Native Medicines Alliance

September 2008

 

 

 We are delighted to be hosting another series of ceremony with members of a Santo Daime community from Brazil who will be sharing with us practices, teachings and plant medicines. Our visits to their community in Florianopolis Brazil over the last few years have revealed a group of people that have achieved a remarkable sense of peace and harmony in their hearts, their homes, and their spiritual practices. They truly live their practices, which are firmly centered on collectively surrendering oneself to the Divine within by ceremonially and rhythmically ingesting the sacrament Santo Daime. In the presence of the plant medicine and the Spirit within it, we are collectively and personally guided on a path that is not for everyone, but is certainly a path with heart.

The group visiting also represents an Alliance of hearts that recognizes the commonality of many ancient practices and medicines. There is a strong alliance, for example, between members of the Santo Daime and "The Red Path" and so their practices now include Temascal (sweat lodges), vision quests, Sun dances and Chanupa (Sacred Tobacco Pipe ceremony).
 
The idea that the entire universe communicates with the interior of our bodies and minds has been part of esoteric religious traditions for thousands of years. In most other spiritual practices, when initiates have questions about a meditation technique or a philosophical issue, they generally consult their teacher or spiritual superior first. In contrast, Santo Daime initiates usually work directly on their problems through the knowledge given them by the Daime (Ayahuasca) in the visions.

In the Santo Daime Doctrine, the concept of healing is defined in the broadest way possible, as a natural process people undergo in the search for our true self, our oneness with God. Daime opens the doors of communication between the mind and the astral, a parallel dimension that is inside of us and, at the same time, in the cosmos. Once we experience the sensation of the universe within us, the only path possible is to surrender to the knowledge that we are the universe - both the whole and the part. The Daime helps us arrive at the essential knowledge that we need, for our own healing processes to evolve.

Annualy at Marimba House there will be two weekend Works in September.

The first will be focused on the Santo Daime Works & Temescal

The second will be focused on the sharing of Native Medicines in the Four Tobacco Ceremony, a Red path work.

There will be a midweek work in the cave on Wed You may stay the entire ten days.

There are also works planned at the Blue Hippo near Cape town.

Let me know if you are interested in attending these and I will send you more details.

Please visit the Santo Daime website for more information about the ceremonies http://www.santodaime.org/indexy.htm
 
Places are limited, so please contact me if you are interested in attending a weekend with us
 
More Info about the Santo Daime
In the beginning of the thirties Raimundo Irineu Serra, a black rubber taper, was initiated by the Indians in the use of the consciousness expanding ayahuasca, a mixture of the climbing vine Banisteriopsis caapi and the leaves of the Psychoria viridis. After a fast for several days in which he drank only the ayahuasca, he had a vision of a divine female figure (Holy Mary or a Goddess of the rainforest) who told him to found a spiritual community. Central in the rituals of this community should be the drinking of the ayahuasca, from now on called the "Daime" (literal translation: give me). Mapia, deep in the rainforest of Brazil, is the center of the Santo Daime movement.
 
The working of Daime
Daime is a sacrament, a vehicle for the Force - the Divine Being - that is present in the rainforest and all creation. This eucharist of nature, the vine and the leaf, let us partake of the nature of God. The Santo Daime Doctrine evolved directly out of communion with this living sacrament. The effects of the Daime may vary from person to person, and they often relate to the level on one's apprentice-ship with Daime. It is common for initiates to have visions of animals such as snakes and leopards, similar to those experienced in indigenous psychotropic traditions. Participants may also have visions of friends and relatives, or experience visual insights into past lives and into their psyches. It is unfortunate that ethno-biologists and chemists usually classify the Santo Daime components and other sacred plants as hallucinogens, meaning they produce visions that have nothing to do with reality. For those of us in the Santo Daime Doctrine, the visions of the Daime are much truer guides to reality than is an orthodox materialistic or scientific perspective of the world. In fact the visions we experience in ritual works are remarkably similar to visions and ecstatic states described by saints of many religions. Daime opens the doors of communication between the mind and the astral, a parallel dimension that is inside of us and, at the same time, in the cosmos. Once we experience the irreputable sensation of the universe within us, the only path possible is to pleasurably surrender to the knowledge that we are the universe - both the whole and the part. This idea that the entire universe communicates with the interior of our bodies and minds has been part of esoteric religious traditions for thousands of years.....
...In most other spiritual practices, when initiates have questions about a meditation technique or a philosophical issue, they generally consult their teacher or spiritual superior first. In contrast, Santo Daime initiates usually work directly on their problems through the knowledge given them by the Daime in the visions (miraçoes)....
 
