I had just returned home, to a Quito valley, from one of my visits to the house of the Grandfather San Pedro. His presence always remains strong for days or weeks in my perception and energy field after an encounter, often manifested as an all consuming, ever enhanced attraction to all things nature and its exacerbated beauty.

We had been driving across valleys and passed through an spectacular Toe / Datura Tree (also called Brugmansia). It was huge, wide, strong and in full bloom with dozens of big luscious white trumpet flowers that invited to be admired in awe. This tree was just after passing the fence on a private property so I admired from the car on our way to visit my sister in law.

To my surprise, the following day my sister in law visited me and brought a branch with one flower. She had heard I had loved this tree so much, she had asked her neighbor for a baby piece for me so I can try and plant it in my own garden!!!. I knew this was a powerful plant and I would have NEVER dare reach for it myself, but here it was, been brought to me without asking, so I was grateful to the spirit for the gift! besides, what harm could come from planting it in my garden?

I had done little research about this plant. Most background info I had heard was negative and I knew it had been heavily misused in Colombia where its active compounds are extracted, synthetized and used as theft and rape drugs. Misused even in the Ayahuasca industry, as I had come to know that some retreat centers in Peru, in an effort to provide “fireworks like” experiences right off the bat to impatient foreigners, were using it as an admixture to Ayahuasca brews. I had formed a strongly negative and critical opinion of such centers and thought they were the sole source of every negative Ayahuasca experience been related about in the news or online…

That afternoon while I was “meditating” or more like, drifting in the no thoughts space that is so easy to achieve the days following an Aya or San Pedro experience, I heard the white flower calling on me (she had dettached from the branch and was sitting now on a water vase near my bed) and my first impulse was to put her in my forehead, I felt as if that was to allow me to hear her better, so I did this almost without thinking. I immediately saw my third eye, in purple color in front of my closed eyes pulsating and huge, as I often see it during deep meditation and Aya experiences. She was right behind it; a lady beautiful beyond words, very tall, bright and luminescent to the point of glowing. I knew it was her spirit, the spirit of Toe, and I felt like falling to my knees, my eyes struggling to capture so much jaw dropping beauty. Before I could say anything, she nodded, as if confirming that she was indeed the spirit of Toe and almost adjusting down her own luminosity, blinding at this point, to a degree my eyes could handle.

She began explaining that the stories about her being a “darkness bringer” were but a mere miss-understanding, her role was to be a bright light bulb, illuminating and exposing everything dark inside the person that had this medicine, so that it can be faced and cleared, fears and darkness coming all too clear to its shocked yet rightful owners. She asked me to drop the judgment to the centers that use this medicine, indicating that not all people would have the same needs or the same luxury of time as I have had for healing in grace and ease. This Toe medicine was one tool of the spirit to help some people that visit the jungle with very limited time (in comparison to their needs) and that hence could use the “shock therapy”. As she dissipated, I was still in awe, trying to make sense of what had unfolded in front of my eyes. I certainly wasn’t expecting full on visions, in sheer daylight and without any medicines ingestion. I could only think about her mesmerizing beauty and her pristine energy. I felt blessed by the opportunity of meeting her. Wow, how could she ever be feared by anyone? I (naively) thought….

PD: That afternoon I created the piece of art on the picture as a tribute to her. needless to say it fails largely in capturing her true beauty! to see more of my art visit: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SophiasDreaming

**Warning: Ingestion of Toe / Datura is highly toxic, potentially deadly and not advisable. This is a plant spirit revered as sacred in many ancient civilizations and should be approached with respect.