And so it begins: Stellar Folk preparation guideline.
For folks who have signed up for a ceremony
Dearest participant,
We are very much looking forward to welcoming you at the upcoming ceremony or retreat! For the month leading up to it, we have put together this guideline in order for you to get the most out of your experience. Mushrooms and truffles are part of a living spirit β you will greatly benefit from preparing your heart, mind and body before the journey, to make the most of your relatively short but deep encounter with this spirit.
The guide before you contains a little bit of history, followed by important practical information, requirements and tools for your journey. Please read it through thoroughly.
EARTH MEDICINE: AN ANCIENT WAY
During a ceremony we will be sitting in a sacred circle and communing with earth medicine, as many of our ancestors have done before us throughout the ages. A custom that, in this part of the earth, happened far back in history, at a time when people were still deeply entwined with their environment, the elements, the seasons and the rhythm of the moon. Throughout the ages, altering consciousness has been an innate human right β until the world decided it was not. When humanity chose to move away from earth medicine, something was lost. A connection to self, earth, deep healing, intuition and empowerment.
Indigenous elder wisdom keepers tell us that we must return to the wisdom of our local plants and trees, the ones from this land.
''Our forgetfulness of the sacred within creation is not simply the product of a scientific paradigm or the byproduct of our addiction to consumption. There is an even deeper, and somewhat darker, side to it, in which religion itself played an active and deliberate role.
When our monotheistic religions placed God in heaven, they actively worked to banish the many gods and goddesses that connected human beings to the sacredness of the Earth, and suppressed the ancient wisdom contained in our understanding of the sacred in creation β its rhythms, its meaningful magic.
Early Christianity destroyed the temples and cut down the sacred groves of paganism, and persecuted and killed the priests and priestesses who knew and worked with the spirit and forces within nature.
Later in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church supported killing, as ''witches,'' the wise women who understood the healing power of nature. Monotheism, with its recognition of a single transcendent God, represents a significant evolution in human history, but it brought with it an unnatural end, as we see now, devastating the force of the physical world and the Divine.
Nature if not unfeeling matter; it is full of invisible forces with their own intelligence and deep knowing. We need to re-acknowledge the existence of the spiritual world within creation if we are even to begin the real work of bringing the world back into balance. Only then can we regain the wisdom of the shamans who understood how to communicate and work together with the inner worlds.''
The above excerpt is by Lewellyn Vaughan-Lee from his beautiful book: Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth (2016)
The medicine women and men of olden days knew how to distinguish mind-altering plants and fungi, and among them were psilocybin mushrooms and truffles. For millennia, entheogens β derived from the Greek roots en (within) theo (divine) and gen (creates), meaning βcreating the divine within,β β were used during a variety of ceremonies, rites of passage and for healing purposes within the tribe or community. Mushrooms and other hallucinogenic plants and fungi were seen as very sacred teachers. They brought communities closer to themselves, to each other and to nature, and gave the people direction to their lives.
In ancient Greece, entire islands were designed with the purpose of healing people with nature. Here, beautiful temples were built where patients followed a special diet and, in the evenings, travelled with mind-altering plants.
Many paintings and carvings in the ancient Egyptian temples and pyramids show the veneration of the blue lotus flower and suggest their use in ceremony.
Also, the countless pre-historic cave paintings around the world are linked to altered states of being by scientists and anthropologists. And these are just a few examples.
HEALING TEA
Our forests and fields are a living medicine cabinet! The tea that we will be drinking before the ceremony is made from chamomile and elderflower, the latter picked by ourselves in a forest near Amsterdam in spring. Chamomile is very soothing for the digestive and nervous systems, and calming for the mind. Elderflower comes from the elder tree (Tree of the Elder, the tree of the ancient sages) and is seen by our ancestors in Europe as a very magical shrub, especially in Druid and Celtic teachings.
Besides the many medicinal properties of the elderberry and flower in supporting the immune system, this plant-ally energetically stands for major transitions, changes, transformation and rebirth. She is seen as a boundary keeper between the different dimensions. Often, Elder Trees were planted at the front door, not only to have quick access to the medicinal berries and flowers, but also because they were seen as guardians against burglars and intruders.
