collapse module

rebecca~rose

offline 121 friends
joined on 03/10/04
last updated 06/06/09
collapse module

roots and shoots

Gender
Female
Age
29
Location
about me
what if every word we spoke birthed an entire universe?
You are not connected to rebecca~rose
want to grow your network?
view more
collapse module

how to make a change

if we want to see changes first of all we need to be in peace inside ourselves, and then we need to be patient with the ones that have not yet arrived in that place of peace.

margaret behan — red spider woman

collapse module

fellow farmers

view all 121
collapse module

flowers, blossoms and blooms

Unsu...
 
June 13, 2008
<img src="i274.photobucket.com/albums/...ater.jpg
clearwater.jpg">

just found this beautiful photo of rebecca ! :)
February 8, 2008
this woman, this spirit earth sister . . . she has helped to change my life. Her calm wisdom, her quiet strength. Her capacity to Love. I will never forget how blessed I am to have met her and become a part of her life and her a part of mine. We are connected and we share beautiful truths. Aya is our mother and she is still teaching us. I love you Rebecca!
February 17, 2006
Rebecca is one of the most intelligent and spiritually grounded person I have met. Her poetry is amazing and she has the gift of making those around her feel special. I am glad to have made friends with her. She has definitely opened up my eyes to a lot of different things, musically, spiritually, and intellectually.
November 28, 2005
Rebecca is one of the most talented and prolific writers I have the honor and pleasure to read. She WILL touch you - - if not, then you cannot be touched.
July 6, 2005
THE poet among poets. Her soft, sensitive nature comes shining through in her poetry. May you always find your Muse, Rebecca!
view all 5
collapse module

recent love receptacles

Re: ayahuasca and money (in Ayahuasca) love this post, that's right the aya just wants her work to be done, and in this day and age, money is definatly involved...thanks for this..
discussion post on Tue, June 23, 2009 - 4:53 PM
Beautiful Secluded Hilltop Home ( for sale » other ) Located in Williams, Oregon.

Incredible views of surrounding mountain... read more
listing posted Mon, June 22, 2009 - 1:54 PM
Re: Anyone know anything about Ajos Sacha? (in Ayahuasca) my first dieta was with ajo sacha.

it was suggested to me for focusing my mind and motivating me and everytime i drank it, i coughed up stuff that had been sitting in my lungs for YEARS.

you use the bark of root of the female plant and if ... read more
discussion post on Tue, June 16, 2009 - 9:54 PM
Re: an organized retreat to Peru... (in Ayahuasca) same here.
discussion post on Sat, June 13, 2009 - 4:16 PM
Re: Colosseum (in Ayahuasca) david,

it's not nice to plagerize my thoughts like that.
discussion post on Thu, June 11, 2009 - 8:02 PM
Re: natives arrested: does anyone have more info on this? (in Amazonistas) ,,,or this:

www.livinginperu.com/news-92...-clashes
discussion post on Sun, June 7, 2009 - 10:29 AM
Re: Colosseum (in Ayahuasca) i've been stimulating your hypothalamus with my magic walking stick.
discussion post on Sun, June 7, 2009 - 8:56 AM
view all 28
collapse module

precious prayer..

i have decided to stop worrying all the time. my heart's much better at creating dreams and precious visions than the mind ever will be. this life is for love in all its glory, and i am a warrioress of this force forever.

collapse module

outpour



LIMA - Peruvian lawmakers suspended a controversial law that eased restrictions on lumber harvesting in the Amazon rain forest, days after it sparked clashes between police and indigenous protesters, killing dozens of people.

The legislature agreed by a 59 to 49 vote to suspend Decree 1090 -- dubbed the "Law of the Jungle" -- that covers forestry and fauna in Peru's northeastern Amazon rain forest, said Javier Velasquez, the head of Peru's single-chamber Congress.

[Natives set up a road block at the entrance of the Amazonian town of Yurimaguas, northern Peru. Peruvian lawmakers suspended a controversial law that eased restrictions on lumber harvesting in the Amazon rain forest, days after it sparked clashes between police and indigenous protesters, killing dozens of people. (AFP/Ernesto Benavides)]Natives set up a road block at the entrance of the Amazonian town of Yurimaguas, northern Peru. Peruvian lawmakers suspended a controversial law that eased restrictions on lumber harvesting in the Amazon rain forest, days after it sparked clashes between police and indigenous protesters, killing dozens of people. (AFP/Ernesto Benavides)
A decree related to governing private investment also was suspended.

