Friday, February 19, 2010

The Ayahuasca Purge

I may well have written about this in this space previously. If so, forgive me.
On a board I sometimes post to, someone asked what was wrong with eating a breakfast of sausages, eggs, bread and so forth--a really big meal--the day of doing ceremony with ayahuasca.
Most responders told the poster to eat lightly. They are right. But they didn't explain why, so I added my two cents, which is this:
When I have guests out in the jungle, I serve them a good breakfast the day of ceremony--plenty of fresh fruit and veggies, maybe a couple of eggs--and then send them out on a 3-4 hour hike in primary forest. They're not permitted to eat anything after the breakfast, and the hike generally sees to it that by the time ceremony starts--10 hours or so after breakfast, their stomachs are empty. If they really have to have something, I offer sugarless lemongrass tea, an if they absolutely are going to be dehydrated, I let them have a couple of slices of apple or tangerine.
I don't want them uncomfortable during ceremony--and some people simply have very fast metabolisms so need to eat more frequently--but I dn't see the purpose of coming all the way to Peru, then heading out to deep jungle only to throw up lunch. The purge, for me, is the chance to throw up the bile of your life, the things you carry and that weigh you down which you often don't even know you're carrying: lies told to you that hurt you; lies you told others that you regret; childhood memories buried so deeply you couldn't possibly otherwise access them.
Eliminating those things is what the purge can do. But it can't really do that if you're purging a sandwich or a burger. You can toss those things any time you want by putting your finger down your throat. But you only have so many chances to unseat and eliminate repressed pain, anger sorrow and loss. For me, I prefer to get rid of that wretched stuff rather than food anytime.

4 comments:

mopz said...

From my limited experience of Ayahuasca (or strictly speaking 'anahuasca'), approx 70 Parganum harmala/Mimosa hostilis and 70 Parganum harmala/Diplopterys cabrerana brews, I have found that the Mimosa doorway is more likley to 'get upset' by the presence of any unwanted toxins which often occur via food recently ingested and is far more likley to insist that a purge is done. I feel that the Diplopterys doorway assumes you know what you're doing and so doesnt usualy involve purging, therefore one is more likley to get a hard time from the Ayahuasca spirits if one has recently eaten certain foods eg meat products from unethical farming practices , foods prodced via exploitation etc In those case the unprepared/inexperienced would wish the Ayahuasca had given them the purging option first. Has anyone else experienced anything similar?

Dee De Danan said...

Interesting.

I'd normally agree with Peter on this and tend to fast for a period of 10 or so hours beforehand.

However, on a recent trip to the Blue Morpho camp in Peru the daily set-up involved a hearty lunch and an early-ish ceremony - resulting in a fasting gap of only 4/5 hours.

Contrary to the protocol of the camp, I opted out, skipped lunch and stuck to the fasting routine which had worked so well for me in the past.

Oh dear.

A few harsh lessons were rushing my way. (Funny, how I invited them in).

That first night I continously gagged, choked, and struggled, it seemed, not to swallow my tongue.

Terrifying. Pulverizing. Non-productive of anything beyond desperate gasps of air.

Ground-hog gagging.

After each prolonged bout of choking, I'd be further shaken by the scary absence of any of the sweet relief which often follows the purge.

It didn't feel like ayahuasca purging. Just torture.

Then, as I was about to take a dip in the self-pity pool, several friendly spirits materialised with some advice. A big boa looked on from the background. I sensed a cosmic finger wagging.

Apparently, I was enduring this non-productive, gagging routine because I'd refused to take advice.
A certain unhelpful arrogance and distrust of others was pointed to. I'd been taking the whole self-detrmination, Sinatra Doing it My Way thing too far, for too long.

Though it was fine to want to dance to the beat of my own drum, it would be better to let others join the band occasionally.

I secretly moaned about always being the one who makes the decisions, who has to be in charge. The family "fixer". Yet I was incapable of relinquishing the role. I didn't trust others to look after me, guide me, wouldn't let them and then complained when I thought they fell short in this area. I was generous with giving love, but crap at receiving it.

(I was minded of Peter's recent post regarding pushing love away and now learning to accept it.)

"Control. Control. Control" they sang. "Control. Control. Control" they laughed.

I joined in.

If I wanted to be a wise woman, I couldn't also be a wise guy.

"Eat lunch!" they said. "We prefer to attach the negative energies we're clearing you of to something solid, material...like food. Lubes the tubes. We can do it without, but it'll be tougher on you. Do it the easy way. Do it someone else's way for a change. Trust. Stop being stubborn. Give up control.You're not the boss, so stop audtioning for the role all the time."

Yes. Indeed.

Four ceremonies followed where I did as instructed and ate lunch.

I purged my little heart out (but mostly through compulsive, hippo-jawed yawning)and felt the cleansing, the sweet relief.

But who knows the next time?

All the best
xDee

PS thanks Gritter for the warm welcome. Right back at ya.

Gritter said...

You are welcome Dee.

I, too, think I prefer a fast before the experience. But my experience is limited (one trip with peter). However, I do clearly understand that aya has tremendous gastrointestinal effects on me. I initially considered the purging to be miserable but later found that I enjoyed the experience because I learned to ask each time "What was that?".

Interestingly, I never failed to get an immediate answer. Not only that but some of things that happened during those purgings are not definable by standard logic and science (e.g crystal formation on my skin, the healing of an infected tooth by an "ant", communication with a sapo frog during which I was given a great gift, and etc, and etc).

Those were actual physical occurrences that have no explanation other than a genuine opening of a spiritual doorway.

Anonymous said...

Indeed the ayahuasca produce some intestinal disorders among the people who try it, personally it didn't cause me any illness or secondary effect, the only thing is that is much easier to buy viagra than to obtain some aya.