NOTE: Our clients with alcohol use disorder in Mexico often work with more than sacred medicine during their time with us. Below is a discussion of some of the most important of the sacred medicines for alcohol addiction. For you safety, in order to work with the sacred medicines, you have to stop taking antidepressants including MAOIs, SSRIs, and other serotonergic drugs. If you are taking any prescription medication or street drug, please let us know so that we can help you get off the medication safely before taking the sacred indigenous medicines.
For most modern day humans who are living in industrialized societies, shamanism doesn’t even show up on the radar as a method of treatment that could have powerful effects for people who are suffering with alcohol addiction. But why not? Shamanism is the oldest system of medicine on earth. Alternative medical models like Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicines are based on shamanic principles and they were certainly developed using the “shamanic scientific method” with its deeply empirical methods that are, nonetheless, not necessarily replicable by others. The sacred medicines teach us how to trust in our own Inner Guidance and also how to trust in a Higher Power. But in order to fully appreciate shamanic medicine, you have to have a personal experience with it that defines its meaning for you and for your family and your ancestry.
When Lydian and I traveled the world to find cures for cancer, our first research project many years ago, we found that shamanism was the medical model that had the most power to heal people. But though exorcisms and soul retrievals seemed to actually have an impact on health, neither of us could really accept this paradigm easily. We fought with what we’d seen and experienced while researching cures for cancer for a long time and we tried to use science to explain what we were seeing. When the time came to write it all down, we focused on physical treatments that were easier to understand and to explain to other people to cure cancer. But at one point, we ended up in a cave-like home in central Mexico with a woman who taught us Nahuatl methods for administering a temazcal (a sweat lodge that represents the womb of Mother Earth). She eventually invited us to work with sacred medicines like Sapito and Ayahuasca, Kambo, and various forms of Tobacco.
Sapito was Lydian’s first sacred medicine that she worked with after several years of doing temazcales. I had taken LSD in college many times and prior to that first dose of Sapito, I thought that all psychedelics would produce an LSD-like experience. Needless to say, we learned many things after that first trip with Sapito, a frog-venom that produces a powerful internal experience that can be used to overcome addictions when it is properly administered. Sapito, as it turns out, is nothing like LSD.
When we began our journey into the world of the sacred medicines, we had little information about what we were doing and the curandera (a Mexican, female shaman) who taught us spoke no English and we spoke very little Spanish. So we learned from her through experience and hands-on work as “patients” along with hands-on work administering the medicines to other people who came to her for help. This was, perhaps, the best way for us to learn this craft as there were no rules to memorize. Rather, the medicines taught us what we needed to know and slowly, we learned to trust our Inner Guidance that began to become clearer as we released our personal, individual traumas over the course of several years.
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Trauma gums up a person’s sense of emotional direction and it can, as a result, produce a sense of directionlessness. Releasing trauma opens the body and the mind to Guidance.
Most of the people that we talk to about the sacred medicines have never heard of the Wise Teachers that exist in the form of plants and animals (such as the frogs and their venoms). The idea that something or someone could teach you something or heal you from the inside of your own conscious experience challenges the reality that we’ve all been indoctrinated into. Though some readers might feel exhilarated by the idea of a different reality that can be accessed through work with Teacher Medicines, other readers might feel like to do such a thing is to go too far. There’s a lot of propaganda out there to make people more frightened of these medicines than they need to be. In reality, most people who take these medicines have a remarkably positive experience. Exceptions to this rule invariably include situations in which patients have taken a prescription drug or a street drug prior to working with the sacred medicine without telling the shaman in charge of the ceremony.
That being said, if you decide to work with the sacred medicines, you need to detox for a few days to a few weeks prior to the ceremony if you have been taking prescription drugs or any kind of street drug. Let the shaman or the person in charge know in advance if you take herbal supplements, peptides, nootropics, or supplements as well. For those with alcohol addiction, prior detoxification is not necessary from the alcohol itself, though it is ideal to avoid alcohol for at least 48 hours, or ideally 7 days prior to the ceremony.
For Lydian and me, the sacred medicines were very academic at first. We intellectualized about them. In those first years of working with the medicines, we didn’t need them. So we looked at this system of medicine with skepticism in terms of what it might be able to accomplish. The Ordeal Medicines produce vomiting, cursing, writhing, crying, and other powerful releases that leave ceremony participants in a new, permanent state of betterment following the experience. The sacred medicines help us release what no longer serves us so that we can move forward and become the best person possible with our allotted time on the planet. But Lydi and I literally had no way, at that time, to connect what we had seen and experienced in regard to the sacred medicines to real-life application for average, modern humans and most of the people we talk to about the sacred medicines are either completely new to the topic or they’re very confused about it, as she and I were.
