Rituals

-Ayahuasca rituals

There are many differences between Ayahuasca rituals in the Amazon basin. The use of Ayahuasca as a sacrament has been taking place in the Amazon jungle for thousands of years and different jungle tribes have developed their own rituals. The most divergent are the rituals in Brazil, where traditional ceremonies have been widely replaced by Christian religious ceremonies (by churches such as Santo Daime and União do Vegetal) where participants dress in white, chant religious songs and are invited to dance.

In general, traditional rituals in the jungle include a cleansing preparation called a Dieta where people cleanse and show their intention by abstaining from salt, sugar, spices, alcohol, drugs, animal fats and red meat, dairy products (especially cheese and aged or cured products)and sex for a period ranging from a few days to several weeks. This also rids the body of any substances that could increase the toxicity of the brew. Cleansing is also carried out through washing the face and hands with flower water as well as with cleansing rituals with mapacho, sacred ritualistic tobacco.

There is always a Curandero (also called Ayahuasquero, Herbalista, Vegetalista, Dietero or Shaman) who prepares the brew, blesses it with sacred tobacco and sings the Icaros (ceremonial songs) during the ceremony. The job of the Curandero is to guide the voyage of the participants and to protect them from evil spirits and bad energies.

The drinking of Ayahuasca is part of the Shamanic Rituals needed for the mind and body to obtain a certain level of spiritual awareness. This makes the soul “lift up” and separate from the physical body. The famous Shamans of the Amazon have been known to use the Ayahuasca brew for various purposes such as divination and physical as well as soul purging. It is also used for clairvoyance and as atonement for their souls and the souls of their dead ancestors. Drinking Ayahuasca will take one to a state of awakening. Thus, a person needs the guidance and counsel of an experienced and respectful drinker in order to successfully achieve this mental state. By drinking the brew, people experience visions and contact with the spirits or what they call the imprints of luminous bodies and the Divine.

In western terms, the brew provides a direct connection with our subconscious and access to all of our memories and thus an opportunity to remove impediments to our happiness and our higher selves as well as heal wounds and addictions, whether physical or psychological. However, the ritual of the ceremony is extremely important in order to take advantage of the healing qualities of the brew because it not only brings focus and intention to the procedure but also connects us with Mother Nature and the divine, both qualities severely lacking in our cynical, pragmatic western realities. On a more practical level, the Icaros are songs that with their particular tunes and frequencies guide us through the process, starting with unsettling the subconscious in order to uncover hidden wounds and fears, continuing with support and nourishment for our difficult process while protecting us from the energies around us.

At TierraMítica we use the rituals of the Shipibo, probably the purest and the oldest in the Amazon basin, carried over through an oral tradition from hundreds of generations of Curanderos where there is not one leader Curandero with his masculine energy guiding the collective process, rather a multitude of Maestras and Maestros (teachers) providing individual Icaros to each participant as well as collective guidance and protection. The Maestras offer their feminine grandmother energy, fully in tune with the feminine energy of the jungle and the Grandmother Ayahuasca. They also perform individual cleansings and purifications and comfort each individual that needs it. They sing an ethereal symphony through the combination of their individual chants. The ceremonies are also guided by two experienced western guides who provide the link and the understanding for western cultures, building a bridge between philosophies of the west, the east and indigenous Earth philosophies.

-Pre and post ceremony rituals

There are also other rituals performed; ritualistic flower, root and jungle herb baths, sacred mapacho tobacco purifications, extractions of alien energies and purifying blessings.

Another important ritual is that of the Dietas that include Ayahuasca ceremonies mainly for cleansing body and soul, purging, abstention from heavy foods, sex, spices and outside stimuli, meditation and preparation.