Kambo
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: brenthebdog on November 06, 2012, 11:43:31 PM
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I've been getting the question more often these days and I became curious about how my fellow Kambo practitioners address the question. It generally comes up in the form of "what are those things on your arm, are they burns?" To which I reply "they are Kambo points." From there I describe the medicine and the process of administration. To say that Kambo and the desire to administer the medicine is not understood would be a massive understatement. But inherent to this lack of understanding is an undeniable power of conviction that comes from being a Kambo initiate and knowing that it is not a dangerous poison used by some backward jungle savages. Kambo is good medicine, it is fire medicine, it is hunter medicine.
The coolest feeling that Kambo has imparted in me is that I can count myself as one of the few who share the lineage of knowledge. This however, this does not mean that I claim to be a great shaman or medicine man with the keys to the universe. I just feel that Spirit has called for me to participate in the use of Kambo and certain visionary plant teachers so that I may know a very esoteric truth about the nature of reality. As a tourist in the plant world I was allowed to traipse through ignorantly taking anything I could get my hands on. But that way of thinking has abruptly come to an end; plants are every bit as sentient as humans are, they just perceive reality in an entirely different capacity. Kambo is not just a frog, I have yet to understand what Kambo truly is because of my in-experience. But I know for sure that Kambo is not a toy or some simple inebriant to approach without due respect and consideration.
I feel proud to have "points" and refuse to hide them or change the topic, they are marks of honor and courage.
How do you feel about your Kambo points?
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I don't have many visible marks but when I have my shirt off, people can see them. Last week, I was exercising so had my shirt off and my grandmother saw me and wondered what the symmetrical patterns of red scars on my arms were. I just told it to her straight "they're burns where I applied venom from a species of Amazonian tree frog" and that its a medicine and she understood.
I know what you mean about intuitively knowing that you are one of the select few that has been called by kambo for initiation into this hidden world. It was spiritual experiences that led me to the substances, not the other way around. I've been experiencing loads of profound synchronicities surrounding kambo, iboga and ayahuasca, but especially kambo. For example, recently a healer gave me an "animal ally" reading right before he applied kambo to me, he had a deck of about 100 cards of different animals and told me to pick one. The card I pulled was the frog. Quite the coincidence. I believe these substances are sentient, conscious and intelligent too and that they are in constant communication with each other and all organisms. They can communicate with us without us actually ingesting them. Its no coincidence that we are drawn to them. I don't know why its only a small number of us humans that are called by them, but I intuitively know its our path to God.
Same as you, I'm proud of my marks and happily display them to others and explain what they are.
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At the risk of taking this thread off topic, I am also surprised at the synergy between Kambo, Iboga and Ayahuasca.
It was part of a long term spiritual quest that led me to Peru to take Ayahuasca. While researching Ayahuasca, I saw a vid where someone also did Kambo but it didn't really register with me. While in Peru, one of the leaders of the Ayahuasca retreat talked about his Iboga experience but only very briefly. I learnt much more about Iboga when I returned home and as part of that research, I learnt about Kambo and remembered the Ayahuasca vid with the Kambo. Suddenly it all just fell into place, like having all the pieces of a jigsaw and putting them together.
11 months ago, I'd never even heard of plant medicines and would have been very skeptical if someone had tried to talk to me about their merits. Now I'm 2 weeks away from my first Kambo experience with Giovanni as my guide and initiator. I feel blessed to have this opportunity. This has been an amazing year of discovery.
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Now I'm 2 weeks away from my first Kambo experience with Giovanni as my guide and initiator. I feel blessed to have this opportunity. This has been an amazing year of discovery.
The anticipation will continue to build during these next two weeks until you get to the moment of the application process. I'm conducting a ceremony this upcoming wednesday, the first day of the new moon cycle and I'm already feeling the adrenaline rush. There is a unique sense of power as you pluck the skin off of your burn points and prepare that yellowish venom for application.
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I hear you. A lot of work and preparation went into pulling this off. I didn't find out about Giovanni's visit to California until the day of the last ceremony and figured I'd lost my opportunity.
However, instead of giving up I figured I'd just go to Amsterdam! Everything started to fall into place after that, so called obstacles crumbled. Now I just have to pack and go, that is all behind me. It's like I've entered some sort of Kambo slipstream and I can just relax and let it take me on my journey.
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My points are my pride and joy to be completely honest. I am very happy about them and they represent courage to me. Initiation and love for healing. Straight up Gangster biatch. Just kidding kind of. I do feel like it is pretty hardcore though. For me I hope mine never go away, and I can end up with my meridians covered from head to toe. Haven't decided if I have the gumption to do my face though.
A good form of Kambo ambasadorism.
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Great to see the positive responses!
It's been quite a surprise to find out that there is a growing number of people becoming conscious about Kambo and other healing techniques. People are drawn to the mysterious and arcane, everyone who learns spreads the knowledge. It's like a cosmic game of hacky-sack; keeping this knowledge alive for another generation, beckoned to the calling from a different culture thousands of miles away.
There was the first shaman who ever learned about the infinite, and the techniques required to communicate with spirit. Without the luxury of a mentor to guide, the immense power of the unknowable bearing down on his psyche. This is the same task that we modern white healers and facilitators are faced with. Born to a culture of bankrupt spiritual practices and complete disregard for nature. A proud few with the insight and wisdom to return to the earliest form of spirituality and direct form of communication with infinity. We tread ancient ground in a new way, quite literally, these points mark a return.
