Traditional San Pedro Ceremony

This ceremony at Casa del Sol takes place during the day in our maloka located in the heart of a native San Pedro forest — which makes it particularly auspicious. The ceremony is full of prayers and songs, and each participant has the opportunity to receive a moment of personal healing in front of the sacred fire. Group energy is very present in this ceremony, which offers the possibility of collective healing.

The main active component of San Pedro is mescaline. Each cactus contains variable concentrations of mescaline in the green outer layer of the cactus flesh. The effects of San Pedro usually last around 10 hours.

What are the therapeutic benefits of San Pedro?

A San Pedro ceremony is considered a powerful agent for healing and change. These powerful ceremonies offer deep insight into the self and the universe, giving one a greater sense of connection and spirituality. Each experience is unique and individual, but there are some general things you can expect:

• Spiritual Healing – San Pedro is a medicine that creates a deep spiritual understanding of one’s purpose. This plant spirit can create a path to self-realization.
• Emotional Healing – San Pedro can create empathy and euphoria. Even ordinary things can appear more interesting, beautiful, and amazingly mystical. Mescaline has also been shown to help people solve problems, access their creativity, be more environmentally conscious, and while improving their capacity for learning.
• Psychological Healing – San Pedro has been used to foster compassion and gratitude. Mescaline also activates serotonin and dopamine receptors, which could help boost mood and alleviate psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, PTSD and addiction.
• Physical Healing – Mescaline may increase blood flow and activity in the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain is in charge of planning, problem-solving, emotional regulation, and behavior. San Pedro has also been used by indiginous tribes to treat a number of ailments, including symptoms of fever, headache, arthritis, and general pain relief.

History of San Pedro

San Pedro is a traditional Andean medicine that has been used for over 300 centuries. The name San Pedro is derived from Christian mythology: Saint Peter was said to hold the keys to the gates of heaven, and in the ancient traditions of the Andes, the San Pedro cactus is said to hold the key to heavenly gates.

In South America, San Pedro is also known as Huachuma and is consumed as a sacred medicine to cure emotional, spiritual, physical and mental conditions, including addictions. San Pedro grows throughout Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. It is considered a highly sacred plant along with tobacco, Ayahuasca, and coca leaves, all of which are protected by the government.

San Pedro is said to have a Grandfather-like spirit and is a teacher of great compassion and understanding. It shows us how to live in balance and harmony; how to love, respect, and honor all living beings. It connects us to the natural energies of Pachamama (mother earth) and opens up and clears our chakras, especially our heart. It is common for participants drinking to report seeing the life energy in the form of luminous fibers emanating from mountains, fingertips and people alike. It is a window into the spiritual dimensions that normally go unnoticed in our day-to-day lives and it is a place where you can draw meaning from the invisible world, a world the shamans have been pointing us to since humans had a relationship with the natural world. San Pedro teaches us the correct attitude, a moderate approach, and a harmonious relationship to the physical and spiritual worlds.

San Pedro can produce powerful visions and induce a rich tapestry of beautiful colorful images. Often these visions are accompanied by an inner knowing and direct spiritual guidance to the questions you are seeking answers to. San Pedro can also make you purge if you are working through energetic blocks or any undigested emotions that you have held onto over the years. You will usually feel a great sense of relief and healing after you get it out, you should always allow it and never fight it, it is all part of the healing process working with San Pedro.

An interesting note: According to the Andean shamans, San Pedro creates a portal of the un-manifested possibilities and it is the shaman’s work to find the best possibilities in each individual or situation, then speak to that possibility, in this way the best version of that person or situation is supported by the shaman’s prayers and intentions, and then ushered in to the present matrix reality. It is also why shamans spend a great deal of time praying with tobacco in ceremonies and making offerings. It is a time of new possibilities that transcend the fabric of time and space.

So it is with this understanding that the shamans offer their prayers, promoting beautiful ideas and intentions of healing into the universal consciousness. When a shaman has this relationship with San Pedro, connecting him deeply with his intentions and with the spirit world, unexplained and spontaneous healing happens.