Plant medicine retreats are ceremonial gatherings where people work with sacred plants, Ayahuasca, San Pedro, Bufo Alvarius, and psilocybin mushrooms, inside a guided, prayerful setting, not a casual or recreational one. At 963 Tribe Church, a Las Vegas-based 501(c)(3) religious institution, these ceremonies are held as holy sacraments, gifts from Pachamama, the Earth Mother, and led according to the Shipibo lineage of Pucallpa, Peru. Each sacrament comes from its own tradition and asks something different of the person sitting with it: Ayahuasca goes deep into emotional and shadow work, San Pedro opens the heart, Bufo delivers something short and intense, and psilocybin tends to be the gentlest of the four. Below is what each one actually involves, how people prepare for it, and what a retreat with 963 Tribe Church looks like from the week before the ceremony through the weeks after.
Why I’m Writing This
I remember sitting on a mat the night before my first Ayahuasca ceremony with 963 Tribe Church, half-listening to a facilitator explain where our medicine comes from, the Shipibo lineage out of Pucallpa, Peru, and half-distracted by my own nerves. Someone was tuning a guitar in the corner. Somebody else was journaling with a flashlight because the overhead lights were already dimmed for the night. The facilitator mentioned the icaros, the sacred healing songs that would be sung throughout the ceremony, and explained why the church is named 963, after the Solfeggio frequency tied to the crown chakra.
None of that mysticism is what stuck with me, honestly. What stuck with me was how unglamorous the preparation had been in the weeks leading up to that night: a diet sheet stuck to my fridge, an awkward phone call about my medications, a promise to myself that I'd actually leave my phone in the car. Plant medicine ceremony, at least the way 963 Tribe Church runs it, has very little to do with spectacle. It's mostly about showing up prepared and honest about what you're carrying into the room.
That gap, between the spiritual marketing you find online and the actual, unglamorous experience of preparing for and sitting in one of these ceremonies, is what this article is trying to close. People search “Ayahuasca retreat” or “plant medicine retreat” and end up with either clinical warnings or vague spiritual copy. Neither one tells you what the four major sacraments are, how they're different from each other, or what a week of prep and a week of integration actually look like. So here's that version, built from the same guidelines 963 Tribe Church hands to every participant before the ceremony.
What Counts as a “Plant Medicine Retreat”?
A plant medicine retreat is a multi-day gathering built around one or more of these sacraments, held inside a religious or ceremonial framework rather than a clinical or party one. At 963 Tribe Church, retreats pair the ceremony itself with sound healing, breathwork, shared meals, and integration circles, all rooted in the church's beliefs about these plants as spiritual allies rather than substances to be consumed casually.
The church keeps a running calendar, a three-night Ayahuasca ceremony here, a single-day San Pedro ceremony there, usually with a community potluck or integration night somewhere in between. Current dates are always posted on the ceremony calendar, and honestly, that calendar is a good place to get a feel for the rhythm of the community even before you decide whether to attend anything.
Ayahuasca: The One People Have Heard Of
Ayahuasca is a brew made from the Ayahuasca vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) and the leaves of the Chacruna plant (Psychotria viridis), and it's the sacrament most people have at least heard the name of, even if they couldn't tell you much else. Amazonian communities have worked with it for centuries, for healing, for spiritual insight, for staying connected to the natural world. Ceremonies at 963 Tribe Church follow the Shipibo lineage of Pucallpa, Peru, with icaros sung through the night to hold and guide the space.
People call it Madre Medicina, or Grandmother Spirit, and the nickname fits, it's nurturing, but not soft. A single night can swing between what feels like heaven and hell, and a lot of people describe one ceremony as carrying the emotional weight of years of therapy. It has a reputation for shining a very bright light directly on whatever a person hasn't dealt with yet, which is part of why it's so often sought out for depression, anxiety, and addiction, but it's also why it isn't something to walk into casually. Ayahuasca doesn't so much comfort you as it asks you to look, clearly and without flinching, at whatever's been sitting under the surface.
San Pedro: The Gentler Cousin
San Pedro, also known as Huachuma, is a cactus that Andean cultures have worked with for thousands of years, and it sits in a very different register than Ayahuasca. Where Ayahuasca is Grandmother, San Pedro is Grandfather, a slower, warmer, more heart-centered energy. San Pedro ceremonies at 963 Tribe Church usually run as a single daytime gathering rather than an overnight retreat, which changes the whole feel of it.
