HardTripper
Rising Star
Hi, i just got banisteriopsis caapi 12:1 tincture but i have no idea how to dose it. I need a shaman explaining how much i should take and if its better to eat dmt freebase with it or smoke. any ideas? thanks
downwardsfromzero said:A shaman? Simple arithmetic should do for the first question and a look around the forum will help you with options for the second inasmuch as there are more ways than just smoking or ingestion - boofing (plugging) or sublingual, for example, but the one most people don't recommend is snorting freebase DMT.
Another way might be to explore the tincture in and of itself, as a way of getting to know the caapi. Perhaps this would entail trying a couple of drops sublingually, then slowly increasing the dose over the following days. Maybe keep a journal of your thoughts, dreams and feelings. With any luck and a modicum of imagination, it should all unfold from there.
OneIsEros said:Okay, I think a crash course in misconceptions aroumd ayahuasca and shamanism is in order.
For that question, you really don’t need a “shaman”, you just need basic information about pharmacology, which as the above poster has noted, is readily available online. So, I’ll give you a bit of basic info vis-a-vis pharmacology and “shamanism”.
Pharmacologically, harmalas (the chemicals in caapi) are a category of drugs called MAOI’s. Their function, as I’m sure you know, is to stop your body from digesting things properly. If you eat DMT on its own, your body will digest it too efficiently for you to feel its effects - you eat the MAOI so that you can eat DMT the same way you would eat any other psychedelic, such as psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, mescaline cactus, etc.
There are some dietary protocol around MAOI’s. Never take MAOI’s (your caapi) with antidepressants, MDMA, or other pharmaceutical meds - but those ones especially. You will die a very painful death if you do. This is because your body NEEDS to digest those particular drugs properly. Regarding your FOOD diet - it’s pretty safe. If you eat anything aged - pickles, cheese, cured meats, beer, whatever - caapi will not kill you. You will instead basically experience instant “turkey coma” - you’ll just get very sleepy. There are kinds of MAOI far more powerful than caapi that would KILL YOU if you had a beer - the same way CAAPI CAN KILL YOU IF YOU TAKE ANTIDEPRESSANTS OR MDMA WITH IT - but caapi is not nearly as strong as those kinds of MAOI. Cheese is not going to kill you if you eat it with caapi. It’ll just make you very sleepy.
That’s pharmacology. Now shamanism.
Shamans don’t give a fuck about cheese and pickles.
Shamans will tell you to diet, but their reasons for the “diet” has NOTHING TO DO WITH MAOI SAFETY STUFF LIKE THE ABOVE INFORMATION.
Shamans will give you the exact same “dietary” advice in Peru with ayahuasca as a Mazatec shaman in Mexico will give you with mushrooms. That’s right!!! MUSHROOM SHAMANS GIVE THE EXACT SAME “DIET” AS AYAHUASCA SHAMANS, with zero cultural contact with one another (Peruvian shamans and Mexican shamans aren’t exactly neighbours geographically, if you get my drift). So, what IS that diet, and WHY that diet?
The “diet” is basically: blandness. The blander, the better. Nothing spicy, oily, salty, sugary. At its most extreme, white rice and bony fish, for months on end. No exposure to sunlight. No sex, at all, including masturbation, or even sexual thoughts. The more rigorous, the better. Basically the ideal is: do not be of the flesh. This is the universal “diet”, although as you can see, the “diet” goes far beyond food. A diet that is not extreme is basically just no sex and only bland food for a few days prior to tripping. It has nothing to do with MAOI’s. As I said, a mushroom shaman in Mexico will give the exact same “diet” as an ayahuasca shaman in Peru.
“Shamans” are equally necessary with every single psychedelic. Some people think you “need” a shaman for ayahuasca in a sense where you “don’t need” a shaman with mushrooms. This is wrong. Period. This misconception exists because people think ayahuasca is “more powerful” than other psychedelics. This is also wrong. Psychedelic potency is a matter of dose, and that’s it. Most people only hear about ayahuasca in the context of going to South America and taking it with shamans - who give out very big doses. Consequently, people think ayahuasca is “extra powerful”. Nope. Take a low dose of ayahuasca and a high dose of mushrooms and presto! Suddenly mushrooms are the super-powered psychedelic.