βAny ritual is an opportunity for transformation. To do a ritual you must be willing to be transformed in some way. The inner willingness is what makes the ritual come alive and have power. If you arenβt willing to be changed by the ritual, donβt do it.β
Star Hawk, shaman, author and activist
PREPARATION & REQUIREMENTS
In the month before your journey, commit to living a healthy lifestyle and abstain from certain sensory inputs that may cause unwholesome and uneasy states of mind. The cleaner, healthier and more aware you live, eat (prioritise a diet of nutrient-dense, unprocessed and vitalising foods) and consume in the weeks before, the more benefits you will receive from the ceremony. The more you approach a ceremony with reverence, the more gifts the mushroom will bestow on you.
Please make sure you have read both 1) the Healing with nature introduction page and 2) the Fungi ceremony page, in order to be well informed about the kind of experience you are about to embark on.
If this is your first time working with us, please take your time to fill in your intake form as soon as possible.
It is good to purchase a journal where you can start making notes about your feelings and intentions β more on that below.
DIET ADJUSTEMENTS
As far as diet, the following things are required to be reduced to zero at least 1 week prior to the event, but the longer the better:
caffeine (no coffee, black tea or green tea)
meat and fish
alcohol
drugs
medicines (including weed) β Important: some medicines will be required to stop being taken for up to 12 weeks; please check this page
For smokers: reduce your tobacco intake significantly
Itβs recommended to abstain from sexual activity.
For you coffee lovers out there: caffeine withdrawal is a real thingβ¦! Gradually wean off of your daily coffee intake. Once you fully stop, expect headaches and feelings of lethargy on the first two to three days.
On the day of the ceremony itself:
You will only eat vegan (plant-based) food until at least 2,5 hours prior to the start of the event. Make sure to not eat any fermented foods either as they are not compatible with one of the components you will ingest during the ceremony. We suggest porridge and / or fresh fruit. You will hydrate well in the morning with plenty of water or herbal tea.
Some people decide to take it a step further and do a (multiple day) water or juice cleanse beforehand.
LIFESTYLE ADJUSTMENTS
Especially in the week prior to your ceremony, we recommend doing a little digital detox: refrain from watching intense movies or series, and minimise your time scrolling on your phone. Instead, try incorporating more wholesome and introspective practices in your days like walking in nature, yoga, dancing, meditating, writing in your journal, reading books, making art. If you feel like spending time with people, choose loved ones you feel completely at ease with.
It is advisable to come as rested as possible. Try not to plan too many events in the week leading up to the ceremony.
Keep the days of the event off, and the week after as free as you possibly can. The most recurring feedback we receive is: ββI wish I had taken more time off after the ceremony.ββ
Suggested Guided Meditation: Journey to the Body Temple
βMuch of what we call personality is not a fixed set of traits, only coping mechanisms a person acquired in childhood.β
Dr. Gabor MatΓ©, physician, public speaker, author, and Jewish Holocaust survivor.
TRAUMA AND THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM
Before stepping into ceremony it is essential to have some basic knowledge about the workings of repressed emotions and trauma in the body, even if you think you havenβt suffered from any trauma or adversity in your life. The truth is: all human beings have, in one way or another, and lots of it we inherited from our parents or grandparents. All of our triggers, coping mechanisms, relationship issues, anxieties and addictions stem from these traumas β big or small β or unsafe attachments in childhood.
This simple video explains how the autonomic nervous system works in 9 minutes; kindly watch it.
YOUR BODY AS A MAP
As the ceremony approaches, you might notice your triggers, frustrations, blockages and coping mechanisms coming to the surface, in part also due to your reduction of outside stimuli, like alcohol, coffee or endless scrolling on your phone. We understand this might be challenging, but it is actually a wonderful opportunity to identify them and write them down. Without exception, when you take a pause and really notice, these emotions show up as sensations in the body.
The body communicates through sensations. Research has shown trauma and emotions are stored in our body, so when we begin to tune into the sensations of the body when working with the medicine, this can show us the way forward to our healing. You will see, the ceremony is a deeply somatic experience β somatic means ββof the body.ββ We will use your wise body as a map to get answers!
Suggested Guided Meditations:
Β· The practice of RAIN - Tara Brach
Β· Embodied Spirit - Tara Brach
βDonβt turn away.
