What is San Pedro cactus?

San Pedro - Trichocereus pachanoi

The oldest cacti date back 20.000 years ago. Its special looks are because of its ability to survive extreme dryness and heat. The thorns are of course the most qualifying characteristic of cacti, these are actually leaves without any moisture, which turned them into thorns. They are also to protect a cactus against bright sunlight and being eaten by animals. But, some kinds do not have thorns and protect themselves with poison/drugs. Examples are the Peyote, Sunami, Pata de Venado, Pezuna de Venado, Tsuwiri, Bishop's cap, Aztekium Retterii and Astropytum Astrias.


Huachuma

Mitch Schultz, director of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, invites you to join this 45 minute excursion deep into the heart of the Peruvian rainforest to experience the magic of the 3000 year old plant medicine: Huachuma. Distilled in the lost tradition from the San Pedro cactus by the last master Huachumero, Huachuma was the sacrament that formed the foundation for pre-Incan civilization, the Chavin. Follow Aubrey Marcus (founder of Onnit) and a group of friends in this moving meditation that reveals the true transformative power of this sacred technology.

Preparation of San Pedro Cactus










A San Pedro Ceremony with Leslie



San Pedro aka Trichocereus Pachanoi is the most well known from the Trichocereus family. According to researchers like Backeberg the Trichocereus has 47 kinds, which al originate from South-America. Others say there are just 13 kinds. Besides the T. Pachanoi some other kinds do also contain mescaline. The amount of mescaline depends on the specie and age of the cactus.

Botanical

The San Pedro is a cactus with pillars with 4 to 9 ribbons. It grows quite fast, has a strong root system and branches of from the base of the stem. The San Pedro just keeps growing until it succumbs under its own weight. The fallen cactus will in nature root again and produce many new branches. This is why San Pedro is used as a grafting stem for other, difficult to grow, cacti.

The older the cactus gets, and the more heat it has withstood, the more mescaline it contains. This is to be found right under the 'skin'.

History

In 1960 Turner and Heyman found that San Pedro contains mescaline and called this cactus Opunita Cylindtica. The name San Pedro originates from the idea that apostle Petrus is the keeper of the key to heaven. This shows how strongly the catholic religion has influenced other religions, habits and ideas.

San Pedro cacti were (and still are) used by Indians from the area around the Andes: Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. Use has hallucinogenic experiences as effect, which is needed be able to do specific predictions and to trace spiritual causes for diseases.

Chemistry

Mescaline (3,4,5-trimethoxy-B-phenethylamine) percentage : 1 to 10 % of dried material (Erowid).

The San Pedro contains besides mescaline also tyramine, hordinenine, 3-methoxytyramine, anhalaninine, anhalonidine, 3,4-dimethoxyphen-ethylamine, 3,4-dimethoxy-4-hydroxy-B-phenethylamine and 3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxy-B- phenethylamine.

Effects

Approximately 1-2 hours after consumption the San Pedro will reveal itself to the user; effects can last 8-15 hours. Effects can be amongst others: extreme sensitiveness to light: being able to see and feel every ray of light and see people and things 'radiate'. Forgotten memories can return, being able to hear and see sounds and voices from far away, seeing the 'magic light'. Besides that, emotions come out as laughing, crying, screaming, feeling pleasure, fear, love, love for everything that is and everything that is not.

The effects of San Pedro are in many ways more pleasant than those of peyote. To begin with, its taste is only slightly bitter and the initial nausea is not as likely to occur. When the full psychotropic experience takes hold it is less overwhelming, more tranquil and not nearly as physical as that from peyote.

Medical use

San Pedro has no commonly accepted medical use. But it has been used in a medical sense by several Indian tribes: by consuming this cactus, the unknown causes of a persons disease can be traced.

Usage

The traditional use of San Pedro is cooking (for a long time) the pieces of a whole cactus with some herbs added, like micha (Brugmansia suavenolens) and cimorillo (Coleus blumei). The additions depend on the results intended by the shaman.

Nowadays cacti are eaten dry. Dry them in parts of 1 cm thickness and put them in the sun. The thorns and the wooden stem are not to be eaten. Best is to grind the edible parts into fine material. This is to avoid stomach problems. Between 20 and 50 grams is consumed of which the skin is the biggest part, often with water and citric acid to support a good assimilation by the body. Best is not to eat six hours before you start eating this cactus.

Contraindications

As with other psychoactives, eating San Pedro also gives a hangover before the actual trip starts. Fever, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting could possibly occur, but will disappear within one hour or so.

Warnings

Make sure you always have an experienced but sober person with you, for support and safety!

The active compounds lead the user into a hallucinogenic trance which is comparable to a psychosis. So whatever you do, don't drive a car or participate in traffic otherwise. Only take San Pedro when you're in a safe and familiar environment. Never trip by yourself. When things go wrong Seresta or Valium can help to bring fears down to an 'easy to handle' level.

Growing

San Pedro loves warmth and light. On the hills where it usually grows the soil contains many nutrients, so add now and then some plant nutrients, but not too much because it still is a cactus. Giving it some extra water on warm days is really helpful. When you grow the cactus indoors, behind a window on the south-side is best. The first requirement is that sunlight comes through it.

San Pedro is easy to grow and easy to multiply. To start growing means choosing between starting with seeds, a cutting or a plant. The plant only needs water and some nutrients. A cutting has to dry first (it has a cutting wound) and root in the ground before it starts growing, this can take up to a year.

Growing from seeds asks for a lot of time (years) and effort.

Source : Erowid


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Twenty years ago, no one but scholars and committed psychonauts had heard of ayahuasca in the Western World. Today, it is the golden child of psychedelic cinema.

Opening with a sequence that sets its cultural reference points with prior films – including clips from Daniel Pinchbeck’s 2012 documentary and interviews with visionary artist Alex Grey – Daniel LeMunyan’s “Eye of the Needle” establishes itself as a member of the emerging “documentaries mainstreaming indigenous traditions” genre essentially started by Mitch Schultz with his film DMT: The Spirit Molecule. It goes on to spend twelve minutes mating MTV with La Madre Ayahuasca and the DSLR revolution. A filter-heavy short in love with trippy tilt-shifts, burned-out jungle landscapes, and grainy hand-held village shots, “Eye of the Needle” is more downtown than upriver.

The film does its best to make up for its short run time with regular explanatory subtitles, replacing (or sometimes in addition to) narration, which somehow succeed in keeping LeMunyan relatively transparent while packing information into the film to psychedelically intense degrees. But they also make it hard to sink into the intense and exotic spaces he captures – nothing is given its due, especially during the appropriately rapid-fire, luminous, and disorienting climactic medicine journey sequence. Don’t take the ayahuasca experience lightly; the “real thing” isn’t a 2 minute walk in the park.


