12 February UK Channel 4 - Ayahuasca medicine

[Bikelbees]

I just saw that the series where two British docs go on the prowl is on tonight in Peruvian jungle, sounds promising. 50 mins left from this late posting (9pm start).

[xudface]

bugger, i only just read this. was it any good?

[Bikelbees]

A bit weak in parts, but one of the docs said that if everyone took ayahuasca the world would be a better place. They were at a loss to understand the spiritual medicine really. They were perplexed as to what to do with a baby with a large recent swelling on her neck. The medicine womans idea to go out a burn some leaf cutter ants nests as they were the cause of the bad spirit didn't work. Our docs crushed their anti-biotics and fed it to her to no avail. In desperation they asked a shaman in another village and he supplied them with leaves from a particular tree. They were excited that they thought some medicine was going to be extracted which just might work. Their dismay was palpable when having boiled the leaves to which the baby merely received some steam from, the medicine woman "divined" the leaves to conclude that a different species of ant was responsible. So they trashed their nests and would you believe it, the next day the baby was almost fully recovered without any other intervention.

How is this explained? Perhaps the power arises from their firm belief system which the Western docs were unable to grasp - although one did trip hard on a strong brew with what probably had a lot of DMT leaf in it.