In Salento, Colombia I was so lucky to have three different chances to experience and discover the medicinal ayahuasca. I was able to take the medicine with two families who are from the Amazon region of Colombia. For the ceremony we took an hour bus to the Shamans house. There was a big hut in the backyard where we were to start the cremony. It began at midnight where the people of the town come to take ayahuasca once a week, every Saturday as a community together. You have people who are there for their first time and people who have been taking it their whole lives since they were babies. It was almost as if this community considered the ceremony as church as catholic ideals were also influenced in the ceremony.

There was a circle in the center of the hut where there were about 20 helpers who help Tita with bad energy and turning it from negative into positive. They believe that community is one of the most important aspects of life and that we all need each other in order to heal and in order to live a healthy life. These helpers take the ayahuasca with you and know the process and help people with healing. The first cup of the sacred vine is taken at midnight. The Tita sings songs and there are wonderful muscians there as well. Everyone has their own matress, sleeping bag, and pillow. There is also a fire to stand and sit around as well.
The second cup you take at 3 am and then the whole cereomny goes on until the day time where the real healing begins. The ayahuasca vine is sacred. The vine is in many of the indigenous stories of how the world was formed. Some believe that the sun gave birth to a woman carrying the vine and that the vine is the divine, and brings clarity, truth, healing and communties together.

The vine is known to bring about hallucinations and make you sick. Many people were throwing up or going to the bathroom frewuntly. For me, I took this medicine three seperate occasions and never got sick and never saw hallucinations. I just felt life.

My experaince was stunningly beautiful. I felt so much love from the Colombians that let us join their scared ceremony. At one point I saw 20 helpers healing a whole group of people. Massages, Raaki, hugs, and different forma of healing were practiced. It was as if these people believed that if one person is sick, we all are sick, and that we need each other in order to be healthy. No one is perfect, but together we are. It showed me a new way of life. Unbelievable I have never seen anything like it. I did not see clear visions, but I did hear the most beautiful noises and feelings.

I felt like I was transported into the jungle and was able to speak with the birds, the thunder, and the rain. Just emotions. I felt the presence of an eagle and that I was soaring through the jungle and being one with the sky. I learned that the mother earth wants us to help her heal and that we are far off better working together, than against.

The whole experiance was amazing, many people have different opinions about the medicine or what it can do to you. There are so many different types of ayahuasca plants that come from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador that its hard to just sum up a ceremony in one sterotype. What I do know about ayahuasca is that it is a sacred medicine that the indegnious believe could heal people and the world. It has ancient roots that contain life for these people. I feel so grateful, thankful, and apprecaitive of all the love that these people showed me. They opened up their arms wide to stragners and treated us as their own. I am so glad I experianced what I did and feel beyond satisfied in my time with the medicine.