with Rape` and Sananga
As an alternative healing enthusiast, my curiosity immediately peaked on the day my bodyworker told me of Kambo. Kambo found me. While this ceremony is not for everyone, I encourage all to do their due diligence if you consider the option thoroughly before booking a session with your chosen Facilitator.
The frog 'spirit medicine' is intense, unique, and will affect you in unexpected ways. The potency found in the frogs' peptide secretion combination has not been successfully replicated in any Western Medicine practice. Specifically researching peptides and understanding your fortitude limits will help you narrow down if this experience is right for you.
Please do your research, know the contradictions, and now I share my story. :)
Preparing for this process for me was not a massive shift in my typical day.
I have already been making juice—celery, cucumber, apples, zucchini, oranges, ginger etc. I increased the amount of juice to twice a day for the three days before the ceremony. I did not eat meat or dairy for two days before. I drank ample amounts of coconut water the days leading up to the event. Other than that, I was still working my businesses and doing typical mama stuff. I was also expending a lot of energy demolishing one of our bathrooms. I quit taking 5HTP, also supplements I take with herbs I questioned. No vitamins either for a week before the session. I did need a headache remedy the day before. The night before, I drank celery juice throughout the night. I also ensured I had a nearby place to sleep afterward vs driving home. All that, along with excessive google searches for weeks gathering data and other experiences, essentially I traded studying and tv for google. Of course, I filled out the pretty thorough intake forms, had the consultation appointment, and followed up with the healer with a few questions. As I repeatedly say: be selective with your healing.
My prep consisted of mineral and electrolyte balance, getting the bowels to move a bit quicker, and mentally dedicating the space to establish my intentions.
This is a solo adventure. After reaching out to a few people to either join or for a ride, I quickly realized ' This is my thing,' not far off from other healing modalities I have explored on my own in the past. Kambo is not for everyone. It is a little over a 2-hour drive from my home to the hills of LA, which dictated the decision to book a nice hotel. I did consider canceling a few times that day, to be honest, a migraine coming on with dread that headache would last for days if I didn't get on top of it was the reason. Waking up that morning, I had some celery and cucumber juice (maybe one cup total). Undoubtedly, the lack of food contributed to my nausea. I only had a few sips of water in the hours between breakfast juice and the ceremony. Driving to LA, the sun was bothering my eyes. I wanted the Immatrex (RX I take for headaches). I wanted to eat or puke. I was uncomfortable, to say the least, yet. Checking into the hotel early, not knowing how bad my headache would get and how fast it may spiral, gave me time to float in the pool with clarity. Idealizing having the emotional body and spiritual body line up with all the physical healing I have been dedicating my body to. As the sun went down, I showed up at the Healers doorstep with my pillow, cover, and jugs of water. .
" What are my intentions?"
I asked myself as the shaman asked me. Hearing of Kambo merely three weeks before that evening, I found myself being smudged, evaluated, and set up with a space to purge. Hmmm, I thought, I am doing this. The ceremony felt natural to me; it aligned with my desires and drew me to it. I rearranged my schedule without question. My intention going into the frog medicine is to alleviate migraines, help with anxiety, gain energy, and reset myself. Mainly to stop migraines, I have suffered from migraines for years, well into childhood. With the recent mouthpiece bite block, dental braces, and increased actions, I am determined to experience more detachment and relief gradually. TMJD, previous concussion after effects, accidents that require a longer recovery than anticipated lead me to be open to anything to age gracefully. I am also highly intrigued by removing dark energies as well. With recent events of my home being broken into, getting T-boned in my truck exacerbating my pain, struggling with motherhood decisions, and feeling burnout from years of overdrive at my businesses, I figured it could only get better. Recently, it has been revealed to me the emotions and memories I hold in my cells compound the more accidents occur. The concussion from being in a car accident recently woke me up in a brutal way to the layers that need attention. I see this layering during sessions more clearly with clients as well the last couple of years. Personally, in 2020 approaching this baggage in myself has been interesting. We can get our heads straight with perception, clean up our emotions with habits, and the physical body will still need cleansing and nourishing—mind, body, spirit type of approach. I wish to release what no longer serves me to prepare for the next life chapter with more clarity. I want clarity and comfort in my body. So there I was, reserving time for me in an intimate way, nervously. That is what I have been sending out to the universe in my overwhelming, demanding days—also, the extensive list of physical and science-backed benefits of such peptides, of course. I do encourage you to thoroughly look into the list of Phyllomedusa bicolor Peptides, although I adore the mystery and magic of the entire experience.
