Radiohuasca Interview with Maven Elderwood from Infinite Light Peru Ayahausca Center - Audio and Transcription
Ayahuasca Radio Interview - Initial Note
Wait, a side comment before you start reading. I didn´t catch until I actually transcribed this what I said at the end! He asked me if I´d like to say anything to the people at SpiritPlants Radio and the Ayahuasca Forum, but I didn´t hear the last part! So my answer was obviously geared towards listeners curious about the Medicine (I think the people running the show know all that stuff!) So my revised answer...
Thanks to everyone who put on this program, and keeps sharing the Medicine! None of this could happen without you. A deep, personal gratitude for all the work you do, and know it ripples out farther than you´ll ever know. And please forgive my embarrassing mishear on the question! Much love from the bottom of my heart:)
Ayahuasca Radio Interview Transcription
(Initial Song)
(soft voice) This is RadioHuasca...
That's right, and you're listening to SpiritPlants Radio with Miza. We're broadcasting 'round the world at yage.net:9000. Turn on, tune in, and visit us on the web at spfradio.yage.net for schedules, playlists, archives and more.
So this time 'round we're catching up with Maven from Infinite Light center in Peru. It's a place I've only heard good things about, and Maven's story in itself is a classic tale of shamanic calling and adventure. But before we get stuck into that, I have a fresh pile of CDs in front of me, thank you Larry. It's our resident poet from the forums at ayahuasca.com, Larry Lazafer (sp?)
I want to hear the voice of your poetry
I will not remember your name
And there´s no need to remember mine
I will watch the walk you walk
Not the talk you talk
I will not see the image in your eyes
Nor seek what you are looking for
I do not care what is in your head
Or between your legs
I want to listen to the voice of your soul
As you listen to mine
Only then can we truly understand each other
Only then can we truly talk
Truly walk
Truly love
Truly see
Truly be
One
I spin my web throughout the world
To keep myself from being alone
In the hell of all alone
The most painful truths
Are my own
I follow my words into yesterday and tomorrow
In the days I am alone
I refuse to exist in the lonely world
Of only existence
I must become
I cannot be
Nothing
Now you can see me
Spin my web
In my path through the soul
With the softest glow of the show of shadows
And the many times shine of your sacred eyes
Dark stars of sight
Are twilight
Are might
Are night
Kindles the fires of our kindred desires
A touch
A splash
A chill
Of will
And the stillness still empties
And fills our souls
And flows
And stills
And flows
And will
And flow
And chills
A touch
A splash
I laughed out loud like the thunder of the clouds
And somehow now I close my eyes
And find I am now somewhere inside
Where I cannot hide
Where I cannot lie
Where I cannot die
Where I once
Eternally
Cried
I had the love of a woman
And the hopes
Of a child
Sacred faith and blessed grace
Total insanity and total freedom
Mentally to see
In ways all is meant to be
I now must step from the shadows
And dance into the light of the day
To greet the world
Hugging my embrace
And calling my name
A path of no destination
On the wings of destiny
The faith that can no longer linger
Wandering again in wonder
Wondering again beyond yonder
Always finding
God is guiding
In my church
Of constant search
I keenly feel the wound of the world
And kneel with all hope and every kindness
Hand in hand
With the love of life
And my wish for all
May life be just
A bowl of Larrys
(phone ringing)
Hello? (echos)
NICK: Hi Maven, thanks for joining us. This is RadioHuasca, and welcome to the show
MEGHAN: Hi thanks Nick
How Did You Get to Where You Are Today?
NICK: So before we get stuck into where we find you today, which is in the middle of a full-blown shamanic apprenticeship in Peru, it's clear from the blog that there was a completely different Maven around a couple of years ago, and if you could pick it up from there and join the dots for us, how did you get to where we find you today?
MAVEN: Well, you know - I was a very typical suburban American girl. I had a lot of struggles with depression, I was extremely overweight (about 230 lbs). Just really kind of struggling with just being happy, and relationships, and love, and loving myself.
