Choachí, Cundinamarca, Colombia
Up to 8 in group
January 24 - 29, 2025
About this Retreat
My name is Gloria, I am Colombian, and currently studying art therapy and Energetic phytotherapy. I began my journey with medicinal plants at a very young age when I tried yagé with the Inga tribe in Colombia, who use wachuma (San Pedro) and rapé to prepare the body. It was an experience that completely changed my life, as it healed my body and soul.
I moved a little bit away from the path of medicinal plants when I discovered the Hare Krishna temple in Bogotá and spent time with the Krishna devotees, learning their scriptures, music, food, meditation, and yoga.
I studied pharmaceutical chemistry in Bogotá and came to Spain to continue my university studies. Although my university classes revealed to me that my way of helping people is through the ancestral medicines that come from my culture.
Working with people has always been my dream, and I firmly believe that this planet will be a much better place when we all empower ourselves, come together, and return to loving and caring for what is essential from the heart. That is why I also want to incorporate the ancestral wisdom of Colombian indigenous women, making them part of this project.
I share rapé and San Pedro ceremonies, and I also lead "children of the sky" (magic mushrooms) ceremonies, which I cultivate with much love and care.
My name is Emma. I was born in a village near Barcelona and studied psychology and scientific communication at university. During my university studies, I specialized in neuropsychology and started to come into contact with psychoactive substances in my fourth year through psychopharmacology courses. However, during my studies, I didn't connect with the therapeutic potential of the therapies we were being taught. I saw that they were based on highly mental, slow, and shallow strategies. I realized that quite often, people go to therapy for many years without really getting to the root of their trauma, either because they deceive themselves and the therapist, or because they don't have the tools to see, remember, and start healing what happened to them.
Therefore, after graduating, I studied science communication with the intention of doing outreach about the human mind and mental health. But it was a few years later, while traveling through Latin America, that I truly connected with the healing power and potential of master plants in a way that completely changed my life and my relationship with psychotherapy.
First in Nicaragua and then in Colombia, I had the opportunity to live near communities that were deeply connected to sacred plants. Thus, I began my own healing journey in a beautiful and profound process that made me reconnect with psychology and therapy in a completely different way than what I had been shown at university. I could see the extent to which plants can help people truly heal their traumas from the root, from the depths of their being. I could see the suffering that we accumulate by growing up in this society, and the need to work for mental health and collective healing. And I could see the role I could play as a guide in these sacred spaces, where the greatest work is done by the person themselves and the plant, but being able to offer my support and love before, during, and after the ceremony.
Since that first connection with entheogenic plants, I started studying them and accompanying ceremonies and retreats. I have witnessed profound healing experiences, empowerment, and life changes, and it is my biggest goal, mission, and honour being able to support in this beautiful journey towards growth and healing.
Taita David Queta is a traditional doctor, shaman and healer of the Cofán people. He is the son of Taita Querubín Queta Alvarado, the highest authority of Yagé medicine (Ayahuasca) in Colombia, who recently passed away on January 2024 in his 111 years old to go back to the Unity.
Taita David follows the path of his father, sharing he medicine of Yagé to expand the knowledge and the teachings that he left him, being in service to humanity in order to help and heal all of those who approach him.
Taita David lives in the Putumayo jungle in Ecuador and takes medicine there with his children, grandchildren and community. He has been learning with the plant of Yagé during all his life, and it is a real honour to take medicine with him and experience the healing, knowledge and teachings that he carries.
Nelsi Lucitante is the wife of Taita David and the daughter of Taita Rufino Criollo, healer and shaman of the Cofán community in Ecuador.
Nelsi accompanies Taita David in his ceremonies, and takes care of the patients and participants who are taking medicine with the experience and guidance that all the years accompanying his husband and learning with the plant of Yagé from his father have given her.
