Greetings!

[Arkestrate]

Hey all, I'm a psy artist (painter) from somewhere in central Europe. A few days ago I ran across this wonderful place. I was nicely impressed to see some great artists posting here, and since I know the value of good company, I thought I'd join right up

A little background: I love psychedelics, especially natural, traditional ones. Once I learned about Ayahuasca I knew I had to try it, and lo and behold, it's actually legal and available over in the Netherlands. Went over several times, (4 or 5 so far) and plan to go many more.

Friends I made there also invited me to go with them to my first psy festival (Boom 2012) and from then on I was 100% on board with this tribe. I truly believe these medicines have great potential for us all as a society, and we are the exploratory party, it's on us to show how they can be used constructively, responsibly, to live love and thrive.

More personally, I think for artists they can open a whole universe of perception, observation and insight that's inaccessible otherwise. As such I plan to relocate to some country where psychs are legal (probably Netherlands) so I can practice my art in peace.

Here's some of my stuff:

The first wall (second image from the bottom) is what I'm working from right now. I also do digital, but didn't want to make my intro post too long.

Very glad to be here, hope you like my work

 

[brokenChild]

I really like your artwork, thanks for sharing :roll:

 

[!Xabbu]

Hello Pletorate,

You found the Art Galery already I guess. I think there are some problems with the uploading to it atm but I could imagine that you may be able to upload some of your art there too.

submit work for new Nexus art gallery!

The Boom is one Festival I believe I would love to visit too next Year. How did the Aya find you in the Netherlands (I don't mean sourcing) ? Was it like a retreat or just friends or .. ?

Welcome to the Nexus !

 

[Arkestrate]

Not sure if this will be my name for long, right after making the first post I was filled with much choice-of-username remorse and am now considering a change request :lol:

In the Netherlands the Aya is legal for all member of the Santo Daime church. Press Translate for English. Very nice people. Great ceremony, 30-40 eur a pop. Learned so much from those events it's ridiculous :thumb_up:

Loved the Cura and Concentration ceremonies, will go again many times. Hated the Dance Works with a passion. Nevar again. I know others might find them great, I want nothing to do with them ever, in this life nor the next.

Going again in December, also hope to move there for longer. Love the bikes girls awesome people.

 

[!Xabbu]

Guess a change would be possible, though only by the Traveler.

Thanks for the Information. Interesting but the programme is really confusing to me. Concentration and Cura I see.. But the other ones ? Are they all Aya sessions ? Are the Churches all located in Amsterdam ?

 

[Arkestrate]

You have to mail and ask, I don't know all of them either. Practice evening they just gather and practice the songs, no Aya. Some ceremonies are only for more advanced members (Fardados) and so they're not open to first timers.

If you read the site a bit more in detail it should be pretty clear. There are two groups. The one in Amsterdam is larger, bigger church, I went there my first time. Great Aya, I thought I literally died and moved on from this life. Was genuinely surprised 15-20 min later when I opened my eyes and I was still alive and well, in church. Maybe I'll write a trip report at some point. Also threw up there, and that was the only time I threw up from Aya. They have buckets prepared so didn't make a mess or anything weird. If it happens it happens. Might have been my fault as well because I ran on an empty stomach before a ceremony, which is specifically advised against. My fault for being late. This group, if they smoke cannabis in church they do so in joints, which I can't do much with as I'm a non-smoker.

The second group is in The Hague, and personally this is the group I prefer. Smaller church smaller group, more intimate. The Aya seemed (at least to me) to be softer, I never threw up from it, though I didn't think I died either If and when they smoke cannabis they do so from two great glass vaporizer bongs placed straight on the church altar, for righteous bong rips of awesome. :thumb_up:

If any members are in Europe, anywhere near the Netherlands or within reasonable travel distance, I highly recommend this church. It's inexpensive, legal, great set&setting, fantastic brew. I went into it depressed, hung up on some girl or problem, every time I came out feeling sweet for weeks and months. The Santo Daime music is amazing. I truly believe it has changed and improved subsequent trips on other psychedelics, making me less likely to have bad trips. If anybody has addiction or depression issues, and generally just wants a health and mood and wisdom boost, traveling to any of these churches is well worth it.

I know the most popular way to take Aya is with a Peruvian shaman, and I plan to do that as well, but Santo Daime is very much an amazing experience as well.