Keep your gaze on the bandaged place.
Thatβs where the light enters youβ
Rumi
EXERCISE: SOMATIC EXPLORATION OF YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM SURVIVAL STATES
Understanding the survival states of your nervous system empowers you to support your physical, mental and emotional experience in stead of working against it, trying to fix it, control it or push it away. So right now, if youβre feeling a little off, anxious or low, grab your journal and letβs take inventory.
STEP ONE: ARRIVE
Sitting comfortably, start going inward, taking a few breaths to arrive in the here and now.
Let your mind settle. Then bring your awareness to your physical body.
STEP TWO: IDENTIFY
Physical state: Do you feel
Tense? Scattered? Agitated? Stuck? Something else?
Mental state: Are your thoughts
Irritated? Avoidant? Cynical? Hopeless? Something else?
Emotional state: Do you feel
Angry, Judgmental, Resentful? Rushed, Anxious? Like youβre ready to give up? Something else?
Breathe, just notice, and write your down your findings.
Any experience associated with tension could be indicative of a Fight survival state.
Rushing could come from your bodyβs Flight response.
The desire to shut down could be your nervous systemβs Freeze response.
STEP THREE: EXPLORE
That emotion you feel, where do you sense it in your body?
Does it have a color, shape, texture or temperature?
Staying really present with it, does it have anything it wants to tell you, or show you?
Just be curious, and open to whatever could come through.
There is no wrong answer. Write it down.
STEP FOUR : EXPRESS
As you focus on that emotion, residing in a specific space in your body, can you ask it:
ββHow do you want to move?ββ
Get up, and move in any way that feels good (stretching; jumping; shaking; moving into a yoga pose; lying flat on the floor; etc. What does your body need?)
Coming back to the sensation in the body, ask it: ββIs there anything you want to say?ββ
Deeply listen, and write it down, or speak it out loud / make a sound.
Notice if there are any other areas in the body that are asking for your attention. If so, repeat the first four steps.
STEP FIVE: GROUND IN GRATITUDE
Once your expression process feels complete, return to a seated position and place your feet on the ground. Feel the weight of your body, getting heavier and being supported by whatβs beneath you.
Slow down your breathing β in and out through the nose, with a slightly longer exhale. Thank your body for sharing its wisdom and guiding your process. Let it know youβre here to listen and learn.
Write down any final thoughts and/or reflections from your experience.
Repeat this inner exploration anytime things come up for you in the month leading up to our gathering.
PREPARATION & INTEGRATION THERAPY
If you want to take you preparation to a next level we can heartily advise booking an online session with one of our recommended therapists: Joella May, Aphra Natley or Andrea (from Stellar Folk). Exploring your unconscious dynamics before and/or after your journey can deeply assist you in navigating your journey and integrating your experience into daily reality.
YOUR INTENTION FOR THE CEREMONY
Even though your inner wisdom and the spirit of the medicine know best what you need, the paradoxical effect of identifying your deeper intention, and then letting it go when the ceremony starts as a sign of trust in your deeper knowing, is most beneficial to the process.
By setting intentions, you prime the mind with your main objectives, motivations, and questions β the whys β of your exploration with mind-altering fungi. Intentions set the tone for the journey, acting as a purposeful bridge into the unknown. They reflect a commitment to work on yourself.
Intentions can range from simple and light, to deeper life questions. There is no wrong intention. Some examples might be: βforgive myself and others,β βovercome bad habits,β βimprove my relationships,β or more existential ones like βunderstand the purpose of lifeβ and βbe one with ultimate reality.β You can also frame your intentions as gentle, humble requests to the medicine: βcould you please show/teach/guide meβ¦?β
JOURNAL PROMPT: SETTING AN INTENTION
The idea is not to create a rigid agenda or a checklist of things to achieve, but to be curious and open the mind to new ways of perceiving, relating, and being.
Here are some helpful questions to ask yourself:
Where am I currently with my physical health? (How do I feel in my body, how is my health, do I make time for movement?)
What are my current coping mechanisms when challenges in life arise?
What am I learning about myself and others in my current relationships?
Where and how do I feel stuck?
