Whether in ayahuasca ceremonies in the jungle—Pucallpa, Iquitos—or in the mountains of the Sacred Valley, or through San Pedro / Wachuma and other plant medicines, I have repeatedly seen people leave ceremonies believing they have been chosen, initiated, or elevated to something greater.
This belief often forms after dramatic experiences: astral journeys, animal transformations, archetypal or cosmic visions, encounters with “Mother Ayahuasca,” temporary telepathy, or other psychic phenomena. In the moment, these experiences can feel overwhelmingly meaningful. The problem arises when the experience itself becomes overvalued, and the person concludes that initiation has already occurred.
At that point, the ego inflates and the inner axis destabilizes. What feels like awakening is often the opposite: a loss of orientation.
Why This Happens
False initiation usually emerges from visionary experience without prior training or adequate integration. People are taken far from their center very quickly, but are given little—if any—guidance on how to return.
This is not usually due to malice on the part of facilitators. In most cases, practitioners genuinely want participants to have a powerful, meaningful experience. However, in many modern contexts, economic pressure has overtaken human pacing. Retreats are fast, condensed, and outcome-driven, and preparation and long-term integration are often minimal or absent.
The result is intensity without structure.
What Initiation Looks Like
Before talking further about false initiation, it’s important to name what true initiation tends to look like.
Someone who has undergone real, long-term inner work shows clear signs:
- A stable inner axis
- No compulsive chasing of experiences
- Increased ethical pressure, not spiritual entitlement
- Clear awareness of motives
- Responsibility for consequences
- Confidence paired with humility, not authority without grounding
True initiation does not loosen responsibility—it tightens it.
Common Forms of False Initiation
- Visionary inflation
Seeing archetypal beings, animals, cosmic narratives, aliens, or “Mother Ayahuasca” does not confer authority or initiation. - Suffering mistaken for transformation
Experiences of fear, pain, ego collapse, or a “dark night of the soul” are not initiatory by default. Suffering without orientation often fragments the center rather than strengthening it. - Uncontrolled astral or psychic access
Spontaneous out-of-body experiences, constant spirit perception, or ongoing psychic openness are not signs of advancement. Without proper context, entry and exit, this leads to exhaustion and destabilization. Control outweighs access.
In the current consumer-oriented psychedelic landscape, these states are often praised or even sought after. Many people leave Peru believing that if they didn’t have something extreme happen, the ceremony “didn’t work.”
But the truth is simpler and more uncomfortable: practitioners want participants to feel satisfied, transformed, and successful. That often means encouraging intensity rather than containment because intensity with meaning sells where consumerism has infiltrated the sacred spaces.
The Reality of Integration
Real understanding and initiation unfold over time, regardless of the substance involved.
Plant medicines can open doors very quickly, but doors must also close. Without preparation and integration, the insights gained remain ungrounded, or worse, turn into illusions of attainment.
These medicines are powerful. They can heal, teach, and radically redirect a life. But without alignment, discipline, and integration, they can just as easily distort perception.
Where The Work Could Begin
If you had a profound experience and feel compelled to return again and again to ceremony, it may be worth asking:
Sometimes the work is not to go further out, but to come fully back and learn how to live what was already shown.
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