It felt like a really overwhelming sense of darkness (for lack of a better word). It got pretty urgent - my desire to heal myself of these things - and I realized that I was the only one who would be able to find a way to do it. With that intention, I ended up falling into a spiritual school in Maryland that prepared me. And then the Medicine kind of found me and opened everything up from there.
What was Your First Exposure to Ayahuasca?
NICK: Okay. So getting deeper into the moment of the Medicine finding you. Do you happen to remember the first time you came across the word Ayahuasca, or you first read, or heard, or encountered the whole idea?
MAVEN: The first time I had any exposure to it was in that National Geographic article that came out probably five or six years ago. I remember reading the article, and (chuckle) it was a little freaky, but I knew by the end of it that I had to do this someday.
A couple years later it kind of came back to me at the school I was at - somebody started talking about it. I didn't really know what it was except from the article and the program I went to (their website). But I just knew I had to go do it, and I didn't even want to know any more, because I didn't know how people felt about it. All I knew, is my body said go, my soul said go, and I went.
How was Your First Experience?
NICK: And at this particular time, did you have any direction or information to lead you to the Medicine? How did you go about arranging your first encounter with Ayahuasca?
MAVEN: Well, I was going to Peru anyway. Kind of a long, Divine series of events (which is too long to go into right now.) Basically I had this chunk of time, and had about two weeks of my Peru trip that was unplanned. Somebody had mentioned the program that I ended up going to.
So I went on their website, and there was a program dated right during the time that I had available. So I went there, and even before I drank for the very first time, I knew I wanted to apprentice. Everyone was kind of like, well why don't you actually try the Medicine before you say that, but I knew it.
Something in my body said yes, yes, yes this is right. So my very first experience, within about 15 minutes, I swore I would never do it again. What I didn't know at the time, was that I was purging a lot of drug use...a lot of years of the toxins I had picked up, both physically, spiritually, emotionally, from an overindulgence of drugs and alcohol and various other things.
Purging that out, the experience was very very difficult, but during that experience, at the same time, I found my strength. I found that my spirit was stronger than I ever really knew because I had never really had an opportunity to test it out in that way. So by the morning, even though I was completely on my ass (I don´t know if I can say that on radio - but I was on my ass) but I felt so amazing, and was so intrigued by the doors the Medicine had opened into myself, that I had to keep going.
I had to find out what I could be like without all this crap in my body. So I continued that program, and I ended up going back there again for another round later. Then I ended up meeting one of the shamans who was working there. Him and I had connected pretty strongly.
Then a Divine series of events led him away from that program, and I ended up going with him. I started my formal apprenticeship with him out in the village where he's from in the Amazon. So I did about a year (more or less) of apprenticeship with him, then the idea for Infinite Light happened really organically.
It just kind of - well me being out there, thinking about maybe building a little hut or something for me to live in, and then I´m thinking, well maybe I could have a couple more rooms for people to come down, because I know so many people who would love to work with the Medicine. It kept going from there.
As the apprenticeship itself got deeper and deeper and deeper and continues to, the levels and the healing that occurred was just so mind-boggling, that I just wanted to know. I wanted to know what was really going on in life, and who I was really capable of being. Who my spirit really is without all the junk, and that´s where we are now, still continuing that process.
The Vision of Infinite Light
NICK: Absolutely. Now, by most people's standards, I think your path involves a series of quantum leaps. I mean, you go straight after the voice, straight to Peru, straight into apprenticeship, and pop out not long after with the Infinite Light center. So we've touched on the apprenticeship briefly. So, was the vision for the Infinite Light center there from day one as well?
MAVEN: No. Actually all of that only unfolded as much as I was kind of able to handle seeing at a certain time. Because the whole vision was overwhelming enough as it is when I did see it, and if I had seen it earlier, I probably wouldn't have been able to do it. So no, it definitely unfolded as my levels got higher, and I got stronger and was able to handle seeing more, it opened up a little more, and a little more.
It continues to do that the same way. It's like the Medicine knows how much I can take at certain time. So no, I had no idea about Infinite Light. I had no clue. All I knew is that I wanted to heal myself and I wanted my Life Purpose to open up. And that's exactly what happened.