Would you like Rape`
The shaman offered after communicating and initiating the connections in the ritual. I had read about the snuff in a few other folks' stories. Although I was not quite sure what it was, I knew if I left without trying the experience, I would wish I would have accepted. I have never used coke or anything up the nose before other than a saline flush, and I am not sure if that sensation compares, yet it is blown into both nostrils. Nothing like a saline flush, that is for sure. Knocked me immediately smack dab in the middle of that exact moment. Whoa! Sniffle it in higher, little bit of coughing, my eyes watered a bit, and it went to my brain. An instant wack to the head, my face scrunched up as a wave of the 'Holy tobacco' took over from my head down with this fuzzy, super relaxing, big breath towards my toes. My forehead was incredibly vivid. It took away all nervousness immediately, and I was surprisingly able to sink into myself. I thoroughly could feel my body, the whole thing; nothing else mattered. I was coughing a bit and getting the saliva under control as my breathing changed. The outside world disappeared, my mind quietened, and I was in the moment with myself, my body, the beloved Kambo practitioner, and gentle music. Wow.
Sananga ... yes (I think).
My only knowledge of Sananga is the online comparison to chile peppers in the eye. It is said to clear the perception, polish up eyesight, and comes from a root. One drop in the corner of my eye and the corner of the other, then blink. WHOA, Ahhhh, acid is the better comparison. I struggle to blink, and I become emotional and lightheaded. Dabbed tears a bit with the tissue, no way I could open my eyes. As I rolled my closed eyes around, attention went to the sensations in the posterior lower area of my eyeball where the migraines affect my vision. Bout sucked all the drops up as if the Sananga went straight to my eyes' optical nerves. I needed to lay down due to lightheadedness. The energy of the Sananga seemed to spread to my entire head, vivacious, firey, and busy energy. The tears flowed, I had emotional waves sweeping out of me, and it was a bit of a challenge to calm back down until the sting turned into a tingle and then subsided. This all happens very quickly, just a min. This was not a genuine cry or anything intense on the emotional scale, more of weeping tib-bits sneaking out from the chest area, or that is how it felt to me at that moment. The buzzy sensation soon soothed the actual discomfort from the sting. Very intense! Yet, quick as I confirmed in my mind to my guides, ancestors, and future memories to use this as the opportunity to give any unwanted perception and emotions away to be transformed.... I was back to the calm, centered, peaceful state.
Kambo, here we go,
The mood is set, candles are lit, the bucked by my side, fluid to drink, and my ankle out in front. She preps the burn stick. I know the burn will, well, you know, feel like a burn. It was not bad, just a surface-level burn. Three gates on the liver line of the inside of my left ankle area, one at a time. The Practitioner has Yucca water, boiled and blended which I now see as very beneficial. It is thicker than water and doesn't induce water belly, and it is easier to settle into the stomach with the weight difference. Well, I still had some underlying nausea from the day and got two glasses down, but I threw up the third before the medicine even was administered. Ooops. She started with one gate immediately after I upchucked a bit of the water by accident (I ended up drinking more). It stings a bit, not as much as I expected. The Kambo spread, yet not in a distinct definitive line extending upwards. More of a noticing that now I was sensing a very warm, thick, soothing sensation up my thighs. My roots were super full, and dare I say; I got turned on for a bit. As it entered my lower torso, I became more heated with the thickness of the fuzzy sensation. It was pleasurable, not like I expected. In general, the mass skipped my heart and went for my cervical spine, and swooped through my skull. The Kambo grabbed my migraine. The Kambo seemed to encompass the headache and roll around the anterior region of my skull and down to my ears. I had a silly moment, ha, frog face. To me, the moment was a loud and clear frog presence, like a disc from the Atlas/Axis to the maxilla. I also noticed a defensiveness, a type of negotiation where my thoughts were to push against the space or protect where the migraines happen. A bit like the migraine attempted to reject the Kambo in my minds' eye, and the Kambo grabbed on anyways. I surrendered, thinking this was not serving me anymore as MY migraine. Soon as this internal conversation occurred, I threw up.
I would not call it violent. For me, it was not like food poising where there is pain or miserable ache to force it all out violently. The purging is projectile, excessive, and uncontrol able, yet the purging seemed to come from different areas of my body other than the belly. For example, at one point in between the throw-up, as I rocked back and forth drinking more water. By the way, my hands went into that super tight, almost hyperventilation-like stiffness; I had to grab the cup with two hands for my fingers did not like bending at that time. Rocking, more purging out seemed to be connected to specific body areas, like a vision; it would tell me what area the Kambo was working on, then the area flooded to my stomach and out, specifically my neck.