 

[!Xabbu]

Thank you for the Information,
So i see there are two chapters in different cities. Amsterdam and den Hague. Why is it just 2 churches? Guess there are not enough people interested. How did you organize this retreat ? I don't believe you went to amsterdam for just a ceremonie ? Given the circumstances at a ceremonie it will run into the night and maybe I would have the opportunitie to chill with some people afterwards but at some point I would need a room to stay, right ? Or did you drive home the same evening ? From where I am I could find relative cheap drive communities to Amsterdam. It's from 16-25 € for one route and to den Haag it's 22 Pounds. Guess one could stay in a hostel and enjoy that beautiful city some more, the amsterdam park is a bit too could now for my taste.
I'll definately research this in more depth. Maybe I get a visit organized for december or january..

Thx again, this looks like an incredible adventure to me in so many aspects..

 

[Arkestrate]

Why would you need more than two? It's about 200-300 people by my estimates at this time, possibly more. The Venhuizen church (north of Amsterdam) is really large and could hold large gatherings. The one in THe Hague is smaller, but still not too crowded by any means, as the group going there is smaller.

First time I went there with Couchsurfing, which I recommend you check out as well. And yes I did go for the Ayahuasca. It took 2 international flights (via Italy) to get there, and in fact all of my 5 visits took that. And it was well worth it. If you can go for 25 eur I would start doing this regularly. But don't take my word for it, just go once you'll figure out the rest for yourself

First time I went there and stayed with 2 Couchsurfing hosts. One of them noticed I was into psychs and I was an artist, and told me to come with his group to Boom later that year. Big life changer right there. Then I found out one of my high school colleagues live in NL and when she's out of the country traveling, she's now letting me house sit for her, take care of plants and that kind of stuff. So that's my current arrangement mostly.

However I would like to meet & join some sort of art commune if I could, to spend time working with fellow artists, as that's much more productive for all involved.

 

[!Xabbu]

Closer to the Border would have been nice. Couchsurfing is an option I haven't thought about.
How did you experience the religious aspect of these "meditations". Are you religious ?

If you can go for 25 eur I would start doing this regularly

Yeah there is definately no reason to not at least try it once..

 

[Arkestrate]

I thought this Santo Daime business was well known and documented in a place like the Nexus. If that's not the case I will make a dedicated thread explaining how I got there and how it went for me. Especially since it was mostly positive and I do recommend this for others, I believe other members from around Europe might be interested.

My experience in short: at first I was worried about the Christian influences in SD (I come from a Christian country but I am profoundly non-Christian and even anti-Christian, bored and annoyed by what I consider utter superstitions and dogma, surrounded in boring useless mindless rituals). I'm all for religious tolerance, but I'm convinced Christianity and the other Abrahamic faiths have had a great part to play in psychedelics being legal.

So to answer your question no I am not exactly religious, at least not Christian, nor am I fond of any of the Abrahamic religions. As such I wasn't psyched to find these people singing about Jesus and Mary and Joseph, but my curiosity about Aya was much stronger than the mild nuisance of doing it among Christians.

That being said they sing in Portuguese and speak in Dutch, so once you close your eyes you can very much pretend you're in an Egyptian ritual, or off-planet somewhere :lol: Anyway once the Aya kicks in, I found everything turns into the Great Fractal, endless spinning stars and galaxies that are all singing, what I call the Grand Symphony.

What I've come to appreciate tremendously, is the high quality tripping music made in that church. I don't know if it sounds like much before experiencing it in ceremony, but after that this sounds absolutely awesome.

The ceremony I believe is extremely important and effective. I've tried for instance a high dose of psilocybin mushrooms with MAO inhibitors, and the "feeling" was somewhat close to Aya, but lacking the amazing ceremony that's available in church, the trip was much less memorable. I'm pretty sure if someone made that Santo Daime group ceremony on shrooms+MAO, the experience would be comparable to an Aya trip.

Highly recommended way to try Aya for the first time. I can say that even months later that music stays with you, balancing your body and mind, it's as if all your cells and molecules are split, dispersed and music can flow between them, cleansing everything. I've felt "ripples" from my Aya experiences in subsequent LSD or mushroom trips, so there's certainly a long term element that sticks there.

 

[!Xabbu]

I did a search but found the information scattered around the nexus.. Not that much in depth as what you told me, especially about european chapters. Thx !
The religious dogma is what I got sensible about too.. But now listening to it, it sounds sweet.. Wow.. I just won't stand and dance. But I will contact them maybe tomorrow and ask about the when where and hows.

so once you close your eyes you can very much pretend you're in an Egyptian ritual, or off-planet somewhere Laughing

Haha :d nice analogy

Anyway once the Aya kicks in, I found everything turns into the Great Fractal, endless spinning stars and galaxies that are all singing, what I call the Grand Symphony.

Wonderful !

 

[Arkestrate]

Started a psy t-shirt yesterday, here's what I've got so far

This is one is another one I made for myself

Is there an art thread in the Welcome area, where I can post these?