I had the opportunity to spend last weekend co-creating a huachuma ceremony with a few friends. Huachuma, or San Pedro (Saint Peter), is a cactus from South America which contains a good amount of mescaline. In comparaison , Peyote also contains mescaline, while Ayahuasca contains DMT. I compare it to Ayashuasca since it has gain a lot of popularity in the last few years, and the ceremonies have quite a lot in common. Aldous Huxley has experimented extensively with mescaline and has had quite a positive healing experience. The effect of huachuma is fairly gentle compared to magic mushroom, ayahuasca or salvia divinarium. But it last for over 12 hours. There is little hallucination, and the effect is generally more of an emotional release and openeness. You see reality from a different perspective. The medicine has its ways to bring about the some deeply seated trauma to the surface, if it's what is needed. Everyone experience it in a different way but often a sense of greater connection to everyone is felt. Nausea is rare but can occure. The worst part of the ceremony is genrally the taste and the texture. Although not as disgusting as Ayahuasca, the goey liquid seems to stay in your mouth forever. My first encounter with Huachuma, was in an electronic music festival called Space Gathering. I was organizing the 'temple' and offering yoga meditation and thai massage. Huachuma enhance most healing practices. It brings you in a more compasionate relation to others. One core element of Thai Massage is metta, or 'Loving Kindness.' The mix experience of Huachuma and Thai massage was quite profound. This last weekend, we were only 5 participants. In previous circles, we could be up to 35 peoples. So the experience what quite personalized. We experiemented with Huachuma and other practices of music, sound healing, druming and yoga nidra. It was spontaneous, creative and quite a refreshing take on a medecine I've been eploring for many years now. Practicing yoga while on Huachuma reminds me of practicing yoga in the dream world. There is a depth added to the practice that is hard to reach normally. As if you would be doing yoga after meditating for a few days. As I am reflecting on the last weekend exploration, I'm already excited to think about where we could go with such exploration. I was shy to play more music this time (I played a bit of drum, flute and dumbek,) I will bring my synth and sample next time to support further the process. Chi Kung and dance are also in the plan, filling a weekend with ceremonies, dream, yoga nidra and music. I'll report back on where I go with this!