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A Spiritual Master had this to say to Ayahuasca retreat centres in Portugal about ethics, integrity and respecting the Ayahuasca / Santa Daime sacrament:-
Email extract:-
emails removed for privacy
Date:
Apr 19, 2017 11:32:08 AM
…………………………………….
If you are receiving this email it is because you run a retreat centre operation in Portugal or are involved with the Santa Daime / Ayahuasca sacrament.
Recent events have brought the sanctity of the Santa Daime in Portugal into disrepute, most notably the threatening of a Spiritual Master with being crippled, put in a wheelchair or killed by someone who claimed he was a ‘gateway to awareness’ and proficient in hosting Ayahuasca retreats.
These events will serve as a salutary reminder that wanting to be the number one in Portugal for Ayahuasca is not the be all and end all, and if it comes at the expense of personal integrity, respect for awareness or respect for the sacrament, a heavy fall, and scandal, is inevitable.
If your main aim is to be the number one for Ayahuasca in Portugal (namely being popular, admired and at the centre of attention for hosting tea works), whilst disregarding the welfare of participants (or threatening to kill Spiritual Masters) that is an inflation of the ego mind and has nothing to do with respecting the tea work or the Ayahuasca Path and is apt to cause catastrophe.
It is usually not my place to give lessons to retreat centres or get involved, but as two retreat centres have been involved in, or supporting those involved in illegal activities, whilst lending a helping hand to those who have turned up on my doorstep and made violent threats to wheelchair or kill me – giving these lessons becomes my business and it also becomes my business to ensure that these particular centres cease to offer tea works and become PERMANENTLY CLOSED.
For those who are of integrity in their works with the tea, then do take note of this so you can see where ‘not to fall’, so that another retreat centre does not blindly make the same mistake of being blinded by the desire to be popular whilst all ethics and integrity goes out of the window.
n November 2016, Johannes Maasland and Daniela Markert of Earth Connection Portugal were busted by the Portuguese GNR and 14 kilos of cannabis were found :-
http://www.cmjornal.pt/cm-ao-minuto/detalhe/homem-detido-com-14-quilos-de-cannabis-aguarda-julgamento-em-liberdade
Those who take such risks are clearly responsible in themselves for their misfortunes. If you do something illegal, that is your choice. If you are caught, it is your karma and not the karma of a Spiritual Master.
If you partner up with someone two months after they are busted and then create an Ayahuasca enterprise with someone that you knew threatens to cripple or kill people, that mistake of discernment and the associated karma is your responsibility.
14 kilos is a LOT of cannabis. In this particular matter, I foresaw the raid and encouraged them (Earth Connection Portugal) to tone down their operations, but instead I was insulted and disbelieved because they thought they knew better, and because they did not respect awareness.
A 4-12 spell in prison (for drug trafficking – LSD and cannabis oil was also seized, with death threats counting as aggravation) is the likely consequence and there will be plenty of time for them to think over what has happened and whether they did know better, whilst the family absorb the karma of their mistakes (a heavy legal damages bill and a potentially long and drawn out lawsuit in the face of scandal).
There is no reason why one cannot do the tea works and keep it legal. Taking big risks just brings police attention to the Santa Daime, to a sacrament with a challenging recent history in terms of legality. The tea is a sacred medicine, to behave without awareness or respect for the law of the land, is to degrade it, which then causes the karma of ruin for those involved.
I am not anti-cannabis, nor did I inform the police of their activities (see below), but I sense there is scope to act with awareness and not to take silly risks.
I only involve police when people get drunk, turn up and threaten to hurt or kill me in front of my wife and then refuse to apologize or take responsibility.
If you grow 14kilos of cannabis on your land without fences whilst inviting all kinds of people to visit, and whilst offending the locals (by suing them in bad faith to get a big refund on a yurt), of course, trouble will come.
They already had locals destroying their San Pedro plantations but they did not stop to think what the message from the Universe was.
If one threatens to kill a Spiritual Master, the manifestation of karmic consequence (and the associated downfall) is as certain as the rising of the sun and one will have to look at the karma, whether desired or otherwise.
After this arrest, for which Johannes was brought before a Court in Oliveira do Hospital, for some bizarre reason, Sanctuary 1860 Ayahuasca Retreat Portugal then ‘partnered up with Johannes and Daniela’ to offer Ayahuasca retreats and Detox Days.
