{"product_id":"aya-awakenings-isbn-9781583948002","title":"Aya Awakenings","description":"Experiential journalist Rak Razam sets out to document the thriving business of 21st-century hallucinogenic shamanism starting with a trip to the annual Amazonian Shaman Conference in Iquitos, Peru, where he meets a motley crew of \"spiritual tourists,\" rogue scientists, black magicians, and indigenous and Western healers and guides, all in town to partake of the ritual--and the medicine--of ayahuasca, \"the vine of souls.\" Combining his personal story with the history of Amazonian shamanism, Razam takes the reader along on an entertaining, enlightening adventure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In areas of Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru, the traditional herbal brew known as ayahuasca or yajé is legally used to heal physical ailments and to cleanse and purify the spirit by connecting it to the web of life. Sting and Tori Amos have admitted sampling it in Latin America, as has Paul Simon, who chronicled the experience in his song \"Spirit Voices.\" Aya Awakenings works as a cautionary tale, a travelogue, and a memoir, but primarily acts as a portal through which readers are able to gain more information about the perils and the promise of spiritual reconnection through ayahuasca.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"A memorable--and deeply personal--journey into the hearts and minds of those who carry on the shamanic traditions of ayahuasca.\"--Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Foreword by Dennis McKenna Preface by Rak Razam \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDeparture \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1 Seekers of the Mystery; 2 Wheel of Fortune; 3 Jungle Fever; 4 Space Cadets; 5 Cosmovision; 6 Hamburger Universe; 7 Surfing; 8 Ayahuasca Disco; 9 Logos; 10 Night of the Black Puma; 11 Downtime; 12 Seeds; 13 Beasts Initiation; 14 Shaman School; 15 Snakes and Ladders; 16 Heart of Darkness; 17 Return to the Source; 18 The Love Creek Session; 19 The High Frontier; 20 Stairway to Heaven; 21 Going Down to the River to Pray; 22 The Hero's Journey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e Return\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 23 Secret Women's Business; 24 The Prime Directive; 25 One River; 26 When Stones Dream; 27 Paying the Earth; 28 Talking with Kevin; 29 Illuminated; 30 Final Flight Index Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Author's Note\"A memorable—and deeply personal—journey into the hearts and minds of those who carry on the shamanic traditions of ayahuasca.\"—Rich Doblin, founder of MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An excellent work! This is definitely the best thing I've read on ayahuasca tourism, and beyond that, the whole apparent reemergence of shamanic consciousness as a force for change and evolution on a global scale.”—Ethnopharmacologist \u003cb\u003eDennis McKenna\u003c\/b\u003e, PhD, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “As Razam so aptly demonstrates, a new kind of traveler is emerging—one that embarks into the mysterious and uncharted domain within, where they aim to conquer their own hearts. Written in the tradition of a great adventure narrative, \u003ci\u003eAya Awakenings\u003c\/i\u003e is a timely story for a new emerging era.”—\u003cb\u003eYossi Ghinsberg\u003c\/b\u003e,\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eauthor of\u003ci\u003e Lost in the Jungle\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “The best \u003ci\u003eCanterbury Tales\u003c\/i\u003e of the modern pilgrimage to Iquitos.”—\u003cb\u003eRichard Meech\u003c\/b\u003e, filmmaker, director of the documentary \u003ci\u003eVine of the Soul: Encounters with Ayahuasca\u003c\/i\u003eRAK RAZAM is a new wave entheogenic researcher and the cofounder of Undergrowth.org, Australia's leading online counterculture arts and literature magazine, and the Icaros Foundation. An author, freelance journalist, and editor, he specializes in underground and counterculture communities, spirituality, and technology. He has written features for \u003ci\u003eThe Age, Dazed and Confused\u003c\/i\u003e magazine and Dazed Digital, Disinfo.com, Reality Sandwich, \u003ci\u003eHigh Times, Filmmaker\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, Australian \u003ci\u003ePenthouse\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other publications.","brand":"North Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302499438821,"sku":"NP9781583948002","price":26.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781583948002.jpg?v=1767722024","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/aya-awakenings-isbn-9781583948002","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}