THE PURGE

Before doing the Ayahuasca medicine, we were required to cleanse ourselves from the dense energies of our daily lives. This entailed using a tea of Amazonian tobacco to induce vomiting. The vomiting creates an opening to the flow of energy within our body's core. When a person resists vomiting or isn't able to vomit, this signals the healers that they have a powerful psycho-somatic or mental block in their chakras around solar plexus, heart and throat.

The ceremony was very simple. We each sat around the edge of the Maloca inside on foam cushions. We each had tissue, a bucket and two one liter plastic bottles of water. Eda's brother, Javier, who is the Ayahuascero, brought us the tobacco tea in stainless steel cups, half full. We were told to drink down the tea in one gulp, then follow with as much water as we could drink. This sequence begins the vomiting process. The tobacco tea has an absolutely horrible flavor! After the first purge, we had to continue drinking water until we purged again, due to being overly full of water, until we'd finished both liters. 

I was surprised at the strength of the tea, not just in it's horrible flavor, but in it's medicinal effects. After my first purge all my muscles relaxed to the point that I had trouble sitting up straight. I became very dizzy as well. Eda said I did very well, that I vomited easily and in large quantities. Isn't that lovely!

After purging everything out I lay down on my cushions. By this point the macaw had walked over to my area. While there he tried to climb the walls, which didn't work, so he climbed up onto my cushions and started falling asleep. I lay my head down near his little, strong black feet and slept a little. Later, when I experience my Ayahuasca journey, I am happy that one of my first visions is of the macaws eye looking at me. 

By the time I had the strength to move and eat again it was 4pm and we had five hours until the main ceremony.

I felt very cleaned out!