Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul [Paperback]

Joan Parisi Wilcox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 2003

A comprehensive autobiographical account of the transforming experiences possible with ayahuasca

• Reveals the protocols of a traditional ayahuasca retreat and the importance of its ritual diet, isolation, and sacred songs

• Relates an extensive personal account of the traditional indigenous use of ayahuasca for healing and revelation

Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul is an autobiographical account of the author’s work with ayahuasca, a potent and sacred plant brew of the Amazon  region that is known for its extraordinary visionary and healing powers. As she learned from her experience, with the help of ayahuasca we are able to grasp our paradoxical nature, the first step to acceptance of ourselves in both our glorious and dark aspects. Ayahuasca teaches us how to release the illusions we hold about ourselves and makes it possible to integrate our many diverse aspects to acquire our true power.

This book reveals the ritual protocols that must be followed prior to partaking of ayahuasca, including the traditional preparatory “diet”--which requires enduring austere conditions, isolation, and only small amounts of bland food before receiving the powers of the plant spirit from an ayahuasquero, a healing master--and the sacred songs, icaros, that are sung when imbibing the substance. Although the use of ayahuasca is growing among “underground” spiritual seekers and through the burgeoning ayahuasca tourism trade in South America, few of its seekers understand how it is used traditionally and the importance of the rituals the indigenous people follow. With this book, the author hopes to restore the importance of these indigenous practices so that we may truly understand all the gifts of ayahuasca.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Joan Parisi Wilcox paints a riveting account of her spiritual odyssey of self-awareness via the Vine of the Soul. The botany and chemistry of ayahuasca and other plant medicines, the ritual cleansing diets, and the magical worldview of vegetalistas are all described in engaging detail. Her dreams and inner voyages precipitate confrontations with the liminal challenges of existence.”
(

Jon Hanna, author of the Psychedelic Resource List

)

"Her narrative and descriptions are extremely rich and sensitive and communicate the complexities of her visions and reactions very well."
(Stephen Joseph, Library Journal, January 2004, Vol. 129 No. 1? )

From the Back Cover

ETHNOBOTANY / SELF-HELP

“Joan Parisi Wilcox paints a riveting account of her spiritual odyssey of self-awareness via the Vine of the Soul. The botany and chemistry of ayahuasca and other plant medicines, the ritual cleansing diets, and the magical worldview of vegetalistas are all described in engaging detail. Her dreams and inner voyages precipitate confrontations with the liminal challenges of existence.”
--Jon Hanna, author of the Psychedelic Resource List

Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul is an autobiographical account of the author’s work with ayahuasca, a potent and sacred plant brew of the Amazon region that is known for its extraordinary visionary and healing powers. As she learned from her experience, with the help of ayahuasca we are able to grasp our paradoxical nature, the first step to acceptance of ourselves in both our glorious and dark aspects. Ayahuasca teaches how to dispel the illusions we hold about ourselves, making it possible for us to release our true nature and our power.

This book reveals the ritual protocols that must be followed before receiving the powers of the plant spirit from an ayahuasquero, a healing master, and the sacred songs, icaros, that are sung when imbibing the substance. Although the use of ayahuasca is growing among “underground” spiritual seekers and through the burgeoning ayahuasca tourism trade in South America, few of its seekers understand how it is used traditionally and the importance of the rituals the indigenous people follow. With this book, the author hopes to restore the importance of these indigenous practices so that we may truly understand all the gifts of ayahuasca.

JOAN PARISI WILCOX has been initiated into the Q’ero shamanic tradition of the Andes and is the author of Keepers of the Ancient Knowledge: The Mystical World of the Q’ero Indians of Peru. She lives in North Carolina.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Park Street Press (December 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892811315
• ISBN-13: 978-0892811311
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #986,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Personal view appreciated, August 1, 2004

By 

Reader from the South - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul (Paperback)

What I really like and respect about this book, in addition to the excellent factual material it provides about ayahuasca, is the intensity of the personal viewpoint it provides. There are a lot of books that cover the science of ayahuasca, and its history and ethnobotany. There are even some good books, like Metzner's, that combine sciene with excerpts from experiences by "regular" people. But this is the only book I've found that showed in a sustained way what it's really like to study with this plant teacher from a personal perspective. In fact, that's what the author frankly explains as her intent, and it's what she delivers--beautifully. If you don't want a memoir, an intimately personal experience, then don't read a memoir. You can't, as at least one reviewer has done, blast a book for being exactly what it claims to be! But if you do want a personal portrait that also includes excellent additional factual material, then this book is among the best.

In addition, I think there is little that is self-indulgent about this author. Some reviewers have charged the author with wearing rose-colored glasses and romanticizing her experiences. Have they read the same book? Maybe their memory is selective. I found the author to be surprisingly frank, especially about her fears and about the embarrassing situations that came up during her ayahuasca retreat. She certainly doesn't try to "pretty" things up in the least. Yes, she does take an intensely spiritual perspective, even what some might call "New Age," which some might not agree with. But I found her insights heart-felt and sincere. I also found her experiences caused me to ask a lot of questions about my own journey. For instance, when she is visited by the "spirit doctors," she becomes frightened and asks them to leave. It caused me to wonder how I would react to unexpected and startling spiritual events. As the author says, it's one thing to think about such things. It's another to actually live them!

I also found this author to be fair-minded about the allure of the ayahuasca tourism trade (she doesn't support it) and about the growing underground trend to treat ayahusaca as just another psychedelic experience. She speaks out strongly on this, asking all of us to respect indigenous tradition. In fact, her respect for this plant teacher is everywhere evident in this book.

I say "thanks" to Joan for putting it all out there for others to learn by. Because of her book, I have a much better understanding of and appreciation for what the ayahuasca retreat experience can be like--not through the eyes of a scientist, botanist, or other professional, but through the eyes of someone not unlike most of us. Sure, this is only one person's experience, but the author also presents testimonies from several others, a few of which say they wouldn't work with ayahuasca again. This is an account of the rigors and the mysteries of working with visionary plants that really takes you there, into the jungle, to share the experience. I think it's a page-turner and that the author has a sensitive eye and ear for the environment. She transported me there, into the world of an ayahuasca retreat in the Amazon, like few other books on the subject. That's why I highly recommend this book for those who want a real glimpse behind the scenes of an ayahuasca retreat.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling read , intense, magical & spiritual., January 6, 2004

By 

Professor Robert Brawley, University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul (Paperback)

If you are looking for a serious and intensely personal take on the magic of our universe, the plant world and indigenous deep spirituality then here is one of the best reads I have found. I have read many books on this and related subjects by strong and informative writers such as McKenna, Pinchbeck, Calvo, Luna, and Strassman, and I heartily recommend this warm and human exploration of the mystery of our universe and consciousness.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The I That Sees, March 23, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Ayahuasca: The Visionary and Healing Powers of the Vine of the Soul (Paperback)

In chapter 11 of her book, Wilcox opens with a quote from Carl Jung: "In psychology one possesses nothing unless one has experienced it in reality. Hence a purely intellectual insight is not enough, because one knows only the words and not the substance of the thing from the inside."

Although Wilcox offers plenty of fascinating intellectual insights, this book is first and foremost a personal account of her experience with Ayahusaca, and it is the autobiographical nature of the book that makes it so engaging. Wilcox actually experienced "the substance of the thing from the inside" and then openly shared it with us in her book. If and until the rest of have the chance to experience the "Vine of the Soul" for ourselves, this book is the next best thing.