The decrees are vehemently opposed by the approximately half-million Indians of 65 ethnic groups who live in the Peruvian jungle. The natives, who see the development of the jungle as an assault on their way of life, have been holding protests since April across the region.

The Amazon protest peaked Friday and Saturday when some 400 police officers moved in to clear protesters blocking a highway near the northern city of Bagua. Protesters fought back, then retaliated by killing police hostages.

According to the government, 25 police officers and nine Indian protesters died in the clashes. Protest leaders and media reports however insist the death toll is much higher.

The decrees were originally to be suspended for 90 days, but in the final vote legislators agreed on an indefinite suspension "to negotiate without pressure," said Aurelio Pastor, a legislator with President Alan Garcia's APRA party.

Both measures are among decrees issued in 2007 and 2008 by Garcia easing restrictions on mining, oil drilling, logging and farming in the Peruvian Amazon.

Garcia issued the laws when Congress granted him special powers to implement a free-trade agreement with the United States.

Angry legislators with the opposition Nationalist Party (PNP) called for the decrees to be overturned, and waved signs as they held a protest in the chamber after the vote.

"No to transnational (corporations) in the Amazon," read one sign. "The land and water are not for sale," read another.

The clashes were the bloodiest since the government's war in the 1980s and 1990s against the Shining Path, a violent Maoist insurgency, and the leftist Tupac Amaru guerrillas.

The vote suspending the decree is seen as a compromise allowing the government to resume talks with the protesting indigenous groups who have been blocking key regional highways, said spokesmen for legislators that voted for the measure.

The vote also comes on the eve of a strike called by the country's powerful leftist labor umbrella group, the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP).

CGTP leader Mario Huaman said there would be a protest march ending at the presidential palace in Lima to reject "the arrogant, intolerant, overbearing and discriminatory attitude of the government towards the Amazon communities."

Other protest marches, including those held by indigenous protesters in Amazon cities and towns, are planned in Peru's main cities.

"There is no justification at all for the protests" on Thursday, Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas said after the decrees were suspended.

Meanwhile some 3,000 Indians from 25 ethnic groups continue to block a key Amazon highway linking the cities of Tarapoto and Yurimaguas, some 700 kilometers (435 miles) north of Lima.

"We want an immediate derogation of those laws," said Segundo Pizango, an apu -- indigenous leader -- at a roadblock near Yurimaguas.

Another native leader, Kariajano Sandi, told AFP that he and his men will not lift the roadblock until the government definitively overturns the laws.

"We do not believe the government, they lie too much," said Sandi, surrounded by a group of his followers.

The repercussions of the violence have rocked the government, with Women's Affairs Minister Carmen Vildoso resigning Monday in protest over the government's crackdown.

The crisis even extended its reach to foreign affairs after Nicaragua granted political asylum to Alberto Pizango, the main indigenous protest leader, who earlier took refuge in Managua's embassy in Lima.

The Garcia administration has issued an arrest warrant for Pizango on charges of sedition, conspiracy and rebellion.
© 2009 AFP
posted by:
Mon, June 15, 2009 - 4:51 PM permalink - 1 comment
 
is no longer my body.
it belongs to your skin,
it has been lost by my soul and now lives in a locked place
surroundnding my heart
gasping at every beat

my body is no longer my body
it is infact OUR body
and stretches beyond the waves
and blades of ancient warriors
stronger since
i found the
curve of your
lips
and the mountain that lives
beneath your spirit
holding you up.

you are
the ultimate
lover
and i have not breathed
until now.

this is not my body.
it belongs to the space between us
to the giant of a voice
that told me
i would someday
find my heart
resting in the bed
of resiliant peace
that expands from the stars
in your eyes.
Thu, June 11, 2009 - 7:58 PM permalink - 4 comments
 
....kindness. May I be patience and hope. May I be healing. Even my enemies I will give my love." --Alice Dimicele
Sun, June 7, 2009 - 9:44 AM permalink - 0 comments
 
gamble everything for love,
if you're a true human being.

if not, leave this gathering.

half-heartedness does not
reach into majesty...

