San Pedro Ceremony
Grandfather San Pedro helps to expand our hearts and reconnect with our emotions. He creates understanding within our life experiences so we can begin to walk our path with confidence and passion.
San Pedro is one of the longest-studied psychedelics in the world. This cactus has been an important element to the spiritual ceremonies of various indigenous cultures for thousands of years. In ceremony, the San Pedro experience is known for promoting radical introspection, healing, and a sense of wonder and awe.
What Ingredients are in San Pedro?
The main substance of San Pedro is mescaline, a phenethylamine. Each cactus contains variable concentrations of mescaline in the green outer layer of the cacti’s flesh. Mescaline binds to most of the serotonin receptors in the brain and also has an affinity for the dopamine receptors.
San Pedro contains a variety of other secondary ingredients that may create some of its medicinal benefits. For example, Hordenine is an antibiotic, and Anhalonidine has a mildly sedative effect. Traditionally, San Pedro has been consumed either on its own or with other plants in a ceremonial brew called cimora.
What are common effects of taking San Pedro?
After consuming, the effects of San Pedro often begin within 15-40 minutes. The whole experience usually lasts around 10 hours leaving an afterglow, making it difficult to sleep after the effects wear off.
- Clear and connected thought
- Relaxed and in control
- Close and open-eyed visuals
- Synesthesia (e.g. “feeling” and “smelling” sights and sounds)
- Potential nausea, vomiting, and perspiration
- Distortions of spatial awareness
What are the therapeutic benefits of San Pedro?
A San Pedro ceremony has been considered a powerful agent for healing and change. These intense and powerful ceremonies can 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 in Ecuador
The San Pedro cactus has long been revered by Andean shamans in South America. San Pedro has been called the primordial soup of the cosmos, with their use dating back to 2200 BCE. Many artifacts found with the cactus associate this spirit with the jaguar, hummingbird, deer, boa, owl, and snail. Spiral steps and symbols represent aspects of the visionary experience of San Pedro itself.
The Wind element arriving during a ceremony is seen as a sign of health and the arrival of the San Pedro spirit. This spirit can manifest various forms or visions in the air, including a gringo with blond hair, an Inca prince or princess, an animal (such as a jaguar), or San Pedro/Saint Peter himself.