Karolina, the curandera, didn’t intellectualize about her methods. But all Lydian and I did was intellectualize about them. Yet, it didn’t really matter because ultimately, when you take a sacred medicine, the healing is something that is negotiated between you and the medicine itself.
One day, shortly after Lydian got married, we needed the sacred medicines. I didn’t know that I needed Ayahuasca until I arrived for the ceremony in a bath of tears, unable to compose myself. I knew that I needed something though and I was, for the first time in my life, ready to submit to this medicine fully without fear. Rather, my big fear was that nothing could help me and our family. We were in trouble and there was, according to all other systems of medicine, no hope. So I was willing to undergo whatever was necessary in order to find hope and, it was through this tribulation that I discovered the real purpose for these medicines in my life.
The Ayahuasca ceremony began with Rápeh followed by Sananga and then a 3 hour temazcal. At midnight, we took the Ayahuasca under a full moon. The day after the Ayahuasca ceremony A woman named Coco sat next to me inside the temazcal once again. I was very emotionally open and weepy and she said, “Oh…you took the Ayahuasca last night.” I said that yes I did and she said, “So your pain was greater than your fear? Good for you.”
Indeed, it was. My pain was greater than my fear and this had, in fact, been good for me.
That particular Ayahuasca trip was incredibly powerful because my need was so great and my heart was open, but everyone has to follow their own path if they are ever to arrive at a place where the Ordeal Medicines become a desirable option. Nonetheless, it is true that when other medicines fail and when all hope is lost in terms of Consensus Reality, the sacred medicines open new doors and provide options that were previously unknown or misunderstood.
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Shamanic Medicine for Alcohol Addiction
In shamanic medicine, addiction is always due to some kind of soul loss though there may be other issues involved as well. Ancestral trauma and soul loss, for example, often play a role in the development of addictions. And spiritual intrusions can be part of the problem as well. The patient may be in need of power animals to assist with healing and protection. Shamanic medicine has many different types of treatment, all of which make use of the natural power of connection that we all possess in terms of ourselves and other living beings. This is one of the reasons why shamanic medicine feels so foreign to modern humans who have been taught to regard themselves as isolated, individual units – shamanic medicine heals us through our connection to what’s outside of us and through our connection to what’s inside of us as well.
Theoretically, the patient or a loved one of the patient may seek out a shaman or curandero to “journey” on behalf of the patient in order to find their lost soul part and bring it back, but in fact, much of this type of work can be done by family members of the patient if they’re willing. The family has power in shamanic medicine, to heal and so we always encourage people to work within a context of family whenever possible. We know it isn’t always possible to recruit family members into this type of work though, but orienting yourself toward the connection that you have toward living things and toward those whom you love and those who love you, no matter how complicated and disturbed the love-connection may be is important. On the other hand though, for people who wish to do healing work as a family, it’s important to recognize that this is how the sacred medicines have always been used and when you work as a group to produce healing, the effects are stronger. Family and love-based connections are, in fact, what make shamanic medicine powerful.
Lydian and I have, for many years, taught shamanic medicine to clients with various health and mental health issues, by referencing Constellation Therapy as a system of healing that looks at ancestral trauma within a particular family “tree”. We work under the idea that every person carries the weight of their family tree as humans with our flesh and bones. Whatever ancestral traumas and stories that exist as secrets within a family tree can cause undue weight and strain on people who live at or near the trunk of the tree. The ancestors are non-living members of the tree who are in the higher branches or who make up the “leaves” of the tree. In order to release ancestral trauma and toxic familial patterns within families, including addictions, the stories of the ancestors have to be heard. The release of trauma only requires that someone act as a witness to the story. As the living humans who are still alive on earth, we can, at times, embody trauma from the past in large part because we don’t know the story of what happened within our family. Many people who live in Europe and the United States, for example, have very little or no information about their ancestry beyond the living relatives that they’ve met personally. In order to stop a toxic pattern, there are methods that people can use to receive the ancestral stories so that they can be permanently released so as to heal not just the person struggling with addiction, but entire families.
In shamanic medicine, the mind and the body are the same thing. There is no differentiation between a physical illness and a mental or emotional illness. Both types of illness are caused by a spiritual affliction of some kind. Skilled shamanic practitioners can “journey” by going into a particular brainwave state to see in another dreamlike realm what the patient needs in order to heal. A shaman might use the sacred medicines such as Ayahuasca, for example, to find information about possible cures for a disease for a specific person. Or they might use repetitive drumming to induce a trance and then go off in search of lost soul parts that belong to the patient.
