The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

An entheogen is a psychoactive substance, such as a plant medicine or mushroom, that is used in religious or spiritual context (ie. Sacred Ceremony) to induce an altered or expanded state of consciousness. 

The word Entheogen derives from the Greek language. "En" means inside. "Theos" means God. "Genesthai"  means to come into being or generate. In plain words, entheogen means to realize God within yourself. 

In a Sacred Ceremony, these plants are ingested to help us realize the Divine within ourselves. This is what is referred to as, "Doing the Great Work." In these experiences for healing and insight, we can unlock deeper understanding of ourselves, our universe, and our purpose here in this life.

In ancient times, tribes would gather together in community and consume entheogens for healing. In many cases, these substances were used for initiation into a new phase of life such as adulthood. 

There are many types of Entheogens and Sacred Plant Medicines, but common ones include Cannabis, Ayahuasca, Psilocybin Mushroom, Peyote, and San Pedro. These plants have been used for thousands of years for spiritual connection and insight. These plant allies can, in a very experiential way, help us with our spiritual growth and understanding. 

The ancient mystery schools had "Know Thyself" over the doorway to the entrance. Using Sacred Plant Medicines is one of the available avenues that can help us dive deeper into ourselves when used in a safe, comfortable setting with the proper mindset. This is what Set & Setting means when working with entheogens. 

It is of utmost importance that anyone using these substances be in a safe, comfortable space, have the proper guidance, and do the preparatory work to ensure the best mindset possible going into the experience. 

It is important for all of us to understand that there many ways to achieve a deep, spiritual experience. Working with entheogens and sacred plant sacraments are one way. Many spiritual seekers have accomplished the connection to the divine and altered states of consciousness through meditation, breath work, Yoga, and dreaming, to name a few. 

Entheogens have always worked their way into many people's lives in one way or another. In the United States and other countries, these plant medicines are not legal so many individuals have had to resort to "breaking the law" to achieve these altered states of consciousness. 

The individual could carry that, "I'm breaking the Law" ideal into their experience. Not only that, but many people are taking these substances in a recreational manner (parties, unfamiliar spaces and people, improper diet, overly stressed mind) that is not conducive to having the best experience possible; especially for a beginner having their first experience. 

This is where education is important and more resources should be made available for safe use of these very powerful plant spirits.

The Sacred Ceremony is an intentional way of creating a safe setting for the explorer of consciousness. Usually the individual can get to know the space and the people before adventuring into an altered state. This helps the participants feel comfortable enough to "let go" or surrender to the effects of the medicine. I can't stress this enough. Feeling safe allows you the ability to go deeper into the experience. 

In a Sacred Ceremony there are always people there who are more experienced with working with these plant medicines and their psychoactive effects. These individuals can "hold space" for others while they work through the "getting well" process of the experience. These more experienced people act as guardians for those who are newer to the experience, adding to their sense of safety. 

Usually there is a "leader" of a Sacred Plant Medicine Ceremony. I've heard this person referred to as Padrino/Madrino (respectively), Medicine man or woman, Maestro, or Shaman. This person's presence can be very important for the entire experience acting as a guide and protector of all the participants. Usually this person is the most experienced with being in the "Spirit World" or other realms that become obvious when working with these sacred medicines.

You can think of a ceremony as being within a protected circle where you can feel safe enough to experience the fullness of your journey. 

If you are going to participate in a deep, spiritual experience with plant medicines, there are a few ways that you can set yourself up for success and a "good work."

1) Start a dietary cleanse. Consume more colorful plants and herbal teas. Drink more water. Consider cutting out inflammatory, heavy foods such as process foods (seed oils), meat, coffee, heavy fats, sugars, and dairy. 

2) Meditate. Learn how to sit still, relax, and tune into your heart. This focusing of the mind can be a good preparatory tool and has the benefit of you getting some extra rest. Being able to calm yourself down (especially the mind) is a wonderful thing to learn in general and a great tool to bring into ceremony.

3) Set intentions. Why are you doing this? What do you want to discover? What do you want to know about yourself? Setting intentions is asking questions about your existence. Who am I? What am I doing here? What is my purpose? 

