Ayahuasca in Peru: A Considered Guide to the Amazon’s Master Plant Medicine
Ayahuasca in Peru: A Considered Guide to the Amazon’s Master Plant Medicine An informed traveller’s overview of tradition, safety and choosing a retreat. Few experiences in the world of traditional plant medicine carry the mystique of ayahuasca. Over the past two decades, this Amazonian brew has drawn seekers, sceptics and scientists alike to the rainforests […]
Ayahuasca in Peru: What the Health Research Is Actually Finding
Ayahuasca in Peru: What the Health Research Is Actually Finding A few years ago a small research team in Brazil did the sort of study that, if it had involved almost any other compound, would have made the front page. They took a group of people with depression that had not budged for anything — […]
Ayahuasca Experience in Iquitos Peru
Ayahuasca in Peru: Notes From Someone Who Watched a Friend Go The brochure my friend Cass sent me had a photo of a wooden platform at dawn, mist coming off the river, and a price in US dollars that she had converted into Australian in the message underneath so I would not have to. Fourteen […]
Ajo Sacha (Purification & Alignment): An Introduction to the Master Plant
Understanding Ajo Sacha as a Master Plant Ajo Sacha (Mansoa alliacea), known in Spanish as “wild garlic” or “forest garlic,” is one of the most widely used and beloved master plants in Amazonian healing traditions. This woody vine, recognized by its distinctive garlic-like aroma when the leaves are crushed, carries medicine that works across multiple […]
Ayahuma (The Tree of Clarity): An Introduction to the Master Plant
Understanding Ayahuma as a Master Plant Ayahuma (Couroupita guianensis), known in English as the Cannonball Tree, is one of the most enigmatic and powerful master plants in the Amazonian tradition. Named for its distinctive spherical fruits that resemble cannonballs and hang directly from the trunk, Ayahuma is revered as a plant of profound mental clarity, […]
Bobinsana (The Heart Teacher): An Introduction to the Master Plant
Understanding Bobinsana as a Master Plant Bobinsana (Calliandra angustifolia) is known throughout the Amazon as “the plant of the heart.” This graceful riverside shrub, adorned with delicate pink and white flowers, carries a gentle yet profoundly transformative medicine. While some master plants work through intensity and purification, Bobinsana teaches through softening, opening, and the gradual […]
Chiric Sanango (Courage & Activation): An Introduction to the Master Plant
Understanding Chiric Sanango as a Master Plant Chiric Sanango (Brunfelsia grandiflora), also known as Chiricaspi or “the plant of the shaman,” is one of the most powerful and demanding master plants in the Amazonian healing tradition. Known for its distinctive purple flowers that fade to white and its intensely challenging dieta process, Chiric Sanango is […]
Mapacho (Sacred Tobacco): An Introduction to the Master Plant Teacher
Understanding Mapacho as a Master Plant Mapacho (Nicotiana rustica) holds a position unlike any other plant in the Amazonian healing tradition. Known as sacred tobacco, this powerful teacher is not smoked recreationally but rather used ceremonially as a medicine, a protector, and a direct line of communication with the spirit world. For those who feel […]
Marosa (The Feminine Healer): An Introduction to the Master Plant
Marosa (The Feminine Healer): An Introduction to the Master Plant Understanding Marosa as a Master Plant Marosa (Tabernaemontana sananho), also known as Sanango or Tabernaemontana, is revered throughout the Amazon as one of the most powerful feminine healing plants in the tradition. Recognized by its delicate white flowers and milky latex sap, Marosa carries medicine […]
Noya Rao (The Tree of Light): An Introduction to the Master Plant
Understanding Noya Rao as a Master Plant Noya Rao, known in Shipibo tradition as “The Tree of Light” or “The Flying Tree,” is perhaps the most mysterious and revered of all Amazonian master plants. This rare and sacred tree, whose botanical identity remains somewhat enigmatic and protected by Indigenous healers, is considered by many Shipibo […]