Next to other ayahuasca-mentaries like Vine of the Soul, Aya: Awakenings, Stepping Into The Fire and even the fictional Blueberry (released in the US as Renegade), this thirteen-minute blip of a trip feels more like ayahuasca’s freebased cousin DMT with Travel Channel seasoning. But for the Youtube generation, trying to watch three things at once is normal – and this film still contributes to the work of sharing this important medicine and its traditions with the world.

- Michael Garfield

Source


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It's been almost half a century since Dennis McKenna (ethnopharmacologist and research pharmacognosist) and his brother Terence (philosopher, ethnobotanist and shaman) set off on a journey that would make them legends. A deep, inevitable need to find the answers to basic questions lead them to the far corners of South America and even further - to the twisted corners of the human mind. Their quest demanded not only the courage to venture into the dark paths of unexplored lands of knowledge, but also the courage to undermine social, religious and scientific beliefs of that era. The SCREAMING ABYSS that they challenged was not only a vast emptiness in human expertise but also a huge gap in experience that Western culture had. As the following decades showed, Western culture needed something to fill this gap. One sign of this is the fact that a book by Dennis and Terence has sold over 100,000 copies since its release in 1976. And also the fact that it was published under nicknames. The title of the book was Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide and it described the first reliable method of home cultivation of mushrooms that can open the human mind. Well this is our greatness - we can reach the stars without leaving home.

This shows that Dennis McKenna is not a shaman who keeps his secret cognizance for himself, but willingly shares it with others. In his memoir, The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss, he shares his memories about his brother and their common quest. One of the architects of the mind revolution of the 60s also shares the beliefs at the foundation of OpenBooks.com and joined our eBook revolution. That’s why he decided to support our concept by publishing his newest book on our platform.


OpenBooks.com: The title of your book contains an intriguing secret. Why and how is the brotherhood connected to an abyss? And why is the abyss screaming?

Dennis McKenna: This title has multiple origins. Partly, it’s a reminder of an abyss that was important to me and my brother when we were children: the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, which was near the town where we grow up - Paonia, Colorado. It’s the deepest gorge in Western US, much deeper than the Grand Canyon. My family used to go there all the time; we would drive over and take a picnic lunch, and spend the day looking into the abyss from all areas. It was more than 3000 feet deep in places. The cover of the book is a picture of my brother and me gazing into that abyss, a photo taken by our mother in 1957. And the frontispiece of part 1 is another picture, taken by me in 2011. The ‘screaming’ part of the abyss harkens back to a favorite sci-fi/horror author of ours, H. P. Lovecraft. His horror stories were often about ancient aliens from beyond the stars: ‘the unspeakable, gibbering horrors from the screaming abyss’, which always appealed to us as young teenagers obsessed with science fiction. So when it was time for us to travel to South America in search of the ‘Secret’, we called ourselves ‘the brotherhood of the screaming abyss’. It was tongue in cheek, making light of our quest which we actually took very seriously. But we were Irish, and had a twisted Irish sense of humor. So although we were seeking the Ultimate Secret, it was healthy to have a bit of humor about it. And then finally, on some unconscious level I think it also refers to the DMT experience. Taking DMT is kind of like stepping off into an abyss; and if you did that, you’d scream!

What (in the early 70s and later) distinguished your attitude to experiments with substances inducing altered states of consciousness from the typical hippy or New Age approach?

We were contemptuous of the counterculture’s approach to psychedelics. It seemed very superficial to us. Once we had discovered and experienced DMT, we realized that it was more astounding than any other drug we’d ever encountered; indeed, more astounding than any other thing we had encountered! And DMT was rare in those days, almost nobody was talking about it. And it was just clear to us that Timothy Leary, the only spokesman for psychedelics in the 60s, was as baffled and clueless about the true nature of psychedelics as everyone else. Then we discovered that psychedelics were quite ancient, nothing new, and that they figured prominently in many shamanic traditions, especially in South America. So we figured that if we wanted to understand psychedelics, we had to go talk to indigenous people who knew how to use them, had been doing so for thousands of years. That was partly why we decided to set out for South America in search of the ‘Secret’. We weren’t ‘joiners’ and we weren’t interested in joining a cult, which is what the Leary-inspired social phenomenon was becoming. So we rejected that. We wanted to find out for ourselves just what was going on.

What was the goal of your quest? Finding out about the nature of the human brain, or consciousness, or maybe mankind?

The short answer is we were both driven by curiosity which is the human trait that drives all science, all discovery.

We wanted to understand these ultimate questions: the nature of existence and consciousness, the place of our species in nature and the destiny of our species. My brother and I had a very similar approach to finding out about these questions. The main difference between us was that Terence was more of a philosopher and speculator; my approach was more scientific. I was interested in the ‘nuts and bolts’ of how things worked, while he was more interested in the metaphysical and philosophical side of things. These two approaches overlapped and were very complementary in many ways. Neither one of us were interested in the pat, standard ‘answers’ handed out by religion. We rejected that early on. We were big believers in thinking for ourselves and not accepting belief systems designed mostly to make people stop being curious, stop asking questions.

What circumstances, influences and predispositions shaped your attitude?

I would say just that: curiosity. It’s what drives most honest scientific inquiry. That, and DMT; it presented us with a real mystery. It seemed to be the ultimate mystery, and it was worth going after. A deep early influence from science fiction helped too. Also Jungian psychology and alchemy; both of these disciplines gave us a framework within which to understand the mysteries we were investigating.

Since that era, opinion about psychedelic substances has evolved within Western societies. What’s your opinion about the current state of the common mind?

After a long hiatus following the prohibition of most psychedelics at the end of the 60s, the door to scientific investigations and research is opening again. The potential for therapeutic uses of these substances is being recognized again. In the not very distant past, if you wanted to devote your life to researching psychedelics, your colleagues regarded you as crazy! And it was a sure way to destroy your career. The system was not set up to allow this. Now, it’s almost respectable. You no longer have to hide your head in shame if you want to work in this area. Even now there are a number of FDA approved clinical trials underway with psilocybin, to study existential anxiety in terminal patients, depression, alcoholism, even nicotine addiction. These clinical studies are showing remarkable results. Another substance, MDMA, is showing great promise for treating PTSD, especially in military veterans. There is a great need for such treatments because there are so many veterans who suffer from this, having been traumatized in combat. Many other kinds of trauma as well, such as sexual trauma. And there are no good treatments or medications that help people confront these experiences and heal from them.

Here’s a link to a recent article that gives a good description of current work with psilocybin.

Are things going in a similar way in South American countries, like Brazil or Peru?

I suppose similar things are going on in Brazil, but there most of the interest is in ayahuasca. There are several syncretic religions such as the UDV and Santo Daime that use ayahuasca in religious practices, and this has been permitted for decades. But many members of these churches are also scientists and clinicians, and are beginning to investigate its possible clinical uses.

