San Pedro in the Sierra Nevada



There are so many layers of the San Pedro experience, that it is clear that in rereading my representation so far, there is a healthy dose of flippant production in some of the attention to the depth of the journey. That’s just me. Saturdays ceremonial walk through the rain-forest jungle of the Sierra Nevada ranges in these northwestern Venezuelan Andean mountains has left little room for lightheartedness in recalling the true nature of the teachings of San Pedro.

Our third ceremony was our first in daylight, and as we completed the ritual at our first site, we walked for few more kilometers, up the winding track as the medicine began to meld the two minds and draw strangely on the physical body. After 3 hours of hiking at around 2500 meters, the first show of San Pedro was total. No darkness to mask the illusory changes, little chance to rest, my breath was a full body wave of surging energy and my eyes could not settle on a focus. But of course, in perfect time we were there.

The site for what followed was a glittering cascade known as the Dragons Veins, a place of such healing force that we were moved immediately to the waterfall to wash and connect with the many spirits that belonged to the space. What happened next, in truth my friends, is truly indescribable. Most of the healing is better told in other languages of light, Mescalitos lessons in a sense so sacred that they already belong to you. The many stratum of information that were being revealed were comprised of such diversity that for some time I was spellbound, locked to a rock and expanding in a force that was eager for me to surrender quickly. Shivas telepathy had me find the course, and V would keep me warned of the waters intention, keeping Christopher in a state of continual opening.

This went on for some time, the soupy current of the air slowing everything to a vibration so pace-less, that the shifting across multi-dimensional fields of truth, and the interplay of countless Nature spirits, brought me a strong grab of the divine order of the cosmic domain.

It’s pretty big.

I went back to the falls and stood beneath the flow of ice cold juice that tumbled to the pools below. Something happened.

With an air of protection, Shiva came to me, and we crouched on rocks at the foot of the falls. He asked me how i was. Without reservation I answered “ I’ve been with the big cats’. He nodded and with some concern, began that thing that Shiva does. He isolates the outside world, to hold you in a timeless moment. It is a bliss of no comparison. What he showed me next will be with me forever. He began to open his mouth, then his jaw, and while i was processing the appearance of his growing teeth, the sides of his face streamlined into the cheeks of cat, a thousand lines began to emerge across his face as he became taught in the transformation. As my heart stopped, his forehead head began to slope backward and his eyes narrowed and slunk into that almond shape. His mouth now impossibly wide, the suggestion of a colossal roar stayed as a suggestion, thankfully, because I was probably not up for the power of Shiva as Jaguar. By transference, the language of this cat was now one of mine, and my body became increasingly one of a quadruped. The value of such a show understood, we subsided a little, Shiva now looking all of his hundreds of thousands of years, “just look after your human form” he says. “You too’ I think, and a vision of Shiva and my work as a healer in his time here on Earth, steals away the bliss and sets the heart off into the next encounter with Mescalito.

Folks, the whole day was like this, and I could try to bring it all to paper, but what is more important is to try to express the nature of how we learn from nature. Across the ages, Shiva and I have fought and often inflicted monumental karma and chaos through our humanity. No different than the fights in which we all engage in this life; one does not have to be an armored Knight in the Crusades or a Warrior in the great battles to be active in creating Karma of consequence. I have seen my brother Shiva beside himself with grief and exhausted from the effort of healing and protecting the healings of so many of us powerful people of the West. And we are powerful. In robbing the world of its indigenous laws and the medicines and spirituality of its customs, our ancestors have left us with an enormous responsibility. However, the window to the wisdom of the Heart is wide open at this time, and those brave enough to ask to be shown their keeper-ship, will never be left without the support of Nature to carry out the role and the work that comes with it. You will never be asked to do more than you are capable of. But, yes it has its dangers. These can all be managed by healers like V and Shiva. There are portals opening all the time and if you investigate them with clarity and reverence to the force that you will encounter, then much can be seen. For me, to see the wasted energies that are part of our fight against our true nature is motivation enough to look deeper at the illusion of our enemies. I find my self ever present at the coal-face, and work at bringing my heart quickly to this moment.

