Ayahuasca and the Vibratory Nature of Existence
Perhaps my tattoo page is not the proper place for this entry but perhaps it is. I'm quite open about all that consists of the idea of "me" and this is most definitely a part of it all. So here you have my first attempt at bringing to light something which is quite difficult to describe.
I've been attempting to write a sequential story about my experience in the Amazon. It will eventually be completed but somehow the linear timeline doesn't seem all that important. It's not the sequence but the experience itself which I continue to try to make sense of. Perhaps the best way for me to tackle this is to just write about certain aspects one at a time and then perhaps the ordered storyline can come out later.
For me the seven ceremonies all make complete sense when viewed as a whole. My first ceremony was perhaps my most intense in the knowledge and information department. I feel as though I was given the entire class syllabus and everything which came after was an attempt to clarify and make sense of a copious amount of information.
I had read as much as I could, watched as many documentaries as I could find, listened to podcasts, and thought very long and very hard about finally making the journey to Peru to partake in ayahuasca. Even after many years of thinking about it there was no way to know what would actually happen. With all of that my anticipation of that first ceremony the moment was very personal and very immense. I knew nothing when all was said and done.
The entire ceremony seemed so very new but also so very natural right from the start. Sitting in the maloca in a large circle each passejero came up individually to drink their introductory cup. The first night was quite dark. As the days passed the moon ramped up towards it's full cycle but I recall that first night to be the darkest, the most full of mystery. I took my cup, drank, and returned to my mat. What would happen? How long would this take? Am I feeling it yet? Am I supposed to feel it? Why am I sweating? Will I ever be the same? On and on the questions rambled through my head.
It was hot, I was hot, the sweat ran freely as much due to nerves and wonder as to the actual physical circumstances. After some time the whispers of the first icaro began. By this point I was definitely beginning to feel a different state of being. My fears would creep in. I'd start to see beautifully intricate geometric patterning and almost as if set on a stage a character would enter from the periphery. Faces, smiles, gentle figures then transforming to very macabre and disturbing clown/circus imagery. I know not where this was coming from. I'd try to laugh it off (internally) and smile at these disturbing figures. Without fail, as soon as I did this they revealed their true faces, pulling off the disturbing masks and showing me their gentle playful faery nature. It was a game. A game in which I was letting go of the negative thoughts and fears and seeing them in a different manner. My anchor through this introductory light show as the thoughts of home and my beloved Nikki. The hug we shared just before I entered the airport, that transaction of love and energy was enough to get me through most anything.
Once this first phase began to come to a close the icaros were in full effect. I believe we had four maestros and maestras that first night. Their voices alternating and coalescing into a perfect symphony of sound and vibration. And now the information download began. Very flat geometric patterning rolled and spun its way through my visions. Like the clockwork tick-tock gearbox of the universe I felt like I was being shown how all things worked. Indescribable patterns which were fractal when I looked close enough. The deeper I went the more intricate the interrelation between the patterns. Predominately black, white, brown and yellow ochre along with some other muted earth tones. I was definitely communicating with some other form of intelligence. The patterns, the light show, the variations, this all seemed to be different attempts to find a language of symbol which I might understand.
As I laid back and was overwhelmed by the symbols and their meanings the maestras and maestros began to make their counterclockwise rotation around the maloca. Each maestro and maestra would sing to each passejero individually. Twenty four songs each. Four individual songs for each of us newly initiated into the ceremony. At this point I began to look around the room. And now the information download began to make a bit of sense. I could see the vibrations of all things. The maestros and maestras were conjuring amazing patterns with their icaros. The vibrations of their songs would strengthen into these very concrete very real patterns and these would be passed into the individual being sung to. The unnecessary or bad vibrations were being released and the positive patterns/vibrations were filling the hole left by the absence of what had just been jolted outward. This is the crux of all that I learned that first night. All things are energy. All things are vibration.