What is holding me back? What makes me afraid?
What have I been resisting?
What do I want to let go of?
What changes do I want to make?
What or who do I want to forgive?
What do I really want?
What am I?
SIGNS AND DREAMS
The period leading up to a ceremony from the moment you sign up is a potent one. Something inexplicable happens the moment we decide to sign up for a plant medicine journey. A palpable shift takes place in our energy field and some people even feel as if the ceremony already starts then and there.
You might experience a heightened sense of awareness and intuition, and signs might appear in the form of feathers, animals, tokens, conversations; or maybe the same word appears over and over on busses, billboards or on tv. Stay alert for magical synchronicities. Another thing to be extra aware of are your dreams at nighttime. Dreams and their messages were considered very sacred in the olden days, and still are for many cultures. Place your journal next to your bed to write down your dreams as soon as you wake up so you donβt forget them. Your subconscious might be trying to tell you something.
DOSAGE & EFFECTS
The dosage we administer to participants is what you could call a moderate macrodose. From a scientific perspective, during a macrodose, changes occur in the brain and body. The Default Mode Network (DMN), responsible for aspects of self-identity, memories, and rumination, undergoes a transformation. Altered connectivity in the DMN is linked to various mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and PTSD. These mental health issues possibly stem from a rigid brain, one that is stuck in patterns and ways of thinking about the self, life, and past events. Macrodosing disrupts DMN connectivity, reducing blood flow to this area and essentially shakes up entrenched thought patterns. It fosters connectivity between different brain regions previously unconnected. Psilocybin stimulates neuroplasticity β new neural pathways. Through these changes, the brain is reorganising and rewiring to function in a new way than how it was previously. The benefits of a macrodose have been studied to last for months after the experience.
Every single ceremony is different, but weβve made a practical list of possible symptoms you might experience, in no particular order, which are all completely safe and normal for healthy individuals. Itβs important to note that these are, again, possible symptoms; you might only experience some of them β itβs best to come well informed, open and without any expectations.
Compulsive yawning
Clear come-up, peak, and come-down, with different waves of intensity
Unusual physical sensations β waves of warmth and cold, tingling, sweating, shaking, numbness
Increased flow of ideas
Increased and/or enhanced senses
Amplification of emotions, whether ββgoodββ or ββbadββ
Strong euphoria or excitement
Sense of peace
Mystical experience and feelings of wonder
Life-changing introspective or philosophical insights
Open- and closed-eye visuals (e.g. patterns, colours, auras)
Synaesthesia β the intertwining of senses
Time dilation or contraction (time passing more slowly or quickly)
Brief increases of blood pressure
Sedation
Finding otherwise mundane things funny or interesting
Feelings of dissolution of ego
ATTITUDE AND MINDSET
Practice lowering expectations as much as possible before a journey. The more we expect to get something from the experience, the more disappointed we will be. When we expect little, we allow ourselves to be grateful for whatever shows up. The medicine will reveal that holding onto expectations is the cause of unhappiness. Disillusionment is part of the journey, and a teaching in itself.
If you expect to have the same experience you have read or heard about in videos, books, or trip reports, you may be let down. Your distinctive life experiences will result in a journey that cannot be compared with othersβ. Be open to unexpected lessons. β
To heal and better understand various situations and perspectives, itβs necessary to face whatever comes to the surface during your journey. You might perceive the medicine as a living guide that can help you reconnect with your inner healing intelligence, or you might only feel a lot. As you embark on this experience know the medicine will give you what you need, not what you want. The point of the journey is not for it to be easy; it is for greatness.
BE WITH IT ALL
For us personally, one of the most beautiful and valuable lessons the medicine has taught us is to not resist anything, including discomfort β just like weβve touched on in the somatic exercise from before, simply noticing and being with sensations and emotions, however unpleasant they might be, will make your journey (and life) go more smoothly. When we ingest the medicine, all our usual coping mechanisms are stripped away and we are shown the pain, shame or fear we have been distracting ourselves from for years, sometimes most of our lives.
Any challenges presented during your psychedelic journey are only appearing in your awareness to be felt, integrated and transformed. Approach them with unwavering curiosity and compassion, give them your full, loving presence, and β without exception β you will discover that behind all unpleasant sensations are only innocent parts of yourself yearning for love, understanding and wholeness. Paradoxically, the answers lie in going into the discomfort! This is the key to healing and also the fastest way to move through blocks.
