Post Tag: Spiritual

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PT414 – Lena Franklin & Jeff Glattstein – The EAST Institute: Modern Science and Ancient Methods of Healing

In this episode, Kyle interviews the Co-Founders of The EAST Institute: teachers, facilitators, and spiritual guides, Lena Franklin and Jeff Glattstein.

The EAST Institute offers educational and experiential events, and trains facilitators in the art of the EAST Method™, a multidisciplinary approach combining modern research with traditional, Indigenous methods of healing and integration, touching on transpersonal psychology, mindfulness, meditation, vibrational sound therapy, energy medicine, shamanic healing, natural plant medicines, and more. Their approach is a structured (but flexible) process that guides the experiencer through preparation, the ceremony, and integration, but with a much larger focus on preparation than is typically seen, and with a deep phase of integration touching on six key modalities.

They tell their stories of what led them to follow a healing path, explain the basics of the EAST Method™, and talk about their facilitator training program. And they discuss: how beneficial it can be to introduce shadow work right off the bat; how the West needs to learn to stop deifying medical degrees and learn to trust our inner healers; the power of energy and the energetic reciprocity between our bodies and the medicine; and how we, as a culture, need to break through our conditioning – from propaganda, fear, and the self-limiting beliefs that keep us from being our best selves.

Notable Quotes

“The clinical world is all about psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, which is going to be amazingly helpful for people who step into that clinical realm. And yet the question remains: how do I embody all of this into my life every day?…What are you going to do differently? Now that you’ve had this amazing experience, what are you going to do different, today?” -Jeff

“The medicines are teachers and guides, and they teach us and they show us and they guide us as to how we can heal ourselves. And yes, they’re powerful healers as well, but they’re only as powerful as we allow them to be, by owning the responsibility of our own healing. …The medicine doesn’t heal, the medicine shows people how to heal.” -Jeff

“How can we continue to anchor our embodiment in the truth of interconnectedness, of remembering our divinity every day, in the ordinary moments? There’s the quote: ‘Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.’ Ordinary moments can be extraordinary moments when our lens is clear of the veils of fear.” -Lena

“I feel like there’s just so much potential and interest and growth and vitality at this intersection of the scientific world and the medical world and really, where these medicines came from – our ancestors the ancient, Indigenous ways of honoring the medicine. …That eagle-condor reunification: it’s collectively the movement from individualism and disconnection into the truth that we are all interconnected – this interdependence of our souls and our energy. And I think we’re seeing that reflected in the psychedelic world right now.” -Lena

Links

TheEASTtinstitute.com

Lenafranklin.com

Jeffglattstein.com

The EAST Institute’s Entheogenic Facilitator Training program

Psychedelics Today: PT286 – Joe Tafur, MD – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

Ancientpages.com: The Eagle And The Condor Prophecy: A 2,000-Year-Old Message For The Future

The Bonefrog Foundation

Mehl-madrona.com

David Nutt’s drug harm ranking scale

Wildsimplejoy.com: 6 Meanings of “Chop Wood Carry Water” — Enlightenment Proverb

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PT409 – Pathology, The DSM, and The Ontological Shock of Psychedelic Experiences

In this episode, Joe interviews Erica Rex: award-winning journalist, past guest and writer, and participant in one of the first ever clinical trials using psilocybin to treat cancer-related depression; and Mona Sobhani, Ph.D.: cognitive neuroscientist and the author of Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist’s Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe.

As Rex discovered the power of psychedelics through a clinical trial, she discusses a huge problem she discovered: that researchers are not preparing participants enough for the ontological shock they may go through in trying to match unexplainable happenings to a rigid framework (or match the normal to a framework that has suddenly shifted) – that while patients have support at the clinic, it all disappears when they return to normal life. She believes that all too often, researchers are doing only what is necessary to be able to continue to receive funding, push drugs through the FDA, and prescribe a pill. 

And as psychedelics changed Sobhani from very constrained scientific thinking to being very open to new ideas about consciousness and spirituality, she learned that many scientists had similar stories, and that coming out of the psychedelic closet is sometimes the best thing to do to normalize these ways of healing. 