At Dragons Veins, my lessons became about the protection of space. The enormity of Shivas reach has brought me the highest privilege of assisting him in his healing work, and for this I have been shown much, and quickly. To become the consciousness of Jaguar, with all its snarling, roaring, and stalking is beyond what I could nave ever believed possible. To be able to use this spirit to protect the sacred healings that occurred at the waterfall that day was Mescalitos will. Fierce catlike snarls, arriving unexpectedly, faced up to energies beginning to become attracted to the forces at work, some looking for vulnerabilities to prey on. Later, I would hold space, again with my hands working as antennae and my will being enough to protect the backs of my family. At times Shiva would come and move in behind us, as we descended the mountain in mist, night falling and the mischief of nights new spirits bolstered by our lack of protective fire in the jungles’ dusk. I could feel them and though having enjoyed Shivas confidence in me so far, was more than happy for him to have our backs. The constant seduction of the whispering and cajoling faeries and sirens of the mulch and moss, matched by the imposing language of these most magnificent tree spirits, and the important wisdom of ageless rocks, urging me to stop and listen and play, at one point pulling me into the under-story of a close by little bushel.

Crossing the high point of a ridge, a pack of wolves came in, and my reconnection of a dear friend was a moment of sweet love. Clearly at home, an elder of a large pack, she and I walked and talked, her as wolverine, me sometimes as Christopher, some times as Jaguar. Her pack sat just behind her for along way down, they in turn had her back too. I was so happy to find her domain and to know that she is with the spirits of her ancestors, and a capable and powerful spirit in her own world. Till next time, wolf girl.

Here, as Christopher, the carrier of Christ, I have stepped into a world of Shamanic principle. Here with San Pedro, I have can step out of the role of Christopher. Through out the day I was shown the consciousness of Anaconda, Condor, and, says Shiva, my strongest ally, the Eagle. Super conscious views from great heights were not as lucid as my experiences with Jaguar, though the visions of form, the weightless body, and attention to detail left no doubt as to the nature of the animal within. Anaconda brought my attention immediately to the healing and care that needs be present in my other life, with the expression of my sexuality again presenting obstacles to the path, and I need all my strength to travel it. The physicality of snake is seductive, and Shiva talked me down quickly, his ability to be right where you need him, again confirming the scale of his influence.

As it is the healing that is the most valuable gift of San Pedro, all phantasmagoria aside, my time, as Christopher, at the centre of the waterfall with Shiva as John the Baptist was monumental. The last kink in the obstruction that has held me from my capacity was ironed out, but the nature of its undertaking too personal to share here and now, but I will tell you about it when I see you. With presence and assistance from the Wise Goddess that is Durga, along with Lakshmi, whilst constantly engaged in her own magnificent healing, the four of us made our pact and shared a timeless reunion with all the tears, and laughter, howls and roars and love and light that is bearable. Beings like Shiva are not abundant, perhaps as a human, he is often just in it by himself. But friends, he is willingly in it up to his neck, and this tireless worker of light has all our backs, and not for the first time do I give thanks that this impossible man, is weaving for our side. To you Shiva, goes the grace of GOD.

By no means ancillary to this journey, goes the importance of the work we aim to do with our aboriginal kin at home. Pleasing was the communion with V and Shiva on this problem, the seed now firmly sown and the commitment we have made is solid. If we are to not be left stumbling blindly through the changes ahead of our race, then the medicines of our indigenous ancestors must be rediscovered and applied with the sacred rituals they were born from. V’s door is open, Shivas heart is lighting the path and we, as brothers and sisters, are free to choose the power of our life and the depth we will go along its way. If you are at a point where you know you can be more, but cant find the door through, San Pedro, amongst many things, is the Gatekeeper, and all you have to do is knock.

Aho Metakuye Oyasin

Christopher