Amid towering East Texas pines, smoke and New Age music drift from a sandy clearing where a circle of large rocks, along with freshly cut red roses and white carnations, surround a small fire. A card table draped with a red cloth serves as a makeshift altar at the clearing’s edge. Behind it, a Peruvian tapestry intricately embroidered with the striking image of a toad hangs from a tree.
In the middle of the space, a man dressed in white sits on a red blanket as Brooke Tarrer, also in white but wearing a red sash, guides him through the final stanzas of a prayer. “I wish to heal myself with all my heart and then help to heal others and thus fulfill my mission of love and communication in this life,” he repeats. “Thanks, Universe that is already! Aho!”
The 11 other people present at the ritual kneel in respect for the “medicine” he is about to receive. Those participating in the ceremony are spread out in a circle around the fire, while the people who are there to only watch sit in folding chairs in the grass off to the side.
