A web preview of the forthcoming feature length documentary AYA: AWAKENINGS – an audiovisual journey into the world and visions of ayahuasca shamanism and its use as a catalyst in the Western awakening.

This preview is the first of six planned clips (about 90 mins in total) and has been released to share with community interested in supporting the project through crowdfunding. Your support will directly fund cutting edge animators, and pay the video editor, sound designer and artists whose artwork and photos are sampled in the clips, as well as operating costs in getting these clips finished and released to the public. You can help in two ways: by financially supporting the project alongside many others who believe in it (anything from ONE dollar up!); by promoting the url and cause to your network.
To support AYA: AWAKENINGS - please visit:
aya.pozible.com.au

Pozible.com.au is the Aussie version of Kickstarter.com and can accept donations from across the world. By drawing on the resources of the global community it means very small donations are all that's needed on a mass scale. We are all connected, and this is my little test of the network!

Based on the book AYA: A Shamanic Odyssey by Rak Razam published by Icaro Publishing. See ayathebook.com

Directed by Timothy Parish - Verb Studios
Sound Design by Lulu Madill - Buttons Touching

Produced by Undergrowth.org in partnership with Icaro Publishing.

"Rak's book, Aya, a Shamanic Odyssey, is quite simply the best book out there on the phenomenon of ayahuasca tourism, and the emerging and sometimes conflicting paradigms and world-views that are taking shape as ancient plant-spirit knowledge represented by traditional Amazonian vegetalismo becomes electrified and globalized through the internet based tribe. If Rak's video project comes anywhere close to his book, it will be worth watching, and worth supporting!" – Dennis McKenna, Feb 25, 2011

Link

"on its own the vine is not orally active, but it contains maoi...."

Its strange how many times i hear this in documentaries that mention ayahuasca..its definitely psychoactive on its own-drink more!

besides that i think it looks good so far!

has anyone read Razam's book?

Yes, I've read Rak's book. I thought it was very good. He clearly believes psychedelics have an important role to play in society and he seems to be trying to raise people’s awareness of this. He has conducted a number of interviews with respected members of the psychedelic community (Dennis Mckenna, Sasha Shulgin etc) and made them available online. The podcasts are available here:

In a Perfect World podcasts

I tend to question how much a person actaully knows about ayahuasca that claims the vine is not active

Thanks for your feedback guys.

There is a contact link to message Rak on the project support site and I'm sure he would gladly answer any questions that potential backers had for him.

I'm guessing his line of inquiry in regards to Ayahuasca remains on a very traditional trajectory guided by the knowledge shared with him by practicing shamans in Peru. This is quite different to the line of inquiry of the psychonaught for which I myself subscribe. I feel that the psychonaught is much more willing to question and push the boundaries of truths, experimenting and evolving in apparent directions, uninhibited by strict social and cultural controls.

I agree that ayahuasca is active on it's own and have felt her power first hand. This is because I have taken the time to study this amazing plant through online research and self experimentation. I have not yet taken the opportunity to drink with a traditional shaman, but I am expecting the experience to be very different to my psychonaughtical travels and I doubt I will be given the opportunity to accustom myself with the vine before adding the light.

All in all I feel that the more media focusing on positive use of this amazing brew the better for us all. Where people wish to take this discovery is up to them.

Happy travels