Luis Eduardo Luna

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Wasiwaska - Research Centre for the Study of Psychointegrator Plants, Visionary Arts, and Consciousness. Wasiwaska (the House of the Vine), a legally established Brazilian non-profit organization, is located in Florianópolis, on the beautiful island of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. It was created by Luis Eduardo Luna, Ph.D., with the aim to promote research on the use of sacred plants in the fields of anthropology, ethnobotany, ethnomusicology, pharmacology, neuropsychology and consciousness, as well as their cultural and artistic manifestations. Wasiwaska is the site of a developing botanical garden with a variety of species of sacred and medicinal plants for the purpose of scientific identification and conservation of the flora and fauna of a beautiful patch of Atlantic Rainforest within the property. Wasiwaska also houses a small but growing specialized library.

Special emphasis is given at Wasiwaska to the documentation and study of ayahuasca, the sacred brew of the Amazon, used in the past and the present by numerous indigenous groups of the Upper Amazon, by the mestizo riverine population of Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, and regarded as a sacrament by several contemporary Brazilian religious organizations. History

The Wasiwaska project was conceived in 1996 while Dr. Luis Eduardo Luna was teaching in the Department of Anthropology at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) in Florianópolis, Brazil (1994-1998), first as a Visiting and then as an Associate Professor. During those years, he had the opportunity for much closer contact with ayahuasca as a Brazilian phenomenon, visiting centres all over the country of the three main organized religions that use ayahuasca as a sacrament. It was a complement to his previous work of many years in Colombia and Peru among indigenous and mestizo shamans.

The vision is the creation of a centre open to the public where all the materials collected by Luna through the years on ayahuasca and other psychointegrator plants (photographs, audio and video tapes, books, artwork) may be preserved and studied. The centre will also include a specialized library, an ethnobotanical garden with as many different species of sacred plants as possible (especially varieties of Banisteriopsis caapi and the many admixture plants), and facilities where serious studies, particularly on ayahuasca, can be carried out. It is conceived as a beautiful place where researchers on ayahuasca, scientists, therapists, artists, writers and other people seriously interested in psychointegrator plants can meet.

Wasiwaska is situated on a hill overlooking the ocean and the forest hills. It has six rooms for guests, all with wonderful views. The house combines stone, brick and wood, avoiding right angles as much as possible. The serpent motif is present in different ways in the architecture and decoration. Ritual space and a site for the future library are still under planning. A beautiful garden with an increasing number of sacred, medicinal and ornamental plants surrounds the house, mostly planned by Adriana Rosa, Luis Eduardo’s wife. An orchard is gradually providing more of the vegetables consumed. All organic materials are recycled. Three dogs and two cats are permanent residents. Additional kitchen and maintenance staff are hired when needed.

During seminars, a few times per year, meals at Wasiwaska are rich in fruits and vegetables. No salt, refined sugar, alcohol or red meat is consumed. Fish, seafood and poultry are however served. Special dietary necessities are taken into consideration.

Setting

Wasiwaska is located in Florianópolis, on the island of Santa Catarina (parallels 27°22´-27°50' meridians 48°25'-48°35'), in southern Brazil. It has 423 square kilometers and 172 kilometers of coastline with 42 beaches. It has great ecological diversity, with marine estuaries, mangrove swamps, dunes, lagoons, rocky cliffs, islets and regions covered by the marvellous Atlantic Coastal Forest, with the world’s richest biodiversity. Florianópolis has approximately 280.000 inhabitants, most of them in the downtown area of the city that is divided between the island and the continent, which are connected by bridges. It is the capital of the state of Santa Catarina, one of the richest in Brazil, and has a population that is largely of European descent.

Wasiwaska is on the northern part of the island, facing the continent and the peninsula of Daniela, some twenty five kilometers from the centre of town, the last two a dirt road that ends a few hundred meters from the house. Wasiwaska is blessed with natural sounds and tranquillity. The waves of the sea below can always be heard in the background. Although the hills around Wasiwaska were partially cultivated until the 1970s, there are still beautiful pockets of Atlantic Coastal Forest, with dozens of species of orchids and bromeliads and many species of birds and insects (particularly butterflies), lizards and some snakes.

Ten minutes walk from the house there is a pleasant beach. Twenty minutes’ walk away is the fishing village of Sambaqui, with its pleasant community life, schools, a few shops, an art store, gentle beaches, and excellent restaurants, often packed with people on the weekends. The area of Sambaqui is the greatest producer of molluscs of the island, a pilot project developed by the Federal University of Santa Catarina. Three kilometers away, towards downtown Florianópolis, is the seaside town of Santo Antonio de Lisboa, with some old houses and a church from the eighteenth century.

The organisation

Although Wasiwaska is a small organization, it has a large international network and an outstanding advisory board representing various disciplines, such as anthropology, ethnobotany, the arts, psychotherapy, psychopharmacology and consciousness studies.

The advisory board comprises:

Luis Eduardo Luna Wade Davis Anderson Debernardi Ede Frecska Alex Grey Stanislav Grof Karen Helen Grue Stuart Hameroff Rick Harlow Ivania Hassler Diane Haug Dennis McKenna Dale Millard Ralph Metzner Jeremy Narby Adriana Rosa Benny Shanon Rick Strassman Steven White Michael Winkelman

AYAHUASCA RESEARCH

Welcome to the Wasiwaska Research section. In these pages we provide you with information related to psychointegrator plants (especially ayahuasca), visionary art and consciousness studies. The first part deals with research carried out in association with Wasiwaska. The second part presents systematically published and unpublished materials and links related to those themes.

