| Pousada EKOA – Bahia, Brazil |
Ayahuasca is a plant preparation, a potion that contains a strong psychoactive substance named dimethyltryptamine or DMT, which is also a hormone allegedly excreted from the human pineal gland[1]. Ayahuasca is derived from two plants, one containing the hormone (usually Psychotria viridis) and the other providing enzymes that allow orally ingested DMT to be absorbed in the stomach and attain psychoactive effects in the brain (usually Banisteriopsis caapi). Therefore, this potion allows unobstructed DMT absorption and its effects to emerge. Those effects are exceptional and often identical to those of the pineal DMT. According to research done by Dr. Rick Strassman, the human brain tends to excrete DMT on specific occasions such as birth, spiritual experience, state of shock, or death. Usually, a week before their death, people start seeing their deceased relatives or friends appearing in the room, watching them, or delivering messages. A dying person will then ask their living family members if they “see dead people” too, but they will think that the dying person is either delirious or hallucinating.
Well, this may not be a hallucination. Instead, it could be the emergence of expanded consciousness due to the influence of DMT produced by the pineal gland. It allows people to prepare themselves to transition to a new level of existence, enabling them to perceive other aspects of reality that the brain has censored during their lifetime. In death, the Soul abandons the body and leaves the material world to return to its source, to the world we usually call “spiritual.” Such a level of existence is free of perceptual limitations and gives us a degree of freedom we can accept. With the death of the physical body, brain, and senses, the barrier between two worlds is wiped out, and one can now genuinely perceive the Creation in its wholeness, instead of only 0,005 percent, which was allowed by the brain until then. Ayahuasca enables the same kind of experience for the living – when taken during a carefully organized ritual, it can open our perception and bring us into worlds very different than this one.
AYAHUASCA AS A MEDICINE
Although some people think of ayahuasca as a “hallucinogenic drug,” this is not true. First of all, ayahuasca does not cause addiction. Moreover – many drug, alcohol, or nicotine addicts visit ayahuasca ceremonies for its healing benefits. Shamans drink ayahuasca their whole life, thousands of times, and still reach old age, being healthy and surrounded by their big and harmonious families. Children can drink ayahuasca as well, only in smaller doses than adults. There were children of two, six, and nine years of age during our ceremony. If ayahuasca is healthy even for children, then it is not an unnatural or poisonous substance for the body. As a hormone naturally produced by the human brain, DMT is structurally a medicine for the body, mind, and soul. This is why the people of South America consider ayahuasca a holy substance that sometimes allows even the most difficult illnesses to be healed. For the members of the Santo Daime religion (a more liberated variant of Christianity), who consume it during their mass, it presents no less than “the second coming of Christ.” Therefore, it is not just some hallucinogenic brew made by cooking two Amazon plants – drinking ayahuasca presents the possibility of having a profound spiritual experience. It enables communication with a whole specter of spiritual beings regularly accompanying the ceremony. It can also reveal hidden truths and facilitate insights into invisible realms, whether these are mystical levels of existence or psycho-spiritual causes of a person’s problems.
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| Pablo Amaringo – In connection with healers in time and space |
The immediate effects of ayahuasca also prove its medical (instead of hallucinogenic) properties. Namely, it cannot be used in the manner in which the recreational drugs are taken, consuming other toxins along the way (alcohol or pot), or going out to a club. Given that it has strong purification properties, ayahuasca requires special conditions for its consumption. These are necessary because of the cleansing processes that occur after the ingestion and the intimate inner experiences of people, which need peace, silence, protected space, and support – usually from the shaman and their assistants. Shortly after drinking the brew, the body’s cleansing begins, usually as vomiting and diarrhea, lasting for hours. Physical purification caused by ayahuasca is one of the strongest known so far. It enables the body to regenerate itself by discarding accumulated waste. It also goes through a process known as “resetting the cellular memory,” where old emotions and belief systems imprinted in the cells are dissolved and replaced with new and healthy ones. Therefore, we are expected to experience spontaneous healing of some chronic diseases or gain valuable insights or directions (through communication with spiritual beings) on healing and maintaining our health. Such a healing process may sometimes even be directed or accompanied by the presence of spiritual entities or performed by “spiritual surgeons” working on some specific organ.
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| Ayahuasca preparation | Brewing | The Brew |
AYAHUASCA AND SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE
In favor of ayahuasca not being a “hallucinogenic drug” goes the fact that “hallucinations,” or better – visions – are not its only and most significant effect. Spiritual experiences are the most important effect, mainly because most people do not have many opportunities to have those experiences due to a modern lifestyle. Given that I have attended my first ayahuasca ceremony after twenty years of continuous spiritual work, I can say that it has confirmed and deepened some of my most profound spiritual experiences. Although I had expected strong visions, they emerged only at the last, third ceremony. But compared with actual spiritual experiences, visions were more of an interesting perceptual extension and had no depth of direct experience. Persons without such direct spiritual experience usually find visions as something valuable, and this is why they attend ayahuasca ceremonies. However, eastern mystics have always considered visions secondary to authentic spiritual experience and even called them “the devils’ cave” because they tended to drag unaware persons from the real thing, enlightenment. In my opinion, the most significant value of ayahuasca is the possibility of reaching enlightenment, having mystical experience, or the direct experience of the Truth. The authenticity of that kind of ayahuasca experience is validated by my previous achievements on Enlightenment Intensive, the system of meditation that I have personally practiced and conducted for others through the past twenty years. Besides me, in the Croatian team participating in ayahuasca ceremonies, there was another master/conductor of Intensive herself and two practitioners with more than ten years of experience. Their conclusion was the same – ayahuasca enables enlightenment, and that is its most significant and profound aspect.
