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The Merkaba Journal
Stories, Teachings & Transmissions from the Merkaba Field

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Introducing our very own Merkaba Retreats Sanctuary in the heart of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Merkaba Retreats announces its first permanent sanctuary in Puerto Vallarta. Join our March 9–15 Signature Group Immersion for Equinox Preparation & Renewal, held in a sacred urban retreat space between mountains and sea.
Christopher Shaw
3 days ago3 min read


ONE YEAR OF FIRE, FAITH & TRANSFORMATION: Celebrating the First Anniversary of Merkaba Retreats
In one year, Merkaba Retreats has grown from a calling into a spiritual firewalk. What began after a death-rebirth experience now lives as a high-impact retreat lineage offering deep transformation, earth-based healing, and intimate private immersions for individuals, couples, and leaders.
Christopher Shaw
Dec 18, 20255 min read


Beyond Team Building: The Executive Transformation Experience in Mexico
Bring your executive team to Mexico for a transformational leadership retreat. Explore Earth medicine, yoga, and sacred ceremony in the Merkaba Retreats Executive Experience — where business meets consciousness.
Christopher Shaw
Nov 24, 20253 min read


🔱 Beyond Ibogaine: How Veterans Are Healing PTSD with Earth Medicine in Mexico
Many veterans are finding lasting PTSD healing in Mexico — not just through Ibogaine, but through Earth Medicine. At Merkaba Retreats, we combine psilocybin, Bufo, Kambo, yoga, and ceremony to help veterans remember who they are beneath the armor. Same results, lower cost, no waitlist — guided by trauma therapists and indigenous healers.
Christopher Shaw
Nov 11, 20255 min read


Merkaba Retreats Announces 2026 Signature Group Immersions and Expanded Customized Immersion Format in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Merkaba Retreats, a sacred branch of Merkaba Temple dedicated to healing, transformation, and soul-activation, has officially announced its 2026 Signature Group Immersion Calendar, along with a new customizable format designed to meet participants exactly where they are on their journey.
Christopher Shaw
Nov 5, 20253 min read


Psilocybin & Bufo (5-MeO-DMT): Evidence-Informed Paths for Trauma, Mental Health & Addiction—And How Aftercare Makes the Difference
Healing doesn’t have to be “Western or Earth medicine.” The most durable change often comes from integrating medical screening, evidence-based psychotherapy, and community support with carefully facilitated non-ordinary states. Below is what current research says about psilocybin and bufo/5-MeO-DMT, how they’re used, where the evidence is strongest (depression, alcohol/tobacco use), what’s still emerging (drug and sexual compulsivity), and why aftercare is the bridge from pea
Christopher Shaw
Sep 24, 20256 min read


Bufo (5-MeO-DMT): Sacred Earth Medicine, Ceremony & Transformation
There is a rare fire medicine that burns through soul-masks, ego-stories, and deep wounds. In the humble but potent form of Bufo—more precisely, 5-MeO-DMT—many have encountered states of truth, surrender, and revelation. At Merkaba Immersions, our use of Bufo within ceremony is held with reverence, intention, safety, and love. This post explores what Bufo is, where it comes from, how it works, what people encounter, and why the container matters deeply.
Christopher Shaw
Sep 11, 20255 min read


Psilocybin, Trauma, and a Way Back to Wholeness
Over the last decade, a surprising ally has re-entered the clinical conversation: psilocybin-assisted therapy—a structured process pairing a carefully dosed session of psilocybin (the primary compound in “magic mushrooms”) with skilled preparation and integration psychotherapy. Early evidence suggests it may help soften rigid trauma responses and restore connection, meaning, and agency. While this field is young and tightly regulated, the data are growing—and they’re compelli
Christopher Shaw
Aug 22, 20254 min read


The Nature of Sacred Energy Exchange
When we gather in sacred circle — at a retreat, in ceremony, or within the intimacy of coaching — we are not merely consuming experiences. We are entering into a covenant of reciprocity, where the giving and receiving of energy become one seamless current. This is what we call Sacred Energy Exchange.
Christopher Shaw
Aug 18, 20253 min read


What Addiction Treatment Gets Wrong — and What It Gets Right & Why Plant and Earth Medicine Might Just Be the Cure We’ve Been Missing
For decades, addiction treatment has been dominated by two intertwined paradigms: the medical model and the psychological approach. Both have helped millions — and yet, both are fundamentally incomplete. If you’ve ever wondered why relapse rates remain so high, why so many people leave treatment still feeling hollow and unfulfilled, and why the “cure” never seems to stick… this is why.
Christopher Shaw
Jul 29, 20253 min read


A Circle Within the Circle: How Merkaba Retreats Can Support Your Clients’ Healing Journey
As a healer, therapist, coach, or guide, you know that the work of transformation is rarely linear. Clients often reach a point on their path where something deeper begins to stir — a longing to connect with parts of themselves that can’t always be accessed through talk therapy, traditional coaching, or even somatic practices alone. That’s where Merkaba Retreats comes in — not to replace the work you do, but to deepen and complement it.
Christopher Shaw
Jul 16, 20252 min read


🔥 When the Medicine Speaks, Listen
Preparing for Ceremony Is Ceremony: The medicine begins long before it touches your tongue. The plants respond to intention, purity, and willingness. When you prepare consciously, you invite the medicine to meet you halfway.
Christopher Shaw
Jul 8, 20252 min read


Healing the Wounds That Don’t Show: Veterans, PTSD & the Path of Sacred Earth Medicine
For many veterans, the end of service is not the end of the war. The battlefield may be quiet, but inside the mind and nervous system, echoes of trauma often remain—unresolved, unseen, and deeply embedded. PTSD is not a weakness. It’s a sacred sign that the body, mind, and soul have encountered more than they were ever meant to carry alone. Traditional talk therapy and pharmaceuticals can offer temporary relief—but many veterans still feel disconnected from their bodies, rela
Christopher Shaw
Jun 19, 20252 min read


From Surviving to Sovereign: Why Merkaba Retreats is a Sanctuary for the Soul in Recovery
Addiction is never just about the substance.
It’s a longing to return to wholeness.
A search for God in all the wrong places. A cry for the sacred in a world that forgets the sacred.
Christopher Shaw
Jun 19, 20252 min read


What Is Integration?
We often speak of “the medicine” as if it begins and ends with the ceremony. But the deeper initiates know: the real ceremony begins when the altar is cleared. When the songs have faded. When the silence returns. That moment—when the world rushes back in—is where the true work begins. It’s called integration.
Christopher Shaw
Jun 5, 20252 min read


Why We Created the Merkaba Alumni Series
There are stories that are too holy to rush. Stories that don’t belong in a brochure or bullet point. Stories that must be witnessed, not summarized.
Christopher Shaw
Jun 2, 20252 min read


The Temple Has Opened
Merkaba Retreats was born not as an event, but as a temple. A living prayer. We do not simply host earth medicine journeys—we midwife soul initiations. And every person who walks through our gates carries something sacred back into the world.
Christopher Shaw
May 31, 20251 min read
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