Introduction
Plant medicines can generally be classed as any plant that has medicinal properties for human beings. However, in today’s world the most common use of the words ‘plant medicine’ is in addressing the ancient and powerful medicines used by the world’s original peoples, most of which are psychoactive, inducing altered states of consciousness.
Microdose ayahuasca
The ayahuasca liana, also known as Banisteriopsis caapi, and by the natives as jagube, caapi or yagé, is a powerful master plant traditionally used by the peoples of the Amazon to heal ailments of all kinds and as a spiritual guide.
In the West the Ayahuasca brew is known as the result of mixing and boiling the ayahuasca vine (banisteriosis caapi) with the leaves of the chacruna shrub plant (psychotropia viridis). Many vegetalists consider that it is the liana that contains the spirit or mastery of medicine and the chacruna is used to “paint” the visions. Therefore, in the different versions of the brew the chacruna can be replaced by other plants such as chapilonga, but the ayahuasca vine always remains.
Microdose ayahuasca + bobinzana
The Bobinsana plant (Calliandra angustifolia) is native to the Amazon basin and has been used for countless generations to heal the body and enhance shamanic abilities. It is usually called the master plant and it is common to see it in combination with ayahuasca in the preparation made by many healers in the Amazon. Amazonian vegetalistas revere this tree that grows along riverbeds in the jungle, whose flowers resemble open hearts. Her feminine mermaid spirit also earned her the affectionate nickname “Sirenita Bobinsana”.
Microdose nootropics
Dr. Corneliu Giurgea first coined the term “nootropics” in 1972 by combining the Greek words for “mind” (nous) and “direction” or “flexibility” (tropos). He researched nootropics with respect to their ability to benefit memory and enhance cognitive processes.
Psilocybin
Psilocybin mushrooms go by many names. Among the Aztecs they were known as teonanácatl (which could be translated as “flesh of the Gods”), among the Mazatecs nti-si-tho- (“little bird that arises”), magic mushrooms or “monguis” among the hippie community and among the youngest, “holy children”, as the Mexican healer María Sabina called them.
More and more people every day are becoming aware of the plant medicines used for health and longevity for thousands of years by indigenous peoples all around the globe. This shows a clear and viable route to health that is both alternative and complementary to the modern field of medicine that we know most intimately.