The benefits of a mind altering drug called ayahuasca are still being studied. Psychedelic churches across the United States use the substance as a sacrament.
The tea tasted bitter and earthy, but Lorenzo Gonzales drank it anyway. On that frigid night in, he was hoping for a life-changing experience, which is how he found himself inside a tent with two dozen others waiting for the psychedelic brew known as ayahuasca to kick in.
His journey to this small town along the Arizona-Utah border is part of a growing global trend of people turning to ayahuasca in search of spiritual enlightenment and an experience they say brings them closer to God than traditional religious services. Many hope the psychedelic tea will heal physical and mental afflictions after conventional medications and therapy failed. Their problems include eating disorders, depression, substance use disorders and PTSD.
A mix of military veterans, corporate executives, thrill seekers, ex-members of a polygamous Mormon sect and a man who supposedly struck it rich on a game show had converged for the $900 weekend. Many appeared apprehensive yet giddy to begin the first of three ceremonies. "When you were invited here, you were invited for a weekend of healing," Davila told the group in Spanish through a translator, before people lined up for shot glass-sized-doses of the thick, dark tea in plastic cups.
"If he’s already sick and he’s been placed on all these medications that have side effects, what do we have to lose? … It might stop the progression of the illness," she said."It might help him … accept things more without the anger." "I felt like I needed something more, like I needed a stronger breakthrough. So this is the next step," she said of ayahuasca."Hopefully it’s the last step."
Some people spend thousands of dollars taking ayahuasca at five-star retreats in the Amazon. In the U.S., the movement remains largely underground, promoted by social media and word of mouth. Some ceremonies occur at supporters’ homes, Airbnb rentals and remote areas to avoid law enforcement scrutiny.It has no written text and relies primarily on Davila’s prayers, chants and songs, in Spanish and the language of the Kamëntsá people, to guide participants.
Since holding the church’s first ceremony in Joshua Tree five years ago, Close has seen Hummingbird’s numbers grow and its demographic change — mostly from young hipsters to older, working-class people desperate for mental health treatment.
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