--rumi
Thu, May 28, 2009 - 7:00 AM permalink - 2 comments
 
finally you have come to me
in a form that is
real and fits just right with
the work
of my heart.

the dreams
of my soul.

in the garden of these dreams
i plant seeds from centuries past

may it blossom roses
one petal each decade

may you know
the inner work
of my spirit
more intimately
than any other

and may you always touch
gently
the gasp
of wind
that enters my body
at the sight of your
gentle face
and the pools of clarity
patiently waiting
in the precious
jewels of your eyes.

i am yours to be had
in a way that you have only dreamed
you can have a woman
wrapped a thousand times around your heart
and a thousand more tomorrow

we have only just begun,
my love.

may all your days
be filled with the freedom that
bursts from my heart
when i say
how very much i love you
already.

it is a love that surmounts
all time and space
and weaves through
our hearts
in a way that
will take the rest of this life
to express.

strong and onward,
we fly.


Wed, May 27, 2009 - 10:23 AM permalink - 5 comments
 
My community..

There have been some price changes for dietas at Urcu Chaki, the healing center I spent alot of time at this winter. My previos blog had the old prices, and the new ones are as follows.


Single ayahuasca Ceremony:

100 soles (30 Dollars)

Dieta: $600 per week

1-month Dieta: $1600

This is because Alberto Ferrari has begun working with his Brother, Carlos, and with both of their skills and backgrounds, the service is greater!

thanks and sending love!
Sun, May 24, 2009 - 8:24 PM permalink - 0 comments
 
Abstract

Ancestral medical practices are based on a highly sophisticated practical knowledge and view the controlled induction of non-ordinary states of consciousness as potentially beneficial, even in the treatment of the modern phenomena of drug addiction. These ancestral practices stand in contrast to the clumsiness with which Western peoples induce altered states of consciousness. Drawing from his clinical experience in the High Peruvian Amazonian forest, the author describes the therapeutic benefits of the wise use of medicinal plants, including non-addictive psychoactive preparations, such as the well-known Ayahuasca tea. Within an institutional structure, a therapeutic system combining indigenous practices with contemporary psychotherapy yields highly encouraging results (positive in 2/3 of the patients). This invites us to reconsider conventional approaches to drug addiction and the role of the individual's spiritual journey in recovery.

The Backwards Approach
Moving beyond the strict position that the final objective of drug addiction therapy is complete abstinence, the Western world has responded to its failures and limitations by considering the possibility of merely reducing risks. The notion of substitution, as in methadone therapy for heroin addiction, indicates a certain tolerance towards altered states of consciousness. In this model, which treats these states as "inevitable" in some sense, one would now be satisfied with limiting their negative secondary effects. In the face of a Puritanism resigned to an almost constant failure, this attitude opens new possibilities in treating drug addiction. It now seems thinkable that drug addiction is an attempt, certainly clumsy and sometimes extremely dangerous, of self-medication. Users may be responding to a real need to escape the constricting mud of a dry and devitalized lifestyle, one lacking exciting perspectives or room to blossom.

Some take this new tolerance of drug use further, for example by proposing to ravers that they learn about the drugs they consume, the risks that they run, and the best way to avoid the negative consequences of their conduct3. In this model, the drug user is considered a thinking and consenting subject, who is invited to take responsibility for his actions. The "repressive machine" that tends to substitute itself for the subject, making his decisions, revoking his responsibility, and, in the end, reinforcing an internal pattern of dependence, gives way to an approach which appeals to the user's intelligence. This model accepts the authenticity of the user's quest, even if it is often unconscious, for a true liberty that can be confused with caprice.

While this attempt at finding meaning by exploring new realms of consciousness can be chaotic and confused outside of a controlled setting, it is reminiscent of more purposeful undertakings among traditional peoples. In fact, one finds the induction of altered states of consciousness for the purposes of initiation and therapy in all traditions. Such experiences, always guided by a ritual frame, often depend upon a fine understanding of the animal and vegetable substances that serve as their catalysts. One may also affirm that, sometimes, the same substances that serve as the "remedy" in indigenous cultures are the "poison" in Western society. Hence the coca leaf, which is well integrated into daily life in the Andean world, becomes a highly addictive cocaine-based paste when taken out of context. Similarly, cannabis, poppy, and tobacco may generate either remedy or poison according to the mode of consumption and the context of ingestion.

It is noteworthy that biologists observe that all animal species consume natural psychoactive substances with great eagerness when possible (Siegel, Ronald, 1990). In fact, Siegel considers this conduct a fourth instinctual instance of animal biology, as if life tends spontaneously towards a broadening of perceptions and a concomitant amplification of consciousness. It becomes difficult, then, to extract man from this vast biological movement that embraces all animal life.