In the modern world, all of these “treatments” cause a skeptical response. Indeed, skepticism is warranted as there are fakers and people who might take advantage of individuals who are truly sick. As someone who was born and raised as an industrialized human marinating in a culture of technology-worship, I can say that, despite having a very open mind and keen interest in anything strange or unusual, my skepticism for shamanic medicine remained intact for over a decade even as I studied it with great interest. In fact, I wasn’t able to really come to terms with shamanic medicine and feel comfortable with it until I began to understand that shamanic medicine does not just treat an individual, but a family unit. If the individual is the last of their line in a family, shamanic medicine treats the individuals who have already died along with the person seeking treatment in the flesh. Without the concept of family, shamanism is almost meaningless and very hard to successfully administer to people who need help.
Sacred Indigenous Medicines for Alcohol Addiction
Though the real power of the sacred indigenous medicines becomes apparent when people work together to accomplish a common goal, particularly in families, but sometimes among friends, these medicines can do miraculous things for individuals as well. Again though, for alcohol addiction, the patient is not the only person who should work with the sacred indigenous medicines to overcome alcohol addiction. Rather, family members who feel angry, wronged, saddened, hurt, or any number of strong emotions about the addiction should also partake in the medicines if change is what’s really desired. It isn’t always possible to recruit other members of the family into treatment, especially at first. But people with addiction who work with these medicines are always working not just on themselves, but on the whole family system to produce healing for everyone.
Lydian and I always encourage work among family members as a tribe, even if family members begin their work in conflict, but we also know that many families are very divided today. It simply isn’t possible to recruit family members to work together. But if an individual contacts us to work solo to overcome alcohol addiction, we encourage that person to view themselves as a member of a family tree. Addiction is a condition that ultimately is not the fault of any one person, but rather, it usually derives from a major trauma in the family lineage sometimes seven to ten generations in the past. It can be nearly impossible to forgive unconditionally and release the concept of fault as someone with an addiction, or as the parent of a child with an addiction, for example, without the sacred medicines to massively reconceptualize how we see ourselves and the ones we love. In order to heal fully, people with addictions need to be able to see themselves in terms of how they belong and release the identity of being someone in exile. As the energy of being The Exile releases for the addict, often family members who have been angry or estranged step forward to become a part of the healing process.
The sacred medicines all teach that reality is something that we literally create in tandem with other people and it is also something that we can deconstruct and reconstruct. Trauma is something that plays a huge role in our construction of reality, as an unconscious blueprint that we inadvertently create. When we work with the sacred medicines though, this blueprint stops being about the things that hurt us deeply in the past and it becomes about what we want to create out of love for ourselves and for other people. Though one long trip using a medicine like Iboga or Ayahuasca can make a big difference for someone with an addiction, in fact, most people will need to put in more than 120 hours working with the sacred medicines to release the traumas that feed their addiction, make amends with family members, and set a new course in life. Between trips, people need to allow 1-3 days (at the very least, depending on the sacred medicines being used) to process what they experienced while dosing with the sacred medicines so this work often takes between 3 to 6 months to complete. At the end of the process of working intensively with the sacred medicines, particularly if family members get involved along with the person with the addiction, the results are incredible. Problems that have been unsolvable and conflicts that have been in place for generations within a family are dissolved.
Below, we provide a very brief summary of some of the most famous of the sacred medicines for alcohol addiction. Each sacred medicine produces a trip of a different duration and action. These medicines are meant to be used in a ceremonial setting and require guidance and the proper set and setting in order to get results.
WARNING: The sacred medicines that we talk about below should never be administered to people who are taking prescription medications, street drugs, antidepressants of any kind, or certain herbs and supplements. Seek out guidance from someone who is knowledgeable in the use of the sacred medicines. Do not attempt to work with the sacred medicines by yourself at home.
Tobacco
Unfortunately, Tobacco is often equated with cigarettes. Cigarettes, after all, do contain tobacco, but a different type of tobacco than that used as a sacred medicine. When Tobacco is administered as a sacred medicine, it is pure Tobacco or Tobacco mixed with herbs. Cigarettes, in contrast, contain a host of toxic chemicals that cause damage to the body.
Ceremonial Tobacco, Nicotiana rustica, is sometimes viewed as a male energy and sometimes as female, but in all shamanic paradigms throughout time, Tobacco is viewed as a representative of the Creator or Source-energy. Nicotiana rustica is a sacred medicine that centers the consciousness when administered in medicinal doses.
