Our beliefs
What we believe
Ceremonia is a non-denominational church. We do not tell you what to believe. This is what we hold to be true, said plainly. How we act on it is on the values page.
God
Within you and beyond you
We are a non-denominational church. Words like God, spirit or divine mean different things to different people. We use them loosely and we make room for yours.
We hold that the divine is both immanent and transcendent. Immanent is the God within each of us, your deepest self. Transcendent is the God in everyone and everything, the feeling of oneness. Most great traditions point to both.
Our work is to move toward that meeting point. We do not claim to have arrived, and we do not ask you to agree with us.
Sacrament
One sacrament, held with purpose
Our church has one sacrament: psilocybin mushrooms. We hold it as a gift with a purpose, and it is the sacrament of Awaken. Ayahuasca is a plant medicine, offered in Heal in Baja, Mexico, outside the church's sacramental practice in the United States.
The sacrament is not the whole path. Paired with honest self-work, it can help you meet yourself sooner and with less suffering. We do not believe one ceremony solves a lifetime of pain. Ceremony opens something. Integration is what you do with it, which is why every program includes a month of it.
We do not believe psychedelics are for everyone. Some conditions and medications are not compatible with ceremony, and a clear no is more respectful than an unclear maybe.
Our psilocybin ceremonies in the United States are held as religious practice under RFRA. It is a faith practice. It is not medical treatment, and we make no clinical claims.
The sacred container
Setting and boundaries
The container is the setting we build together: the place, the people, the schedule and the agreements. Its job is to make it safe enough to go deep.
Boundaries are part of it. Yours are respected, in body, emotions and energy. Ours are clear, and we keep them. Time, consent and confidentiality all belong to the container.
Have, Do, Be
Who you are, not what you have or do
Many of us start by defining ourselves by what we have: this house, this relationship. Then by what we do: this work, these passions.
Further along, we define ourselves by who we are in this moment. I am calm. I am breathing. I am present. Ceremony points that way, toward presence, connection and oneness.
It feels like being safe enough to let go of the need to fix things, and to let your experience be what it is.
Safety
Inner safety and outer safety
There are two kinds of safety. Inner safety is how safe you feel with your own emotions, stories and beliefs. It grows when you build skills and can say, I can be with this.
Outer safety is how safe you feel with the room, the people and the facilitators. It grows through connection and trust.
We tend both. That is why every program has the same shape: one month of virtual preparation, a one-week in-person retreat, then one month of virtual integration included, with an optional two-month extension.