Peru Ayahuasca Retreat

San Pedro or Wachuma

The legendary sacred cactus of South America was known by many names to the native peoples of the coast and sierra of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia… wachuma, huachuma, achuma, chuma, cardo, cuchuma, huando, gigantón, hermoso and aguacolla. Today it is best known in Peru by it’s post-colonial name San Pedro, a reference to the Christian saint who holds the keys to the Gates of Heaven.

A Cultural History

Huachuma (San Pedro) has a special symbolism in Ecuadorian curanderismo (traditional folk healing) for a reason. “San Pedro is always in tune with the powers of animals, of strong personages or serious beings, of beings that have supernatural power…”
The Huachuma (San Pedro) cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi, T. peruvianus and other species) represents perhaps longest-used of the sacred holistic healing plants of South America. The ceremonial use of Huachuma (San Pedro) for healing, magical and divining purposes has been a continuous tradition in Ecuador and Peru for well over 3,000 years and continues today, largely in syncretic post-colonial “San Pedro” mesa modalities.

Botany

Trichocereus pachanoi and T. peruvianus are tall columnar cacti sometimes reaching over 8 meters in height. Over thirty species are described although the taxonomy is confusing and there is disagreement concerning the identity of somel species. The species most commonly associated with medicinal use are Trichocereus pachanoi, T. peruvianus which are native to Perú, and T. bridgesii which is native to Bolivia.

Biochemistry

Principal active biochemicals: the phenelthylamine alkaloid mescaline is present, primarily concentrated in the green outer skin of the cactus.
Over thirty other alkaloids have been isolated including: tyramine, hordenine, 3-methoxytyramine, anhalaninine, anhalonidine, 3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine, 3,4-dimethoxy-4-hydroxy-B-phenethylamine, and ,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxy-B-phenethylamine. Some of these are known sympathomimetics. Others have no apparent effects when ingested by themselves. The combination with the mescaline and other active compounds has a synergistic relationship which greatly influences the qualitative aspects of the experience. It is also possible that some compounds in the plant may act as a mild MAO inhibitor thus rendering a person vulnerable to some of the aforementioned amines which would ordinarily be metabolized before they could take effect.

At least one of these alkaloids is an effective antibiotic and others may possess medicinal and/or psychoactive properties. The Huachuma experience is certainly greater than the sum of it’s parts, and it is gross misunderstanding to simply charactize it as a “mescaline” experience. The plant has a powerful and benevolent spirit and is MUCH more.

CACTUS OF THE FOUR WINDS

“The plant first produces drowsiness or a dreamy state and a feeling of lethargy, a slight dizziness, then a great ‘vision’, a clearing of all the faculties. It produces a light numbness in the body and afterward a tranquility. And then comes detachment, a type of visual force, inclusive of all the senses including the sixth sense, the telepathic sense of transmitting oneself across time and matter … like a kind of removal of one’s thought to a distant dimension.”

Huachuma is the catalyst that activates all the complex forces at work in a curanderismo healing ceremony, especially the visionary and divinatory powers of the shaman, who can make himself the owner of another’s identity. Ecstatic magical flight is characteristic of the Huachuma experience. “One is transported across time, matter, and distance in a rapid and safe fashion…”

The goal of the maestro curandero is to make his patient “bloom” during the ceremony, to make his subconscious “open like a flower,” even like the night-blooming Huachuma itself.

For more information, visit our website at: Thegardenofforgetfulness.com