SPIRITUAL TERMINOLOGY AND MEANINGS
Browse spiritual terminology and meanings by letter:
Ayahuasca
What is ayahuasca?
Ayahuasca is a powerful psychoactive sacred plant brew used by shamans in South American indigenous cultures as part of a purification and shamanic journeying ritual.The spirit of ayahuasca, known as Mama Ayahuasca, is said to work through those who ingest the brew, which is made from a concentrate created by ceremonially boiling the Banisteriopsis caapi vine with the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub. The psychoactive substance in ayahuasca is DMT (dimethyltryptamine).
What happens in an ayahuasca ceremony?
During an ayahuasca ceremony–typically held in the evenings–a properly trained shaman will clear the sacred space and prepare the individuals for their journey. Each participant will ingest the ayahuasca by drinking it, and settle in for a lengthy meditation. An ayahuasca trip may involve strong hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, feelings of euphoria or feelings of terror and paranoia, depending on the individual.
The shaman leading the ceremony will offer spiritual guidance to participants throughout the course of the evening. An ayahuasca trip may last up to six hours.
Ayahuasca Tourism
Increasingly, ayahuasca has become a trendy activity for spiritual tourists. High-end wellness centers have begun cropping up in South American countries offering luxury experiences to Western tourists seeking enlightenment. There have also been documented incidents of fake shamans taking advantage of uneducated travelers, leading them out into the jungle for an alleged ceremony, dosing them with psychoactive drugs and then raping, robbing, murdering, or leaving them for dead.
Should you take ayahuasca?
Ayahuasca is a long and sacred indigenous tradition. It should be approached with the utmost respect and never treated as a vacation getaway or excursion activity. Ayahuasca is not a fun experience. It is not for the faint of heart, but for those who are ready to face the truth of themselves. Mama ayahuasca will not reveal her secrets to those deemed unworthy or unready. Instead, they may only experience fear and misery, or nothing at all.
Will ayahuasca make you enlightened?
Ayahuasca effects everyone in a unique way. It may momentarily reveal insights about yourself or your connection to the universe. It will not do your shadow work for you. Someone who has taken ayahuasca is not automatically enlightened. Many spiritual seekers take ayahuasca as a means of feeding their ego rather than exploring it, and Mama Aya knows which is which. Ayahuasca is a tool for shadow work and personal development, not enlightenment itself.
Take ayahuasca at your own risk.
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The answer to this one might surprise you.
How do you do shadow work?
Question from a reader: How do we do this shadow work? I’m am aware of plenty of traumas in my past but I struggle to break the habits and patterns I have developed. Are there any tips or advice on where to begin? Journaling? Specific meditations? I’ve read a lot on your site and I really enjoy your ability to cut through the bullshit, while holding to the mysticism. You talk a lot about shadow work, but where do we start?
Spiritual Narcissism
For those in the know, “spiritual ego” is quite rampant in the spiritual community. The more mainstream spirituality has become in the west, the more it has been influenced by individualistic Western cultural values, resulting in what social science has now termed spiritual narcissism.
Your Perspective isn’t Valid if it Contradicts Objective Reality
A common misconception that many spiritual people have is that spirituality tells us that we each create our own reality. What many often don’t realize, however, is that reality isn’t what is subjective –– your experience of it is what is subjective. The personal beliefs and opinions formed by those experiences are may not be valid, particularly compared to someone else’s.
Why Your Spiritual Practice Should be Trauma-Informed
Not all spirituality is helpful or healthy spirituality. Trauma-informed spirituality is where we need to go in our attempts to leave behind toxic spirituality. Here’s what that is, and how to identify it.
Do We Really Have Free Will?
Do humans truly truly have free will? Don’t be an April fool.
Fear Is Not A Dirty Word
Fear gets a bad rap in New Age spirituality. I’m here to argue that certain, very obvious kinds of fear need to fuck off, but other kinds of fear are actually quite helpful in helping you determine where your edges are.
Spirituality’s Relationship With Mental Illness
Spirituality and mental illness have a complex relationship. My goal today is to talk about mental illness within the spiritual community in a way that can help those of you reading this recognize just how pervasive it is in the spiritual community and help you identify spiritual people–psychics, channels, influencers, whomever–suffering from mental illness, all the while without stigmatizing it.
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I’ve been receiving a lot of comments on my posts lately from people within the spiritual community and outside of it all saying the same thing: “I don’t understand how people got from spirituality to QAnon.” Hold my beer, I’m gonna draw you a diagram…
How Separation Consciousness Masks Itself In Spiritual Unity
One of the main goals of spirituality is to move away from separation consciousness and ascend by achieving unity consciousness, but separation consciousness has infiltrated spirituality (!). Are you unknowingly embodying separation consciousness in the name of spirituality?
The Shadow of Spirituality
The time has come for the spiritual community to confront its own shadow.
The Shadow Self and Shadow Work’s Role In Spirituality
I talk about shadow work all the time on social media. I’ve had a few people ask me questions about what the shadow is, what shadow work involves, and express an interest in learning more, so I’ve revamped an old post to provide a better explanation, as well as make a connection between spirituality and psychology that I think is often overlooked or misunderstood in the spiritual community.
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All of the world’s problems (and yours) come down to this.
What’s in a Self? Soul, Personality & Ego
“I am a bit confused about personality and soul. I understand about being in alignment and think I can feel when I am in it. However I am not sure if this is because I am in alignment with my personality or soul. If I live not in balance with my personality, I am soon aware that I don’t feel in alignment, but I thought that our personalities are just cloaks for our souls? Rarely do I feel urge to do something which I wouldn’t ordinarily do and wondered if this is soul overriding personality?”
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