Best products from r/Ayahuasca

The Four Faced God is Brahma, the Creator God.

(Not to be confused with Bhraman)

Brahma is the Monad, the One before the Two. Brahma creates the manifest reality that we experience. Brahma creates the Universe through the Law of Karma (cause and effect) which means delivering the lessons we need in order to turn us inward to our Heart so that we can remember who we Truly are. From an egoic perspective the Creator God can seem fearful because we often don't like the life lessons Brahma creates for us, but once you come to understand the nature of Brahma's Creation, then you see that Life is being created full of lessons to help us deepen our connection to Source and find our Way back Home.

The Upanishads are a really beautiful text that speaks a lot about the nature of Brahma. (I really like the Juan Cole translation.)

The Creator God is represented in all Ancient Spiritualities. In Egypt, Thoth is the Creator God.. In Greece it was Hermes. In the old testament it is Enoch and Archangel Metatron. The Lord of the Old Testament is also the Creator God. The Holy Spirit is the Creator God. Also Apollo, Mercury, and the Dove that preceded Jesus when he was baptized.

The Emerald Tablets of Thoth would be a really beautiful text for this stage of your Journey as it is a really powerful and concise teaching about the nature of the Creator God.

Being gifted a vision of the Creator God means that you are moving beyond duality to the substrate of Creation. Investigation into Sacred Geometry can be helpful for this phase. Consider drawing Metatron's Cube and learning how the Platonic Solids emerge from within the Shape. The Torus would be a really powerful shape to ponder as well.

Wishing you peace and love on your Journey 💜

Edit:

Here is an Alex Grey visionary art painting of the Four Faced God.

And here is a Temple to the Four Faced God in the ancient ruins near Angkor Wat in Cambodia

$15 "early bird" price $20 for later. Ok, that's reasonable.

In anticipation for the event, I read the host's facebook page and soak up all the info I can find online. I see 2 things that irk me.

Whoring for donations, telltale abuse of a sharing community. A literal listing for Dennis' home (since he is moving). Bona fide real estate ad.

There are 3 planned speakers for this, each with about 30-45 minutes to present. The first is the founder of the hosting organization, she basically just gives us a "fun facts about me" spiel for 20 minutes, talks about the org, donations, and even brings up a generous donator to usher us to match her contributions. Ok, whatever. She finishes with some oft-cited stats about psychedelic harm compared to other controlled substances, war on drugs, psychedelics for psychiatry (not to say it's bad info, but I expect a little more).

The next dude is like 80 years old. He reads from his book for his entire time on the stage. Gave the impression that he was addicted to bad drugs and then became addicted as one could be to psychedelics instead and purported that to be better. Formed a "church of three" to go trip out on high dose LSD every week. "Don't have bad trips, man, only have fun good trips" "set and setting bro". Speaks about zen meditation and psychedelics. I was losing it at this point. These guys don't know anything about anything. It's like day 1 ideas. Literal ideas you get from your first trip. Imagine if the same fervor to preach and sell books spilled into getting the laws changed for real.

Then Dennis. The sole reason for me being there. Even if this guy is 10% as cool as Terence this is going to be great. I can forgive the previous weak lectures, but the McKenna dynasty better not.

This guy literally goes up there, talks about his childhood for 15 minutes without mentioning Terence, and then reads from his 2012 book. I'm floored. He reads a chapter that reiterates events from True Hallucinations, which lacked the charm of Terence. I believe that it was ghost-written and all the content was taken from True Hallucinations. Even the less boring snips are paraphrases from it. I refuse to believe someone as smart as Dennis claims to be would write so ineffectively. He reads the entire chapter. I leave before the Q & A starts.

Studying Dennis' book after I get home, I see that it's just an attempt to ride off of Terence's fame. He says "most of Terence's ideas I came up with" and calls Terence crazy. Unapologetically shits on Terence in an act of jealousy, yet titles the book as to scoop as much of his brother's audience as possible.

