People often ask me about ayahuasca analogues, suggesting that they could serve as solutions to awkward cultural appropriation and unsustainable Banisteropisis caapi harvesting in the Amazon. ⠀
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Ayahuasca analogues refer to a combo of plants similar to the ayahuasca mix - a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). In theory, you could combine syrian rue (MAOI) and Mimosa hostilis (DMT) and produce an ayahuasca analogue. The MAOI is key - you could eat a whole bowl of DMT salad and see zilch. ⠀
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Exploring analogues could offer opportunities to develop new rituals. They could also make the ayahuasca experience more easily commodifiable, easier to serve over the counter. Easier to distribute the medicine, easier to democratize.⠀
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The thing is, ayahuasca isn't just ayahuasca; what we're talking about is ayahuasca shamanism and culture. The mature ayahuasca practitioner is a master of synesthesia, deftly guiding the drinker through visionary landscapes, laden with monsters and muses of the dark and misty realms of the unexplored mind. You can go yourself and risk getting lost - or have a guide. Traditionally, these guides are enrolled in a lifetime of ascetic and contemplative study and practice. In this respect, training wise you can think of them like doctors.
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Ayahuasca is considered star of the show, yet too often we neglect the profound sophistication and beauty of shamanic practices that accompany its use. In fact, the discovery of ayahuasca itself probably emerged from the shamanic intuition - not the other way around. ⠀
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There are analogues, and we could put ayahuasca in a pill, sell it in a market. Microdose it in a cold laboratory. But does this miss the point? ⠀
Maybe there is no 'point' - there is no center, there is no one commodity, no cut-and-dry easy thing, no perfect experience, no substitute. Perhaps what we're really talking about with ayahuasca is an elegant ecological, chemical, and magical machine held together by levers and pulleys made from leaves and vines, human memory and practice, bird feathers, sorcery, love, gestures and atonal chords vibrating with the cosmic memory of pain and creation. It is formless and complete.
Explore analogues, yes — and remember that the power of the human spirit and the magic of focus is the real medicine that will endure.