(We recommend you also read the previous Part 1 – Going crazy.) Number two:

Other Risks:
A lot of us assume that a Shaman is a good person, a Shaman is the wise elder of a tribe, a Shaman is somebody who’s very spiritually aware and it’s not true…

A Shaman in essence is just someone who understands how Ayahuasca works, a Shaman is someone that was trained in the use of this tool, this plant spirit.

In the same way, you can teach someone how to use a knife, they can become amazing chefs and create the most delicious and beautiful pieces of culinary art or they can wield it to stab people.

You can have a very proficient person do good/bad, you can have lawyers that make sure that justice is served, you have the ones that ensures that people who are corrupt do not bear any punishment or consequences for the wrongdoings, like this in every profession.

If you remember this, you will pay more attention and you will know that the jungle is very different from the cities.

They’re more in contact with nature and as such there’s also what we call the law of the jungle in Colombia – The bigger animal is actually the smallest one, this is a way in which cultures have evolved over the years.

What it does is that there’s a lot of envy, pride, spiritual ego among the Ayahuasca traditions, there’s a lot of comparison between the ones that serve yage. Ayahuasca, Santo Daime, the ones that do it in a more modern way, the ones that follow strict ancestral guidelines.

Without further elaboration on this you may come to a tribe, there are Shamans that dislike white westeners coming in and drinking this sacred medicine so you’d think that people are serving you something that’s going to be medicine but they’ll mix something in your brew, we call those people “brujos” in Colombia, which is another word for black mages/magicians/witchcraft practicioners.

They’ll make/put something in your brew to make sure you get right to the edge of the experience, close to the resolve to solve all of your life and then you come down, feeling like you need to get it, and come back once more, and once again.

They ensure that they enslave you, you become a well-paying client that they can keep there as long as they keep just a little bit of distance from the healing that you decide on.

This happens all in Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia, there’s some Shamans that just do not like westeners drinking the medicine, so when they come they receive them but they put a conjurer praying a blessing or more like a curse in your medicine, in which the person ends up experiencing massive depression, schizophrenia, paranoia afterwards.

They feel tormented, this is a form of spiritual sabotage.

What they’re giving you there is NO medicine, but poison, this happens especially in the jungle, not so much when you are in the city or near to a city.

In (Especially) Peru and some places in Colombia there have been reports of women being abused, raped during their Ayahuasca Ceremonies.

A Shaman is a human being with a lots of flaws like you and I, what happens is that some of them, their “flow” goes around sexuality, being under the influence of Ayahuasca you’re very vulnerable so they’ll do the same, mix something so the patient faints or falls asleep and then they’ll provide a “magic private healing session,”

This happens especially to women, there’s a lot of conflict and severe trauma because they went to a place to deal with something that was already challenging, they come out of there more abused and more victimized, more hurt.

The other risks are that you end up with a “Brujo“, an occult practicioner, a black magician, they mix something in your drink that ends up enslaving you to the process or that you go to a place where you’re not safe.

The people that were supposed to take care of you actually took advantage of you.

How to avoid going into the hands of someone who has ill intentions towards you?

Do your research, hopefully there’s somebody that you trust around, you ask questions, maybe you had friends that have gone there over time and have had positive experiences, but above all, trust your judgement, trust your gut.

Look into the eyes of the people that are working there, look at how they talk, how they express themselves, how they carry themselves.

Look into the eyes of your Shaman (or pictures), look into their faces and you’ll clearly see the people that are working around these kind of practicioners that create more pain, chaos, trauma.

You can see that there’s certain darkness – you can also notice the opposite, people who support and work with Shamans who are doing work towards the healing of life, towards supporting a bigger and more beautiful experience.

Usually their eyes look bright, they spark, they feel light, you can feel the love, peace, the harmony within their hearts.

If you look at the Shaman and it looks scary, it’s probably not the person for you.

A white spiritual being exudes love, even from a photo.

So, do your research!

(Continuation on part 3!)