Sacred Journey Reviews

★★★★★

I wanted/needed/longed for a “different” spiritual experience. After a Mexican friend invited me to attend an indigenous night-time ceremony that ended up being cancelled, I basically decided to let the universe show me the right timing for spiritual growth. Almost a year later, I lost a close member of my family. I was feeling low and feeling like I was ready to re-engage with a spiritual side of myself that I had been out of touch with for a while.

I had been on antidepressant medication for more than 25 years and desperately wanted to get off that. It seemed that my lows weren’t quite so low whilst on the pharmaceutical meds, but my highs weren’t that high—I guess I had been feeling indifferent to many aspects of my life for a long time. I longed for change.

Shelli Cohen’s presence in the area we call Lakeside was made known to me along with her offering of a guided, safe, spiritual journey with the use of psilocybin mushrooms. I immediately felt the urge to contact her and schedule a spiritual vision quest.

I took a period of just two weeks of weaning off my meds gradually (I was taking sertraline at 100 mg/day, so this was actually a fairly rapid weaning off, but I really wanted to move on!). Things got weird. I felt strange, but I felt confident that with the use of psilocybin I could make a change to my underlying nervous system programming and that with the magic of the plant medicine, I could choose a path that didn’t require pharmaceuticals that are so frequently prescribed with the Western medicine approach.

I can’t list all the ways in which Shelli was the perfect guide for my first and second journeys, but I will list these:

Shelli is an expert. I trust her with my health, safety, and well-being for this type of ceremonious event. She took all the worry about dosage, preparation, and research out of the equation (not that I didn’t research everything to the nth degree, because that’s how I do things).
Shelli arrived on time, properly prepared, and immediately imbued a sense of serenity into my home environment and the place I had chosen to perform my journey.
Shelli sat with me, talked with me, helped me with the rituals of cleansing the space, praying, paying tribute to the plant medicine, and asking the plant medicine to guide me to healing that would serve my higher self.
While I was engaged in the medicine and in my journey, Shelli left the room so that I could journey on my own, but she checked on me regularly to ensure that I was not in distress.
When my journey was over, I was able to reach out to Shelli and she comforted me with her presence (and that of Chiquiya, her magical soulful dog companion). We talked and I shared my experience, and she asked insightful questions that helped me to integrate what I had experienced into my life and to find the meaning in much of what I had experienced.
We visited and chatted via chat for days, and she kept checking in on me, and we continue that communication now, 6+ weeks after my first journey—and I plan to do another one in a few months.

Sometimes you find someone in your life at a particular time, and I’ve always believed that the universe is guiding us to one another; sometimes we recognize that, and sometimes we don’t. I was so ready to welcome Shelli and her energy and assistance with healing into my life at the perfect time that it was presented to me.

Some great news for me after my second journey with Shelli as my guide is that the plant medicine was able to heal my nervous system, and I no longer require the antidepressant medication that I’ve been taking for so many years.

And, there is more to my silver lining with Shelli and what she has guided me to. After my first journey, she sent me a link to a podcast on homeopathy. I didn’t listen right away, but she asked me again a few weeks later if I had, and I committed to listening to it.

Shelli and I both knew after my second journey that my body was holding on to some energy that did not serve my higher self, but that I was unable to heal with the plant medicine. After the second journey, I had done so much healing! What remained was a block of 1.5” by 4” that ran perpendicular to my spine and just to the left between the junction of the thoracic and lumbar area. It didn’t abate.

Shelli took me to meet a homeopath, and I got her card and scheduled an appointment. I have been taking some tinctures given to me by the homeopath. We are working on fears that are being held in the kidneys; this is what was causing that physical pain. Within a week of taking these medications, I have released the specific fears that I was holding on to. The specific pain is gone from my back.

I have Shelli to talk to about all this spiritual growth, and I feel thankful and blessed to have had her to guide me. Shelli’s energy is on a different level than mine, but I never feel like she is judging me. I feel the warmth of her spirit when we spend time together, and it uplifts me.

Cindy M - Chapala, Jalisco

What a pleasant day!

Thank you, Shelli, for a lovely, relaxing visit and a cup of tea! This was the first time I tried any mushrooms, although I did experiment with psychedelics many years ago. Going into this, I was optimistic that I would learn things about myself and how I am doing with all that life throws at us.

Shelli has a very calming influence and sets the mood for relaxation and openness, enabling you to achieve your goals. My goal was to be open to whatever came through.

The tea was prepared, and I sipped it, enjoying the warmth as it went down. Within a short while, I lay down in bed to relax. Yes, I certainly relaxed!

Everyone has a different experience, so understand that my experience will not be the same as yours. For me, very relaxed with my eyes closed, various visions and colors danced through my mind. I interacted with what was happening, never feeling out of control.

When I needed to go to the bathroom, I simply got up and took care of business. Returning to bed and closing my eyes brought me right back into the experience. It was like a review of various people and my interactions with them.

There are many things I have been working to improve over the years, and this felt like a beautiful review of my progress. For some, this might be a negative review or a rehashing of old wounds, but for me, it felt positive—I saw how much progress I’ve made and how I no longer allow old wounds to hurt me.

Later in the process, I noticed how relaxed my muscles were. I’m 75 years old and no longer flexible, yet my muscles felt so loose and free. I stretched and moved in ways I haven’t been able to for a long time. It was wonderful to just lay there, feeling so flexible.

I anticipated being sore the next day, but that did not happen at all.

After about three hours, I was awake and walked into the kitchen to find Shelli, calm and welcoming, preparing a fresh soup to nourish me after the journey.

If you are considering this, do your research and reflect on how it applies to you. Each journey is unique. Try not to anticipate what your journey will be—just let it happen.

Would I do this again? Yes.
And Shelli is the perfect person to do this with.

Best regards to each of you,

Tanya George - Shenandoah, Texas