Within the context of the other sacred medicines, Tobacco is often administered to release dark, imbalanced energies in order to clear the mind and heal the body. When taken by itself in high doses as a sacred medicine, Tobacco is antiparasitic both physically, as well as psychically. There are many experiences possible with high-dose Tobacco, but one common experience is that of an external “spinning” sensation with a centralizing force. Despite the sensation of something or the self “spinning” the overall effect of the Tobacco is that of centering.
When administered as Rápeh / Rápe or Ambil, the experience lasts between 10-20 minutes with an afterglow of clearer thoughts that lasts 2 or more hours.
Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is administered with some form of Tobacco (usually Ambil or Rápeh / Rápe). The Tobacco keeps the mind and the energy field clear. Ayahuasca is an herbal combination cure for alcohol addiction. There are several plant combinations that can produce an Ayahuasca trip, but the two most important plants are Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis.
Ayahuasca is viewed as a Grandmother Energy though the plants that make up the brew are sometimes regarded as The Grandmother and The Grandfather. Ayahuasca often starts to work with the patient as soon as the patient decides definitively that they’re going to take the brew. Ayahuasca dreams are common both before and after an Ayahuasca trip. Indeed, once a patient has released their trauma, Ayahuasca can be administered as one of the “dream herbs” that can be taken before bed to produce powerful dreams according to a specific Intention.
For alcohol addiction, Ayahuasca is the most important of the sacred medicines because it heals the pancreas, liver, and gallbladder while simultaneously releasing trauma and teaching the patient how to have meaningful relationships – how to give and receive love. Ayahuasca is an extremely bitter herb, but it contains many important medicines that heal the mind and the body at the same time.
Ayahuasca often causes a purge involving vomiting, diarrhea, or both. People may feel very hot or very cold when they take the Ayahuasca, a manifestation of emotions that have been bottled up in the body as they begin to be released. Some people make contorted facial expressions if they have been prone to being “poker-faced” in their daily lives. Ayahuasca is a consciousness that speaks to people who work with her.
An Ayahuasca trip lasts between 6 to 8 hours.
Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis Ayahuasca Formulas
Among those who have taken Ayahuasca who were raised in the industrialized, modern world, there is a debate about whether or not a particular brew is actually Ayahuasca if it doesn’t contain Banisteriopsis caapi. If you are thinking about taking Ayahuasca for alcohol addiction though, there are some things that you need to be aware of in terms of which of these brews is better for you physiologically.
Though the Banisteriopsis brew is the recipe often used in the Amazon rainforest, in fact, there is another recipe that produces very similar effects on the body that originates more from the Middle East using Syrian rue / Peganum harmala. Both the Middle Eastern version of Ayahuasca, which is associated with the Egyptian god “Bes” and the Amazon version of Ayahuasca are incredibly beneficial for those with alcohol addiction, in reality, it is the Middle Eastern version of this medicine that contains the highest concentration of alkaloids to heal the pancreas.
That being said though, the Amazon version of Ayahuasca is more likely than the Middle Eastern version to produce a purge. The purge is an important part of healing the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas so the Amazon version of this medicine may be a better choice unless the patient is willing to eat healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables (juicing with meals that include grass-fed chicken or other meats) do coffee enemas and several weekly or monthly Hulda Clark cleanses to detoxify the liver in advance of taking the brew.
Peganum harmala and Mimosa hostilis Ayahuasca Formulas
In Mexico, the Middle Eastern plants, Syrian Rue / Peganum harmala and Mimosa hostilis grow more easily so many of the Ayahuasca formulas contain these two herbs. Again, though there has been a lot of discussion about the idea that one type of brew might be inferior to the other, in fact, both are legitimate and both work very well to treat alcoholism. Again though, if you are working with Peganum harmala and Mimosa hostilis, be sure to do coffee enemas and Hulda clark cleanses to detoxify the liver as this brew is less likely than Banisteriopsis formulas to cause a purge.
Sapito
Sapito is one of two frog venoms that is used as a sacred medicine. The Sapito toad is not harmed at all in the harvesting of the venom that is dried, processed and then smoked in order to produce the 5-MeO-DMT trip though there is a great deal of propaganda out there saying that Sapito use harms frogs. It isn’t necessary to harm the frogs at all in order to harvest the venom that’s used to produce a 5-MeO-DMT trip.
Sapito is often used by people with addictions to stay balanced through the administration of weekly doses for up to one year or sometimes longer. This medicine can produce hallucinations, but for many people, it produces a sense of connection to the Divine. Many people experience visual or auditory Guidance and a sense of well-being from Sapito.
A Sapito trip lasts between 15 to 45 minutes.
Kambo
Kambo is another frog venom that’s used as a sacred medicine. Ayahuasca taught tribal shaman how to harvest and administer Kambo for the purposes of being more successful at hunting, however, Kambo has many functions. It is often used in tandem with other sacred medicines to balance the autonomic nervous system and detoxify the body.
Kambo does not produce hallucinations. Rather, it causes the body to go into a fight-or-flight state followed by a deep parasympathetic state, followed by rebalancing of the autonomic nervous system back to normal. In other words, this is a somatically experiential medicine that produces, in some cases, a purge and the healing of organs through the rebalancing effect in the autonomic nervous system.
Kambo is known as The Jungle Vaccine because it generally enhances immune system function. In tribal societies, Kambo is used for hunting as it can provide the hunters with information about where to find wild game.
The effects from Kambo last only about 15 to 20 minutes, but a Kambo ceremony typically takes 45 to 90 minutes from beginning to end.
Sananga / Xananga
Sananga, also sometimes spelled Xananga, is an eye drop that produces a sharp stinging sensation that lasts for 10-15 minutes. This medicine is used to purge anger from the body. Recall that in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the liver is the organ that stores anger. Also in TCM, the eyes are a “higher octave” of the liver and in fact, the eyes are even shaped like the liver. Eye problems and liver problems in TCM are related. Sananga is a medicine that treats the liver and anger-issues via an eye medicine.
Sananga is used to heal the eyes as well as the liver, but most people work with Sananga to overcome anger management issues. After working with Sananga, people generally feel calm and much more balanced. Often, Sananga is administered before Ayahuasca or Sapito in order to remove anger from the energy field and therefore clear the mind and body to receive information from a Higher Source.
Iboga
Iboga is a very important anti-addiction medicine. It produces a very long trip that can last up to 30 hours. Iboga produces a waking-dream that is targeted at the patient’s intention to, for example, overcome an addiction or release trauma. The spirit of the Iboga plant is male and he often presents himself in the appearance of a clown.
Iboga is one of the most important of the sacred medicines for rewiring trauma-based neural connections that come from chronic neglect or regular episodes of abuse. Iboga can be used to heal attachment disorders and overcome long-term addictions that resist all other forms of treatment. Most people who do an iboga trip should also work with psilocybin to release trauma either before or after they work with iboga. Iboga should be administered at least a week before and two weeks after the administration of any other sacred medicine.
Iboga continues working to produce new neural connections and plasticity for a year or longer after you work with this herb. For this reason, right after an iboga trip and for 2 months following it, people need to remove themselves from situations involving negative patterns that support addictive behaviors. Often the real results from iboga can take 2 to 3 months to become apparent and often, around 8 weeks after the iboga trip, it becomes important to work with one or more other sacred medicines, usually psilocybin to uncover and release discreet traumas that require attention.
San Pedro / Mescaline
San Pedro is another sacred medicine that produces a long trip that lasts up to 30 hours. San Pedro has very different effects depending on the dose that you take. Lower doses can be administered to couples or family members to help them work through long-standing conflicts that have defied resolution. At a low dose, San Pedro helps people see each other’s points of view more easily and experience empathy that leads to the resolution of conflict.
At moderate to high doses, San Pedro can be used as a trauma-releasing medicine. Because it produces a long-trip, San Pedro is a potential alternative to iboga / ibogaine that allows people to rework the “weave” of their emotional fabric – ongoing, chronic traumas like neglect or abuse that happened over the course of a longer period of time. San Pedro is good medicine for attachment disorders and addictions.
Unlike Iboga, which produces a waking-dream state, San Pedro alters a person’s sense of time in a way that makes it easier to have conversations with other people at a low-dose. At high-to-moderate doses, San Pedro allows people to unfold thoughts through this altered sense of time, and fully explore them in order to release trauma. On moderate-to-high doses, San Pedro also produces internal visions, but San Pedro is very relationship-oriented as a general rule.
Psilocybin Mushrooms
Psilocybin mushrooms are some of the most important of the sacred medicines that can be used to release trauma. They produce a shorter trip of only 3-4 hours and though mushrooms can be taken recreationally in social settings, they tend to produce a very different experience when taken privately with the intention to release trauma. Those with alcohol addiction can use psilocybin mushrooms to release trauma and begin to feel a connection to the Divine.