WHO DISCOVERED AYAHUASCA?
About the discussion on who has the rights to use this remedy from the jungle.
There are many hypotheses regarding this. None of them can be taken for certain, but we may pose the question, what is the use of knowing who discovered ayahuasca?
Most shamans say that Amazonian natives are the discoverers of ayahuasca, though it cannot be determined in which area or what ethnic group discovered it; therefore, it seems that the discovery was made by human beings; some shamans claim that it was women who discovered it, and that it was they who handed the knowledge of the use of this plant to men. But there are also theories that it was animals that originally discovered it, the natives’ observation of tigers or jaguars while chewing the ayahuasca vine enabled them to conclude that they were chewing a medicinal plant that allowed the animals’ bodies to be purified…this may be how the investigation by the first indigenous people began.
Who discovered America? Is that an important detail to those who currently reside in America?
Is it important to know who discovered Ayahuasca and its usefulness to thousands of people around the world who are benefitting from its use?
All kinds of people have lived in America since thousands of years ago, and Ayahuasca has also been used for thousands of years by native communities, but only since a few decades ago it has spread around the world. .
Wanting to take ownership of a discovery that propels the evolution of human beings and the improvement of their health is a petty act which hides the intention of owning all rights over such discovery.
In the same way, wanting to appropriate the discovery of ayahuasca is not compatible with what Ayahuasca itself teaches those who drink it, THAT EVERYTHING BELONGS TO EVERYONE AND THAT EVERYTHING IS IN ONESELF. THAT WE ARE ALL OWNERS OF EVERYTHING AND THAT EVERYONE HAS THE SAME RIGHTS.
Is ayahuasca a few’s heritage or is it world heritage?
If we could ask ayahuasca, who has rights over you, what do you think it would answer? Many people have already done this, they have asked it when they have consumed it, and the answer they have received is that AYAHUASCA IS NO ONE’S AND IT IS EVERYONE’S.
Surely the discussion about who discovered Ayahuasca hides economic interests which are now emerging in the wake of a time of great global expansion in the use of this wild plant, and now there are people who want to attribute themselves all rights over this discovery.
Shamans or Taitas assure it is their discovery. If someday it is patented by a pharmaceutical company (which I hope does not happen), it will be theirs. Meanwhile is all of ours, who are doing something for other people who need it to become acquainted with it and of all human beings who are enjoying the extraordinary benefits that drinking ayahuasca gives us.
In my case, not only that I use ayahuasca for myself, my family and the people who attend inner evolution retreats, but I also plant ayahuasca on land that I bought in the jungle, I donate money to shamans so that they can plant ayahuasca on their farms; I cook ayahuasca with the shamans in the jungle; I organize groups of ayahuasqueros so they can see and learn how to plant, harvest, and cook this plant; I take people from around the world to the jungle to meet shamans and ayahuasca’s place of origin; I bought a hotel in the jungle along with some friends to transform it into a treatment center for addictions and ailments; I bring shamans from the jungle to Europe to teach and supervise us in the work we do and to let the world know the extraordinary wisdom they have acquired through ayahuasca. In short, I am supporting and investing money and a lot of energy to make known throughout the world the benefits that ayahuasca provides and bringing shamans closer to thousands of people to enable them to come into direct contact. It is impossible to forget the place of origin of ayahuasca, or the people living in the jungle that are the ones holding the production chain of ayahuasca so that it can be available in countries where it is needed. From the infinite gratitude that I feel, I will continue to support this task of spreading the work of healing and inner evolution with ayahuasca in a psychotherapeutic setting.
I have not discovered ayahuasca, but I have discovered a way to get it to thousands of people around the world; This discovery does not make me the owner of ayahuasca, but it makes me owner of a method I created and use, but not because I own the method, I have appropriated it, rather I’m sharing it with all the people who come to my school, in which dozens of shamans, facilitators, therapists and professionals join me to sustain this community-company-organization: AYAHUASCA INTERNATIONAL.
The economic benefits I get from this work I reinvest permanently in the same expansion project, and it is something that I love, to allocate the profit generated in this activity to the activity itself, because it is a way to thank and return the infinite benefits that I have received from ayahuasca and from the shamans in the Colombian jungle.
To all who read this article and still do not know ayahuasca, I suggest you to discover it for yourselves, because that is the magic of this native remedy, which allows you to discover it with innocence and purity of heart, that you encounter its healing spirit for the first time and that you go on to join the group of millions of people who are the discoverers of Ayahuasca.
The act itself of discovering ayahuasca as a way of realization, evolution and healing, opens the door wide for the essential discovery of oneself.
TO PEEK INTO AYAHUASCA IS TO PEEK INTO THE INNER UNIVERSE. THERE WHERE EVERYTHING LIES AND WHERE TOTALITY IS EVERYONE’S. UPON ENTERING THERE, TOTALITY WILL ENTER INTO YOU AND WILL BECOME AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT YOU.
There are thousands of people who attack, criticize and prosecute me for what I say and write, and for the work of expansion of ayahuasca that I lead with my international team, but I want EVERYONE to know, that although I do not defend myself or do anything to stop these attacks, I am not alone, I am accompanied by totality and is precisely TOTALITY which will put us all in place.
Alberto José Varela
Ayahuasca International holds Inner Evolution retreats with therapeutic use of Ayahuasca in several countries in Europe. Click the links for specific information on each retreat.
Barcelona, May 31 to 4 June
Munich, June 1 to 4
Eindhoven, Netherlands – June 8 to 11
Eindhoven- Netherlands, June 21 to 25
Click here for a complete listing of information of all the 2017 Ayahuasca International Retreats Calendar. It includes subsequent links to information, prices and booking procedure for each retreat.
For bookings or to request any further information call to +49 (0) 171 987 6655 (also available by whatsapp) or write to [email protected]