the light within

[∂an]

Communities like this, and the psychedelic movement in general, have at their foundations the premise that entheogenic substances, when used correctly, can have a positive impact on the lives of individuals and life in general on this planet. In the past few decades, much emphasis has been placed on rediscovering the practices of cultures with shamanic traditions and incorporating these into contemporary rituals. A common view amongst members of this contemporary psychedelic community is that when these shamanic techniques and plants are implemented in the traditional ritual setting, a positive experience reconnecting oneself to the natural world will ensue. This seems to be based on the view that the ancient shamanic cultures where nature worshiping people and their practices were built around this.

This, however, may be a simplification of the extremely complex spiritual topology that entheogenic plants and substances allow access to. There are numerous examples of entheogenic plants being used in seemingly malevolent ways. The practice of brujeria in the amazon basin, and the imbibing of mushrooms by the upper classes at human sacrifice festivals in the aztec society, are two examples that immediately spring to mind. In these situations, especially in the case of the aztecs, entheogens are still living up to the namesake in that they are manifesting a god within, but what kind of god?

These substances can manifest the full spectrum of desires within the human heart, including the will to bring suffering on others. It seems important therefore to carefully examine the context of entheogenic traditions before incorporating then into our lives. Perhaps more importantly, those who do use these powerful sacraments should create their own rituals and belief structures to emphasise positive qualities such as love and respect for nature and fellow beings, if that is what they seek.

[Max Cady]

I hear that about creating your own rituals = ) my thoughts exactly

[bogfrog]

Excellent point.

Too many times i have jumped in the deep end with without any predetirmined intention or ritualised format and i have rapidly fallen prey to the manipulative, secretive and seductive games of others.

Although these situations taught me alot about my self and were important for my moral development, i could see how deeply you can emotionally damage someone in such an open state and thats a power i don't want anything to do with.

[Seldom]

real thinking happens through unexpected, unfamiliar encounters, ones where you find things you don't know you din't know, have to try to force accidents to happen because habit and reified thought patterns are implicit in most deliberate action, they're what you're trying to disrupt, ritual as a consolidated pattern of activity unfolding according to intention is just clinging to familiarity. there's no pre-established harmony to connect to, only an imbalance to be disrupted.

[∂an]

ritual as a consolidated pattern of activity unfolding according to intention is just clinging to familiarity.

 

yes I agree ritual can at times hold one back from a full unfolding of novel experiences, but it can also provide a secure platform to dive deeper into these spaces than is possible without. I remember when I was a kid there was (what our 6 year old minds perceived as) wild unexplored bush thick with trees and unidentified creatures. we were too afraid to venture in until one day one of us had the idea to bring a ball of string along, so we could retrace our steps. needless to say, we quickly learned to navigate without the string.

[Micromegas]

The thing about some of those ancient cultures is that they lived and breathed their revelations to the fullest extent imaginable, something almost impossible to conceive from our modernised world. Without a deep and thorough investigation of their practices we risk underestimating just how far this can go. These cultures built supreme temples on the basis of what they were shown, temples that potentiated and focussed increbible volumes of energy existing in their environment. That is going way beyond ritual, although it exists on the same spectrum. Ritual is a modern psychological term we look back and apply, it hardly captures the full magnificence of what was occurring. Techniques and shamanic/energetic technology is probably a better way of looking at it, in cases on a incomprehensibly grand scale. In many cases, lust for power and a centralisation of esoteric methods in the hands of few led most of these cultures astray eventually. But how they were at the beginning is distant from how they finished up at the end, over the course of many centuries. Depletion of natural resources to build edifices and the veil of secrecy drawn between the elite and the populace were often associated with calamitous natural events that dis-integrated societies and left temples forsaken in the landscape. But they still speak of tremendous committment to a world of deities, energetic manipulation and direct involvement with multifaceted natural forces; to a world of altered and expanded vision that is more than the term entheogen can capture. To look back at these cultures with the proverbial new age etheogenic goggles is to apply a mismatched cultural context. For those people, at that time, it was a different reality, one that we have hidden from ourselves for mysterious reasons today, although it still lives on with potency in many of their sacred sites. Those cultures were living in a different world than the one we inhabit today; one that was animistic, forceful and alive; one in which connecting to the God within would be an unusual and foreign concept, living as they were in worlds where Gods dictated events daily and where the internal was transposed externally and pervaded their lives in the form of art, architecture and cultural customs (which is not to say the experience of God within was unfamiliar to them, or that the awakening experience is not shared between both moderns and ancients, the potential being the same for both). Certainly, many of these cultures became distorted, almost always through the pursuit of power, and certainly malevolent sorcery practices did (and still do) exisit, but that is not the fault of the technology they developed, only in its application. Indeed, we continue the same process ourselves, destroying our world for the sake of power, concentrating power in the hands of only a few; and this, also, is not a function of technology but of man's hunger for power. And in both cases, internal imbalance within the society causes an imbalance in the natural environment often accompanied by extreme climatic events and severe localised (now global) resource depletion (now, also, extreme loss of biodiversity). But some of those cultures show us that balance is not unobtainable and that lust for power can be assuaged; they demonstrate that harmonious cultures can persist in their environment for many, many generations without encountering (or initiating) dis-integrating natural, social or polical forces. That, it would seem, is a question of underlying ideology, often a function of landscape, and is where we should look for inspiration. Finally in many instances, as cultures collapse and new ones emerge, certainly new myths, new temples and new land-use and political systems develop. But "new rituals" is a misnomer, you can't create anything new under the sun; not then, and not now. In this entheogenic modern community, it seems many think of ritual as something fluffy and unnecessary, but "just ritual" is not all that those ancient cultures were doing (nor is it all that is happening where core shamanic practices still exist today) and in many respects to write it all off with the world ritual is an epic failure of understanding the true awesomeness of their practices in an objective sense; it is an academic word that doesn't grasp the facts. In reality, through shamanic technique on a small scale and temple building and topograhical enhancement and manipulation on a grand scale, many of those cultures were projecting and expanding their revelations and ideologies gained from communication with the elements and forces of their local landscape (and plants within that landscape) and the heavens, outward into the external world until it became a coherent living system of belief, of reality, with a mind-boggling potency and profundity whose durability dictated how quickly societies rose and fell. Many of those cultures went almost inconceivably deep into multifaceted and yet navigable internal and external landscapes; and they did that, indeed, with a metaphorical piece of string. Some of them got lost over time in being lured by the power and knowledge they found, while others steered a truer course. And, likewise, what we lose in our own world through a lack of cultural realisation may prove to be distastrous for us as well, but this our choice and now, just as then, the potential is there for balance.

*I greatly enjoyed your post ?an and what I have written above is not really about how and whether individuals in our community should use ritual, that is entirely the choice of each individual.

These substances can manifest the full spectrum of desires within the human heart, including the will to bring suffering on others. It seems important therefore to carefully examine the context of entheogenic traditions before incorporating then into our lives. Perhaps more importantly, those who do use these powerful sacraments should create their own rituals and belief structures to emphasise positive qualities such as love and respect for nature and fellow beings, if that is what they seek.

 

Indeed.

[∂an]

Great response Micromegas!

The thing about some of those ancient cultures is that they lived and breathed their revelations to the fullest extent imaginable, something almost impossible to conceive from our modernised world. Without a deep and thorough investigation of their practices we risk underestimating just how far this can go. These cultures built supreme temples on the basis of what they were shown, temples that potentiated and focussed increbible volumes of energy existing in their environment.

 

Absolutely, this focusing of energy is perhaps what lays at the heart of my concern. Reading descriptions of some of the Aztec and Maya coronation ceremonies really drives home the extent to which the desires within humankind were allowed to be unfurled in reality:

At the inauguration of this Great Temple in 1487, Ahuizotl ordered the sacrifice of many prisoners of war; an average of 1,000 victims a day were sacrificed over a period of twenty days. Each day blood ran like a river onto the pavement of the Great Plaza, and the stairs of the great pyramid were literally bathed in blood.

