This weekend I went on my first magical mystical journey with a friend of mine in the forests of WI. It was one (I have had a number of mystical experiences in my life, but this one took the cake

) of the most humbling, profound, and life/perspective altering experiences I have ever had!! Throughout my life I have gone through cycles of spiritual exploration, usually instigated by a profound insight that comes my way, and coincidentally this usually happens right around Easter. This happened again in spring while I was taking a class called Ecology and Spirituality. This class instigated a spiritual quest the likes of which I haven't experienced before, and created so many amazing coincidences that I feel actually culminated in my experience this weekend.
I am incredibly grateful for the journey I went on (I say journey because it truly was a journey both physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually). After all of the the spiritual, emotional and mental preparation I had done over the last few months as well as the patience for just the right time and place to manifest itself I feel I was richly rewarded! My journey was everything I had hoped for, and more. I was given the opportunity to experience the ultimate paradox of reality that I had only understood conceptually up until Saturday night. I met god and was shown the paradox it has created in order to experience itself as the ultimate creative force that is. I am both awed and perplexed at what was revealed to me, because it truley spanned the spectrum of "absolute absurdity" ("stupid" was the word I kept thinking when I was on my journey but this seems to be a better descpition of what I experienced) to "profound genius" and all the colors in between. I was also confronted with many of my own fears and personal issues, and realized that I had to surrender to the ambiguities of existence, in addition to taking responsibility for my actions as gracefully as possible in order to live an enlightened existence. Surrender, humility, and trust were three lessons I learned that night, because in my opinion this type of journey forces one's ego to experience all of these things due to its very nature.
Someday, it is my hope to lead people on similar journeys of discovery. This experience confirmed for me what I have read about the Curanderos/Vegetalistas belief about these sacred plants helping westerners reconnect to spirit.
I am also greatful that I have found a community in which I can talk about this expereince and the awe and gratitude it has inspired within me.

Thanks for reading this. -p
"So it was that Dreamer put a tree at the center of the universe and from that tree were born time, space, individuality, conflict, sex, and death. Of course it is no coincidence that these are the ingredients of a good yarn and the first one the tree spun is still one of the best: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Since then, every time a seedling sprouts, dozens of new stories sprout with it, so Dreamer hasn't been bored for a moment." -from the book "Plant Spirit Medicine"