Can't wait to see them on more people, and start having some substantial conversations.
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Do any of you make your points to resemble any symbolism?
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When I do Meridian Chakra Kambo on folks it forms Flower of Life or Tree of life patterns. There's a group doing Kambo that I found on Facebook and they do beautifully intricate spirals.
Overall I just focus on necessary meridian points needing application for greatest benefits.
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There's a group doing Kambo that I found on Facebook and they do beautifully intricate spirals.
Could you pm me a link to this? I'm very interested in seeing what people have done with tattoo-style patterning art with kambo.
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Searching through these photos, some not all, have the designs...
http://www.facebook.com/KamboCommunity/photos_stream
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Are they your photos KIAP?
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No, I don't know who that is.
I'm about to start a FB page though something like Turtle Island Kambo Alliance. As it is I can't really publicize like that. I really want to make these healing public though, like FB dates/ceremonies and putting up flyers in my local area. The people I have treated have seen great results, just need to expand horizons and honestly make it profitable. Not sure if anyone noticed but Giovanni is doing pretty well for himself with Kambo as the staple.
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Interesting topic. I was looking for something like this actually.
Anyway I tell people these dots are from applying a amazon remedy called Kambo. But I do not tell them neccessarily that it is secretion from a frog. And also I leave out that the marks are result of burns.
Why? Because people tend to think about it their own way. If somebody is open to it and asks, then I give more information. But basically I just say it's a remedy applied on the skin and that's what leaves the marks.
It works. But I have been having a lot of argument with people. Basically they assert the burns are mutilation. Also, that it's not to be used by us people, since we're not natives from the amazon... Well let anyone think what he or she wants to think about it. I know what's best for me, so...
But there's the thing of skin pigmentation to be taken into account. If you have little or no skin pigmentation, then the burns will be especially visible... and if you also have a very slow healing skin, a lot of those marks will become scars. I can tell, having very little skin pigment and a very slow healing skin, some dots have turned scars.
It is this combination that has gotten me in a lot of argument it. White skin and red dots on them attract attention. So I have become inclined to place dots were they are least visible and heal the best. It's not that I am ashamed of them, no absolutely not. It's just I have seen they attract unwanted attention for me, and I dislike spending times on pointless debates.
Still I wear at least one set of them on my arms. Most people that see don't ask anyway and if they do, I'm prepared by now....
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I had my first set of points made on my legs so they are only visible when I wear shorts and most people don't notice them (having hairy legs helps!). I got a somewhat shocked response from a guy who was doing bodywork on me shortly after I'd had them done when they were still big with red scabs from the Sangre de Grado. In hindsight I should probably have waited a little longer for them to heal.
My most recent points are on both forearms from the wrist up and another line on the side of the wrist. I also have red dots on white skin. I thought about wearing long sleeved shirts until they had healed more but it didn't feel right to try and hide them.
My main concern with them being so visible on my forearms is the reaction of people at work - particularly my supervisor and our overall boss. They aren't exactly tuned in to this sort of thing. My friends are fine with it and I have explained the burns to some of my co workers by telling them its a shamanic healing technique - they seem satisfied with that. I'm deliberately vague about the actual process but I've told some of them its kambo. If they decide to google it, they are entitled to do that and I'm happy to tell them more about it if they do and have questions.
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Truth, like rain, don't give a fuck who it falls on.
;)
I've gotten into a huge argument with my aunt calling it self-mutilation.
I responded, it's self-administration of bio-active amino acid peptides to the lymph system!
People can think what they want. It's their own problem if they can't handle truths in life.
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I just had my first session with kambo Saturday then again on Sunday (self-administered)..
So now I have 11 dots (7 sat. 4 sun.) in a nice square pattern on my inner right bicep, only noticeable if i wasn't wearing a shirt...
I honestly could care less if anybody sees them, if they ask I will say pretty much what PB- Said.. Its a shamanic healing technique, and if they press further ill give 'em the 'Lo Down...
So far I haven't purged but I got real close yesterday when I did 4 dots simultaneously, next time I guess I'll do 6 and see if that's me sweet spot...
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I have burns on my legs, back, arms, feet and ears so they're obvious now. I just say that they're kambo, a medicine from the Amazon - and this is how its applied - and that's it! So many people have tattoos, piercings and body mods these days that I just see it on a par with these - except mine have helped me to heal. I also point out that lots of mainstream medications are made from snake venom etc so I'm just cutting out the middle man.
I do spirals, infinity symbol, crosses, stars, muraquita - which is an amazonian frog symbol and lots of others
Viva kambo!
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I had a doctor appointment this morning and he noticed the burns on both my forearms and asked what they were. I told him without going into too much detail and I was pleasantly surprised at his reaction which was mostly mild curiosity. For a doctor trained in Western medicine, I found his openness to it very refreshing.
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Xochipilli, those photos were taken by me at an event in Eden Hot Springs. The Kambo practitioner was Willem Wout from Holland and I was assisting him; we worked on around 30 people a day for 3 days straight and there was a very nice flow. Earlier people, helping later people, the Kambo compassion and open hearts kicking in.
We were making spirals at the request of some of the ladies, who were concerned with the aesthetics of their scars. Reading this forum has taught me a lot and I'm determined to bypass aesthetics for meridian points in future. Although I have taken Kambo dozens of times, given Kambo around 50 times, I have so much to learn and I feel like I've hit a gold mine of information here. Thank you all who have posted so wholeheartedly.