Raimon Pla: “Plants And Shamans Open Spaces Within Us”

Raimon Pla: his vision and experience with shamans

Pla, who defines himself as an “adventurer”, has traveled all over the world and has lived for a long time in Peru with his family. His spiritual quest and experiences with healers using so-called “power plants”, including the famous ayahuasca, have inspired his first book.

– More and more Westerners participate in ceremonies in South America taking visionary plants. What motivates that trip?
–They go looking for an internal transformation and for this they place their trust in a teacher and in a ritual. In Peru, ayahuasca ceremonies are done in silence, a drink is taken while a shaman sings icaros, sacred songs with healing power.

“Ayahuasca allows the observation of one’s own unconscious world.”

By ingesting this substance, a space of reencounter with oneself is opened. Ayahuasca allows the observation of the unconscious world itself.

– What does that experience hold?
–Each trip is different; It depends on the situation of the person. Above the biochemical effect is the presence of the healer, who directs the ceremony and knows the plant well. Every master has his own trick.

And intention is the basis of quackery. That is why you also have to ask yourself what intentions this character has in whom we are going to trust.

“Above the biochemical effect is the presence of the healer, who directs the ceremony and knows the plant well.”

– The teacher and the context are then as important or more than the substance?
-Totally. There are healers who heal simply by singing. And sometimes a single drop of potion is enough to enter that process.

– Is it true that healers consider themselves disciples of plants?
– Yes, in this case it is the plant that teaches. As children we learn by repeating what we see. With plants it works the other way around.

When you eat a sacred plant it gives you subtle information. It could be said that they have keys capable of opening spaces within us.

–Are the healers of South America specialized like our doctors and therapists?
-Of course. The plants of the Amazon rainforest offer treatments for all kinds of ailments. There are stone workers – who work with stones – bone workers, purgueros …

Those who work with ayahuasca, the San Pedro cactus or tobacco, which are sacred plants, focus on the subtle body. They consider that there are four bodies: physical, psychic-emotional, soul and spirit.

– Has the rise of tourism in search of psychotropic experiences increased the number of healers?
Yes, and I strongly disagree with that type of tourism. Many people have seen a lucrative business in these practices. But true healers, who are committed to heal, there are few. Because healing is linked to grace.

“What is healing for you?”
–It is the harmony within your being.

– Beyond the physical?
-Of course. An athlete can be in good health but sick, no matter how perfect his analytics may be.

I mean a much more subtle energy, which I believe or at least feel is within our body. When tuned, it generates an ineffable feeling of life.

– Is it necessary to have a good guardian angel when venturing into these ceremonies?
–The guardian angel for me becomes the presence of life. Then there is the question of protections, for not all spirit beings that come into play are benign.

Depending on who he takes the substances with, the Westerner risks having his most precious gold stolen: life energy. There are tourists who return year after year because the healer has put that instruction in their unconscious.

“Depending on who he takes the substances with, the Westerner risks having his most precious gold stolen: life energy.”

There is also competition between healers. Fights can lead to remote interference in the sessions of a rival, who must be able to protect his patients.

–The San Pedro cactus offers a more “solar” experience, unlike ayahuasca, related to the moon and the night. Is that so?
-Yes. Each sacred plant has its identity, its entity. Ayahuasca implies a dual work, which for me acts on a lower astral frequency.

To be effective, a mixture of ayahuasca itself, which has beta-carbolinic alkaloids, and Psychotria viridis , which provides dimethyltryptamine (DMT), is required.

“Each sacred plant has its identity, its entity.”

The wachuma or San Pedro cactus contains 20 alkaloids, among which mescaline stands out. It is a plant without that duality, more Christic, of more pure energy. They call her that because it is said that she helped Saint Peter find the keys to heaven.

– Is it common to vomit during these experiences?
-Yes. Many people vomit with ayahuasca and have a really bad time at that stage of the process. It is like an energetic and existential purge rather than a digestive one. In San Pedro it can also happen.

Vomiting basically happens when you lose your balance. It is like walking a tightrope in an abyss. And when you don’t know how to walk, you fall. The purge can help you get up.

– After this curative catharsis, how is the return to ordinary life?
–Taking ayahuasca is sometimes like showing a movie of situations in your life in fast motion. And once that Pandora’s box has been opened, it is difficult to retain and integrate those experiences.

If someone takes ayahuasca on a weekend and goes to work on Monday, basically what they are going to be confused. In the Amazon it is taken in a natural context.

“We are talking about very powerful plants, with a great capacity for spiritual healing, but not for use in an urban environment.”

The plant can show you your personal conflicts; Now, without further work, that door easily closes again. Then the person feels like part of their daily life.

That division creates internal suffering. We are talking about very powerful plants, with a great capacity for spiritual healing, but not for use in an urban environment.

– Many healers use tobacco. How does it work?
–Tobacco juice helps remove ballast on multiple levels. Pre-Columbian cultures consider it the king of plants, as it combines well with all of them. To manage it requires a long learning.

“They are ‘medicine men’ because they carry medicine in their own body.”

In addition to giving it as a drink, the cigar maker uses the smoke to test the patient by spreading it over his body, which provides a diagnosis. They are “medicine men” because they carry the medicine in their own body, and tobacco is their tool, as is the scalpel for the surgeon.

“How does the healer help you?”
– For me it is the companion. It shows you a path to self-healing. It helps you in a transformation process. But the real teacher in the end is yourself.