Shamanism Without Ayahuasca
by Scott Silverston
It may seem that Ayahuasca and Shamanism are synonymous. They are not.
Most Shamanic Healing is done without Ayahuasca or entheogens.
Ayahuasca not needed for Shamanic Practice
Despite the hype and marketing efforts, the use of Ayahuasca, Psilocybin, Kambo or other psychoactive substances makes up a small subset of shamanic ritual and practice.
Shamanism is the practice of entering a specific state of consciousness for a specific purpose and then returning to normal waking consciousness once that purpose is fulfilled. There are numerous ways to enter the shamanic state of consciousness, many of which are less taxing on the practitioner, are easier to use and are equally if not more effective than ingesting psychoactive preparations.
Even in cultures that regularly use Ayahuasca or other entheogens, their use is meant to be an adjunct to a daily spiritual life in which the ability to enter and leave shamanic consciousness at will, without ingesting anything, is assumed to be a normal ability of most members of the society. Ayahuasca can heighten an experience, or help someone break through a barrier, but it should only be done on occasion, with great caution, and after someone has the proper training and ability to enter shamanic consciousness without the use of psychoactive compounds.
It is important to remember that the method a person uses to enter Shamanic Consciousness on a regular basis becomes habit for that individual. The more we practice a certain way of doing things, the more it becomes ingrained within our subconscious mind as THE WAY for doing it. It is vitally important to our health, clarity, and personal balance that we maintain the ability to access our Spirit Mind and Shamanic Consciousness without the use of psychedelics to open the gateway for us.
Important Questions To Ask
Is it appropriate to allow the spirit of a powerful entheogen like Ayahuasca to define the pathway I use to connect with the spirit world?
Do I want to be dependent upon this plant spirit to access Shamanic Consciousness?
Am I willing to risk not being able to access Shamanic Consciousness if Ayahuasca is not available?
Am I willing to allow such a powerful plant spirit to become a gatekeeper; to intermediate between me and the spirit world?
What would be the cost of making such a deal?
Are better alternatives available to me?
Alternatives to Ayahuasca
One of the gifts of modern society is that we have access to information from all over the world and can compare and contrast the effectiveness of the various methods and belief systems developed over time in different places to determine which techniques are the best fit for our life. For example, I do shamanic healing sessions and personal shamanic journeys multiple times a day with a drum and without ingesting any substances. This is a very effective practice for me. From this perspective, I examine alternatives to Ayahuasca and ask the question if habituating ourselves to a powerful entheogen is a safe and effective method of accessing shamanic consciousness.
Opening New Pathways
In my experience of teaching Shamanism, I find that many of my students who have previously used Ayahuasca in other circumstances start out experiencing difficulty quieting their minds and journeying without ingesting a psychoactive substance. It often takes several attempts until they open new pathways to their spirit minds. With repeated practice of the new way, their journeys become increasingly clear over time. The old pathway no longer controls the student and they are set free to access the spirit mind without the gatekeeper.
Limitations of Ayahuasca
One of the biggest limiting factors of Ayahuasca use is that the user is at the mercy of the plant for the duration and quality of the experience. The user cannot enter and leave Shamanic Consciousness at will but is dependent upon the availability of the substance to even begin the Shamanic Journey. Additionally, proper dosage regulates the intensity of the experience and the whims of bio-chemistry determine the timing of when the effects of the hallucinogenic compounds wear off allowing a return to ordinary waking consciousness.
I find these constraints to be irreconcilable with my modern lifestyle. How could I possibly function in other aspects of my life if I were dependent upon Ayahuasca or any other entheogen to access the Shamanic Consciousness? How would I get my child to and from school, balance my checkbook and attend to the other mundane daily tasks of life in ordinary reality while still providing daily healing sessions to my clients and teaching shamanism to my students?
I prefer to use the drum to help me access Shamanic Consciousness. Using the drum without ingesting any substances allows me to safely, easily and effectively switch back and forth between the esoteric aspects of spiritual healing and the day to day tasks of flesh reality at will.
Ayahuasca’s Effect on the Energy Body
From an Energy Body perspective all psychoactive substances stimulate a rapid movement of chi up the spine along the pathway of the micro-cosmic orbit. There is a natural regulator at the base of the skull in the occiput area that can become overwhelmed by high levels of chi flow. This natural regulator is meant to slow the flow of chi as it moves around the back of the skull and towards the crown. There is specific risk of the chi bursting outward from its pathway and causing a psychotic break if it flows in excess in this part of the meridian. The particular points in danger for rupture lie between the acupuncture points Governing Vessel 16 (occiput) and G.V. 20 (crown). In fact, the point G.V. 16 is indicated for treatment if someone suffers from mania, excessive fear or suicidal thoughts. From a Shamanic perspective, a rupture in the energy pathways in this area leads to significant damage of a person’s psychic protection and severe vulnerability to unwanted middle world energies.
