padeva.com

The dates for the October event will be the 24th to the 26th.

I have had a couple of people interested in a gathering for a Diana’s Bow ceremony on October 4th to coincide with the Albuquerque Balloon fiesta. If you have any interest in making this happen, please let Xythos know as soon as possible.

Recently I was in Iquitos, Peru to give a talk at the 4th Annual Shamanism Conference.   I provided some basic information on the church and I answered some questions.  What follows are 3 of the most important questions I was asked.

1.  Does Ayahuasca teach you what to believe?

That is actually kind of difficult, a sort of yes and no question.

I would say first and foremost, ayahuasca works with what you already believe.  Christians, Wiccans, Buddhists, Bahia and just about every other religion seems to have practitioners that have found Ayahuasca to be a powerful spiritual tool and the plants to be important allies.

Rather than trying to change the core of our beliefs, Ayahuasca uses these beliefs and our religious symbols as the language through which she speaks to us. Especially at first, we do not know the language of the plants.  We are only able to hear them through the channel of our own language and symbols.  Because of this, many people find themselves reaffirmed in their beliefs rather than questioning them.  Often this work with the plants leads to a deeper connection to the Divine, a greater awareness of ones inner self, and a deep and powerful healing.  Since the plants were able to use your religious beliefs to accomplish this, how could you not feel better about your own religion?

However, there are powerful and clear lessons that come through again and again as you work with the Medicine.   I have repeatedly found that individuals who have worked with the plants for years will have an increasingly deep connection that is not at the social level.  It doesn’t necessarily mean they get along, but there is a shared knowledge and understanding that is not easily expressed.

Where I live in New Mexico there are several aspen colonies.  A single colony can produce thousands of individual trees; yet have only a single massive root system.  Trees will die and be reborn, but always springing from and returning to the same root.   Some of these colonies are tens of thousands of years old.  Evolution within a colony occurs not as a parent teaching a child, but as a community learning from each other, constantly renewing and strengthening the individual.

It feels on an intuitive level that people who are connected to the plants become increasingly connected to one another as well.  I would not consider why this happens to be entirely within the realm of logic.  Of coarse people who have shared experiences bond with one another more easily than those that do not; however, with the plants it goes beyond shared experiences.  It is a shared knowledge, a connection to the plants, and a connection to the divine.  It is the power of a shared language.  It is the connection that comes only between those who have accessed the same mysteries.

Religions give us reminders of the mysteries of life:  the true nature of our being, the possibility of existence beyond the death of our body, a Divine consciousness.   It gives us the language and symbols to discuss and explore the things in life for which there truly are no words.  It is the language for which nothing may be spoken.  The problem with that should be obvious, but it does not suppress our need to share our ideas and experiences in these realms.  We have a natural desire to explore and understand in common terms the things that always exist in the quiet of our conscious mind, below the surface of our day-to-day lives.  “What happens when I die?” or “What is the nature of God?”  or even “What are the unseen forces in the universe that effect me and my life, but of which I remain largely unaware?” and “How do I be all that I capable of becoming?” are all examples of religious questioning.  They are the heart of personal, spiritual exploration that leads us to the plants and the lessons they teach.  Having beliefs, symbols and language to help us express these thoughts to others, or even think about them to ourselves, is a natural part of being human.

This leads me back to the question do that plants tell you what to believe.  Up until now I have held the position of “no they don’t” but I must now address the other side of this coin.  Yes, in many ways the plants do lead you into certain beliefs.

Benny Shannon spoke at the 3rd annual shamanism conference in Iquitos, Peru.  Benny Shannon is an amazing psychology researcher and the head of the psychology department for the university of Israel.  At the conference he said that the “spirits” that the curanderos experience are not real entities but extensions of our own consciousness.  I believe he was “boo’d” for making those comments.  This is an example of he did not share their beliefs.  However, he went on to talk about the healing that comes from the plants and these experiences.  He went on to discuss the underlying power of these experiences.

