That’s Rufa - the only monkey who has my heart AND my apple
Hi all – sorry for the recent absence. Life gets in the way of blogging sometimes – how rude.
Where Ayahuasca is internal, feminine, healing, somewhat fragile and based in the jungle (the lower world), Huachuma is external, profoundly powerful, wisdom-filled, masculine and based in the middle world (it grows in higher elevations in the Andes). With Ayahuasca, you sit in a room in intense meditation, guided by the songs and energies of the Shaman. The experience lasts about 6 hours, and there’s no interaction with the outside world. Strike that – no *tangible* interaction. As you’ve read, there’s a whole wide world of experiences.
Huachuma, on the other hand, IS the outside world – but a part of it you haven’t been in for a very long time. Huachuma awakes us to the spiritual portal, and it works in tandem with something called the Mesa. Mesa means table in Spanish, but with this work, it references the table of energetic, powerful objects that provide that portal into the other side. All ceremonies with Huachuma start and end at the mesa. We ritualistically take the medicine at our makeshift table (see my profile pictures for an example) – it consists of things like a jaguar skull, powerful crystals, candles, shells, condor feathers, Peruvian antiquities, and other objects that come from the places we visit, and thereby carry their infinite energies.
The mesa is like a magnet when you’re deep in Huachuma – it teaches you that everything – EVERYthing – is alive. You can see the movement of these objects and hear their lessons. It’s absolutely magical.
Howard, our leader and Huachumero (Huachuma Shaman) takes his journeyers to 4 sacred sites in Peru to administer these experiences. Wherever we are, we set up the Mesa in the early day, take the medicine, then walk around and experience the sacred energies of our location. The places he has found – or rather, found him – are almost indescribable. I promise to do my best, but just know – you really need to go there. Howard has gained intimate access to ancient pyramids and sacred sites not normally accessible to tourists – that’s because we’re not tourists, we’re Journeyers. There’s a massive difference. We got to go places most humans will never set foot in, but more mind-blowing, we got to experience history and evolution instead of just reading about it. Imagine going to the Parthenon in Athens in an altered state that allowed you to be an ancient Greek, to know what it felt like to be there, and to understand all kinds of elemental secrets – that’s what this process does. The places we visit are Huachas – spots where the raw elemental energies (fire, wind, water, earth) all meet in an unspeakably powerful convergence. Standing in these specific spaces is like recharging your soul. Think of a vortex like Sodona here in the states – so amazing and powerful, but diluted by tourism and negative energies. In Peru, these sites are almost untouched – sometimes dormant for hundreds of years.
This trip was a homecoming for me, the adventure of a lifetime, and the key to understanding who we are, where we’ve been, and where we’re going. You know, the small stuff.
For all four of our expeditions, there is a set “theme”, and this becomes very apparent once we dive in and begin the path. I’ll give you an overview of what’s to come, and then start posting, day by day, my four experiences.
1) The Death Mesa
When we asked Howard what this would be like, he just said simply “You’re going to die. Enjoy it.”
This takes place at a sacred place called Fire Mountain, so Fire was our main element. And what a way to begin, let me tell ya.
2) The Power Mesa
Who doesn’t need to make peace with power? This one takes place at El Brujo (which translates as The Shaman), an ancient site with 2 Moche pyramids. I’ll talk more about the Moche and what these pyramids were for, but this is where it all *really* changed for me. Wind and Water were our focused elements, as the place is located on a desolate strip of coast in Northern Peru.
3) The Transformation Mesa
This one takes place at the most amazing little city in the world – a valley, 10,000 feet about sea level, nestled in the Andes named after the people that once lived here – the Chavin. The Chavin were the first Andean civilization, and they reigned in *complete peace* for 1,000 years. They are the grandfathers of Shamanism, the greatest Shaman who ever lived, and this mesa transpires at a place called the Temple of the Jaguar. Right there, I think you know this one meant the world to me.
4) The Creation Mesa
For this one, we travelled 14,000 feet to the top of the word at a place called Heaven’s Gate. It was formed by a 9.0 earthquake, and as the most beatufiul place on the planet sprung to live, 70,000 people died in a landslide. This one represented the constant flow of life taking and life giving energies in the world, and it allowed us all to tap into the most benevolent, empowering sense of creative power; to, quite literally, change the world.
Good stuff indeed.
So, I know I recently relayed a mini-death on Ayahuasca, but my friends, I was just getting started.
Thanks for joining me on this leg of the Journey. More soon.
