by Allen Brown
The jungle became very quiet the moment we stepped into it. After a short trek our guide stopped dead and froze. With a sudden tension in the air all of us stopped too, keenly aware of every little snap and rustle in the thick sea of green around us. Our guide, a former teacher of jungle survival for the Peruvian Army, and now a Shaman’s apprentice, pointed ahead on the trail a few feet at the very large black snake slithering its way across our path. As we all watched in amazement as the snake slid into a deep tangle of green, our guide just smiled and continued on into the jungle, which was by now coming alive with sound.
Our group of 17 spirit-seekers from all over the world had come not only to experience the jungle, but to connect and work with the master healer called Ayahuasca. This particular walk through the jungle was to find bark from a special tree to add to the plant medicine mixture. As we drew near to the trees we were looking for, our guide stopped at a large palm and reached up to break open a pod at the base of the fronds to reveal a small flurry of ants now suddenly exposed. Without a word he took some ants from the palm and put them in his mouth and motioned for those closest to him to do the same. “Lemon”, a couple people exclaimed! “…they taste like lemon!” Amazing…
As we cut some of the bark needed for the medicine brew we were to drink the following night, our guide told a story of the trickster spirit that inhabited that part of the forest and the “bargain” they had made with it to keep the peace and work with the tree spirits. We were indeed walking in a very different world. With that, he blew tobacco smoke as a blessing on the trees and we started back to camp.
As I lay in bed that night preparing to work with another plant medicine spirit called Camalonga, I reflected on our first foray into the jungle and realized just how vast the separation from “the Mother” had become in my own life. I suppose it was exactly that feeling of separation that had brought me again to the jungle to connect with the spirits of plants and people that still live in a way that is sustainable and connected.
After many fascinating discussions about the dreams brought on by the Camalonga that night, the next morning was filled with a flood of excitement as we all gathered to prepare the Ayahuasca mixture. Several hours of washing, crushing and mixing the many plant parts together finally culminated in four enormous pots of steaming brown liquid bubbling over a massive fire. Throughout the nearly day long boil-down, we each took our turns coming down to the pots to pray to the plants and connect our energies to the spirit of Ayahuasca. I marveled at how “alive” everything felt in this place. It was difficult to take a step or pass a plant without some bizarre and fascinating creature scurrying out from under a leaf or palm frond. It was with this profound sense of awe that I went into the first ceremony that night with the mixture colloquially called the “Vine of the Dead”.
The Maestros had prepared the space and mixture with a long and detailed ceremony and with great anticipation we watched as they poured each of us one by one a medium amount of dark brown liquid into a cup. When the Ayahuasca first entered my body, my heart raced; a new feeling for me in the dozen or so times I had worked with the medicine. It gave me a good opportunity to put to use the teaching of several Ayahuasqueros I had worked with. With quite a few deep cleansing breaths and a focus on saying “YES!” with my whole being to the experience, my body quieted down and I settled into a peaceful place in anticipation of the sometimes overpowering visions that can come with this great teacher. This particular night, I realized, would be no exception as the beautiful patterns of light began to gain strength in my awareness. It’s difficult to put into words just how this Master Teacher gives the gift of insight so clearly, but as I watched the powerful, repeating patterns of images form and dissolve I became acutely aware of the self-supporting structures of belief we have created in this culture and how little they serve our well-being. Our dependency on the “stuff” we accumulate in our lives showed itself in a thousand different ways, each more real and vivid than anything I have experienced in my “normal” state of consciousness. Later, great expanses of alien landscapes formed in front of me, mixed with intense visions of faces and spirits, sometimes terrifying, sometimes glorious. Hours later as the powerful effects of the plant were waning, the realization of direct experience as a way around or through the madness built around consensus-based belief systems began to sink in. In a way that only this plant can facilitate, a great opening and peace filled my heart. By the time I made my way back to my hut to sleep I was filled with a deep sense of gratitude and joy at the incredible gifts I had received from the plant.
As I drifted off to sleep I smiled at the thought of having five more experiences with this great medicine to look forward to before I made my way to the Andes mountains for what later turned out to be an equally powerful experience with some of the greatest teachers of the Q’ero nation. What an amazing life…