Steal his identity and watch the newbs gather round.

This community is the best

It really is great to travel in the presence of true and mighty curanderos.

Everything is oportunty to learn while still blazing your own trail.

I am one of those strange persons that eats mushrooms alone and wouldn't do aya alone. Don't ask me why, probably just habit.

I don't think there is just one way and everyone can decide for themselves, the important thing is being humble.

But there is nothing like hearing Icaros live right in front of you while journeying. It is out of this world! Plus they have the power to direct your journey and to create a powerful energy between you and other travelers.

RS-
You should read this book. It describes shamanism in a way that I think will help you grow. The more you learn, the deeper your understanding, and the greater your influence becomes.

Thanks for sharing, I love such books.

I call perception of a possible inadequacy, "fear." "Fear" that you will lose something that you have now and will need later, or in this case, "fear" that you will not have something that you will need, because you don't have it, never had it, and never could have it.

Just fear, though. It can only hurt you if you let it; it doesn't really mean anything.

The wolf you feed, and all that.

Id like to visit SA one day, just for the experience itself, from beginning to end; not solely focused on 'working with a shaman'. Would really like to see much of that area tbh.

Never have thought you needed a shaman to assist 'you' into traveling into 'your' experience though. You definitely have all the tools. The one thing I see useful for spending some time and working with a shaman is the fact of them having established a framework for working with/navigating the experience, to various degrees. In the west...there's not so much of a framework (just kinda take it and see what happens/ did it work/ am I trippin yet!?!).

Not saying that they have the hammer on truth when it comes to working with these experience or anything like that, but I think many from the west, including myself, could learn a thing or two from them. They've been working with these medicines alot longer than any of us on here lol. Never stop learning I say.

I was listening to an older Mckenna workshop on psychedelic salon awhile back and I remember Terrence saying that when he was staying/working with a few different shamans, they told him several times that "we're the same as you, we get just as nervous and we don't know entirely what's going on either". ( I know I butchered that a bit, but that was the gist of it )

So here's one of those thoughts with the potential to cascade for eternity..

How about a small group of us, say 10 people or so, heading into the jungle, say about a year from now?

We have members who've been in the terrain and know shamans in the Jungle, so finding a decent one should not be an issue.

I can already smell the adventure...

Who's in ?

Instead of participating in the destructive ayahuasca tourism industry and the commodification of indigenous Amazonian cultural practices, what if we instead took those thousands of dollars and invested them toward something like a permaculture garden preserve or seedbank or used it fund further novel analysis projects?

No one said anything about thousands of dollars. I'm thinking more shaman in the jungle and less aya retreat.

I'd say no

I'd love to do a group journey with an experienced curandero. I'd love to do a sweat lodge too. Not in a touristy sense but if I knew someone who knew someone I'd love to immerse myself and learn from another culture directly.

But I also like developing my own relationship with the plants (and fungi!) and have the collective wisdom of not only you good folks but many other online communities to help guide me.

There is no need to travel all the way to SA to have an experience with a shaman!



I'm with you on this one, but don't you think we should also invest in training people to be able to support the individuals who want to journey? I think this is really important if we want psychedelics to play a significant role in our society. I say we need to learn all we can from the indigenous people but then apply that knowledge to our own frame of mind, which is, psychologically speaking, a lot different then theirs.

Thanks, Warrior, for the book recommendation. Ordered it!

Dreamer, I question the destructiveness that you paint "ayahuasca tourism" with. What do you think of this article about it? I would argue that the cons pretty much weigh even with the pros. Ayahuasca is getting big. It's gonna be filtered through all sorts of aspects of society, positive and negative.

Anyway, I sincerely appreciate all the input from Nexians on this topic. I think the overall opinion on the Nexus naturally leans toward the DIY side, just because of the nature of this site. I'll bet if you go out into the real world, you'll find the opinions are probably split 50/50.

I've definitely received criticism for trying to do this on my own, and it makes me feel uncomfortable--it even makes relationships rocky. "You're disrespecting an entire culture that's been raped by Western society!" and all that.

Although I will say that if I'm drinking an ACRB + Rue brew, those cultural ties don't exactly apply.

My opinion is that these days healing is becoming more of a self-powered thing than a practitioner-patient thing. I think people's problems are becoming so weird and new and ubiquitous that they just warrant self-healing.

That was a very good article, thank you for the share.

My issue with ayahausca tourism isn't about the tourists themselves as discussed in the article. I believe these experiences are the birthright of every person on this planet. I understand the importance of pilgrimage and I have been blessed to sit in a wide variety of traditional ceremonies. I do fully understand the importance of connecting with these traditions.

My issue is with the fuel burned to fly halfway round the world and back. The way the capitalist mindset is displacing traditional ways of life, such that young people are more interested in iPads than in preserving the languages and cosmologies that have sustained their communities for a thousand generations. My issue is with the perpetuation of the noble savage myth and the social/political/racial divides it maintains. My issue is with selling spirituality as a consumable product, just another experience to check off the bucket list.

The article made an excellent point about the importance of intention and how simply drinking the medicine accomplishes little, how the true healing comes via integration and dedication. Flying to Iquitos and drinking ayahausca for a week or a month is a good kick. Dedicating your life to maintaining a personal medicine practice is hard work. I don't seek to discourage anyone from making a pilgrimage to work in the jungle if they are called to do that. I do however seek to encourage people to examine their motivations and consider the larger impact of their personal healing practices.

Can we perhaps benefit more from cultivating a relationship with the teachers in our own gardens and backyards? Can more healing be accomplished in learning to walk the medicine path each day of our lives rather than simply when we are on holiday in some far off land?

myes

I have said this many times over at the Aya boards...for me, the most intimate and grounding aspect of my practice, is growing the plants.

I love ceremony, brewing, all aspects of the medicine life. But growing, sitting among, and singing to the plants is a daily occurrence.

I understand that there are many people who have no choice but to order materials from far away...to these people, I really want to encourage growing something, anything, not contraindicated MAOi, which can be added to the brew.

Everyone can grow ayahuasca plants, in other words.

~Entheogenic Gardener

I doubt you NEED one.

I sure wouldn't do aya without one though, they are masterful and experienced hyperspace weavers with so much experience and control in that realm it is very comforting to me to have..

The icaros are very important and can guide the trip and call upon certain spirits..

I did a ceremony with don jose campos and he was literally a hyperdimensional octopus tending to over 30 experiences at once.. we were all on the same hyperspace wave.. throughout the entire experience he was "shhhh"ing bad spirits away from everyones trip..with ease!

They are there to guide you to experience what you need to experience.. I'm sorry if people disagree but sometimes there is no time for bad spirits or certain aspects of the experience.. they help you get right into the juicy stuff..

If you have not traveled to SA particularly Peru I recommend it to anyone and everyone willing to learn from the land where Pachamama resides

Iquitos is a Peruvian jungle city.

Icaros is the word I think you were looking for.