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What are the benefits and scope of spiritual experiences attained by drinking ayahuasca? According to my impression, they are limitless. There are three main aspects, or levels, of spiritual experience. The first one includes the Soul or true Self; the second goes into the realms of Emptiness, and the third goes into God’s true nature. Some people experience the return to the authentic nature of their true Self, the “I Am” state, which is usually followed by a sense of love, simplicity, and true identity. The “I am” or “I am who I am” experience is an inevitable basis for spiritual development because one has to know who and what they are. It contributes to our openness towards life and connects us to others and the world around us. And we can also go beyond the Soul and experience different varieties of Spirit. The first level we usually reach is the absolute Emptiness or Void, where the bearer of the experience (the “I” or “me”) no longer exists. What is left is the all-encompassing Void. Ayahuasca can lead practitioners into such a state if they are ready for it. This level enables spiritual aspirants to de-identify from any form they have ever existed in or identified with and from every role they have ever played. And finally, the most profound spiritual level we can reach is the one where we experience ourselves as the Creators or God. Such unity with God, where there is no difference between God as an object of perception and the being that perceives it (the subject of perception), presents the most subtle and most “heretic” aspect of the spiritual experience. Not to be mistaken, this is not rampaging ego gone loose; this is about the most hidden truth about human beings. We are God – that is our final identity.
The consequences of enlightenment experiences can be numerous. One of the most important is the possibility of reconnecting to the world around us. The matter is not dead, and the diverse life forms surrounding us are not separated from us. We can communicate with these seemingly inanimate forms as well. The same goes for the plant world, which wants this particular kind of communication. Their significant role in the biosphere is often neglected, and ayahuasca can re-connect us with the so-called “plant consciousness.” When seen through the eyes of ayahuasca, plants are often experienced as conscious beings who strive for communication with humans. They want to become our allies, helpers, or teachers, sometimes delivering delicate messages. Besides being our food, plants can heal us; they are the bearers of true planetary wisdom and can be seen as advisers to other beings. With a broader perception of ayahuasca, it is relatively easy to communicate with plants telepathically, through inner dialogue, receiving their delicate and lovely nature, enabling our reconnection to our Soul and its delicate nature.
VISIONS
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| Pablo Amaringo – Beings of the Vegeta |
Although I do not consider visions as the most important part of the ayahuasca experience, and many other people think the same, visions nonetheless present a significant aspect of the experience because they enable one to perceive other worlds and dimensions[2]. One of the most interesting and important kinds of visions for us as living beings are those of the afterlife, spheres, and states. Indigenous peoples of the Amazon have named ayahuasca “the wine of the dead” because it can connect us with afterlife dimensions and deepen our relationship with the overall Existence. Since the death experience is one of the most significant ones in human existence, it is useful to know something about it. Dalai Lama considers preparing for death so important that he once said that if he were free from his worldly and religious obligations, he would dedicate all of his time to one specific goal – preparing for death. Therefore, one could take this as advice – being conscious about afterlife states and spheres does not mean being morbid – it brings about increased harmony and quality to our daily lives.
During the ayahuasca ceremonies that I attended, many participants, including myself, made contact with their deceased family members. This had many positive effects – some have had their relationships cleared, and some have received particular messages or even gained information on family secrets that have been buried along with the deceased. This information was more accessible to obtain because of the help of ayahuasca. The revealed secrets and other forms of knowledge later enabled those people great relief after many years of suffering. The afterlife experience can go even further into visions of dimensions inhabited by the souls of people who left their physical bodies. According to the teachings of Zen masters, it is good to “die before you die” to let go of ego limitations while you are still alive. This can make us accept death as a natural process, but also to know precisely where we are going to go once we die. These experiences lift the veil of mystery that shrouds death and the process of dying as such. Also, they can expand the limits of perception by freeing it from imprisonment to mere physical existence towards a broader scope that includes our true Self as something that exists independently from the body. As somebody once said – a man is not a physical being having a spiritual experience; man is primarily a spiritual being having a human experience.