Plant Spirits
People from Shamanic cultures understand that every plant has a spirit. Every child learns from birth how to communicate with the plant spirits. For most people raised in a modern society, the idea that a plant has a spirit and that one can communicate with that spirit is often beyond the realm of serious acknowledgement. Even for the 7% of modern society who embrace a holistic understanding of the world; many have only a mental, thinking idea of what it might be like to communicate with a plant spirit. Those of us who do communicate with plants in this way are few and far between and are doing so as non-native speakers to a spiritual language that a child living close to the Earth in a shamanic society learns from birth.
Isn’t Ayahuasca Traditional?
Traditionally, the use of Ayahuasca was confined to the Amazon. While it is true that the use of entheogens is found in many Shamanic cultures, most, if not all traditional users of these preparations will have been introduced to the spirit of the plants (or animals) used at a very early age and cultivated a relationship with them for years prior to ingesting it.
The importance of this distinction cannot be overstated! Relationships with the spirits of these powerful plants were cultivated over years or decades prior to ever ingesting them. Time was taken to get to know the spirit and timing of ceremonies was based on a person’s preparedness, not on a schedule decided by external factors. It is not just the compounds within a plant that nourishes and heals, it is the spirit too; in fact, most traditional shaman believe that it is primarily the spirit of the plant that heals. The building of the proper relationship between human and plant spirit cannot be replicated at a weekend retreat.
Journeying vs. Possession
It is also extremely important to understand the difference between Journey Trance and Possession Trance. In a Shamanic Journey, we travel outside of our physical body, outside of space time (generally into the Upper or Lower Worlds) to meet with benevolent Spirits. In Possession, Spirits enter our body and take control of us. Possession can be either voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary Possession Trance is a well-documented cross cultural phenomenon and a part of Shamanism. It also carries far more and greater risks than shamanic journeying and requires significantly more training and skill to do it safely and effectively. During voluntary possession, a specific spirit is called for a specific purpose and asked to take temporary possession of the shaman. Once the purpose is fulfilled, the trance is ended and the spirit is commanded to leave. A warrior calling in the spirits of the ancestors to possess them so they can be stronger in battle is an example of voluntary possession. So is the famed Oracle of Delphi in ancient Greece.
Voluntary Possession Trance is a valid and authentic form of shamanism, but it requires extensive training and preparation. How many people at the weekend Ayahuasca retreat are told that they are engaging in a form of possession trance when they invite the spirit of Ayahuasca into themselves by ingesting it?
Psychic Vulnerability
In addition to the inherent risks posed from being unprepared for voluntary possession, people who take entheogens can become vulnerable to involuntary possession from wandering spirits that are following around other members of the group. The stimulation from psychoactive compounds opens the energy field, especially the upper chakras, and a wandering spirit can more easily attach itself, either overshadowing or possessing its new found host. Becoming the new home for a wandering spirit is a risk even if all members of the circle are acting in good faith; but unfortunately we cannot assume that everyone will be acting in good faith.
New age circles are easy targets for people who knowingly misuse spiritual energy for their own selfish and parasitic purposes. When the energy field is activated by psychoactive substances, the chi naturally rises and the upper chakras open wide. A person who does not have the requisite grounding to counter balance this opening of the upper chakras becomes dangerously vulnerable to suggestion and manipulation from stronger and more experienced members of a group who are not acting with proper ethics. The implanting of suggestions or other negative spiritual energies into an unsuspecting person looking for healing can be done non-verbally and relatively easily by those who do those sorts of things, even if they only have a moderate level of skill in the occult arts.
Informed Consent
People from Shamanic cultures with the proper background and training who use entheogens such as Ayahuasca are consciously aware of the possessing nature of these plant spirits prior to ingesting them and they are aware of the need to protect their upper chakras from harmful or manipulative outside forces. They approach the ceremony with a similar protocol to shaman consciously engaging in a voluntary possession trance. They know to command the spirit to leave when the healing is complete, they are generally not vulnerable to involuntary possession from wandering spirits, and they have the skills to fend off any unwanted spirits or negative external energies that may try to interfere. Neophytes experimenting with those same substances at a weekend retreat who lack the requisite training, guidance, experience and supervision are at a much higher risk. Informed consent is a cornerstone of ethics. The lack of informed consent in many circles is especially concerning because it places naïve but well-intentioned people who are searching for healing in an unacceptably vulnerable position.
Differences in World View
Visualize a person who was raised traditionally in a Shamanic culture that lives close to earth and gathers all their food, medicine and clothing and building materials directly from the earth. Now think of modern society. Think of the expectations you have when getting your morning coffee at your favorite coffee shop, buying what you want online and having it arrive at your door the next day, ordering your food prepared exactly how you want it at a restaurant. In the modern world we generally feel entitled to instant gratification of most of our everyday needs and wants. A person raised in modern society is so disconnected from the Earth that they mostly have no idea where their food was grown or raised or the labor involved in bringing it to the table.
A person that lives close to the Earth not only knows where their food and medicine comes from and the labor required in procuring it; they also know the uses, habits and care of ALL the plants in their environment. Most importantly, people living close to the Earth have cultivated a spiritual relationship with the plants and animals around them. They know the spirit of the plants they use, every one of them. There is no expectation of instant gratification and no illusion that healing is something done as a one off weekend experience.