Shamans are doctors. Sometimes in a materialist sense that is recognizable to Western medicine, but more often, they are supernatural doctors. They perform medicinal magic. There is a large industry of medical tourism where rich white people go down and pay South American healers to give them the medicine, which they of course oblige the money-having white people forBut, this is not traditional. Sometimes in their traditional context the shaman will give ayahuasca to their patients - but more commonly, the SHAMAN takes the ayahuasca, NOT THE PATIENT, and the SHAMAN uses the ayahuasca to perform magical healing on the sober sick patient. A shaman is basically a medical sorcerer. Also, shamans are like doctors but without the hippocratic oath. They know medical magic, but they’re not monks. You’ll find shamans who are happy to use their medical magical abilities to psychically attack people. A “good shaman” is just an efficient shaman. They can be great at hurting people, and will often happily take money to perform that service, just as happily as to perform healing services for the same dollar.
There’s nothing special about ayahuasca vis-a-vis shamans compared to other psychedelics. Whether it is cactus or ayahuasca or mushrooms, the same “diets” apply and everything that goes for any given psychedelic “shamanically”, goes for all the rest of the psychedelics. Shamans know nothing of MAOI protocols. Their “diets” have nothing to do with that. As I said above, the only time you really need to worry about MAOI diet stuff is basically with medications. Caapi (harmalas) are so mild as MAOI’s that food safety isn’t really a thing. Even beer isn’t particularly “unsafe” with harmalas, it just makes you very sleepy. The shamanic ayahuasca diet is IDENTICAL to the shamanic mushroom diet.
Hope that clarifies some things![]()
OneIsEros said:Okay, I think a crash course in misconceptions aroumd ayahuasca and shamanism is in order.
For that question, you really don’t need a “shaman”, you just need basic information about pharmacology, which as the above poster has noted, is readily available online. So, I’ll give you a bit of basic info vis-a-vis pharmacology and “shamanism”.
Pharmacologically, harmalas (the chemicals in caapi) are a category of drugs called MAOI’s. Their function, as I’m sure you know, is to stop your body from digesting things properly. If you eat DMT on its own, your body will digest it too efficiently for you to feel its effects - you eat the MAOI so that you can eat DMT the same way you would eat any other psychedelic, such as psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, mescaline cactus, etc.
There are some dietary protocol around MAOI’s. Never take MAOI’s (your caapi) with antidepressants, MDMA, or other pharmaceutical meds - but those ones especially. You will die a very painful death if you do. This is because your body NEEDS to digest those particular drugs properly. Regarding your FOOD diet - it’s pretty safe. If you eat anything aged - pickles, cheese, cured meats, beer, whatever - caapi will not kill you. You will instead basically experience instant “turkey coma” - you’ll just get very sleepy. There are kinds of MAOI far more powerful than caapi that would KILL YOU if you had a beer - the same way CAAPI CAN KILL YOU IF YOU TAKE ANTIDEPRESSANTS OR MDMA WITH IT - but caapi is not nearly as strong as those kinds of MAOI. Cheese is not going to kill you if you eat it with caapi. It’ll just make you very sleepy.
That’s pharmacology. Now shamanism.
Shamans don’t give a fuck about cheese and pickles.
Shamans will tell you to diet, but their reasons for the “diet” has NOTHING TO DO WITH MAOI SAFETY STUFF LIKE THE ABOVE INFORMATION.
Shamans will give you the exact same “dietary” advice in Peru with ayahuasca as a Mazatec shaman in Mexico will give you with mushrooms. That’s right!!! MUSHROOM SHAMANS GIVE THE EXACT SAME “DIET” AS AYAHUASCA SHAMANS, with zero cultural contact with one another (Peruvian shamans and Mexican shamans aren’t exactly neighbours geographically, if you get my drift). So, what IS that diet, and WHY that diet?
The “diet” is basically: blandness. The blander, the better. Nothing spicy, oily, salty, sugary. At its most extreme, white rice and bony fish, for months on end. No exposure to sunlight. No sex, at all, including masturbation, or even sexual thoughts. The more rigorous, the better. Basically the ideal is: do not be of the flesh. This is the universal “diet”, although as you can see, the “diet” goes far beyond food. A diet that is not extreme is basically just no sex and only bland food for a few days prior to tripping. It has nothing to do with MAOI’s. As I said, a mushroom shaman in Mexico will give the exact same “diet” as an ayahuasca shaman in Peru.
