The greater underlying intention in these ceremonies is to acknowledge, feel and experience our spirit bodies. When groups of people come together and focus on their intent, it becomes a potentially powerful and creative situation.

The shaman works with what he knows and experiences, not what he is told to believe. He interacts with the spiritual deities. He does not have to believe in them; he knows them and co-operates with them to bring healing to a specific situation. They do not control him. This is very important to understand because shamanism is not a system of faith.

It was Saturday night, the first of February 2003. We were expecting our child to arrive any day now. We had done all the preparations necessary to have a water birth. This was most certainly the day that my life changed. I became a father.

My first experience with Ayahuasca was in 1996, in a Tipi in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains in central Southern Africa. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I had been told that Ayahuasca (or ‘Ayawoshca’ as it is known by some South Africans) was the mother of all psychedelics and that it was an experience beyond any other.

Rustlers Valley was the center for an organic shamanic community that stretched throughout South Africa and had links to the rest of the world, especially through the UK, Brazil, and the USA. It was a hub, a starting point for many alternative cultures to gather and share their medicine.

This story begins at Rustlers Valley, when I turned thirty-one in 1992. I had been involved in ceremonial work for four or five years before drinking ayahuasca. Those many ceremonies leading up to my introduction to ayahuasca became years of exploration and discovery for me.