Can anyone help a brother out? I am searching for any information on Santo Daime churches in the USA, one in the New York area would be wonderful. as I search the net , it occurs to me that they do not advertise their existence , but many forum discussions suggest they exist.
Can anyone point me in the right direction? I have a family member with Cancer who I want to steer in this direction, I see how Chemo is devastating his health, I know that Aya can help him though I doubt I could get him on a plane to the Amazon so this is my best course of action I believe.

also, Im interested in the church for myself.

Thank you friends!

Not sure about New york..I know they have one now in ashland, oregon.

I can talk to my friends in the church, but I'm not really sure that this will be an effective way to get into their ceremonies. Afaik, you need to be vetted by someone who's a member of the particular congregation you are attempting to partake in a work with. Then, whoever's leading that particular congregation will want to meet and/or talk to you about your life/experience/intentions and what you seek from working with the church. I'm currently in school in the SE US and I know that the local congregants make trips a couple times a year to attend larger works/ceremonies/brewing groups in the DC/VA area as well as NY. I just don't know how willing they would be to take someone referred by a person who doesn't know the individual and isn't associated directly with the church. I'll ask them how receptive they'd be or if they can give me any contact information, but in all honesty, I'm not too optimistic as they tend to be tight knit and relatively secluded congregations. I'll pm you if I get any positive response.

Just outta curiosity...why not brew your own?

Thanks Fractal and Snoz for the quick Replies , Snozzleberry, I sincerely appreciate the consideration, perhaps we can PM and discuss this more in private and I can give you some background that may help with any decisions.

in response to brew your own , It has obviously crossed my mind and for my own shamanic studies and curiosity Im sure I will give it go sooner or later, but the answer to your question : I have never brewed or drank Aya before, and as I want to offer help to someone who desperately needs it, as a complete novice , I don't feel comfortable doing that.

Plus I assume a community , such as the Currandos of South America and the Santo Daime church -would have valuable insights to the medicine and healing process that I just cant offer.

Thank you my friends , This nexus is also a Great community I am finding out

I have no experience with the Santo Diame, but a very very good friend of mine did 2 ceremonies with them this year when they came to vancouver, and what she had to say wasnt very appealing at all..They dont let you focus on your experience. You have to sit in these uncomfortable chairs the whole time in a fully lit room singing hyms, and there is a religous cult sort of overtone to the entire thing..I wouldnt drink with them outside of an anthropological interest..They are a catholic group.

I have heard better things about works with the diame that go on in the rainforest centre they have set up in brazil..but even still..I wouldnt want to have to drink witha large group of people in a fully lit room an not be able to just lay down on the floor etc and roll around when I need to.

Also..alot of the physical healing with ayhuasca I think comes when diets are held around the use of ayahuasca..which I dont think is of big importance in the diame works..better to work with an actaul currandero for this sort of thing I think.

Exactly my opinion fractal. I had no interest in attending a "standing work" as the entire thing is focused on singing hymns and dancing and whatnot. The seated works are better, but you're still required to be a part of the group and partake in the hymns and the like. On top of that, as full members have a special garb that they are supposed to wear, it makes, if not a hierarchy, a dichotomy between the people present at the work, which I cannot say I agree with. However, I know that one person who I introduced to spice after he declined Ayahuasca (he had come to me looking for help recovering from residual negative effects from prior substance use and thought Aya would be too intense) who wound up joining the church after trying dmt and his psychiatrist suggested that Aya might help. He has improved amazingly and reports feeling better overall and just having more peace, happiness and meaning in his life. So while I agree that the Santo Daime rubs me the wrong way as far as my own personal Ayahuasca use or spiritual practices, I have seen it used in a very beneficial manner.

Valid points Fractal , and for you and me , your probably right , I agree, but the person in question with cancer who needs treatment now, ins't like us, he is older(though not elderly) and religious. Not at all into Mind expansion as a way of life, however is open to alternative healing and is a very good hearted person, I feel the traditional medicine under the Catholic umbrella is perfect, as he was raised catholic.

The Church may not be the answer, But I feel the need to seek one.

I went through Cancer with my father in law 2 years ago, he lived with us the last 6 months of his life and it is the saddest most difficult thing to witness the slow painful death of a loved one with western medicine as their only hope , It may be effective in some circumstances , however there is a cold , heartless way about how cancer treatment is delivered , resembling an assembly line at times, ....There has to be a better way that involves Community, Love and natural methods.

JFYI, the Guy who is sick it is the type of guy who holds benefits and raises moneys for charities and builds dog parks with his own time and resources so the community can have one , and donates alot of time to the elderly. he knows all his neighbors and try walking through his neighborhood without stopping and talking to every old lady on the block and asking what they need -Impossible!

he is a really a good soul. He deserves a Chance.

Sorry to disagree, but as a member of the Church I have to state that some of this is not correct. The Santo Daime is in fact a religious group. About the chairs it is probably the fault of the props actually available there! In my church the chairs are really OK As about focusing on the experience that may depend on the working performed. If you go to a Concentration, you will receive 2 servings of the Santo Daime and at least one full hour in the total and absolute silence in dimmed lights. It is quite powerful! There are some workings that are just for chanting (and occasionally dancing) the Hymnaries; these are difficult workings and I would not advise them for a first time. Sometimes they can last up to 12 hours (occasionally even more) with up to 5-6 Daime servings per session. However the Concentration workings are the most frequent. If the church follows the official calendar, there are 2 Concentration workings per month

About the religious overtone that is true. YET, the Church is so openly Gnostic with so many meanings in the Hymns, that the Christian shell can be easily peeled off and the Deeper Message understood. Most members are devout Christians, but many are not. There are many workings where we are just invoking the Spirits of the Forest, from the Native Peoples of the Amazon to the African Candomble. The Santo Daime is a Syncretic Church and is not by any means Catholic. We would be shunned by most catholics!

