The peak of the experience of this enthogen’s retreat at the mountains was a Temazcal ceremony. The medicine to be served a mix of Ayahuasca and San Pedro and rumor had it the shaman would bring tiny amouts of Peyote as admixture (practice i learnt later is used to summon plant allies without neccesarily adding the chemical composition of allucinogens)…. I had never experienced a Temazcal before, nor had i experienced the effects of mixing different plant medicines for that matter.
After about two months from my last journey, I was itching to return to the jungle and I had my opportunity when a small group was scheduled for late April. Everything seemed normal our first evening; My internal attitude however, was unlike any on my past experiences. I felt -for the first time – that I could go into this journey in total trust, as now I had come to know firsthand the love and benevolence of the spirit encountered when drinking Ayahuasca, my previous fears and insidious doubts had lifted completely…
Nothing can prepare you for your first San Pedro encounter, to begin, there is nowhere as much information about it online or books written as there is for Ayahuasca; Almost everybody I’ve asked to describe their SP experiences has answered: “It’s hard to put into words”, and it has always taken me several days before I’m able to even attempt to journal my own SP experiences.
Seeking to deepen my relation with Aya I signed for a week-long retreat that also offered the opportunity to experience San Pedro (Huachuma Cactus) another sacred plant I didn’t know anything about until the retreat started, and I quickly realized I should have done my due diligence research. Some of the experienced participants shared what I should expect and this included: 8-16 hours journey, blending of dimensions, seen with eyes open and losing emotional control……By then I had heard enough and couldn’t help to have all my fears re-awakened. Every fear I had experienced before Aya, and more, came back to me…Among them, my biggest was encountering dark forces and the sleep paralysis feeling of “dying from asphyxia” that often accompanied such encounters for me… These two fears -I was grateful- had not manifested with Aya… and I was literally freaking out contemplating the possibility they may take place now experiencing San Pedro.
One hour before the first SP ceremony I needed to seek for organizers to let them know I didn’t feel ready and I couldn’t bring myself to it. I prayed and asked Aya to help me out and either give me the strength to go through this or give me the clarity to make a call and cancel this off if this was not right for me… As soon as these thoughts entered my head I started hearing a VERY loud buzzing, it did not came from anything outside but it was rather inside my head… It was the exact same sound I heard in all my previous Aya encounters right before the experience started… I had come to recognize this sound as a “hello I’ve arrived – I’m here” message… Mind you however, this time it was more than 42 hours since I had my last dose (of a rather disappointingly weak, no effects producing, Ayahuasca brew in this center in the mountains) so, this was absolutely not supposed to happen. I could not believe myself, it was the most surreal thing ever to happen to me the buzzing lasted for at least 5-8 minutes of loud clear, consistent and strong noise in my head….I knew she was there with me and was letting me know everything was alright, that She was just as active and alive working on me as if I had just drank a heavy jungle style dose just 20 mins ago. I felt so reassured by this that my fears lifted. Beyond lifting current fears, this caused something even deeper, this gesture of hers, brought tears to my eyes and made me feel way more than just reassured… This was a ultimately cathartic moment for me; It was the very first time in my life that a being from the supernatural side had shown kindness and love to me… particularly when I have been paralyzed by fear… It reminded me of the countless times growing up when I was attacked by visions of demons and entities and had prayed to God, the angels, and any “light beings” I could possibly think off to encounter no response, literally hundreds of times… the loneliness and guilt / shame for feeling abandoned by God for years had left strong marks on me. Now, having her show up in such an undeniable manner.. it moved me, it made me regain faith on the path and I was touched to levels I find hard to describe in this post…
The very exact same experience was to happen one more time the same week, the next time I found myself paralyzed by fear at the highlight event of the retreat, where we were supposed to confront complete darkness in a 7 hours sweat lodge under the influence of 3 medicines: Peyote, San Pedro and Ayahuasca. I asked again: are you there? And sure enough, about 20 mins before heading to it (and several days after my last Aya dose) I got my answer.. the strong buzzing and the overwhelming love energy took over me once again for 5-8 eternal minutes while I cried alone in my room healing tears.. For the first time in a lifetime of encounters with the spirit world someone or somethins was on my side and I didnt feel alone …
The second ceremony night in this visit I experienced the same gentleness and lack of body symptoms, the wise voice made its appearance significantly earlier and I lost no time in presenting my questions. Why do I hear you as a man when everybody else’s seems to identify you as a female? The voice responded shifting from male to a women’s voice: “Because you distrust women” before shifting back to a male presence and voice.