So Dennis and the other dude are supposed to be the voices of the community. The brightest of the bright, Ph.D.s and all. The message is lost. These guys just jerk themselves off. It's about abuse and pleasure and building up the notion of yourself. They have their delusions backed up by autonomous entities from the tryptamine realm, irrefutable. I say their minds are mush and they can't separate drug psychosis from autonomous entities. It's supposed to be about dissolving boundaries and egos and shit but these guys will have the nuts to go up and beg for money as they go home to their big houses. I'm sick of it. It's all a sham. I don't know how it got to this point. There is no enlightenment. It's a stronger delusion, one that allows you to claim you've seen the proof and you have Universal evidence of the fact. That you've seen the entire universe inside and out and all throughout time. It's a disease. They're snake oil sellers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx2Gag5cwik

https://www.reddit.com/r/mycology/comments/4ixyo7/what_has_happened_since_paul_stamets_turkey_tail/

https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/7bjzry/mycologist_paul_stamets_just_refused_to_answer_a/

from /u/doctorlao -- a very interesting and informed character, probably the most well-researched skeptic of the new psychedelic "movement" involving Paul Stamets and the McKennas.

>The other key point you touch is these persons "Vanessa, Dave ..." whose identity (subject of an interesting email exchange I've had with J. Kent) - seems to have been kept pretty well secret AFAIK. I won't c/p my discussion about it here. But on one hand, it seems by not knowing who these people were we have no first hand accounts from them nor any way to inquire - only second hand word about these seemingly key parties, being talk about - whose identities have been 'withheld to protect the ... (?).'

>Yet listening closely to subspace chatter over years - what does/did Doug Rushkoff mean, expressly or by implication (in one of these 'scenes' staged in public) - talking about 'how [he] experienced' what happened down there to Dmac?

>"As I experienced what you went through, you were outside time for 30 days! ... I feel like it was a prelude to the reality in which we’re all living now, although maybe a bit less obviously. Not the end of times but - The End of Time. I THINK WE'RE NOW LIVING IN A POST-TEMPORAL, POST-HISTORIC REALITY ... !" http://archive.is/Zag3e


>PS (posted in reply to "Never took another mushroom after 1989?" an amazon.com review by JJ, June 20, 2013) - https://www.amazon.com/Brotherhood-Screaming-Abyss-Dennis-McKenna-ebook/product-reviews/B00A8KWLYK/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_8?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&sortBy=recent&pageNumber=8

>"There is now no such chapter in the book ..." Right. The 'inconvenient truth' - of a spellbinding chatterer, fervently adored as some paragon of psychedelic virtue, not practicing what he preaches ("everybody trip now, higher doses ...") - was redacted.

>After a 5 alarm fire drill triggered by that dive, leaving a weird tense scene and situation in its turbulent wake. Like KGB airbrushing a photo - or like toothpaste can be put back in the tube, once its out.

>On impression, the Deep Dive seems to have been likely meant to soften the anticipated impact of the awkward disclosure. Idea seems to have been, to let that cat out of its bag before the book was printed, to manage shockwave it would cause. Amid the 'praise and worship' (who touched Terence's hem, etc.) pattern, the potential for upset to the Terence Admiration Society was obviously braced for. But maybe its sheer magnitude wasn't foreseen well enough. The extent of how binding the spell cast upon the fane, and impending psychotrauma - not measured to its full depth and darkness.

>So instead of cushioning, or safety valving as intended (most likely) - the Deep Dive backfired. It ended up serving as a sort of trial balloon - a test for how the 'disillusioning revelation(s)' would be taken (or 'integrated' shall we say?)... by those whose Terence fervor exceeds certain limits - of mental health or religiomania. How well would the enthralled be able to handle the truth?

>As subsequent events show, the newsflash was simply too explosive ... Rather than easing the way for that info to be brought out - the DD only heightened the antisocial "Us/Them" polarization of psychedelia's TM-awed subculture, its divisive alienation coming home - like crows who fly far to feed, but return home to roost.

> Would you say that the purging helps you spiritually/emotionally? Also, do you feel nauseated and 'hungover' afterwards?

