Sitting in the dark of the forest, eyes focused intently on the fire blazing in the middle of the circle, you hear the familiar-but-ethereal sound of the healer’s rattle. Pungent smoke fills your nostrils as tobacco is offered with other herbs - cedar, sage, Agua de Florida. And the ceremony has begun. Once you drink the bitter tea, where this journey will take you is now in the hands of the healer and the sacred Sand Pedro, or Huachuma plant spirit.
Huachuma, or its more commonly used name, San Pedro, is believed to be perhaps one of the most consistently used plant medicines throughout history. Archeological evidence suggests that even as long ago as 1300 B.C., Andean cultures were working with the cactus for its transcendent spiritual and physical healing powers. The plant’s guardian spirits, the jaguar and the hummingbird, have been seen depicted in artwork shepherding the medicine throughout Central and South America for centuries.
As with all plant medicines, the spirit of this cactus has immense physical healing potential. It has been used by healers for everything from reducing the effects of chronic stress and anxiety by bringing healing to some types of otherwise deadly disease. But know this: San Pedro doesn’t operate by miraculously removing the symptoms. Otherwise, this medicine would be ubiquitous around the world! It goes right to the source. Huachuma healers treat the deep, underlying spiritual cause of the body’s disease. Autoimmune disease, for example, is not an entity in and of itself -- it is an expression of something gone wrong in the spiritual and energetic body.
So what does this mean for you, as the seeker? A willingness to fully engage with the process is required. Though it may feel appealing to just sit back and let the medicine do its work, stay present. The teaching spirit of Huachuma is about to show you something.
Unlike Ayahuasca, which works through the feminine, earth-based energy, Huachuma speaks through the masculine energy of the heavens. After an initial period of feeling drowsy or lethargic, the cactus tea often transports seekers beyond the body and into connection to the greater cosmos with an experience of clearing the senses. This opening serves as a starting point to meet the Divine. And transcending ideas of time and space become available for insight. Clarity arises around what healing is needed, and resting in a state of universal oneness, everything feels possible, supported, accessible.
And in a modern society where connection to the Beyond so quickly and easily gets drowned out by noise and distraction, a Huachuma ceremony can offer a life-changing reminder that we are all whole. Already. Right now. Fully resourced.
If you think this is a one-time experience, think again. A ceremony with Huachuma will change your perspective, your intuitive sense, and perhaps even your body for the rest of your life. A meeting with the Divine isn’t something that you easily forget, and neither is the deep knowing of invoking your own spiritual healing under the guidance of a skilled shamanic healer. Undeniably, this starts a process that can’t be undone.
Drink the tea, and know this: the spirit of Huachuma will be guiding you long after the sounds of the rattle and the scent of tobacco have become faint memories.
Is it your time?