Pubdate: Thu, 04 Aug 2011 Source: Bristol Evening Post (UK) Copyright: 2011 Bristol Evening Post Contact: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/emaileditor.html Website: http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2412 SHAMAN'S POTION HELPED SORT MY LIFE OUT: WITNESS A MAN who paid to drink a mind-altering herbal liquid dispensed by a "shaman" during a spiritual ceremony at a disused Weston-super-Mare hotel said the experience helped sort his life out. William Morrow told Bristol Crown Court he attended the session at the Dorville Hotel on New Year's Day 2008, when healer Peter Aziz gave him a cup of Ayahuasca, a herbal brew used by Amazonian people in religious ceremonies. Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Morrow described what happened to him next. He said: "I became introverted. Everything became laid out on a plane; everything seemed clear. I was going through an illness. I was trying to find rhyme or reason. "The Church doesn't look after our needs. This gave me co-ordination in my life and when I finished the journey I knew what I had to do next in order to get my trip, my life together." He stayed at the hotel in Madeira Road overnight and returned home the next day. The court has been told people paid UKP 100 a day for sessions in which they supped on Aziz's plant-based potion. Aziz told police he produced two brews, only the second of which contained illegal drug N, N-dimethyltriptamene, or DMT. The 51-year-old, of Buckfast in Devon, denies two counts of producing and two counts of supplying a Class A drug. Kate Brunner, prosecuting, said Aziz made the drink by boiling plant matter, including leaves from the Chakruna plant. The jury has been told Aziz practised alternative medicine and magic and referred to himself as a healer, priest, homeopath or "shaman" - someone who practises magic and contacts spirits in tribal societies. The court has already heard from other people who paid to drink the brew and reported effects including vomiting, hallucinations and "healing" experiences. Dr Graham Mould, a pharmacist, confirmed the Chakruna plant contained the hallucinogenic compound DMT, similar to the drug LSD. He said DMT could make people "more together" but there could be physical effects including raised blood pressure, temperature and heart rate as well as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Aziz first told police he had a letter from the Home Office saying what he was doing was not illegal. He said he trained in the art of Ayahuasca in the Amazonian jungle for four years, as well as with a shaman in Peru. The case continues. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt