Important! Read this carefully before attending a ceremony!
Be aware that the experience with Bufo Alvarius secretion is intense and produces rapid dissolution of your ego which might be traumatic in some cases. This medicine is also not a panacea and the hard work starts after the ceremony. In the following days, weeks or months you might experience a variety of psychological phenomena, which might not always be pleasant. This includes but is not limited to:
- Flashbacks and/or reactivations
- Intense release of emotions, either positive (happiness, joy) or negative (depressions, anxieties)
- Realizations of your maladaptive patterns of behavior and the need to change various parts of your life.
Integration
To make this process as smooth and beneficial for you as possible, it is strongly suggested to have resources available. One technique which showed to be extremely helpful with integration of the psychedelic experience showed to be psychotherapy. Therefore, before you go to the ceremony, make sure you have a therapist that can help you with the process. This can be for example, a psychotherapist that is open to talk about the psychedelics. Even better would be someone that is experienced in working with altered states of consciousness, either produced by psychedelic substance, or holotropic breathwork.
Community support is another way that can help you with the integration. Do research on available integration circles in your country. Or bring people you know, so you can talk and process the experience afterwards together, by sharing what you have experienced. Also Facebook groups are available on the internet for this purpose.
Don´t expect that all the work will be done during the experience with the toad itself. As stated before, this is only the beginning.
Toad medicine ceremony with Dr Octavio Rettig
All participants should be aware of and agree with the following conditions. Please be informed that during the Toad Medicine ceremony, Dr Octavio Rettig:
- Might pour water on a participants face or in a participants mouth to stimulate a breathing or swallowing response.
- Can administer very small electrical shocks with a toy to keep a participant from lying down during the peak of the ceremony.
- Will blow rapé up a participants nose right after the peak of the experience. This is to ground the participant and it can also help the body to purge low energies that came loose during the ceremony.
All these actions have been carefully tested and have proven their unique value as a part of the neo shamanistic rituals that Dr Rettig developed while working with the toad medicine. They have significantly increased the results and improved the wellbeing of participants during and after the ceremonies.
How do I prepare for a toad medicine ceremony?
Important: never do a ceremony with toad medicine when you have taken antidepressants in the last 3 months! If you have recently used antidepressants or if you are on any other kind of medication, always inform Octavio before the ceremony.
It is recommended to abstain from using recreational drugs and drinking alcohol in the week before and after the toad medicine ceremony. We also advice you not to drink coffee in the days before and after the ceremony. Eat a light breakfast on ceremony day, keep in mind that you might purge during ceremony.
A toad medicine ceremony can be a profound and powerful experience. Make sure you are well rested and fit on ceremony day. If possible, it would be nice if you have a couple of free days after your ceremony. This is not necessary but it can help you with the integration of the experience.
What is the toad medicine ceremony like?
All ceremonies with toad medicine are individual and usually last somewhere between 15 to 30 minutes. During this time Octavio will be present with you. When it is your turn, you face the sun, stand straight and hold your arms out wide. Octavio will hold the pipe with the medicine in front of your mouth so you only have to inhale the vapor. Inhale slowly, long and deep, Octavio will tell you when to stop. Try to keep the smoke inside your lungs for as long as possible. This will help the medicine to enter your bloodstream. The medicine will start to work within 10 seconds. Don’t fight it, just relax and let the feeling wash you away. During your ceremony, Octavio will watch over you and chant the sacred traditional chants of the Seri people to help you in your process. After the ceremony climax Octavio will often times blow rapé up your nose to bring you back to your bodily senses. This potent and powerful snuff can help you purge and physically release heavy energies that came loose during your ceremony.
What does it feel like to smoke the toad medicine?
Every ceremony is different. Depending on the state of consciousness or accumulated intoxication, a participant can experience some of the following sensations during the ritual climax:
- Massive liberation of accumulated stress
- Connection with Consciousness
- Experience of non-duality, sensation of Oneness with all that is
- Dissolution of unconscious or repressed cellular memories which may create addictions, compulsions, psychosomatic illnesses , mania’s and suffering
- Sensation of the body exploding in millions of particles
- Partial or total disconnection of physical or visual reality
- Fusion with Presence, to be completely in the Now
- Sensation of being launched into the void at high velocity
- The reconstruction of synaptic networks in your brain
- Liberation of emotions and feelings
- Disconnection of the ego as principle player and lack of egoic control