How to recognize an evil Shaman.

An evil Shaman or facilitator, is a person that has their own interests above those of the people that are coming to be served, to be taken care of.

The truth is that in the Ayahuasca community/industry, there’s a lot of this – a lot of people who get very greedy.

They get a power trip and an inflated ego from working with a plant that is so powerful like Ayahuasca.

We see this in all kinds of professions where there is power involved, with cities, priests in religion.

All kinds of religions have done some of the worst atrocities. We see this with politicians, in the medical field, among police officers, even in normal day-to-day work settings.

People abuse their power because their humanity is a little corrupted, or they’re still very unconscious and get consumed by it.

How do you recognize/know if the person that you’re gonna sit to drink medicine with or that you’re considering to sit and drink medicine with is actually one that’s not gonna bring you into a darker place/traumatize you?

Or break your mind in a way that isn’t conducive to a mroe beautiful experience of life.

There are three things that i want you to look out for.

• The way that they smile:

When someone carries a lot of unconscious, self-centeredness, when they smile they look a bit sinister.

The way that their eyes on their face turns is concerning, it doesn’t inspire beauty, joy, grace nor love.

It inspires fear, worry, closure, the opposite is also true.

If you’ve ever seen a baby smiling, or if there’s someone that you follow along your spiritual journey on your journey of growth.

Someone you trust and you think are very good people, when they smile, there’s this sense of comfort this sense of peace that is transmitted, this sense of love.

So, number one, pay attention to how they smile, because when someone smiles, you can tell towards what side their energy is leaning towards.

If their smile brings you joy and makes you more happy/fulfilled just to be in their presence, then it’s probably a good Shaman!

On the other hand, if they smile and they look a little creepy, weird, then it’s probably important taht you pay more attention to the next two points.

• How do they relate?

How do they treat the people that they work with?

Because it’s very easy to put on a facade for the attendees.

There’s a new retreat, they’ve never met you before, they’ve nothing against you and hopefully you have nothing against them.

You’re paying them so they have a lot of reasons for you to keep coming or to treat you well, but maybe they have very ill intentions underneath.

It’s the same when you go dating a new person, you bring out the best in you:

Charming, sweet, patient.

Once you’re married to them you bring out the worst, the ugliness comes out.

Unfortunately for most people its the same with the Shaman, so you want to pay attention to how they communicate and how they relate to those who have been around for a long time.

It’s usually their team of assistance the key distinction that you want to make.

Are they leading through inspiration or through fear, when they talk to other people, are they doing so in a way that is like punitive, like punishing, labeling, judging, shaming? Or are they doing so with love.

Are they expecting for everything to get done for them, or are they also working in ensuring that the space and things are ready?

Because a leader also inspires through what they do, not just through telling people what they should and shouldn’t do.

If you notice that they talk to the people that serve/work for them, in a grumpy manner, perhaps yelling, ugly in their treatment, maybe people seem scared of them, perhaps even talking a little bit behind their back.

Then it’s probably a Shaman that has not learned to deal with others in a loving way, to lead their own team in a loving way.

So what makes you think they’re going to lead/deal with you in a loving way?

Maybe they will because you’re paying and you’re new, but if you keep on coming back, which is the case when you drink Ayahuasca at a place where there’s ill intentions.

To have endless paying customers, you will experience that, there’s a lot of this everywhere, so pay close attention.

Finally, perhaps one of the most important points of this blog is:

• Do they claim to be the ones healing you?

Are they trying to take the center of the stage, or do they recognize and speak about healing being a process that they support, but that ultimately depends on you.

More than that, are they giving themselves importance or are they giving importance to Ayahuasca, to the plant medicine?

This is where someone stands, because when we refer to someone as being evil, usually, it’s not that they’re evil.

It’s that they’re very self-centered, they’re willing to cross boundaries that they wouldn’t step over other people to please themselves.

This is what we define as evil, someone that is willing to do with nature, with you, with others what they please.

Even if they hurt them, as long as they fulfill their own desires.

That means that their experience of life is centered around their own compulsions, their own desires, their wants and needs.

An evil Shaman is someone who has his own needs and his own desires, ambitions first.

Usually, 99% of the time this shows us a self-aggrandizing behaviour, almost like a messianic.

Like they think they’re the messiah – kind of personality.

They walk like they’re floating and they talk to you like they have the answers to all your problems, like:

“You need to come, i’m gonna heal/cure you from something.“

Steer away from someone that promises you things this way, because if i tell you: “I’m gonna cure you from your mental illness.“

Maybe i do, then maybe you become anxious, depressed in one year.

Then you come back to me because i cured you. I made you dependent.

I didn’t heal you, maybe i held you from your anxiety, your depression, but now, you have a worse sickness.

Which is the sickness of not being able to rely on yourself, the sickness of being dependent on me or on somebody else for you to be at peace.

I can milk that sickness endlessly.

An honest Shaman, first and foremost, he lets you know that healing is on your hands, the medicine is a tool, that the temple and that his work is very supportive.

It will help you move a lot of energies, it will give you a big push in the right direction.

But ultimately, you are in charge, he will also let you know that he’s not doing the work.

He drinks the medicine and it’s the medicine acting through him, ultimately, God or the Source of creation, a higher intelligence is guiding him and this plan to support you in your own healing journey.

But they’re not healing you, so steer away from anyone that claims to have powers.

I received a message recently of a woman who was told consistently by the Shamans in her Ayahausca circle, somewhere in Europe, that she was not in the same level as them.

They kept telling her like: “You just started this, you have to listen and pay attention, obey, we’re not on the same level/equal.“

Like they’re playing a power game almost in the same way that you will see in some cults, there’s a lot of hierarchies.

A loving Shaman has no need to establish a hierarchy, why?

Because it raises naturally, people want him to lead because they see that he’s the wisest, the most loving and most conscious.

He has no need to impose nor put other people down.

If the Shaman that you’re intending to be with, or one you’re sitting and drinking medicine with, speaks too much about themselves and their power, their healing capacity and what they can do that you can’t.

I would say is not a good person for you, an honest Shaman knows that he is nothing but a tool, so is the medicine.

Ultimately, these are tools that help you come to your own power, your own ability, and understanding of how to heal yourself.

To sum it up.

Pay attention to their smile, do they look sinister? Do they inspire love?

How do they treat the people that are around? The people that work for them? Are they kind, good leaders? Or do they lead by fear?

Finally, are they making it about themselves, about their powers, their healing journey? When you come in conversation with them, is it a conversation about “Me, me and me.“

Or do they listen, do they pay attention to you, do they care about you and do they tell you that they’re not doing anything, that it’s just the medicine working through them?

If you feel the calling to sit with Ayahuasca, in a container held by Colombian shamans at a sacred temple in the middle of the mountain forests, please check:

www.ayahuascacolombia.com/retreats