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It is strange to think of my perception of peyote before experiencing it myself in the fall of 2015. I was volunteering many hours at a Native American Church that focused on holistic healing a few months beforehand. I enjoyed my time there as well as the knowledge that was taught there; it would help build the foundation of my path towards gaining insight on many diseases, disturbances, and disorders. I remember being at the front desk when the head of the church received a phone call from another Native American Church in Utah. A Utah church was contacted by the British Broadcasting Channel (BBC), in order to see if they could possibly film a peyote ceremony and have one of their guys participate in the ceremony. The church leader from Utah relayed that since peyote ceremonies are not traditionally filmed, there has been a lack of volunteers to being filmed. Some even viewed it as sacrilegious, disgracing the ancient practice. Our church leader had a progressive mind and knew this could be a way to reach many more people and introduce the healing benefits of peyote. She set up a meeting with a BBC representative.
In the week leading up to the meeting, there was excitement from all the volunteers; we all wanted to experience this. There were only 12 slots and many of them were filled by long-time supporters of the church. A group of around 6 younger generation of volunteers including myself were selected. When the representative from BBC showed up, we were slightly cautious to her; most of us believed that BBC (as well as most of mainstream news) is an outlet for programming propaganda and disinformation into people. She was enjoyable though, a very nice lady. She spoke to the head of our church while I treated her on one of our quantum computers (long explanation of that; another article for another day). It would be a four day excursion where we would build the tepee in which the ceremony would be held in as well as build a sweat lodge from willow branches to experience that as well. Food would be provided and we would basically be camping in the mountains of Utah. The meeting went smoothly and a date was agreed upon.
A few months later, my tribe flew to Utah with rapt anticipation. We were all excited, we could not hide it. It took around 20-25 minutes of crawling around and up the mountain to reach our ceremonial grounds. It was simply amazing, the view was perfect, the air smelled so clean, and the sky dazzled us. There was a little cabin near our grounds that would be there just in case of emergencies or bathing. We unpacked ourselves, set up an outdoor stove and made plenty of great food to compliment our experience. The first night quickly reality checked our group; it went down below freezing temperatures. I wore two pairs of sock and my feet still felt like ice blocks. I remember waking up over a dozen times to rub my feet to help prevent damage to them. I prayed for the sun to arise to end this craziness. I probably would have headed to the cabin but I had no flashlight to cross a small rickety bridge path to the cabin. I did not want to fall on this "bridge" (it was basically 2 x 4s) as it would possibly mean hypothermia. But upon arising in the morning, I learned that nearly everyone had the same discomfort which led to a trip to the store to get more warm gear.
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The BBC people arrived that day and it was kind fun to be on film. We would talk to the guy hosting (the one that was participating in the ceremony) and then the director or cameraman would ask us to have the same conversation but change his vantage point. The BBC host was a great guy that was full of good conversation. Meeting him, I knew that he would thought he would really connect with peyote. Eventually, it was time to start work on the sweat lodge and tepee. The construction of these were both difficult in different ways, lifting the huge frame of the tepee was fun but hard while the sweat lodge required many branches from the nearby willow tree to create a stable base in which we threw blankets over. The host of the BBC then got a call that said that the insurance agency for the BBC was not sure if they could cover his participation in the peyote ceremony so it appeared that we would have to do it without him. This was saddening and upsetting as we really wanted him to be a part of it. However, the BBC still wanted to shoot footage of the ceremony so they stuck around even after the host left. Unfortunately, this may have harbored some negativity from us against the BBC because they were not holding their end of the bargain; we believed that this experience would be different because there was a skeptical mind actually participating and experiencing the peyote ceremony with us. With that element missing, it just seemed like they wanted footage and we knew how production and editing of films can cause perceptions that are not aligned with the truth of the situation.
Finally, we were ready to begin. We built a fire that lined up with the sweat lodge entrance. The fire represented the male energy while the sweat lodge represented a womb, the female energy. No one was allowed to cross over this line except the Fire Keeper who always made sure that the fire was burning hot. Inside the fire was rocks that were glowing red by the time we all showed up. We undressed to our bathing suits and were smudged with prayers and burning sage. A drummer was selected to imitate the heartbeat of the mother, constantly drumming. We all squeezed into this lodge, and there was no room. We nearly piled on top of each other. In the center was a hole in which the glowing rocks were added to fill it. We all were asked to have a little bit of dried peyote (you were never forced to have medicine) and we began. We sang a Native American hymn and then reflected on the state of our being, our thoughts, and our emotional integrity. This was all rooted together and fallibility in one can cause fallibility in another. After we all spoke our thoughts on that, the head medicine man poured water on the stones. I cannot begin to describe the feeling of the heat emanating from the steam coming off of the glowing rocks. I could feel the heat behind my eyes and in the very root of my teeth. It forced you to take very deep breaths as the hot air into the lungs brought no comfort to your situation.
We did this same procedure four times except we would reflect on different things before adding more water to the hot stones. The most meaningful reflections were when I apologized to myself for everything that I have put it through. Blessing and thanking my body was a welcoming experience, I seldom did that. Paying tribute to my mother and father were very key as well, I cried as I professed my prayers about my parents, thanking them, blessing them, and asking for their forgiveness for the lack of compassion that I have shown them throughout my life. It was very humbling. After the fourth round, we filed out by our names, one at a time and baptized ourselves in a pond that was nearby. It was nighttime already and the water was excruciatingly cold but comforting as the heat quickly dissipated away. We were told to put on warm clothes and to meet in the tepee as quickly as possible.
