Ayahuasca and Iboga – Messengers of Truth from Mother Earth

Dylan Charles, Editor
Waking Times

“The history of Western culture in the last two thousand years could be seen as the “Empire of the Mind conquering the exterior world and extinguishing the interior one, with the result that we have atrophied our spiritual connection.” –Rak Razam

The world is deeply out of balance in these pre-apocalyptic times, and a serious correction, long overdue, is underway. The benevolent forces of the earth are reaching out into our culture and touching the consciousness of many people, invoking within them the necessity and the courage to transform and evolve beyond the self-destructive narratives that govern human life today. 

Situation Normal: All Fracked Up

When we look up into the sky we see a once blue oblivion painted in chemtrails, and when we look down into the soil we see poisons and genetically modified seed infecting the purity of nature. Radiation spills like blood from industrial accidents and the earth is being stripped bare by unfettered resource extraction. Our minds are held captive by programming that keeps us locked into materialistic and competitive paradigms, the ego is glorified as if it were God, and too many of us are unable to see beyond immediate personal desires. The mindlessness of it all is maddening.

The problems we face run deep, yet the consciousness of human kind seems firmly centered at base level. For many there seems to be little promise that a significant enough transformation can occur in time to avoid ecocide, which is suicide, because along with the industrial revolution we’ve reconfigured our knowledge base to exclude sustainable co-existence with the natural world.

“For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more.” –John Steinbeck

So, then, what is available to us, as creatures of this earth, to remedy these crises? What catalysts, if any, are strong enough to cause the needed infectious tidal wave of personal and communal transformation? One strong enough to cause people to re-think their patterned lives and to restructure them? What in our world can help us to break through the fear of letting go of what we have now, in order to risk discovering what else may be possible?

How are we to fully understand the gravity of our mistake of viewing the earth as something separate from ourselves, as a consumable resource that can be totally exhausted for our comfort and our entertainment?

Enter: Ancient Wisdom

Ayahuasca and Iboga… kindred medicine spirits that are pushing themselves into the collective consciousness of the modern world. Their ancient secrets have been guarded for thousands of years by the indigenous tribes that have since time immemorial structured their cultures and cosmologies around the wisdom gleaned from communing with these plant teachers. Yet for some important reason there is widespread and growing interest in these sacraments as a means to alleviate the cultural malaises that so many in the ‘advanced’ world suffer from.

“Grandmother Medicine is wise and powerful. Perhaps the plants themselves are catalyzing new opportunities for survival of their wisdom as well as their rainforest home, and maybe us too!” –Jonathon Miller-Weisberger

Used in shamanic and bona fide religious practices, Ayahuasca, native to South America, is a hallucinogenic brew concocted of the ‘vine of the souls,’ banisteriopsis caapi, and other DMT containing plants such as chacruna, or psychotria viridis. Iboga, native to the rainforest of Gabon, Africa, is an entheogenic root bark of the tree, tabernanthe iboga and an ancient sacrament of the Bwiti, a spiritual discipline whose African members number in the millions.

Both of these plant medicines are taken ceremonially as medicinal rites to facilitate physical and psychological healing, to teach virtuous living, to develop spirituality, to strengthen family and communal ties, and to deepen one’s connection to the natural world. They are the center pieces of shamanic traditions that have for ages been full-spectrum healing arts that address the total human needs of individuals and communities alike, while addressing imbalances between humans and nature. They bring a human-being into direct contact with the unseen spirit realms of the earth and the cosmos, allowing one to de-intellectualize the mystical nature of life and consciousness.

Strangely enough, both of these shamanic medicines are swiftly working their way into the consciousness of the modern, ‘civilized’ world at a time when the planet is under severe ecological assault and the individual is bombarded with fear, polluted with toxic foods and a toxic environment, and suffering from dreadful mental and emotional health. We have largely lost our connection to the divine, to the source of life and consciousness and to the very earth that sustains us. Whereas ancient cultures communicated directly with nature to gain the necessary wisdom to live by, we have convinced ourselves that nature is here for our exploitation.

What Language Does Mother Earth Speak?

How does our planet, which gives life to all earthly creatures, tell us when we’ve gone too far, when we’ve cut down too many forests or over-polluted the soil and sea? In what ways does she make appeals to the human race for compassionate reciprocity for breathing life into the stardust that animates us?

We know she is capable of doom and destruction, and that when she speaks up the earth shakes and trembles and entire cities fall. When she cries out her tears create centennial floods and blizzards that shock, surprise and humble us. When she moans in pain of being tortured, her anguish is felt in droughts, famine and pestilence, and thousands of her children die and fade to dust. When she smiles, we reap abundance in harvest and we thrive in good health of mind and spirit.