On the surface, you could say his beliefs and that of the audience was very different.  My interpretation is different.  Mr. Shannon and the audience did not share the same symbols or religious language.  Their connection came at a different level, at the level of spirit.  They did in fact share the experience of the same mystery and they shared their belief and faith IN that mystery.  Their disagreement came at the level of language, logic and symbol.  Their teachings and experiences from this world were not aligned.  Because of this, the plants spoke to different people in the context of their native beliefs and thought structures, yet the underlying message was still the same.  Ultimately, at the core of their beliefs, the plants taught them the same thing, it was only in their ability to understand and express these beliefs in the context of their own cultures and knowledge that they come into conflict.

I don’t think the spirits that come and work with us in an ayahuasca session care the slightest bit if we believe they are real or by what name we call them.  The only thing that matters is that we listen, we work with them and we allow ourselves to be both healed and reconnected to something greater than our “daily self.”  The message is more important than the messenger.

Imagine if Martin Luther King had spent 15 years of his life living with a tribe deep in the Amazon and after giving his “I have a dream” speech, he went back to the tribe he lived with and shared with them the same speech.  It is unlikely he would speak in English; he would use their language.  What is more, he would have adjusted the message to their culture and to experiences with which they could more directly relate.  If someone had heard the speech in English spoke with someone from the tribe about the speech he gave there it is likely they would come across many differences and may come to some disagreement about the content of the speech, yet these differences become irrelevant in the context the of greater message and central theme that Mr. King would have been relating.  So to with us, the plants adapt to our culture and language, our religion and beliefs so that a greater more important truth can be revealed to us in a way we may each understand and benefit from it.

The plants do all teach us the same thing:  to believe in something beyond the universe that we can see.  They teach us we can connect to each other and the mysteries of the universe in a very real and powerful way.  They teach us we can explore our deepest selves and by so doing explore the width and breadth of the mysteries of the universe.  The plants teach us we are capable of healing ourselves of our greatest pains and weaknesses.  The plants teach us to love one another and care for those around us, as they are extensions of ourselves.  The plants teach us this planet is alive and we must care for it as our body.  The plants teach us there is more to life and our existence than what we see with our eyes.  The plants teach the mysteries of the universe are there for us to explore for ourselves and not to be lived vicariously through religious stories and texts.  We are divine, and these things are our birthright.

2.  Is religion necessary?

As I would define it, yes.  Spirituality is the beliefs and symbols of a single person.  When two people share beliefs and symbols it becomes a language, a way to communicate and share ideas and experiences about the unexplainable and greater aspects of life.  That language becomes religion.

A religion is like any organism.  Some are healthy and some are diseased.  Some benefit the environment in which they exist, others are predatory and destructive.  Our bodies require healthy bacteria to function.  Disease causing bacteria can kill us.  Religion is about sharing ideas and experiences.  If that religion teaches personal responsibility and compassion, personal experience and love, it is healthy.  If it shares fear, paranoia and hate, it is a disease.  If the religion helps to free the person, it gives life.  If it controls and limits, it is death.

A religion that focuses on taking personal responsibility for ones own direct connection to the divine provides a language and context for these experiences.  A religion that focuses on belief in a leader or sacred text takes these experiences away from the individual and destroys the connection to the divine rather than reaffirming it.   It is like taking a healthy stream and damming it up to create a stagnant pool.  Any religion that teaches you to stop trusting your inner-self and true nature in favor of a stagnant set of external beliefs denies the divine nature of our true being, it denies that God or Goddess is within each of us, living, breathing and working through us.

Language and community are necessary.  They are crucial to our survival, and that is exactly what a healthy religion is: the power of many working to accomplish more than a single individual.

