Abstract

This chapter delves into the meandrous trajectory of DMT extracted from Mimosa tenuifora (black jurema) along traditional, scientific, and neo-shamanic uses. Chemist Jonathan Ott popularized a recipe of anahuasca (sometimes called juremahuasca or pharmahuasca) mixing the root bark powder from the tree that grows in semi-arid regions of tropical America with Syrian rue as a source of beta-carbolines (MAO inhibitors). His recipe was used by Brazilian healer Wanda Maria da Silveira Barbosa (Yatra) in the Netherlands to treat substance abusers after she had found herself prevented from using ayahuasca there. Later she introduced the concoction in Rio de Janeiro’s neo-shamanic circles, and then traveled to the Northeastern region of the country where black jurema grows naturally and presented the entheogenic, non-traditional beverage to Indigenous groups such as the Atikum studied by anthropologist Rodrigo Grünewald. A brief profile of neuroscientist Rick Strassman, author of the influential book The Spirit Molecule, is also presented.