In the Amazons, as per the local oral histories, the Holy Medicine of the Holy and Divine Mother Ayahuasca has been traditionally considered as Telepathic.
The Holy Medicine is a great ‘blessing’ from the Holy and Divine Mother Ayahuasca for divination by the indigenous communities in the Amazons for reasons such as
- find the whereabouts of missing persons in the community
- locate game animals for hunting
- discover location and status of enemies
Discovering ‘Telepathine’
In the West, when Harmine, a beta-carboline and a harmala alkaloid, was first isolated from the Holy Medicine of the Holy and Divine Mother Ayahuasca, it used to be referred to as “Yageine”, “Banisterine”, as well as “Telepathine”. A traveller named Rafael Zerda Bayon, who first claimed in 1925, that the Holy Medicine and the visions were telepathic, and suggested the name “Telepathine” for the active ingredient of the Holy Medicine. Later on, a pharmacologist, Alexandre Rouhier, in 1924 also agreed. This name “Telepathine” was also referred by Colombian physical Guillermo Fischer Cardenas when he isolated the compound in 1923. An article in Science News in 1923 described the Holy Medicine to induce “magnificent and terrifying visions in motion picture form” which is said to grant the power to see things at a distance “like mediums in a trance”.
‘Telepathine’ as Harmine
There were some confusion whether the name “Telepathine” was being referred to the Harmine or the Harmaline alkaloids. However, in 1939, it was discovered that the “Banisterine”, “Yageine”, and “Telepathine” were all referring to the Harmine, and ever since then the name “Harmine” has been in practice in place of “Telepathine”.
Conclusion
In the Amazons, the Shamans maintain that the Holy Medicine provides them visual and auditory information about events which are remote in time and space.
The Western scientists and researchers, whoever has experienced the ‘inner journey’ after consuming the Holy Medicine, have been fascinated with the inexplicable DIRECT-EXPERIENCE of spirituality from the Holy Medicine – which made few of them devote their lives to exploration and knowing of the Holy Medicine.
A common and recurring reference to the Harmine alkaloid, which they found in the Holy Medicine, was “Telepathine” – coming from the word “telepathy”, only reinforces how the Westerners have felt after they had experienced the Holy Medicine of the Holy and Divine Mother Ayahuasca.
References
- Beyer S. V., 2009, Singing to the Plants: A Guide to Mestizo Shamanism in the Upper Amazon, University of New Mexico Press, USA.
