Although we do not ordinarily charge a fee for participation in group ayahuasca sessions, there is a fee for 1 on 1 sessions, because the client has specific requests and expectations. The fee for an individual session is determined on the basis of an agreement as to the extent to which the practitioner will be required to support and guide the client. Such support may, under certain conditions, extend beyond the appointed date of a session.

Ordinarily a session with a new client, entails one or two introductory meetings, in which details are discussed, and client and practitioner get acquainted. These introductions are an important preliminary to an ayahuasca session, and there is a small fee for them. Following an introduction there are several options:

1. •the client declares his confidence in the practitioner and willingness to proceed to the session. He then signs a consent form, and a fee is discussed.
   
   

2. •the client, or the practitioner is reluctant to proceed to a session (for whatever reason) in which case there is a small fee for the interview.
   
   

3. •the practitioner refers the client to another practitioner, to other forms of therapy, or to think things over, in which case a small fee is due for the interview.
   

The Fee

If the introduction procedure is concluded without proceeding to a session, the fee for an interview is ± 50% of the fee for the session. If an agreement is reached and a date is set for the session, the client must ensure payment before the session, a.s.a.p. The nominal price of a first session is €150,- Once a date has been set for a session, this fee is non-refundable. (see below)

The clients responsibility

In work with ayahuasca the client bears a good deal of responsibility for the results. The task of the practitioner, is to facilitate the healing process. The facilitator is not a healer, therapist or doctor. As facilitator his/her task consists in ensuring the safety of the client without imposing interpretations on the symbolic content of visions, and without being the actual medium of the healing process. The facilitator is an experienced guide who knows the proper procedures, and an assistant who is compassionate and determined to help the client find his own personal path. The integrity of the 'therapeutic' process, requires the practitioner to be strict in the exercise of these functions. Integrity extends to the issue of appointments. Once an appointment has been made, and particularly when the client is 'processing' unconscious material, he/she is bound to encounter some resistance. Frequently this resistance will announce itself in the form of doubts about the session, and the client will find justifications for calling it off, or postponing. This behavior is a great hindrance in therapeutic practice. This is why appointments must be kept and payment made before the appointed date of the session. Clients should be aware that this is an aspect of the practice they are engaging in, and should take the necessary measures to ensure they arrive at a session well rested, and on time.

Visions in the Night: Jungian and ancient dream interpretation,

Joel Covitz, The question of Fee:

The issue of payment for the services of a professional dream interpreter is worth considering in the context of vocational hazards. The notion of charging a fee for dream interpretation is at least as old as the Greeks. In the temples of Asclepius, one paid a fee after the cure had been effected. C.A. Meier notes: Apparently the patient had no further obligation after recording the [healing] dream apart from certain thank offerings and the payment of the fee. People gave what they could, in proportion to their wealth. Asclepius often required a literary production of some kind as a thank offering‑a paean, for example. Thus he became the patron of cultured and learned men and of artists. The thank offerings could be paid at anytime within a year. Cases are on record, however, where the god gave those who were too slow in paying their debts a sharp lesson by promptly sending a relapse. This was of course a great cause of scandal to the Early Fathers, who pointed out that the Christian mar­tyrs such as Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus and John, worked their miracle cures free of charge. 54 The important point to emphasize here is that the fee is part of the therapy. Failure to pay the fee is bad for both therapist and patient. The Talmud describes the following incident:

1. Bar Hedya was an interpreter of dreams. To one who paid him he used to give a favourable interpretation and to one who did not pay him he gave an unfavour­able interpretation. Abaye and Rabbah each had a dream. Abaye gave him a zuz, and Rabbah did not give him anything. They said to him: In our dream we had to read the verse, Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes (Deut. 28:31), etc. To Rabbah he said: Your business will be a failure, and you will be so grieved that you will have no appetite to eat. To Abaye he said: Your business will prosper, and you will not be able to eat from sheer joy. They then said to hint We had to read in dream the verse, Thou shalt beget sons and daughters but they shall not be thine (Deut. 28:41), etc. To Rabbah he interpreted it in its [literal] unfavourable sense. To Abaye he said: You have numerous sons and daughters, and your daughters will be married and go away, and it will seem to you as if they have gone into captivity. Finally Rabbah went and gave him a fee. He said to him: I saw a wall fall down. He replied: You will acquire wealth without end. He said: I dreamt that Abaye's villa fell in and the dust of it covered me. He replied to him: Abaye will die and [the presidency of] his College will be offered to you. He said to him: I saw my own villa fall in and everyone came back and took a brick. He said to him: Your teachings will be disseminated throughout the world. He said to him: I dreamt that my head was split open and my brains fell out. He replied: The stuffing will fall out of your pillow. 55
   

From this we might derive the insight that a patient in analysis who does not pay the fee may be sabotaging his own therapy, since a resentful analyst is un­likely to act in the patient's best interest. Moreover, the patient who gives a fair exchange for the services received is more likely to value the treatment and in­vest his own energy in the cure. Analysts who depend on their fees for their livelihood should carefully con­sider their financial needs before undertaking to treat no‑fee or low‑fee patients. If an analyst finds that he is especially hard on no‑fee patients, interpreting their dreams in a negative way, it is time for him to take a fresh look at his own money complex. If this cannot be resolved, as when the analyst is either too neurotic or suffering from too much financial hardship, then it may be advisable to terminate the analysis with an appropriate explanation, rather than become a destructive analyst‑what Almoli calls "an enemy in revenge."

54 Incubation and Modern Psychotherapy, p. 66.

55 Berakhot 56a, b.