Indigenous Knowledge
Our observations in the Peruvian Amazon yield a supplementary fact: not only do the natural psychoactive substances used by indigenous peoples not generate dependence, they are utilized to treat the modern phenomenon of drug addiction. This changes the way we understand toxicity; the Western obsession with "substances" (drugs) is replaced, or at least accompanied by, the concepts of the set (the subject, including genetic predispositions, life history, and preparation) and setting (ritualized or not). Indeed, psychoactive substances may be a treatment for "drug addicts," a fact that still seems paradoxical or impossible even to the specialists in question. And yet, the facts speak for themselves.

This phenomenon also works for ethnic groups strongly affected by substances such as alcohol, which represents for them, inversely, an imported product removed from its context. Hence, the healers of the Peruvian coast treat their alcoholics through the ritual use of the mescaline cactus with a high rate of success (around 60 per cent, after five years) (Chiappe, Mario, 1976). The Native North Americans reduce the incidence of alcoholism on their reservations considerably and quite rapidly by reviving their ancestral practices, including the ritual use of peyote and tobacco (Hodgson, Maggi, 1997).

The ritualization of induced modifications of consciousness, with or without substances, establishes a universal symbolic frame within which these experiences acquire significance by allowing the individual to inscribe himself within a model of cultural integration. In indigenous groups, then, such experiences frequently accompany rites of passage, particularly at adolescence, permitting the youth's appropriation of the discourse, images, and myths generated by the community. It is evident that the fundamental lack of cultural consensus in our fragmented post-modern society, along with the desacralization of the lived interior and exterior, and the disappearance of all authentic rites of passage, leaves us without the means to integrate experiences of altered states of consciousness into our daily lives. In other words, the drug user sets off randomly with neither compass nor map, often finishing badly.

These considerations lead to the following conclusion: not only must we no longer take a position of passive tolerance toward an inevitable consumption of psychoactive substances, but, on the contrary, we must actively explore the coherent therapeutic use of psychoactive substances without the outcome of dependence. Even more broadly, we must be open to every induction of altered states of consciousness through diverse methods (such as music, dance, fasting, isolation, breathwork, physical exercise, pain, etc.) This calls for the application of therapeutic techniques that create both a space of temporary containment and an authentic symbolic frame which, as in the indigenous ritual space, integrates therapists and users. Traditional peoples also teach us that substances consumed in their natural form, used with respect to the body's digestive natural barriers (that is, orally), do not induce dependence, in spite of their powerful psychoactive effects. The risk of toxicity is also lower because their active principles are similar, if not identical, to the neuromediators naturally secreted by our bodies. In case of overdose (which is generally difficult to produce given the extremely disagreeable flavor of the beverages), these substances are eliminated naturally by vomiting. This self-regulating phenomenon provides for safe prescription and is an integral part of the expected effects of ingestion, as well as those of purgation-detoxification (hence their special role in the domain of drug addictions). The context of ingestion requires rigorous dietary, postural, and sexual regulations. In the course of successive ingestions, sensitivity increases instead of creating a habit. As a result, the doses gradually decrease: their use in addiction therapy is not, then, a simple substitution.

It is remarkable that no visionary natural substance is addictive. Visions seem to be the proof of sufficient cortical integration, of a metabolization of the symbolic charge revealed during the experience of altered consciousness. Entheogenic substances (also misnamed hallucinogens) are hence among the best of those that may be used in a therapeutic setting. This has already been attempted in psychotherapy (LSD, MDMA, Harmaline, DMT, etc.), but generally without an integrating symbolic framework (or ritual space), without engaging the therapist in the method, with synthetic or semi-synthetic substances or extracts, and through processes of assimilation that violate physiological barriers (i.e., injections).

Ayahuasca
This highly psychoactive ancestral beverage is situated at the heart of both the empirical medicinal practices of Amazonian cultures and, recently, of explorations into the therapeutic potential of medicinal plants, in particular in the domain of psychopathology, including drug addiction therapy. The pharmacological sophistication of this preparation reflects the high degree of understanding of the Amazonian peoples, who are proven to have discovered Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) at least three thousand years before Westerners. Tryptamines and beta-Carbolines, the major active principles of Ayahuasca, are present in many natural secretions as well as in the central nervous system (pineal gland) (Mabit, Campos, Arce, 1993).

