June 8th to June 15th
Hummingbird Retreat Peru will be hosting a small intimate residential retreat this June. This program provides time and the opportunity to work with the medicine in a transformative way as well as time for integration and relaxation.
There are both private and shared rooms available.
Send us an email for more information info@hummingbirdretreatperu.com
The principal way of working with plant medicines is to take part in a ceremony. A good ceremony provides a container and holding for the participants; a safe space to do one’s personal work. The person facilitating the ceremony holds the energy for the participants to ‘let go’ and delve into their personal medicine experience. For this reason it is important to feel safe with the person facilitating the ceremony.
At Hummingbird Retreat Peru our San Pedro ceremonies usually start the day before the actual ceremony when we gather together to make the medicine from vibrant fresh cactus. This enables participants to meet each other, begin their relationship with the medicine and place their prayers and intentions into the medicine pot. It is also an opportunity to begin one’s personal relationship and connection with the ‘spirit’ of San Pedro.
The following morning we meet at around 8:30am. After herbal teas and a last check-in we move down to the maloca (which is a traditional, grass-thatched, open sided building) to drink the medicine. San Pedro ceremonies are quite long, around 10 – 12 hours, after drinking we generally move out into the garden and everyone finds a place to relax and embrace their personal experience. Everyones experience is different depending on their intentions, the emotions they are carrying, along with a host of other factors.
This beautiful medicine works with each individual in a unique way. Bringing emotions to the surface to be released and healed, opening new connections within one’s body, heart and consciousness. So at any one time there may be people laughing, crying, shaking or throwing up, all these may be part of the ceremony experience and are all ways for the medicine to release energy that has previously been blocked.
When one first starts to work with plant medicines the first ceremonies may be themed around getting used to working with the medicine. Surrendering control can be a large part of this process. As one gets used to working with the medicine the path opens to go deeper into ones self and heal larger issues. There are exceptions to this however, as there are exceptions to most things in the plant medicine realm.
So back to the ceremony; as the sun sets and temperatures are dropping, we may light a fire outside or gravitate indoors to relax around the woodstove. By around 6 p.m. participants are often starting to land and are getting hungry so we serve a nutritious vegetarian meal with a light home-made dessert to help the process along.
Huachuma is renown as ‘heart-medicine’ and so on the day of the ceremony it is not useful to try and figure things out too much. It can be challenging for some of us to let go of our heads and the ‘need to know’ but it will make for a more fruitful day.
The morning following morning however things are often beginning to make “sense” and we hold an integration session to support participants assimilate and grow from their experience.
A short time ago Hummingbird Retreat Peru invited our readers to share their personal experiences with San Pedro ceremonies. This sharing gives you the opportunity to hear about a variety of transformational and healing experiences people encounter with the medicine and a greater understanding of how this work could change your life.
Some of our friends have experienced their ceremonies with other facilitators as in the following offering from Donna, the second in our series.
I took San Pedro in Peru with Shaman in 2010.
Before entering into the experience I asked the universe to show me the next step for humanity. I had visions and an altered state for around 7 hrs. The majority of my visions were of the amazon. I was not just connected but actually the plants, flowers, birds, air, water, earth and sky.
The vision showed me that I already know the answer to my question …. I am the answer, we are all the answer. We need to look inside not outside. We need to release our fears, judgements and hurts, one at a time and accept each for being as they are. Above all else trust ourselves!
Donna Morrison – Australia
A short time ago Hummingbird Retreat Peru invited our readers to share their personal experiences with San Pedro ceremonies. This sharing will give you the opportunity to hear about a variety of transformational and healing experiences people encounter with the medicine and a greater understanding of how this work could change your life.
Today we begin the first of the series with Bobbie’s offering.
Paul told me 3 things would happen when drinking San Pedro…..
Understatement!! Since working with Paul and Sue and the sacred San Pedro I have connected with and opened my heart to a level I could not have dreamt. I no longer carry the heavy burdens of fear and negativity, this gives me a freedom I had never felt before.
