face another session. But he would say, “Good! You’re sick! That – and the fact that you can’t face the healing you need – is exactly why you need to drink it! Get your coat and let’s go!”
At the time it was agony, but now I know he was right and drinking all that San Pedro was the best thing that happened to me. I saw all the bad things in my life in a new light and was able to let them go. I cleared whole lifetimes in those years, and I learned so much about San Pedro and healing too.
I still work with Ruben and I hope I always will. But he has softened a little now and no longer demands that I drink every week.
He is an ‘old school’ shaman, though, isn’t he, with lots of ritual as part of his ceremonies – the singado and contrachisa, etc. Did he teach you that too?
Oh yes. But I never felt comfortable with those rituals and Ruben agreed that I should work differently, especially as I was now healing many Westerners who didn’t really understand the rituals anyway. San Pedro guided me and said I should keep things simple. So now I say a prayer to open the ceremony and then as much as possible allow San Pedro to do its work without me getting in its way.
I do sometimes use tobacco in ceremonies though, but not the singado [tobacco leaf macerated in honey and alcohol which many shamans ask participants to snort into their nostrils to clear negative energies]; just tobacco smoke. It is good to blow the smoke over people if they are going through a tough time or have stuck energy somewhere within them. The smoke frees it up.
I also use agua florida [a plant-based perfume with healing properties] to balance people’s