It helps you to release trauma, so yes it helps emotionally. Usually you do not feel nauseated afterwards. You feel that beforehand but purging releases the cause and typically you will feel much lighter and better afterwards. It is an unpleasant but cathartic experience and so often once you come out the other side of it you feel really good. There is a feeling of having put down a weight you've been carrying for a long time so you feel lighter and sometimes even joyful. There have been times that after a purge I just sat there for a while with a big grin on my face.

> I have a difficult time shutting my mind off. Perhaps this is something I really need to work on before I decide whether this is the right choice for me. I wouldn't want to go into it feeling anxious and fearful only to have these emotions ruin the experience for me.

A busy mind might keep you from maximizing the experience but that by itself is not a problem. I had that a lot for quite a while. I'd be stuck in my head thinking about stuff most of the night or even all of it. I'd still get benefit.

> I read some stories on this subreddit which scared me a bit. Would it be possible that these people took too high a dose?

Maybe but not necessarily. A higher dose will generally be more intense, which can be overwhelming for the inexperienced. From there it's easy to start getting really scared and start a downward spiral. Someone more experienced or who takes to it more naturally can ride the experience from a higher dose.

> I'm assuming that you are given a dose based on what you are comfortable with, your body weight, emotional readiness, etc. Am I right in this?

It depends on the shaman. I've had some who gave the same amount to everyone and others who tried to read each person and tailor it to them, and still others who left it up to the individual. Every one I've worked with has accepted input from the participant, so if you want to start out lighter you can say so and it should be honored. Many people I've worked with always start out first-timers light.

> Did you hallucinate while trying to fight the medicine?

In the early days when I was fighting it but was not aware of this, my subjective experience was that the medicine wasn't working. I didn't feel it. It seemed like I was mostly sober. Visions and visuals tend to come when you relax and open to the medicine, not when you fight it.

> I have a lot of childhood stuff I can't remember. I know it is blocking me and causing my anxiety/depression to become worse but I fear bringing it to the forefront and remembering these traumatic events.

One thing that's important to know about Ayahuasca is that it doesn't necessarily bring up the actual experience or any related memories. It can do this if it is somehow necessary, but often times your experience will be of a more generalized discomfort. You are processing raw emotion not consciously related to any specific event or memory. So in this way it is possible to heal trauma without having to relive it. My impression is that this is the more common case.

As for me I have a lot of strong indicators that there was some severe sexual abuse in my past, but I don't remember most of my childhood, so I have no memory of it. During all of my work with plant medicines I processed a lot of difficult stuff, but those memories never surfaced. I used to be afraid of them and wonder if I would be able to handle them if they came up. Then eventually I got to a point where I kind of wanted to face them, and know what happened. But they never came up. I'm in a much better place these days and I don't feel like I'm carrying any of that stuff around anymore, but I still don't know what happened.

> I'm not sure if I'm ready for it, honestly.

Well I think it's important to honor yourself if that is your conclusion. Unfortunately no one else can tell you, and without experiencing it, it's hard for you to know either. It's often a very difficult choice for people. For me I was in such a bad place and so desperate for help that I didn't care, I was all in. If you are not in such a desperate place that's good, you can take your time if you need to.

Speaking of which, there is a wonderful tool I'd like to recommend which can prepare you to work effectively with Ayahuasca, but is also a wonderful and powerful healing modality on its own. The Presence Process by Michael Brown. I highly recommend that you have a look and give it a try if it appeals to you. It is the most powerful non-medicine tool I've come across. It is also a bit slower and gentler, which may suit you more at this point in your journey.

One of the really great things about it for people doing medicine work is that the tools that are imparted as a result of engaging in the process work so wonderfully with medicine as well. So if something difficult comes up in an Ayahuasca ceremony, you have tools to work through it instead of feeling overwhelmed and maybe even assaulted. They also work great for integrating medicine experiences so that you can integrate more consciously. They go together like chocolate and peanut butter.