Not only did I heal deep, painful and long held family issues, my relationship with my father is not only repaired it is growing into the deep loving relationship I’ve longed for all my life, this is a wonderful gift.
Also after 30yrs of no contact with my mum, thankfully just before she died, I got to tell her how much love I have for her and to thank her for the precious gift of my life. I believe working with San Pedro paved the path for these things to happen
I met some truly wonderful people while working with the medicine, a lot of them way outside of my normal peer group. Feel very blessed that many of these people are still in my life and we share a lot of love and support still today. Even the people I found challenging all taught and or showed me something. I am truly grateful to each and everyone of them.
This fills me with deep gratitude and happiness as my path has never felt so beautiful as it is today. Even saying that feels good! There are times when the going gets tough and my mind tries to play the old games that I used to allow it. But working with San Pedro I now have the tools and wisdom to bring myself back into my heart space to see and feel the real reality. This is still work in progress but it gets easier all the time.
My gratitude to Paul and Sue will be eternal. For all their love and support. For creating the safe, peaceful and beautiful place that is Hummingbird Retreat and for so generously sharing it . For bringing the spirit and wisdom of the Sacred San Pedro not just to me but many others.
Aho
Bobbie Thacker – UK
We would love to hear about your experience of working with this amazing plant medicine and we are sure our subscribers would love to also. If you feel like sharing please send us a short article describing your experience of working with this medicine; a ceremony that was special to you or how the medicine has changed your life and world. Feel free to sign off with your first name and country and with consent, we will enjoy publishing them on our blog.
Send to info@hummingbirdretreatperu.com
Working with sacred plant medicines is such a different experience for most of us, it can be useful to prepare oneself before encountering the medicine. This path can be hard work, but the healing, learning and growth can also be enormous. The medicine often shows us things about ourselves that we do not want to know or accept; but in the end we are the lucky ones, we have the opportunity to explore the last frontier – who we really are.
Lastly honor yourself and the fact that you have the courage to meet yourself in this way and have a wonder-filled experience.
Blessings,
Sue & Paul
Working with San Pedro is a powerful and dynamic way to further one’s healing and self-knowledge. It takes courage, and the desire to step through one’s personal illusions and structures, to enter into the heart-healing and personal transformational space that this medicine makes available.
The experience of a San Pedro ceremony is unique for each person. This difference depends on what each person brings to ceremony; one’s intention, beliefs, emotional reality, and space on the day, combined with the space and holding provided with the ceremony, and the personality of the medicine. A common thread is that by the end of the day most people feel an opening into a soft and precious connection with their heart.
San Pedro ceremonies are not for everyone! This is a journey that we take into ourselves and possibly facing our own inner demons, and not everyone wants to take this journey; yet this is where our power lies, in the places that we do not want to go to or we attempt avoid.
Mind-set and the physical setting are an important aspect, as is the person who holds the ceremony, as both impact one’s medicine experiences. Feeling comfortable and safe with these is a good foundation.
It is ‘normal’ to have a little fear, or sense of apprehension before a ceremony, as the psyche gets ready to let go of control. We from the ‘developed world’ find it quite disconcerting to know that we will be stepping out of our normal way of holding ourselves and allowing a plant-spirit to enter our consciousness. This plant has a history of more than 3000 years of doing this healing work, and holds a powerful knowing and intelligence when working with the human consciousness.
It is an amazing experience to participate in a ceremony with say ten people, each person with their specific issues and intentions, the medicine working directly and individually with each person’s issues. Quite a consciousness has San Pedro, one that if we try to understand and figure out can be frustrating. If we let go, trust and allow the medicine to work it’s healing magic, whilst feeling and releasing from our heart, a profound path to healing and personal re-empowerment more often than not opens up with much challenge, beauty and love.
So really it is all up to you, this is a powerful and dynamic medicine, which if you allow it will bring you healing, insight and a greater knowing of who you really are. It will open your heart and support your connection to your soul and your authentic path for this lifetime.