Yeah, it surprised me every step of the way and it still does. I still can only see a little tiny chunk of the vision, it's definitely still unfolding.
NICK: And would you be able to break it down a little further, perhaps from the very first time you drank to the birth of Infinite Light.
MAVEN: I think I was about - from the very first time I drank, I drank five times, then there was a six month break. Then I came back and did about four months in Peru. By the end of that four months, which was about 40 or 50 ceremonies, it had started to open. So it was somewhere in my first quarter (as far as I am now).
NICK: Okay, well we haven't really gone into any detail about Infinite Light, so maybe now's a chance. If you haven't been to the website and you don't know what that is, Maven would you just tell us the basics - what is Infinite Light?
What is Infinite Light?
MAVEN: Sure. Well Infinite Light is a center out in the village that the shaman is from. Basically it's just a place where people who want to come work with the Medicine can. It's a very non-invasive approach.
It's very much 'here is a safe place to work in the Light part of the Medicine'. The person themselves does the work. The shaman and the apprentices support them.
The shaman doesn't consider himself a 'Maestro', he doesn't like that whole system. He basically feels that he wants to give you the 'win', and give you the skills that you'll be able to take back into wherever you're from and apply those skills into life.
So yeah, basically it's just a supportive, loving environment for people who want to work with the Medicine to do so. And then of course, naturally a community forms. A lot of people who have come to Infinite Light have since become some of my really good friends and things like that. So it's been a really beautiful unfolding how it's developed itself.
NICK: Yeah I love a beautiful unfolding. Okay so let's just get into the physical space and location of Infinite Light. Did I remember right, it's on an island?
MAVEN: No it's actually not on an island. We have a little piece of property that has the potential to turn into something, but the program itself is in the village. The village off river of the Ucayali River, it's about a four or five hour speed boat ride away from Iquitos (in the Amazon).
It's probably one of the most developed villages in the area, so it's fairly large for a village, but it´s still a village (thatched roofs, things like that). And a lot of beautiful people living way more in tune with nature than most of us from the West are accustomed to, which is really refreshing in itself.
American Sign Language and Deaf Accessibility in Ayahuasca
NICK: Yes to that! Okay one thing that piqued my curiosity was, you offer it seems like translating into sign language for the Deaf, and seem to be tremendously talented in that area.
It's not something I've ever thought about as being an issue in Ayahuasca ceremonies or shamanism but, now that I've kind of seen what you're doing, it's absolutely fascinating. So once again, could you just give us the basics on this please Maven?
MAVEN: Well that was another Divine series of events (chuckle). Since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to learn sign language and Spanish. Just sign language and Spanish. I had no idea why. Obviously I learned Spanish from being out in Peru, but I learned sign language. I kind of fell into it.
I started in high school, and then ended up going to Gallaudet University (which is the Deaf university in the United States) in Washington DC.
I went there on a special program that allows hearing students (undergraduates) to graduate from there. It's a very - they don't let many people in. I kind of fell into it Divinely, again.
I went there for three years, so I was completely immersed in Deaf culture for that long, and ended up becoming a sign language interpreter. I could feel the end of that chapter as far as that type of work going, but I still wanted to stay in touch in the Deaf community.
Also, once Infinite Light developed, I really started to realize there's really not all that many places, even for a Deaf person to find Western-style psychotherapy. It's pretty difficult to find places where they can directly communicate with the people that are supporting them in healing without an interpreter and things like that.
Much less, something 'alternative', much less in another country. So of course, a lot of my friends are Deaf, so I wanted to open the door up to the Deaf community as well.
NICK: Wow. Well good for you, and it seems the pieces of the puzzle are slowly starting to come together in your own life. So have you seen a lot of Deaf people come through at the Infinite Light center?
MAVEN: Oh yeah, we've had plenty. We've had maybe fifteen different Deaf people come through. We've been training interpreters to be able to work with the Medicine themselves, meanwhile interpret during the day.
