Ayahuasca: A journey to the world of the ancient spirits
What is Ayahuasca? Is it safe?
In this article, I will share my personal experience with Ayahuasca which took place in the deep mountains of Cartago, in Costa Rica. I hope you'll find all this information helpful. It will assist you in deciding whether you should try this ancient brew or not.
Ayahuasca is a psychedelic brew mostly composed of Banisteriopsis caapi vine and can be combined with various other plants. The natural ingredients to prepare this medicine can only be found in the deepest jungles of South America; the amazons rain forest.
For hundreds of years, Indigenous tribes of South America have been using this ancient elixir to reconnect with the spiritual world and cleanse their bodies from all the negative energies they have collected through their long journeys. However, Ayahuasca serves a higher purpose; to help people reach enlightenment and a higher consciousness level. It is said that once you try this psychedelic brew, you’ll never look at life the same way.
This sacred elixir can help a person to awaken their intuition and reach consciousness by opening their mind to an experience out of the ordinary. This is why Shamans often say that this plant has its own soul. They call it “Planta maestra” which means sacred plant. This sacred plant will take you into a journey to the world of the unkown, a world that very few people have had the chance to see.
You cannot choose what experience you'll have from drinking Ayahuasca. The spirit of the Ayahusca will chose the experience that is more adequate for you to reach higher consciousness. Nevertheless, one should keep in mind that when you drink Ayahuasca, you could have; good, hard or beautiful trips. Just remember whatever happens in that vision is for your own good, do not be afraid, just try to understand it and flow with the current. You'll learn many things that will change your perspective about life if you are open mind. Allow Ayahuasca to heal your soul and teach you lessons that you will never forget.
The journey begins
Our Journey begins when we arrived to Costa Rica. My brother and I were looking to reconnect with the spiritual world. We had done a lot of research about this sacred plant and we were determined to find it.
A very important factor when it comes to engaging in this journey is that you should not do Ayahuasca without a spiritual guide, it could be dangerous. You need a spiritual guide that will go with you into the world of spirits and guide you. You need someone who knows the Ayahausca ceremony and how to prepare this medicine. That person is also known as a Shaman. Shamans are people who have reached a higher spiritual awareness and are very wise teachers. They are open minded to all cultures. They love and respect all life around them.
Since Ayahuasca only grows in the Amazon forest which is located in South America.This made the task alot more difficult in Costa Rica. The first weeks, we didn’t get any luck and could not find a single trace of the sacred plant. Finally, towards the last week of our trip, a relative that lived in Costa talked to us about a Shaman who lived in the mountains near the town of Cartago. When we contacted the shaman, we were excited to learn that a ceremony was going to take place in the next few days. In order to prepare for the ceremony we had to avoid consuming red meat, junk food, alcohol, drugs and abstain from sexual intercourse. The purpose of these restrictions is to cleanse your body and strengthen the connection with the spirit realm. You can choose not to follow those restrictions, but if you follow them, you will intensify the chances of getting more clear visions and more meaningful messages. It is very important to treat Ayahuasca with respect and remember that it has its own soul.
When the day of the ceremony finally arrived, we rented a car in San Jose and drove two hours into the mountains. The shaman lived in a little house on top of a mountain. The road was not paved and the hill was so steep that it felt like the car might fall off the mountain at any time. When we finally managed to drive the car through the narrow muddy roads, we were astonished at just how beautiful everything looked from up there. The air was very fresh, clean and you could feel the energies from nature all around you.
An American man greeted us and showed us around the house. Then he asked us to sit down and offered us some coffee. The man had been living there for many years. He fell in love with the country and the way nature blends with the people. He decided to make Costa Rica his new home and married his wife, who is now the shaman and the mother of his children. After a few minutes of waiting, the shaman finally walked into the room. She was an indigenous woman in her early 30s from Peru. She had long black hair and very dark skin. She was wearing a long green scarf and a green sweater. She had a beautiful smile and greeted us humbly. She had been drinking Ayauhasca since she was 11 years old in her native tribe. What surprised me the most was her eyes. She had bright brown eyes that had a incredible sparkle. It is said that when a person reaches a certain enlightenment and happiness their eyes become brighter and shiner. You could feel her nurturing positive energies. Even if I had just met this person, I felt as if she was a mother figure. She made me feel safe, comfortable and talking to her was very pleasant. We felt really calm and peaceful whenever she was around. We talked for some time but she wouldn’t talk much about herself. She was more interested in listening to our stories with a calm smile in her face. She was one of the purest and most humble persons I have ever met. She had her inner child alive and she a very curious person.
