Oh boy. Where to begin…
I guess at the beginning. On January 14th 2018, I booked myself in for the trip of a life time.
A trip to Peru… and a trip in Peru.
There was the flight, that was one part of the trip. Then there was the psychedelic trip. the spiritual trip. The healing trip. That part of the journey was with ayahuasca, a ‘plant medicine’ which makes DMT available in our body.
DMT is a very powerful stimulator of serotonin receptors in the brain, which doesn’t normally get into the body because it’s broken down by the stomach. But when you make a drink with the a plant like chacruna (containing DMT) and mix it with the vine of ayahuasca, the latter acts as a blocking agent and the DMT can get into the body, and the effects are rather undeniable.
While the plant is illegal in the UK and many other parts of the world, it is still currently legal in South America, and the most popular place for us gringos to experience it is in Peru.
I won’t bore you with the backstory, but I had done my research and decided that if I found a retreat centre that looked safe and appealing, I’d go for it. Dreamglade checked all my boxes, I found some reasonably priced flights for May and off I went.
First off, I just hope I do a good job at explaining what I understand ayahuasca to be, and basically do the whole tradition justice. If you think ayahuasca is another party drug, or something to try out for the ‘fun of the ride’, you’ve got the wrong end of the vine.
In this podcast, I’m going to go in depth about my experience (so you’ll notice it’s a fair amount longer than usual) and I hope I can offer some help and answer some questions to any of you pondering ayahuasca use for its healing properties.
As always, if you have any questions after the show, simply send an email to hello@catroseastrology.com and I’ll do my best to answer or find someone who can.
Fun rating: 0/10
Life Changing rating: 10/10
Links mentioned:
Recommended Reading:
Books I read on my trip:
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
A Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
The Artists Way by Julia Cameron
Thanks for this doing this episode of the podcast, I love hearing ayahuasca trip reports!
Nice to hear it from an introvert’s perspective too.
Apart from the other scary parts of taking ayahuasca, the social/group aspects of it have always been particularly scary to me. Glad to hear those parts were positive aspects of the experience.
Joe
I hear ya – the group aspect was the thing I was most concerned about (which says a lot, given the other dangers!) but as you heard, I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve started to see it as another part of the adventure – as in, it’s another ‘risk factor’ or maybe even test, that ultimately makes the experience worthwhile.
Yes, it does say a lot! I often find the social aspects of something scarier than the potential physical risks. I guess its the opposite of “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me”.
A blow to the body probably hurts me more than a blow to the ‘psyche’, at least in my head!
Do you have any plans to go to Peru/take ayahuasca again, or is once enough?
I was reading recently about the group trips to Holland from the UK where they do psilocybin-assisted therapy or councilling. Sounds interesting, but again groups!
Thank you so much for this. I am grateful you made the podcast, and grateful that I found it. Very illuminating and I have just booked in at Dreamglade so this is all very exciting!
Yay I’m so happy for you Goldie! I’d love to hear about your experience there – say hi to the team for me 😉