Life is a Ceremony Plant Medicine Retreat In Jamaica
Come to the Rastafari Indigenous Village in Montego Bay, Jamaica for a 5 day psychedelic retreat in a community that lives by the lessons that cannabis and visionary plants teach us; a community that has incorporated those lessons into the rhythm and flow of daily life. Wake up to the sound of songbirds and the whisper of the Montego Valley river. Come drum and chant Nyabinghi in the Tabernacle. Walk down a flower lined path to the garden and harvest some callaloo or cacao, and bring it up to our Ital kitchen (that cooks the best plant-based food on the island). Pound your own cacao for chocolate tea; press your own cane juice; help make recipes that originated in Africa. Learn how to make drums and soaps by hand, from artisans preserving traditional Rastafari techniques. Wade across the river; swim in the cool deep spots; drink coconut water morning, noon and night. Sit in ceremony with the first Rastafari community to incorporate ayahuasca and psilocybin into their own spiritual practice. Experience true One Love culture. Be a part of the Healing of the Nations.
Our carefully and lovingly created retreats step beyond the therapeutic envelope to offer a broader spectrum of psychedelic experience. While safe space and loving support is provided for personal discovery and trauma recovery; we also incorporate interpersonal connection, cultural exchange, environmental consciousness, historical awareness, spiritual exploration, and principles of social justice and activism into our approach. We offer a variety of plant-based visionary medicines to enhance and deepen the Plant Tribe experience, all of which are legal under the laws of Jamaica.
In 2016, RIV became the first and so-far only traditional Rastafari community to incorporate plant medicines other than cannabis into their spiritual practice; and our ceremonies reflect the meanings 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 system of belief and way of life; and how the lessons the sacred plants teach all of us can be used to change the world.
Gaining an appreciation of Rastafari belief and culture is an integral part of the experience, but at no point will guests feel any pressure to adopt the Rastafari belief system, or any other specific belief system. We believe that Rastafari culture is one of the most vital and creative expressions of plant-based spirituality, but we honor and celebrate all plant-based belief systems.
Members of the community are always engaged in work; craft, farming, music, education. Visitors are invited in as a part of their mission to educate, raise awareness about their culture and the revolutionary path they are taking to sustain their culture and humanity.
Our accommodations are simple, clean, and comfortable; furnished and decorated with traditional Rastafari art and crafts; each equipped with a private bathroom. On arrival, guests are expertly guided through the jungle path lined with fruit trees and exotic tropical foliage into the village space. Conversations open; food and ganja are shared; coconut water flows in abundance. Strangers become Friends, Friends become Family, and Family becomes Tribe.
About Your Host:
Education/Certifications/Associations
- Graduates of the School of Hard Knocks
Firstman is a longtime advocate for the sustainable development of the cultural industry through the preservation, protection and promotion of cultural events; community development projects; traditional knowledge, and indigenous expression. He is one of the original founders of Rastafari Indigenous Village (RIV); a father, drummer, chanter, singer, songwriter, and orator. Firstman has had a long career as a community organizer and cannabis freedom activist; serving as a charter member of the Jamaican Ganja Task Force; as the Chair of the first Ganja Advisory Committee to the Government of Jamaica; and as a Co Founder of the Rastafari and Grass Roots Growers Association (RAGGA).
Firstman has been certified by the United Nations as an expert in the 2003 Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention and the 2005 Cultural Diversity Convention; and by the State of Oregon as a Trainer for indigenous practices surrounding visionary plants (pending). In 2016, Firstman and the Rastafari Indigenous Village were introduced to ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms and other sacred plants by MesoAmerican and South American medicine people. Immediately thereafter, RIV became the first traditional Rastafari community to incorporate these sacred plants into their own spiritual practice, expressing traditional beliefs with new insights; and creating a new, unique and very powerful Rastadelic ™ expression of psychedelic culture and spirituality. For the first five years, this practice was at shared exclusively within the Rastafari community. In 2021, the RIV team began offering this new ceremonial experience to guests visiting Jamaica. Steve DeAngelo is a globally recognized cannabis leader who was dubbed “The Father of the Legal Cannabis Industry” by former Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown. As a lifelong activist, author, educator, investor, and entrepreneur, he has spent more than four decades on the front lines of the cannabis reform movement. His most notable business achievements include co-founding Harborside–one of the first six dispensaries licensed in the United States-now a publicly-traded company on the Canadian Securities Exchange; Steep Hill Laboratory, the first cannabis analytics company; Arcview Group, the first dedicated cannabis investment network, and Last Prisoner Project, dedicated to fighting criminal injustice and reimagining drug policy. Steve is the author of The Cannabis Manifesto and an originator of the wellness approach to understanding cannabis. He played a key role in the passage of Initiative 59, Washington DC’s medical cannabis law; the passage of Prop 64, California’s adult-use law; and successfully defended multiple legal attempts by US federal authorities to shutter the doors of Harborside. Steve’s creative projects include a Discovery Channel mini-series, Weed Wars; a weekly show, Ask Steve DeAngelo, on greenflowermedia.com, Discovery Channel mini-series, Growing Belushi, and host of the Radio Free Cannabis Podcast.
Host's Views on Cannabis
The cultivation, preparation, and consumption of medicinal and visionary plant medicines is a central focus of life at Rastafari Indigenous Village. Every day is celebrated with the ritual consumption of a wide variety of the best cannabis varieties and formats found in Jamaica.
Your Host Recommends
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Schedule
AVAILABLE TIME:
Duration of activity 0 Day
Additional Details:
EVENT RULES
This event has a maximum number of participants.
Guests must be 18 or accompanied by parents. Children are welcome at regular rates. Child care is available at extra cost; except during ceremonies, when it is included in the cost of the retreat..
Cancellation Policy
Outside of 14 days from the event date, Guests receive a 50% refund. After this time, the full cost of the booking applies.
Identification
Don’t forget to bring your government issued, photo identification.
Your Host will provide:
Transport to and from Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay, Jamaica Abundant, high quality cannabis on request 2 guided visionary plant ceremonies Nyabinghi drumming & chanting circles Yoga and meditation River Swimming Traditional Drum making classes Ital cooking classes Herbal farm: Indigenous healing classes Patois & Rastafari language classes Reasoning sessions about Rastafari history, heritage, and present day livity (life-doings) Shuttle service to and from the beach
We provide fresh and delicious plant-based Ital (Rastafari vegetarian) cuisine; three meals a day, plus snacks, fruits in season, and natural juice beverages. Most of our food is grown on-site in our organic garden; and guests are welcomed to work in the garden and kitchen, where they will learn regenerative farming and vegan cooking techniques— and how to find joy in loving labor.
What you need to bring:
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, medications and supplements, water shoes, musical instruments, ceremonial clothing and ornaments.
Things to keep in mind
One Tribe retreats are all-inclusive five day events that offer visionary plant ceremonies in settings of deep cultural and spiritual significance. Our flagship retreat center in Montego Bay, Jamaica is nestled within an actual, functioning Rastafari community— the Rastafari Indigenous Village. Consistent with the Rastafari belief system, no meat or alcohol is served at the village. Our retreats are not for everyone, and are intended primarily for people who have previous psychedelic experiences. In order to ensure the safest and most rewarding Plant Tribe experience, we request our guests to fill out a pre-experience questionnaire at the time of booking. This information will be 100% confidential, will never be sold or shared outside the Plant Tribe organization , and will be destroyed or returned to guests at their request.
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