Of course outside the context of research, in South America, especially Peru, ayahuasca is getting very popular! There is now an ‘ayahuasca tourism’ industry, where North Americans and Europeans are flocking to retreat centers in Peru in search of a traditional shamanic ayahuasca ceremony. While this has created some problems (occasional abuse of women by unscrupulous practitioners for example), all in all, this tourism is probably a healthy thing, though of course it will change the traditional practice. But young people, and many others, are disillusioned with our religious institutions and long to have a genuine, spiritually satisfying religious experience. They often don’t find it in established religious institutions; in fact, many of those religions seem very concerned with preventing that kind of experience from ever happening! So people are motivated to seek these experiences outside the context of established religion. I think this is important, and legitimate. Our Western, consumerist lifestyles are bereft of spiritual meaning; there is a huge vacuum. People go to South America to find ayahuasca to try to fill that vacuum.


March 4, 2015, was the 44th anniversary of the “Experiment at La Chorrera”… What significant things do you know now that you didn’t know back then?

A lot can happen in 44 years, and hopefully one of these things is that we grow a little wiser. I am somewhat more cynical than I was as a young man of 20 setting out in search of the ‘Secret’. What I know now, that I didn’t know then, is that one never really finds the ‘Secret’! The real secret is the quest itself; there is no final answer, only more questions. And I’m fine with that. That’s as it should be. I’m as curious and astonished by the universe in all its beauty and mystery as an old man of 64 as I was as a young man; maybe even more.

Another thing I’ve learned, if I’ve learned anything, is how little I know! How little anyone knows, really. So it’s important to bear that in mind and not get too arrogant about how much we know. The realm of the unknown will always be infinitely greater than the small realm that we do know (or think we know). Psychedelic experiences are good for that; they always remind me of how little we know. I still regard these medicines as the greatest gift of my life, still take them, and still learn from them.

I’ve also learned in 64 years that time is the most important thing we ‘have’; it’s much more valuable than money. And the paradox is that we don’t really have it; the more we grasp at it, the faster it slips away it seems. More than anything else, I’d like to have a time machine, but that is by definition impossible. The time machine, or something like it, is what we were trying to create at La Chorrera, and we demonstrated that that approach, at least, is impossible!

If you had the opportunity to change something in your past, would you? And what would it be?

Basically I’m grateful to have lived in such a marvelous universe, in such interesting times, and I don’t regret any of it. I wish that my beloved brother had lived long enough to see 2012, and to still be here to share with me the wonder and curiosity that we shared back in the day. He’s still very much with me, and with a lot of people apparently, judging by his ubiquity on the Net. He’s achieved an odd kind of immortality; he still haunts the Net, and his many talks and lectures are still as timely and interesting today as they were 20, 30, 40 years ago. If I could change anything, I would change that: his untimely passing in the prime of his life.

Dennis McKenna 2006

Source : Open Books

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'The Shaman's Last Apprentice' is a narrative documentary focusing on the story of Rebekah Shaman, who in 1997 followed a vision she received from a Shaman calling her to the Amazon, where she found and studied intensively with a powerful Ayahuasquero Shaman in a little village nestled in a remote corner of the Amazon rainforest. Now she tells of her unique story working with the Shaman and Ayahuasca to connect with Mother Earth.

What follows is a warning from the Shaman to the West that we urgently need to change our relationship with each other, and with mother Earth.
Only when we understand how vital each one of us is to the future unfolding of this planetary story, can we find the courage to let go of the fear, evolve consciously, and step into our own power so we can be the change.


Alexander Ward | Director's Bio :

Alexander Ward is an artist and film-maker coming from a highly trained background in traditional animation. Working as an Art Director in China for an animated feature, then moving into the Video Game industry as a Conceptual Artist.
Beginning to work in environmental documentaries after developing a profound connection to nature, he was led to work with the sacred medicine Ayahuasca in many journeys to the Amazon rainforest, tutored by native shamanic healers who practice in the tribal traditions, where he now proceeds to use his creative background in ways to promote the virtues of Ayahuasca, reconnecting to nature and the cultural shift that is evolving out of this.

Sharing his own journey with Ayahuasca in various documentary and media projects and bringing light to the stories of others touched by this powerful entheogen.


Rebekah Shaman's Bio :

Rebekah Shaman has travelled extensively and lived and worked with various indigenous groups. She has a BA Hons in the Study of Religions and MSc in Development Studies, both from SOAS, UCL in London. She has also self-published a book 'The Shaman's Last Apprentice,' based on her experiences as an initiate of a Peruvian 'Ayahuasquero' Shaman in the Amazon Rainforest in 1998. Returning to the West she worked with the World Travel and Tourism Council focusing on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility before leaving to set up Hemp Global Solutions Ltd, a hemp food company. Rebekah now facilitiates cacao ceremonies and coaches using shamanic techniques to release blockages and realise their potential.


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'Soma', is an ancient Elixir believed to be used during the Vedic era to heal, attain wisdom and possibly become immortal drinking this Ambrosia of the Himalayas. Not to be taken literally, being immortal might be indicative of the drinks entheogenic qualities. There have been many ideas and suggestions as to what plants/herbs might have been used to make this powerful elixir, of which Cannabis, Ephedra, Amanita Muscaria, Syrian Rue and in some cases the poppy plant, are the most likely candidates to be ingredients for making this magical drink 'Soma', sometimes termed, Nectar of the Gods.

Recent archeological evidence has emerged from Russian excavations in the Kara Kum desert of Turkmenistan that gives further confirmation to the claim that Soma was originally cannabis, bringing it out of the realm of theory and into accepted historical fact. According to Russian archeologist Victor Sariandidi, "for the first time in the world archeological practice, monumental temples were found in which intoxicating beverages of the Soma-Haoma type were prepared for cult ceremonies? The excavations proved that poppy, cannabis and ephedra were used for making the Soma-Haoma drinks, and thickets of these plants were found in excess in the vicinity of the excavated temples of Margiana."

Common in the religious lore of both ancient India and Persia, the sacred Soma plant was considered a God. When Soma was pressed and made into a drink, the ancient worshipper who imbibed it gained the powerful attributes of this deity. The origins of Soma can be traced back to the common Aryan ancestors of both the Vedic civilization of India and the Persian people who followed Mazdaism. This common ancestry accounts for the many similarities in the Hindu and Mazdean religions and language, as can be seen in surviving religious texts such as the Hindu Rig Veda and the Persian Avesta. A major connection is their use of a sacred plant, known in India as Soma, and in Persia as Haoma.

Here is a short excerpt from an article by Ganga White titled, "Soma : Nectar of the Gods" ...

" No exploration into yoga and meditation would be complete without a look at the ancient lineage of sacred plants and herbs that many assert are
at the origins of religious experience and spirituality.

We live in a time of drug hysteria that calls for a more intelligent understanding that doesn’t lump every psychoactive substance, plant, or herb into the same category called dark and dangerous.

