Silly(c)One said:
- What country
- Retreat name if willing to give a direct reference
- Shaman type (maybe specific tribe/tradition they folow?)
- # people in the ceremony
- Roles of non tripping people (some seem to have shaman and other 'healers' or caretakers)
- Specific things shaman or others did to help you with the experience
- Any person healing stories (ie goal of participation in the ceremony and result)
- was music used? If so what kind (ie drums, singing, etc.
Canada
The Maestro was of Mestizo heritage, and had worked extensively with Peruvian Ayahuasca traditions from Mestizo, Quechua and Shipibo lineages.
There were about 15 people in the ceremony. One western lady was acting as his assistant. Everyone ingested the brew. The Maestro requested the participants to not talk, or touch each other.
The ceremony was held as night fell, in a round yurt in a rural area, under conditions of darkness. As the brew took effect, the Maestro used a drum, one of those shaker things, and sang Icaros. Some participants he called up, either to give them more Ayahuasca, perform some kind of extra healing/song on them, or just to check in about how their journey was going. Before the ceremony started, everyone was asked to state their name and their reason for coming (or if there was some special healing they hoped for, they could ask for it at that time). He also smoked Mapacho tobacco during the ceremony, and used the smoke to smudge both the brew and participants before they drank.
I was mostly going into the ceremony just to experience the difference between a home brew taken alone, and a more traditional session with a shaman/curandero/maestro, plus to reaquaint myself with DMT in a gentler plant-based brew, after a rough trip from smoking DMT a couple years before that had left me fairly traumatized.
I enjoyed hearing the Icaros during the ceremony, and to have a first-hand understanding of a facilitated session, since many people say it's the "real deal" and that drinking/brewing on your own just isn't the same, or that they would never consider taking Ayahuasca without a shaman. Although, I bet drinking the brew in the jungle is something else again!
For me personally, after the session I decided that I feel more comfortable doing the brewing and preparation myself. I enjoyed the cultural aspect of drinking with a Maestro, but I found the presence of other people distracted me from fully engaging with the brew. I also found the brew we drank to be very heavy on the caapi, and light on chacruna. I had harmala intoxication so bad that even hours after drinking, when other people were going to sleep and the Maestro had stopped singing, I could barely stumble my way to the door to go visit the outhouse. I would have been happy to do the brewing myself, because then I could choose exactly which plants and the ratios in which to combine them.