Visionary Ayahuasca : a manual for therapeutic and spiritual journeys

278 Pages·2015·5.33 MB·English

by  Jan Kounen

Spirituality/EnthEogEnS $18.95 U.S. K
$22.95 Can. O
U
“This is the first book that anyone thinking about taking ayahuasca, or taking it again,
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must own.” E
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JamES Fadiman, ph.d., author of The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide
Since 1999 Jan Kounen has traveled regularly to the Peruvian Amazon to participate
in ayahuasca ceremonies. At first only a curious filmmaker, over multiple trips he
transformed from explorer to apprentice to ayahuasquero and often found himself
surrounded by other foreigners coming to the jungle for their first taste of ayahuasca
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medicine. Knowing how little guidance is available on how to prepare or what to
expect, he naturally offered them advice. I
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Part visionary ayahuasca memoir and part practical guide, this book contains
the same step-by-step advice that Kounen provides first-time ayahuasca users in the I
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jungle. He describes how to prepare for the first ceremony and what to do in the days
afterward. He explores how to deal with the nausea and details the special prepara-
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tory diets an ayahuasca shaman will put you on, often lasting for months but neces-
sary for life-transforming results and teachings from the plant spirits. He also explains
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how it is far easier to maintain these restrictions in the jungle than in the city.
Detailing his own ayahuasca experiences over hundreds of sessions, including a R
trip in 2009 when he underwent 17 ceremonies in 25 days, Kounen describes how
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ayahuasca transformed him. He tells of his meetings with Shipibo healers, including
Kestenbetsa, who opened the doors of this world for him and is the shaman to whom

Kounen became an apprentice. He details the many other plants and foods that are A
part of the ayahuasca healer’s medicine cabinet, such as toé and tobacco, as well as
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their icaros, or healing songs. A veritable “what to expect” guide, this book should
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be your first step prior to committing to ayahuasca.
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JAN KOUNEN is a filmmaker who has created a number of films and documentaries,
including 99 Francs, Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, and the celebrated Blueberry. U
His interest in Shipibo culture and shamanism developed during his trips to Peru to
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shoot music videos, leading to his apprenticeship to an ayahuasca shaman. He lives
in France.
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PARK STREET PRESS
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ROCHESTER, VERMONT
www.ParkStPress.com
Cover design by Peri Swan
Cover image courtesy of IngImage
This book supports the
www.HaciendaRioCote.com
Reforestation Project
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Text stock is SFI certified
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Visionary
ayahuasca
“This is the first book that anyone thinking about taking aya-
huasca, or taking it again, must own. The manual section is hon-
est, revealing, invaluable, and packed with everything, including
how to find a safe and sane teacher, how to sit during ceremony,
what kinds of clothes to bring, and why dietas are necessary for
real healing. Jan’s own journal of his progress is unusually candid
in disclosing the obstacles and difficulties that arise even as your
commitment to this path deepens.”
James Fadiman Ph.D., author of
The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide:
Safe Therapeutic and Spiritual Journeys
“This is a great book for anyone who is planning to attend an aya-
huasca ceremony. It is packed with useful information, observa-
tions, and relevant facts providing a valuable guide to what you
can really expect from the vine of souls.”
Ross Heaven, author of Plant Spirit Shamanism:
Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul
“A rich, honest, informative testimony based on numerous coura-
geous acts, this book is both extremist and full of good sense—out-
landish and matter of fact. A filmmaker’s guide to the cinematic
world of ayahuasca.”
Jeremy Narby, anthropologist and author of
The Cosmic Serpent and Intelligence in Nature
VisAya.indd 1 11/20/14 10:02 AM
“Jan Kounen’s descriptions of his experiences with ayahuasca are
informed, poetic, and at times authentically visceral. This book
provides excellent insights into the discipline and the rigors of
the traditional plant diet as well as the underlying relationship
between human and plant consciousness. This is definitely a book
for both the person considering working with ayahuasca and for
those with significant experience with the plant. It was a pleasure
to read this book.”
Howard G. Charing, coauthor of
Plant Spirit Shamanism and
The Ayahuasca Visions of Pablo Amaringo
“In Vistionary Ayahuasca, 10 years of experience with ayahuasca
medicina is laid out beautifully. It has lots of information for any-
one considering going down the ayahuasca trail. Don’t leave home
without it!”
Alan Shoemaker, author of Ayahuasca Medicine
VisAya.indd 2 11/20/14 10:02 AM
Visionary
ayahuasca
A Manual for Therapeutic
and Spiritual Journeys
JAn Kounen
Translated by Jack Cain
Park Street Press
Rochester, Vermont • Toronto, Canada
VisAya.indd 3 11/20/14 10:02 AM
Park Street Press
One Park Street
Rochester, Vermont 05767
www.ParkStPress.com
Park Street Press is a division of Inner Traditions International
Copyright © 2011 by Mama Editions
English translation © 2015 by Inner Traditions International
Originally published in French under the title Carnets de voyages intérieurs:
Ayahuasca medicina, un manuel by Mama Editions, Paris, France
First U.S. edition published in 2015 by Park Street Press
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kounen, Jan, 1964–
[Carnets de voyages intérieurs: ayahuasca medicina, un manuel]
Visionary Ayahuasca : a manual for therapeutic and spiritual journeys / Jan
Kounen ; translated by Jack Cain ; foreword by Alejandro Jodorowsky. — First
U.S. edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-62055-345-9 (paperback) — ISBN 978-1-62055-346-6 (e-book)
1. Kounen, Jan, 1964– 2. Motion picture producers and directors—France—
Biography. 3. Ayahuasca—Psychotropic effects. 4. Shamanism—Amazon River
Region. I. Cain, Jack, 1940– translator. II. Title.
PN1998.3.K679A3 2014
615.3'2379—dc23
2014015973

Text design by Virginia Scott Bowman and layout by Priscilla Baker
This book was typeset in Garamond Premier Pro with Myriad Pro and Biondi
Sans used as display typefaces
Drawings on pages 84, 123, and 194 from Jan Kounen’s comic strip Doctor
Ayahuasca, Editions du Lombard
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This book is dedicated to
my brother Kestenbetsa,
to the Shipibo people,
and to madre ayahuasca.
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I dream that this book, yellowed with time, might one
day be read by an unknown man or woman, having
been found perhaps in a bookstore, in a library, or
buried under a pile at the bottom of a crate . . .
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If you write your name in above, you can more readily
lend this book. If you lend this book to ten people,
nothing special is going to happen to you. It’s not going
to change your life. But you will be circulating this text,
and that is going to make me really happy.
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