The entheogenic or visionary effects of this beverage have been hastily called "hallucinogenic," stigmatizing a compound which could be a significant topic of research. Its potential as such risks being dismissed by the academic community due to a stance less indebted to scientific rationality than to society's collective fears. We have argued that the images stimulated by the use of Ayahuasca in a therapeutic context symbolically manifest the content of the unconscious. Moreover, these images are not without an object, whether it be psychological or otherwise, which differentiates them completely from the "illusions without object" that are by definition "hallucinations" (Mabit, 1988). The exploration of the unconscious through Ayahuasca permits the rapid extraction of extremely rich and highly coherent psychological material, which can then be worked through with various psychotherapeutic methods. Visions, like dreams, indicate the beginning of an integration at the superior cortical level. The effects of Ayahuasca are not merely visual, but embrace the entire perceptual spectrum, as well as the non-rational functions tied to the right brain and to the paleoencephal or so-called reptilian brain. The patient's clinical experience fosters the development of not only the projective but also the integrative functions of symbolization, enabling the progressive readjustment of personality structures. These explorations touch cross-cultural psychological depths and, hence, may be applied in extremely broad and varied contexts of human life.

After the observation for fifteen years of more than eight thousand instances of Ayahuasca ingestion under specific conditions of preparation, prescription, and therapeutic follow-up, we can affirm that the ingestion of these preparations has a wide range of indications, with a total absence of dependence. The expansion of the perceptual spectrum, which simultaneously engages body, sensations, and thoughts, permits the de-focalization of the ordinary perception of reality, thus allowing the subject to confront his habitual problems on his own and from a new angle. The intense acceleration of cognitive processes which accompanies this process may permit the subject to conceive of original solutions that fit his unique personality and situation.

The Center: A Pilot Project
Our ignorance in regard to the controlled induction of altered states of consciousness could greatly benefit from ancestral medical knowledge. The master healers of various traditions are ready to transmit their heritage to those willing to learn and to embark upon a path of initiation. Six years of teaching beside Amazonian healers has led us to develop a therapeutic method using the controlled modification of states of consciousness. Our system is based on ancestral techniques involving medicinal plants and natural methods of detoxification, sensory stimulation, and sensory deprivation. This pilot project attempts to combine ancestral knowledge with contemporary psychotherapeutic practices, working under the guidelines of ethical considerations and the requirements of the Western mentality.

The program, in which no method of coercion is exercised, accepts groups of no more than fifteen voluntary patients. The location is a five acre park bordered by a river, just outside the city of Tarapoto, in the Peruvian High Amazon, in the piedmont of the Andes (Mabit, Giove, Vega, 1996).

The therapy is based on a three-part method which includes the use of the plants, psychotherapy, and community life. The guided experiences of altered consciousness generate psychological material which is subsequently discussed and evaluated in the psychotherapy workshops and then directed towards expression in community life. In reverse, everyday activities supplement the therapeutic sessions (with or without plants).

The initial use of purifying, sedative, and purgative plants reduces withdrawal syndromes, rendering any return to prescription medication during the stay unnecessary. Then, the psychoactive plants intervene, powerfully facilitating the psychotherapy. From the brief sessions to the eight day isolation in the forest with rigorous rules pertaining to food, sex, external contacts and daily activities, each ingestion of psychoactive plants is governed by specific conditions. Each session is also facilitated by a trained therapist, and clearly inscribed into a precise and rigorous symbolic frame, which improves the chance of success for the session and its subsequent integration into the subject's life.

These techniques permit the exploration of buried memories and the re-emergence of censured situations or events. These "revelations" both relieve the addict's conscience and motivate him to face his sickness. A temporary reduction of critical functions and discriminations facilitates the cathartic expression of emotions. These experiences, with the help of psychotherapeutic work, may then correct the defective formation of the subject's emotional expressions and ideals. By plunging under the veils of ordinary consciousness and unblocking the paths of access to the deep Ego, this exploration of the subject's interior universe brings out rich material, in contrast to these patients' often insufficient symbolization. During the subsequent sessions, the subject will learn to translate and to interpret this material in order to explore subsequent dreams on his own. Dream life is stimulated by these practices, also benefiting the patient. One also observes an acceleration of cognitive processes and an amplification of the attention-span and of the depth of mental concentration. The clearly defined context, supplemented by a carefully regulated lifestyle, invites the resident to implement the knowledge obtained by this work. Hence, the space constitutes a laboratory in which the residents are at once the observers and the subjects of their observation. The medicinal plants play the central psychotherapeutic role, while caretakers offer guidance and security. The users are guided into liminal, or symbolically transitional, experiences in which they visit their interior gods and demons. These experiences simultaneously involve the subject's psychological state, the whole range of emotional sensations, and the spectrum of his psychological perceptions. In these experiences, existential questions may come to light and demand an engaged response. The guided and cathartic process can help the individual to transcend his or her ordinary mindset and access somatic memories. In the best cases, the individual is able to transcend the Ego, which can allow a healthy deflation of the Ego, a reconciliation with human nature, and an acceptance of our modest inscription in time and in matter, which is nevertheless exciting because of its perceived meaning. In other words, this is a process of initiation; it is a semantic experience which carries meaning that can respond to the chaotic and disorderly quest of the drug addict, which may be seen as a path of counter-initiation or as a savage initiation (Mabit, 1993). This therapeutic method does not, then, simply focus on abstinence, but also offers an adequate alternative. This alternative method, which respects altered states of consciousness, is able to respond to the drug addict's quest by furnishing it with clear ends and with non-dangerous means to reach them. This process supposes an internal structural change which goes beyond the palliative of a simple external behavioral change, which is never totally satisfying and most often ineffective.