Actually it's been really interesting watching how the Medicine works with Deaf people, because in ceremony, you can't really interpret it because it's Icaros (the communication songs) and it's all dark. So we don't actually use interpreting during the ceremony.
What we've found it is the Medicine has guided the Deaf people kind of in a different way, knowing that they can't hear the Icaros. So they seem to show them, in symbols, or energy, and different ways to guide them through it. Yeah so that's been interesting watching how the Medicine works with Deaf people, knowing that they're Deaf.
NICK: Wow, well that's a truly fascinating area to be involved it. And possibly cutting-edge accidentally. I mean there can't be all that many people out there doing this kind of work. I would presume you are the only Ayahuasca retreat center that offers sign language services for Deaf people?
MAVEN: I assume so. In the Ayahausca community I've never really heard of anything (though I've never really looked). I would probably assume that.
Apprenticeship
NICK: Yeah. Alright well let's try and get back onto your story for a minute Maven. You hear the inner voice, you follow the calling towards the Ayahuasca Medicine and then you undergo and actual shamanic apprenticeship. How long did that take to manifest?
MAVEN: You know, it really didn't take all that long. It was about six months between the first time I drank (those five ceremonies), then the second time I drank at that same center. Then moving out into the village.
So basically on my eleventh ceremony I was in apprenticeship. I just knew it, I'm kind of impulsive like that, when I know I know, and I didn't see any reason to slow it down. So basically it started in 2008 and has been going ever since.
NICK: Nice! And considering the path and the progress you've made, are able to tell where you are on it? I know the journey's best looked at as an ongoing revealing, you don't really reach the 'end', nobody pops out and says 'you've made it.' But have you got an inkling as to where you started, where you are, and where you might end up?
MAVEN: Well I have no idea where it's gonna end up. My intention is to have myself as clear, clean, strong spiritually as possible. Then whatever my most effective service in the world (Life Purpose), however that looks, is how it looks. And I can't obviously see it all right now.
But no matter what happens, I want to be in integrity with my spirit as much as possible. Because of that intention, I ended up doing a LOT of purging for the whole, pretty much, maybe 150 ceremonies. It was just a tremendous amount of purging. I had no idea how much stuff was in the body.
It's just pretty recently that it's moved out of excess negative energy purging, more into rebalancing things like ego...things I have to learn to manage. Of course that's been happening the whole time too. And its just beginning to moving into getting more shamanic training in ceremony: receiving Icaros, doing ventiadas, learning extractions and way to support the Medicine in moving out the negative energies and entities.
So it's just starting to move into that phase. But I always had a saying that I didn't want to be a 'shaman with issues' (chuckle) so I wanted to take as much time as needed so that I could really serve from a Light place.
Authentic Blog Sharing
NICK: Absolutely. And I really have to hand it to you for your story on the blog, your own personal development (and thoughts and fears). Nothing is hidden or dressed up or sprinkled with fairy dust. We get to share in your anxieties and negative emotions. The whole purge there from start to finish.
Really, my compliments on that Maven, and it's so well grounded in this often gritty honesty that we find up there. As well there's a very endearing quality from the reader's perspective because we're right in there with you. Was this something you were aware of, did you think about this or is it plain, simple, honesty (just typing the truth)?
MAVEN: Well yeah, I mean the reason I wanted to share those things is because at Infinite Light, I'm the apprentice with the most experience so far. I realized fairly quickly that you can't really sugar-coat this.
I mean, it's my reality, it doesn't mean everyone's going to go through the same thing. But to act like it's all beautiful flowers and sunshine and rainbows the whole time, is not true generally, and is has not been for me.
So I didn't want to kind of false advertise what it looks like in the third year of apprenticeship. And again, everyone's completely different so who knows.
I mean, some people start out at way more evolved levels than I'm at now, so they're going to have a different experience than I did. But, I feel like it's real. It's life, it is what it is, so that's why I really wanted to share it.
And you know, the negative stuff has been more healing for my growth than anything else. The positive stuff is easy, that's Light, that's what my true spirit is. So all of the 'negative encounters' and moments of wanting to give up and all of that, that's where my true strength kicked in.
