April 2014 Ayahuasca Retreat: The Crazy Moon Group!

The April 2014 retreat went wonderful! That particular soul family that gathered at Gaia Sagrada, well, they came together on a most interesting date. It was the beginning of the Cardinal Cross, which in Astrology indicates a big change for humanity is coming, hasn’t happened for 2000 years, and now it’s here!

The Cardinal Cross is made up of four red moon eclipses, each 6 months apart, and the first red moon eclipse happened during this retreat.

This is a time when astrologically it is very intense. Therefore this group has been nicknamed The Crazy Moon Group! Now throw in the mix Easter weekend, which signifies the energy of death and resurrection, and that’s an amazing blend of energies for transformation!

There was lots of laughing involved during this retreat, lots of hot-tub get-togethers, and a general sense of well being and joy! It was fun! Several people who at the beginning of the retreat said they get a little too serious and cry too much, well, they got some great happiness therapy at this retreat! Everyone left with a lot of laughter behind them.

The Raging Bull

At the end of the retreat, at the end of the last ceremony (the daytime San Pedro ceremony) Christine had to shoo away a raging bull, a symbolic ending to our last ceremony at the April retreat. It was a perfect manifestation for the ending of that particular retreat. The bull was even jokingly named after one of our participants who was in the circle, kinda like a giant, strong, beautiful bull himself. The bull must have gotten stung by a bee or something because it just started bucking and going wild, off in the distance, like at a rodeo.

At first we all watched with amusement as the bull romped around, with our tiny Ecuadorian grandmother neighbor in her indigenous colorful skirt trying to get him under control. Then suddenly the bull came up the hill our way, noticing us as if for the first time and trying to decide if he wanted to come over and charge at us for the fun of it. Suddenly all of us were ready to climb up the nearby trees because danger was now a moment away!

Christine jumped into action right away, leaving the circle with her poncho, and charged at the bull, shrieking fiercely, raising her poncho to make herself look like a huge bird with giant wings. She shooed the bull off with a few loud yells, just like the protective mother she is.

The bull stopped dead in his tracks with a blank stare as if he’d been quite startled, wide-eyed as she came at him, and then ran away as quickly as he could when he realized Christine wasn’t anything he wanted to mess with. She was crazier than he was, he assessed!

There was never any real danger, as the bull wouldn’t have done much and was pretty tame, but still, it was a little bit of excitement at the end of the last ceremony of the retreat. What a great symbol for all the work we’d done as a group. What a perfect ending to the retreat. It made everyone laugh pretty hard. We have finally calmed the raging bull in each of us, learning how to use power benevolently and wisely. That was a big theme in the retreat. Nothing like a raging bull at the end to seal the deal!

We always let our neighbors graze a few cows on our land. They make great lawnmowers, no fuel, ecologically Earth friendly, can’t beat it. And what great garden compost they make on the other end. You’ll see our grandmother neighbor from next door in her Ecuadorian skirt, we call her affectionately “Abuelita” which means beloved grandmother, moving huge cows around on our property with no problem. It’s sweet to see. Gives you the Ecuadorian experience of the country as it really is with indigenous cultures.