They discuss the challenges of newcomers trying to explain their experience without having the necessary language; how we still don’t truly understand mental illness; how the DSM just clusters symptoms to fit ‘disorders’ into a box; how society has started pathologizing anything we find unpleasant (which of course, is a part of being human); Gary Fisher’s research on using LSD and psilocybin for schizophrenic children, why science needs to combine consciousness research and psychedelics research, and more.

Notable Quotes

“I think most people (neuroscientists, a lot of psychologists): we don’t like labels. We don’t like the DSM (especially neuroscientists). It doesn’t make any sense; all you’re doing is clustering symptoms and calling it a disorder. It’s useful, but it’s not explanatory. …Everyone’s so focused on ‘What are the brain mechanisms?’ but we do need to pull out and [ask]: ‘What are the societal mechanisms? How is our society not supporting [us]? Why do we see such an increase in some of these disorders? It’s a really big question.” -Mona

“There was a big move to get grief made into a pathology that was defined in the DSM so it could be treated with a pill. Grief. This was during COVID. So now grief is a pathology and you can be diagnosed with ‘grieving disorder’ and treated for it. …Anything that does not serve the machine is now considered a disease and disorder and has to be fixed, which is unfortunate because it takes us away from every piece of authentic experience that we could ever possibly have. And that is dehumanizing, profoundly.” -Erica

“Our whole society’s not built around humanity, even though we talk a lot about humanity. But there’s no humane principles in business or in society. Nothing is built around what the human needs, and that’s why, even in psychiatry, you see [that] grief or these normal human needs are pathologized. …We’re just cutting off parts of ourselves and not catering to being a human because we hate being human so much, apparently. We hate the things that are inconvenient about it, that it’s like we just have to cut it off and block it off and go forward. But you can’t do that; then you have all these coping mechanisms that emerge and then all these disorders, because you’re not functioning in an environment that supports you being what you are.” -Mona

Links

Psychedelics Today: PT273 – Erica Rex – Clinical Trials and Spontaneous Mystical Experiences

Madinamerica.com: Psychedelic Therapy Will Not Save Us, by Erica Rex

Madinamerica.com: The Culture Is the Poison: Why Psychedelics Are Dangerous Medicine in a Neoliberal Society, by Erica Rex

Scientificamerican.com: The Power of Psychedelics: They worked for my depression. Could they be the future of psychiatry? By Erica Rex

Scientificamerican.com: Hallucinogens Could Ease Existential Terror, by Erica Rex

Psychedelics Today: Could the Sonoran Desert Toad Cure Narcissism? by Erica Rex

Her NIH/NCI talk, “A Breast Cancer Patient’s Perspectives on the Uses of Psychedelics in Medicine” (begins at 1:04:41)

Npr.org: The ’60s Are Gone, But Psychedelic Research Trip Continues

Monasobhaniphd.com

Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist’s Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe, by Mona Sobhani, Ph.D.

Brave New World of Psychedelic Science substack

Exploring Consciousness: A community of curious (neuro)scientists

Globenewswire.com: COMPASS Pathways presents largest ever study of psilocybin therapy, at American Psychiatric Association annual meeting

Treatment of Childhood Schizophrenia Utilizing LSD and Psilocybin, by Gary Fisher, Ph.D.

The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, by Elyn R. Saks

The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, by Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté

The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct, by Thomas S Szasz

Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-Of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, Dsm-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life, by Allen Frances

Jamanetwork.com: Association of Religious and Spiritual Factors With Patient-Reported Outcomes of Anxiety, Depressive Symptoms, Fatigue, and Pain Interference Among Adolescents and Young Adults With Cancer

Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach

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PT393 – Religious Freedom and the Church of Psilomethoxin

In this episode, Joe interviews Greg Lake, Esq.: Co-Founder of the Church of Psilomethoxin, author, and trial and appellate attorney specializing in working with entheogen-based religious practitioners in establishing their right to consume their sacraments under existing religious freedom laws.

