Derrick Carter

I grew up navigating what many of us do, a sense of separation and the longing to belong. My
early life didn’t have a strong family core. My mother and father were both distant in their own
ways, and that absence became the very soil from which my questions about God, purpose,
and truth began to grow. Even as a child, I carried an awareness that there was something
more, something I couldn’t quite name but could always feel. I asked the hard questions no one
seemed to have answers for, and I never stopped asking.

My first path of awakening began through Christianity. My great-grandfather was a well-known
Native American evangelist in our community, and I followed that lineage with devotion. I
experienced miracles, divine synchronicities, and moments that shattered logic. I witnessed God
move in ways that words could never capture. Yet, even through the beauty of that path, there
was still a quiet knowing that more healing was needed, not from a place of doubt, but from an
inner call to go deeper.

In 2018, my world was changed forever when my daughter, Angelina, passed away. That
moment broke me open. It was the kind of loss that strips everything away identity, belief, even
breath. I was brought to my knees, face-to-face with the mystery of existence. But in that
darkness, something sacred began to awaken. I realized that death wasn’t the end, and that
love — pure, unconditional love, never dies. Her passing became my initiation into the greater
mystery of life and the bridge that eventually led me to the medicine.
Through a series of divine synchronicities, I was guided to Bufo Alvarius, the sacred secretion of
the Sonoran Desert toad. What I experienced was beyond anything I could have imagined. Bufo
took me beyond the stories, beyond the ego, beyond even the concept of “me.” It was pure
remembrance, the direct knowing of what I had always been seeking: union with the Divine, the
Source that lives within all things. For the first time, I experienced true healing, not of the mind,
but of the soul.

From that moment, everything changed. I began walking a path of service, guided not by
ambition but by reverence. I’ve had the honor of traveling and serving this medicine with
countless souls from around the world, each journey a reflection of the same universal truth: we
are all remembering who we truly are. I’ve watched people shed lifetimes of pain in a single
breath, and I’ve held space for the sacred rebirth that follows. Yet, I’ve also learned that the real
medicine begins after the ceremony, in the integration, the embodiment, the daily return to love.
This is heart work. It’s about safety, sacredness, and integrity, ensuring every participant is
cared for with presence and love. At The Violet Flame Foundation, we weave ancient wisdom
with modern understanding, creating spaces that honor both Spirit and science. The violet flame
itself represents transmutation, the alchemy of pain into purpose, of shadow into light, of
separation back into union. It is the symbol of divine compassion and freedom, the frequency
we hold in every ceremony and integration space.

Today, I am married to a woman I deeply respect and honor, and together we are raising five
beautiful children. They are my greatest teachers, and my daily reminder that heaven is not
somewhere we go, it’s something we live. My story is one of redemption, of being counted out
and finding grace in the very places I thought I was lost. Every part of my journey, the trials, the
faith, the heartbreak, the awakenings, has led me here.
It’s my honor to serve this medicine, to walk beside those who are ready to remember, and to
help hold the mirror so you can see the divine truth that’s always been within you. The path is
not about escaping life, it’s about embracing it fully, with open eyes and an open heart. If you’re
reading this, perhaps that same call that once whispered to me is now whispering to you.

Welcome home.