This is an open source which welcomes new input. New ideas and information on good websites, articles, films or recordings on ayahuasca or relevant materials not mentioned here, are welcomed. Please let us know to consider including them here.

RESEARCH CARRIED OUT IN ASSOCIATION WITH WASIWASKA

Study 1. Effects of the Amazonian Psychoactive Beverage Ayahuasca on Binocular Rivalry: Interhemispheric Switching or Interhemispheric Fusion?

Study 2. Effects Of Ayahuasca On Binocular Rivalry With Dichoptic Stimulus Alternation.

Study 3. EEG gamma coherence and other correlates of subjective reports during ayahuasca experiences.

Study 4. Phenomenal Qualities of Ayahuasca Ingestion and its Relation to Fringe Consciousness and Personality.

Study 5. In What Ways Is The Ayahuasca Experience Expressed Throughout Literature?

Study 6. Reality Polyphasia: A Thematic Analysis of the Representations of Psychotropic Substance Use and a Deconstructive and Integrative Investigation of the Formation of Knowledge and Reality.

Study 7. Exploring Personality, Phenomenological, and EEG Correlates of the Ayahuasca Journey Experience to Facilitate an Individual’s Spiritual Development.

Study 8. ‘Cadiera Azulao Saeedi’, a sculpture in cement, iron and wireframe by Camille Archer at the Wasiwaska Ethnobotanical Garden, as part of her master in holistic science at the Schumacher College, Devonshire, England.

CONCEPTS

Michael Winkelman: Psychointegration: The Physiological Effects of Entheogens http://sacaaa.org/occasional_papers/psychointegrator_plants.pdf Michael Winkelman: Psychointegration: Psychointegrator Plants: Their Roles in Human Culture, Consciousness and Health http://www.lila.info/document_view.phtml?document_id=3 AYAHUASCA STUDIES

A) ETHNOGRAPHY

Indigenous sources the Yurayaku document http://www.lila.info/document_view.phtml?document_id=33 Shuar Indians. Michael Harner, The Sound of Rushing Water http://www.lila.info/document_view.phtml?document_id=46 Common Themes in South American Indian Yage Experiences by Michael J. Harner http://deoxy.org/yagecommon.htm http://diseyes.lycaeum.org/fresh/yagecomm.htm Vegetalismo (mestizo ayahuasca traditions) Luis Eduardo Luna: The Concept of Plants as Teachers among four Mestizo Shamans of Iquitos, Northeastern Perú http://www.biopark.org/peru/luna-dissertation.html Walter Andrivsky: Sociopsychotherapeutic Functions of Ayahuasca Healing in Amazonia http://www.lila.info/document_view.phtml?document_id=8 Walter Andrivsky; "Dschungeluniversitäten" der traditionellen Heilkunst in Peru Ein Seminarbericht. http://www.transpersonal.de/artikel/dschungeluni.html Shoemaker, Grace and Madness. http://www.lila.info/document_view.phtml?document_id=11 Lee, Shamanism Versus Capitalism http://www.lila.info/document_view.phtml?document_id=28 Brazilian synchretic religions Edward Macrae: The Ritual and Religious Use of Ayahuasca in Contemporary Brazil. http://www.biopark.org/peru/aya_daime_brazil.html CEFLURIS http://www.santodaime.org Christine Mavrick: Hallucinogens and Religious Identity in the Brazilian Amazon Senior Thesis Anthropology Program. Illinois State University UDV website in the US: http://www.udvusa.com/, in Brazil http://www.udv.org.br B) BOTANY, PHARMACOLOGY

Richard Evans Schultes; An Ethnobotanical Perspective on Ayahuasca http://www.biopark.org/peru/schultes_ayahuasca.html Jonathan Ott: Ayahuasca Analogues. On Jonathan and his work: http://www.erowid.org/culture/characters/ott_jonathan/ott_jonathan.shtml Dennis J McKenna, J C Callaway, Charles S Grob MD. The Scientific Investigation of Ayahuasca: A Review of Past and Current Research. http://leda.lycaeum.org/?ID=16809 Human Pharmacology of Ayahuasca. Doctoral dissertation by Jordi Riba. http://www.maps.org/research/ayahuasca/echenhoferproposal.pdf C) COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Ideas and Reflections Associated with Ayahuasca Visions. By Benny Shanon. http://leda.lycaeum.org/?ID=16497 Ayahuasca Variations. By William L. Benzon. http://www.coffeshop.pl/dokumenty/Ayahuasca_Variations.pdf D) OTHER STUDIES

Ayahuasca and drug treatment: Jamie J.C. Moir, Shamanism, Traditional Medicine and Drug Dependency in the Peruvian Upper Amazon http://www.lila.info/document_view.phtml?document_id=15 "Ayahuasca and creativity", by Benny Shanon. http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v10n3/10318sha.html c) Kenneth W. Tupper: “Entheogens and Existential Intelligence: The Use of Plant Teachers as Cognitive Tools” Canadian Journal of Education 27, 4(2002):499-516. http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/FullText/CJE27-4/CJE27-4-tupper.pdf#search =%22kenneth%20tupper%20cognitive%22