One of the few questions she asked was why we were so interested in taking Ayahusca. We explain to her that we wanted to purify our soul and reach higher levels of consciousness in our lives. She nodded, gave us a soft smile and said “Well that’s very good. I always ask that because some people just want to try it for recreation like if it was some kind of drug. They have no respect for the plant, their bodies or their souls. I usually refuse them entrance to the ceremony right away."
She had seen many things in her life that she couldn’t share with us because we would not understand. Just to give you an example, it took a while before she shared some of her experiences with alien encounters. Even though we wanted to hear more, the shaman was a woman of very few words. She was a very wise and interesting person indeed.
We waited for a few hours until all the other people arrive to join the ceremony. There was about 14 people attending, from all around the world; England, Colombia, Brazil, USA, Canada, Germany and etc. Something in particular that we noticed was that most of the people attending were very unhappy. They were looking for something that would bring back sense and joy into their lives. They were surrounded by heavy energies and I would feel drain just by having a short conversation with them. I believed that their pain was the reason why they were seeking to reconnect with god and themselves. This was a beautiful reminded of how suffering can actually set us free sometimes if we rechanneled it into a way for seeking answers.
At night, the shaman took us to a big room, there were mattresses on the floor with a fire place right near the entrance. There was also a nicely decorated altar with different incenses that smelled incredible. She explained that Ayahuasca was going to cleanse our bodies and we were going to feel nausea and vomiting. This is the way in which all the impurities and negativity that had been stuck in our bodies for years are eliminated. Once the ceremony begins, we were allowed to drink as many cups of Ayahuasca as we needed.
The ceremony started with the playing of shamanic music. The songs were very calm and relaxing with drums, flutes and native chanting. She light up tobacco leaves in and old pipe and began to blow smoke around the room to to cleanse and purify it. One by one, we had to go to the altar and kneel down in front of it. The shaman would then blow smoke into our heads to open our crown Chakras. Then she would serve the Ayahusca in a cup and place it in our hands. The Ayahuasca tasted bitter and sweet. It wasn't very pleasant to drink but at least it smelled good. Once we drank it we had to return to our places. After the 3 cups and around 40 minutes, I was still not feeling anything. I was just feeling nausea. I lay down to avoid feeling more sick. I closed my eyes to go into a shamanic state of meditation. I meditated to avoid thinking about the physical discomfort.
The world of the spirits
After one hour, I started to think that maybe I was not worthy of having any visions. I felt sick and I was starting to feel disappointed. Suddenly, I began to see beautiful colors all around me. It felt like if I wasn’t in the same room anymore. The colors started to form shapes and faces. They were not human faces and looked more like plants and leaves mixed with geometrical symbols. Is very hard to describe what the spirits looked like because there is nothing in this world that resembles them. Then, after a few minutes, I could see them clearly. The room was full of spirits! I could see them everywhere. They were all dancing around and interacting with the humans. I noticed that people couldn’t see them. The spirits were next to them helping, talking, healing, playing and hugging them.
I noticed an old American man who was puking a lot. He looked very sick but he wasn’t alone. There were multiple spirits next to him, rubbing his back and holding him so he wouldn’t fall.
The ceremony felt as if we were in a big carnival, where spirits and humans joined together to celebrate. These beings were filled with love and concerns for people's well being. They were flying around, helping people and having fun at the same time. They looked like little kids just enjoying life. The spirits were of all shapes;small ones, big ones and very big ones. Then suddenly, a spirit that was flying around saw me and said:
- Look, look! He has woken up! Look at him!
The spirit had a big smile on his face. As he got closer to me, my first reaction was to try to touch him and to feel him but my hands would just go through him. More and more spirits approached me, one of them said laughing:
- He is a very curious one!
Then another spirit came next to me and offered me a fruit:
- Here, eat, eat!
Without thinking twice, I quickly grabbed the fruit and eat it. This fruit was like no fruit that exists in our world. It was circular and was composed of beams of light from different colors that looked liked like crystals. It was tasteless to the tongue but I felt an ecstasy of energy going through my body. I was so fascinated by all of them that I quickly forgot about my physical discomfort. They were beautiful. I looked at them with amazement and asked:
- Who are you?
They replied at the same time:
- We are the spirits of the Ayahuasca.
One of them approach me and said; I feel that you feel alone, but don’t worry that won't last for long; all you need is a little love. Then they all started hugging me and fixing my pillow to make me feel more comfortable. I could feel so much love in my heart that a tear fell off my cheek. I hadn’t feel that kind of love in years. They were pure, strong, powerful, playful, wise, joyful and innocent. They loved shamanic music and would dance to it nonstop. It was like a big party for them. One of them asked me with a big smile “why do you put mud on your hair?” He was clearly referring to the gel I had put on my hair that morning. He even called other spirits to come look at my “muddy hair” and they all started poking it. They were really curious, almost like children. They we were all laughing about it. The spirit insisted that I touched my hair and when I did, it felt like I was touching dry mud. I finally understood what the spirit was talking about – whatever I was putting on my hair was indeed a very strange human habit. Seeing them all having fun and dancing was a majestic privilege. Then, I remembered the purpose of my trip. I had a lot of questions that needed answers. I focused and without wasting any time I said:
-I have so many questions to ask! I don’t know where to begin! What's the purpose of life?! How do I reach happiness?
