Of Ayahuasca and DMT
I had heard of grandmother Ayahuasca for a long time. In my early 20s I read the book ‘The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge ’ by Jeremy Narby. His work validated to me, the power of Ayahuasca to communicate with people and heal. I had decided I was to take it in my country of origin Ecuador, with a shaman in the jungle, get the full experience. Yet the first time I was offered DMT, it wasn't from Aya, or the Amazonian Jungle. It was at a festival in Mexico. It seemed as if the medicine came to me, and was meant to be. It was DMT extracted from a frog in south USA. We smoked it in a joint at sunrise. I kept my eyes opened, and I saw sacred geometries, enlightened ones, a unicorn and mystic creatures explode out of the sun. I felt much love and saw what I can describe as the truth of bliss or enlightenment. A third dimension, from our world eagle, flew across the horizon, and out of my mouth came a whistle like the eagle’s. I had never been able to whistle before! Then, my ego got in the way, and tried to question what I was seeing. “Am I seeing this cos I have seen all these images before?” “Have I been indoctrinated to believe this stuff?” “How do I know what is real?” With much love and compassion, my heart ahoy to be quiet, and especially, to be humble! What I was being shown had as much validity as the air I was breathing.
Two months later, whilst I was residing at La Semilla, grandmother Ayahuasca came to me. I felt a little bit undeserving, having taken DMT previously. I was having my own inhibitions, I didn't feel worthy of this medicine and specially when not taking it in the jungle. Then I had a dream, it was a dream of feelings rather than visual. I felt the grandmother approach me, a clear call I was to take.
I was already having a clean diet, eating mainly from the garden. For the days to follow, I ate very little in preparation for the service. The ceremony was guided by a musician couple. He plays the guitar, being a master and very talented at it. She sings with a beautiful voice, every word from the heart! The medicine was made and travelled from the Brazilian jungle. Medicine of love, of healing. Ceremony took place on the full moon. It was a beautiful, in the open, with a camp fire and in front of an adobe Temazcal dome we just finished building. I felt grandmother’s warmth and love inundate my body, expand my heart chakra and connect it with my pineal gland and brain. I became one with the moon and felt spiritual ecstasy. Whenever my ego started to question things, I would feel drowsy and not so well, bringing me back to my breath and heart. Grandmother teaches us in the best suitable way for each of us. Taking this medicine surrounded by brothers and sisters, in the first garden I lived in, was a magnetic blessing.