Why was I coming back? What was I looking for? What else did I want to gain from drinking more Aya? I could not answer these questions with clarity but I had gone back to the jungle only a month after my 1st visit. I just knew I had to come back.Read More »
The sense of connectedness, clarity and calm happiness continued during the next following weeks. This was something I did not expect, the shaman had only said please follow the diet for two weeks and the healing positive energies will remain with you…
I noticed significant changes in my overall mood, I was happy and contempt all the time with no specific reason. I realized that I had been before in a chronic depression I wasn’t fully aware off until now having it been lifted, happines felt unusual.
One of the most telling symptom changes was that I did not need to forcefully occupy my day. Before, I had a strong need to ensure I had activities planned like shopping, banks, yoga, friends’ visits, and specific tasks for working in my art shop. Now, I was comfortable with not having plans, with letting the day unfold and just do whatever I pleased. I did not find staying in the house with no plans either boring or threatening anymore. I actually enjoyed moments of solitude and peace and just being on my own. I also started to feel a strong rejection towards crowded places (concerts, shopping malls in weekends, movie theaters in box opening days) I felt energetically affected by them and would avoid them at all cost, whereas before I would go to the movies every single weekend regardless of what was playing…
When I was able to consciously identify all these unexpected changes I was marveled, how could two nights alone have had such a profound healing impact? what were the possibilities? Having a history of observation and work in myself I carried a list of internal issues I would love to work on, among them: my inability to open my heart with my partner, phobia to spiders, rejection to my femininity, the list went on and on… I wanted to do more work, to get deeper with it so I started to research about retreat healing centers in Ecuador and found one that offered 12 days San Pedro, Ayahuasca and Temazcal ceremonies, I signed up for it however the next opportunity was two and a half months down the road. I couldn’t wait……
My 2 weeks diet ended almost (yeah I cheated breaking in 2 days early) on time for Christmas and Year Ends Celebrations which I spent in Guayaquil (8 hrs away form my new home in Quito). I felt happy and at ease around family and old friends…. which brings me to the “tricky” side of the afterglow. When I related my experience to family and friends I found unexpected responses, somehow my parents were very open to it, welcoming and supportive of it (???) … The shocker were some of my closest friends… they had been gracious in entertaining conversations regarding my initial curiosity and experience however they became increasingly concerned and judgmental when hearing of my determination to go back to it and go deeper in the work… Some of them became outright straight critical: “do you think you can drink your way to illumination?” “What do you seek? What else could you possibly want?” or just innocently questioning in a form of silent criticism “are you sure of these decisions?, You are not supposed to need anything external you know, everything is already inside you…” but I had no choice but to maintain my self-promise of radical truth living. These were hard moments for me as I have never taken criticism particularly well when coming from people I care about.. Aya, however had a lesson in store for me. It felt like a second layer of shedding, after having left my whole life in Canada just a couple of months ago. I was now witnessing the distancing and shedding of my old friends as well, physical distance did not make the difference here, it was now a matter of vibrational distance… I didn’t know yet that feeling lonely and missunderstood would not last for long…
I had one more drinking night left on this visit, I had woke up for lunch and heard comments about how this night ceremony would feature a different brew, “Black Ayahuasca” which I knew nothing about at the time, yet the name alone gave me chills. After two ceremony nights in a row, I was too tired to think much about it and I went straight back to sleep.Read More »
The morning after our first ceremony, I woke up uplifted and energized despite the few sleeping hours. We still had two more nights ceremonies in front of us and I spent the day in a space of serenity and peace until then very unfamiliar.Read More »
After witnessing none of the 6 participants who drank going nuts and hearing none of them saying: “I thought I was going to die” in this visit where I didnt drink the brew but just witnessed; and after hearing about my husband account of his own experience; I decided it was probably safe for me to try it, maybe one day….