So my recommendation is to have a go at the book. The process is 10 weeks long, so you could easily do it twice with a long break in between before your one year deadline comes up. Then you would presumably be much better prepared to step up your healing journey to the next level by engaging with the medicine if that felt right for you at that time.

I've read Siddhartha and The Alchemist. Both of them are excellent and I believe would fit the niche of a book you're desiring. They are both very much tales of personal evolution and enlightenment.

I've listened to a plethora of Terence material, though have yet to read any of his books. The Cosmic Serpent is unfamiliar to me.

This is another one that comes to mind, about a Hawai'ian shaman 'The Bowl of Light' https://www.amazon.com/Bowl-Light-Ancestral-Wisdom-Hawaiian/dp/1604074302/

As an aside, have you considered journaling your own voyage? Essentially writing your own adventure book that has a spiritual quest tied into it with an end goal of Aya ceremonies.

I never wrote for "fun" until 4-5 years ago, and once I did I never looked back. Writing is a beautiful way to get my thoughts/feelings out and has also served to document some amazing moments of my life. Now, the best stuff I ever read for inspiration is when I go back to my own past journals. So often it has felt as though I wrote something back then for my "future self" to read now.

I began by keeping a dream journal (which is a recommendation to do for a month pre-ceremony by some shamans). Honestly before I started this, I held the believe that I never dreamed- because I never remembered them. But as soon as I set the intent and began to log them, the awareness built up more and more. Now, coupled with my growth with meditation and doing my inner emotional/psychological work, I regularly remember my dreams, typically very vividly and I even have lucid dreams.

> I've read endless books, I've seen a psychotherapist, I've read loads into the workings of the mind, psychology, positivity, habits etc but nothing changes. I have fleeting states, periods where I'll get into a better rhythm in life and feel okay (but still not great and feel very lacking etc) and then I return to baseline, where I feel lost, helpless, lacking direction etc.

Hi, just a thought -- you mention you've done a lot of reading, but let me ask, what have you been doing?

I'm curious if you've read -- and actually done -- [The Presence Process: A Journey Into Present Moment Awareness: Michael Brown](https://www.amazon.com/Presence-Process-Journey-Present-Awareness/dp/1897238460 "The Presence Process: A Journey Into Present Moment Awareness: Michael Brown")?

My recommendation is complete The Presence Process (or any other mindfulness practice that speaks to you) and then go do an ayahuasca retreat. Also focus on your physical health, exercise, diet, sleep. Starting a mindfulness and health routine will make you more fertile ground for ayahuasca to treat.

I do believe that ayahuasca can be good for you. I've described ayahuasca as Drano for a clogged psyche that you can't see to clear out by gentler means. (FYI Drano is a chemical product in the US that you can pour into a clogged sink or bath tub drain.)

It was for me. So many psyche issues I had, for literally decades, that I couldn't seem to move on my own, despite doing many of the things you mention, ayahuasca just flushed out in one night.

So I think you should go. Good luck, and I hope you'll write back before, after, and then a few months later to share your progress.

I would recommend reading as many books on Law of Attraction as you can. There's a mentality shift there that you will experience in doing so and start reprogramming your thoughts/perceptions to change the reality of your physical health. There's of course the popular movie on netflix called "The Secret" that you could watch now too. I believe there's a full version of it for free on YouTube. I really like this book: https://www.amazon.com/Money-Law-Attraction-Learning-Happiness/dp/1401918816

​

I have seen no real examples myself that weed conflicts with ayahuasca. I was off of weed for a while and did a 2 day ceremony at the end of may and a few days after I started using cannabis again. It actually helped me further develop and tap into my ayahuasca experience. I quit again now as I'm doing another 2 day ceremony in august and would like to be as clean as possible. But if you can go 2 weeks without before hand it's still recommended. If you can't then I'm sure you would still receive a lot from the ceremonies.

​

The place I've gone to so far does retreats in the US. They just did 2 retreats in New York last month. I don't know when they will be back there, but there's a possibility they could be back this year, and if not, most likely next year. Website is here: https://origensagrada.com so you can contact them and ask them.