Visions of the afterlife, or so-called “higher spheres of existence,” often include contact with liberated spiritual beings that are no longer subjected to the reincarnation cycle on this planet. These beings need not be just projections of archetypal images – there are ascended souls that help humanity, and making contact with them is often a part of the ayahuasca ceremony. If we want them to, such beings are ready to illuminate, heal, or advise us. These spiritual teachers and masters are usually met by our affinity but also according to their will. We are sometimes unaware of our Soul’s actual needs, but the masters are more than aware of them, so they present themselves to us if necessary, even if we do not consciously want this contact. So, even sworn atheists may have visions of some religious saint or pass through spiritual initiation given by a Christ-like being or the “Mother of God.” Ayahuasca can also enable us to find our spiritual guide, teacher, or even the “spiritual current” our Soul has devoted itself to. With each incarnation, we choose our specific field of personal realization, and our spirit guide connects us with our particular spiritual current about the spiritual quality we have decided to manifest.
UFO visions and contacts
Ayahuasca visions can often be accompanied by contact with alien beings and worlds. Such contacts usually take the form of counseling, where alien beings appear in their spacecraft and send messages that relate to the person herself or humanity as a whole. The reason why alien phenomena often accompany ayahuasca ceremonies is probably in us being closed to such contact in our everyday lives and the usual state of consciousness. Since ayahuasca clears the limits of perception, it is not unusual that it opens people up to such type of communication. Why shouldn’t it – as humans are not the only beings inhabiting this planet, they certainly are not the only conscious beings in the universe. Although aliens have visited Earth for many thousands of years, it seems there are not enough open, accessible, or intelligent collocutors on this planet for them to communicate with. So, it is usually not them not wanting to make contact with us; on the contrary – Earthlings are those who either do not want it or their consciousness is not adequately fit for such interaction. But today, when even the Vatican admits the existence of our “space brothers,” this kind of communication doesn’t have to be a miracle anymore – I am sure that we will soon be witnessing open cooperation with our cosmic visitors.
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| Pablo Amaringo – Campana Ayahuasca |
However, aliens and the DMT have an even more direct connection. If we consider the experiences of South African shaman Credo Mutwa, then it seems that the pineal glands of some alien beings constantly secrete large doses of this hormone. Their skin appears full of it, and therefore their whole body as well – so, it turns out that the “cosmic consciousness” enabled by ingesting ayahuasca comes under a natural state for these beings. Since telepathic communication is one of the fundamental perception means of cosmic beings, they can instantly recognize and contact other beings of the same or similar degree of consciousness. On the other hand, the human brain censors the recognition of our multidimensionality. So, ayahuasca can once again be used as a mediator for activating dormant brain abilities, making it possible for us to recognize ourselves not only as mere parts of human economic machinery but as cosmic travelers whose destiny is much broader, as free beings created to explore life and realize their creative potentials.
Visions of other planets, parallel worlds, and higher dimensions
Planet Earth is not the only sphere of existence; it is not as we usually imagine it. Beyond the borders of brain censorship, there are limitless perceptual possibilities. So, here, ayahuasca can affect similar to the well-known red pill from The Matrix trilogy. It can awaken us from the state of dreaming and open our eyes to forms of existence not visible to the strictly programmed mind. As William Blake said, when we clear the doors of perception, the world appears the way it is – limitless. I have mentioned earlier how modern science has discovered that human senses and perceptive abilities are limited to only 0,005 % of all that exists in the Universe. Well, it does not have to be that way since human beings do not even use all of their existing abilities. Science has proved that we use barely five percent of our brain capacities and capabilities. Although the brain isn’t the only perceptive organ humans have (there are many energetic centers), it is still not completely used – moreover, it is almost entirely shut off. When a system functions with barely 5% of its capacity, it is either hibernated.
Abstraction is not just mere nonsense – it is a mediator between the human mind and the unmanifested cosmos, which is bursting with hidden sources of information, knowledge, consciousness, or abilities. If you ever wondered where human talents, geniality, inventions, and other creative capabilities come from, the answer might be – from the abstract spheres, from the Spirit as such. As well as any other quality method of spiritual development, ayahuasca opens the doors of perception to a ready and apt student and initiates him into the abilities to perceive and practical implementation of abstract spheres. If we remember what Castaneda’s Don Juan said about “infinity,” the correlation is obvious – something as abstract as “infinity” actually has enormous practical value[4]. Although conscious activation of Spirit has until recently been reserved exclusively for the adepts of spiritual schools or talented individuals, modern spiritual techniques and the ayahuasca experience bring such possibilities to a wider circle of spiritual practitioners.
Tomislav Budak, 2008.
[1] Dr. Rick Strassman, M.D.- DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 2001. ISBN 0-89281-927-8
[2] Interesting descriptions of ayahuasca visions can be found in a new book- INNER PATHS TO OUTER SPACE – Journeys to Alien Worlds through Psychedelics and Other Spiritual Technologies (Park Street Press 2008.), written by some of today’s greatest ayahuasca experts – Dr. Rick Strassman, Dr. Slawek Wojtowicz, Luis Eduardo Luna, Ph.D. and Dr. Ede Frecska.
[3] Dr. Slawek Wojtowicz (www.slawico.com), American medical doctor, and visual artist with futuristic orientation; he is also the co-author of the book „Inner Paths to Outer Space”.
[4] Carlos Castaneda – Tales of Power, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1974.