San Pedro Ceremony - Day Two.

Getting up and out of bed wasn't as rough as the previous days. I was adjusting to the altitude and to the sense of not needing sleep. 

"And if I need to rest," I said to myself, "I know I'll be able to during the ceremonies."

Meditation is perfect for helping you feel more rested, even when you've had far less sleep than you normally need to get by in a day.

We started out in the Infinity Garden at 7am for our tobacco ceremony...

We each gathered in one loop of the symbol, sitting down on the wall. Mal came around to us and squeezed the juice in our hands. We took it in. 

Within minutes, people were leaning over the wall, vomiting... Wiping their eyes... Spitting up... But still coming back for more of the spicy cleanse to their brains.

I wiped my nose and a little of the water from my eyes.

"This is just lovely!" I would say, as usual.

After a while, we gathered back in the ceremony room.  I went to my same spot, and sat down. We were waiting for our turns to receive the San Pedro.

When I got mine, I sat back down and looked into it. It had the same gelatinous sheeny layer on top. The skylight above me was reflecting light into my cup. As simple as it was, I took a picture...

I posted it on Facebook right away. And it wasn't till almost a day later that I understood what one person said about the picture.  

"It's a little cup of infinity!"

I laughed when I finally got it. I originally thought they were referring to the infinite feeling of the medicine... How it moves through you and stretches your sense of the Universe and potential out beyond anything you can imagine.  

But then I noticed the infinity symbol in the actual cup!!!

So referring to it as the "little cup of infinity" had multiple meanings!

We drank our little cups. I sat back and listened to the lecture from Mal and Mark, the astrologer.

Today we would be focused on using the energy of the rest of the planets. Understanding how Jupiter and Saturn play with us. And the outer three planets as well. 

Dispersed between each icaro session, we listened to further lecturing from Mark about how to interpret our astrological charts (which he had printed our for us), eat fruits and seeds and drink fresh herbs with hot water poured over them, and wander out into the gardens...

Colors were brighter than usual. The gardens were "talking" to us... Opening us up more to their beauty. We were more aware of it.

I found myself drained from conversation in moments. I would go back into the ceremony room, retreating into my journal.  Everyone else was lively with conversation and questions for Mal and for Mark.

"You sure do like to write a lot," said one guest to me. I smiled.

Other guests commented on how quiet I was, but how willing I was to engage in a conversation when asked a question.

"I get easily overwhelmed from the energy in certain situations," I explained. "I'm not shy. I can get up and speak in front of thousands of people. And I almost never get nervous. But in situations where a lot of energy is being purged from others and myself... I have to work very hard not to absorb it myself. It can be draining."

One person commented on how low-maintenance I was in comparison to other people during ceremonies like this.

"Mal," I inquired, "What can you tell looking at me? I'm so quiet over here. But I am sure I am noisy in other ways... Energetically, perhaps?"

He looked at me.

"You're a little bit psychic," he said. "Intuitive."

I laughed.

"I know," I said.

That's all he had to say about me. I had realized a very long time ago that I was "intuitive." If I concentrated enough, I would know things - feelings about things - not the actual outcome of things or how things would transpire. In fact, if something is incredibly important to me - I'll have a feeling about how it will turn out... But because I can't "see" or influence getting to that point, I stress myself out. It's exhausting knowing one part, but not the other. Because I feel I can't do anything.

I just simply call this ability "awareness." It helps me read people and situations. It's how I am able to work well with most people. I can turn an interaction with someone around on a dime. And it's not something that only I can do. ANYONE can do it. I, for some reason, have unfolded the talent in me a little more quickly than most people.

I laid back down and rested, as the energy in the room was picking up more. I needed my rest.

At the end pf the ceremony - about 8 hours after we had begun - Mal took us out to the spiral walkway in the garden. We would navigate from the outside in... And then from the inside back out. This helped us unwind from the processing of brain activity. Walking set-by-step without having to think soothed our minds.

Afterward, I felt like I'd had a glass of wine.

I slowly walked back to my room... And showered once I got there. I wanted to refresh my mind, having processed so much from the ceremony.