The Way of the Psychonaut
The Way of the Psychonaut: Stanislav Grof’s Journey of Consciousness announces its highly-anticipated VOD release for October 14, 2020. The feature length documentary explores the life and work of Stanislav Grof.
News from around the planet about Ayahuasca
The Way of the Psychonaut: Stanislav Grof’s Journey of Consciousness announces its highly-anticipated VOD release for October 14, 2020. The feature length documentary explores the life and work of Stanislav Grof.
The Conference gives a platform to Indigenous healers such as Manari Ushigua, ethnobotanists such as Terrence Mckenna, anthropologists such as Jeremy Narby, and many others to gather and share their work.
Carlos Castaneda talks of impeccability, and I believe it is useful to understand how much is expected of you, if you are to engage in this sort of work. In this work, anything that is out of alignment will be shown and brought to the surface very quickly. If there is major stuff you haven’t at least looked at, then it can compromise the space.
According to Jordi Riba’s presentation at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelics Research that was held this weekend in Amsterdam harmine and tetrahydroharmine potently stimulates the formation of new neurons from stem cells in vitro.
If you have drunk ayahuasca please share your experiences in the Global survey of ayahuasca drinking and help build understanding of the effects of this sacramental tea on the lives of those who consume it.
The Ayahuasca Defence Fund (ADF) will be a worldwide, permanent fund providing defence funding for legal cases involving ayahuasca and other teacher plants.
“We are considered the trash of Brazil, but this place accepts us,” said Darci Altair Santos da Silva, 43, a construction worker serving a 13-year sentence for sexual abuse of a child under 14. “I know what I did was very cruel. The tea helped me reflect on this fact, on the possibility that one day I can find redemption.”
Discussion about ethics and ayahuasca, primarily The Plantaforma Code of Ethics (also known as the Code of Ethics for Organizations which Use Ayahuasca in Spain)
We offer our most heartfelt condolences for the Nolan family on the tragic loss of their son, Kyle. We, the undersigned, people who had direct experience with Shimbre, or have concern over what has transpired, believe Kyle was not given this medicine in a safe or supportive traditional environment. During the Shimbre ‘incident’ we believe this sacred medicine was administered by an irresponsible practitioner who did not follow the ancient traditional practice of staying with the seeker or student to insure physical and spiritual safety.
Hi, this is going out to people in the ayahuasca community who may be interested in this upcoming workshop at Willka T’ika in the Urubamba Valley of Peru. It is a beautiful retreat center located in the Sacred Valley within a day’s travel of Machu Picchu, Pisac and other Inca sites. The retreat will include three ceremonies facilitated by Wayra, a young Quechua ayahuasquero who is well respected in the community. I will be providing ‘entertainment’ on the off-days, making some presentations on the usual topics. See this link for details:http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs025/1101625843830/archive/1109215742644.html Here is another link to the Willka T’ika main web site:http://www.willkatika.com/ Please join us if you can! This year is the 100th anniversary of the ‘discovery’ of Machu PIcchu by Hiram Bingham. Rumor has it that the site may be close indefinitely while they figure out how to keep it from being destroyed by too many tourists. So this year may be the last chance to see this amazing site for a while. Please pass this along to friends who may be interested, and …
By Stephen Trichter, Psy.D.
As the use of ayahuasca shifts to use outside of its original cultural context, we must examine how the spread of this healing practice can not only bring the benefits for which it was originally intended, but how its transfer into a new cultural framework potentially can also cause distress and harm.
(Painting by Augustin Lesage)
While the ways that ayahuasca helps some people to overcome addictions is not entirely understood, the volume of people claiming success with addiction or dependency points to something well worth knowing much more about.
The bodies of Amazon rainforest activist Joao Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife Maria do Espirito Santo are carried to burial by friends and relatives, in the municipal cemetery of Maraba, in Brazil, on May 26, 2011. The identity of those responsible for the shooting in northern Brazil on Tuesday has not yet been determined, but da Silva predicted his own death six months ago, and was the recipient of frequent death threats by illegal loggers and cattle ranchers. “I will protect the forest at all costs. That is why I could get a bullet in my head at any moment — because I denounce the loggers and charcoal producers,” he said. Watch his speech at TEDxAmazonia, below, in which he says he believes killing trees in the rainforest is murder (click the “cc” button in the player for English subtitles). ; The murders of da Silva and his wife took place as Brazil’s Congress debates a divisive bill that threatens to further expand deforestation. Da Silva and Espirito Santo were active in the …
There seems to be a very productive moment in Brazilian biomedical researches on ayahuasca. I am pleased to announce the publication of a new text in our site about the therapeutic potentials of harmine, an alkaloid present in the vine Banisteriopsis caapi (compenent of the ayahuasca brew).
Javier Armijo is one of the leaders in the conservation of Ecuadorian rain forest through ecotourism, and a member of the newly formed Dutch foundation “Save the Native Forest”. On the 20th February 2011 he was hit by a truck of the PROINPETROL oil company. The Company do not answer calls from any of the relatives.
A Brazilian judge has blocked plans to build a huge hydro-electric dam in the Amazon rainforest because of environmental concerns.
Summary: Ayahuasca (or yajé), the sacred plant remedy of the Amazon, has been the subject of academic studies, travel narratives and documentaries but rarely do they tell the inside story. This novel lifts shamanism out of the category of anthropology or self-help to reveal how the mysterious powers of yajé highlight the debilities of those who seek enlightenment from it. Ayahuasca Weaving Destinies is the parable of the sorcerer´s apprentice in a post-industrial context. Taita Franciscano of the Putumayo, “last of the traditional healers”, knew the risks his culture would face when, defying the taboo, he invited white men to his rituals to win Western recognition for his tribe´s medicinal heritage. The irreverent sage may even have welcomed the opportunity to play with fire. But not even his visionary gifts foresaw what would happen when a cast of conflictive characters were drawn into his dream of founding a botanical garden. Among them are the ambitious anthropologist who “discovered” yajé, the autobiographical narrator, a militant indigenous leader, a “revolutionary” poet, several legendary shamans, including the still-living …
Evgenia Fotiou’s PhD dissertation; “From Medicine Men to Day Trippers: Shamanic Tourism in Iquitos, Peru” argues that shamanic tourism is not an anomaly but is consistent with the nature of shamanism, which has historically been about intercultural exchange, as shamanic knowledge and experience has been sought cross-culturally.
The Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness held its 30th Annual Conference; Curing Minds: Consciousness and Healing, in March, 2010. Audio from the segment entitled Perspectives on Ayahuasca Healing is available now on the SAC website.
A seminal interview with Dennis McKenna, Ph.D on the evolution of ayahuasca and the entheogenic movement and the imminent tipping point on planet earth the movement parallels.