A cultural awakening, healing & spiritual growth in the Mojave Desert.
Participants raise their arms during the opening gathering in the Mojave Desert.
The Toad Ceremony.
Text & photographs by Rogelio Martell.
A group of people, most of them Latino, gathered in a remote stretch of the Mojave Desert for a ceremony involving the secretion of the Sonoran Desert toad. I joined them while filming a documentary about immigrant healers in California. A healer from El Salvador had introduced me to the gathering.
We left from his home in Pacoima with his wife and another woman. Along the way, the participants met near a bridge and continued in a caravan. After driving beyond California City and farther into the desert, we found cars parked among the shrubs. People were preparing for the ceremony.
A glass pipe and a small container are arranged before the ceremony.
The group formed a circle. Before the ritual began, the guide thanked Mother Earth and invoked spiritual presences in the desert. One participant sat down to inhale vapor from a glass pipe while the guide and an assistant stayed close. Music played. As her body reacted, others helped her lie down on a blanket. The group waited as the participants took turns, each attended by the guide.
I photographed the moments around the experience: people raising their arms, companions steadying someone who could no longer stand easily, and a person resting alone against the vastness of the desert. The ceremony carried both an intimate sense of care and moments of visible physical distress. The images cannot tell us what anyone felt internally; they show the support and vulnerability I witnessed.
The guide described the ritual to me as a way to seek healing and spiritual growth. One participant later told me of hearing voices and feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Those accounts are their descriptions of a personal experience, not a claim that the substance treats illness.
At the end, people gathered again to offer thanks. They left quietly as the desert light changed. What stayed with me was the trust required to take part in such an encounter, and the responsibility of a photographer invited to witness it.
A participant holds her hands to her face as another person stands beside her.
Several people attend to a participant seated during the ceremony.
A participant exhales smoke as another person remains close by.
A participant lies on a blanket after taking part in the ritual.
A participant receives support while seated in the desert.
The open desert surrounds a participant sitting alone.
The group gathers near their vehicles between stages of the ceremony.
A participant rests while a guide remains nearby.
Two people support a participant as she stands.
A participant kneels on the desert ground with others nearby.
A participant kneels with arms extended among desert shrubs.
A participant sits beside the ceremonial space.
A participant raises her arm while speaking with two others.
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To see more work by Rogelio, follow the link: https://www.rogeliomartell.com/