The Soma was an ancient brew or drink prepared by sages and yogis that was said to bestow health, strength, insight, spiritual visionary experience, and communion with divinity. This sacred drink, also called “Amrita” or “nectar of the gods,” opened the mind, heart, and inner landscape while purifying and healing the body. The word “Amrita” means nectar. It comes from the word “Mrita,” which means death and “A-mrita” means non-death or immortality. Soma use dates back to the ancient time of the Vedas and origins of yoga.

Researchers have suggested that the Soma was made from psychoactive mushrooms or possibly from a combination of plants, like the middle eastern Haoma or Syrian Rue, and various herbs. The formula and exact nature of this “nectar of immortality” has been lost, possibly forever, in the mists of antiquity. The Amazon region holds what is probably a similar sacred brew, called Ayahuasca, which means vine of the soul or vine of the dead. For centuries, and probably thousands of years, this plant admixture has played a primary role in indigenous people’s spirituality, healing, and discovery of a vast pharmacy of medicines and healing herbs. We owe much of our pharmacopeia to the legacy from indigenous peoples and the sacramental practices. "



Some more excerpts from a book called 'Soma : The Divine Hallucinogen' ...

Throughout history there have been legends of a certain plant, known as the "plant of immortality," that contained the "elixir of life." ... To the best of my knowledge, no one has rediscovered the secret of the ancient elixir of immortality until now. This book describes for the first time the plant of immortality, the preparation procedures for making the elixir of immortality, and the benefits one can attain through its use. (page 1)

Ethnobotanically, the implications of the discovery of the elixir of immortality for the development of new herbal drugs, as well as new therapies and methods of spiritual advancement, are enormous. Every indication points to the fact that the elixir of immortality contains compounds that work directly upon consciousness, rapidly eliciting profound experiences of insight and understanding that could otherwise be achieved only through years of meditation. The implicit fact that paranormal abilities are discussed in the ancient texts, in association with the explicit use of the elixir of immortality, must also be considered in a broader understanding of human consciousness and spiritual development. (page 2)

Chapter 1. Soma and Sacred Herbalism in the Ancient World

Whether or not soma induces visionary experiences must depend on how it is prepared in the ceremony. As a drink, it could not always have induced visionary experiences with strong hallucinations because the Rg Veda indicates that others in addition to the priests took soma on a daily basis for long periods of time. It would have been not only impractical, but probably impossible, for soma to have been prepared as a hallucinogenic in these cases. If soma were always hallucinogenic, it would have interfered with the completion of the soma ceremony itself, which was of paramount importance for maintaining the stability of the cosmos, order, fertility, and life on earth. The soma drink prepared in the ritual must have varied according to the different parts of the ceremony that were being conducted. This leads to the conclusion that the soma drink probably induced states of ecstasy and well-being at certain dosages and that it could also induce visionary states or hallucinations at other dosages or when other plants or plant parts were added to the preparation. (page 8)

Chapter 2. Light, Ecstatic States, and Other Effects of Soma

Soma and Luminous Phenomena

Entheogenic plants are often said to induce light phenomena in association with divine inner experiences. In the Rg Veda, soma is described as giving light to all luminous bodies, and the creation of radiant light phenomena plays and important part in the soma ceremony. The hymns associate soma with all light phenomena, whether in the physical universe as starlight, sunlight, moonlight, lightning, fire, and all glowing energies or within human beings as internal, luminous mystical experience. Indeed, soma is said to be the origin of all light phenomena in both the macrocosm and microcosm. It both creates glowing radiance and gives one the experience of light. (page 13)

Ecstatic Effects of Soma

In the Rig Veda the soma drink induces effects that are called madana, madyati, mada, or mada in Vedic Sanskrit, which can be translated in English as "ecstasy" or "rapturous joy," "inspiration," "heightened awareness," and "exhilaration," respectively. These ecstatic effects were known to bestow holiness and the experience of immortality, moving consciousness into direct contact with the luminous nature of being. This ecstatic effect of soma inebriation appears to have been the mechanism that mediated all other experiences and effects known to have been obtained from the consumption of soma.

Ecstatic experience also gives one the special knowledge and powers of the healer, prophet, poet, and wonderworker. The Rg Veda says that soma, when united with the heart, produces the ecstatic vision, an ecstasy that brings expansion beyond this world, a perception of vastness surpassing both heaven and earth. (page 17)

Soma and Paranormal Abilities

Entheogenic substances are known to increase certain types of psychic experiences and this is certainly true for the soma drink. The Rg Veda indicates that the structure of the soma ceremony was purposely designed for enhancing psychic abilities, which are mediated by special states of ecstasy. A large number of paranormal feats are described in association with soma in the hymns. Examples of these are the ability to create consciousness-born or psychogeneic creations of any object or type; the ability to levitate and walk on water; the ability to leave the physical body and return to it; the power of expansion of the subtle body or consciousness to include the entire universe; and the ability to exist consciously beyond a physical body. Soma is also credited with powers of rejuvenation and life extension as well as the regeneration of various parts of the physical body. Along with its power to renew and even create life, soma is said to be able to sustain that life perpetually as long as one continues to drink it. Thus the Vedic gods maintain their immortality by consuming soma. (pages 18-19)

Medicinal Effects of the Soma Drink

The Vedic plant world was seen as a sacred and mystical domain within which the soma plant was the king of all plants and the source from which all other plants were derived. This view is based upon the cosmology that is directly connected to the cosmic tree or pillar of light, through which access is gained to the inner workings of nature. The soma plant itself is the cosmic tree and pillar, providing the access by virtue of its psychoactive nature and through its mythologized cosmic characteristics.

The soma drink was considered the most effective of all medicinal preparations. The soma drink was an elixir that worked both psychoactively upon the brain and nervous system to induce an altered state of consciousness as well as medicinally upon the human body to cure it of various diseases. (page 21)

Chapter 3. The Identity of Plants Used As Soma

Although Western interest in soma began more than two hundred years ago, no detailed study of the facts has ever been presented. Even R. Gordon Wasson's research on soma, though very useful, is considered incomplete today. We are in a better position to solve the riddle of the soma plant and soma drinks now than ever before. Both Avestan and Rg Veda studies have progressed since Wasson's landmark book Soma was published in 1968. In addition, the study of psychoactive and medicinal plants has advanced significantly. Major botanical breakthroughs on both the Avestan haoma plant and the Rg Veda soma now make it possible to draw some conclusions about the identity of the soma plant. (page 25)

The Psychoactivity of Indian Nymphaea and Nelumbo Plants

Although a number of plants were used in the Rg Vedic soma ceremonies, there are two genera of indigenous Indian plants, the Nymphaea and Nelumbo, that stand out among the rest as being used to prepare soma drinks in the Rg Vedic soma ceremony. Nymphaea plants are known as water lilies, while Nelumbo plants are the true lotus plants. When the genera are used together in my discussions I sometimes refer to them as lotus plants.