The duration of the stay is, in general, nine months, and the follow-up is ideally two years. The centre has received patients of all social and cultural origins. The techniques, which mainly demand self-exploration through the senses, do not require any analytic verbalization or integration, which represents an enormous therapeutic advantage. One may even say that these experiences of altered consciousness give access to ineffable, inexpressible trans-verbal spaces, which are as much pre-logical or infra-verbal as they are ecstatic or supra-verbal. Here, the local alcoholic peasant meets the European college student dependent on pot, the urban bourgeois who functions on cocaine, the dealer addicted to a cocaine-based paste, or the delinquent pathological liar who smokes crack. To the contrary of what certain theorists say, the exploration of the interior universe by these methods does not require that either the therapist or the subject belong to the native culture of these practices. Rather, these practices give access to personal intra-psychical symbols which remain coherent to the subject and which touch depths that could be called transcultural by virtue of reaching universal psychological complexes (love, hate, rejection, abandon, fear, peace, etc.). At the same time, the accompanying psychotherapy allows the patient to better understand the experience of the session, to integrate it, generate new questions, and enrich the following session. We have now mastered these techniques ourselves, and we make use of them with patients from cultures other than our own. They are accessible to any Western therapist willing to fulfill the requirements of their long apprenticeship.

Results
Since its founding in 1992, the center has received more than 380 patients. One study has just been made (Glove, not yet published) of the first seven years of activity (1992-1998), examining drug addicts or alcoholics having completed at least one month of treatment and with at least two years of time out of the clinic - a sample of 211 courses of treatment (175 first-time patients and 36 returning patients). Note that the results of this study do not include data on the 32% of patients who leave during the first month before the first ayahuasca session, when the treatment is not yet considered to have started. 28% reached the sixth month of treatment, and 23.4% finished the entire treatment.

Two-thirds of the patients consumed mainly a highly addictive and debilitating cocaine-based paste. 80% consumed alcohol alone or in addition to other drugs. More than half of the patients (53.5%) had already tried treatment, one-third of which had tried psychiatric services. For 49%, the gateway drug was alcohol, and for 42%, cannabis. The average age was thirty years and the average duration of consumption of psychoactive substances at the time of entrance was 12.5 years. At 31.3%, with a tendency to augmentation, the index of retention (percentage of prescribed exits out of total exits) gives proof of the relative acceptance of this therapeutic method. The voluntary exits make up the majority (52%) compared to prescribed exits (23%), runaways (23%), and the rare expulsions (3%).

The evaluation of the results integrates qualitative givens, as well as the incidence of abstinence or relapse due to poor prognostic criteria. One should note that the patients leave free of any post-residential medication. In addition to evaluating the relation to addictive substances, especially those that the subject consumed before, we consider personal evolution (internal structural change), the indications of social and professional reintegration, and the capacity for familial restructuring. According to these criteria, we may distinguish three categories:



"good": favorable development, problems apparently resolved thanks to a true structural change manifested upon several life levels.


"better": favorable development with evident structural changes, but vestiges of the original problem still present.


"same or bad": relapse of consumption of substances, although often more discrete, no convincing structural change, frequent abandonment of substances for alcohol.



Out of the total, then, 31% were "good" and 23% "better," while 23% were the "same or bad" and 23% unknown. With hindsight, we can affirm that about 35% of those who have lost contact with the Center are, in the end, "good" or "better" (that's 8% of the total), which means that about 62% of the patients have, in the end, positively benefited from the follow-up of the model proposed at the center. When one only takes into account the sample of the patients with "prescribed exit," (those who have completed the entire program) the positive results are raised to 67%.

