What a wonderful, profound, experience. Thank you for sharing. Which part of the world was the ceremony in?

I am not massively experienced with ayahuasca ceremonies, having participated less than ten times. Two ceremonies (my first experience) with a western 'shaman', another few led by someone who was not a shaman, and the last two on my own. Music has been a part of all of these ceremonies, but I have never experienced icaros sung by a genuine, indigenous, shaman, or a ceremony led by one, but I do have friends who have experienced this, both in Peru, and Europe, and they all say that the singing of the icaros change and amplify the experience in unfathomable ways.

I feel these people are connected to the true energy of the plants that unlock all of this magic in our minds, and their experience allows them to feel what we need from our journey, and guide us accordingly.

During my solo ceremonies, I played icaros from a playlist I had made, but obviously I had no idea what the icaros meaning, or when a shaman might use these, so while it was good for providing a setting that felt right, it was simply a lucky dip, with no connection to my actual journey.

It does feel strange to me that many folk seem to believe there is no difference between pharmahuacsa and ayahuasca, extracted DMT from synthetic, or even between using caapi vine and syrian rue in a tea. From my understanding, the knowledge gained by the ayahuascero comes from their work with different plants, both as a dieta, and during ceremonies themselves, so it makes sense to me that experiences led by folk such as these are going to open doors and reveal things that people making their own teas, or pharmahuasca, or whatever, are far less likely to discover on their own, or with the guidance of a 'shaman' who does not have this kind of deep experiental knowledge.

I'm not sure disrepsectful is the right word, but I do find it strange hearing people treating any kind of oral DMT experience as just a boost to play video games, or talk random bollocks in a chat room with.

I very much want to go to the jungle in Peru and experience an authentic ceremony with someone who has been immersing themselves in the plants and medicine their whole life.