The Realities of Making Ayahuasca Yourself
Alice Scarlet Death
Back in 2009, I made Ayahuasca. It isn’t a fun process. I had Banisteriopsis caapi, mimosa hostilis, a bunch of lemon juice, and three gallons of distilled water. First, you have to make sure your water is the right pH by dabbing like 5 shots of lemon juice into it. Then you have put your plant materials in the water and let it simmer for an hour. Then you’d put that wash into a tall pot and let it sit. You’d repeat this process two more time, making sure the water didn’t boil. You’d pretty much have to stand over the oven the entire time or risk it all going to waste. So, three hours in, I have three washes of plant mats inside this tall pot. So, now, I have to simmer this tall pot into a serving size.
There’s a LOT that can go wrong if you aren’t attentive or if the person you’re cooking it for pushes you to hurry up. I’d get anxious and fuck up the process so many times.
My recipe that I got, naturally, was from erowid. And being the dumb young person I was, I decided that my first time should be the strongest dose, higher than what is traditionally given in a South American aya ritual.
I had never done psychedelics before much. I had tried acid maybe twice at that point. I was inexperienced. But I was alone, and I was attentive, and the first batch I ever made worked like a charm.
After I finally got it down to a serving size, I drank it, and it was a weird brownish purple color. It tasted like pure liquid dust. Which, is technically I guess what a bunch of crushed up plants are gonna taste like even after strained through a coffee filter.
I started tripping 10 minutes later, and by the 30 minute mark I began the purge. I learned a lot, and perhaps I can share that some other time. But, considering I did what erowid suggested as the ‘max dose.’ Things were very intense and I would liken it to an exorcism. I can definitely understand why people go down south and have a professional make it and guide you through it. I was alone, and I woke my ex-wife up at 5am screaming that I could see the air conditioner noises and that they hurt. She didn’t believe me, just thought I was lying. Suffice it to say, I didn’t really prepare well. But during ayahuasca there really is no ‘you’ to have subjective feelings like ‘good trip’ or ‘bad trip.’ There’s either just learning new things, pain or no pain. And I only recently hit a DMT vape last January and felt very disappointed. It was relaxing, and I felt in touch with the universe, but it didn’t really ‘speak to me’ the same way an aya trip did. No matter how hard I tried to hit the vape, IDK.
Point is this. It is totally possible to make ayahuasca on your own. It’s time consuming. And if you’re going to make it for yourself, be prepared to want to turn the lights on and off repeatedly. Be prepared to be hurt by every loud sound, shower, or air conditioning type thing. It isn’t always pleasant and it isn’t always pretty considering all the tannins you ingest when you eat literal tree bark water. It’s definitely something you should take seriously. However, I feel like, because I did not….I ended up learning a lot more. Sometimes it’s important to be made uncomfortable. That’s how you learn new things.
