what is san pedro?

Whats Unique about San Pedro compared to other medicines

While aya/psilo/dmt/lsa are tryptamine , cactus like huachuma and peyote are phenethylamine (the same category as MDA / Ecstasy) which might be in part why its often reported to be incredibly pleasurable and kind

In contrast to Aya and other more purgative entheogens like IBOGA, Huachuma need not be purged and in doing so the medicines digestion is inhibited and the fullest effects cannot be discovered.

Additionally its metabolism is 16-20 hours compared to aya/psilo at 4-6. The Cactus’ alkaloid dose is hundreds to thousands of milligrams, while aya/psilo/dmt’s is single to double digit mg range.

The volume of medicinal alkaloid metabolized lend itself to a more thorough physical healing process. The comparative slowness of this medicine offers a more comfortable integration especially with more heroic type doses.

While tryptamine based entheogens provide a sense of “experience” there’s something remarkably “real” about the dopamine spiking medicine that in a way doesn’t seem to fade, as it always was you, but now revealed. The awareness attained feels accelerated and different than the tryptamine kingdom which has a peculiar sense of stark “differentness” compared to the way the mind feels outside of “tryptamine” medicines. It feels more welcome in many ways but its difficult to explain how or why. In a way this is why experiences with San Pedro can be less guided and more a protected space of blossoming consciousness, they are an unveiling of Self on many levels.

Is It for you?

All medicines have their own feeling, and for many cactus medicines (a phenethylamine cocktail) feels very good, ecstatic even. Anecdotally, this is at a much higher frequency to occur than other medicines, in part why most might’ve fallen in love with it after even a single experience. For folks worried it may be unpleasant, theres a large population who would lovingly suggest otherwise.

Theres no pre requisite to working with Huachuma and because of its spectrum of applications its a welcome first and final steps for those called to commune with the medicines. although its unadvisable to use psychedelic medicines while having following other prescriptions, It is very safe in concert with other pharmaceutials and has very few contraindications. this offers a gentle opportunity for more mild/micro dosing and learning to work through a weaning off of other antidepressants. 

Individuals suffering from psychological and neurological conditions may find relief as it balances the nervous system through a mass resetting and formation of new neural pathways. Once a pathway is established it is more likely to be used. A mind stretched to new dimensions can never return to its previous limitations, you cannot unsee it. Also the neurogenic Law of Facilitation states, the more a neural pathway is used, the more dominant it becomes. Through the revelation process the mind is rewired in a less traumatized way, the more the mind explores that network the more that untraumatized cognition becomes dominant. this renders previous environemntal triggers benign, reducing them to pure stimuli devoid of negative context. the PTSD community has a tremendous tool waiting to be discovered here.

Additionally and somewhat exponentially By practicing expansive neural pathway medicine, mental diseases like depression are fundamentally unable to root. The mind / brain is refreshed prior to fresh traumas creating secondary and tertiary complications, a buoyancy of health for the nervous system in the sea of chaos that life can feel like. This is also why once and done medicine tourism cannot provide the fullest benefit. Unlike typical “antidepressants” huachuma is an as needed perception adaptor, revealing forgotten joy and awe that makes life seemingly more meaningful as well as balances the nuero/physiology of the person when they feel “out of tune”

Even individuals who have been terrified of psychedelics can explore huachuma deeply, one said after a terrifying 5-MEO experience which turned him off of entheogens for years said it was “a perfect way back to the multiverse” as it “Gently guides you”. Addiction therapy potential is also incredibly vast, not entirely dissimilar to iboga’s remarkable effects, but incredibly understudied at present.

While miracles have been known to occur they are difficult to understand and physical healings have been known to occur with this medicine, adding to its awe. There has been at least one case of terminal colon cancer being reversed as well as some other incredible instances including but not limited to relief from chronic conditions.  At the very least the medicine can direct the mind to attaining insight to the root of the disease so that the person can live a life in such a way they no longer contract such dis ease. spoiler alert, its usually a dietary awakening at the very least

Whats in the box?

Glad you asked, the huachuma cactus medicine is rich in phenethylamines, most notably mescaline)

While it can be prepared as a powder or a smoothie the highest efficacy of digestion is tea. The effects begin within minutes and build over a few hours into rolling peaks from hours 3-9, before tapering off for another 5-10 hours . The higher the dose the longer the session, and the recovery period.