... Some of these plants were certainly known as soma and are actually called soma in Sanskrit texts. Despite what has been stated in various articles and books about the nonentheogenic effects of Nelumbo and Nymphaea plants, some Indian varieties of lotus and many water lilies do contain a variety of alkaloids and other compounds that are entheogenic.

Here we can mention only a few studies of the psychoactive aspects of these plants as they pertain to our current subject of soma as a divine hallucinogen. Certain indigenous varieties of Indian Nymphaea plants, as well as Nelumbo plants are psychoactive and can be visionary and auditory entheogens when the sap or juice of the plant, and certain other parts, are prepared properly. These two genera can also be shown to have psychoactive properties that match those of soma on the Rg Veda.

The compounds found in certain Nymphaea species are known to cause excitation, ecstatic states, luminous visionary and auditory hallucinations, narcotic sedation, and other psychoactive effects. The experiences are dependent upon the dosage, preparation, and parts of the plant used. The compounds responsible are found in the flowers, sap, nectar, stems, rhizomes, and possibly the leaves. The flowers of certain Nymphaea species have been shown to induce ecstasy states similar to those of the drug, 3, 4-methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), popularly known as "ecstasy." (pages 27-28)


Chapter 6. Soma and the Origins of Western Magic

Although magical incantations are known from primitive, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Greek religions, it seems that the Indo-Iranian religions are the source of many ritualized and systematic magical practices in antiquity. It can be documented through textual evidence and artifacts such as seal impressions that Indo-Europeans, and specifically Indo-Iranian, sacrificial rituals are the antecedents of many Near Eastern, Egyptian, and Greek forms of magic.

The origins of systematized magic and magical techniques can be traced back to the Indo-Iranian haoma/soma ceremonies. The words magic, magician, magus, and magi are all related terms that refer directly to the priests and magical performances of the Indo-Iranian haoma/soma sacrificial rituals. ... A Babylonian synonym for Medes is Umman Manda. One leader of the Umman Manda mentioned in Hittite texts is Za-a-lu-ti, which is an Aryan name. William Albright has suggested that Za-a-lu-ti was the same man as "Salitis" who founded the Hykos Fifteenth Dynasty in Egypt (1800 B.C.E.). This would imply that it was the Indo-Aryans who influenced the Greeks rather than the Iranians. This influence would have been over a long period of time beginning at a very early date. ... (pages 86-87)

Franz Graf states that the connection between magical practices and the use of herbal plants, including entheogens, appears in Greek literature in the form of Greek terminologies such as pharmakon (herbal drugs) during the spread of Indo-Iranian beliefs within the Greek world. This indicates that the use of the soma drink in conjunction with the soma ritual was the probable origin of ancient Greek herbal ceremonies used to conduct specific entheogenically induced magical rites. The influence upon Greece was to have important later influences upon magical practices found in Greco-Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and European magic. (page 88)


Chapter 7. Soma and European Alchemy

Conclusion

There are many correspondences found between the Rg Veda cosmological rituals of the soma ceremony and Chinese, Greco-Egyptian, Islamic, and European alchemy. Not only is soma the probable origin of the elixir ideas in Chinese, Greco-Egyptian, Islamic, and European alchemy, but the cosmological framework of the Rg Veda, to which the soma sacrifice is integral, is full of references to what we might call alchemical ideas. The soma ceremony has a basic magical and alchemical cosmology running through it. This is the reason why both Greco-Egyptian and European Hermeticists trace the traditions of magic and alchemy directly back to Indo-European haoma/soma sacrificial rituals, which they associated with Zoroaster. Thus in Marsilio Ficino's Theologia Platonica, he gives the genealogy of wisdom starting first with Zoroaster, then Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, Appollonius, Pythagoras, and finally Plato. As far as the Renaissance Hermetic tradition was concerned, the creation of the "wisdom tradition" and the origins of the "ancient theology" originated in the Indo-Iranians and their haoma/soma sacrifices. It was from this tradition that the entheogenic elixir vitae was originally conceived. (pages 161-162)


References : Soma Revealed - Cannabis Culture


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Anyone who has ever heard this man Terence Mckenna, would know the magical imagery he creates in the minds of the listener through his eloquent speech and mesmerizing use of the English language. Here is 3 hours straight of the man himself, Terence McKenna, who continues to inspire and awaken millions through his work, even from the other side ....


Terence Kemp McKenna was an author, lecturer, philosopher and shamanic explorer of the realm of psychedelic states. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including metaphysics, alchemy, language, culture, technology, and the theoretical origins of human consciousness. He has been described by some as being "so far out, nobody knows what he's talking about", and by others as "the most innovative thinker of our times".

To shake us out of our perceptual torpor, McKenna played the holy fool, the crazy wisdom sage. He pushed our faces in the most exotic, lurid inventions of modern science and technology. What elevated him above most other prophets was that he delivered his prophesies with a wink, an implicit acknowledgement that ultimately reality is stranger than we CAN suppose.

McKenna’s métier was the spoken word — stand-up philosophy that meme-splices Alfred North Whitehead, Marshall McLuhan, James Joyce, William Blake and many others, delivered in a reedy, insinuating voice. Available throughout the Internet with titles like “Having Archaic and Eating it Too” and “Shedding the Monkey,” his lectures are tours de force of verbal virtuosity and pack-rat polymathy, leaping trippingly (in both senses of the word) from quantum mechanics to medieval alchemy, from the chaos theory of Ilya Prigogine to the neo-Platonism of Philo Judaeus.
This movie was created to present and collect (some of) his most profound thoughts, and to possibly show glimpses of the alchemical angel that Terence pursued throughout his life. It does not serve as a biography, (at least) three very important themes were left out for the simple reason that they take hours to unfold themselves: the experiment at La Chorrera, the relationship between the McKenna brothers, and the Trialogues with Rupert Sheldrake and Ralph Abraham.

And so, three books are essential to anyone who'd like to dive deeper into the life and mind of Terence McKenna:

• True Hallucinations by Terence McKenna
• The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss by Dennis McKenna
• Chaos, Creativity, and Cosmic Consciousness by Rupert Sheldrake, Terence McKenna, and Ralph Abraham

Created by Peter Bergmann, this is a movie/documentary/project/mashup/juxtapo­sition/amalgamation made from everything Terence McKenna left us with, mixed with the music of We Plants Are Happy Plants.

From Terence McKenna's Eulogy to Leo Zeff:

Sometimes when Leo would sit with people, they would come out of their reveries and want to talk with him about what they were learning and seeing. And Leo would listen for a few minutes. But he then would always say: "That's fine, that's good, now return to the music." And I think that.. I like to think that Leo has now returned to the music. And some day so shall we. And to whatever degree we follow his example life here, the passage to whatever lies beyond will be made much easier.