Because it hit a zone I had obviously - I hadn't really even felt that except for once - and when I got close to that zone, something kicked in in my soul and moved me back in where I needed to be. Even that experience, knowing my soul was going to do that, it gives me more trust and less fear of even going to those places because I know I have a mechanism that kicks in, that's going to keep me going where I need to be going.
And as far as - I didn't really have any experience with any 'outside' negative attacks. We obviously shoot to work as Light as possible in the Medicine, and the Medicine is just consciousness, life, everything - there's lots of different zones. The shaman doesn't battle, we defend only, we don't look to participate in that stuff. So I haven't experience any shamanic attacks or anything like that.
The only thing I've experienced very recently, when I was ready to be at this training level, was just a little attack from a friend of mine. We had a little encounter spiritually, and some of the negative energies that were in her body (she wasn't doing it consciously) the spirits themselves attacked me.
And I learned so much, an insane amount from that - it was absolutely part of my training. The way the Divine and the Medicine works, for me anyway, is that I wouldn't have had that experience if I wasn't ready for it (which is why it didn't happen earlier.)
I wasn't at the level that I could actually gain what I needed to gain from it. You know, the good the bad and the ugly - it's all good. Nothing's really negative, nothing's really bad. Everything has continued my growth, and I´m really grateful for all of it. (echo)
(Song Break)
Lessons Along the Way
NICK: So let's talk about some of the lessons you have learned along the way. Is it possible to distinguish from teachings from the plants themselves, and wisdom that might have been passed along to you from a shaman perhaps?
MAVEN: Well, the shaman's approach is to try to let us learn as much as possible from the Medicine first. He tends to give us a lot of flexibility, a lot of trial and error. Let us grow on our own. Then if we get too far off track, he'll kind of lightly tap us back in and support us with something.
It's kind of a combination - it's not exactly the formal teacher/student thing. Again, sometimes he'll have his moments where he'll go on a tangent of just a ton of wisdom, and we're really grateful for those moments. But they only happen when they really need to.
He's the kind of teacher that doesn't want to do your homework for you. He will help you if you're about to fall off, but generally he likes to let us learn.
But then, just being around him and the way he thinks and the way he lives, and the way he opens his heart. Just his being is a lot - I learn a lot from just the way he deals with things and the way he is.
I would say, as far as official learning, more is from the Medicine, because that's what he wants. Lots of times he says he want us to pass him, get to higher levels than he could.
There are areas that, as Westerners, having a different kind of mind than he has (being Peruvian). He says, 'I want you guys to explore those areas and pass me.' He doesn't know anything about quantum physics or anything like that. That's our area, so we can learn things like that.
So yeah it's pretty organic, but the focus is definitely, definitely, as the Medicine as the teacher.
Friends, Apprentices and Plants
NICK: Okay, so we're busy getting stuck into the story of your own apprenticeship. But as you've already mentioned, there are other apprentices at Infinite Light. So could you say how many people have either completed or are undergoeing apprenticeship?
MAVEN: Several. A lot. We get a lot of people out there for about three months at a time. I would say, more than half. More than half of the people want to really get in there. I don't know if it's just our draw or what.
And you know we have it set up so that people can come for longer periods of time, that's something we're really open to. So yeah, we have a lot of people that once they really get in, they're so intrigued by what the Medicine really is, what it can really do - what they can do, who they are - that they just want to keep going.
NICK: Yeah. Well by the nature of it, you're going to need plant materials and plenty of them. Are you able to get everything that you need locally?
MAVEN: Most of it. We can get - in a given Ayahuasca brew we work with about 15 different plants or so. But it's not always the exact same plants. We gather about three quarters of them locally. Some of them we have to bring from Iquitos just because it would be a seven day trip to go out into the jungle and find it all. So as much as we can, we get locally.
Shamanic Diets
NICK: Okay. And this brings us nicely onto the subject of dieting other plants, plants that may not form the main ingredients of an Ayahuasca brew. How long into your path did you begin to diet other plants?
