Driven by a bone-deep curiosity, I felt ready to explore the psychedelic realm of Bufo and its active ingredient, the powerful 5-MeO-DMT.
This led me on an adventure into the mountain outskirts of Medellín, where I found myself nestled 5000 ft up in a lush finca.
The stars were seemingly aligned. Just two days prior, I had reached out to a respected shaman. It turned out he’d be holding ceremony this weekend, and my Psoirée friend, Brie, was visiting. She was also eager to embark on the journey and there were two spots left.
The plan was to partake in ceremonies involving both Bufo and Kambo — a healing agent that's commonly paired with Bufo.
The full cleanse, in preparation for Bufo, consisted of sacred tobacco known as Rapé, followed by Kambo, and then finally Sananga, eye drops that sting for a few minutes and cleanse the eyes.
We arrived at the ceremony, along with 20 other people, mostly Colombians, and found our places inside an outdoor teepee-like structure.
We began and, despite the pain and notable amount of purging, the full cleanse felt like a major release. A sense of camaraderie pervaded the air. We were in this together.
Once we returned to baseline, it was time for Bufo.
On this beautiful sunny day, I found myself outside the structure and seated on a blanket in the grass. The shaman, Juan Pablo, approached with his partner shaman, Lina, close by.
He knelt in front of me, asked about my intention, and then handed me the pipe. It started with a 15-second inhalation, a 15-second hold, and what followed was simply stunning.
A Team of Doctors
There are moments in many psychedelic journeys where you can either clutch onto reality or let go to experience other dimensions.
The act of surrendering is easier said than done. As the Bufo was taking hold, I sensed that window of opportunity opening and I employed a mental tactic I've learned over time.
I imagined a team of doctors on the “other side,” trying to get a lock on my consciousness, much like Morpheus trying to get a lock on Neo inside the matrix. As they successfully got a lock on me, I imagined hearing them say “we got him, everything’s going to be fine… we got him.”
This tactic helped to surrender completely into the experience.
Experiencing Totality
Then it happened—I experienced the totality of existence.
It was as if I was shifting through dimensions, and I initially saw two flat, blue spinning discs that were just barely touching. Then the discs evolved into a higher-dimensional state, and finally, I merged with the experience itself.
The sense of totality felt permeated by consciousness, and was marked by a paradoxical balance of chaos and order.
We Figured It Out
I was struck by a revelation: this could all be oblivion, nothingness. But against tremendous odds, an impossible riddle has been solved.
They, or perhaps we, resolved unfathomable logistical challenges, in order to create an existence where time, space, consciousness, and all dimensions dovetail perfectly.
More advanced entities, on the same spectrum of consciousness as us, figured out how to create a self-sustaining, balanced, and infinite reality. This model of reality stretches from atoms and molecules, to dirt and plants, to animals and humans, and to forms of life beyond human.
I was hit by a wave of awe, recognizing the staggering ingenuity and love behind this achievement.
Intelligent life pulled it off, and the collective success of creating a beautiful, infinite reality is an accomplishment worthy of a prodigious celebration.
It’s Perfect
As I began to slowly merge back into human form, it felt like the full scope of this existence was behind a door.
My human brain couldn’t work the lock to open the door, but I could peek through the keyhole.
And even that small glimpse was enough to comprehend the inherent perfection in it all—joys and sorrows, wins and losses, ecstasy and suffering.
We did it. We built it… and it’s perfect.
The Indigenous Setting
Some things in life feel as if they've reached an apex. Adding any more to the experience would only subtract from its inherent completeness.
There’s the unique joy of a post-coital snuggle with a lover, the timeless allure of the Mona Lisa, or the primal efficiency of a lion on the hunt.
The setting for this Bufo journey, curated over 1000s of years, has reached a similar apex. The indigenous shaman-led ritual has perfected the art of landing from this psychedelic experience.
As I came back from the totality, I found myself bathed in the sounds of the traditional South American ceremony. Tongue-clicks, a rattle, whistling, a chicken cuckawing, a gentle singing voice — subtle and yet powerfully grounding.
The awe-inspiring nature of this Bufo landing is impossible to articulate; one must feel it firsthand.
I had briefly apprehended the totality, grasped that we've figured it out, sensed the perfection of it all, and experienced the indigenous landing.
I found myself weeping tears of joy for a long time.
The experience with Bufo wasn't just a psychedelic trip—it was an intense journey into the infinite nature of existence, and a celebration of the perfect balance we've found in our universe.
Having pursued and satisfied a deep curiosity, the only words I could utter, over and over, were: “It’s perfect… it’s all perfect.”
By Raymond Christian: