I often run into the new age version of ayahuasca usage. People who are only looking for a nice, gentle and sweet experience. When people are afraid of confronting their inner shadow and demons, they will push aside the real work and lose the benefit of the true healing potential of la Madre – or of any real deep healing work for that matter. The root of this is fear. I’ve seen real damage come from this attitude, and it’s a sad commentary on those for whom avoidance is a mode of being – often people who go from seminar to seminar or hopping from shaman to shaman, seeking the latest greatest transformational high; but always just scratching the surface. Really though, it’s impossible to repress the shadow for long. Eventually it will come up and need to be dealt with.

But how will it be dealt with for those who are only seeking happiness at the expense of the real healing work that the plants offer?

Not well, I think.

– Whom did you drink with in the Amazon?
– Is having sweet, beautiful, and powerful experiences the purpose of ayahuasca?
– If that is the case, in what way does drinking ayahuasca differ from, say, masturbating?
– Since you have been welcomed into Amazonian communities, I assume you are currently supporting the struggles of the indigenous and mestizo communities whose medicine has been so good to you. What in particular are you doing?

Nothing but deep Gratitude for him….

I have experienced many ceremonies prior…including ceremonies in the Amazon along with the Dieta experience…..

However I must say the ceremony with Lobo Siete Truenos was the sweetest, most Beautiful….most Powerful experience….

I was Pleasantly surprised…..i had heard he created a very strict container but I had no idea how Pure an experience I was about to be Witness to…

I’m so Grateful….

and I’d like to advise those who commented ….. please be Aware of the statements you choose to make … they leave a mark …

I also agree with what you’re saying about people not contributing to the culture from which they’re borrowing this healing. However, having worked with several mestizo curanderos from Peru, I am glad that my community is no longer doing business with them. We’ve had one difficult experience after another. In some cases the curanderos saw us as ignorant rich gringos. (Two out of three are true; we’re not rich, though to a Peruvian living in the jungle, I suppose we seem so). There were many cultural misunderstandings about proper protocol. These curanderos, being mostly men, also made no effort to hide their attraction to women and in some cases openly made passes at them, playing up their almost guru-like status to woo impressionable young women.

Fortunately, we live in a place where the plants grow well, and now all of our medicine is local. We no longer invite curanderos to facilitate, and we don’t have to deal with all the of the hassles (not the least of which involve visas, travel, housing, food, etc.–some of these guys come with what, to me, are unreasonably high expectations about how they ought to be treated). The medicine is working with us in a new context, forming new relationships. I believe that the medicine choreographed its immigration to our home, and now it’s developing into something different, something more connected to this place. It’s an interesting process to watch, and of course it’s just my interpretation. Who the heck knows what’s really going on?

I will always honor the teachers and shamans and healers who brought this medicine into my life and community. And I would love to visit the Amazon someday and pay my due respects to the people and traditions there. But I am also happy that it’s evolving with us, and that we don’t need to rely on practitioners from thousands of miles (and another culture) away from. It may be that we lose something in translation; the curanderos have a millennium (or more) of practice, tradition and spirit allies behind them. But who can say what’s yet to be gained?

Little Lightening Bolt (there you are again) I have to say, I have one friend who suffers from chronic severe pain, who claims (and I believe him) that the only thing he’s found that helps is ayahuasca. Similarly, I’ve a girlfriend diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, and she has really struggled–she’s found a pharmaceutical that helps, but before that the only answer was ceremony, and it remains the more powerful cure (though not permanent as some maintain, at least not as we’ve found). As for myself, I deal with my moderate but prolonged depression without synthetic chemicals, and I do okay but not great. But a regular practice with la medicina–I can’t tell you the difference that it makes. Unfortunately I don’t have regular access, so good blogs like this keep me moving in the right direction. Thanks for the good work Steve.

big love

osman