Review: 'The Teachings of Ayahuasca' by Alex Polari De Alverga

Originally published in 1999 under the title 'Forest of Visions: Ayahuasca, Amazonian spirituality, and the Santo Daime Tradition'; this edition, published under the new title 'The Religion of Ayahuasca: The Teachings of the Church of Santo Daime', came out in 2010. The author, Alex Polari De Alverga, tells the story of his own experiences with Santo Daime, alongside the history, and his relationship with, one of its leading members Sebastiao Mota de Melo.

Santo Daime was first founded by Mestre (Master) Irineu Serra in Brazil on March 26th 1931. The church "combines the inheritance of the Christian esoteric tradition with the spiritual legacy and indigenous force of the pre-Colombian people" and centres around a sacrament; the hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca. Mestre Irineu began the process of turning the "new knowledge" garnered from the spiritually structured framework of Santo Daime's ayahuasca relationship into doctrinal form, but after his death on July 6th 1971, it was left to his disciples to carry on the work.