I had heard of the plant from friends who had taken it. I found their experiences varied and rather bizarre – but that was before I tried it myself.

Armando (who was out from Peru) agreed to provide us with dried cactus and guide us through what he called the gates of San Pedro. We started about 9am one Saturday by ingesting the plant and then once the nausea had passed (or been embraced) we embarked on a blindfolded meditation in which Armando took the group through each chakra from root to crown. At each chakra we visualized a colour, chanted a mantra, focused on the breath and movement which was unique to that chakra. The purpose was to facilitate opening and at each stage I could feel the energy swirling up until we reached the crown chakra at which stage it literally exploded “out” of the top of my head and my spirit soared up into the universe.

Silence, darkness and complete love and compassion surrounded me. I was not a separate entity but one with everything. I felt inseparable from the universe as if I was in fact the universe and I sensed an increased consciousness… an awareness that was total and unlimited (endless). I realised that everything I (me on this earth) had experienced up until this point in my life was not “real”… it’s like being in the matrix and then having the plug pulled and suddenly you have a “new” reality… it’s the realisation that life as we know it is in fact a manifestation produced by our consciousness (or the universal consciousness).

I believe now that we manifest ourselves on this and other planets to learn and grow spiritually. The earth is one of the fastest planets that we can grow spiritually and this is generally achieved through human “suffering” (once we step out of the victim archetype and into one where we embrace everything and believe that everything happens for a reason). But I digress…

Anyway, here I am in this “matrix space” and in truth just a little bit freaked out. So I start “looking” around in the blackness and start to see faint lights like distant hazy stars floating around (and I’m thinking “angels?”) and I start wondering if I can manifest my life on earth then why shouldn’t I be able to create a space anything and in that instant I heard a voice saying “welcome to Nirvana Lounge” and looking around see this bright and sunny pool like setting and there sits Armando and one of the other guys in our group (who was training to be a shaman like Armando). I stayed here for a while laughing and talking in the sunshine and then later when I was calmer decided to go back. Instantly I was back in “space” at one with the universe… slowly I felt the tug / urge to return and simultaneously felt the fear of going back to an existence that was not real… I saw my life on earth through a window… me sitting blindfolded on the floor… the group in the room… my life playing out before me but without me… did I want to go back?… could I stay?... but what would happen to me here?... I felt I had to return - but how… I started to get a bit panicky and then I heard a voice in my head (Armando) saying “breathe” and so I did and next thing I felt my body around me… the aches from sitting too long in one position, the sound of my breath… and all my senses felt attuned and alive.

It was a truly awakening experience, one that I will strive to attain without the aid of mescaline (which San Pedro is). It took some time to process the information I gained from my “trip” but I am grateful for the knowledge and the experience.