Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast Plants of the Gods: S7E10. When Plants Speak: Exploring Ayahuasca with Rebekah Senanayake
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Oct 8, 2025 Rebekah Senanayake, an ethnobotanist with deep ties to indigenous ayahuasca practices, shares her fascinating journey through the world of plant communication. She contrasts western and indigenous beliefs while exploring the profound personal transformations that ayahuasca can bring. Rebekah emphasizes the power of simplicity in ritual, likening ayahuasca ceremonies to flotation tanks and other trance practices. She also discusses the risks of ayahuasca tourism and advocates for mindful participation in these sacred traditions.
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First Contact With Plant Communication
- Rebekah first developed interspecies communication after being instructed to talk mentally with ayahuasca during ceremonies.
- That early practice launched her academic focus on indigenous ontologies and plant relationships.
Plants As Persons In Perspectivism
- Rebekah uses Viveiros de Castro's multinatural perspectivism to explain that plants can hold personhood and agency.
- This reframes plants as relational agents in indigenous ontologies rather than inert objects.
Shared Ritual Bones Across Traditions
- Across 11 maestros and five traditions Rebekah finds consistent 'bones of the ceremonies' like ikaros, fragrances, and tobacco.
- These common elements shape ceremony form more than cultural labels like 'indigenous' or 'campesino'.
