🔥 When the Medicine Speaks, Listen

How to Prepare for Ceremony with Reverence

By Christopher Shaw | Founder of Merkaba Retreats

There’s a moment that comes before the ceremony. A sacred quiet. A subtle shift. A knowing that something is already beginning.

This is the moment when the medicine starts to speak. Not through visions or songs—but through the whisper of awareness: “Something is moving. Get ready.”

At Merkaba Retreats, we believe that preparation is part of the ceremony. That how you arrive shapes what unfolds. That reverence is the first medicine.

This post is for the seekers, the initiates, the curious ones who are standing on the threshold—ready to say yes.

🔱 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.

Ceremony is not just what happens in the circle.

It’s the life you build around it.

🌿 The Merkaba Way: Preparation as Devotion

🧠 1. Set Clear Intentions

Intentions are not demands. They are offerings.

Ask yourself:

• Why am I called to this?

• What am I ready to let go of?

• What am I willing to see? Write it down. Speak it aloud. Burn it into the field of your becoming.

🥦 2. Honor the Dieta

We offer specific dietary guidelines before each retreat—not just for physical cleansing, but energetic clarity.

Typically this includes:

• Clean, plant-forward meals

• No alcohol or recreational drugs

• Reduced sugar, caffeine, and processed foods

• No sexual stimulation (including solo) in the days prior

This isn’t punishment. It’s purification. It creates a quiet body so the spirit can speak louder.

🕊 3. Create Stillness Around You

The weeks before ceremony are a good time to:

• Reduce screen time

• Engage in gentle movement (yoga, walks, dance)

• Begin a simple breathwork or meditation practice

• Journal each morning: “What am I noticing?”

You are tuning your field. Not as a performance—but as a gift to yourself.

🔥 4. Speak to the Medicine

Before ceremony, try this:

• Light a candle.

• Sit with hands on your heart.

• Whisper: “I am coming. Prepare me. I am open.”

The medicine will hear. And you may begin to feel the soft unraveling, even before you arrive.

🌈 5. Be Willing to Be Surprised

No amount of preparation guarantees a certain experience. But it does guarantee presence.

Show up with humility. The medicine doesn’t care how spiritual you are. It cares how surrendered you are.

💎 A Final Blessing

You don’t have to be “ready.” You only have to be willing.

If you feel the call, trust it. If you feel the nerves, honor them. If you feel resistance, bow to it—but don’t stop walking.

When the medicine speaks… listen. It may be calling you home.

Om Guru Om, —Christopher Shaw, Founder Merkaba Retreats