Ayahuasca Retreats USA – Ayahuasca Comes to America, Legally

Ayahuasca, an ancient religious practice, indigenous to the Amazon rainforest, is now coming to the United States, legally, under the title Oklevueha Native American Church of Ayahuasca Healings. Continue reading →

Dec 23, 2015 /prREACH/ -- Elbe, WA – Ayahuasca, an ancient religious practice, indigenous to the Amazon rainforest, is now coming to the United States, legally, under the title Oklevueha Native American Church (ONAC) of Ayahuasca Healings.

Ayahuasca Healings – A Native American Church (Ayahuasca Retreats USA) refers to a new project by Trinity de Guzman & Marc Shackman, through which they aim to establish the first publicly accessible Church dedicated to serving and experiencing the sacrament of Ayahuasca in a sacred, ceremonial context. Mr. de Guzman says, “There is a real need for Ayahuasca’s availability in the United States right now. Humanity desperately needs to wake up, and there is nothing that does this like Ayahuasca." He continues, “Not everyone can travel to Peru to experience this medicine, due to money, work, or other obligations. Ayahuasca Healings is looking to democratize the experience of Ayahuasca by bringing this sacred plant medicine stateside, so that anyone who wants, and passes a basic safety screening, can experience an Ayahuasca ceremony.”

Those who have drank Ayahuasca report profound insights and journeys, through their lives, through the cosmos, and even through alternate dimensions and realities. According to some anthropologists, Ayahuasca has been produced and imbibed by shamans and medicine men native to the Amazon rainforest for at least several millennia. Ayahuasca is made by boiling together two plants – the bark of the Ayahuasca vine and the leaf of the Chacruna bush. Chacruna contains the potent psychoactive compound DMT. DMT is classified as a Schedule I drug by the US Government.

Many have asked about the legal status of the church. While ONAC of Ayahuasca Healings (Ayahuasca Retreats USA) will be the first publicly accessible Ayahuasca Church, it will not be the first Church to legally serve Ayahuasca in the United States. Three churches, two originally from Brazil – Santo Daime and Uniao de Vegetal – and the Oklevueha Native American Church, have previously won Supreme Court Cases at the state and federal level. These victories have established legal precedent for the religious use of Ayahuasca, primarily due to the provisions provided by the religious freedom clause found within the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Additionally, Mr. de Guzman and Mr. Shackman have both been adopted as members of the Oklevueha Native American Church by Elder James Flaming Eagle Mooney and ordained to pastor an independent branch of the church. The Native American Church has received legal protection through the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, a U.S. federal law enacted by joint resolution of Congress in 1978. The Native American Church has won many court battles establishing precedent to use Sacred Plant Medicines, such as Peyote and Cannabis. Peyote is indigenous to the Southwestern United States and Mexico and contains the psychoactive compound mescaline. Between the precedent previously established for the sacred and ceremonial use of Ayahuasca, and the Native American Church’s upheld use of sacred plant medicines, Mr. de Guzman and Mr. Shackman feel confident in the legality of their indepdendent branch ONAC of Ayahuasca Healings.

For more information on ONAC of Ayahuasca Healings (Ayahuasca Retreats USA), visit their official website: https://AyahuascaHealings.com