland

Ayahuasca is for frequent use when this chakra is compromised by a long history of emotional trauma. It is of great service when prescribed as an ingredient in a triad remedy (see Thymus Gland).

Heart

There is both unimaginably deep sadness and great despondency. In the negative state there is often a psychic pain accompanied by anxiety or fear held in the heart itself. It is a remedy for long-held grief and trauma that is often either to do with the mother or the mother’s family line.

Solar plexus

When there is fear it often originates from this chakra. It can feel similar to a coiled snake that is ready to overwhelm the patient by forcing its way upwards through the heart centre. Conversely, there can also be fearlessness and courage.

Base

The patient is often ‘stuck’ and unable to move forward and develop. There is little or no kundalini energy. This can be in the acute as well as in the chronic. Fear and shock can engender a sudden paralysis of energy which can be released by Ayahuasca – which makes this a fine alternative to Aconite.

Case studies

1 ‘A woman in her 50s came suffering with chronic fatigue. She had so little strength that it was hard to hear her voice. She explained that she was getting too weak to do her job (as a filing clerk). She spoke with very little expression; her general colouring was grey: hair, skin, eyes, clothes. She had never had treatment before but had had a severe bout of liver disease from a missionary trip to Africa for which she had been treated at the tropical medicines hospital some years before. Her time in West Africa had been extremely frightening: “If I put my nose outside the hut it was likely to be shot off or I’d catch some fearful bug.” The other aspect of her history that was of note was that she had been brought up an only child by a virago of a mother who sexually abused her from around the age of five till she was nine. Her father, whom she adored, was completely cowed by his wife; he died when the patient was twelve. Her mother, who appeared to have suffered from severe menstrual difficulties, died when she was fifteen. At the end of the interview she said that her mother, though she had died years before, had never left her and was, in fact, even then telling her what to do and what to say from behind her left shoulder. The patient had never been free of this influence. She was given Ayahuasca based on the abject fear and trauma she had suffered, the weakness and enervation and the continued negative influence of the mother. Within three weeks she rang to say that she had a terrible left-sided sore throat that was now affecting the right and causing her terrible difficulty in swallowing. She was given Lachesis 30 which removed the pains within two hours and all the other symptoms within twenty-four hours. When she returned for the follow-up consultation she appeared much stronger and more animated. Her face had expression and her voice was clearer. When asked about her mother she declared that her mother was no longer around:“No, she went as soon as I took that remedy for the sore throat and she has not been back since. I don’t feel that she will be back either.” ’ CG

2 ‘A woman, sent by her osteopath for a chronic injury which did not respond to treatment, recounted that the injury was sustained when she was getting out of the car, got her right leg caught in the bottom of her left trouser leg and fell out in a rotating movement that left her lying sprawled on the ground with her right foot turned in and strained. She felt bruised and had pain in the right shoulder and leg. The foot was still swollen and discoloured even after several weeks of nursing it and taking Arnica and Ruta. She was given Ayahuasca 30, one twice daily for five days, and asked to report back. The injury was completely better within three days and the osteopath reported that the problem had been resolved.’ CG

3 ‘A man in his early 30s wrote to say that he wished to “clean up” after years of using recreational drugs. He felt unclear about his direction in life, confused mentally and stuck generally. He was quite physically fit (he lived in mountainous country) but now needed a change of direction. He was given Nux Vomica on the general indications which he reported as having done very little; perhaps he felt a little less irritable and he was now able to cut down on coffee which he had been reluctant to do. He was then given Ayahuasca LM1 which he continued to take for two months. At the end of this period he reported that he was much clearer mentally, far more interested in things again and beginning to make plans.’ CG

