Welcome to San Pedro Stories, a blog dedicated to sharing stories on how San Pedro cactus, aka “huachuma” (“wah-chuu-ma”), has impacted me, James Short, as well as any of you who would like to share a San Pedro story or experience too.

Feel free to be as detailed or as general as you like – personally I will not share specifics on what’s happened to me during any of my ceremonies. That may dilute the magic and mystery for those future first-time San Pedro drinkers reading this blog, not to mention inject too many expectations that may or may not play out. Besides, even if I did share some of my in-ceremony experiences, it’s doubtful you would believe me anyway.

What interests me most is how this plant changed your perspective about something in your life, or if it transformed you in some way. Through your stories and mine, I hope to raise awareness of this ancient medicinal plant… I’m not sure why San Pedro has barely been researched compared to other psychoactive plants. People have been ingesting it as medicine for thousands of years, it’s helped and transform thousands of lives in modern day Western culture. 

I believe San Pedro can transform people for the better… not closer to perfect, but closer to being their authentic selves and being comfortable with that. San Pedro digs down into the deep-rooted, unwanted energy blocking our true potential and sincere love for ourselves. On a most fundamental level, this cactus has taught me how to love ALL of me, including the parts I’m ashamed of, the ones I want to hide from. To bring love and compassion to those behaviors or stories about myself that, when I was a kid, served as defense mechanisms. Stories I believed that served me for loving others and getting love from them. And when I say “love”, I don’t mean I intellectually have a strong affinity for the good, bad and ugly parts of me. I mean deeply feel it. San Pedro gives me that powerful feeling - during ceremony and long after - more than any other natural or synthetic psychedelic I’ve worked with, including mushrooms, ayahuasca, MDMA and LSD. This cactus wants me to feel human and embrace it. I value my humanness as a gift more than I ever thought possible.

My goal with this blog is to educate through anecdote. I love San Pedro and feel compelled to advocate for it. I used to produce movies, I’m an avid fiction reader… for me, all of the imagination and magic captured in movies and books is right here in the thin green flesh of this tall green cactus.

One final note: my posts here are my truth, and my truth alone. I am not telling anyone what to believe or how San Pedro will impact your life. This medicine has enabled me to find my own truth and understand who I am. If you’re interested in communing with San Pedro yourself, sign up for my newsletter. I’ll be periodically notifying my email list of upcoming San Pedro retreats led by my huachumero, Chase, here in Peru.

Read my first blog post here. Thanks for visiting!

*Disclaimer: I work with San Pedro here in Peru, where San Pedro, ayahuasca and other plant medicines are not just legal, they’re protected. Other country’s governments have a different perspective on plant medicines and make the possession and/or use of them illegal. In the States, it’s legal to grow San Pedro cactus but not extract it. San Pedro contains mescaline, and mescaline is listed as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act. I do not advocate breaking U.S. federal laws, but psychoactive plants are becoming decriminalized in more and more local and state communities like Colorado, Oakland, CA and ironically the capital of the U.S. government, Washington, D.C.