Ayahuasca brothers and sisters, drinkers of soul medicines, and seekers of

Ayahuasca brothers and sisters, drinkers of soul medicines, and seekers of the healing blessing that is a sacred plant. A message comes from my heart, a lover of life, a lover of the discipline of learning hand in hand with yagé.

In an urban "trend" that the medicine itself is steering, so it can leave the jungles and come down from the mountains to heal whole nations, in a new stage when many people are tasting a meditative chuma for the first time, the context in which it arrives is sometimes misunderstood.

This spirit of nature takes on a great task, and to fulfill it, it enlists beings who, in love with its magic, carry it wherever it is welcomed. Who are these men and women who devote themselves to a selfless mission? Because the profit they are sometimes accused of, and that sometimes they do end up lining their pockets with, is a hollow thing next to the comforts and rest they sacrifice to carry out, with enthusiasm, the impulse to spread the blessing that fills them.

Men and women who are not gods, angels or popes. Men and women who are human like you and me, who go to the bathroom like you and me, who live everyday dramas like you and me. Men and women whose purpose in life is not to become gods, angels or popes, but rather to humbly recognize that they are simply human. Their purpose in life, in bringing the medicine to you, is for the medicine to touch your heart.

And what about you, toward them? What do you expect of them when you go to a ceremony? Do you idealize their power and overestimate their greatness? Do you criticize their humanity and turn their failings into gossip-column fodder? Do you back the ones you admire and point fingers at the ones you don't understand? Do you throw yourself at the feet of a "good" shaman and throw stones at the "bad" one?

First, it would be realistic to rearrange the patterns that guide how you judge them. A good shaman, meaning a sincere servant of the medicine, meets two conditions: they put all their effort into doing their work well, and they put all their intention into giving that work the taste and the results of an effect we call healing. Can you see their effort to be humble, or do they spend their time talking about others' flaws or their own virtues? Can you see their intention to surrender to healing, or do they play with far-fetched gimmicks such as sexuality, beliefs or ethnic spectacle? Most important: do they respect you as the worthy human being you are?

Second, it would be beautiful if, when you go to drink medicine, you stopped looking at others and looked at yourself. Because drinking medicine is a challenge that calls for your shrewdness and your focus, your autonomy and your reflection. You are not going so that a perfect doctor can cure you while you lie back and enjoy your high. You are accompanying a human being as they guide a ceremony of human healing. Are you afraid the medicine is tainted? Do you fear soaking up the weaknesses of the one who carries the waira? Perhaps you want to wipe clean the prayer that magician raised over your little cup, or avoid receiving their human magic from their hands and their breath. Perhaps you think you are a leaf blown by the wind, and you flee from any wind that comes near. And where are you? Where is the awareness of who you are, in any energetic or human situation? Are you clear about what you want?

If you truly know yourself and own your actions and the responsibility that you are the one who leads your life, nothing can touch you. It doesn't matter how fake your shaman is, dressed up as a Hindu monk or an Indigenous curaca. It doesn't matter how badly they failed in their private life, in their process of learning to be human. It doesn't matter if they bring you a tradition that isn't their ancestors' or if they slip away from tradition to fit modern times. It doesn't matter if, dazzled by their borrowed power, they lose control of their life to become famous and international. It doesn't matter if their inexperience clouds their humble intentions. It doesn't matter if, something very human, they have sex on their mind.

The sacred medicine is coming to you, and it is your duty to discern, to be free (not closed, not permissive) of any impression, and to be grateful for a human being's work without being spellbound by their image, or by your own. Without being spellbound in the form of attachment or of rejection, which is the same thing, which is always bipolar.

Lastly, it would be right to remember who your family is. Do you love your shaman only because you feel sheltered under their wings? Did emotion overflow in you when you met the medicine at their side? Do you admire their power and their greatness? Or, instead, do you hold genuine affection for their person and their being? Loyalty doesn't need to defend anyone or attack anyone. Loyalty is the natural love you have for a brother who never stops being a brother. True family never divorces, no matter how many disappointments. Family is family, affection is affection. Be true to yourself, and never turn your back on the one who gave you a hand.

Receive the medicine God brings you, the blessing you asked for. Be the love of healing in your deeds and in your words. Don't defend anyone or attack anyone. Providence knows how to cast its nets. Heavy things will fall naturally under their own weight. Love will grow under your trust that it is the only thing that is real. Live and let live. Heal and let heal. Be whole and be silent. Of course, only if that is what you wish. That is how you will finally find your own path. That is how love will come to you. That is how you will enjoy inner peace, health, and a happy home.