MAVEN: Probably around my 20th ceremony or I so started working doing diets. That's really important for my apprentices. There's times that if I kind of start to 'spin out' (meaning I'm not going as far as I need to go.
The diets really support the physical body, because you can only go spiritually as far as your physical body can handle. So if you're body is at max capacity, doing a diet will allow it to launch to higher levels in ceremony. So the diets are amazing.
We do various types of diets. The last two diets I did, the last one was Sanango diet, and that's just...whew...that's just amazing. It's really amazing for the body, as it kind of pushed out the toxic, 'cold' energy that gets trapped in there. It's a very difficult diet but it's worth it.
And then before that I did a 30-plant diet, which was definitely a stretch, that was another level too. Also getting to know the plants on a different level.
The tea in the diets, they're raw (they're not cooked like in the Ayahuasca mix) so being able to absorb the plants when they're in a raw state really gives me a stronger relationship with each of the plants. And many of those same plants are also in the Ayahuasca brew, so then I have a newfound connection and appreciation for those particular plant spirits, which is awesome.
NICK: Right. And some of the plants you've been dieting on their own, they're not all visionary plants are they?
MEGHAN: No, they're not all visionary - actually none of them are visionary except sometimes Sanango. I've never experienced that, though I've experienced a lot of energy and wisdom downloads, things like that, and dreamwork. But not visionary like the Ayahuasca.
Most of them are supporter plants. They're like doctor-spirits supporting the Ayahuasca to help the people through the experience. So no, these other plants (that we work with anyway) are not visionary, they are doctor-spirit supporters.
How Clear was the Path?
NICK: In general Maven, it seems you've done well finding a direct line to the place we find you today. Specifically from the Maven who was depressed and upset to the one that's now a shamanic apprentice. Was it a clear-cut path for you?
MEGHAN: Well kind of. I ended up going through - started working at the center I started with, ending with the shaman I'm working with now. But on the in-between I was working with the shaman now, and another shaman from the other program.
So it's been a little bit of a curvy road, but it was exactly what I needed. So it wasn't like I was off-track, it was just the experiences I needed to have in each place. So even though sometimes it went like a snake, other times in a straight line, it was exactly the path I needed for me. I'm assuming that happens for most people.
Programs at Infinite Light
NICK: Okay, well seems you've found your place now with Infinite Light, no doubt about that. Do you want to talk us through some of the programs that are available to people at Infinite Light?
MAVEN: Well, we have pretty much everything we can think of listed on the website. We basically do 10-day programs, and a lot of people will link those programs back to back. We run those about 9-10 months out of the year (we take a break over Christmastime).
We have a lot of people who will stay for several groups in a row who want to have a little bit more experience with the Medicine. What we do on the in-between is go back to Iquitos, some people stay in the village.
What we do each group is we have five ceremonies, people can do a diet if they want. One thing I've really made a point to do as the Western co-founder is that I don't touch the ceremonies. The shaman has been doing this for years and years, and he´s been in this lineage for a long time.
So I don't mess with the ceremonies, what we do is support people in more Western ways outside of ceremony. Basically, we try not to keep it too too structured, so that it can tailor to the individual and whatever their needs are, but basically we've got a calendar on the website. People can start whenever we have space and go on from there.
Back and Forth from Peru and the United States
NICK: Yep. Well right now you're speaking to me from the USA. How do you split your time between the States and Peru?
MAVEN: I'm back and forth, in the end it's about 50/50. I tend to do about 2-4 months on either end. That's just the rhythm that I like. So yeah 2-4 months in Peru, 2-4 months in the States, and go back and forth.
Though I have to say, the apprenticeship does not stop when I go back to the States by any stretch of the imagination. The Medicine is inside of me now, and it really really guides me, and brings me opportunities to train just as much as if I were in ceremony. It's obviously not as visual.
One of the things the Medicine has shown me, is how to kind of see behind the scenes of what's happening in the physical world. So once I've seen behind the scenes, it's a lot easier to know that's going on when I'm back in the 'matrix' or whatever. And then there are some things I need to do on my own when I'm not in group, so those type of things I'll get when I'm in the States.
