Having walked the path of training to lead a Temazcal (sweat lodge) in the Mexhica tradition, I’ve decided to write an article to explain in detail how a Temazcal ceremony is organized and run.  This is my account of the sacred ritual organization and running, and I share the below lines with the understanding that there are many ways this sacred ceremony can be conducted, as well as that I in no way attempt to prescribe what is correct and what is not through this article.  To do justice to the whole process, I have decided to separate my writing into two parts. In this second part ..read more

Having walked the path of training to lead a Temazcal (sweat lodge) in the Mexica tradition, I’ve decided to write an article to explain in detail how a Temazcal ceremony is organised and run. This coming January, I have the intention to go up my 4th sacred mountain for my 4th Vision Quest, and upon its completion, god willing, I will ask for my elder’s (Abuela Gloria) blessing to lead the temazcal ceremony myself. This is my own account of the sacred ritual organisation and running, and I share the below lines with the understanding that are many ways this sacred ceremony can be conducted, as ..read more

This article was originally published on HealingMaps.com. In recent years, interest in the sacred Amazonian brew ayahuasca has seen a surge in popularity amongst people from outside of the indigenous communities that have used it for centuries. As more and more people seek out ayahuasca for healing and transformation, the number of retreat centers, both inside and outside the Amazon, has boomed. From Peru to Colombia, Costa Rica to Europe, retreat centers are providing Westerners with the chance to take part in powerful, transformative ceremonies with this sacred medicine. However, l ..read more

Wiwáŋyaŋg Wačípi (Sun Dance) is an ancient ceremony, and some might say the most important ceremony, of the Lakota (Sioux) and nearly all Plains Indians –  indigenous peoples that have historically resided in present-day North America. The Dance involves four days of dancing and fasting from sunrise to sunset. During the ritual, dancers offer their water and food fast as well as a piece of their own skin to the Great Spirit as part of their prayer for life. For the life that they are and the life that is all around them.  The Sun Dance is also an initiation rite into adulthood as wel ..read more

This January I completed my third Vision Quest in the Sacred Mountain Ocelotitlan, close to Carmen de Viboral, in the East of the Antioquia region in Colombia. The ceremony was led by Abuela Gloria Gonzales Nanantzin Atekokolli, a Colombian medicine woman and carrier of the Mexica tradition. Following questions from many people, I decided to write this article to share a bit of information as well as my own experience. I hope you find it useful. What is the Vision Quest? When our being begins to question Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? Why am I here? In order to find our dest ..read more

For those new to the world of sacred medicine, it can be difficult to find trustworthy, cohesive guidance online that’s rooted in real-life experience. While trip reports can be fun to read, they’re not necessarily the best thing to consume before a ceremony. What newcomers to the space most often need is tangible advice that they can relate to and implement immediately. Colibri Garden recently teamed up with Healing Maps to create an informative video series on How to Have a Transformative Ayahuasca Experience. Our goal with this series is to provide practical, reliable advice for people who ..read more

Putting our experience with sacred medicine into words and writing it down is an important part of the ceremony, and is a way to retain knowledge and through writing it out, gain even deeper insight. No piece of detail is irrelevant. Having thoroughly recorded our sacred medicine experience, such personal writings can serve as energetic beacons to which we can reallign and return to over time. They reconnect us with the clarity, courage, freedom, resolve, will power, sense of self-appreciation, self love and personal responsibility experienced viscerally and spiritually during our communion wi ..read more

This article was originally published by HealingMaps. Find the original article here. Have you ever sat in a ceremony, and felt like the music is touching something deep inside your soul? Have you ever listened to songs that were played during a ceremony you attended, and felt immediately connected to the healing vibration of the medicine you took? That’s medicine music.  “Medicine music changes your life. It shows you your path. It’s a portal to connect with ancestral wisdom,” said Daniel Boukenooghe, a medicine musician and music teacher from Medellín, Colombia. What makes medicine musi ..read more

This is the second part of my written account of my time spent in the jungle of Orito, in the Putumayo Department of Colombia. In this article, I will cover my experience of drinking medicine in the jungle and my observations of living among the Awá people for 3 weeks in the summer of 2022. I hope you find the below writings a useful and enjoyable read. You can read the first part of this article here. Preparing Yagé Crudo – Raw Yagé Upon arriving at the entry of the road leading to the house of Taita Giovanni in Orito, Putumayo, I was handed a big sack of yagé vine to carry to the location we ..read more

The difference between your ayahuasca experience becoming a distant memory and turning into concrete change in your life comes down to one thing: Integration. Integration refers to everything that you do in your everyday life that supports you in integrating the teachings of the medicine into your life for the long run. Too often do we leave a ceremony with clarity around what we need to change, yet seem to fall back into the same situations, circles, patterns and habits. As our elder Taita Giovanni always likes to remind us – the medicine will do 50% of the work. We need to put in the other 5 ..read more