On January 23rd 2017, business partner of Sanctuary 1860 and the same person (Johannes Maasland) who was caught with the cannabis by the police and was under police bail conditions, turned up at the house of a Spiritual Master smelling heavily of alcohol (whilst he was supposed to be on Ayahuasca dieta).
He thought the Spiritual Master told the police about his cannabis. He didnt.
He then proceeded to claim that ‘he had the power to put people in hospital, or to kill people’. In front of reliable witnesses, he then threatened to kill the Spiritual Master (a very serious karmic mistake indeed, apt to cause detriment, loss and suffering for all involved) and said if he found out he told the police about his cannabis, he would kill him or put him in a wheelchair.
This is why detriment is inevitable:-
In the words of the late philosopher and spiritual teacher Paul Brunton:-
“It is not every day that an Avatar or Adept appears amongst men..
Tremendous forces are centered in the teacher and use him. Whatever you give him you will receive back a thousandfold. Not because he personally wills it but because the forces centred in him give back a thousandfold the good or evil that you send him.
Should you hurt or injure him you will bring terrible physical suffering upon yourself, because by spontaneous reaction you have to get back from him infinitely more than you gave him – and in the same coin.”
Johannes Maasland also ignored the Spiritual Masters abuse disclaimer (which he agreed to):-
Trying to:- abuse, bully, cheat, defame, defraud, harass, insult, intimidate, interfere with or degrade/desecrate the work of, ‘poke fun at’, stalk, steal from, take the life of – or threaten Spiritual Masters in any way – or being a party to any of the aforementioned – is thus not recommended and carries a high risk of untimely death, protracted suffering or similar misfortune.
Sanctuary 1860 were told of the incident of death threats, and their response was to instead host the Ayahuasca retreat scheduled for late January(2017) at Johannes house, thus condoning the behaviour and allowing Ayahuasca retreat participants into a sacred healing space with a violent person, under police investigation, and who only days before, had threatened to hurt or kill someone.
This shows very bad ethical standards on the part of Sanctuary 1860 and their operators (Alexandra and Attila Akat) who for some reason thought business prosperity and success would come by partnering up with those in trouble with the police (and facing prison on drug trafficking charges) and with those who threaten to kill people.
Three months later, Sanctuary 1860 nor Johannes Maasland made any attempt to apologize for the incident.
This is a big wake up call for the Ayahuasca / Santa Daime people in Portugal to do an integrity check, checking their ego against awareness, to keep everything legal, to take responsibility, and also, if you know you are in personal difficulty (for example on a personal level and you have alcohol or violence issues) – for the benefit of yourself and others – STOP.
Stop hosting tea works and attend to yourself before the damage becomes irrepairable.
One cannot heal oneself by doing tea works every 10 days or so without end for others. Johannes chose not to heed such a warning, given to him by his Spiritual Master, and now has to pay a heavy karmic price, and his mistakes (including his threats to kill) have brought serious dishonour and disrepute to all within the Ayahuasca circles.
If you see a facilitator in trouble (with alcohol, abuse or anything else), for the benefit of others, have them step aside. Do not ignore the warning signs. Once people blow up in a public setting – it becomes publically messy, as the websites allude to.
If you are in trouble with the police and jail is inevitable, stop and take responsibility.
Running a retreat is irresponsible if the police may take you away at any day, half way through your retreat, in front of others.
It is understood Johannes faces Court this year for trafficking and making death threats – and may receive up to 12 years in prison.
The end result is a big and very embarrasing scandal, for many of the websites cannot be removed from Google search results, nor can I be threatened with harm or death to remove them by any of his or Sanctuary 1860’s ‘friends or associates’.
There are dead-man switches in place, so if things happen to me, I can assure everyone that the scandal will worsen.
There are clearly some ethical issues (and integrity checks) in some within the Ayahuasca movement that need urgent attention.
Why those involved in threatening me (with being killed or crippled and put in a wheelchair) did not apologize, only them and God can know, but if those claiming to be experts in the Ayahuasca think they can prosper or become popular at the expense of ethical integrity, whilst abusing awareness, the sacrament and Spiritual Masters (with 1, 000 works of experience) – then they are mistaken.
Spiritual Master