The all-night ceremonies of the Santo Daime Doctrine
The ceremony begins at sunset, the Daime is served for the first time. Thereafter, it is served at two- or three hour intervals throughout the night, with each participant drinking a dose each time. The Blessing of the Ritual Site is read and the hymnal correspondent to the date is begun. Because of the effects of Daime can be diverse, the hymnals with their ritual songs and dances provide parameters or guides for the internal voyage that the Daime permits. Thus the hymnal influences the objective of the work, the path the work takes and the energy created. During the first part of the ritual, the hymnal is sung accompanied only by the rhythm of maracas (shakers). About midway through the hymnal, there is a break in the ritual, after which other instruments - guitar, accordion, bandolin, banjo, and flute - may accompany the hymns. Throughout the ritual, people dance as they sing. Six "wings" - three of men and three of women - form a human Star of David around the six pointed star table at the center of the church. Each wing is composed of rows of participants lined up according to height. As each hymn is sung, the dancers move in a rhythmic right to left pattern, using simple synchronized steps. This dancing plays a very important role in forming a strong spiritual current among the participants. It's almost as if they're preparing bread dough - the energy is stretched and kneaded until it is ready. Sometimes people have been dancing around the Star of David condensing and expanding the energy for a while, the energy gets so thick it can be seen. From time to time during this working of the energy, the Force reaches an apex as our individual currents synchronize. At these moments, each one of us can telepathically sense our role in the creation of this incredible energetic field. At the same time, we can feel a very intense harmony within the field resulting from the union of all those minds working towards the same spiritual objective. During these moments of harmony, individual visions (miraçoes) take place with great frequency and strength.
 
Healing functions of the ritual and the role of the hymns
The true purpose of the ritual is twofold. There is the creation of ecstatic energy that I've been talking about, but the rituals are called "works" for a reason. Initiates know that when they enter a work they have a responsibility to work on themselves, to evolve into more perfect beings, and to merge with God. Daime obliges us to look at ourselves, especially at aspects we don't want to see. Sometimes seeing ourselves as we really are, can be painful, and the pain is usually proportional to our resistance to the Master who wants to show us ourselves. When we try to hide some error or blame from ourselves in the presence of Daime, it only makes matters worse. However, it is also said that the Daime is generous and shows us exactly what we're ready to see. In the Daime community, we talk about people going through difficult "passagens" (passages) during the progression of a work. This term, borrowed from Amazonian pilots and navigators, refers to a difficult stretch of a ship's course. Our passagens are typically experienced as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, overall bad feelings, or even intense depression and anxiety. These passagens are key points in the learning process; vomiting, for example, helps one to release the past. The hymns play an important healing role during these difficult passagens. Each hymn refers to principles and teachings of the Doctrine, as well as to its evolution. ....Inevitably, the hymn being played at that moment is a torch of light that helps us resolve an enigma or overcome a difficult problem. ...... The hymns provide a frame of reference for what happens during the use of Daime, as well as a method for witnessing spiritual truths.

Therapeutic properties of Daime
" Ayahuasca is above all a medicine - the great medicine". Yet although much has been written about the therapeutic use of ayahuasca by Indians, relatively little has been published about its use in the Santo Daime community. As one professional therapist - a "fardado" (disciple of Daime) - observed; "The Daime accelerates processes in the psyche and dissolves even the most chronic emotional shells that hinder an individual's capacity to see, feel, and be with his or her true self. In somatic disturbances, the Daime serves as a rebalancer of the somatic functions." In the Santo Daime Doctrine we define the concept of healing in the broadest way possible, as the natural process people undergo in the search for our true self, our oneness with God. The Daime helps us arrive at the perception we need for our own healing processes to evolve.

The initiates of the Santo Daime Doctrine
....People usually become initiates when, after participating in a number of Daime works, they feel and know that their spiritual quest is with Daime. Officially they become initiates when the Padrinho pins stars to their uniforms on their initiation day. However, most persons speak of receiving their stars from the Daime during a vision, long before the official initiation. One person may have seen a star coming from the astral plane; others may have felt invisible stars being imprinted over their heart chakras, opening that energy center to a new experience of love. When you become an initiate, you affirm that the Daime is your sacrament, guide and Master; that this teacher has helped you get in touch with your true self, your divine light. You are celebrating that union within yourself, but you're also taking on a new challenge of joining the wheel of brotherhood. As an initiate, you're responsible not only for yourself but also for a family of spiritual seekers whose objective is creation of a holy life in a context of a community. You become your own flame keeper because only you can master the fire within. Only you can cast away your old identity - the crusts of ego, personality, psychic imbalances and spiritual obstacles - that once served as a protective shell for differentiating yourself from the external world. Only you can nourish a new identity that honors your true mission, skills and talents and puts them to use for the community........

 

Please visit the Santo Daime website for more information about the ceremonies www.santodaime.org/indexy.htm