Other Memory: Ayahuasca, Harmine & the Mystery of Inherited Knowledge

What if buried within your DNA was a forgotten archive of ancestral knowledge — just waiting for the right key to unlock it?

Last week, we covered the late Terence McKenna, one of the psychedelic movement's greatest visionaries. As a huge psychedelics nerd, I love McKennas’ wild theories about the passage of time, the nature of consciousness, and the origins of human evolution.

One of his more out-there theories I've been thinking a lot about lately is the idea that harmine — a key alkaloid contained in ayahuasca — could act as a biochemical key to access a hidden archive of ancestral memories stored within our DNA.

This theory was explored in-depth in The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching — a book co-authored by Terence and his brother, Dennis McKenna.

The McKenna brothers hypothesized that DNA was more than just a genetic code guiding our growth and development — but is also a vast repository of information storing ancestral memory and forgotten wisdom.

The ancestral memory theory, as presented by the McKenna brothers, overlaps with Jung's definition of the collective unconscious — which is a deep, inherited layer of the psyche that holds the experiences of our ancestors. Much like the McKennas, Jung believed we could tap into the collective unconscious to access these stored memories using altered states of consciousness and dreams.

This theory is pretty wild and science-fictiony. It reminds me of this idea of "other memory" as presented in the Dune novels by Frank Herbert. In this series, other memory is only accessible by highly-trained Bene Gesserit sisters who undergo (and survive) a dose of deadly poison. If they survive, they're able to draw from the memories of their maternal ancestors by accessing it from their DNA.

Here, we're going to explore some fascinating research that adds credibility to McKenna's ancestral memory hypothesis — most of which wasn't published until after Terence's untimely death.

While this research is far from conclusive, it's (at the very least), an interesting thought experiment to explore further.

Harmala Alkaloids & the Alchemy of Consciousness

When discussing ayahuasca, most people focus only on DMT (dimethyltryptamine) — but the true key to the brew's visionary experience lies in the harmala alkaloids.

Unlike DMT, these compounds aren’t overtly psychedelic on their own, yet they play a crucial role in unlocking its full potential.

There are a total of 64 compounds known as the β-carbolines (AKA "harmala alkaloids"). These alkaloids can be found throughout the plant kingdom (roughly 120 species spread across 8 families). A few examples of common plants that produce these alkaloids include coffee (Coffea arabica), passionflower (Passiflora spp.), Syrian rue (Peganum harmala), and tobacco (Nicotiana spp.).

The ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) is especially rich in harmala alkaloids, which play a crucial role in activating DMT from a companion plant — typically Mimosa hostilis or Psychotria viridis, depending on the locale.

The harmala alkaloids are a fascinating group of compounds on their own, as many offer powerful medicinal, psychoactive, and neuroprotective qualities.

Here are just 4 examples:

1. Harmine — Acts as an MAO inhibitor that allows DMT to become orally active. This compound is the key to the shamanic brew, ayahuasca. Without it, the DMT would be destroyed before it could induce its psychedelic effects.

2. Tetrahydroharmine — A mild serotonin-reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) that works to enhance mood and boosts the visionary qualities of ayahuasca.

3. Harman & Neoharmane — Present in tobacco smoke and believed to contribute some of the psychoactive properties of the plant (including its heart-opening effects as recognized in shamanic medicine).

4. Harmaline — Another potent MAO inhibitor similar to harmine but with stronger sedative and hypnotic effects. It is thought to contribute to the dream-like, introspective states of ayahuasca.

Harmine Binds to Human DNA

Of all the harmala alkaloids in the ayahuasca vine, the McKenna brothers focused on one in particular — harmine — which is present in the ayahuasca vine in concentrations ranging from 0.3% to 8.4%.

Terence believed this compound had a unique relationship with human DNA — speculating that it could unlock hidden ancestral memories stored within our genetic code. While this idea may sound far-fetched, recent studies have shown that harmine does, in fact, bind to human DNA, influencing gene expression in ways we still don't fully understand.

In 2016, a group of researchers set out to examine the molecular basis for harmine's impressive anti-cancer action by examining its potential to bind to human DNA (a property that's common in many anti-cancer drugs). Their findings not only supported the hypothesis that harmine can bind to human DNA, but also raised new questions about how this interaction could influence cellular function beyond the scope of cancer treatment.

Another study later that year explored the specific DNA-binding mechanisms of harmine. This study discovered that harmine binds to two different DNA structures — GQ-DNA and B-DNA.

• GQ-DNA is a specialized structure found in telomeres and gene regulatory regions, which play a role in genome stability and gene expression.

• B-DNA is the classic double-helix structure that encodes genetic information.

While harmine showed a binding affinity for both types of DNA, it had a clear preference for GQ-DNA. The significance of this is that it seems harmine's interaction with DNA isn't random; it targets the way specific genes are turned on and off.

This doesn't mean harmine literally "reads" stored memories — at least not in the way the McKenna brother's envisioned. However, it does suggest a mechanism by which harmine could influence brain function in ways we never thought possible — affecting memory, perception, and consciousness in mysterious ways.

If nothing else, these findings are relevant to the field of cancer therapy, as most anti-cancer agents attack DNA indiscriminately — leading to the many toxic side effects associated with chemotherapy medications. Harmine, on the other hand, appears to have more selective interactions, opening up possibilities for less toxic, targeted gene therapies in the future.

Can Memories Be Stored in DNA?

Now that we know harmine can bind to and influence our DNA (though it's still unclear if this interaction translates to reading ancestral memories, we have to ask the question — "can memories even be stored in DNA in the first place?")

People, I'm very excited to inform you that, YES, we can store information using DNA with shocking efficiency — but there are caveats.…

1. DNA Can Store Information — Just Not Like We Thought

A research group led by Fahim Farzadfard successfully converted genomic DNA into a functional memory system in living bacterial cells. The technology, which Farzadfard calls SCRIBE (Synthetic Cellular Recorders Integrating Biological Events), can even continue to accumulate information over time — acting as a sort of "biological tape recorder."

The system uses single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and recombinase enzymes to introduce precise, heritable mutations in response to external stimuli. These mutations act as a biological record of past experiences that can be retrieved later through sequencing or other methods.

If bacteria can use their DNA to record and retrieve past environmental exposures, could something similar be happening in higher organisms, including humans?

Could certain experiences leave heritable imprints on DNA through a yet-undiscovered mechanism?

If harmine interacts with DNA (as other studies confirm), could it play a role in accessing or modifying stored genetic information?

This research proves that DNA is capable of storing memory like data — even if it hasn’t been observed in humans (yet).

2. DNA's Storage Potential is Astronomical

The human genome can (theoretically) store around 215 petabytes of information per gram — that's an absolutely staggering amount of information. To date, humanity has generated an estimated 33 trillion gigabytes of digital information. The genome is so efficient at storing information, all of humanity's data could be stored in a space the size of a ping-pong ball.

That's an order of magnitude more efficient than even the most advanced solid-state storage devices available right now. Nothing even comes close.