Setting your intentions for your experience is you taking responsibility for your experience and your life path. The medicine knows what experience you need to realize your highest good, but we should also communicate what we want from our experience. Write down your intentions and, if possible, speak them out loud before going into Sacred Ceremony. This is your life. It does not happen to you, it happens for you. Be the co-creator of your experience. 

4) Pay attention to your emotional state and learn to be gentle with yourself. No matter what emotion you are going through (sadness, anger, joy,), learn to experience your emotions with more love and compassion for yourself and less judgement. Give yourself space to express your emotions in the most positive way possible. This is cultivating emotional maturity and will be very useful in a Sacred Ceremony.

It is best to come into these experiences with no expectations. You have already set your intentions.  Now we arrive with a beginners mindset every time. Each experience is different, but always relevant to the person having the experience. 

The Plant Medicine experience can be disorienting, but you will remember your experience. It is important to take part in community integration or "the sharing" immediately following your ceremony. This important part of ceremony can help reveal parts of your own journey by hearing another person speak about their own experiences. 

When we journey into altered states of consciousness, we can expect to meet ourselves. Sometimes, this encounter can be the very first time we actually experience who we are in the most authentic way. 

It is important to trust the process and surrender to whatever comes up for you. In some cases, the experience can be unsettling and shake the foundation of what we have held as belief systems in our life. Always know that whatever you experience is to your benefit, for your highest good, and for the purpose of "Know Thyself." 

I believe that we all want to be happy and live a purpose-filled life. Working with entheogens can help us understand the truth about ourselves and lead us toward that life that we desire. When we get to know ourselves below the surface layer of reality, we can start the process of trusting ourselves. This is one step closer to being able to love ourselves truly as we are. Once we have attained that trust and love for ourselves, we can then offer it to others as a gift. 

If you feel the call to explore your consciousness with the help of sacred plant medicines, there is a reason. Many times there awaits a message or experience that the plant would like to offer you. This message or experience will be to your benefit. 

Overcoming Trauma

Many people are participating in these ceremonies because of the research being done that shows these plants have the ability to help people overcome a range of ailments including PTSD, depression, and chronic anxiety. There are many stories of miraculous healing that occurs because of a spiritual breakthrough one experiences during their journey. Others report full recovery over a short period of time following the ceremony. Many are reporting that the experience takes them to the root cause of the suffering so that they can heal from whatever lies there. 

When traumas occur in our life, we can have the ability to embody them and forget. But the body never truly forgets about them. The traumas only sink into the subconscious or unconscious state of our being and usually, at the most inconvenient times, can wreak havoc on our lives. These buried traumas can manifest as blocks in our life that do not allow us to experience loving relationships, goodness, success, and abundance. This can occur because the conscious part of our identity (the Ego) wants to protect us from ever having those traumatic experiences again. 

This is something that we are learning to pay attention to and, with the help of our plant allies, we can uncover these traumas and resolve them. Therefore, they no longer have any effect or power over our lives. 

Detoxing The System

Everything is energy and science has proven that different energies vibrate at different frequencies. This is easy to understand when referencing the difference between hot and cold water. The activity (vibration) of the water molecules is experienced differently when our skin is exposed to hot or cold water. 

We are more than just a physical system so when we work with plant entheogens, the body is activated by these medicines at a cellular level and our vibration increases. Lower density vibrations that exist in our system will not be in alignment with this higher vibration. This can expose these lower, dense vibrations and we can experience them in a few different ways. Sometimes we have to overcome a fear or false belief. Sometimes we can get physically ill (nausea, hot/cold flashes, throwing up, diarrhea). This is the cleansing or "getting well" process. 

Many Shamans will tell that each person will be cleansed by the elements: earth, air, water, fire and spirit. A person will experience one or more of these cleanses during their journey.

• Earth - throwing up or bowel movement, body shakes, movement, or shivering
• Air - yawning, coughing, sneezing, deep breathing, holding the breath, passing gas
• Water - Sweating, throwing up, diarrhea, excessive saliva, crying
• Fire - Hot/cold flashes, fever-type symptoms, feeling cold
• Spirit - visions of cleansing, changing, transformation, "seeing/feeling the light"

This is your whole system detoxifying itself. In with the good, out with the bad. 

