The Shamanic Plant Medicine series acts as an introduction to specific teacher plants used by shamans in a variety of cultures to facilitate spirit communion, healing, divination and personal discovery, and which are increasingly known, used and respected in Western society by modern shamans as a means of connecting to spirit. Named after Saint Peter, the gatekeeper to Heaven, San Pedro is used by the shamans of the Andes in ways similar to ayahuasca and for similar reasons and effects. Its close relative, peyote, is employed by the shamans of Mexico and its modern chemical equivalent, Ecstasy, has become a popular rave culture means to trance and bliss states. Awareness of San Pedro is spreading rapidly in the West and the plant is likely to become more utilised than ayahuasca in the near future. Ross Heaven is a shaman, psychologist and healer and the director of The Four Gates Foundation, one of Europe's leading organisations for the preservation and teaching of indigenous wisdom. He lives in Newhaven, UK. San Pedro: The Gateway to Wisdom Shamanic Plant Medicine By Ross Heaven John Hunt Publishing Ltd. Copyright © 2015 Ross Heaven All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-78279-255-0 Contents About the Author, Introduction: Shamanic Plant Medicine, Chapter 1. The Story of Huachuma, Chapter 2. Healing with San Pedro, Chapter 3. Cactus Creativity, Chapter 4. Working Responsibly with San Pedro, Appendix, Endnotes, CHAPTER 1 The Story of Huachuma 'Those Who Drink its Juice Lose their Senses and are as if Dead' The Spanish Inquisition reacted with characteristic savagery to anyone who dared to break their laws by eating [San Pedro] ... a great many Indians were flogged and sometimes killed when they persisted Jim DeKorne, writing about the history of San Pedro San Pedro ( Trichocereus pachanoi ) is a tall blue-green cactus reaching heights of 23 feet (7m) or more. It enjoys a tough desert-like environment and grows readily in the highest parts of its native Peru, but can also be found in central and north America and in some Mediterranean countries. In most countries, including the UK, the cactus can be bought openly in garden centers as owning and growing it is not illegal, and even if the weather is not conducive to planting it out (countries like the UK, for example, are too wet and cold to sustain it), it will thrive as a house plant and is easily maintained, putting on maybe 12 inches to 18 inches in height a year if treated well. Sitting in a plant pot or in a garden border at home, the plant looks attractive, innocent and innocuous. In terms of its spiritual, healing and consciousness-expanding properties, however, it is one of the most powerful teacher plants in the world. This contradiction between appearance and spiritual potency is one of the reasons why, in medicine circles, San Pedro has come to be known as the Cactus of Mystery. It has other names too among the shamans and healers of the Peruvian Andes, including cardo, chuma, gigantón, hermoso, huando, pene de Dios (literally, 'penis of God'), wachuma and, simply, el remedio: the remedy, the latter referring to its healing powers. One of its Quechua names is punku, which means 'doorway' or 'gateway', since the cactus is also considered able to open a portal into a world beyond illusion so that healing and visions can flow from the spiritual to the physical dimension. Its more common name, San Pedro, has similar connotations. It refers to Saint Peter, who holds the keys to Heaven, and is suggestive of the plant's power to open the gates between the visible and invisible worlds so those who drink it enter a realm where they can heal, know their true natures and find purpose for their lives. Because of these protective and nurturing qualities, others refer to it affectionately as simply Papa or Grandfather. The Hidden Keys to Heaven: San Pedro in Ancient Times According to tradition, it was San Cipriano (Saint Cyprian), the patron saint of magicians, the grand exorcist, and the 'soul of the mesa ' (the healing altar used during ceremonies by San Pedro shamans) who, acting on instructions from Jesus, hid the keys to Paradise within the cactus, under the care and guardianship of Saint Peter (San Pedro). The legend goes that God was so appalled at the behavior of the Spanish who invaded Peru in search of El Dorado (the fabled city of gold) and was so concerned that they might find these magical keys and use them to storm the gates of Heaven in search of greater riches that he had Cipriano hide them in the one place he knew the Catholic invaders would never look: inside a cactus that had been used as a pagan sacrament for centuries before the coming of the Catholics and Conquistadors. The point of God's deception was that all seekers must earnestly desire to meet Him with open hearts and minds and in a reverent and dignified manner, and this is something that God did not see in the frenzied desire for gain, w