Hot off the press, Graham Hancock has done a TED lecture on the power of ayahuasca and his personal path of transformation. For followers of Hancock's work, it is mostly review -- a kind of rapid-fire rundown of his embrace of shamanic tools for personal and global recovery.
A personal note on his discussion of the "green bitch" and the end of his years long relationship with cannabis: I agree. I say that because I learned something very similar a long time ago. I was also dissuaded by spirit -- if far less dramatically than Hancock was -- from its use. I found that it robbed me of creativity under the guise making me feel more creative, as well. The "green bitch" is very seductive. Again, not a commentary on anyone else's choices, but anyone who knows me well knows that I'm teetotaler from way back, and that this radical sobriety has been a primary driver of my spiritual journey. It is also worth noting that the use of plant teachers like ayahuasca and iboga have proved to be incredible tools in drug and alcohol recovery. It seems counter-intuitive until you understand how different is the use of "hallucinogens" in a shamanic context from recreational use.
Also up from Hancock, he posted this incredible narrative on a series of recent ayahuasca journeys. After encountering some attacking entity in a journey, Hancock became aware that a lot of the participants were encountering dark, abusive, and frightening entities in both the spirit and the material world. He had a very telling exchange with a narcissistic, self-styled shaman, who had violated the boundaries of a female participant. She handled it well. But it seems clear that a number of them were there to have a very particular lesson on the abuse of power.
Two days later, mercifully, the man left. Indeed most of the group have now gone. Just seven of us remain for the final two sessions, the first of which took place on the night of 10 February into the small hours of 11 February. It was a blissful, open-hearted night with a great feeling of love, security, solidarity and trust. I am not going to describe it further here except to say that the same member of our group who had asked “What the hell was THAT?” after the fifth session had a new insight during the night. He experienced a direct, personal encounter with the loving entity whom we call Mother Ayahuasca (who is perhaps a goddess, though she does not wish to be worshipped) and he asked her the same question: “What the hell was THAT thing that attacked us during the fifth ceremony? Why did we have to go through that?”
“You needed to see it,” she replied. “Now you know what I have to deal with all the time. It’s the evil that is loose in the world, twisting and destroying the human spirit and I need your help to fight it, the help of good people everywhere, the help of the power of love.”
Perhaps it's because I've been rewatching The Matrix movies for the gazillionth time, but what that put me in mind of was the Oracle and her battle with the Smiths, aka., archontic consciousness.
Hancock has a number of posts on his recent ayahuasca journeys on his Facebook page and they all appear to be open to the public. He is, as ever, incredibly generous with his words and experience.
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