When the patients relapse or simply re-offend, 55.5% return to the center and 26% find other local practitioners of traditional medicine, which demonstrates their high opinion of this approach. When this occurs, purgative plants are more solicited than psychoactive plants. This choice demonstrates the absence of dependence on the psychoactive substances.

This method, officially recognized by the Peruvian authorities, has expanded into a number of programs including educational programs (for students), psychiatric and anthropological research, and outreach (written and audio-visual media, and seminars for personal development).

Conclusion

The mere repression of drug consumption represents a simplistic approach to the problem, with demonstrated ineffectiveness as a therapy. We may well call it illogical and even immoral since it omits the substances that are currently the most deadly (alcohol and tobacco). In addition, the accelerated development of new substances on the market outstrips any repressive attempt at control and relegates the game of penal interdictions to failure. We are hence condemned to approach the problem under another angle, whether we want to or not. Similarly, if harm reduction and substitution only indicate proof of failure and a last-ditch effort of pure social convenience, they are also, in our view, reprehensible and morally dubitable. This is because they consecrate a tacit rejection of healing, and the officialization, in a manner of speaking, of a population of second class citizens tolerated for lack of a therapeutic alternative.

The high degree of diffusion of the drug phenomenon in the 50's and 60's was born of the contact between a few intellectuals with traditional peoples, and, in particular, of North Americans with Amazonian Indians (Ginsberg, Leary, Alpert, etc., -- see Leary, Metzner, Alpert, 1964). These intellectuals believed that they could appropriate ancestral knowledge while only retaining the physical substance, reducing "the approach of the gods" to the consumption of an active principle, playing neurochemists like apprentice sorcerers (see Leary's delirious work, 1979). This oversimplified view of substances and their potential has generated a terrible drama. The phenomenon of substance addiction is characteristic of Westernized societies and continues to be practically unknown in indigenous populations or among peoples free from prolonged Western influence.

By approaching this ancient knowledge with respect and careful study, it seems possible to reinstate an authentic relation with the Mystery of Life by returning to true paths of initiation. By validating the legitimate quest of the drug user and redirecting it into a structured, meaningful experience, perhaps we may avoid the lax defeatism of the "anything goes" attitude as well as the rigid and useless bellicosity of "everything is forbidden."



Bibliography

Chappe, Mario. 1976. The use of hallucinogens in psychiatric folklore. Boletin de la Oficina Sanitaria Panamericana (Bulletin of the Panamerica Sanitary Office), 81 (2): 176-186.

Giove, Rosa. 2002 (to be published). The liana of the dead to the rescue of the life. Contradrogas (Anti-drug) ed., Lima 200.

Hodgson, Maggi. 1997. From Alcoholism to a new life: the eagle has landed. In: Indian communities develop futuristic addictions treatment and health approach, Institute of Health Promotion, Research and Formation, Alberta, Canada, 139, 11-14.

Leary, T. 1979. Graine d'Astre, Cosmos Ed., Canada, 204.

Leary, T., R. Metzner, R. Alpert. 1964. The Psychedelic Experience, First Carol Publishing Group Ed.

Mabit J. 1993. Amazon shamanism and drug addiction: initiation and counter-initiation. In: Revue AGORA, Éthique, Médecine et Société (AGORA Review, Ethics, Medicine, and Society), Paris, 27-28, 139-145.

Mabit J., J. Campos, J. Arce. 1993. Considerations surrounding the ayahuasca concoction and therapeutic perspectives. Revista Peruana de Neuropsiquiatría, Lima, LV (2), 118-131.

Mabit J., R. Giove, J. Vega. 1996. Takiwasi : The Use of Amazonian Shamanism to Rehabilitate Drug Addicts. In: Yearbook of cross-cultural medicine and psychotherapy, Zeitschrift für Ethnomedizin (Journal of Ethnomedicine), Publishing House for Science and Education, VWB, Berlin, 257-285.

Mabit J-M. unpublished. Ayahuasca hallucinations of the warriors of the Peruvian Amazon, Working Paper 1/1998, French Institute of Andean Studies, Lima, 15 p.

Siegel, Ronald. 1990. Intoxication, Pocket Books, New York, 1990, 390 p.