Leo showed the way, because Leo knew the way. And I salute him for that, I say for all of us who were his tribe: Goodbye to the secret chief, goodbye to the man who saw most deeply. It's now for us to do as he would have had us do.


Here are some of Terence Mckenna's classic quotes which continue to strike like lightning bolts in the minds of millions of psychedelic explorers out there ...

“ The mushroom said to me once, Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. ”

“ Animals are something invented by plants to move seeds around. An extremely yang solution to a peculiar problem which they faced. ”

“ You have to take seriously the notion that understanding the universe is your responsibility, because the only understanding of the universe that will be useful to you is your own understanding. ”

“ The current physical models of the universe require eleven dimensions, eleven integrated variables to describe. And that’s physical models of the universe. If we then turn our attention to mind and realize that we have no definition of what mind is, why then is there any mystery in the fact that we have no definition of what the UFO is? The mind is present at hand in every conscious moment. It has been our constant companion for fifty thousand years, and we haven’t a clue as to what it is. So therefore, a manifestation of the other — the superego, or the extraterrestrial other like the UFO — it is not surprising that it is a mystery. I always hark back to the words of J.B.S. Haldane, the great British enzymologist, who said ‘reality is not only stranger than we suppose, it may be stranger than we can suppose.' ”
(Terence Mckenna, Aliens & Archetypes)

“ You are a divine being. You matter, you count. You come from realms of unimaginable power and light, and you will return to those realms. ”






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'Metamorphosis' is a documentary film by Keith Aronowitz, who traveled to Peru to try Ayahuasca for the first time at the Blue Morpho Lodge. The ceremonies proved to be profound. “It was an incredible experience and it forever changed my life, says Aronowitz.” He also happened to have brought his camcorder along and recorded some of the ceremonies and interviewed some of the people who had also journeyed to drink Ayahuasca. When he shared his footage, the response was enthusiastic, so he thought of making a documentary film !


Metamorphosis follows five Ayahuasca tourists on a nine-day retreat at the jungle lodge maintained by Blue Morpho Tours, where they participate in five ayahuasca ceremonies. The lodge is run by Hamilton Souther, who has been practicing shamanism for about seven years. “The spirits came along,” Souther says in the film, “and they said to me: You have to go into the jungle and drink ayahuasca.” Souther apprenticed under Don Alberto Torres Davila and Don Julio Gerena Pinedo, and they now all work together leading ceremonies at the lodge. The film tells Souther’s story, incorporates his explanations of the ceremonies, and portrays the physical, emotional, and spiritual changes through which he guides his guests.

The film does not flinch from depicting the sometimes overpowering physical and psychological effects of the drink. “Everybody who comes here suffers,” says Souther. Aronowitz puts this into his own context. “Fear is not the only thing that takes place,” he says. “You experience divinity. Universal knowledge through visions. Oneness. Love. Your heart opens. You feel connected to everyone and everything. I feel like I had to go to hell in order to get to heaven.”

Blue Morpho Tours specializes in what it calls all-inclusive shamanic workshops. The lodge is relatively comfortable, at least compared to the amenities available in local villages, and has hosted not only tourists but also journalists who have described their ayahuasca experiences in such widely read publications as the Houston Chronicle and National Geographic magazine.

Perhaps because of its success, Blue Morpho Tours has attracted both criticism and defense, largely concerning the commercialization of indigenous spirituality and the effect of ayahuasca tourism on local communities. “Blue Morpho is a unique place,” Aronowitz says, “because one of the shamans is a westerner. He left his life in America in order to learn this healing tradition in the middle of the Amazon. So he’s a conduit to helping other people heal through this tradition.”

As per a more recent update (As seen here), there have been some major changes at the Blue Morpho Lodge. Hamilton has kind of disavowed his title as Master Shaman and while Don Alberto still practices there occasionally with traditional medicine ceremonies, many of the retreats are now centered around 'universality' instead of the traditional shamanic lineage based medicine. The prices for ceremonies have since skyrocketed suggesting over commercialization of Ayahuasca tourism.

Someone commented on the Ayahuasca thread on Reddit, highlighting reasons behind the changes at Blue Morpho ...

" Hamilton and another master shaman wanted to push their mastery of the medicne to the limit so did 30 Ayahuasca ceremonies in 30 days..."The big 30" as they called it. Shamans drink fairly regularly but with gaps, so 30 days straight is a lot Ayahuasca.

Basically, during that experience he found another path. He discovered that the dualistic nature of traditional Amazonian shamanism (spirit world/real world) is artifice built out of tradition, but isn't necessary for healing, and is therefore an illusion so not useful. The path he discovered is about unification/universalism, where there are no divisions. He wanted to continue doing ceremonies with his 'updated' understanding of the medicine, but his new approach wasn't compatible with the traditional shamanic worldview so after a bunch of discussions with his Maestro (Don Alberto) he retired the title he had earned within the traditional apprentice/master lineage system.

So he's still doing Aya ceremonies, but they're using the "universalism" framework rather than a traditional one. Don Alberto still holds traditional ceremonies there too though, so when you book a tour you can choose which you prefer.

BM was my first aya experience years ago and it was a whopper. I've been back to peru a few times to drink but never at Blue Morpho again. Hamilton is (was?) a grade-a Shaman though, so whatever he's doing now is interesting and useful, I'm sure. If I could afford their tours now I'd be tempted to go back just to check it out. "




Here is a short excerpt from an interview with Keith Aronowitz ...

" At one point during the film, one of the shamans says, "Everybody who comes here suffers," and the film is really about facing fear, I think. To what extent is an ayahuasca ceremony about fear? Are there other aspects of an ayahuasca ceremony?

Aronowitz : That's a good question. Fear is definitely an element of the ceremony. It's a daunting task to drink ayahuasca in the jungle. Anybody who gets in there has to have a lot of courage. Every night I saw the people going into ceremony to face their fears. I was inspired. For most people who go to drink ayahuasca medicine, nothing else has worked, or they are looking to really challenge themselves. That's kind of what it's all about, in a way. But fear is not the only thing that takes place. You experience divinity. Universal knowledge through visions. Oneness. Love. Your heart opens. You feel connected to everyone and everything. I feel like I had to go to hell in order to get to heaven. I'm not saying that's always how it has to be for everyone else, but that's how it was for me. I had to straighten out my energy in order to see love and to feel love. It was really hard work, but that's what I was there for.

And at the end there's a lot of laughter, relief, some good flatulence. Whew, I made it. We made it! Hopefully I'll be ready for the next ceremony. And you grow and learn. "


References :

• Metamorphosis : Making of an Ayahuasca Documentary
• Singing to the Plants - Metamorphosis

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The Ka'apor Indians of the Amazon have started fighting back to save the amazonian jungles by confronting illegal loggers who are incessantly destroying the rain forests of Amazon. They started a jungle expedition to search for and expel loggers from the Alto Turiacu Indian territory, near the Centro do Guilherme municipality in the northeast of Maranhao state in the Amazon basin, Brazil.