A person who temporarily removes themselves from modern society for a weekend Ayahuasca retreat in the hopes of achieving transcendent and lasting healing often overlooks the reality that healing is an ongoing process of continuously developing a harmonious relationship with the self and the world around us (including any plant spirits that one works with). It is very hard to know the spirit of a plant if you have never seen it grow!
Chasing Insight
Reconciling the truths revealed in Shamanic journeys with the routines of a modern world so disconnected from the rhythms of nature and isolated from the social support of peers in day to day life is hard enough without adding hallucinogenic over-drive to the mix. The after-effects of coming down from such an intense experience can be highly stressful; typically characterized by several days of blissful “knowing” that one has seen the truth, followed by increasing despair that the “truth” shown is fleeting and not aligned with the experience of flesh reality. What seemed so clear and profound during the jungle retreat or weekend Ayahuasca Ceremony slips away as steadily as each sunset is followed by another and can create extreme distress and a longing to escape back to the dream of the plant spirit. The lack of integration prevents true grounding of the spiritual experience.
Too Much Too Fast
Ayahuasca can greatly intensify a Shamanic experience. Achieving increasingly higher levels of intensity is not necessarily a positive thing. It is vital that each person fully complete their process and come back to a place of stability before addressing the next layer of the healing process. Too much too fast is cathartic and damaging, not healing. Many traumatic life events are extremely intense and leave lasting negative imprints on the survivor. Matching the intensity of the trauma is not required in order to heal; the release of the trauma itself is intense enough and learning how to moderate the process to create a safe container in which a person can heal is essential.
The Middle Path
Visualize a river with a consistent and moderate flow that allows the entire system to remain balanced and healthy. A flash flood will certainly dislodge more debris; but where does that debris land? Does the intensity of the experience destabilize the banks of the river so much that even moderate future rains bring excessive mud into the waters?
It is far preferable to take the middle road, a consistent path, moving like a gently flowing river rather than oscillating between extreme catharsis and stagnation. Profound insights are wonderful, but they are only as worthwhile as one’s ability to apply them in day to day life.
Spiritual Grounding
The time period after our Shamanic experiences and how we integrate those experiences are equally important to the experiences themselves. True healing does not arise from a one-time enlightenment experience in which we gain insight and now all the work is done. The long-term follow up of how we live and act in the world after our awareness has shifted from a shamanic experience is what brings true and lasting healing. Spiritual Grounding is the daily application of spiritual guidance in ordinary flesh reality. It is vital to our ability to integrate Shamanic Healing.
Integration of Shamanic Healing
When taken out of its cultural context, an Ayahuasca ceremony poses risks to the participant who suddenly finds him/herself back in a modern world that is devoid of others who can relate to their experience in any substantive or meaningful way. Compare the experience of a weekend Ayahuasca warrior to that of a tribal person whose entire village shares a similar awareness of Shamanic experiences and is available to support each individual as they move through whatever process is appropriate for them during the Ayahuasca ceremony itself and in the days, weeks and months that follow. The tribal individual is given as much time and spaciousness as required to complete and integrate the healing process. Nobody will be fired if they fail to report to their day job at 9am Monday morning.
Long Term Depletion
All psychoactive substances function by bringing our vital life force energy (chi) from the deeper organ layers of the body out to the surface and into the circulatory system where it is expended during the psychedelic experience. This is the pathway of depletion and therefore regular use of entheogens or other hallucinogens over time will lead to depletion of organ functioning, a loss of vitality, premature aging, and an eventual decrease in longevity. Reversing these depleting effects takes time and diligent practice of learning to Cultivate the Energy Body and lead the healing chi back to the kidneys and deeper organ layers.
Is It Worth It?
Perhaps someone is suffering such spiritual pain that they are willing to sacrifice their longevity in hopes of healing what is so damaging to their current quality of life. Maybe this is the only path that they see to escape their suffering or they see it as a quick fix. True healing takes time follow through and commitment to the process. It requires personal accountability for the things that we can control. I believe that most people will be better served by exploring a Shamanic Healing Path which brings the benefits of profound healing without negative side effects.
The Path of the Drum
My personal choice is to use the drum to enter the spirit world and do my shamanic work. I do not need to ingest any substances. A simple ceremony of lighting sage and a candle, taking a mindful breath, saying a prayer, and clarifying my intent will immediately slow me down, silence my internal dialogue and allow me to enter my spirit mind with ease. The method is easy to learn and time efficient. In 15 minutes I can rebalance myself, receive clear guidance and profound healing. I can enter Shamanic Consciousness at will and I have the freedom to return to normal waking flesh realty at will, at the time of my choosing. I teach this method in the Fundamentals of Shamanism. The side effects are nil, the benefits are great, and the consistent practice of Shamanic Journeying with a drum continues to bring me great healing, countless blessings, immense personal growth and a clear understanding of my place of right relationship in the Web of Life.
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