“Shamans” are equally necessary with every single psychedelic. Some people think you “need” a shaman for ayahuasca in a sense where you “don’t need” a shaman with mushrooms. This is wrong. Period. This misconception exists because people think ayahuasca is “more powerful” than other psychedelics. This is also wrong. Psychedelic potency is a matter of dose, and that’s it. Most people only hear about ayahuasca in the context of going to South America and taking it with shamans - who give out very big doses. Consequently, people think ayahuasca is “extra powerful”. Nope. Take a low dose of ayahuasca and a high dose of mushrooms and presto! Suddenly mushrooms are the super-powered psychedelic.
Shamans are doctors. Sometimes in a materialist sense that is recognizable to Western medicine, but more often, they are supernatural doctors. They perform medicinal magic. There is a large industry of medical tourism where rich white people go down and pay South American healers to give them the medicine, which they of course oblige the money-having white people forBut, this is not traditional. Sometimes in their traditional context the shaman will give ayahuasca to their patients - but more commonly, the SHAMAN takes the ayahuasca, NOT THE PATIENT, and the SHAMAN uses the ayahuasca to perform magical healing on the sober sick patient. A shaman is basically a medical sorcerer. Also, shamans are like doctors but without the hippocratic oath. They know medical magic, but they’re not monks. You’ll find shamans who are happy to use their medical magical abilities to psychically attack people. A “good shaman” is just an efficient shaman. They can be great at hurting people, and will often happily take money to perform that service, just as happily as to perform healing services for the same dollar.
There’s nothing special about ayahuasca vis-a-vis shamans compared to other psychedelics. Whether it is cactus or ayahuasca or mushrooms, the same “diets” apply and everything that goes for any given psychedelic “shamanically”, goes for all the rest of the psychedelics. Shamans know nothing of MAOI protocols. Their “diets” have nothing to do with that. As I said above, the only time you really need to worry about MAOI diet stuff is basically with medications. Caapi (harmalas) are so mild as MAOI’s that food safety isn’t really a thing. Even beer isn’t particularly “unsafe” with harmalas, it just makes you very sleepy. The shamanic ayahuasca diet is IDENTICAL to the shamanic mushroom diet.
Hope that clarifies some things![]()
Jees said:Hi HardTripper,
I've seen caapi tinctures bottles aimed for some drops under the tongue. The bottle contained 9 grams of caapi in total. No way one could make a deep session with those numbers. I guess they are aimed to give a vibe, not a due psychedelic session. It might however have a slight tuning change when using deems.
Can you be more specific about your tincture? Spill some beans please.
OneIsEros said:Okay, I think a crash course in misconceptions aroumd ayahuasca and shamanism is in order.
For that question, you really don’t need a “shaman”, you just need basic information about pharmacology, which as the above poster has noted, is readily available online. So, I’ll give you a bit of basic info vis-a-vis pharmacology and “shamanism”.
Pharmacologically, harmalas (the chemicals in caapi) are a category of drugs called MAOI’s. Their function, as I’m sure you know, is to stop your body from digesting things properly. If you eat DMT on its own, your body will digest it too efficiently for you to feel its effects - you eat the MAOI so that you can eat DMT the same way you would eat any other psychedelic, such as psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, mescaline cactus, etc.
There are some dietary protocol around MAOI’s. Never take MAOI’s (your caapi) with antidepressants, MDMA, or other pharmaceutical meds - but those ones especially. You will die a very painful death if you do. This is because your body NEEDS to digest those particular drugs properly. Regarding your FOOD diet - it’s pretty safe. If you eat anything aged - pickles, cheese, cured meats, beer, whatever - caapi will not kill you. You will instead basically experience instant “turkey coma” - you’ll just get very sleepy. There are kinds of MAOI far more powerful than caapi that would KILL YOU if you had a beer - the same way CAAPI CAN KILL YOU IF YOU TAKE ANTIDEPRESSANTS OR MDMA WITH IT - but caapi is not nearly as strong as those kinds of MAOI. Cheese is not going to kill you if you eat it with caapi. It’ll just make you very sleepy.
That’s pharmacology. Now shamanism.
Shamans don’t give a fuck about cheese and pickles.
Shamans will tell you to diet, but their reasons for the “diet” has NOTHING TO DO WITH MAOI SAFETY STUFF LIKE THE ABOVE INFORMATION.
