The 1st Ceremony – Vulnerable in the Jungle

Part 2 – Read the 1st part here…

I left Ireland and my family in May 2017, the day after my younger son’s fifth birthday.  My friend collected me at 4am as I said my farewells to my wife and children.  I was both excited and sad to be leaving them for over a month.

My early morning flight from Cork took me to Amsterdam and from there onto Lima, the capital of Peru.  I’d given myself a few days in Lima to adjust to the five hours time difference and to do a bit of exploring.

Three days later and the trip to Iquitos, the remote jungle city was upon me.  The only way in or out was by plane, there were no roads and a journey by river would have taken months.

The plane was small and mostly full of Peruvians going about their lives.  There were a few tourists, carrying rucksacks and yoga mats.  We had been advised to bring a yoga mat so I wondered whether any of them were destined for the same spiritual retreat I was going on.

We spent hours flying over the jungle with the Amazon river twisting and turning through the masses of trees beneath us.  From the plane window I saw the occasional settlement but I was mostly captivated by the beauty of the never ending greenery.

“I was expecting a quiet and lonely place when we arrived”

especially given that it was late at night.  I was not expecting a busy and lively city of a million people, seemingly all of them on the road that night, flying around on mopeds and motos.  I took an adrenaline filled trip on one of the four-wheeled motos and hung onto my rucksack tightly.  Thankfully arriving safely at the hotel an hour later, three days ahead of the group’s rendezvous time.

Over the next few days as more and more of our group started to arrive, I took time to explore the city.  But made sure to only ever eat in one of the two restaurants in our guidebook, to ensure quality, healthy food.  Our last supper was a fun filled ‘clean meal’ getting to know the rest of the group.  Laughing and joking as we watched the Amazon float by.

“The next day and a breakfast of watermelon juice and boiled eggs and then to the boats”

A fast boat through passport control, then to a medium boat and then the slow boat.  Weaving in and out of tiny tributaries and overgrown streams – gradually slowing down to the gentle pace of nature.  We passed settlements of hand-made homes, waved to children and I even saw pink dolphins swimming along side our boat for a time.

When we finally arrived 8 hours later, we were met by the Elders and children of the village, everyone was so friendly and welcoming.  I was so overwhelmed and emotional after such a long journey that I cried.  It was as though a part of me had just come home.

Over the next few days we settled in to the place that would be our home for the next two weeks and came together as a group.  Sharing our stories and doing lots of group work in the Temple.  One thing became very clear, everyone was there because they were someway stuck in life and felt called to come, but no-one knew the exact reason.  It was almost like we shared a certainty in our unknowingness.

We worked with the same sacred plant medicines that the Shipibo and other indigenous tribes of Peru have been working with for many thousands of years.  All deeply cherished and honoured within ceremonies that have also remained unchanged through the ages.

It was a beautiful honour to be invited and welcomed into the heart of a close community that holds all of life sacred.  And it was a deep honour that they shared with us their sacred ceremonies and healing plant medicines.

There is much confusion and misinformation about the sacred medicine plants of Chacruna and Ayahausca in the western world.  I will just say that their medicine brings profound and life changing healing and insights from the spirit world, to all those that would work with them. 

“What we do with the healing and insights afterwards is up to each of us individually.”

So there I was on the Monday evening in the first ceremony, surrounded by love, deeply held and spiritually protected by the facilitators and the local shamans.  Holding the intention in my broken heart of ‘clarity’.  Bring me clarity in my life.

With the spirit world, ready and waiting patiently to deliver the message, the key that would unlock me in my life.  Ready to take me on a journey into my unknown past.

To be continued next week…