That which follows is taken directly from my notebook the day after that first experience:
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Every “thing”, at its core, is a vibration. From my skin hitting this page, to words, to emotions. We “feel” when these vibrations bump into each other. Some vibrations can be integrated, others contradict each other and bounce off. If a vibration begins to find allies it gains gravity and can grow. Those vibrations become symbols. From the simplest object all the way to the planet and all else, they are vibrations. Much like any other vibration they hold resonance for a while, eventually dissipating and dispersing. We know this as aging and dying. We, as individuals, are attempting to strengthen our own vibrations. So when they eventually begin to disperse we can maintain enough of “us” to again gain gravity, pull more vibrations in, and begin the “life” process again. If one wanted to put a word on that it might be reincarnation.
Eventually, in the case of the Earth, that vibration/collection of symbols becomes so strong it turns inward on itself, the friction of this inward turn creating more and more vibrations, creating LIFE. The other planets in our system are grand beings to say the least. But our Earth, she is something else, a fractal creation machine for newly assembled vibratory beings. We gain knowledge (through vibrations), we pick up speed, improve. Think of how powerful a learning tool the human voice is. We have mastered the use of small mouth movements in order to convey one idea from one mind into another. These voices are vibrations as is the written word (in a different form) and so on. As long as we are receptive and choose to only take in the positively aligned vibrations we continue to strengthen that which is at our core.
Humanity has figured out how to align patterns to some extent. We can make “things” which at their essence are certain sequences of ordered vibration. The problem, we create these “things” only to serve us rather than the whole. These are dead ends, their vibrations take a long time to disperse and therefore they are difficult to reintegrate into the whole. We create separation rather than cohesion. Mother nature ... she's all about cohesion and interconnectedness.
This is why I'm here right now. To strengthen my own pattern and resonance. To discard the conflicting patterns which I've taken in and restructure the proper flow of my pathways. We allow room in our bodies/being for those vibrations which we do not need. We hold on to them. They do not want to leave. Pain, of all sorts, is that vibration holding on for dear life, trying to create a niche on which to grow. Sleep helps to reorganize our patterns ... ayahuasca does it even better. Ha. So if we start with the a small vibration (let's say a sperm or an egg), eventually, if it is to grow, it finds an ally. That ally fits in perfectly and you have a slightly stronger vibration, and thus slightly more gravity or attractive force. The compounding or multiplication begins to speed up. We grow physically, turning into strings and interconnected nets of vibratory resonance. Eventually these resonances are better described as patterns. They have a more concrete flow and presence, a certain frequency. When our frequency meets and ally we can take some of it in with us, in exchange we give out a bit of our own vibration. These are interactions of all sorts, emotional/physical/hypothetical, they are all exchanges of energy. The same can be said for conflicting patterns, we can allow them into our flow. The key is to let them go from that flow, not to hold on. Allow them in but just as readily allow them to pass through. We do not need conflict. Clear the negative and allow the positive to hold strong and true. That's what all of this is, an inward focus of my own energy. Keeping it to myself for a while and cultivating a better flow and a better pattern.
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Please excuse the excessive use of commas, run on sentences, and or poorly executed sentence structure. As I said, that which preceded was directly from my journal. Trying to grapple with a huge information download and trying to form coherent words and thoughts out of it all. That was all from my first experience with mother ayahuasca and I'm still integrating it and making sense of it all many weeks later. I had six more ceremonies, all of which had their own flavor and path but all of which also looped back to this idea of vibration and energy. I made many more notes about the subject. Many analogies and so on. It all seems to work very well in my mind but I know not if I'm conveying it properly. I'm sure I will write far more, think far deeper, and perhaps bump up to an answer or two somewhere along the way. Ultimately there are those things which are far beyond words. This is my meagre attempt to convey just a bit of it to a few people out there who might have taken the time to read through.
Final notes, which were mantras in my mind throughout the twelve day experience:
Every thing is sacred. Every action matters.
Respect all things.
It's all a game. There are no rules. Just play.
