Connecting To The Structure Of The Universe In The Ceremony Space.

Anxiety. Yes. I feel anxious when I step into the ceremony house before an ayahuasca ceremony.

As I've mentioned before, not because I am apprehensive about what will happen in ceremony. Anything that happens in ceremony I am mentally prepared to deal with.  I'm apprehensive because of the taste of the aya itself.  (Blah!)

And that is why I am grateful that the space we use for ceremony is so comfortable and peaceful...

I lovely panoramic view of the room, which can fit 60 people.  

Yes, 60 people.

Mats all in the center of the room, should people feel the need to ride the ceremony out lying down.

Me, though? 

I rode it out in the same rocking chair the whole week...

I would show up two hours before ceremony was to start, and I'd lay out a blanket on my chair, and pick up a second blanket for ceremony. (I always get cold.) Once there, I wouldn't leave the space for the next six hours. I'd stay in the ceremony house reading and writing until we began.  

Sometimes I'd just sit back in my chair, rocking and staring up at the massive vortex of a ceiling...

The architecture and geometry would keep me focused and calm.

Sometimes I would get up out of my seat and walk over to the Shaman's area to explore the curiosities up near them.  The mesa always had eye-catching colors...

Many of the stones on the top part I have seen time and time again with each tour.  (The Buddha riding the rubber duck is a favorite of mine.)  The bottom half included some things that guests brought to collect "energy" from the space.

I also liked peeking at the instruments and tools used during the ceremony.  These - as I've written before - are the chakapas...

Leaf rattles. They are made by Maestro Don Alberto's team. He uses them as his primary tool with his icaros. They are a nice, steady heartbeat all throughout the ceremony.

I also love the bowls...

Gorgeous tones. So calming. These are used in the second part of the ceremony, known as the "soft landing" portion. That's where the icaro portion of the ceremony has ended, and the kerosene lamps are lit. They play soft music with various bowls and chimes to lull us out of the ceremony experience.  It's a key part of the ceremony, and one that is fairly new. We didn't have it at the end of the ceremonies of my first tour two years ago. 

This image in the bowl sums up what happens in the ceremony... Realigning the energy in the chakras, allowing us to receive energy from the third eye.

In this space, we connect to the structure of everything. We connect.