Life is a Ceremony

With Firstman and Queen Izeteh Berhan

Our Life is a Ceremony retreats are five days long, with check-in on Sunday afternoon and check out on Friday at mid-day. Everything you need from the time we  pick you up at the airport until we drop you off again will be included.  Days will be mostly unstructured, allowing you to experience the  natural flow of a community that already lives by the lessons that the  sacred plants teach us: work in the Addis Ababa garden with Nereree;  learn the medicinal, nutritional, and artisanal properties of the plants  we grow there; take the callaloo or cacao you harvested there to our  amazing Ital kitchen, and learn traditional Rastafari food science and  recipes; make drums with King Toto and Suga, who have preserved almost-lost drum making techniques that originated in Africa.

Consult with our Reiki master Queen I; let her guide you to the best herbal remedies for healing, or request one of  her herb-infused Bush Bath experiences. Come drum and chant Nyabinghi  with King Tebah and Firstman in our heartbeat Tabernacle. Learn how to  speak and understand Jamaican patois— and learn the difference between it and Rastafari language. Engage in the sacred herb, and reason with any of us whenever you like.

Optional visionary plant medicine ceremonies will be offered on Mondays and Wednesdays during each retreat. Guests are welcome to participate in one or both of them. Our ceremonies have grown out of the Village’s own  spiritual practice with the sacred plants, so they reflect the meaning  of these medicines to our indigenous community. We celebrate and revere;  we seek communion with those who share our psychedelic path; we bring  in rhythm and music and chanting; we share our reasoning of how visionary plants fit into the Rastafari way of life; and how the lessons the sacred plants teach all of us can be used  to change the world.

Our  guests are invited to step outside the therapeutic envelope, and into a  more full spectrum psychedelic experience. Our deeply experienced,  Afro-Caribbean team of psychedelic guides will offer loving support for  personal discovery and individual trauma repair— but we also incorporate  interpersonal connection, cultural integration, environmental  consciousness, historical awareness, and principles of social justice  and activism into our approach. 

Our regularly scheduled Life Is A Ceremony retreats offer psilocybin mushroom medicine. We occasionally also offer our Life Is A Journey retreats, which feature ayahuasca; and Life Is A Revelation retreats, which offer Iboga. Please consult our calendar or send us an email for more information. Cannabis consumption is a regular feature of daily life at Rastafari Indigenous Village and is freely shared among adults.

Rastafari Indigenous Village is recognized as a sacramental community by the  Government of Jamaica, and all our offered activities and medicines are 100% legal.

At  present, all of our retreats are offered at the Rastafari Indigenous  Village, in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The village is located twenty minutes  from the Sangster International Airport on (how many) acres of land,  nestled by the side of the Montego Valley River. In the future, we plan  to expand by empowering other Indigenous Rastafari communities  to also  welcome pilgrims and kindred spirits.

Our brand new guest cabins are rustic but elegant; equipped with comfortable beds, chairs and desks; spacious bathrooms, abundant hot water, fans, and a simple but elegant Afro-Caribbean decor.

Scheduled activities vary throughout the year, and will include yoga classes; guided meditation sessions; personal growth workshops; lectures by visiting scholars and elders; classes by artists in-residency, and special performances. 

Please feel free to request the schedule for the dates you have in mind.

RIV is a family community full of amazing children that encourages parents to bring their own children with prior arrangement. Special activities and childcare will be  provided, to allow parents the freedom of mind to fully participate  during ceremonies.

Insect repellent and sunblock if you use it; light clothing for hot days (tank  tops, halter tops, light tee shirts, shorts, sundresses, bathing suits,  sun hats); slightly heavier (but still light) clothing for cooler  nights (long pants, long skirts, leggings, long sleeved shirts, vests,  very light sweatpants and hoodies. Bring cash (currency exchange is  inconvenient in Jamaica), a journal and pens, your songs, poems, dances,  and rituals, medications and supplements, water shoes, musical  instruments, ceremonial clothing and ornaments.

Our consciously and carefully created retreats step beyond the therapeutic envelope to offer a broader spectrum of the psychedelic experience. While ample time, space and support is provided for personal discovery; we also incorporate interpersonal connection, cultural exchange, environmental consciousness, historical awareness, and principles of social justice and activism into our approach.

We offer our five-day, all-inclusive retreats at the affordable price of $1500 per person, double occupancy; or single occupancy at $2000 per person. If you would like to share a room and need a roommate, let us  know and we will do our best to accommodate you. If you cannot afford  these prices, and really want to visit, please let us know— a lower rate  may be possible.

Our retreats are unlike any other, and are not for everybody. They are designed primarily for people who have had some previous psychedelic experiences, are comfortable with different cultures, and have some interest in the Rastafari way of life.

You will not be in a fancy, purpose-built retreat center. Rastafari Indigenous Village is an actual, functioning village. It has grown organically over the course of fifteen years. Several families of  traditional Rastafari artisans, musicians, gardeners, herbalists,  scholars, and healers live on site. 

You will awaken to birdsong and go to bed serenaded by a symphony of frogs and crickets, but you will also hear the laughter of our children at play, and the happy banter of free  people working together in joy. Don’t expect everything to be manicured  and perfect, but it will all be real and from the heart.

We  relate to our guests as pilgrims who share our journeys, rather than  tourists from whom we profit. You will not be served by employees; you  will be welcomed by brethren and sistrens. All net proceeds of Plant Tribe Retreats  at RIV are devoted to the Protection, Preservation and Promotion of Rastafari Indigenous Village and associates.