Sacred Inquiry Worksheet
Your Sacred Inquiry Worksheet
Sacred inquiry is a twofold process of inner inquiry and outer inquiry. Both are necessary in order to receive the most wisdom and healing while working with visionary plant medicines in a grounded and safe way. Too many people jump into the opportunity to work with powerful visionary Master Plants, and without proper inquiry and research, emerge from that experience worse, not better. These medicines are not for everybody. Discover what medicines may be right for you, whether you are ready for profound spiritual transformation, and how to identify the best environment for your healing ceremony.
Inner Inquiry
1. Who are you and what is your story?
2. Are you currently ill, and have you already sought treatment for your condition? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
3. Do you have any medical or psychological conditions that may put you at risk? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
4. If so, are you willing to be completely honest with a plant medicine facilitator about your condition and any medications you may be taking? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
5. Are you physically and psychologically stable and ready for an experience that can completely transform your understanding of reality and yourself? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
6. What are you hoping to receive from sacred communion with a master plant?
7. What is your motivation for seeking this experience?
8. Are you open to the possibility that what you currently believe about reality might be limited? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
9. Are you open to the possibility to discover the existence of non-embodied beings that coexist with us? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
10. Are you ready to change your beliefs and your story? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
11. If you need more personalized support, are you willing to seek out a qualified and appropriate guide to support your journey? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
12. Are you willing to follow the protocols of the plant medicine ceremony and behave in a respectful, responsible way? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
13. Are you willing to take complete responsibility for your experience? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
14. Are you ready to do the deep emotional work of healing whatever needs to be healed, should the plant teacher reveal that to you? Yes / No
Additional thoughts & reflections:
Outer Inquiry
Too many people jump into encounters with visionary medicines without any preparation as to whether it’s the right medicine for their needs, or right cultural context to support their integration.
In some cases, it may be helpful to have some experience with gentler medicines, such as mushrooms, before jumping into a 48 hour iboga initiation experience or doing toad medicine. Doing as much research in advance on the visionary medicines you are interested in experiencing is the best way to optimize your experience, while reducing the potential for harm.
1. What medicine is right for me?
- What is your motivation for seeking this plant medicine?
- Are you trying to heal from a particular illness or psychological condition?
- Are you experiencing situational or chronic depression?
- Are you wanting to overcome addiction?
- Are you seeking spiritual guidance because you feel stuck in life?
- Are you wanting to connect with a spiritual family?
- Is it a bucket list item?
2. What culture is right for me?
- Shaman led versus community prayer
- Music – traditional, live, recorded, or no music, but nature
- Religious context – Indigenous – in a maloca on a dirt floor? Christian – in a Church?
- Hindu – in an ashram? African – drumming circle? Non-religious?
- Relations – friends and family? Strangers?
- How far you are willing to travel. With a group or alone? Time and expense.
3. What setting is right for me?
- Full service retreat center. Expensive, but has Western comforts. May also include medical staff.
- Local accommodation. More economical. Lodging may be away from the ceremonial site, which may involve travel after an all night ceremony. Distractions, village noise, language.
- Private residence. Typically an overnight stay in someone’s home. May be distractions if other family members occupy the site.
4. What kind of facilitator is right for me?
- Traditional shaman / curandero / medicine man or woman. Benefits and challenges
- Language
- Cultural context – some belief frameworks may be hard to comprehend
- Distance
- Comfort & hygiene
- Western facilitator with hybrid training. Benefits and challenges
- Formal or no formal training
- Initiated into a lineage or self-proclaimed
- Length of training
- Legality & safety
- Leader of a spiritual community. Benefits and challenges
- Strong communal container for group prayer
- Or cult of personality, with power & ego dynamics, and complicit followers
5. What kind of community is right for me?
- International rainbow tribe? Very loose, self-initiated “shamans”, nomadic tribe, no established community location. Willing to travel to festivals and gatherings, well-travelled, liberal-minded and open.
- Lineage focused? May need to learn a foreign language to go deep. May have indigenous cultural aspects that do not align with Western values, like conservative, patriarchal attitudes. May have travelling roadmen who visit once or twice a year, with a local study group, or may need to travel to the home of the lineage to stay connected.
- Church or doctrine focused? One syncretic tradition may be more appealing than another, for example Hindu over Afro-Brazilian. May have multiple branches all over the world, which all follow the same body of spiritual teachings and practices.
6. How to conduct general research
- Research books in Amazon.com
- Listen to podcasts
7. How to conduct targeted online research
- Join different online forums
- Perform a search for the shaman’s name or retreat centers name in the search box
- Google shaman’s name or retreat centers name along with the word “fraud”
- DO NOT post a facilitator’s name in a public forum if they are operating in a local where the medicine is illegal
- PAY ATTENTION if a particular shaman or facilitator seems to frequently be in the center of online controversy or social media flame wars
8. Questions to ask the facilitator or organizer. Inquire about
- Facilities and what people need to bring
- Whether food is provided
- Health risks to assess their knowledge of medical contraindications
- Logistics of getting there, location, transportation
- Post-ceremony support. What kind of integration support do they offer? Is available through the community.
- Speaking to past participants verify they had a good experience. Ask past participants what they liked, and what they wished was better.