The Essential Guidebook to Understand the History, Myths and Cultural Use of Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon’s Sacred Vine
Join dozens of adventurers, anthropologists, artists, shamans, scientists and poets on a journey to remote regions of the Amazon and to the far reaches of the human psyche.
The new, expanded edition of Ayahuasca Reader shares many distinct voices of the global ayahuasca movement: researchers conducting clinical studies on its healing effects, painters depicting the ineffable experience with visionary images, indigenous people carrying the wisdom of ancestral traditions, and the stories of how ayahuasca has opened these individuals to their connection with the natural world and their true selves.
“Ayahuasca has a very insistent message… It’s about the sacred, magical, enchanted, interconnected, infinitely precious nature of life on earth, and the interdependence of material and spiritual realms.” – Graham Hancock
The Ayahuasca Reader is a five-part anthology sharing myths passed down over generations of Amazonian healers, personal testimonies, hymns and texts from ayahuasca religions, writings from literary figures, and a section of transcendental visionary color art. Contributors include Wade Davis, Dennis McKenna, Allen Ginsberg, Alex Grey, Graham Hancock, Jeremy Narby, and many more.
Co-edited by Luis Eduardo Luna, Director of Wasiwaska Research Center, and Steven F. White, Professor of Modern Languages at St. Lawrence University.
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Why this book matters
- The definitive anthology on ayahuasca — spanning myth, science, art, and lived experience across dozens of voices and cultures
- Features contributions from Wade Davis, Dennis McKenna, Allen Ginsberg, Alex Grey, Graham Hancock, Jeremy Narby, and indigenous shamans and healers
- Includes translations from nearly a dozen languages, representing the full diversity of Amazonian peoples and their approaches to plant medicine
- Expanded with new visionary art and updated essays reflecting the global growth of ayahuasca research and practice
- An essential resource for anyone seeking to understand the history, culture, and transformative potential of the Amazon’s most celebrated sacred vine