Shamans will give you the exact same “dietary” advice in Peru with ayahuasca as a Mazatec shaman in Mexico will give you with mushrooms. That’s right!!! MUSHROOM SHAMANS GIVE THE EXACT SAME “DIET” AS AYAHUASCA SHAMANS, with zero cultural contact with one another (Peruvian shamans and Mexican shamans aren’t exactly neighbours geographically, if you get my drift). So, what IS that diet, and WHY that diet?
The “diet” is basically: blandness. The blander, the better. Nothing spicy, oily, salty, sugary. At its most extreme, white rice and bony fish, for months on end. No exposure to sunlight. No sex, at all, including masturbation, or even sexual thoughts. The more rigorous, the better. Basically the ideal is: do not be of the flesh. This is the universal “diet”, although as you can see, the “diet” goes far beyond food. A diet that is not extreme is basically just no sex and only bland food for a few days prior to tripping. It has nothing to do with MAOI’s. As I said, a mushroom shaman in Mexico will give the exact same “diet” as an ayahuasca shaman in Peru.
“Shamans” are equally necessary with every single psychedelic. Some people think you “need” a shaman for ayahuasca in a sense where you “don’t need” a shaman with mushrooms. This is wrong. Period. This misconception exists because people think ayahuasca is “more powerful” than other psychedelics. This is also wrong. Psychedelic potency is a matter of dose, and that’s it. Most people only hear about ayahuasca in the context of going to South America and taking it with shamans - who give out very big doses. Consequently, people think ayahuasca is “extra powerful”. Nope. Take a low dose of ayahuasca and a high dose of mushrooms and presto! Suddenly mushrooms are the super-powered psychedelic.
Shamans are doctors. Sometimes in a materialist sense that is recognizable to Western medicine, but more often, they are supernatural doctors. They perform medicinal magic. There is a large industry of medical tourism where rich white people go down and pay South American healers to give them the medicine, which they of course oblige the money-having white people forBut, this is not traditional. Sometimes in their traditional context the shaman will give ayahuasca to their patients - but more commonly, the SHAMAN takes the ayahuasca, NOT THE PATIENT, and the SHAMAN uses the ayahuasca to perform magical healing on the sober sick patient. A shaman is basically a medical sorcerer. Also, shamans are like doctors but without the hippocratic oath. They know medical magic, but they’re not monks. You’ll find shamans who are happy to use their medical magical abilities to psychically attack people. A “good shaman” is just an efficient shaman. They can be great at hurting people, and will often happily take money to perform that service, just as happily as to perform healing services for the same dollar.
There’s nothing special about ayahuasca vis-a-vis shamans compared to other psychedelics. Whether it is cactus or ayahuasca or mushrooms, the same “diets” apply and everything that goes for any given psychedelic “shamanically”, goes for all the rest of the psychedelics. Shamans know nothing of MAOI protocols. Their “diets” have nothing to do with that. As I said above, the only time you really need to worry about MAOI diet stuff is basically with medications. Caapi (harmalas) are so mild as MAOI’s that food safety isn’t really a thing. Even beer isn’t particularly “unsafe” with harmalas, it just makes you very sleepy. The shamanic ayahuasca diet is IDENTICAL to the shamanic mushroom diet.
Hope that clarifies some things![]()
I have a sneaking suspicion that DMT absorption is enhanced by some kinds of oligosaccharides. Or it could be down to changes in stomach pH - yet another area for research.When using this sort of thing (freebase DMT rather than a purely plant potion - usually referred to as “pharmahuasca”, because of using a pharmaceutical chemical rather than just a plant), the body has a hit/miss thing that happens. I have experienced this, and have heard from and read MANY accounts of this. Best way around it is: after you eat the harmalas+DMT, eat something. A bit of toast usually does the trick. I don’t know why the body does this, but eat a bit of something after you dose, and it will hit you more reliably.
downwardsfromzero said:And stuff like chilli is just far too noticeable as a ball of fire passing through the gut (on mushrooms as well as pharmahuasca) which I would happily forego for the rest of my psychonautic career.
OneIsEros said:The most psychically potent individual I ever met was an alcoholic guitar player who loved McDonald’s and garlic. A born shaman if ever I’ve seen one. No cultural training - just pure natural ability.