4 ‘A young woman in her early 20s came back for treatment after some years. She was extremely nervous, agitated, tearful and wary. She sat wringing her hands constantly. She said, “I’m not in a stable state at all. I’m all in pieces. I have had a terrible row with my boyfriend and he has been texting me all day. He shouted at me and I am really scared that he is going to do something stupid. He’s not in a good state either. I am not going to answer his texts but I’m afraid of what he might do.” She explained that they were living in Suffolk, deep in the country away from towns. They were more or less in hiding from a group of men with whom her boyfriend had had an altercation over drugs. They had threatened to kill him. Both the patient and her partner smoked cannabis, took Ecstasy, snorted cocaine and had tried most other drugs; she had not been involved for more than 18 months but he had been using drugs since he was 14 and he was now in his late 20s. She said that she only got into it because of her boyfriend. She was both afraid of him and passionately in love with him and she did not want anything to harm him. She spoke quickly and, though she was able to look me in the eye, hers were darting all over the room. Her expression was deadpan. She added that she was confused a lot of the time. After just a few minutes of her story, whilst she was fumbling for words, she was given Ayahuasca 10M. Within ten minutes a fine sweat had broken out on her forehead. The colour of her face changed from a deathly grey pallor to white with a flush of pink over the cheek bones. When, at an appropriate pause, she was asked how she was feeling, she said that she had become hot, sweaty and tingling all over. She said that she could feel something creeping right through her body and that as it went her anxiety was beginning to ease. “I feel that I am more here. There is nothing between me and being here; it’s weird but it feels OK. I feel I can think straighter. Do you think that my boyfriend would be all right to take some of that? I’m sure he needs it!” Then, after a pause, she let out a sigh and said, “I feel I’m really grounding.” ’ CG

5 ‘Woman of 37 with bulimia and anorexia; history of Largactil, alcohol abuse and a long-standing skin eruption on her head and feet. Family history of spinal muscular atrophy. A mother of two, she had had a painful left hip ever since childbirth. “I’m always aware of a presence on that left hip; it’s an aura-something stuck there.” She was given Ayahuasca 10M after which the sense of a presence on her hip disappeared and the crusty eruption came back on her head and feet. She said that she was in fear and panic about all the dead children in the family history. She then had Ayahuasca + Ignatia + Arsenicum 10M once a week. She returned with Sepia symptoms after which she was very much better. The eruptions later cleared up completely with Kali-sulph.’ RP (who added that, while on the Ayahuasca and then the Ayahuasca combination, it was as if ‘she brought it through her body from the ancestors and out.’)

Author’s note

Ayahuasca has proved to be one of the most consistently useful of all the remedies introduced into homoeopathy since the early 1990s. There is seldom a week that goes by in my practice when I do not use it for a variety of different patients. I have found it most frequently called for in babies who have had difficult birth patterns, injuries in which there has been a twist element, patients who have a history of drug and/or physical and mental abuse, hypochondriasis with a fear of painful death, deep trauma in which the origins of the shock and grief are so thoroughly locked into the psyche that indicated remedies cannot dig far enough into the history, and cases in which conventional prescribing of single remedies has proved unsatisfactory and the patients have needed Ayahuasca to be combined in triad remedies. In working alongside cranial osteopaths it has become apparent that Ayahuasca is beautifully complemented by Rainbow. While Ayahuasca has an upward, spiralling energy that revitalizes from the base centre to the crown, Rainbow has a descending energy that ‘washes’ through the system creating an opposite but complementary flow. The result in those patients who indicate the need for such a prescription is either calmness and groundedness or the ability to open up the heart centre with a greater sense of security and purpose so that remedies such as Nat-mur and Aurum can at last do their work and without any aggravation. Another aspect of Ayahuasca is that it is useful for adopted people. It has, on several occasions, encouraged patients to drop their hostility to the idea of going in search of their blood relatives; the results have not necessarily been the formation of strong family bonds but the patients have at least made connections to a past reality and have found some sense of resolution and peace in this. Finally, Ayahuasca is one of those remedies that combines well with others, particularly Thymus Gland, the organ that is so strongly associated with the syphilitic miasm. The syphilitic miasm has become so deeply entrenched in the three bodies that it often seems to defy the best-indicated remedies. Such combinations as Thymus Gland+ Ayahuasca+ Syphilinum or TG+ Ayahuasca + Arsen-alb have been building a quiet reputation for their ability to open channels for other remedies to complete the work for which they are indicated.

Practitioners’ comments

‘I give it when I see “horribleness”; where a relationship is not quite right. It clears the “wrong energy” (i.e. when negative energy between two incompatible people becomes threateningly damaging). I give it to people who have had nastiness in the background.’ MB

‘In a dual session (of homoeopathy and osteopathy) I gave Ayahuasca for hemicranial compression in a baby. The osteopath reported that there was an occipito-anterior compression and torsion (through the cranial base). The Ayahuasca eased everything and then Sycamore Seed completed the session.’ RP