NICK: And are you drinking Ayahuasca outside of Peru?
MEGHAN: No, no I'm taking a break from drinking. I'm still process what I did in Peru, applying, and kind of balancing out in the intensity waves. Because I´m only a human, I can only handle so much at a time (chuckle.)
Future Plans at Infinite Light?
NICK: Okay good. It seems that Infinite Light has got off to a great start, fabulous foundation, I love the philosophy. Have you made any kind of definite plans or projects for the future?
MAVEN: Well, there are a lot of things kind of opening up at Infinite Light. We're still in our second year, so this is kind of an organizational, structuring year, things like that. As it continues, we have a lot of intentions we would like to see manifested.
We'd really like to start working with some media, maybe documentaries, books, things like that. And offer some opportunities for the apprentices to share what they're experiencing, their art in different ways.
We'd love to be able to have enough money to be able to do a scholorship program, get some more community service stuff going on, things like that. But, you know all in it's due time. As it's growing, more ideas are coming. The Medicine just keeps feeding us (chuckle).
NICK: And as you've already mentioned, the Infinite Light website has all the details you might need to know, but perhaps for people listening for the first time, can you talk us through some of the costs for individuals wishing to attend Infinite Light.
MAVEN: Well each 10-day group is $1000, and that includes transportation to the village and back, all your food, laundry, things like that. Five ceremonies. We have packages for two and three groups, things like that.
What we're about to start doing is that past guests can do service apprenticeships for three months. That involves various things like caretaking (we have a girl that's quadriplegic out there healing her body in the Medicine, so she needs some caretaker support), things like that.
So there's getting to be more and more opportunities for people who really feel strongly connected to Infinite Light to come out for a longer time for less money, and offer a service in exchange for a discount (or in some cases maybe a complete trade). But for the regular, first time person who just wants to come for 10 days, that's $1000, and it just gets cheaper from there, the more you want to come.
NICK: Great. And do you remember how many people have passed through Infinite Light in total?
MAVEN: We've got to be around, whew, at least 75, maybe 100? I´m not sure. Right now we tend to have about 20 at a given time, many of them stay for longer periods. But last year we only had the ability to hold ten, but we had a lot more first timers coming out. If I had to guess I'd say maybe around 75 so far.
Contact with Other Centers?
NICK: Yeah. And I know in Iquitos and surrounding area, there are many retreat centers offering an Ayahuasca program. Most differ in philosophy and services, and they are really quite individual. Do you have any contact or connections with other groups?
MEGHAN: You know, that has just barely started. At the beginning we kind of just did our own thing out in the village, because there's some politics and things like that in Iquitos. But what's been happening lately, it's almost like the Universe is helping me to meet the people that will maybe become kind of allies.
Not everyone has the attitude that they want people to go to where the best match for them in the Medicine is. One person might have a more militant style in the Medicine, and that might be what somebody needs, where someone else needs a more nurturing approach.
So it seems as if lately I've been getting introduced to people with a similar outlook on that. It's kind of weeding me past the politics, because I don't want to really deal with it (chuckle). So it's connecting me with people that have the same kind of intention. So just little by little I've begun to meet people who run various centers.
Ayahuasca Forum
NICK: And one of the places this information is highly condensed is at the Ayahuasca forum itself. I noticed you registered since we first made contact. Do you spend a lot of time on the board?
MAVEN: I've looked at it a couple of times. I'd had a kind of 'no' on any type of politics. Obviously on the board, they talk about politics a lot. But now, it doesn't really effect me, I don't really care. I want to connect with the people that I obviously need to connect with.
As I'm looking at it now through different eyes, it's looking really amazing so I'm excited to get more into the community through ayahuasca.com and get to know some of those people. Because we're all brothers and sisters in the Medicine. It would be nice to meet some other people who are around the same 'zone' that I'm at with my apprenticeship.
I kind of stumbled through on my own, there wasn't anyone else out there, at the level I was at. Except for the shaman, who had a different kind of apprenticeship and is 27 years ahead of me (chuckle). So I think it would be really great to get in there, and meet some people who can understand where I'm at and support me as well.
