PaDeva Church and Seminary

A syncretic Ayahuasca based church that grew out of Wicca and a desire to return to Gnostic, European, Indigenous paganism.

Beliefs

Our Creed is this:

"Know the Self, Know the Gods, and Live as a Light in the World."

There are many ways of fulfilling this goal, but to know the Gods and to know our true selves is beyond the reach of most humans. Because of this, the Goddess has given us a piece of herself, a moment of her essence in the plant known as B Caapi from which we make the tea Ayahuasca. It is a physical incarnation of Her in this world, and it is our experience, our tested belief, that it is only through the Mother vine that we may learn how to enter fully into Her presence. When combined with the companion plants, we may walk with the God and Goddess. Through Aya we are able to go beyond ritual and worship to a living relationship of dialog, revelation and miracle. We have come to accept there is no other way in life for us to cross the divide, the bridge between this world and the next. Through Aya we are able to experience the presence of all the energies and manifestations of creation. The God and Goddess, the Great Spirit, Animal and Spirit Helpers... They are all real, not just stories of power and dreams tucked away in old books.

Those of us who come to this path do so because we know that it is possible to know the Divine. We have gone though the world and have not found the vessel that would make that possible. When we come to this path, PaDeva, we know we are home because it is here that the full presence of the Goddess (or God, or Great Spirit) is at long last within our reach. There is no substitute, be it practice or belief, for an actual living relationship with the Divine.

We dare to touch the Gods themselves, to know the Goddess rather than just worship from afar and petition for help and relief from guilt over perceived sin. We who walk this path know with certainty that she is a friend, a teacher, and our greatest love. She is Love. By taking her presence into ourselves, we reveal our own core and divinity. That is the Mystery of PaDeva, and the power of Ayahuasca.

Through the vine, the Goddess heals us and prepares us for her presence. She prepares our bodies to know and commune with other plants as well, plants that are the incarnation of God. Together, we become the vessel of the Union of the God and Goddess, and we are the cup of the Great Rite. We are the host to the mysteries of the universe. Without the vine and the companion plants, without the sacred marriage of the Gods within us, the Great Spirit can be revealed to us only in whispering and in brief moments. We must bring their presence into us so we can be healed, prepared and awakened. That is the Mystery of PaDeva.

The companion plants are both the Master Plant Teachers known and used by indigenous peoples from all over the world, including Chacruna, Jeruma, Toe, Chaliponga, as well as the plants that surround us in our homes and our local biosphere. Each person learns from the Vine which plants are teachers and medicines. In this way, we believe in the Shamanic Path whereby a person learns not from a book about a plant, or rock or tree, but rather to hear the voices of these spirits for themselves.

Some have been taught to use the Oak, and the Pine. Some have learned the powers of flowers and grasses. Long ago our ancestors knew these secrets. Any book showing "correspondences" or the "symbolic" meanings of plants and trees have unknowing glimpsed what is seen by practitioners of PaDeva. We do not learn about plants from books or stories, we learn from the plants themselves. We listen as they speak. We are the students, and they are the teachers.

We require a relationship with the Divine

There is no substitute for a relationship with our creator. There is no substitute for the knowledge and presence of the True Spirit. We have come to this church because no where else in the world were we allowed to know the Spirit for ourselves. We have found no path, greater or equal whereby to know the Goddess and God.

It is through the sacred plants that the Goddess has chosen to reveal herself, to heal, purify and Teach us.

More on our beliefs is not simply stated - we do not tell people what to believe or know. We agree that belief is not something taught - that would be dogma. For us, belief is something we have tested; we have learned for ourselves or have gained working with another. We strive to give each person an opportunity to experience the Divine, the Goddess, God, the Great Spirit, in their everyday lives. Without personal knowledge, there is no magic, there is no PaDeva.

Similarly, we define Faith as a belief in what we know not just through teaching, but through first hand experience and practice. This is one of our highest ideals for which we strive: real lasting Faith.

We agree to follow the Church Code of Conduct and keep the church operating within the Bylaws. We have found our beliefs to hold true to the document set forth by the Council of American Witches (of 1973 - 74) - a document considered universal by most Wiccan and pagan groups.

We, as a group, have similar goals and experiences, we use similar tools and language and have an agreed upon code of conduct and sense of family. We do not have a "holy doctrine" as we do not believe that the Spirit can truly be expressed in words to be absorbed by the Ego. We cannot express what we cannot separate ourselves from, it is like trying to see your own nose... We cannot find Truth anymore than we can try and find our elbow - it is something we cannot loose.

It is therefore far easier to explain what we do. What we do reflects what we believe more than any words can. It is in their actions that the truth of a person is learned. For this reason we have our Book of Light and Shadows. It is a record of our path, a story unfolding from our traveling this path through PaDeva. All that we believe and do comes directly from our relationship with Spirit. The Book grows from that relationship, it is the story that is unfolding by the existence of this group.

The PaDeva Book of Light and Shadow is a collection of our tenants of faith, our rituals, rites, sacrament, preparations and, certainly, our stories. It is our experiences, our inspirations and art. It is the soul of the community, where each person's contributions will continue to serve the whole. Our intention is for the Book to define and guide; it does not limit...