An older spirit approached me and just replied:
Just relax and enjoy the present moment, what you are experiencing now only comes once in a life time. Stop worrying, just enjoy the moment. Appreciate it. The answers to those questions will come at their right time.
I was a bit confused about what the spirit had told me. So I asked again:
- “Well can you at least tell me what I need to change in my life?
The spirit smiled at me and told me:
-“You don’t need to worry about that. You are on the right track. Just look at where you are right now! In the end everything will be okay, just enjoy the ride.”
At that moment, I felt like he didn’t give me the answer I was looking for. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized that in fact the spirit had answered my question but I wasn’t ready to understand it. I still had alot to learn from the spiritual world. He was trying to tell me that the key to happiness is to appreciate the present moment and not worrying about the future or past. I was thinking about my questions so much that even when I was in a beautiful world with the spirits, I wasn’t appreciating that experience because I was thinking too much. The key to happiness is to enjoy every second of the present moment. Being in the world of the spirit was amazing. That’s when I realized that the physical world wasn’t the only world. There’s a lot more that we do not know about. I was feeling so much bliss and love that I told them:
-“This is so amazing. How come people don’t know about this?! We should tell everyone about this and help them wake up! We should help the whole world.”
One of the spirits replied with a soft smile:
- “Listen, instead of worrying about changing the world, you should start by helping yourself first. That’s the first step for change. You can't give what you don't have, so you must create happiness in your life first to be able to give to others”.
I realized he was right, during those times in my life, I didn’t know what real happiness was, I was just starting to wake my soul. The spirits could feel my sadness and that’s why they told me to keep working on myself first.
I really had a lot to fix inside of me before I could help others. How was I going to help others if I didn’t even know how to help myself? I only realize the meaning of their messages many years later. Their words were too wise for me to understand. Happiness doesn’t come from an outside experience but from inside you. There has always been happiness in your heart; you just have to learn how to see it. I asked the spirits how come they never tried helping humans. They reply with a little laugh:
- In fact, we are always with the humans every single second of their lives. It’s just that humans choose not to see us.
After some time, I started to see less and less of the spirits. I realized I was coming back to reality. I felt sad and scared that I might never see them again. Then one of the spirit said “We are always there. Even when you can't see us with your eyes, we are always there.”
Just like that, I slowly came back to reality, I began to feel sick again, and I started throwing up nonstop. To be honest, that part of the trip was less enjoyable. After 6 times of throwing up I ask myself:
- “why did I put myself in this painful situation?! I will not do Ayahuasca again!”
Nevertheless, that was just in the moment. There is not a single day that goes by in which I am not grateful for the experience that god granted me. Having a trip to another dimension was an experience that changed my life. I have no doubt that in the near future; I will cleanse my body and soul again with Ayahuasca.
The next morning, everything felt amazing, I felt full of energy and happy. To my surprise when I talked to my brother about the journey, he described the same spirits I had seen. I realize that this had not been part of my imagination. We went to see the shaman and asked her about the spirits of the Ayahuasca. She was surprised to know that we had seen them. She said that it's not very common to see them. She had also seen them and sometimes even without taking Ayahuasca.
Not everyone had the same kind of experience as we did. Some people were very sick all night without having any visions, others cried and others were confused about their visions. The shaman later told me that the Ayahusca is a very wise plant and the spirits of the Ayahuasca are the ones that decide which experience you are ready to have and which experience is best for you.
Ayahuasca was one of the experiences that made me feel sure that there’s more in life than just the physical world we live in. It opened my mind; I realized anything is possible in this universe. There is magic in life, we just have to look a little bit closer. I also learned about the main goal in life is to follow your heart and be happy.
Don’t take life too seriously, because like Shakespeare said: “Life is nothing but a dream”. Life is a dream and when we die we awake to another world. Just enjoy the present moment and stop fighting against the current. Keep your inner child alive. That's probably why Jesus said "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these".
I hope this was useful for your decision about ever trying it. This article’s goal is not to try to convince you that there’s another world out there that the eyes can't see, it's just simply inviting you to be open minded and to allow your heart to guide you. Open your soul and believe in a world where anything is possible where beautiful beings like the loving spirits of Ayahuasca exist. Life is beyond our imagination. Namaste.