She speaks to us in these familiar tongues, using the language of blessing and destruction, yet our human minds have gone so far down the road of disconnection that we know longer hear her or heed her voice. We’ve advanced so far in the direction of materialism that we no longer acknowledge her communication as an intelligence, and we’ve grown so arrogant and pompous in our endeavors that we discredit her say, instead always moving to subjugate her interests or insulate ourselves from her wrath. Foolishness of the highest order.

“We are not talking about passive agents of transformation, we are talking about an intelligence, a consciousness, an alive and other mind, a spirit. Nature is alive and is talking to us. This is not a metaphor.” –Terence McKenna

Mother earth, the shining blue pearl of life in a vast sea of dark, uninhabitable space is at once held captive by the human race, and simultaneously the source of all life for human beings. The propagation of truly organic wisdom via these medicines into the human rat-race is her conscious effort to redress the wholesale damage being done to the planet, whose communication is limited to the forces of nature and the ability to inspire.

The timing of the appearance of these plant medicines in Western culture is of vast significance because it reveals a direct attempt by our sentient planet to communicate directly with the human race in order to impress upon us her suffering and her commitment to love us through it all.

Touching Consciousness, Transforming Lives

Transformation is the key to navigating these insane times, and these medicines strike at the root of global transformation, the individual. It takes tremendous courage to ‘step into the fire’ with these medicines, but for those who do, it feels distinctly like a calling or destiny, and very little like a desire or ambition.

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” –Mother Teresa

Initiates are called to muster absolute courage and humility, and are returned renewed and cleansed with heightened energy and abundant inspiration. Often gaining clear signals about choosing and navigating life’s paths, initiates receive visionary insight into the value of life and the connection to the natural world.

The message is similar for many: Wake up, let go of the past, balance the ego, refine yourself, refine your personal energy, and move your life in the direction of service, with gratitude for each breath that you take.

Fear is understood and overcome, and the infinite nature of human consciousness is revealed. Emotional healing happens instantly, and self-judgements and criticisms are re-apportioned into task lists for personal development. Impulsivity and addiction are understood as destructive forces that require domestication, and the impetus to do so is received abundantly. One reassess their connection to nature and sees, senses and directly feels the sentience in all things, thereby tempering their sense of seniority in the cosmic web of life. A new life path unfolds, deep, enduring questions are answered, and forgiveness is granted. A life purpose lost is re-discovered and the seeker becomes new, refreshed, and reborn into a new perspective that lasts a lifetime.

“My own view, for what it’s worth, is that human society is presently in a very bad place and these messengers from the plant kingdom, notably DMT… are reaching out to help us. Many in the modern world are so deeply conditioned into mental slavery towards the materialist model (i.e. the notion that there is nothing more to life than our material, physical existence presently promulgated by many scientists, by all corporations, by politicians and by the media) that a huge kick up the ass is needed to break free. The plant allies provide this kick up the ass, remove the scales from our eyes, cleanse the doors of perception and offer the opportunity to see things as they really are — infinite, to paraphrase Blake. – Graham Hancock in a recent Facebook Post

These medicines heal the cultural malaises of apathy and distractedness by re-introducing mystery and magic into life, and by liberating one’s consciousness from the confining prisons of the war on consciousness. They completely destroy the matrix of cultural programming, clearing space within the psyche for something new and positive to emerge.

Conclusion – Countering Cultural Propaganda

It is no accident that these medicines are forcing their way into popular culture at this time. These plant teachers are one of nature’s greatest tools for communicating with human beings, and their message is seeding greater consciousness among us as a defense mechanism for the sentient being we call Earth.

Iboga is the tree of knowledge. Ayahuasca is the vine of souls. Together they comprise an entirely complete, organic language and are reaching out into the world seeking soldiers of truth to translate and seed the message of the Earth, who is unmistakably our Mother. They are calling us, speaking directly to us in spiritual form, asking for our involvement in this life or death struggle to return to equity, respect and balance to our relationship with the natural world.

They are messengers of truth from our mother the earth. Are you listening?

About the Author

Dylan Charles is the editor of Waking Times and co-host of Redesigning Reality, both dedicated to ideas of personal transformation, societal awakening, and planetary renewal. His personal journey is deeply inspired by shamanic plant medicines and the arts of Kung Fu, Qi Gong and Yoga. After seven years of living in Costa Rica, he now lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and enjoys spending time with family. He has written hundreds of articles, reaching and inspiring millions of people around the world.

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