Testimonials
These words belong to the people who sat in ceremony, took the medicine, and lived through what came next. They were written unsolicited, in response to a survey. Nothing has been altered.
From 2013 to 2016, Nixiwaka served as master of ceremonies and keeper of the sacred fire for Ayahuasca and plant medicine retreats held across South Africa — at Bodhi Khaya, Blue Hippo Farm, and other locations. These testimonials come from participants in those ceremonies, gathered through an anonymous survey. They represent a cross-section of over 100 responses.
Featured
“To be held and nurtured through this process is the most reassuring and extraordinary experience.”
I attended three ceremonies seeking healing for osteoarthritis and osteoporosis. The first two were deep and meditative — no dramatic visions, but significant physical and emotional shifts that held. Seven and a half months after my first ceremony, my hip had not regressed into pain.
The third ceremony was different. I was in the full throw of intense visions when my body would not stop purging. At the point that I was retching without anything left in me, Nixiwaka came and assisted me. It was like having a switch turned. From a place where I no longer had control over my body’s retching, to an immediate cessation. It was over. I stopped.
I felt like I was dying. I felt cold. I couldn’t move to pull the blanket up. Again Nixiwaka came to my assistance and worked with me. He told me to focus on my intention — and again it was like a switch turned, and I started to gain control over my distress.
The next day Nixiwaka told me that when someone purges like that it is often someone else’s baggage, not their own. This was so profound. The last five years had me dealing with a lot of other people’s dramas. My husband and I were dumbfounded at the accuracy of his statement. He said I was to stop taking on other people’s baggage.
Only three days later, I was once again pulled into the drama of a family member — and this time, I was able to unplug and not get involved. I also have no pain in my left knee and my hands are 80% pain free and improving.
Nixiwaka, Yawa Bane and Txarani are professional and experienced in the way they handle and hold the ceremony. This is not frivolous recreational time. It is hard work and comes with both pain and pleasure — but remains something to be respected as powerful medicine.
“None of them come close to a Nixiwaka ceremony.”
More Voices
“WOW!! What a profound, deep, spiritual and powerful ceremony. I felt I was with a conscious community — I felt safe and held, and knew no matter what would come up in the ceremony, I would be safe. I am so grateful for Nixiwaka & Txarani for holding such an amazing ceremony. The process, the structure, the music, the songs and chants, the love and compassion and the care — they really understood so much what it meant to hold space. The space was magical. When my calling comes again I would like to return to South Africa to experience ceremonies with Nixiwaka and Txarani. Thank you so much for doing this important work.”
“It was a real honour to meet Nixiwaka and Txarani and get to partake in a truly breathtaking ceremony. Their knowledge and benevolent guidance, coupled with the intensely beautiful music, meditation, prayers and singing led me through what was an intensely personal, yet connected journey. If you are considering partaking in a ceremony, do not hesitate. It will be the most spiritually enriching experience of your life.”
“This past ceremony was my third Nixiwaka. What an amazing ceremony! I strongly believe in the healing power of Nixiwaka’s work with Ayahuasca. It has helped me understand a lot of things that have been weighing me down. The ayahuasca has definitely helped me realize how fortunate I am and has allowed me to feel complete gratitude for my life.”
“She picked me up as if I was a little girl, and smiled at me, whirling me around and around while holding me up to the sky. I experienced some of the greatest love I have ever felt — a love I deeply needed to feel… and the didge called me home. She is divine. She is mother. She is life. She brought me back to life. Fullove Nixi.”
“I cannot describe the journey I experienced listening to Nixi playing the didgeridoo, drums and singing. I opened my eyes watching Nixi, finding myself in a magical bubble of bliss and beauty. The energy around and inside me was visible — almost a dense purple/blue colour. I could see the energy. I was energy. It was magical.”
“After the first experience of taking Ayahuasca and integrating it, my life changed dramatically. I am very grateful for you, Nixi, and you, dear Txarani! You saved me and changed my life! God bless both of you and each and everyone involved in building a better future for the world.”
“The music that Nixiwaka and Txarani play evoke so many ancestors and deities that it is impossible to not heal, on some or many levels. The drumming and the didgeridoo clears cellular memories — it literally removes stuck traumas. It is like acupuncture on every cell. The sound healing, coupled with the mantras and songs sung so beautifully, makes me feel like there are symphonies being played in the celestial courts.”
“I always feel a deeper and more powerful connection to nature and to myself and my place in the natural world after the ceremonies. It feels like such important work is going on for the world and the greater cosmos. My most profound journey thus far has been with Nixiwaka and Txarani.”
“I feel ‘woken up’ to my bones by the sacred plants, and consequently my relationship to myself, to others, and particularly to all our two- and four-legged relations, our winged relations and to all those relations who wriggle and swim, has changed enormously. I have come to know myself as Nature herself.”
“Since the ceremony I have had NO hip pain at all. Emotionally I am a different person — there has been a shift in my head and heart that has changed the direction of my thought processes as well as my ability to love unconditionally. I don’t hold anger anymore. I feel liberated. I loved the music and song — and had I not benefited on any other level, that experience alone was worth it.”
“During my time with the medicines, I have been humbled and healed on many levels, including a physical healing of an old neck injury. The power and knowledge is just so incredible, and we can all be so blessed if we are just brave enough to ask. It is the mechanics of the Universe — and is LOVE on every level.”
“The one thing that I have learnt from ayahuasca is that the only things that matter are love and forgiveness. I was taken by the plant and shown people that I must forgive in order to move on. I was also made to become a particle of sea sand and a flower in a muddy forest, to show me that every living thing is connected to each other and that we cannot survive without each other.”
“Being a musician and composer, it gave me a completely different perspective on what is beautiful and healing about sounds and music. The visions I had were intense and full of colour, profoundly linked to the music. Ayahuasca is a teacher. I learned something about myself — about not putting pressure, about having compassion towards myself and therefore all people around me. I have a lot of fuel for inspiration now.”
“I had a beautiful birth experience — connecting me to my mother, my grandmother, and ALL Mother. It was also an opportunity to explore a consciousness different from my own — that of plants — and be humbled by the intricate and powerful nature of this. A great honour to be allowed a glimpse into this consciousness, the effect of which grounded a sense of the wonder, mystery and design of the universe.”
Have you sat in ceremony with Nixiwaka? Your words matter and would be welcomed here.