 

It is as if these cultures realised they stood on the boundary between the archaic and modern worlds, and sent through time a last chilling reminder of our primal roots through horrifying displays of irreverence for individual that life. At the same time, even these mass sacrifices pale in comparison to the slaughter of millions of people in modern warfare - one could even argue that at least the Maya and Aztecs were conscious of the significance of their acts (i.e. by performing the sacrifices in a ritualised manner, offering hearts up to god etc), whereas in modern warfare the lives of thousands are terminated by the simple act of pressing a button and watching a computer screen. What is the more malevolent deed?

To look back at these cultures with the proverbial new age etheogenic goggles is to apply a mismatched cultural context.

 

Yes I think my comments were a bit short sighted. Our contemporary, sheltered, artificial lives are but a mere abstraction from those lived in the bossom of mother earth by people of even just a few hundred years ago.

But some of those cultures show us that balance is not unobtainable and that lust for power can be assuaged; they demonstrate that harmonious cultures can persist in their environment for many, many generations without encountering (or initiating) dis-integrating natural, social or polical forces. That, it would seem, is a question of underlying ideology, often a function of landscape, and is where we should look for inspiration.

 

That is a very good point. Isn't it interesting that two cultures that held entheogenic plants at the center of the spiritual practices, the Maya and the tribes of the Amazon, had such different fates? One was in the process of destroying itself through over use of natural resources and warfare before being finished off by Cortez et al, while the other remains to active to this day, albeit in greatly reduced numbers. This begs the question, what was it about the Mayan psyche that led them down that path, and what can we learn from that?

edit:

and to what extent have the spaces made available by mushrooms and ayahausca been coloured by these contrasting patterns of usage?

Edited November 22, 2012 by ∂an

[Micromegas]

That is a very good point. Isn't it interesting that two cultures that held entheogenic plants at the center of the spiritual practices, the Maya and the tribes of the Amazon, had such different fates? One was in the process of destroying itself through over use of natural resources and warfare before being finished off by Cortez et al, while the other remains to active to this day, albeit in greatly reduced numbers. This begs the question, what was it about the Mayan psyche that led them down that path, and what can we learn from that?

edit:

and to what extent have the spaces made available by mushrooms and ayahausca been coloured by these contrasting patterns of usage?

 

Yes, this is where it starts to become very interesting. Landscape and resources (including shamanic plants) may well dictate to a large degree how societies and cultures develop over time. Unfortunately, this is such a complex conversation it's not really possible to elucidate it fully in this medium, it really deserves its own book! But as a case in point, australian aboriginal cultures persisted for so long precisely due to the nature of the lanscape they were living in: it did not allow the phenomenal temple buidling seen the Americas that lent itself to large population centres and hierarchical power structures, although power relationships did exist. The same may be said of Amazonian tribes in comparison to the Mayans. Mayan culture was a disparate group of warring or uneasily affiliated, but distinct, power centres. They were all vying to become the biggest and best and paid dearly for it, with 400 years proving a soild run for any Mayan metropolis before a short peak and rapid decline. Amazonian cultures on the other hand, like australian aboriginals, were much more fluid due to the environment in which they lived, and discrete political entities are harder to locate historically. They also lived in a environment that remained far more stable and less prone to damage through human activity, not having the cyclic weather distrubances such as floods, earthquakes and droughts seen in the Andes, Central America and the South American coastline, which set up a ceremonial context for propitiation of deities often involving leverage of resources (including life) from the general population. Now, being only familiar with pre-columbian cultures and their plants, what would be interesting would be to understand why, for example, extremely hierarchical and power-centred Chinese dynasties lasted so much longer than your average Mayan metropolis. Probably this would have something to do with the principles of Confusianism and Buddhism, but what in the Chinese landscape allowed such longevity in cultures also obsessed with temple building and the concentration of power, and how did the stablity of resources and the presence and absense of psychotropic plants impact this development.