Sourcing

Luckily The plant is easily sustainably grown and harvested with love by an increasing number of enthusiasts and garden centers world wide. It grows throughout the entire Andean mountain chain and has now been found in the wilds of even Africa and Australia. It’s available in (although commonly a weaker form) at many home and garden stores across the world and is a great way to begin caring for succulents and cactus at home. There’s nothing more special then sharing in medicine you’ve helped grow.

However most commercial San Pedristos use commercially made San Pedro powder. Often this powder is poached from the andes in an unsustainable as well as potentially hazardous manner. The plant absorbs much from the environment and poached plants are most easily accessed near roads where trash and debris are more dense. If possible attempt to clarify the source of the plant medicine in any non native ceremony. 

San pedro grows prolifically and with mild effort be cultivated into an abundance. the rapid growth from mature plants produce several ceremonial doses each year and can live well over a hundred years. most other medicines are much slower growing and require much more effort to cultivate, giving huachuma a tremendous edge in sustainable use. consider mature iboga is a 50 year old plant, while peyote and aya vine are 5-10-15 years aswell. San pedro in a few weeks to months produces an equivolent dose of medicine. 

Importation and production of This plant medicine into powder is in most parts of the world a severe criminal act, while growing the plant in most of those places is entirely welcome to its citizens.

Benefits

From Neurogenic and epigenetic physiological transformation to psycho-spiritual revelation, the medicine is on every level astounding. Mescaline cactus use has even been known for its effects in radically affected populations with addiction like alcoholism as witnessed in American Indian reservations during the post prohibition era. The medicine releases increased levels Human growth hormone and prolactin in our bodies allowing for both physical growth and healing/ immune benefits  but familial and social healing by means of neurotransmitter-stimulated fellowship / bonding. Not only does it inspire a feeling of connection to life, planet, and even fellow man, most people come to feel rejuvenated in body and mind after working with the cactus, re-centered and inspired, we feel truly ALIVE

Psychoactive effects include boundary dissolution of self, space, and time.  contact with divine via synthesesia rich entities. this is truly the part of the puzzle we collectively are attempting to unveil and map. Listen to some others experience with these types of exposures -> https://soundcloud.com/wachuma-collective

Users report insight into the nature of reality. This existential probing yields Revelations oft concerning God, Dualism, Self, and Meaning of Life.

These profound shifts in consciousness are typical of entheogens and psychedelic medicine. Due to the transformative nature of the experience it may take some time to appropriately integrate the lessons into daily and non ceremonial life as well as share in confidence or group the experience they had. For this reason it is important to have an experienced practitioner when working with this and any medicines’ depths to get achieve the highest potential of communion.

Compounding the practice with other practices is a great way to deepen both and secure more of the medicine mind state in your other disciplines. for example breath meditation, it can be used during the ceremony as well as on its own after. Physical practices like yoga and chi gong also inspire new neurologic pathways for the practices and build the core of the systems that flow with what some call Chi. We really have only just begun to explore this multidisciplinary approach as a species.

Commonly Huachuma is not administered in the context of “heroic”/ Macro doses, when seeking this type of experience its been the trick of a charlatan “shaman” to add other psychoactive plants like “toé” aka tree datura, a reliably potent and very dangerous deliriant hallucinogen. This cheap explosive trades powerful effects for health, and is often the reason why an unknowing ayahuasca tourist is found dead after ceremony. San pedro need not be combined with any other plant and if it has been, its safest to enquire which and why.

Most Huachuma practice is in the light to moderate range, largely due to the unawareness that it can be made into a stronger medicine as well as the lack of continuity through once and done ethnotourism. While its Likely to be amazed and moved with every single encounter, it is not a healthy expectation to become familiar with what it can do and reveal through encounters of which you can attempt to number. This is a life long practice, like any, always growing and deepening with resonance to soul we all have under these projections of identity we call ego.

If one hopes to work in the higher end of dosing, it is most advisable to find a well practiced guide to tutor your process to openings at such a level. The work is intense and even more-so fulfilling, but should be done with absolute respect and compassion as we are so vulnerable in this metamorphosis. It is the role of the facilitator to be the guardian of such a sacred and deeply psychological process, to ensure the safety and well being of the person coming through these sacred doors of perception.