The intention was stable so was my physical awareness. It was time to board the plane and head down to see my spirit family. When we all arrived at casa del sol we opened up the space with a Temazcal also known as a sweat lodge.
A sweat lodge is a deeply grounding and powerful experience. We heat up many stones in a large fire and sit in an enclosed dome shape space. This represents the womb from which we all come. The stones are brought in usually 7-8 at a time each stone is blessed with sacred herbs. They go to a small hole in the center and we all sit around the stones. There are "4 doors" each door represents a sacred direction and each direction represents a season of our lives birth, youth, adult, elder. When we open a door we are actually closing the physical door and sealing any open spaces.
From there we bring in the water of life and put water on the stones so the room heats up to extreme levels. We pray for strength, we offer gratitude for this life, and we remember a sacred memory of living a good life. Sometimes we scream from the excruciating heat sometimes we laugh at the cosmic joke of it all and sometimes we cry in absolute brilliance of this gift of life that we have.
These sacred traditions have a way to open us up and remind us of our personal perseverance and strength.
The next day we climbed up the mountain and prepared for our San Pedro ( Huachuma ) ceremony. San Pedro is a sacred plant medicine that comes from a cactus that grows vibrantly in the sacred valley of longevity. From my experience, San Pedro is a very emotionally opening medicine. It is not so much "visual" as it is opening to all the emotions we carry in our bodies.
Santiago my dear brother has been in communication with this medicine for well over 30 years. His relation with the ceremony and this sacred medicine is one of the most beautiful and humbling things I've ever witnessed. It is a very humbling ceremony and one that words don't do justice to describe.
Santiago is one of the most selfless humans I've ever had the honor of meeting. A true definition of being of service to others. I can say this for the rest of his family as well. Ximena his wife carries the vibrancy of the sun and reminds us that we are all warriors of the heart.
I will say this there is something so brilliant to be able to witness another human being in all of their difficulty and beauty and watch them remember how to smile, how to laugh, and how to live in gratitude. Witnessing others we begin to remember how related and how similar we all really are. We want the same things in this life. This ceremony weaves a thread of connectedness and forms a bond beyond words with those who are participating in it.
To my dear brothers and sisters who show up day after day to open their hearts, I love you
For me, this ceremony was very opening. Midway through my experience Mateo my brother of the heart began to share his medicine of music. During this energetic conversation, I experienced something I've never witnessed before. I was transported to an all white space and I felt my "salka" ( undomesticated energy ) start to flow freely. It was hard to contain the amount of energy I was feeling.
You see, In my belief system, there is an atmosphere of containment that holds our universe of thought in place. It allows for a stable passage. During this time my atmosphere of containment was obliterated. There was nothing separating my thought from the expanse and mystery. I was very frightened at this point as I thought to myself " how the fuck am I going to reform this atmosphere.
Then I remembered the words from another brother of mine Louis who said " whether it's bad thoughts or good thoughts it is the compass of the heart that chooses, both require the same amount of mental energy. At this point, I choose to surrender, and wow what a lesson to get out of our own way.
It took me several hours after this to reform my atmosphere of containment as I felt as if my essence was scattered across dimensions. I was able to reform this atmosphere by following the compass of the heart.
Towards the end of this opening, an image came to my mind's eye. This image was in the shape of a ring or doughnut and flowing through its edges was a rainbow. The image stayed with me and until this day if I close my eyes and focus I can still see it. I will return to this image later in the story as it holds incredible importance to the journey.
In my belief, I needed to obliterate my atmosphere to receive this symbol.
We were rooted we were open and it was time to prepare for the vision quest.
To be continued