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I began to feel the effects of the peyote ceremony and their hard to describe but I will try my best. As the ceremony began, I noticed that my attention span increased immensely, my heart felt like it was connected to everyone around me, and my empathy was through the roof. There were no visuals or hallucinations, just the ability to "see" someone's bare soul. It was a frightening vulnerable experience but I trusted and loved everyone that I was with so I was OK. The taste was awful, very bitter, but it kind of grew on me as the night waned. The ceremony did not truly start until a hour later when the camera crew saw that nothing extreme was happening while the head medicine man told stories about his past. As soon as they left, we all bellowed out laughing. We all did not want to give them "their show" for reneging on their initial promise. We all said a blessing for the BBC host that was not there and truly began to heal.
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I am forbidden about sharing about other's experiences, there is a bond of trust and faith in these ceremonies. Many secrets, relationships, and souls were bared that night. It was so beautiful and divine to be truly engaged with another's Spirit. The peyote had an odd effect on everyone; if any of us were holding any feeling or thoughts back, we would throw up. We called it "getting well" instead of "getting sick". So when someone brought up relationship problems, it may cause a couple of us to throw up because we had similar blockages that were affecting us. The talk of relationship problems caused me to "heal" quite a lot. I was in a period of time where I asked a few girls out throughout the last few months and I got rejected my all of them which caused me to doubt myself in many ways. Due to this being my second peyote ceremony, I wanted to try to heal myself as much as possible so I constantly kept asking for peyote tea and dried peyote. I consumed the most, I believe, to try to alleviate this self-depreciating attitude that I had. I had a lot of negative feelings towards myself due to my past as a lazy drug abuser that always was seeking the next, crazy experience and the relationship burden was definitely wearing on me.
As I listened to others around me, I was jealous that they knew what was bothering them. I did not know the root of my problem, I just knew that it was systemic; causing blockages in my physical, emotional, and spiritual being. Finally, the medicine man asked me to speak since I was quiet for most of the time. I explained that I did not know what was wrong with me, just that there was a lot wrong. I threw out a couple guesses at what it is that hurt me so deeply but he replied that those things were not the cause and immediately shifted to another to tell of their thoughts. As they began to share, I was slightly mad that I only got to share a little but he was right, although the things I spoke of bothered me, they did not comprise the root of the problem. Maybe another hour or two went with me "getting well" though out the ceremony due to others sharing similar feelings, sentiments, and experiences that really struck a cord with me. Finally, the medicine man finally came back to me and asked what my thoughts were. I was lost, I still had no idea what this sickness was inside me, that constantly demeaned and berated me. I knew I just wanted it to be gone. I screamed at him, telling him, "I don't know! I don't know what causes this deep affliction of pain within me! I just want to be free from it!" He smiled and said it is OK to not know what traumatizes us, we can still move forward. He told me to scream as loud as I could and to fill my body with forgiveness. I screamed so much my voice was hoarse the next day.
The sun was beginning to shine and we all knew that it was time to end the ceremony. We all funneled out and began to enjoy the beautiful landscape. I will never forget how I felt after that ceremony, I swear to this day that I could hear the frequency of the Earth. It was an amazing "radiant", high-pitched noise that was entrancing. I can still hear it in my head if I focus and it instantly puts me into a good mood. I sat down upon the ground and put hands to the Earth and I was amazed to feel a separate heartbeat to my own! Was I feeling the Earth's heartbeat? This seemed too extraordinary but I enjoyed the heartbeat for around 45 minutes, talking to the others. We were all full of sincere joy and compassion, the feeling of unity was stronger than ever. The BBC crew showed up in the morning and much to our surprise, they said that the insurance company approved the host's participation in a ceremony so he was asking if we could hold another ceremony...
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<center>Afterword</center>
Thank you all for being here. This experience changed me forever and helped increase my healing exponentially. The peyote sacrament is truly magical, the bonding and connection I felt with others was deeper than I have had ever before. My memory is not the best so I did have to put small bits of filler in parts that I could not remember exactly what happened but nearly all of this is the truth. I recommend performing these sacraments with a spiritual guide at all times, especially if you are unfamiliar to healing medicines such as cannabis, magic mushrooms, and peyote. I am so grateful to have you read about my experience, please let me know if you have experienced some cool healing experiences. Does not have to be due to natural medicines! Check out Earth Nation for an awesome minnow support system to help your steemit account. Also, I apologize about the lack of pictures, I never remember to pull out my phone and use it. I wish I had better photos of the ceremony, the tepee, and Utah! I also have kept names retracted in order to uphold my friend's privacy. Thank you again, namaste.
https://asc.ai/
<center> Legal Jumbo</center>
Ask a doctor or healthcare provider to see if natural medicines are safe/legal in your area. Even if so, always do background research and fact-checking to clarify if the organization/medicine/medicine person is trustworthy, there are many false medicine men/women. I was legally able to do this in the U.S. by being a member of the Native American Church.