3.  What is paganism?

I am going to take the easy way out of this one and offer up a quote:  “when one defines oneself as Pagan, it means she or he follows an earth or nature religion, one that sees the divine manifest in all creation.  The cycles of nature are our holy days, the earth is our temple, its plants and creatures our partners and teachers.  We worship a deity that is both male and female, a mother goddess and father God, who together created all that is, was or will be.  We respect life, cherish the free will of sentient beings, and accept the sacredness of all Creation”  Edain McCoy

Some Pagans are Theists, they perceive of the God and Goddess as individual, literal beings, while others are not, they perceive of the God and Goddess as a manifestation of a deeper truth, a symbolic manifestation of the Divine nature of the universe.  How someone perceives them is unimportant, only that one experiences something greater than their own mind and ego.

 ***    Why PaDeva

That is a whole new post on its own, to follow soon!

We currently have two retreats set for the fall, the dates are:

Mabon, on September 19th - 21nd.  (previously we posted September 20th to 22nd, this was an error)

Samhain, October 24-27th

These retreats will specifically be geared toward non-members and a few new members.

Starting in September we will be running the retreats a bit differently than we have in the past.   Friday will be a welcome session, a time to get to know each other and have any questions answered.  Friday night we will allow time for private preparation and a group cleansing ritual before the journey.

On Saturday we will have a couple of different workshops with the main one teaching the history, traditions and practices of PaDeva church with the main ritual on Saturday night.  Sunday morning we will close our circle with a time for everyone to reflect on their experiences.

 If you have any questions or would like to reserve your spot, please email xythos@padeva.com

We should like to do an August gathering for the second weekend in August.  A house rental in the ABQ area would be fine. Anyone interested, contact Xythos.

We recently lost a wonderful opportunity to work with the History Channel. After speaking at length with the person who was producing the show, I think this would have been an excellent person to help bring The Medicine and PaDeva to a wider audience. There was disagreement and uncertainty about the opportunity presented that revealed a great deal of lack of planning and forethought on the part of the church. That is being remedied immediately.

It will be put forward at the next board meeting that the church not miss another opportunity such as this, and policies will be put in place to better address the issues involved. First, as with any pagan group, some people have concerns about privacy and protection of careers from people who don’t deal with any non-Christian beliefs. I have seen more than one Wiccan lose their job because their employer didn’t want “those type of people” working for them. Is it legal? No - but it happens. I feel strongly that this is a valid concern and those whose jobs or personal life might suffer from coming “out of the broom closet” must be protected.

Second - filming a ceremony. In general, there are very few occasions where it would be appropriate to film an actual ceremony. The particular request from the History Channel was for an initiation ceremony. I do not feel under any circumstances that filming an initiation ceremony is appropriate. This is one of the most sacred and personal experiences a person can have. Even if it is only a at a subconscious level, knowing the cameras are on you could alter your experience in a negative way.

There are other solutions, including filming a reenactment that would allow people to see what we do without taking away from an actual ceremony. It is my hopes that after the next board meeting we will have policy in place and formalize how we will deal with similar situations in the future. This church has a mission to spread its message and the teachings of the God and Goddess. We also have a duty to protect our members and the rituals we all hold sacred.

As is true with so many things in life, balance is the key. This is yet another area where the church must achieve balance between protecting what we have and growing into what we will become.

Bright Blessings,

Xythos

Dear Xythos,

Further to our conversation today, I wanted to take this opportunity
to tell you a little bit more about the show in which I am hoping you
will take part.

I work for a company called The Incubator (incubatortv.com) which has
been commissioned by The History Channel to make a 12-part series
called ‘Strange History’. This series explores the historical
background of many modern day practices that may at first seem
strange or bizarre, but which are contextualized by being shown to
have taken place for centuries in different forms.

Episodes that are already shot include ‘Altered States’ in which we
explore spiritual healing in Brazil, the practice of Tummo whereby a
man can survive extreme temperatures by meditating, remote viewing
and how hypnosis can replace anaesthetic in surgical situations. In
all of these stories we trace back the origins of these practices to
show how what sometimes seems ‘strange’ is in fact part of along-
established tradition.