“Illegal loggers have long invaded areas of the Amazon rainforest. Tired of what they say is a lack of sufficient government assistance, the Ka’apor Indians feel it is time to take matters into their own hands.

The Ka’apor Indians are the legal inhabitants and caretakers of the territory along with four other tribes. The tribe sends out their warriors who hunt down loggers and drive them off their land.




"Nossa Terra - Our Land" is a short documentary film which takes an exclusive look inside the word of the Kaapor People of Brazil as they struggle to keep their land and their culture. The documentary includes a tour of the forest and how they hunt, find water, and use the forest for their survival.




On several occasions, Indians around Brazil have been subject to violence and attacks from illegal loggers. This time the Indians fought back.

“We got tired of waiting for the government,” Ka’apor leader Irakadju said.

The Ka’apor Indians’ way of life depends on the forest. They are not the only tribe to complain about exploiters; other warriors around the country have also set up patrols to drive away those exploiting the forest’s natural resources.

“Our forest was being taken away from us, but we woke up,” Irakadju told me one day. “Many whites feel that the standing forest is of no use. They cannot see that a living jungle is good for the entire world and helps the Earth to breathe.”



The Kaapor Indians have little choice left but to fight back in order to save their home, the Amazon forest, from being destroyed. All forests and trees on the planet sustain a very delicate ecosystem we don't quite fully understand and if we don't stop now, our future as a civilization on this planet looks bleak. We must strive to keep the planet green adopting sustainable ways of living, in harmony with the natural way. For that we must first begin to understand what is the natural way ? We must get back into the wilderness and reconnect with others aspects of ourselves we've for so long been disconnected from ... Sometimes an inner revolution is what is needed to bring about the manifestation of real change in our world and each one of us carries that eternal spark within, to light up our world. We must lighten up, now !



Images Courtesy : Lunae Parracho (Reuters Photographer)


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"OTAC - The Sacred Ancient Medicine Ceremony" is a documentary film in the making, by Leonardo Bondani & Octavio Rettig.

Over the past eight years, Dr. Rettig has been conducting research on the ancient sacred use of 5-MeO-DMT in the Sonora desert. Three years ago, he re-introduced the use of this medicine to the Seri Tribe to successfully treat methamphetamine addicts. He learned the ancient rituals, chants and rites of the Seri tribe and became an apprentice of "Don Pancho," a Seri elder shaman.

By combining the chants he was given as a gift from the Seri people, with the "Sacred Medicine" he created a therapy technique. He now performs this "Ancient Sacred Medicine Ceremony" authorized by the council of elder Seri shamans, to treat addicts, and also to initiate adepts from around the globe into the spiritual realm.

Dr. Rettig has been successfully using this "sacred medicine" in therapy sessions (hundreds of them documented) for thousands of people. He has also used this therapy effectively on crystal methamphetamine addicts where it affects neural receptors. The addicts no longer crave the drug and it opens a spiritual gateway for them.


Dr. Rettig a physician and surgeon (author of the book "Bufo Alvarius, The Toad from Down") is currently traveling around the world, speaking at conferences about his research on the ancient use of a powerful substance extracted from the Sonora desert toad (and its relation to the evolution of man), under the auspices of the United Nations and the World Health Organization.

This film narrates and documents the anthropological, ethnomusicological, archeological and pharmacological aspects of Dr. Rettig’s fantastic story, and as director Leonardo Bondani has described, “It's also, a journey into the mind and the soul, the search for enlightenment, the human condition...and the fabric of the cosmos.”

Some interesting information about the Psychedelic Toad, Otac or Bufo Alvarius and 5Meo DMT by Dr. Octavio Rettig !


The Documentary Film needs some funding to complete the documentary and could do with some help ... Here is what they have to say about it ...

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP:

It is urgent to preserve the vanishing culture and ancient knowledge that the Seri people have almost forgotten, now alive in just a few of elder shamans who remember how to guide the initiate into the spiritual journey of the soul. We are the first film crew ever to be granted full permission to capture and preserve these sacred rituals and scientific investigation for a global audience.

We have created a short video-trailer as an approach to the final film, which was filmed on our first expedition on the winter solstice of December 2013. On that expedition, Dr. Rettig and director Leonardo Bondani were personally invited by the King/President of the Seri tribe to return for the New Year’s two day-long celebration on June 30 and July 1, 2014 in Punta Chueca, Sonora Mexico, an autonomous nation (and a closed area to the public, national government, agencies and institutions).

This is the most important date of the year in which the Seri people perform their dances and chants in full regalia attire and their famous face paint. We filmed the rest of this documentary on those days to include this ceremonies and interviews at the site with Dr. Rettig himself, the tribal leaders and shamans.

Dr. Rettig and Bondani funded the first and second filming expeditions and produced the trailer with money out of their own pockets. We urgently need your donations and support to finish the editing and postproduction of this project.

Your contribution will help document and share with the rest of the world the chants, dances, rituals and knowledge of the Seri tribe, Dr Rettig’s research, and the findings on the almost forgotten Ancient Sacred Medicine Ceremony.

Getting this film done will help in the future create "transformation centers" in communities affected by addictions, to facilitate therapy sessions with the method developed by Dr Rettig.


THE DIRECTOR:

Director Leonardo Bondani is a close friend and colleague of Dr. Rettig and has undergone the shaman initiation ceremony himself, guided by the elder shaman, Don Pancho (Dr. Rettig's teacher and mentor.)

Bondani has 20 years of experience directing documentaries, educational TV series, cultural tourism promos, music videos and visuals for massive concerts. He has filmed in major cities in Europe, the U.S. and South America, in harsh conditions from rain at several Mexican pyramids and the jungle, to the arid Egyptian pyramids and the Sahara Desert. Recently he filmed a documentary about “The End of a Baktun, Mayan Calendar" ceremonies at the pyramids of Teotihuacan, Mexico featuring Don Miguel Ruiz (author of the book "The Four Agreements") and just finished a documentary about the 20th anniversary of the Zapatista guerrilla movement in Chiapas, Mexico.

Some of the people Bondani has documented include: Dalai Lama, Noam Chomsky, Octavio Paz, Rufino Tamayo, Sub-Comandante Marcos, Jose Arguelles , Alberto Ruz, Antonio Velazco Piña, Lila Downs, Hugh Masakela, Poncho Sanchez, Andre Rieu, Adrian Belew, Jon Anderson (Yes), Peter Gabriel, David Byrne, Moby and many more. Bondani also met with the late Carlos Casteneda (author of “The Teachings of Don Juan.”) in person.



