We know that ayahuasca is brewed in countless variations: each shaman has their own traditional recipe tweaks/amounts, so we know that experimentation happened

We know that ayahuasca is brewed in countless variations: each shaman has their own traditional recipe tweaks/amounts, so we know that experimentation happened and is likely ongoing. The effects of taking an MAOI include “ depression symptoms, such as lethargy, fatigue, unexplained sadness, guilt, and other physical symptoms,” and if those effects can happen after a single dose it’s not too far-fetched to think that B. caapi could have been used as part of a pre-existing ordeal ritual. Then one day someone brewed it up with the DMT-containing plant (or ramped up the dosage high enough after feeling some strange effects at lower doses) and got the surprise of a lifetime. Finding and consuming toxins was done intentionally in many societies as a rite of passage. The bullet ant ordeal is a well-known version of this. So it’s possible that the psychedelic brew was in fact the accident!