In the case of the Padeva Church, we would like to film an Ayahuasca
ceremony to go in a show entitled ‘Rites of Passage’. The other
segments in the show include a traditional Mexican Quinceanera, a
segment on the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii which depicts a
Dionysian initiation, a scarification ritual amongst the Aboriginal
people in Australia, and a piece about initations into secret societies.

Each finished segment will be around 5-10 minutes long and will be
preceded by a 4-minute historical introduction. In the case of
Padeva, the introduction would show how mind-altering substances have
been used in religious initiations and ceremonies as far back as the
Aztecs. We will also explore the use of Mushrooms in Mexican shamanic
traditions, Iboga in Africa and Peyote amongst Native Americans. We
are interested in exploring how religious groups throughout history
have used these mind-opening substances in a sacred and controlled
environment to enable the initiate to connect with the divine/ the
divine within.

The elements which we hope to film with Padeva would be as follows:
1 – an interview with Xythos about the ceremony and its importance in
the Padeva tradition. We hope that you would be able to talk about
why there is still a strong need for this kind of experience in
modern society and to draw a contrast between the mind-numbing drugs
that are so endemic in society (eg heroin, cannabis, alcohol) and the
mind-expanding drugs like Ayahuasca used in your rituals. I am also
interested in exploring the deep need that people have always had to
get outside their own consciousnesses and why that is the case.
1a – an interview with the initiates/ participants about their
motives for taking part in the ceremony and what they hope for from
the experience
2 – the ritual preparation of the Ayahuasca
3 – the preparation of the altar
4 - the drinking of the Ayahuasca
5 – some part of the participants experiences (with sensitivity to
any embarrassing or over intimate events/ occurrences)
6 – a follow-up interview with Xythos and the participants after the
effects have ended to touch base with what they experienced.

This would be a one-and-a-half-day shoot maximum using a 3 person
crew (camera, sound and producer) and would aim not to disrupt the
experience in any negative way.

I hope this helps to clarify our intentions in filming with you. The
History Channel has a long reputation of responsible and thoughtful
documentary programming and does not air scurrilous or mischievous
reality-type shows.

Many thanks for your time and consideration so far. I hope that we
will get to film with you!

Best,

Amanda
Producer – History Channel

I have been invited to speak at the 4th Annual Shamanism Conference in Iquitos, Peru this summer. We will be there for a couple of weeks, participating in the Conference and holding ceremonies. Our presentation at the conference should be both theatrical and entertaining…

I will be there at least a week before the conference to begin preparations for our ceremony. We will hold ceremony one night before the Conference, two nights during the conference, and then have a short retreat for about 3 to 5 days after the conference. We will be holding ceremonies immediately after the conference and considering a trip to Machu Picchu. Please contact email xythos at xythos@padeva.com if you are interested in attending any of the ceremonies.

The house is pretty full for March. It might still be possible for others to come, but it would be easiest for us to begin to plan for April.

The March location will probably be used again; It is adjacent to Anasazi ruins up in the Taos mountains. The area has been used for ritual and healing for thousands of years, so it is a wonderful opportunity to connect to the area and its past.

If anyone has preference or suggestions for WHEN in April we are going to gether, now is the time to make your request. Email me at xythos@padeva.com if you would like to discuss our next gathering.

The Ritual site in Taos, as a downside, is expensive, both getting there and securing the location for the weekend. We have found a wonderful location for us to have a camp-out weekend, which we could begin to use in April. This is, by far, the most inexpensive way for us to have a gathering, and being outside in the mountains here in New Mexico is a very charming and rewarding experience. If you would be interested in having a camp-out, let me know!

Xythos

I will put out more information very soon, but I wanted to confirm we are having an open gathering in March. Also, we are starting to ask about interest for a gathering in April or May. June is very uncertain because I will be traveling during that month to Peru for the Shamanism Conference in July. PaDeva will be holding ceremonies, but in Iquitos, Peru.

We need to determine numbers for March as soon as possible. If you plan on attending, please let either myself or a facilitator know so we can get an accurate count and book facilities appropriate to the size of the group.

Thanks!

Xythos

xythos@padeva.com