At the same time, even these mass sacrifices pale in comparison to the slaughter of millions of people in modern warfare - one could even argue that at least the Maya and Aztecs were conscious of the significance of their acts

Yes, I think the issue of awareness is important to note. However the Aztecs represent a de-evolution from previous mexican archaic cultures and their sacrificial tendancies can be made to stand unjustifiably for all ancient cultures in that region. As we move forward in time, cultural shamanic sophistication generally weakens (as well as artistic expertise and also, usually, prevelance of shamanic plant use) until political entities are created that resemble more modern states less aware of the techniques of their forebares and often the populace became more disadvantaged as a result, with a preponderance of war and distress. Moving forward through the Olmecs, Zapotecs, Toltecs, Maya/Mixtecs, Maya second phase (Chichen Itza) and the Aztecs some of the core energetic awareness is lost in the process of greater and greater empire building. The same is true in South America, the Incas being a pale shadow of those that preceded them.

I won't be able to post much more on this topic simply because there is so much to say and it will take too much time, but thanks for bringing up such an interesting topic ?an it is one I believe is critical to our understanding of modern shamanism and entheogenic plant use today.

[∂an]

Yes, this is where it starts to become very interesting. Landscape and resources (including shamanic plants) may well dictate to a large degree how societies and cultures develop over time. Unfortunately, this is such a complex conversation it's not really possible to elucidate it fully in this medium, it really deserves its own book!

 

Do you know of any good literature on this topic? Sounds like you know a fair bit about these cultures.

[Micromegas]

Well a lot of the credit has to go to my Maestro Huachumero don Choque Chincay under whose tutalage I have experienced the old ceremonial styles at the orginal ancient sites on the Peruvian north coast and central highlands, on numerous occassions, and who revived these ceremonial traditions through great personal effort and farsighted vision. Credit also to my Maestro Ayahuasquero don Rober Acho Jurema, who maintains the old style of ceremonial use of Ayahuasca in the Peruvian Amazon, par excellence. And even more so, much credit must be paid to the teacher plants themselves, which were so central to many ancient American cultures and from which infinite insight can be gained both about the past, the present, and the future. Beyond that, I have independently travelled to many of the most important archaeological sites in Peru, Bolivia, some in northern Chile and Argentina, the south-west of North America (ancient puebloan sites) and south from central Mexico (there's still alot missing, but here's hoping!). The rest is inferred from visits to museums and examiations of monumental and portable artworks, personal exploration of sacremental plants where legal, and reading books on archaeology and plant use, plant distribution, critical analysis of ancient art and architecture, studies of ecology, and sensibility to the forces within landscapes including in Australia. I suppose it is a matter of intellectual accumulation punctuated by visionary revelation and actual interaction with the sites themselves, and their surrounding environment. It has been particularly suitable for my personality being an absolute numbat when it comes to science, chemistry, physics and mathematics; I immediately found the archaic spiritual sciences to be considerably more comprehensible and viscerally compelling on a personal level. Most people would have bought a house (or at least half of one!) by now and maybe I should have but I quite simply found the knowledge irresistable. Unfortunately, finding a context for integration of these things has, and continues, to prove entirely difficult in this country, to say the least, as has the financial encumberances of funding such exploration over the last seven years which has decidedly set me back in a material sense. Further to that, only the tip of the ice-burge has been revealed to me, if even that much. I'm pretty slow on the up-take and especially in living true to the lessons. But I'm not sorry and I wouldn't know where one should begin. Probably, as most on this forum would have already, by asking the question. I am not particularly comfortable talking about my experiences on a forum as it does not communicate the nuances effectively nor allow a common ground to be found where differences of opinion may be evident, so that is all I will say for now about this. If you were looking to know more I would direct your attention to archaelogical books, particularly those that deal with art, land-use and architecture simultaneously, which can found for most ancient cultures worldwide, or books such as Plants of the Gods that gives a brief synopsis of the use of many sacred plants in many cultural contexts across the globe. Pre-columbian cultures may be a particularly fertile field for those interested in shamanic plant use. A specific book that fully explores and extrapolates how plants and landscape definitively shaped cultures is, as far as I know, waiting to be written for the general public.

[mutant]

Interesting posts everyone all around.

Remember that the word ritual might simply mean the practical chronogram and details of an aimed experience - not necessarily a 'ceremony'.