It's been quite a while since I've started writing about my experience with the Ayahuasca ceremony I participated in in April 2022.
You can read all about the night leading up to the ceremony here in Part 1..
My friend @thisismylife has been reminding me that I needed to write the next part but somehow, I kept putting it off.
Then while thinking of things to write about, I ended up reading someone else's story and this brought me back here. I guess today is as good of a time as any to finally finish what I started.
The Beginning of the Experience
And an experience it was...for sure.
I believe that things will come onto our path when the time is right.
So even though I'd been learning about Ayahuasca for quite some time, the 'time' was just never right.
There was a so-called Shaman offering Ayahuasca ceremonies back in Ireland but somehow this never really felt right.
Plus the person who offered it didn't feel like a true Shaman to me.
I have an Irish friend in Ireland who is an actual Shaman but he trained in Central and South America and spent many years in the area. That's different.
But ok, back to my story.
I met up with some friends to drive to the place of the ceremony somewhere in the jungle between here and Tulum. I don't remember where it was exactly, and I don't remember the exact time it took to get there. It was useless information that wasn't needed and still isn't now.
When we arrived, we entered through a large double wooden door. One you'd expect to find in an old castle not in the jungle of the Riviera Maya. Beyond the door, there was a big open space with a fire pit in the middle, surrounded by a horseshoe shaped seating area.
Behind that, there was another open space where we would settle down for the night.
There were bathrooms, there were little huts up in the trees, and there was the jungle.
Nice and simple, and yet beautiful.
It would be an outdoor event which was quite unusual as I discovered.
There were no little individual buckets for people to spew their toxic waster, or puke, into if they felt the need to.
No. Our shaman told us that if we felt the urge come up, we'd have the trees at our disposal.
He told us to respectfully get up and approach the edge of the jungle area, let go of whatever needed to come out, and thank you tree and earth for accepting it.
Lucky little me didn't have to do any of it because I had started on an all liquid diet days before. Before I even knew that I was going to do this that day.
We were also warned to stay at the edge of the jungle, and not to wander off into it.
He joked that whatever we told ourselves, or whatever Mother Aya whispered in our ears, we were to listen to him and just not get lost in the jungle. Yeah, I never planned to explore the jungle that day. Let's just listen to the wise shaman who knows that the jungle is no place for a mortal human being at night.
The Introduction
We were the first ones there. Cool. So we could find our best spots.
My friend sat next to me while her (then) partner installed himself across from us.
As it later turned out, at the perfect distance.
His behaviour (moving his hands and arms in front of him, reaching for something that wasn't there, ALL night) was something that would have annoyed the crap out of me for sure.
Now I could just look at it from a distance and look somewhere else if I didn't want to see him wave his hands around all night.
Slowly but surely, people trickled in one by one. And then a large group who were unmistakably the 'Tuluminati'. At the time, I had no idea what a Tuluminati and I could only guess but that evening showed me their light, so to speak.
Basically they are the expats that made Tulum their home, live for yoga, meditation, nature, etc. and feel like they are the enlightened people. However, this couldn't be further from the truth, since these same people also indulge in heavy drinking, partying, and the use of not so enlightened drugs over the weekends. Hippie-wannabes who forgot that the path to enlightenment isn't through the barrel of rum and mirrors full of cocaine. But hey, who am I to tell these people this?
They were all here for a reason, just like I was, and I wasn't going to judge them for it.
Well, just a little maybe.
It took a little while before everyone was settled and the shaman and his wife introduced themselves to us. We were then asked to introduce ourselves as we stood in a circle, and tell the others whether this was our first or 100th time experiencing Ayahuasca. I wasn't the only Aya virgin, which made me feel less nervous.
One of the Tuluminati women was a little, very pretty, blonde young woman, with curly hair, and clothes to fit the whole Tuluminati-scene. She introduced herself and then stated that this was her first time doing Ayahuasca but, in a Barbie-from-Cali-oh-my-gawd-you-won't-believe-it type of voice she added that she had worked with plant medicine for more than 10 years.
Gosh, I thought the girl was no older than 24, and yet, she had such life experience...
Yup, you know the type. Still not judging. Aya is there to wipe your ego. Apparently also mine.
The rest of the people seemed OK. None of them with longstanding histories of plant medicine workings.
Phew. Lucky.
The Start
Our Shaman started the ceremony by blessing each of us. Women first, then the men.
This took around 45 minutes in total and was an experience on its own.
The closing ceremony the next day was even more of an experience but I'll tell you about that later.
He and some helpers that were there for support cleansed us with burning Palo Santo then, and then it was time.
The men went first and got their 'tea' and then us women.
We were told that we could get more later on that night, if we wanted.
The 'tea' tasted like a very sweet (from honey) but bitter drink. It was rather thick and sticky. Not at all what I expected.
It wasn't good nor bad tasting.
Some of the people there were there for the experience, and others were there just for assistance.
Several people had musical instruments, which they weren't playing yet at that point.
It was quiet aside from the sounds of the jungle.
We all sat down in the spots we had chosen and waited...
Please come back for part 3.
I had to split this account into more pieces because it'd be too long to write it all at once.
But no worries, it won't take me as long as the last time to finish what I started.
All photos are mine. Title photo from pexels.com
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