The Hummingbird's Journey to God by Ross Heaven

Author:Ross Heaven
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978 1 84694 242 6
Publisher: O Books

Simon: The little things are often the biggest

‘I have been on what I would call a shamanic path since 2001 but I had never taken hallucinogenics before my trip to Peru,’ writes Simon, a businessman from Gibraltar in his late 30s who accompanied me on both my Magical Earth ayahuasca journey to the Amazon and my San Pedro journey to the Andes.

I was used to many extraordinary experiences in meditation but nothing, and no amount of reading, could have prepared me for what I was to experience during my two weeks in the rainforest with ayahuasca. I had woefully underestimated the strength of the brew during our last ceremony and realised just how much I had also underestimated the power and wisdom of the plants, and how much I was ‘in my head’ about all of this.

Because of these experiences, I decided to drink the bare minimum of San Pedro, with the intention of simply asking for a gentle healing. I drank just half a glass compared to everyone else who drank a whole one.

As it took effect, I was shown incidents from my teenage years. Revisiting them now was making me chuckle but I also purged into the grass, realising that my depression in my twenties and thirties had acted as a mask, making me forget so many good times growing up.

In my twenties I didn’t really have a girlfriend, not until I was 29; only a few one-night-stands and a brief fling, and this had got me down. San Pedro showed me, though, that even in these small relationships there were delicious moments which were worth savouring and remembering.

I knew I really wanted to purge my depression away – and the mask that had made me forget the good times – but I was conscious of not disturbing others and the big purge never came. Instead, I found myself sat by the most wonderful red, yellow, and orange plant. It wasn’t looking particularly different to how it would if I was not on San Pedro but what I realised was that I was (finally) so ‘out of my head’ and in the present moment that I was able to notice it in a way I never normally would, being so wrapped up in my thoughts. I saw detail I had never seen before and realised just how beautiful it was. In this, San Pedro gave me one of the most important insights of all: The little things are often the biggest.

I went for a slow walk around the flower bed, photographing each flower in detail. I remember thinking that I would never be able to really explain my mental state but maybe these photos, taken from each and every angle, sometimes not even looking at the screen, just trusting San Pedro with the shot, might somehow capture my feelings and the experience of San Pedro.

When I finally sat down again I knew I really had to purge this time. Miguel came over then, right on cue, and told me that if I drank water the purge would be effortless.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.