Sueur C., A. Benezech, D. Deniau, B. Lebeau, C. Zizkind. 1999. Hallucinogenic substances and their theraputic usages - Literature Review, Revue Documentaire Toxibase (Review of Drug Abuse Literature), 66 p.
posted by:
Wed, May 13, 2009 - 5:35 PM permalink - 1 comment
 
is the opportunity to come back to the states and spend time with my family and friends.

(im trying really hard to cry like a big girl...leaving peru in about 10 days..)
Thu, April 30, 2009 - 11:00 AM permalink - 0 comments
 
a friend of mine asked me last night as we sat in the dark honoring "earth hour" by not using any electricity.

i nodded over the two candles between us. his eyes widened.

"forever?"

i nodded again and felt my heart jump for joy.

this is the first time ever in my life that i have felt this way. completely enamoured with a place to the point where the thought of committing to it for the rest of my life doesnt fill me full of restless fear.

the place? tarapoto, peru. a little city of about 20,000 people nestled beneath the Andes mountains. it gets hot here, but if you climb high enough into the tropical hills, it gets cold enough at night to need a light sleeping bag.

i came here last year as a tourist of sorts. my busride away from tarapoto was the most difficult ive ever had. i could barely leave the jungle. the people. the land.

i returned this year again on a more serious mission: to learn about medicinal plants from a traditional shaman.
so far, it´s been incredibly fulfilling and the most challenging thing to my charachter ive ever experienced. ive gotten to know the area as a great hiking and waterfall-swimming attraction, a stop-off for people heading to Iquitos from Yurimaguas by boat, and a retreat for those interested in drinking medicinal plants such as ayahuasca.

ayahuasca is a mixture of plants, with psychotropic effects, that is known to be used to heal many different illnesses. my personal healing with the plant has been so impressive that i have decided to learn the basics of shamanism as my path in life.

it´s not an easy one. the food i eat is really simple and there are times when i am only eating rice, having no sex, and touching and talking ot nobody. but the results are amazing.

what ayahuasca is known for is to purge impurities from the body and spirit, leaving the client feeling liberated, strong and emotionally stable. it´s been used especially for drug addictions, mental illnesses, and for people on an intentful path of spiritual awakening.

i used to think that ayahuasca wasnt for everyone. but i am changing my mind about this. i feel like even if someone was so scared to drink the medicine that they complained and whined and screamed the whole time, consumed by their fears atleast they were opened up to something, and the memory of what it feels like to be open will exist with them forever. maybe someday they´ll be brave enough to open that box again. either with ayahuasca or without.

me, i choose to go there. i choose to endure the temporary feelings of helplessness and fear because everytime i drink ayahuasca, i am in the womb of my mother, being stroked and carressed and loved at a capacity that i am unable to conceptualise in my everyday life.

then i come out of ceremony feeling as if i had just been born, having brought with me only the positive wisdom from the life before.

this is why love peru. and tarapoto. not for the weather or the culture or the passionate latin romance constantly bubbling up in the air. thats just frill. it is for my love affair with madre ayawaska. the gentle, honest and reflective medicine that has changed my life more than any other thing has. made me whole.

and tarapoto is where my current shaman lives. it´s where we drink other plant medicines to heal ourselves and others. it is where i was introduced to ayahuasca and where i have become quite accustomed to having ceremonies with the locals and travellers from afar as well.

it´s a humble, warm city with few bars or clubs, a simple plaza and several little sleepy villages in its outskirts filled with farms and shanty towns, where the people can´t afford to be materialistic; and have mastered the art of love and family in the most impressive form.

i am not sure which happened first: me finding my calling or me finding ayahuasca. me finding my place in life or me finding tarapoto. because at the moment, they all mark the end of a very difficult time in my life. a time of not knowing what i was or who i was supposed to be. a time of thinking i already knew my direction and where i was supposed to remain.

so a new phase is beginning. a phase of more certainty, of more heart and more service to nature and humankind.

thank goodness.






Sun, March 29, 2009 - 1:48 PM permalink - 4 comments
 
howdyfolks..

just a little note, putting it out there that im coming back to the US in may and would love to housesit in Ashland, Oregon for a time this summer for a week or more.

i will also consider housesitting in the Bay Area, after i get back, which will be may 10th.

ive got LOTS of experience and love taking care of pets, plants, everything!!

much love!

rebecca
Wed, March 25, 2009 - 9:10 AM permalink - 2 comments
 
view all 310
 
members » rebecca~rose link to this profile: http://people.tribe.net/rebeccarose