​

If I was able I'd still pick to go down to columbia/peru, but that hasn't been an option for me yet. I live an hour away from where origen sagrada do the ceremonies in colorado and they do a split payment for the retreat. So you pay like 300-400 online, then you bring 200ish in cash to the retreat. For me last time it was $350 online and $200 cash when i went. I did the same thing for their retreat in august. I paid the chunk of it online last month in June, and then that has given me a month and a half before I have to bring the $200. So I'm very grateful for that.
The main thing is just to get in contact with whatever place you feel drawn to do the ceremonies and share what you shared here with them. Ask them if it will be alright and just make sure they have a heads up. Then see what they say.

I think it can help if it's taken regularly. Regular drinkers of ayahuasca have an upregulated amount of serotonin receptors in their brains, which would allow someone to feel more pleasure from less.

​

What is your exercise regime like? Are you lifting weights? Lifting weights is one of the best natural anti-depressants I have ever found. Look up the Body by Science workouts, they are intense weight workouts that are done in 15 minutes, I love them and they have changed my life and body.

​

Also, if you need a jumpstart, one known secret is to meagdose vitamin D for a period of time. I assume you're getting enough sun down there, but high doses can completely remove inflammation from the body which allows it to heal itself - https://www.amazon.com/Miraculous-Results-Extremely-Sunshine-Experiment/dp/1491243821/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=vitamin+d+miraculous&qid=1555006036&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Just read the reviews there.

​

The other thing I can recommend is cold showers and the Wim hof method, which can and will boost dopamine by a not shy 300%+. Most depression comes from low dopamine. But you must do the breathing exercises first then the cold shower for it to work properly.

​

Additionally, Look into heart-brain coherence breathing and practice that for a week or two. Gregg Braden has a bunch of good stuff on that.

​

Also if you can get into the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza, he actually gives you the formula backed up by neuroscience, eipigentics, quantum physics and the placebo effect, for how to heal yourself from anything, including depression - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ereahWKwNV8

Since you have time, try watching one video of his per day.

​

To me, all these things together combined with meditation which it sounds like you're already doing, are even more effective than ayahuasca because one can actually sustain these practices and they are nearly free.

​

Please let me know your thoughts.

Hey. It is not cool to downvote people for trying to have a discussion and for offering valid counter-points. Tom921992 raised an interesting and relevant question. If that makes you feel bad, perhaps examine why you felt that way? No need to be insecure. With, or without a definition of spirit, Aya is still Aya. Also, Happy Cake-Day, OP!

--------

I think it depends on what you define a 'spirit' as. Westerners love to anthropomorphize things. We want our spirits to be visible, coherent, and lucid -- like meeting another human being, only as spirit. If you detach from your axis and explore this school of thought, you realize how many pre-conceived filters and biases you have running on-top of your experience.

While aiding Ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru, many people pose these questions. It is often phrased as: "Is this really happening to me, or is this just my imagination?" The imagination is the container where these experiences take place. You are imagining what you are seeing. That does not invalidate or reduce your experience.

A spirit is a different being. A practitioner or an explorer might abstract these sensations into a form that is understandable and communicable. It is always a reductive process. But, if you want to meet a plant spirit, the imagination is the membrane in which a non-human entity converses with a human entity. Its form, approach, and discourse is going to be unique to the observer.

As a takeaway, I think it is important to realize that the best anyone can understand about Ayahuasca is Ayahuasca plus them. In no way can we explore and understand the medicine and the experiences without our own spirits present. In this way, a true objective scientific analysis is a major challenge. The debate will become epistemological in short order.

If you are interested in some deep reading, I would recommend The Antipodes of the Mind by Benny Shannon. This is a hard-science book. It is an rigorous phenomenological analysis of Ayahuasca experiences over many years, in many different contexts. Another way to philosophically approach Ayahuasca and its experiences is through that of Platonic epistomology.

Enjoy your journey!

