I spent the spring in Mexico's Magic Mushroom town, Huautla de Jimenez, working with Maria Sabinas grandson, Bernardino, who is perhaps the greatest living mushroom shaman on the planet.

Maria Sabina is responsible for bringing psilocybin mushrooms to the western world. In 1955, she held a ceremony for ethnomycologist Gordon Wasson. He then brought psilocybin containing mushrooms to the American public, which clearly changed the fate of the planet forever.

My experiences with Bernardino are by far the most profound psychedelic journeys I have ever embarked upon. Bernardino dancing around the room, working with the energy and communing with the great spirits through chanting and singing in the ancient Mazatec language is something I will never forget. These ceremonies have forever changed my entire way of being in this world. I mean, I had a hunch that human beings were capable of working with psilocybin in this way... but my god. Bernardino, in his communion with Maria's spirit, is the absolute truth.

These mushrooms grow naturally in the forest, and have been praised and revered by the Mazatec Indians for thousands of years, for their healing and visionary powers. This area of Oaxaca, known as the Sierra Mazateca, is the hot bed for naturally occurring psychedelics in the new world. This region is home to over a dozen species of psychoactive mushrooms, salvia divinorum, morning glory seeds, and so on.

Salvia Divinorum, one of the most potent psychedelics on the planet, is a subtle staple in the shamanic traditions here. Even if the shamans aren't consuming the leaves, many shamans will incorporate the plant into the ceremony in other ways. The spirit that lives within the Salvia leaves is very powerful, and is known to the natives as "Pastora" aka The Shepardess. I was presented with an opportunity to have a one on one Salvia ceremony with a 90 year old woman who is a Mazatec shaman, and only speaks in her native language of Matatec. In this ceremony you eat the fresh leaves of the salvia, which produces an entirely different effect than smoking it, which I did later that night... This is something that you could also get into during the course of this week.

I will be personally leading the expedition and driving us to and from Huautla, from Oaxaca City. We will stay for 7 nights total, which will make 7 people including myself. This will allow for each person to have a private ceremony with Bernardino and his wife, in their sacred space. We will all stay in a nearby hotel, where everyone will have their own room.

Since the ceremonies take place at night, we will spend the days exploring different ancient sites, churches, waterfalls, and of course the curious town of Huautla de Jimenez.

I have made this retreat as inexpensive as humanly possible, with a large portion of the funds generated going to Bernardino. If you have any questions, or want to schedule a quick call with me to discuss, please don't hesitate to reach out at [email protected]