Messages and Breakthroughs

Many stories report that these sacred plants have the ability to connect us to other entities, beings, or spirits that will deliver a breakthrough or message that will benefit our path forward in life. Encountering these "others" during a medicine journey can be a little unsettling because it shakes the foundation of our belief system. However, I believe there is a part of us that knew all along that we are more than what we seem to be on the surface. We are more than what we have been told. It's time to know the truth.

Overcoming Fear & Death

The ability of these medicines to help overcome fears, even the fear of death, is absolutely amazing. Many scientific experiments report that therapeutic work with entheogens can help terminally ill people overcome the anxiety of facing death. 

From my experience, every time I face a fear during ceremony, there is a beautiful gift of truth on the other side. There is nothing to do accept face it, honor it, and release it. When you learn to pay honor and love to fear instead of letting it consume you, you level up. 

It is said that the medicine takes you to the edge of death to show you your own perceived limitations in life.  The limitation will manifest as a fear. When we successfully overcome that fear with love, we grow and expand in our being and consciousness.

When we overcome the fear of death, we can really start to fully live. 

The truth is that we are multi-dimensional, spiritual beings that have access to all realms of consciousness. The plants only act as helpers that remind us of who we really are. 

The most important part of the Entheogen experience is the integration of the experience into your day to day life. 

The most important part (and can be the most difficult) is the indefinite period of time following the sacred ceremony.

It has become a calling of mine to educate people on the process of working with sacred plant medicines. I believe in the power of these substances to change people's lives for the better. I believe that proper use can even save life by helping people see their traumas from an elevated, objective perspective. 

However, my experience with Ayahuasca (my first ever entheogen experience) really shook every belief system I had ever held in my life. When I got home, I realized nothing about my day-to-day life was coherent with all these revelations that I had during my medicine experience. I had no idea what to do about it. I had no direction. I was in a completely different world. I was lost. This can be a dangerous place for a human being to find themselves in. After some time, my integration experience made more sense, but I would highly suggest a few immediate practices to help you integrate your experience more safely and gently.

Depending on the depth of the experience, integration of the plant medicine experience can be from a few weeks to a year or more. This can't be expressed enough, but here are some important practices to put into action immediately following an impactful, entheogen experience.

• Some breakthrough experiences can leave us feeling very emotionally vulnerable as we continue our process into our daily lives as members of this society. It is tremendously important to be gentle with yourself and pay attention to your mind-body-spirit wellness. Get extra rest when you need it. If you are feeling particularly stressed at any time, take a time out! Sit still and breathe! Life doesn't ever stop moving, but sometimes we need to stop moving and allow our emotions to process and balance out.
• Talk to like-minded people, minister, or a counselor about your experience and what/how you are feeling after the ceremony. Do not isolate yourself unless you feel a calling to do so. Surround yourself with positive people who will listen and hold space for you to express yourself. Most of our breakthroughs will happen after the ceremony is over. Talking with others allows us to process what happened during the spiritual experience and see how it applies to our day-to-day existence.
• Allow the process to take time! Not everything has to make sense immediately. In many cases, time will allow your experiences to become interwoven into your day-to-day routines OR your routines will change to become more coherent with your hopes, dreams, and desires. 
• Adopt a healthy meditation practice! This is extremely important. Carve out time to hold space for yourself and allow your revelations to unravel and see how they can fit into your life. 
• Life may need to modify after a medicine experience. You might find that the people, places, and things in your life may need to change in some way. Be gentle with yourself and handle these changes with as much grace and compassion as possible. But handle them! Don't ignore the need for this evolution and allow resistance to gain the upper hand. Be graceful and move!

There is a huge need for places like Poseidon Spiritual Healing Center and spiritual integration services. The sacred plant medicines are playing a huge role in the evolution of our consciousness as a human collective. More than ever before, there is a need for safe, sacred space for people to go and integrate their experiences with like-minded people.  

If there is anything to take away from this article, it is this. You can set yourself up for success by preparing for the after before you even go to a ceremony. All of these steps (preparation, ceremony, and integration) are important to give your attention. Please reach out to us for any reason with questions so we can provide you with preparation, guidance, or integration services!

You are not alone.