She makes her own handicrafts with plants and feathers from the jungle like her grandmothers taught her, she carries and spreads her culture and traditions and puts her prayers into her creations. She will bring her handicrafts to the retreat for everyone who want to take some with them.
Arleys Queta, son of Taita Daid Queta and grandson of Taita Querubín Queta Alvarado, is a student of the medicine of Yagé and a Cofán musician. He accompanies his father and his mother in their travels, and shares his music and knowledge during the ceremonies. He has been learning with his father the teachings of Yagé since he was a child, and with all his love and experience he accompanies the participants during the ceremonies with his music and songs.
Details of this retreat
The medicine of Yagé (Ayahuasca) is the medicine of pure love, deep healing and ancestral knowledge. With good guidance, this teacher plant can help you heal your mind, your body, and your soul. She can strengthen your spiritual connection and guide you towards your purpose in life, by helping you get mental clarity and find alignment in your path.
If you are open and if you listen, Yagé medicine can give you the most profound healing that you can possibly experience. It is an ancestral tool of growth and development that can help you get to the root of your trauma, therefore allowing you to start to understand and really begin your healing process.
If you have history of mental disorders, of anxiety, depression, PTSD, eating disorders, and you are willing to let go of damaging conditions or self destructive behaviours, this might be the retreat for you. By cleansing your body and mind, by going inwards and looking inside, by listening to the medicine of the Earth you might get the tools and the understanding to push the reset button and take the direction that you need.
If you are compromised with your personal and spiritual growth and are ready to go one step further in your development, if you are willing to gain understanding of yourself, your family history, your relationships, even of the world, the Earth and the Universe, this might be the retreat for you.
From Femtheogen, it is a real honour for us to organise and present you this Yagé retreat with Taita David Queta and his family. Taita David Queta is the son of Taita Querubín Queta Alvarado, the maximum authority of Yagé medicine who passed away last January when he was 111 years old, after more than 100 years learning with the medicine of Yagé and sharing his knowledge, healing the people, serving humanity and working hard for a better world.
His son Taita David Queta carries his teachings and, with his family, he will leave his home in the jungle to come to this beautiful farmhouse in Choachí (close to Bogotá) to share his medicine with us during this retreat. He will come with his wife, Nelsi Lucitante who accompanies him and takes care of the participants during the ceremony, and with their son Arleys Queta, who is a musician as well as a student of the plant of Yagé, and accompanies the ceremonies with his music.
During these days and prior and after the retreat, we from Femtheogen will be here to support you in all your process, and assist you in all the communications with the Taita and his family.
Even though in Europe we work with mushrooms medicine, we have been taking Yagé for several years for our own personal process and growth. In 2023 we had the opportunity to stay for a couple of months in the indigenous reserve Ukumari Kankhe in Putumayo, with Taita Querubín Queta. He was the ultimate guardian of the sacred medicine throughout Colombia and the highest authority of the Cofán indigenous people. They welcomed us with great warmth, and there are no words that can adequately express our gratitude to the Cofán people, Grandfather Taita Querubín, and his legacy. Therefore, our way of expressing our gratitude is by carrying these teachings wherever we go, to our families, our communities and in our work. To organise this retreat with his son Taita David Queta is a very special opportunity, so that more people can experience the immense healing of this plant, by the hands of a true healer and traditional doctor that shares the medicine with knowledge, responsibility, humbleness and love.
This retreat is not for everyone, as you need to be ready to let go and trust in the process, to humble yourself and accept the teachings of the plant, and with them the great gifts of healing and growth.
The medicine, Yagé or Ayahuasca is an ancestral medicine from the Amazon, and its name means “vine of the souls” in Quechua (an indigenous language), referring to wise ancestors who have passed away. Indigenous elders use this sacred plant to find the answers that lie within ourselves, to separate the soul, cleanse it, heal it, and return it intact to the body.
Taita David can help you heal many illnesses if you are willing to let him and the plant do so, so get in touch with us if you have a specific request or situation.
Verified