Hi The_Shaman,

I had a friend whose child developed a brain tumor, and sought the Daime for the same reason. Long story short, I was connected to the facilitators with multiple references of character, I basically spilled my guts all over a couple of different answering machines explaining who I was, my relationship with the vine, the plight of this kid... and nobody ever returned my calls.

Perhaps for the better.

My best friend's mother was recently diagnosed with lymphoma. She drank the tea (we brewed it together!) with her mom for the first time this past weekend. She began starting her mom on microdoses of Aya, and they took a moderate dose of vine with extremely low admixture. My friend doubled her dose, but her mom was comfortable to stay where she was. The experience was beautiful, she said her mom felt a tree grow inside of her and received messages about what was going on inside her body.

Cancer can't be cured overnight, but with strict attention to all aspects of mind/body/soul, people can and do come out the other side. Applied appropriately, Ayahuasca is an AMAZING tool with profound benefits in all three aspects.

It is a different path, to walk alone, but great things CAN be done. For healing, and until you have experience, I would recommend exploring Caapi-only, adding admixture slowly, reverently, as you gain confidence. Aya is amazing. The vine is so powerful and healing.

With love.

Edit: disclaimer: all posts are based on personal healing experiences with the vine only, I am not a doctor, etc., etc.

Well I cant say anything from personal experience..all I can relay is what a person close to me experienced, someone who is extremely experienced with psychedelics and I have done many many mushrooms ceremonies with. She did not find the diame to her liking. Im sure different diame circles in different areas are all somewhat different..she only drank 2 times in one weekend with a group that came here. She said that she wanted to get away from the group to go lay down off to the side to foucs on her experience and they kept bothering her and making her come back and sit in her chair to sing, to the point where she concidered leaving mid ceremony to go to the park where she could haev some space. Someone there also took her pack of cigarettes that she had sitting on top of her bag underneath her chair..which is not cool, not matter how bad smoking cigarettes is.

Another interesting thing about the diame..is that she said that they broughtout yopo snuff durring the second ceremony and offered it after the second dose of ayahuasca..and many people there snuffed multiple times..se declined though, but said everyone else seemed greatley effected by it..and trust me..bufotenine taken at the peak of ayahuasca is very powerful..is this a common occurance in diame works?

Anyway, The_Shaman, if you cant find a group for your relative..than perhaps you can brew some ayahuasca and do some work with it personally first..then brew some caapi only tea for both you and them and start some work that way..light caapi only brews are very easy to manage..I cant see it being hectic or getting out of hand..you can work your way up to larger doses..if yu can find a group or currandero in your area thats great!..but if not..

Also, there is another ayahuasca group that practices legally in the US..they are called PaDeva..they are a sort of eclectic wiccan church that uses ayahuasca as the main sacrament..
http://www.padeva.org/

Thanks for this. I have a friend that might be interested. ( ;

Hi fractal,



That, just by itself, is bizarre. The Daime ceremonies follow a very strict calendar, which are followed by every church. Occasionally there are two celebrations very close, but is unusual to have two on a weekend




That might be possible, although again unusual. The Santo Daime is a Religion and having the Santo Daime is done in a ceremony with a specific purpose. Sometimes, if in a hymnary chanting without the Concentration, we are just there chanting through the ceremony. That's how it is. But, if someone simply can't be there because of the Daime and what is happening inside oneself (and this is very frequent!) there are special places where one can go to rest and lie down. This is a necessity in every church I've been. Even in workings in the woods there are special resting places. I've seen people pass out early and spend 80% of the ceremony in a improvised bed. A very important thing when the group is somewhat big (> 20 elements) is to have watchers. 1 man and 1 women who take very reduced amounts of the Santo Daime and stay watching if the ceremony is correct and if someone needs help to lie down or need to go to the bathroom, or whatever.



That speaks more of the people than the Church, I must say. If it happened with me, no matter how trifle the burglary was, I would never talk to those people again. In my group I would trust them my soul, and I would do it since the first meeting I was there



I've never had anything but the Daime, and no one in all the ceremonies I've been has ever taken anything. Regarding the use of other drugs one of the founders of the Church, Padrinho Sebastião, was very keen on cannabis, which he called the "Weed of Saint Mary", but as far as I could know he did never used it during the ceremonies. Also the practice is not well regarded in most of the Churches, and I've never seen it used.

The group your friend met seems like a strange offshoot from the Santo Daime!

I think they did 2 ceremonies in one weekend becasue there is no diame church here..they traveled here to do the ceremonies and they were done in some sort ofrecreation centre or something like that. I wanted to attend at the time out of curiosity becasue I like observing the structures of other religous practices..but I wasnt allowed to come..

Thanks Friends for all the replies, You know I never thought but your are absolutely right, a Caapai only tea would be a nice mellow introduction , I have not even tried that myself and so, I shall use it as an introduction.
I wanted to investigate the church for the reasons I already listed, , but if it becomes to much of a challenge to travel, the home brew is the very best idea.

Can you guys tell em what to expect from a caapai only tea and is there any tea recipies here on the Nexus I should follow.

ie: how many caapai leaves in a pot of tea ?

I have felt the healing touch of Aya in a Changa batch , and I am a believer.