Ayahuasca is a psychedelic potion used by traditional Amazonian shamans. For several decades it has been attracting new consumers from post-industrial societies. Alternative spiritualities and the search for intense or therapeutic experiences are some of the reasons that explain why individuals engage in this practice. Nevertheless, the individual psychic determinants that lead people to resort to this experience, expensive and sometimes difficult, aren’t well known. In order to highlight these dimensions, we explored the trajectories of twelve of these neo-consumers. The method is qualitative and phenomenological and consisted of the analysis of semi-structured interviews. This analysis highlights how the experience of ayahuasca appears in a life course. The results show that for all participants, it is a quest for change that motivated the consumption of the potion. The ayahuasca experience is a step in the search for a better well-being which begun when people were confronted with personal issues. Trajectories that lead to ayahuasca are of two types: they could begin with classical psychotherapies or with more spiritual practices, between which the frontier is sometimes blurry. Taking ayahuasca leads to high expectations and represents a significant commitment within a personalized care program. Its intrapsychic or biographical impacts are notable, as well as its influence on beliefs. The assessment that individuals make of their experience is generally positive but the results show nonetheless that it can be risky. Finally, the hypothesis that the experience has the value of a rite of passage is evoked, conferring on ayahuasca a singular place within lasting trajectories marked by the search for a better well-being.