RietveldTV by Melanie Bonajo: Night Soil: Fake Paradise
Can ayahuasca, a psychedelic brew of various plant extracts, have the same significance for our day as LSD had for the 1960s? The ‘medicine’ has its roots in an indigenous Amazon tradition, but the mind-expanding drink is presently used all over the world. People prize the mental vistas that are opened up by ayahuasca, the ‘vine of the soul’. The drink is consumed during a (group) ceremony, often under the guidance of a shaman. Music enhances the communal and personal experience, and influences the mental trip. It is the ritual around it that contributes to the meaning of the spiritual experience. Different variants of this ritual occur in different cultures.