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The Jaguar is revered as a powerful being in the Amazonian rainforest, who also serves as a Spirit Guide for the Shaman who seeks to heal the sick and receives visions which are key to human survival in the Amazon. For the Quechua Indians, the Jaguar like the Anaconda, is considered a highly evolved spirit who was perhaps a Yachak or a Shaman in their previous life.


"The Jaguar Man" is a documentary film which takes us on journey of initiation in the Ecuadorian rainforests of the Amazon. A young Quechua Indian is on his way to become a Yachak, a Shaman. His Father takes him to learn the ways of the Jungle, to encounter the spirits of the forest, in particular the Jaguar, who is often seen chewing on the Ayahuasca vine. The DMT visions hence induced give the majestic being enhanced perceptions and abilities that help it see with clarity even through the darkness. Here are some interesting articles on Jaguar Symbolism in ancient Shamanistic cultures ...

Jaguar, Power Animal, Symbol of Solitary Path, Reclaiming Power, Shape shifting, Psychic Vision

By Ina Woolcott

The Jaguar's medicine includes seeing the roads within chaos and understanding the patterns of chaos, moving without fear in the darkness, moving in unknown places, shape shifting, psychic vision, facilitating soul work, empowering oneself, reclaiming power.

The Black Jaguar's medicine includes the same as jaguar but in addition keeper of the circular time continuum, gatekeeper to the unknowable.

The South American name for jaguar, 'jaguara' is translated as 'carnivore that overcomes prey with a single bound.' there is an Indian legend that says the jaguar came by its beautiful spotted coat by dabbing mud on its body with its paws. These spots easily hold the jaguar apart from other big cats. What also holds them apart from other big cats is the fact that they are unrivalled. There are no other predators that can compete with this powerful cat. Those with this power animal generally make brilliant leaders and diplomats.

According to Mayan beliefs, the journey of the sun across the sky and the darkness of night represented the infinite journey of human consciousness and its transformations. The midday sun's position was compared to the Eagle, flying high in the sky, to then plunge below the horizon, just as we plunge into the dark to face our spiritual challenges and to be transformed. The hidden sun was said to be Jaguar, whose spotted skin represents the stars glittering/shining in the night sky. Hence it was called the "Jaguar Sun." Jaguar is the earth father, holding the authority over the sacred power of and in the earth, and the animals who live upon it. The force that lives within the mountains, giving them their volcanic and transformative power, is the same underworld source of energy and power contained within the Jaguar Sun. The Mayan word for Jaguar is IX and it is pronounced 'eesh'.

Similarly to the tiger, this solitary hunter stalks silently and patiently, to then strike with lightning speed. This symbolises the importance of knowing when it's best to take the solitary path in stalking one's own dreams. For the native people of the rainforests, everything contains the essence of the Jaguar.

Jaguar, Leopards and Panthers are very ancient and powerful power animals/totems. They embody aggressiveness and power, but without the influence of solar energy. Black Panther's power is lunar (moon). People with a Jaguar, Panther or Leopard medicine have the ability to multi-task. They tend to be loners and are very comfortable with themselves. Often they are drawn to other solitary people.

If this is your power animal, you must learn to pace your work - in all aspects of your life - and not push too hard. Women who have Jaguar, Panther or Leopard totems often bring their children up alone, whether it be through divorce or just circumstances in their lives.

Either sex holding this power animal have the potential to develop clairaudience, the ability to hear communications from other forms of life or dimensions and should trust their thoughts and inner visions as they are based in reality.

Jaguars have huge paws and a broad head with mighty strong jaws. They often kill their victim by piercing the skull with one rapid bite. The jaguar growls, snarls and makes deep grunts - it does not roar like a lion. People with this power animal generally possess a good command of language, although their words can have a tendency to cut, tear and shred others apart. Learning correct communication skills is of foremost importance for these people.

The jaguar's powerful body is capable of taking them hundreds of miles in the search for food. They are agile climbers. They teach us how to fulfil goals/dreams through pliability and steadfastness.

Jaguars are at home in the dark with their excellent night vision. They move fearlessly, whether night or day, teaching us how to trust our personal instincts. Latent psychic sight may be stirred in those with this power animal.

The jaguars preferred habitat is usually swamp and wooded regions, although they are also able to live in scrublands and deserts. Jaguars live in caves and canyons close to fresh water. In mythology caves are linked with retreat and isolation, a place to go to aid soul work. Water is linked with the emotional body of humans. When the jaguar bounds into your reality it is asking you to go within, to release your fears, to heal your emotions and to awaken your inner sight. When you come out of retreat the jaguar will be there awaiting you. If you choose to follow his lead, he will guide you into the underworld where the secrets of life and creation are to be found.



Jaguar Symbolism

The black panther is actually the same species as the jaguar. The black coat is simply a color variation. Jaguar is a Native American word meaning, “he who kills with one blow.” The jaguar actually originated in North America, though now it only lives in Central and parts of South America. The jaguar moved south when Central America formed into a land bridge. Jaguars prefer habitats like jungles and swamps, but also like semi-arid mountainous regions, so long as the area is forested. The jaguar is also one of the few cats to like water, and often can be seen playing in it.

As for the mythology and legends, the jaguar was seen as a god in Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala, in pre-Columbian America. The Mayans, Aztecs, and Inca all worshiped the jaguar in some form. In the pantheon, the jaguar god was second only to the snake god in religious importance. At the Temple of the Jaguar at Chichen Itza, the king had to walk beneath a frieze of a procession of jaguars during his coronation ceremony.

In Mayan mythology, the jaguar was seen as the ruler of the Underworld, and as such, a symbol of the night sun and darkness. There were Mayan priests called Balam who officiated at only the most important ceremonies. Along with the Aztecs and Mayans, the Inca also built temples to the jaguar.

The Jaguar is representative of power, ferocity, and valor; he is the embodiment of aggressiveness. For some, the jaguar represents the power to face one’s fears, or to confront one’s enemies. However, they are also associated with vision, which means both their ability to see during the night and to look into the dark parts of the human heart. The jaguar often warns of disaster, he does not offer any reassurance. Along with physical vision, jaguars are also associated with prescience and the foreknowledge of things to come. Cats have binocular vision, meaning each eye can work by itself, which provides them with better depth perception. This gives more evidence to their connection with vision and foresight.

The Jaguar, specifically panther, is linked to the Roman god Bacchus (Greek Dionysus). Bacchus was supposedly nursed by panthers, and in some depictions he is riding a chariot pulled by the large cats. Bacchus is often thought of as the god of wine and mirth, but he is strongly linked to the unleashing of desires. So, the panther, too, is a symbol of subconscious urges and abilities. This is something the Aztecs and Mayans also had a notion of. Both peoples spoke and taught about the power of becoming half-jaguar and half-human, because a person who can do this can be rid of all of his cultural restrictions and inhibitions. In other words, he can finally act upon his hidden desires.


References :

• Shamanic Journey
• Pure Spirit

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