The purpose of taking [yagé] is to return to the uterus … where the individual "sees" the tribal divinities, the creation of the universe and humanity, the first human couple, the creation of the animals, and the establishment of the social order.
- Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, Flesh of the Gods

We have drunk the Soma; we have become immortal; we have gone to the light; we have found the gods. What can hatred and the malice of a mortal do to us now, O immortal one?
- Rig Veda (c.1000 BC)

Included here are sections from my book. The first four sections are about visiting the Amazon to take ayahuasca, the sacred Amazonian jungle brew. I consider ayahuasca (also known as yagé) to be an extraordinarily profound and healing "medicine."

The fifth section, "Phantasticum, $2000," is a long evocation of an ayahuasca trip and some further speculations, that did not make it into the finished book.