At times it looked similar to the visions I get when performing Reiki on my clients and clearing their bodies. Only what I could "see" I could feel like lines, bubbles, and different levels of thickness. The second purge resulted in a total body shake, and my nervous system was stimulated and activated. My entire body had little shakey twitches, including my jaw. It chattered uncontrollably, the muscles in my head and neck twitched, my back and legs in no specific rhythm. I remember wondering if this was normal, soon as I got curious, another purge happened. Out the water goes. The twitching stopped just as fast as it started. Drinking more water came intuitively. It was easy to drink more even when I threw it up as quickly as it went in. The music swept me away with the drums, and I remembered why I came. Wanting to lay down was a super-strong urge as the Facilitator reminded me the work was being done, and I will lay down soon. The biggest, most profound, thick, acidic, gooey purge from my roots came out of me. I can not explain how deep the source of the purge was.
Opening my eyes through this experience happened when I went to grab the cup of water, and after this deep purge, it is a very internal process. I did move my legs, wiggled my hips to a rhythm, found myself rocking and propping myself up on my arms as not to let my head hang low. It has been explained the facial swelling comes from the heading being low. I used my arms and the pivoting balance point to keep my head upwards, even when my hands were tight. Kambo was administered for 22 min total.
I was exhausted!
She removed the waxy application, and I laid on my left side in the fetal position, heavy and completely drained. There is a segment of the ceremony worth mentioning, and that is after the peptides are removed. I saw pictures—visions from all different periods. Ancient times, faces, food, clothing I had on, and landscapes I had never seen before. That mind is so creative. Followed by the most profound peace sensed in a while. Not sure how long I was lying there. I laid there in quietness until my breath needed more room to breathe, causing me to roll over. Rolled over, all my energy came back, snuck up on me. I was cold, so the hot tea was wonderful. My stomach was not sensitive to the herbal tea. I felt out of this world with what all occurred. Like skydiving, it does not all register as it is happening. I was ready to go, somewhat giggly, feeling safe and refreshed. Not hungry, no headache at all, no complaints as the Practitioner and I talked.
Afterwards, I could have driven home. I was unbelievably alive and clear. Still am. There is not a detox I have completed in the past that compares. There was miso soup waiting at the hotel. Felt as if I could run a marathon! I did not. I just went down to the gym and walked on the treadmill after eating some soup. Sleep came quickly all through the night like normal other than the newfound thirst which woke me up a couple times.
The experience is more intense than can genuinely be processed at that moment. It reveals itself. The integration is multilayered.
The most notable immediate changes from my first Kambo session are:
Dietary preferences, no meat, no dairy, no coffee, no processed foods are appealing.
The desire for quiet surroundings and comfortability with quietness
Being unusually calm. I did not even work out. My reactions are very quiet.
No headaches at all, not even a little one.
I have no pain, nothing. It is a null voided habit where pain used to be, if that makes sense.
Super easy to rise in the morning.
No dreams.
Water is my best friend.
The second round of Kambo, for me, is a 3-day gap in between based on my schedule. I can speak only to the changes for those three days before the experience morphs due to the second Kambo Ceremony.
The days after Kambo are laced with special moments of effortless multitasking, heightened senses, and mental peace.
The overthinking ceased so quickly my initial reaction was to question the newly realized stillness. My reactions are different, as in patience and unwillingness to argue or participate with chaotic energy. I looked at my daughter and was repelled, diffused, not interested in the usual lecture mode. I saw my client who was wasting my time and let him go. I noticed a friend wanted me to validate victim hood and the space around me was granted permission to become larger. I regular healing client called and I kindly explained I was not available for a bit, no guilt. I was cut off in traffic and didn't care. An escrow fell out and it was no big deal. I didn't get around to studying and that was fine. Everything is good. Simple as that. So easy to turn away from the BS.
Little reminders of my sensuality are popping into my world last few days as well. I feel softer, more feminine and delicate in the most surprising of ways. Refreshing vibe from my masculine overload lately being provider, protector and diy-er fulltime. My hair, the covers on my bed, my skin, food in my mouth, clothes on my skin (sigh), touch is more beautiful than before Kambo. My body feels good and amazingly clear. My insides are "clear", difficult to explain but it is what it sounds like.
Quiet is satisfying, calm is okay. Space is necessary. I am productive at a more sustainable pace with less of the need to get everything completed fast.
This is a completely different space I have entered into than I have been embodying for the last few years.
I will share my Kambo experience #2 as well. Please see additional blog for more information.
Please do not take my experience as anything more than me sharing a healing adventure.
I am not a doctor. I am not a patient. I am not encouraging anyone to go forwards and participate in a Kambo ceremony. I am a person who chose to have an experience that I am sharing.