I've sat with both, and the difference is real. San Pedro still has teeth, it can bring up fear, and it doesn't let you skip the hard parts either, but the focus leans toward opening rather than confronting: empathy, gratitude, a felt sense of connection to the people and land around you. It tends to be the one people choose as a first ceremony, partly because a single day feels less daunting than a three-night retreat, and partly because the medicine itself moves at a gentler pace.
San Pedro asks you to open your heart; Ayahuasca asks you to face your shadow, and most people find one easier to start with than the other.
Bufo Alvarius: Short, Intense, and Not for Everyone
Bufo Alvarius, also called Bufo, Sapito, or the Toad Sacrament, comes out of the Sonoran Desert, where it's been used in indigenous ritual for a long time. The sacrament contains 5-MeO-DMT and bufotenin, and it's known for producing an experience that's brief but extremely intense. 963 Tribe Church sources its Bufo through a humane, quick catch-and-release method developed with local tribe members in Mexico, no industrial processing, no harm to the animal.
The difference from Ayahuasca or San Pedro is the timeline. A Bufo experience often lasts minutes, not hours, but people routinely describe it as one of the most overwhelming things they've ever felt, many call it a sensation of rebirth. It's associated with breaking addiction patterns, releasing burdens people didn't know they were carrying, and a kind of hard mental reset.
Fasting for at least six hours beforehand is required, and medication screening matters more here than with any other sacrament, the exact timelines for stopping MAOIs or SSRIs are covered in the prep section below, but with Bufo specifically, there's less room for error. The experience moves too fast to sort out a medication conflict once ceremony has already started.
Psilocybin: The One With the Least Fanfare
Psilocybin mushrooms come from a different lineage entirely, Mazatec tradition in Oaxaca, Mexico, where they're known as Niños Santos, the “Holy Children.” At 963 Tribe Church, this sacrament shows up through the Niños Santos offering, sitting alongside Ayahuasca, San Pedro, and Bufo rather than replacing any of them.
Of the four, it's usually described as the gentlest and the most introspective, more suited to quiet reflection and creative insight than the physical intensity of Bufo or the emotional confrontation of Ayahuasca. If this is the one you're actually researching, the Niños Santos page has the most current details, since it tends to get less written about than the other three.
How Do the Four Compare, Side by Side?
It helps to see all four next to each other, since the differences aren't always obvious from a name alone.
None of these is objectively “stronger” or “better” than the others; it really comes down to whether someone's looking for gradual heart-opening, hard shadow work, or a brief and jarring reset.
What Does Prep Actually Look Like?
This is the part nobody warns you about enough: the two weeks before the ceremony matter almost as much as ceremony night. 963 Tribe Church gives every participant a diet and lifestyle guide, and while it varies slightly by sacrament, the shape of it is roughly the same.
Two weeks out, you're cutting cannabis, street drugs, pork, and spicy or ice-cold foods. One week out, it tightens further, no refined sugar, red meat, junk food, dairy, fermented foods, or caffeine, and salt and oil get used sparingly if at all. By the day of the ceremony, you're eating your last meal at least six hours ahead, staying off social media and the news, skipping sexual activity, and sitting with whatever intention you want to bring into the room.
Medications need real attention here, not an afterthought. SSRIs and MAOIs have to be discontinued at least four weeks before an Ayahuasca or Bufo ceremony, and hypertension medications need to stop at least two weeks out. This isn't a suggestion; it's a safety requirement, and anyone on medication should talk to their doctor and be upfront with their facilitator about everything they're taking.
As for what to actually pack: comfortable, loose clothing, a sleeping mat or yoga mat, a pillow and blanket, a water bottle, a journal, and whatever small comfort item you'd want nearby, a blanket, a crystal, whatever grounds you. Bring your medications with you too, and hand them off to the facilitators rather than keeping them tucked away.
What Happens After Ceremony?
The work doesn't end when the ceremony does, integration is where a lot of the real change actually happens, and 963 Tribe Church treats it as inseparable from the ceremony itself rather than an optional add-on.
For the following few days, the same kinds of foods stay off the table, salt, sugar, red meat, alcohol, caffeine, processed foods, because the nervous system is still settling. Sexual activity is usually avoided for a week or two for the same reason. Crowded places, heavy news cycles, and intense media are worth skipping for a while too; the nervous system doesn't need more input right after it's already been stretched.
