Ayahuasca: Amazon's potent healing brew

(Metta Beshay) The Ayahuasca we've been told about is a lie

Tribal ayahuasca medicine work

Indigenous Shipibo ladies, Amazon, 2011

The Shipibo-Conibo are an indigenous (Native American) people along the Ucayali River in the Amazon rainforest of Peru.

Formerly two groups, they eventually became one tribe through intermarriage and communal rituals and are currently known as the Shipibo-Conibo people [2, 3].

Lifestyle, tradition, and diet

Kené pattern on Shipibo-Conibo textile

The Shipibo-Conibo have lived in the Amazonian rainforest for millennia. Many of their traditions are still practiced, such as ayahuasca medicine work.

Medicine songs have inspired artistic tradition and decorative designs found in their clothing, pottery, tools, and textiles. Some of the urbanized people live around Pucallpa in the Ucayali region, an extensive indigenous zone. Most others live in scattered villages over a large area of jungle forest extending from Brazil to Ecuador. More

Ayahuasca (Yage, Capi) Brew:

• Chakruna leaves (Psychotria viridis) = DMT
• Banisteriopsis caapi (Vine of the Dead)
• Harmala alkaloid = Harmaline (MAOIs)

Tasers, excited delirium: Last Week Tonight

Tasers and Excited Delirium: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

(LastWeekTonight) March 30, 2025: John Oliver discusses whether Tasers are as safe and effective as the company that makes them claims, the broader effect Tasers have had on abusive policing, and why you shouldn’t test (Axon "exposures") Tasers out on any of your family members, workers, interns, or new recruits. You’d think that goes without saying, but clearly it doesn’t.

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Thailand's Supernatural Tattoo Fest

At a large temple just west of Bangkok, one of the strangest Buddhist festivals in Thailand takes place. Once a year thousands of young men gather at Wat Bang Phra to be tattooed by the temple's monks. Travel with Lonely Planet.

Buddhist monks who give tattoos? We got up at 3:30 am at Wat ("temple") Tunnati in Bangkok and were out by 4:20 am. A group of 50 to 60 people had already gathered. We were soon on the road, arriving at Wat Bang Phra at 7:00 am.

We started with an offering to the Buddha. Then went straight to the tattoo room where three Buddhist monks were giving tattoos. That's odd enough. But then there's "the power." What is "the power"?

People with these tattoos go into a trance. They start screaming and running wildly. (I'm due for one in the next month). Here's my version: