Encounter with the Enchanted Boa

Sacred Bonfire

The sacred bonfire burning at the center of the prayer house is also enchanted.

The sacred fire burns the wood, and the smoke and sparks rising to the sky connect the two worlds: the earthly and the astral.

The fire dances and tells stories; it follows the rhythm of the music coming from the hearts of men. If there is calm, it is gentle, revealing in abstract figures what I need to see. If the rhythm accelerates, it dances with the music and rises passionately to the sky.

Sitting on the sand, in the center of the circle, in the center of the prayer house, in the center of the village, I smiled and watched what it wanted to tell me. I saw animals in the pieces of wood, I saw ancestry in the wood turned to embers, I saw beauty beyond words. And when the music shifted and the fire rose in passion, I rose with it and began to dance too, dancing and spinning in the spiral of divine energy that wrapped around the prayer house.

At a certain moment, I saw two jaguars walking around the bonfire. Guardians of the forest and a Pataxó symbol; beyond seeing their figures of light walking upon the earth, in another moment I felt their energy filling the whole space, as if the sacred portal of the Enchanted Forest had been opened to me.

Sky and earth were one, without separation.

With my eyes closed, I raised my arms in ecstasy as the musicians sang "Pataxó never walks alone," and felt a strong white light illuminate the entire prayer house. When I opened my eyes, I saw the forest.

I felt honored and grateful to be part of such a precious ceremony.

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The hummingbird blow

It all began with the blow of the rapé. A young man with the face of an angel was the one who blew it. A hummingbird blow. On other occasions with rapé, I had only seen darkness, but on that day I learned that it is the healing of love.

Sitting on my mat in a meditative posture, the first words I heard from the Rapé were "I Am", and in the vast emptiness that echoed with presence, like a full light gently illuminating the darkness.

And with its delicacy, the hummingbird arrived. Flapping its wings rapidly and hovering over my chest. Bringing love in its beak, it placed the gift right in my heart and took flight, leaving me with joy and lightness.

I felt the strength of Ayahuasca when the Pajé (the shaman) sang sacred chants. He sang them to open the ceremony, and when he called the force of the medicine, it came - at least for me.

It was then that he told the story of Ayahuasca - one I had already known and appreciated in another ceremony, but now it gained a new depth.

Every word spoken by him was lived by me in another dimension. It was as if I could feel what the Indigenous people of the story felt, living in a world without malice. I was transported to the Amazon of thousands of years ago and felt connected to the people who lived there, through the sacred drink winding inside me and transforming the astral plane into absolute reality, a place beyond time and space.

They drank what I drank tonight.

They entered the magical world of the serpent Siriani - The Enchanted Boa - And on that night, I could enter too.

I felt as if, by telling the story, the pajé took everyone on a true multidimensional journey.

When he finished telling the story, the musicians began to play. I sat down and felt the force of the medicine flowing through my body.

I stood up and went to dance; I needed to let it run free. It was as if I had taken a cup of divine essence, and now it flowed within me.

I felt that through dance I was bringing this astral light into my body and down to the earth.

This Divine Light flowing through my sweat and beating like a drum in my heart.

The second dose hit me harder, as it always does. I underwent a deep purging and spent long minutes on my mat, in intense inner journeys and conversations with the Boa. At first, she presented herself as malicious, reflecting my own thoughts of self-judgment and regret. She twisted and squirmed inside me, and each time I threw up, it felt as though she were the one in my stomach and esophagus, making me purge.

Lying down with my eyes closed, I saw the Coral Snake and lost all sense of the physical world. Even my thoughts melted and shattered; any attempt at control was useless.

Then I flowed into this inner world where everything was vibration and color, and I realized there was no malice at all in the Boa or the Coral Snake; the malice was only my own resistance to the flow.

The music being played spoke of care, healing, and love. And at that moment, I felt someone gently pull the sheet from under my body and cover me with it. It was such a loving gesture from one of the group’s guardians.

I lay there for a few moments, and as soon as I stood up, I experienced the climax of the night, which was the story I shared at the beginning of this text.

The musicians played while I danced in front of the fire. With my eyes closed, I felt everything vibrate and saw everything glow. Today I know that what I was seeing that day was what the Huni Kuin call "kenés", the sacred geometric patterns.

When I opened my heart to see that there was no malice in the serpent inside me, I then entered the magical world of Siriani.

Encounter with the Enchanted Boa

I opened my eyes and saw the forest; I felt the energy of the jaguar and a profound, pure joy. It was as if everyone around me was in this magical forest, not with their human bodies, but with their astral bodies.

The Enchanted Boa danced inside me without hindrance. I felt free. I felt in complete unity with her, without resistance, only joy.

The music played, and I saw the musical notes in the air; I felt the music with my entire being.

I danced until my body could no longer go on, and I lay down into a deep, beautiful sleep.

I observed so many dimensions of thought and wondered if all nights are not this magical, and we are simply not attentive enough to notice.

Breathing consciously, I fell asleep. And when I woke up, the day had brightened. It was morning, and the musicians were still playing passionately. In fact, it seems as though in the morning they are even more enchanted.

Sleeping and waking to the sound of such beautiful songs and prayers is a gift for which I am deeply grateful.

Whenever I awaken from my brief sleep in the village, it is like waking from the most magical dream and realizing that it is still happening.

Joy and gratitude emanated from every cell of my body, and a full, profound peace enfolded my heart.

I can only offer my deepest thanks to everyone who makes ceremonies like this possible, ceremonies that respect the history and sacredness of this ancestral medicine that connects worlds and brings people together.

Haux Haux Nixi Pae

Awêry Pajé Aktxawã

Awêry Bugigão Village and all the guardians. 

- Liah'ah 🌸🌟💫

With Pajé Aktxawã