The advice that seems to land hardest with people is this: don't rush to explain everything that happened, and don't make big life decisions right away. Visions and insight from ceremony are real, but they tend to settle better with a few days or weeks of space before anyone acts on them. Journaling, time outdoors, and staying close to community tend to do more good than trying to intellectualize the whole thing immediately.
Is Any of This Actually Legal?
963 Tribe Church operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious institution under the 508(c)(1)(A) provision, which means its sacraments and ceremonies are protected as sincerely held religious practice under the First Amendment. The church is based in Las Vegas and treats these sacraments as gifts from Pachamama rather than recreational substances, that distinction is the whole basis for how the church operates.
In practice, that shows up as facilitators asking about medical history and medications before booking, structured ceremony guidelines, and community norms, no outside substances, respecting other people's space, staying quiet during ceremony. The beliefs and FAQ pages go into more detail on how that framework shapes the way ceremonies are held.
Worth saying plainly: these sacraments are used inside religious ceremony as tools of devotion, prayer, and spiritual communion. They're not medical treatments and don't replace medical advice, talk to a physician or qualified healthcare provider about any condition or medication before attending.
Who Actually Shows Up to These Ceremonies?
There isn't really a typical profile. People arrive carrying grief, addiction, burnout, plain curiosity, or just a pull toward something they can't quite name yet. The church also runs Sacred Soldier, a program built specifically for veterans working through what their service left behind.
Ceremonies often get paired with other, gentler sacraments too, Hapé, Sananga, and Cacao show up regularly alongside the main medicine, each adding its own layer of cleansing or heart-opening. And the community potlucks and integration nights held between ceremonies give people a low-pressure way to meet the community before ever sitting in circle. The tribe page is a decent place to get a feel for who's actually part of this.
How Do You Actually Sign Up?
The most useful first stop is the resources page, followed by the ceremony calendar for upcoming Ayahuasca, San Pedro, and Bufo dates. If you have questions about medications or medical history before booking, get involved is where those conversations start.
Key Takeaways
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Plant medicine retreats at 963 Tribe Church are religious ceremonies, held under 501(c)(3) and 508(c)(1)(A) protections, not recreational events.
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Ayahuasca is an overnight, shadow-facing sacrament from the Shipibo lineage of Pucallpa, Peru. San Pedro is a gentler, heart-centered, single-day cactus ceremony from Andean tradition.
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Bufo Alvarius delivers a short but intense experience tied to addiction release and rebirth, sourced through a humane catch-and-release method.
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Psilocybin, honored as Niños Santos in Mazatec tradition, tends to be the gentlest and most introspective of the four.
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Preparation, diet, medication timing, intention, matters just as much as integration afterward. Neither one is optional.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Is Ayahuasca legal in the United States? Federal drug law doesn't carve out a blanket exception for it, but sincerely held religious use is protected under the First Amendment, that's the legal basis groups like 963 Tribe Church rely on, and it applies to all four sacraments, not just Ayahuasca.
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What's the real difference between Ayahuasca and Bufo? Mostly pacing. Ayahuasca unfolds across a full night and gives you time to sit with whatever surfaces, while Bufo compresses a similar depth of intensity into a few minutes, some people find the speed of Bufo harder to process precisely because there's no time to brace for it.
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How long does a retreat actually last? That varies quite a bit by sacrament, rather than following one fixed schedule, check the comparison table above for a quick reference, but plan for anywhere from a single afternoon to a multi-night stay depending on which ceremony you're attending.
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Do I need prior experience with psychedelics to attend? No, and most first-timers at 963 Tribe Church haven't worked with any of these sacraments before. What matters more is being upfront about your physical and mental health history so the facilitators can screen appropriately.
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What if I'm currently on medication? It depends on what you're taking, but SSRIs, MAOIs, and hypertension medications all require a discontinuation window before ceremony, see the prep section above for specifics. Bring this up with a facilitator as early as possible, ideally when you first book, not the week of.
Disclaimer: These sacred sacraments are used exclusively within the 963 Tribe Church's religious ceremonies as tools of devotion, prayer, and spiritual communion. They are not medical treatments and do not replace professional medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or medication before participating in the ceremony.
About the Author
This piece was written in collaboration with the ministry and facilitation team at 963 Tribe Church, a 501(c)(3) religious institution based in Las Vegas devoted to sacred entheogenic ceremony within the Shipibo lineage of Pucallpa, Peru. To learn more about the people behind these ceremonies, visit the tribe page or connect on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.
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