Sounds loco to me to not have a sitter. But you asked for advice and not judgement, so first off get yourself some Icaros imo. They will help you anchor and chill out if things get rough. The songs are meant to heal, guide and protect. Download some, listen to them. In particular I really like this one and this one is also excellent (and from Shipibo tradition, so it's very different from first one linked)

To some of your Qs:

Dose: Personally, I would take the whole amount in one dose. For me if the first cup doesn't work, the second one rarely helps. You're also a big guy like me and I've always had the feeling like standard cup sizes are a bit too small, so a slightly bigger dose may be just right.

Dieta - refrain from weed for as long as possible before hand. 1 week should be more than enough. You want to have maximum mental and emotional clarity and balance for the experience. Following a Plant based diet for a few days leading up is a great idea. No need to fast day of, in fact you may want to have a bit of something just for the blood sugar, but it's up to you. Just keep it very simple, a bit of fruit and a couple eggs for breakfast works great for me, then fast until it's time to drink, generally once it's as dark outside as it's gonna get.

Noise and waking people up: I hate to break it to you, but doing this in a house full of sleeping people who you don't want to know ... GOOD LUCK. Prepare to puke louder and more intensely than you've perhaps ever imagined puking. Giant, earthquake inducing, waterfall roaring, inter-dimensional puking. Personally I think drinking Aya in this situation is a recipe for unwanted complications. Like, what if these sleeping people awake and start pounding on your door to check on you? How will they understand what you are going through and what you might need from them? Sounds like trouble to me. At any rate you should be prepared for that.

Someone on reddit told me this stuff was good for shaking from ayahuasca

https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Vitality-Anti-Stress-Supplement-Raspberry/dp/B00BPUY3W0

Magnesium is good for muscles and helps with tremors in general. I've been preloading with it for the last few days with my first ceremony being this Friday

Edit: here is the original post that told me about this

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ayahuasca/comments/d9aisj/what_are_the_common_standard_procedures/f1gg6fc

Like Terence McKenna, I prefer Alan Watts' speaking to his writing. His lecture series Out of Your Mind had an extremely powerful impact on me (transcript available in book form).

Read this book because I only have done Ayahuasca once and it was an amazing experience, especially with all the knowledge that I've learned with this book https://www.amazon.com/Ayahuasca-Test-Pilots-Handbook-Journeying/dp/1583947914

what you re saying is interesting and is aligned with the school of toughs of CBT: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Fundamentally, this method teaches you to challenge your negative thoughts, rationalize them and replacing them by new thoughts that are not distorted and are closer to reality. What you re doing is identifying you negative thought patterns (internal dialogue), rip them from your brain and create new and more rational brain paths. This requires consistent and persistent work. The good news is: if you work hard at it, you can rewire your brain thanks to neuroplasticity. Here's a book that can help you guys a lot: Mind over Mood. https://www.amazon.ca/Mind-Over-Mood-Second-Changing/dp/1462520421

Gift her a copy of this: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00HQM20NK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

> Science currently does not have the means to prove that non-physical entities are real.

It can't prove it nor prove these things don't exist for the simple reason that you can't prove the non existence of something that doesn't exist. Prove to me that pink flying elephants don't exist in the Himalayas. You can't.

So in this matter I alway go back to Russell's teapot. The ones saying spirits exist are the ones that should provide evidence of its existence.

If spirits only exist because you believe they exist, then they don't really exist.

Magical thinking is the default mode of the human brain btw, I'm not saying anyone is crazy. For example how many kids do you know that believe the sun is alive? It's a pretty common thing.

> However, many people talk about how they felt the presence of the spirit of Ayahuasca or San Pedro for several weeks after they consumed it.

What these people feel are neurotransmitters and hormones. This can be backed up with tons of papers, research, measurements, etc. There are even tons of research on why humans tend to have irrational beliefs. Here's a great introductory book.

Can you back up any of your claims with anything other than poetry?

Because, feelings, beliefs, and intuitions, are all brain fabrications.

If you find it you can read Benny Shannon’s The Antipodes of the Mind: charting the phenomenology of the ayahuasca experience

It deals exclusively with what you describe your post