Chacruna

Overview

Chacruna is the essential admixture plant in the Ayahuasca brew. While Ayahuasca (the vine, Banisteriopsis caapi) opens the door to the spiritual world, Chacruna provides the visionary light to see by. It contains N,N-DMT, which is rendered orally active by the MAO-inhibiting beta-carboline alkaloids in the vine.

Role in Ceremony

Chacruna is not typically dieted as a standalone master plant in the same way as the vine itself. Its role is as a partner — the visual component of the brew. The relationship between the vine and the leaf is a striking example of traditional pharmacological knowledge, refined long before Western chemistry could explain it.

Botanical Notes