sekhem and huachuma

I received a reminder recently about ancient Egypt and the power of the Goddess, which is contained in their concept of Sekhem. This energy is the ultimate power in the universe that is used to generate and create. We get this definition of the power here from Egyptologist Dr. Ramses Seleem:

The Sekhem is the electromagnetic body, which circulates in and out of the human body, bringing in the five currents of earth energy to nourish the human soul.  This body is responsible for the healing of disease.  The physicians of ancient Egypt, were therefore, called the priests of Sekhemet.

The Illustrated Egyptian Book of the Dead, Dr. Ramses Seleem, page 94.

An aspect of Hathor, the Great Goddess of Egypt, is the raging lioness called Sekhemet that personifies this power. She sustains life and she can take it away, so for instance when the Pharaoh Amenhotep III was in declining health he commissioned hundreds of idols of the Goddess to be crafted in order to try and curry favour with her healing power. It is no accident that the great physician sage of ancient Egypt, Imhotep, claims as his mother Sekhemet. The rattling instrument called the sistrum that is used to call upon the Goddess was also known as Sekhem. The song brought into existence by the shaking of the sistrum creates the energy field which powers each individual soul. We are all notes of the eternal song.

Ihy - the child of Hathor with sistrum

A while back I wrote a blog post where I tracked the ancient Egyptian concept of the Ka power in all of us which is the life force. For most it is a latent and subtle power that animates you and without Ka you’re dead. During times of agitation or excitation you get hits of adrenaline where you notice you are full of energy which is the amplification of this power. Taking notice of this state of agitation allows you to get a better understanding of this power that courses through you and propels you on through life. Basically it gets you up in the morning but there is a limit to how you can experience it and a lot of people like to do death defying things such as skydiving or anything that gives you a rush because you feel that power and it is quite exhilarating. Sekhem is the source of the life force Ka power within us.

What I have noticed about the plant medicine Huachuma is it's a potentiator of the life force power within us as it amplifies pretty much everything. Once you start working with it you notice this effect and the first few times you drink it’s all new so your reaction is: what the fuck is going on? because everything comes alive and you start noticing nature and its wonder and glory; everything is much more vibrant as in actually vibrating and you feel the electrical surge within you. It’s pulsing energy that affects everything from your feelings, thoughts, and senses; right down to your physical form. A lot of the reaction depends upon your state and what you have previously cultivated. The biggest lessons I learned early on in this latest semester at SpiritQuest involved my constant struggles with being in my head, trying to get out of my head, and then into my heart. I’ve done it enough now that I have learned when I struggle with plant medicines it’s because I’m in my head and I’m thinking. Plant medicines take those thoughts and balloon them into crazy territory and fill you with thoughts of doom and gloom plus paranoia. This happens enough that you can start to work with these reactions and soon you realize externally everything is fine but internally you are struggling. Finally with enough lessons and practice you realize that if I am going to be in my head then I’ve made this choice to create hell on earth. You can extrapolate from the teachings your normal sense of day to day life where you are constantly using the mind and you're projecting and judging things; you’re creating the worst case scenario; you’re thinking of scarcity and am I going to survive and how am I going to get through this? You’re creating this hell on earth for yourself and it clearly shows you that in no uncertain terms so you do this enough and eventually you see this is what as a plant teacher Huachuma is going to get through to you. Now that I have drank seventeen times I realized I can remain ignorant for only so long before taking notice that Huachuma is teaching and it is not doing it in a way that is pounding it into to you but it’s just continually showing the student over and over again the choices made and their effects. The choices are realized immediately while you are in it and you can see obviously this is going to affect me in a subtler way when I’m back in my everyday world integrating my experiences. The opposite reaction lines up with the advice of the maestros and maestras who are looking at you telling you to get out of your head and get into your heart as that’s where you ultimately want to be. That’s a choice you make and even if you have trouble making it stick you still will say to yourself okay I will give this a shot because the head case model isn’t working; I’m going to get into my heart and I’m going to express love and see the beauty of everything around me and the beauty that is in other people. I’m going to stop judging them and just accept them for who they are and accept myself for who I am and that is also amplified to the point where you experience bliss and the best day of your life. It’s the best day you have ever experienced because you are in your heart. You are still challenged by your situation but within this unity and this love you feel for everyone, things just don’t matter and you realize that as long as I maintain this love no matter what happens we will always be there for each other and I can always find this piece of heaven by making a choice to live my life this way. There is the opposite reaction where you can choose to come back into the world and live within your head and create a hell for yourself. When you do make this choice you are able to at least be cognizant of it and then stop if you so please, get back into your heart, and start to live with this abundance of love for everything. This power unlocked by the plant medicine is a great teacher.

That’s what Huachuma in its classic teaching does for you but it goes further still. It is a potentiator but I have also noticed that my energy can be juiced after coming forth as masculine energy. I have found that if you can harmonize with another energy field, feminine in my case, then the feminine is what the ancient Egyptians call Sekhem power or the Shakti/Kundalini serpent power of the Hindus. Huachuma potentiates energy and when you harmonize with another's energy field it is a multiplier. The energy I’ve described as serpent power harmonizes with your store of power. The combination then courses through you and personally it goes into my heart and starts my heart fluttering like crazy which is the most ridiculous feeling of so much power that I have ever come across. I’ve only ever been able to do it if there is in the setting this abundance of realized goddess energy within my sphere of influence. I’ve been in Huachuma before when there hasn’t been this energy around and it’s been like a blissful good day but it hasn’t gone the extra step that goes beyond the boundaries of normal experience. The two sacred energies harmonize as one. I can feel it just enveloping me and I know from approaching others and touching them or sharing the energy that they can feel it as well. It leads me back to what I did learn from studying ancient Egyptians and how they discerned this available energy. They were bang on in describing it as this raging energy that comes from the Goddess and when you access it and then are able to become a conduit for it then it is intoxicating. Since I’ve returned home I have missed it so much and am eager to return and just explore the energy. It’s not like a drug where you want to live permanently in that state rather I want to know and understand it better with the eventuality of sharing it with all.

I remember having a taste of this the first time I ever drank Ayahuasca in the form of the coming of the Goddess and I commented afterwards that men who find this Goddess I could easily see spending the rest of their life trying to make the connection again. This energy has appeared for me again as the Goddess in some Ayahuasca ceremonies but not all. It’s a good reason why I stayed on this quest despite hardship; knowing that she might reappear. Huachuma in the proper set and setting is my way in now to consistently channel her energy.