The experience

I survived and thoroughly enjoyed the yagé experience, except the throwing up part of course. I also survived but enjoyed significantly less the return trip from Sibundoy to Mocoa on the Trampolin de la Muerte; https://www.rcnradio.com/colombia/sur/trampolin… or     https://trans-americas.com/trampoline-of-death-…

Writing anything longform on a phone sucks. I'm of the keyboard generation and never really got my thumbs up to snuff, writing wise. The Samsung swipe feature has its own issues and is not much better. Typing feels more connected, the tactileness, the movement of all fingers (well, maybe not all of them in my case), gliding and pushing down on a keyboard. It more closely resembles the lost art of actual writing on paper. But I digress.

I arrived at Taita Miguel's place at around five in the afternoon full of nervous anticipation. This eventually waned somewhat since the ceremony only began at about 11:30. At around 11, with the assistance of his never tiring wife, Maria Clara, they started setting up everything that would be needed. The medicine, various herbs, small cups, bowls, tepi (blow pipe) musical instruments, lots of wood for the fire, a comfy chair for Miguel, other chairs for the participants taking la medicina, and a couple of mattresses with clean sheets and blankets (it gets chilly in Sibundoy at night).

That first night we were three; Mario, a friend of Miguel's who is from Sibundoy but has never taken yagé, Anna, a German girl of about 25 who has done yagé many times before, and myself.

María Clara gets the fire going, and we all settle into our chairs. Miguel takes a few burning pieces from the fire and puts them in a bowl. He adds a bunch of sage and then walks around the space, softly singing/chanting while fanning and spreading the lovely smelling smoke all around and onto us, spirituality purifying us and the space I imagine. He be smudging.

He then tells us we'll be doing rapé before the yagé. This is news to me, but ok, let's do it. Taita knows best, right? Rapé is snuff that is blown by the taita through a blowpipe or tube of sorts into the user's nostrils. There are many different rapé recipes but as far as I know, the main ingredient in all of them is Nicotiana rustica, which, according to this site,  https://www.psychedeliclaw.ca/hape-mapacho-lega… , has very high nicotine content compared to the more commonly used Nicotiana tabacum. I decided on a medium dose which Miguel blew up my nose after various chants that, as much as I could make out, were sent out to  pachamama (mother earth), and other entities to channel that energy through him, through the rapé, and onto and into me. The use of rapé before an ayahuasca ceremony is believed to help clear the mind and body of negative energies and to prepare the participant for the experience. It also sometimes used during the ayahuasca ceremony to help bring the participant back to the present moment if they become overwhelmed by the intensity of the experience.

Anyway, the so-called medium dose was too much for me. Very quickly, I started sweating like crazy, had the shakes, my body was tingly all over, and I almost had to puke. I kept shaking my hands and saying, "Whoa, whoa." It neither cleared my mind nor calmed me. Thankfully, the effects are short lasting, and I felt fine about 15 minutes later.

Two nights later, when we did a second yagé ceremony, I at first declined the rapé but Miguel said he'd give me a different mix (there are many apparently) and a lower dose. That one was much better, but nevertheless, it didn't really give me energy, clarity, or relax me, all things it's purported to do.

On to the main event, the yagé, la medicina. The first night I did it, apart from throwing up, I felt virtually nothing, maybe mildly stoned. I guess Miguel was playing it a bit safe and had given us a small cup full, a copita. After two hours, he gave me another but still no effect. I had read that this sometimes happens, so I wasn't too disappointed, just mildly so. Also, much has been made of the disgusting taste, but I didn't find it that bad. Very earthy but with slight notes of sweetness.

Two nights later, during the second ceremony, it was just me. Miguel and I agreed we should up the dose, and I did a bigger cup this time. I sat down and waited. As he had done the first night, Miguel self administered rapé throughout the ceremony. He has a cool little pipe that he puts in his mouth, and the other end curls up into his nostrils.

After about 30 minutes, I got up to walk to my purging spot and purged. I came back to my seat and listened to Miguel playing music. At different times during the ceremony, he'd play an indigenous flute, guitar, and sang. He plays and sings well and has a good sense by looking and listening to participants what the moment calls for.

After about another 30 minutes, I definitely started feeling something. My mind was flying off somewhere, and my body felt a bit heavy. I went to lie down on the mattress and let the sensations come. I went in and out of consciousness and when I finally came to, I got up to go sit down and talk to Miguel. I explained to him that I had some weird, dreamy visions but was unsure if I was awake or not. He told me that I had fallen asleep at some point as he heard me snoring. Honestly, though, I don't remember any of it anymore. 😕

Time for a second dose! This time, I stayed awake and remembered a bit of what I saw, what, and who came to me, and I remember very well my state of mind. The three scenes most vivid are, 1; a bunch of geometric shapes that were flickering in and out of view (my eyes were closed for most of my trip). I wasn't surprised by this since I've done DMT a few times, and this isn't an uncommon hallucination. 2; some images that I can't quite remember were all lit up around the edges, like a bunch of led lights all around and throughout. 3; the coolest one maybe was some type of representation of something so natural, so earthy, like a pachamama type of being. It was amazing, and as it appeared I did what I did during much of the trip, I laughed and mumbled, "oh yeah, of course, riiiight..." The whole trip I was just smiling and laughing so much. Whoever and whatever was appearing to me, I was loving it. I was a seriously happy camper, so no suppressed, horrible memories for me, at least not this time.

Thank you yagé, thank you pachamama, thank you, Miguel. It was an amazing experience.

Much love, MikeRead more