Bobinsana ceremony

The ceremony started at 9pm and we all congregated in the ceremonial maloca to drink Bobinsana. Unlike the Ayahuasca ceremony setting, chairs were set up in a crescent around the center of the space with the shamans taking their usual place.

Don Rober opened up everyone’s Arcanum individually before Aisha was summoned to take the first drink. I couldn’t gauge much from her reaction but after watching a few people drink I knew the taste was pretty unexpected. Since I was last, I basically had to sit and wait and watch everyone’s different response to the brew. By the time it was coming to be my turn, the vibe in the room had completely changed and those who were some of the first to drink were becoming much livelier and there was much laughter.

It took a while for the drink to kick in for me, but once it did I felt quite relaxed and smiley. This is certainly a pleasant reintroduction to alcohol, given it’s been my first sip for over 12 months – however this type of buzz was different from the ordinary. This brew invoked a much more pleasant and positive vibe than ordinary alcohol – a happy, lovey type.

The shamans then started singing and invited everyone to join in, be it singing, humming or whistling. I closed my eyes and whistled to my hearts content – I knew the song fairly well already from the previous ceremonies so it came to me naturally. I think I whistled quite loudly actually and it felt good doing so. Another lesser known song was song which I hummed along to and then the ceremony was over! Don Rober closed our Arcanums by blowing the mopacho smoke on our heads and don Howard invited us all to go around the room to hug each other. I went straight to someone who seemed to have a difficult experienced at first, she had a hard time drinking the brew and by the time the first Icaros began she was crying heavily across the room from me. We then went around the room hugging everyone and there was a powerful sense of love and appreciation for each other. It really was a wonderful time.

And that was it. The ceremony itself seemed so, so short and over in no time but fortunately Lin invited everyone out on to the sun deck out the back of the premises where a large group of us met up, watched the stars, talked and listened to music.

The stars here are ridiculously beautiful. I basically spent most of the time laying on my back watching the amazing cosmic view.

As for the dream part – don Howard said the lucid dreaming could happen that evening or sometime next week but in actual fact, our dreams would become more present for the rest of our lives hereon in. I spent my sleep time dreaming about everyone in the group but the odd part was is that I kept waking up after each person, thinking to myself, “I’m dreaming. The Bobinsana works” and then falling back to sleep. Bizarre.

Bobinsana plant next to the ceremonial maloca