NICK: Well it's a great place for exactly that. There are some very helpful and wise individuals on the board. So we've touched on your story of your meeting with the Medicine, the apprenticeship, the Infinite Light story. Have you any inkling as to where you're heading personally next?
Personal Future?
MAVEN: No, I mean it's whatever comes next. I mean, based on what the Medicine has shown me so far, maybe more shamanic training. But the end all be all goal for me is not to 'be a shamana' so to speak. I'm sure I will need those skills to be able to continue my path, but that's just one piece of my life purpose and the Medicine helping me uncover it.
So yeah, I don't look too far in the future, because I'm not there yet, I just kind of go with what feels right for now. But yes, it's pretty clear that in the foreseeable future I´ll be continuing work in the Medicine and Infinite Light, and we´ll see what happens from there.
Future of the Medicine?
NICK: Yeah. And while we're busy foreseeing the future, here's a question I try to put to most people who come on the show. Okay, given that Ayahuasca has undergone a sudden and quick explosion across the planet, certainly in evolutionary terms, especially since the online internet period.
Where do you think this might be heading? What effect do you think it might have on the species? It's the big question really...what's going on with it? It seems to imply so many possible meanings and outcomes, but where do you think we are with all this?
MAVEN: Well, I'm not a psychic or anything, but it seems to be - I'm not exactly sure what the 2012 phenomenon is, what it's gonna be, if it's gonna be anything, but from my experience, there does seem to be a huge, huge kind of spiritual revolution happening right now.
It makes a lot of sense that the Medicine would be spreading itself out to bigger communities. I just feel as a consciousness, we're ready for it, a lot of us are. We've been asking ourselves these questions, like 'what's really going on?'
And in the media there are these movies coming out like the Matrix and Avatar and things like that that are really opening people up to higher levels. I feel like those are a manifestation of this readiness, and the Medicine has made itself available to people who are calling for it spiritually.
So I'm really excited about the evolutions of all of us right now, and I'm really excited to be alive right now watching this influx and this growth. I feel like it's gonna be - kind of like the technological boom that's been happening over the last 100 years - I feel like that's happening spiritually right now.
I'm just really excited to be a part of it. I am not scared of 2012 in the slightest, I'm really excited to see where it goes and what it does. I'm grateful to the Medicine for moving out to more and more people, because as people are able to look farther inside of themselves, and therefore 'in and out' at the same time, the changes that can happen from this (and I'm assuming will happen) are just - I can't even comprehend spiritually what can happen here.
Music to Share?
NICK: Great answer. And the other question everybody gets asked is, is there a piece of music you´d like to share?
MAVEN: Yes! I would like to hear a song called Mareado, which for those who don't know, is a Spanish word which technically translates to 'dizzy', but in the shamanic world, basically means the state of being open and experiencing the Medicine. So there's a song called Mareado by a band named Future.
The band Future are from Northern Virginia, they are really good friends of mine. My best friend is kind of one of the founders of the band, and I've watched that come together spiritually in a very very Divine way. They've all gotten very clear as to what their service to humanity is going to be, and it's through vibration of music.
They are very close to my heart - we have very parallel paths as far as spiritually, and I would love to hear them on SpiritPlants.
Parting Words
NICK: Well thanks so much for the chat and for sharing your experiences with us. Are there any parting words you'd like to leave for the people of SpiritPlants Radio and the people of the Ayahuasca Forum?
MAVEN: Um, just I guess if anyone is feeling any kind of draw to the Medicine, it's probably really not an accident. The Medicine really does call people. So if anyone is starting to feel that, I would just say open up, and set the intention that you'll be led to wherever you need to be that's in the highest good of you. And let the Medicine guide you to it, even if it looks like a serpent, that's totally fine. That might be exactly what you need.
And if you need any support, you can always find me on facebook, I'm always happy to talk to people or email or whatever. Sometimes starting the process is kind of confusing. So yeah, if anyone needs any support you can find me there. Much love and luck on the journey, and congratulations on being called (echo)...
