{"id":553,"date":"2017-02-01T11:53:08","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T19:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/plantchemeco\/?p=553"},"modified":"2017-03-07T15:08:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-07T23:08:20","slug":"vine-and-dine-the-use-of-banisteriopsis-caapi-in-shamanic-initiation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/plantchemeco\/vine-and-dine-the-use-of-banisteriopsis-caapi-in-shamanic-initiation\/","title":{"rendered":"Vine and Dine- the Use of Banisteriopsis caapi <\/em> in Shamanic Initiation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deep in the jungle, a man is stripping the bark of a thick, climbing vine. An old\u00a0pot boils over open fire and the steam hangs low in the humid rainforest. He is preparing for a sacred ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Plant Classification<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Order:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/td>\nMalpighiales\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Common Name:<\/strong><\/td>\nAyahuasca vine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Family:<\/strong><\/td>\nMalpighiaceae<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Genus:<\/strong><\/td>\nBanisteriopsis<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Species:<\/strong><\/td>\nBanisteriopsis caapi<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This vine is\u00a0called Banisteriopsis caapi<\/em> and it belongs to the plant family Malpighiaceae. Among the people familiar with it, it is a plant of\u00a0many names. Some of these names include Caapi, Yaje, Vine of the Dead, and Vine of the Soul (Cleversly 2013). You may be most familiar with this vine from its role in ayahuasca- a brew<\/a> containing B. caapi<\/em> and the leaves of another plant called Psychotria viridis. <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"https:\/\/tl.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ayahuasca#\/media\/File:Ayahuasca_and_chacruna_cocinando.jpg\"

Above: Ayahuasca being brewed from Banisteriopsis caapi<\/em> vine and Psychotria viridis<\/em> leaves. Image by: Awkipuma (Wikipedia Commons)<\/p><\/div>\n

In the Amazon rainforest, shamans (traditional healers, medicinemen\/women) are sacred to tribal cultures. Shamans provide both physical and spiritual healing to people by\u00a0concocting\u00a0and\u00a0administering\u00a0medicine to sick people in the forms of plants available to\u00a0them in nature (Jauregui\u00a0et al. 2015).\u00a0Shamans may also summon specific spirits from the spirit world that they believe will help heal a sick person.\u00a0Treatments\u00a0are catered to the person and situation. But how does one become such a mysterious and magical figure? Shamanic initiations take years and are physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually taxing (Jauregui\u00a0et al. 2015). Initiations consist of retreating to the forest, away from all communication, and ingesting hundreds of biologically and psychologically active plants in order to get to know each one for future use in healing others (Jauregui\u00a0et al. 2015). For another example of an interesting shamanic ritual from this area, check out this video<\/a>. Many plants will be ingested over the course of a shaman\u2019s initiation and practice, but none are more important than Banisteriopsis caapi.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Structure

Above: Structure of harmine molecule found in Banisteriopsis caapi<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Chemicals of interest<\/h3>\n

Banisteriopsis caapi <\/em>contains chemicals called MAOI inhibitors. MAOI inhibitors, as their name would suggest, inhibit an enzyme in the brain called monoamine oxidase(Ogbru 2015).\u00a0Monoamine oxidase\u00a0breaks down norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine (Ogbru 2015).\u00a0These are what you’d call “happy chemicals”.\u00a0When these chemicals can’t be broken down, they become more concentrated in the brain (Ogbru 2015). For this reason, MAOI inhibitors were the first class of antidepressant drugs to be developed (Ogbru 2015).\u00a0MAOI inhibitors in B. caapi<\/em>\u00a0allow the psychedelic effects of the aforementioned Psychotria viridis<\/em> plant to become active in the brain without being broken down. This brew is ingested nightly by the shamans-to-be, keeping them in an out-of-body state in order to contact the spirit world and meet the \u201cmothers\u201d of every plant they consume. \u00a0The MAOI inhibitors found in the bark, trunk, and stem of this vine belong to a chemical class called beta-carboline (harmala) alkaloids. Some of the harmala alkaloids active in B. caapi <\/em>are harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine (more detailed info on harmala alkaloids can be found here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/samorini\/3833810628\"

Above: A look inside the vine. Image by: Giorgio Samorini (Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

The magic is in the molecules. These ones just so happen to lend us humble humans a key to the spirit realm and leave those who sip it forever changed. In the case of the shaman, they provide other-worldly wisdom and the ability to heal using natural medicines.<\/p>\n

Other uses of\u00a0Banisteriopsis<\/em> chemicals<\/strong><\/h3>\n