My hubby had experienced “oneness” the dissolution of his physical body and blending with all surroundings accompanied by an ability to mentally travel wherever in the world he would fixate his attention on. His experience had been filled with love and positive emotions and he assured me now that he had met the spirit behind that plant, he had concluded with all certainty it was benign…. Calming my oh so many previous apprehensions about it.
That “one day” opportunity for me to experience it came sooner than I thought it would, no more than a month after, as a new local patient of my husband had requested a trip to the jungle, once again the invitation was extended to me and this time I was ready, needing it most for my chronic anxiety and fobias.
While trekking towards the jungle camp, it was wet, rainy and muddy… All I had in my head was: Dear Lord, please keep spiders out of my sight.
The ceremony was about to start and I was so overly nervous my hands were shaking, when my backpack flipped on the side, I jolted and my heart was racing… The shaman started calling us, one by one, he served half a glass for me (beginners amount) I swallowed the gel thick brew, I was too nervous to even feel the foul taste and quickly made it back to my reclining chair.
I had been told I had about 30 min before I would start feeling the effects… however something weird happened, as soon as I had returned to my place I noticed the anxiety had been lifted, it was strange it was gone, just not there anymore… I closed my eyes and I could see my third eye floating between my eyebrows, expanding and contracting slowly.
I started to hear Amorah’s voice singing “Angels of Grace”, one of her songs. She had been my friend and spiritual teacher, the founder of a mystery school in California and published writer of 5 books, she had passed away on an unexpected accident on June 2012 leaving deep sorrow in my heart…. I let myself be carried away in the soothing energy of her voice beauty: “Grace falls upon me like a misty summer rain. Grace flows through me like a gentle soothing breeze, Grace shines on me like warm sunlight on my soul, and I’m free I’m at peace I’m at home…” It had been so subtle I almost didn’t realize the effects had started, almost right away. I did not see my friend, nor did I heard other spoken words (aside the song), however I had a telepathic insight of her presence sending me love, reassuring me she was ok and reminding me “Healing in Grace and Ease” is feasible. So I concentrated in that, I asked the Ayahuasca spirit: let my journey be gentle, help me heal in grace and ease…..
Next thing I noticed was a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of dancing sacred geometry figures, mandalas, yantras in front of me for a while until I was distracted by the sound of others purging…. Loud, hair cringing purging, and that went on for a while…
When I was able to relax in my visions again, a big notebook appeared, blank pages in which something started been drawn by an invisible hand. In the drawings I was been shown different types of aliens, some looked like greys, other like hybrid animals, hybrid insects and others had physical bodies I can’t describe… This was followed by drawings of women faces that appeared as Goddesses, human females of extreme beauty and different ethnic backgrounds: from gentle youthful and loving faces to older wiser expressions….I was brought back from this by my husband call: Do you want to go back to the room? it was about 2 am, the ceremony was over and everybody had left..
Once in my room I couldn’t sleep, the effects still going strong for me, I was wondering why was I the only one not to purge that night and almost inmediately felt the urge to vomit, I made it to the window facing the garden and was shocked by the awful feeling of a force stronger than me, pushing trough, and by the pungent flavor of the aya brew. Back in my bed and eyes closed I had the final and only really clear vision of the night (all others were more like dreamlike imagery): It was a long, serpentine shape, walking path in the middle of a meadow delimited with dozens… hundreds of little candles on each side about 10 inches apart each. I followed with my eyes, the path went so long in the distance I could see no end…. I thought it was beautiful and I asked what is this?, where does this path lead to? all the insight I got back was each candle on it was representative of a ceremony where I would drink Ayahuasca… This realization shocked me… wait. wait a second….. you cant mean that … what? that many candles/ceremonies? you seriously mean that is the amount of times I will be drinking? Absolutely no way!!!. I can’t do that, this is all too harsh, i dont have the strength and I can’t take on this flavor, worse yet I CAN’T purge this flavor again… I don’t know why I was freaking out so much, after all, it wasn’t as if anyone could “make me” drink against my will.. so I continued to hold the vision soaking in the calm, quiet and almost sacred vibe of the meadow, the beauty of this lighted up path….. pondering her invitation to walk it…. I felt another “telepathic” insight: I’m inviting you, I will teach you...
TheEnlightenedPath 