Paradise lost...

It was only one week into the three week Eagle Condor Sacred Medicine Festival but it was time for me to leave.  In many ways I was gutted to be going, this had been one of the most incredible privileges I'd ever received.  However, the reason for my departure far outweighed missing a few ceremonies.  This is truly a time in which dreams can come true.  I intended to see out the festival in style, celebrating with my brothers and sisters... todo es mi familia.

The final night was to see the space being held by a combination of shamans.  Ixá & Bane, Mao Tanka, Kuauhtli, Yatra & Co and Shahuano & his wife Jessica.  The latter, also known as don Javier, I had previously seen in the UK and I was very eager to see him in Brazil.  This man has an impressive story.  He was taught by his grandfather, initially unwillingly.  His training included spending two years in the jungle alone, relying on the forest plants and animals for food.  His grandfather would visit him on occasion and they would drink ayahuasca together.  During one visit they drank the medicine on ninety consecutive nights.  Whilst living there he received his icaros which are outstanding.  He sings with a great force transforming from a small, humble man into some kind of grandaddy surgeon, operating on people throughout the night.  He is well known for his ability to diagnose diseases and treat them effectively.  He is able to address every condition, from cancer &  HIV to depression & anxiety.  He has healed thousands of people including some A-list celebrities like Michael Douglas.

I drank at every opportunity, three or four times asking for large measures.  The ceremony began at about eight and before I knew it was half past four.  Time completely vanished into thin air.  Even now as I write my mind tries to string together a few words into a sentence in a futile attempt to describe events.  What happened was beyond the rational.  There was a sense of the polarity of the universe, opposites held together at the same time.  On this occasion I'm afraid I have to admit defeat, I have come up against the wall of the ineffable.  During those times when I was more present my heart was filled with thanks, spontaneous prayers flowed forth and, looking around the room, I wasn't the only one.  The last week or so had been humbling, inspiring and uplifting. It would need some serious processing to work out what had occurred.  So, as this fleeting paradise is lost for the time being, all that's left to say is 'thank you'.  Thanks to the organisers, the participants, the town and its residents, everyone who's read these accounts and especially my friends, new and old, with whom I have shared some life-changing experiences.  But most of all, thanks to my other half who, in one of those universal polarity paradoxes, has been physically apart from me in space but never more present at the heart level.  Paradise lost, paradise regained.