Ayahuasca - The Sacrament
Ayahuasca, also called Yaje, is a Quechua word that translates roughly as "Vine of the Soul." Great information can be found at both Wikipedia and Ayahuasca.com. For discussion, the Forums at Ayahuasca.com are recommended. Ayahuasca is called "la medacina" because it is the medicine that heals our souls. It is the path we have found to lead us to the divine.
Ayahuasca refers both to a vine, Banisteriopsis caapi, and to the tea that is made with this vine. The vine is sometimes brewed and drank alone, at othet times it is combined with different plants to make the tea. The most common admixture plants are Diplopterys cabrerana and Psychotria viridis. There are many other plant species that may be used in the brew, including Mimosa hostilis, Brugmansia species, and even tobacco.
Typically a special diet is followed before and after consuming Ayahuasca. This will have both a physical purpose, increasing safety and reducing the risk of a negative experience, and a spiritual purpose of preparation, cleansing and integration of insights and lessons learned from the tea. Working with special diets (or dieta) is does not just serve to enhance the experience when drinking Ayahuasca, but is part of a larger practice of healing and spiritual growth.
There are many great spiritual tools: drumming, chanting, fasting, dreaming, prayer, meditation, ritual, etc. These tools are excellent in and of themselves, but it is far to common that they are now the placebos, the substitutes for a real spiritual experience. Humanity has learned to pacify itself with a shadow of what they are capable of becoming. Ayahuasca may not be the only way to enlightenment. It certainly is not the only plant teacher or entheogen. But we have found that it is our teacher - it is our path. It is the Way we have been shown by the God and Goddess to know the Divine for ourselves.