IN AND OUT OF REALITY

I am sure that one of the strangest and most extraordinary experiences of my life will always be my journey to the Peruvian Amazon to take part in an ayahuasca retreat.

Back in 2017, I was researching a book about how westerners find ‘ecstatic experiences’ today. Western culture has, over the last 300 years, become rather secularised and disenchanted, which has meant that some westerners seeking enchantment have ended up travelling far afield to Indian ashrams, say, or Mexican ceremonies.

In the last 30 years, the ‘new thing’ for spiritual seekers has been ayahuasca, a potent psychedelic brew made, perhaps for centuries, by many indigenous tribes across the Amazon. It is made by brewing two different plants together - the Chacruna plant, which contains, because as well as hallucinating, it also makes you puke, sweat, and more.