The Lady Crab and the Monkey

In April 2022, Sarah*, a 35-year-old German woman, was introduced to me by a close friend. She was suffering from severe depression and was on the verge of starting antidepressant treatment. My friend had advised her to try Ayahuasca as a last resort before beginning medication, and even her psychologist in Phnom Penh had suggested she take Ayahuasca instead of antidepressants. I was quite hesitant but agreed to meet her. Contrary to my expectations, during our pre-ceremony interview, Sara appeared to be fully in control, acutely aware of her suffering but capable of managing her emotions with perspective. I had an immediate realization. The interview took place on a Tuesday, and two days later, in the late afternoon, Sara crossed the threshold of my villa in Chroy Changvar for a ceremony that same evening.

Sarah had to try three times before she could enter the invisible world. The first dose she took had no effect. I redosed her two hours later, at which point she experienced a vision of a wonderful world where our planet Earth was gradually being covered by a black, viscous substance that engulfed everything in its path. It was only after the third dose that she fully entered the invisible world. Sarah had smoked a lot of cannabis before starting this ceremony, and I believe that contributed to her lengthy transition through the mirror. At that moment, she made peace with the black substance in her visions. She decided that what she was witnessing was merely the eternal cycle of creation and destruction in the cycles of life. She became indifferent to the struggle between black and white and then bluntly told me around 3 AM: "My depression is gone." I replied, "We'll see about that tomorrow." I was quite skeptical, but subsequent events confirmed the disappearance of her depression.

At that moment, as we were about to go to bed, Sarah told me, "Wait, Ayahuasca has a message for you. It wants you to tell a story." "Which one?" I asked. "It's a story about a Crab and a Monkey." she said. I replied "Excuse me?" completely taken aback. The Crab and the Monkey was a story I knew by heart because it was one I had to tell my children every night before they fell asleep when they were little.
This traditional Japanese tale involves a monkey who covets Madame Crab's persimmons to the point of killing her. Madame Crab's children then set out on a punitive expedition to kill the monkey with help from a jumping chestnut, a wasp, cow dung, a rice drying stick, and a stone mortar.

This illustrates the complexity of interpreting certain ceremonies, especially when participants attempt to channel information from Ayahuasca intended for the shaman leading the ceremony. This has happened to me often. In this case, the story of the Crab and the Monkey is a fable about generational revenge where children avenge their parent. When Shiobhan made this remark to me, my first reaction was surprise because aside from my family members, no one knew the story of the Crab and the Monkey. Other than that, I had no idea why Ayahuasca reminded me of this story through Sarah. However, three months later in summer, a terrible conflict erupted between my older brother and his wife on one side and me, my younger brother, and my sister on the other.

Following our father's death the previous year, my sister discovered documents that our older brother had tried to hide from us which proved that he and his wife had deprived us of a significant part of our inheritance by taking advantage of our mother's severe illness at that time. This story ended with a symbolic execution of my older brother and sister-in-law as we excluded them from the family by severing ties completely. So yes, all things considered, Ayahuasca was warning me about an enormous impending conflict in my family that demanded symbolic punishment. Therefore, one should not expect to understand immediately why certain visions or telepathic messages conveyed by the plant occur on the same night; they should be carefully noted for future reference when needed. 

As of today, Sarah is doing very well and continues to take Ayahuasca in Costa Rica where she has just moved with the man of her dreams.

* in order to respect privacy names and whereabouts of clients have been modified.