From our own experience we can say that there are no bad trips due to how transformational the journey can be after the experience is integrated.
Everything in the journey passes; everything comes and goes, like everything in life. There is nothing we can truly hold unto, the bad or the good. The very act of holding onto something β a beautiful sunset, a delicious taste, an intimate moment with a lover, our very existence as the body/mind we call self β is what causes suffering: it goes against nature. After night, comes day; after rain, comes shine; after life comes death. When we fully embody this truth, we start seeing every single moment as a unique, fleeting gift. We can begin to identify with the deep ocean of awareness in stead of the ever changing waves at the surface.
There is always a point in the journey when you begin to enter the realm of the Medicine; you can feel it come on and this can, in some cases, trigger anxiety as the ego might find it difficult letting go of control. This is completely normal as that is the egoβs job! If you find yourself nervous during this time β or anytime during the ceremony β know that you are truly safe, and always come back to your breath. Simply breathe towards the part in your body where you notice the discomfort and relax your body with every out breath. Know that it will pass and that it is only trying to show you something. Before and during the journey, your facilitator will give you some very simple and clear tools to navigate challenging moments.
One beautiful thing to keep in mind: the mushrooms never give us more than we can handle and you will be at all times 100% safe.
Podcast episode suggestions:
WHAT TO BRING TO A CEREMONY
Your most comfortable and cozy outfit, warm socks. Layers are recommendable as your body might shift between temperatures during the journey
Eye mask (or scarf). It's recommended to block out as much light as possible for a deep inner journey. If you want to get a super duper professional one, you could consider a Mindfold.
Closable water bottle
Your journal and pen
Phone switched to flight-mode
The remaining due in cash, if that is your chosen mode of payment
If youβre spending the night at a group venue: toiletries, ear plugs (in case anyone snores at night-time), maybe a change of clothes
Please don't wear any perfume or aftershave
Optional: a personal object to place on the altar
Optional: any personal items that might comfort you (donβt feel ashamed to bring your favourite teddy bear or blanket).
For multiple day retreats, the list is a little longer β this will be sent to you.
INTEGRATION AFTER A CEREMONY
In order to integrate the medicineβs lessons into your daily life and to recalibrate yourself after what can be a very deep, intense and opening experience, it's essential to set aside time after the ceremony to ponder and metabolise it all, and to nourish the body. You will need to give yourself a few days to recover and integrate your experiences before diving straight back into your obligations. Make sure to set aside at least two full days of integration after a ceremony, but really, you will thank yourself for keeping your agenda free a little longer. Give yourself as much time as possible to allow new perspectives to settle.
In the days, weeks, months, sometimes even years after your journey, insights will continue to emerge. Following a journey, make time every day to reflect on your experience, and cultivate practices that support a healthy integration.
We will send you our integration guideline after the gathering.
FINAL WORDS FROM THE FACILITATOR
It is a huge joy and honour to be sharing all these magical plant and fungi spirits with you in your upcoming ceremony or retreat. From my own experience, it is truly a blessing being able to undergo their teachings under safe supervision and in a comfortable setting. Being able to facilitate this for you gives us a deep sense of purpose; we look eagerly forward to each and every ceremony.
My final advice for you is to watch the beautiful movie recommendations under ''Scientific research & resources'' on the introduction page. If youβre looking for a good book to read about trauma, I can recommend, again, ββThe Body Keeps the Scoreββ by Bessel van der Kolk, or any of the work of Gabor MatΓ©. Another amazing book that really resonates with my vision of healing and contains many precious tools is ββRadical Acceptance,ββ by Tara Brach.
For information about plant medicine I can recommend ββHow to Change your Mind,ββ by Michael Pollan (the book on which the Netflix series is based).
For questions please contact us anytime.
For now, I wish you a joyful preparation time. See you soon!
With much love,
Andrea
βA Quest of any kind is a heroic journey. It is a rite of passage that carries you to an inner place of silence and majesty and encourages you to live life more courageously and genuinely.β
Denise Linn, shaman and author