Story #4 - Kambo, frog poison in my body

I am now now writing thoughts, links and journal type entries in the notes section. I don't email for each note, but you can see them here or get the Substack app. I like it; it's like a more confidential Twitter.

As I write these real stories, I've come to understand two things. First, I entered a world where I don’t understand anything. I have no idea what the shamans do either.

Second, this world has the most powerful tools. I couldn't even imagine these tools existed.

The Fool, Tarot de Marseille, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Philippe Camoin

Plant medicine brought me to the 0 card in Tarot, the Fool, the absolute beginner. The Fool knows nothing and has nothing. He only has a new life to discover with a few things in his little bag and a dog pushing him to go forward. Everything I thought I knew was shattered into a million pieces.

This might be what people fear the most.

More than the vomiting, people fear losing what they spent a life building: their certainties.

I knew from now-on that I did not understand much about anything at all. A baby out of the womb that can't even walk on his own.

A Silicon Valley friend just told me, "plant medicine is like skiing black diamonds on my first ski slope." I laughed and said, "or like jumping off a plane without a parachute and learning to fly without wings."

The whole idea of "tea" took on another dimension. I am now paying attention to everything I put in my mouth and trying to understand what it does to me. For example, basil calms me down, and I drink basil water when I have "too much fire," or chamomile. I want to learn more about plants, but it's a whole science, and even that, science doesn't know much, it seems. Most of our pharmaceutical drugs are originally coming from plants or animal substances, aren't they?

Here is another ceremony story from my deep cleansing year, where I tried a kambo frog poison for the first time.

Ceremonies start the same but always take me somewhere else than I was expecting. I always think, "Wow, this was the most stunning thing I ever saw or felt," and yet, there is always more. I still feel this way for each ceremony.

The shamans lead us through another whole night ceremony.

It ended at sunrise with a huge "good morning." Plant medicine is also like fuel to your body. It keeps you awake and gives you huge energy, unless your body needs it for deep healing. When I felt good, I started dancing and moving around. Each ceremony felt easier. I was never hungry either. I will talk about the recommended "diet" before and after in one of my future stories.

Closing the ceremony, the shaman said, "I have another medicine from the Amazon forest, it is very good for you."

It is called "Kambo."

If you take it, I recommend abstaining from sex, sugar, and meat for ideally a week or for a month, but if you cannot do this, do it for three days." I don't remember him saying much more than that.