Psilomethoxin (4-Hydroxy-5-methoxydimethyltryptamine or 4-Hydroxy-5-MeO-DMT) was first synthesized in 2021 by mixing 5-MeO-DMT with psilocybin substrate, and after initial tests and months of user reports, it was deemed safe to use.* Lake co-founded the Church of Psilomethoxin in 2022 with the goal of shifting the paradigm of religion to primary direct experiences and individual beliefs rather than a dogma everyone must follow, with a big focus on community and discussing the ultimate questions of life together – with Psilomethoxin as the sacrament of choice. While he prefers member-to-member referrals, there is an application on the site, and he hopes to grow the church through linking people up regionally, (eventually) training people to facilitate, and partnering with a data collection company to gather real-world data on both Psilomethoxin and on why people are seeking out psychedelic churches in the first place. 

He discusses several cases that brought us here and inspired his work; why he believes Psilomethoxin won’t be a target of the Federal Analogue Act; the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the need for states to establish similar state legislation; the importance of new churches establishing evidence in the public record; how much courts take sincerity into consideration; and the concept that, while we’re quick to think of the law as the enemy, courts often don’t want to go after churches – religion is a sacred and intimate thing, so who is the victim if a court brings a church to court that hasn’t harmed anyone?

*Update, April 17, 2023: Results from analytical testing released on April 12, 2023, reveal that there is no evidence to suggest the compound psilomethoxin is present in the samples of sacrament material the Church of Psilomethoxin is offering to their members online. The report, prepared by Samuel Williamson and Alexander Sherwood of the Usona Institute, states, “Psilocybin, baeocystin, and psilocin, were, however, unambiguously identified in the sample, suggesting that the claims regarding the biosynthesis of psilomethoxin may be misguided. The implications of these findings should be critically considered within the context of public health and safety.”

We are following this story at Psychedelics Today and are working to update our community with commentary from the researchers. Stay tuned to our social media channels for more on this topic.

Notable Quotes

“I think eventually the courts will come around to realize that where medical and scientific and religious and spiritual begin or end within this space is not crystal clear, because as we’re all aware, in the research, people, even in clinical settings, are having mystical, religious experiences. And then they see that that really, at many times, translates to positive outcomes. If people, even in a medical setting, can have a religious experience, well then where does ‘This is a religious exercise, this is not’ come into play?”

“One of our core beliefs is that in the peak entheogenic experience like 5-MeO, where you experience unitive cosmic consciousness, that’s basically our moral code – that once you experience unity with all, that tells you pretty much everything that you’ll ever need to know about how you should be treating other people, how you should be treating other beings, and how you should be treating the environment.”

“One thing I’ve learned (and I learned real quick working with these churches) is that, especially post-Covid, the community, for a lot of people, is just as, if not more healing and spiritual than the actual ceremonies.”

Links

Psilomethoxin.com

*Psychedelicalpha.com: Opinions | The Church of Psilomethoxin: Fantasy Chemistry Gets Fact Checked

*Chemrxiv.org: Fungi Fiction: Analytical Investigation into the Church Of Psilomethoxin’s Alleged Novel Compound Using UPLC-HRMS

Entheoconnect.com

Psychedeliceducationcenter.com: Psychedelics and Religious Liberty in the United States

Wikipedia.org: 4-Hydroxy-5-methoxydimethyltryptamine

Cognitiveliberty.org: Ask Dr. Shulgin Online (Shulgin’s response to a question about Psilomethoxin)

Tripsitter.com: What Is the Federal Analogue Act?

Quantifiedcitizen.com

Psychedelics in Mental Health Series: Psilocybin, by George G. Lake Esq.

Law.justia.com: United States v. Meyers

Wikipedia.org: Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Wikipedia.org: Employment Division v. Smith

Wikipedia.org: City of Boerne v. Flores

Wikipedia.org: State Religious Freedom Restoration Acts

Law.justia.com: New Hampshire v. Mack

Leary.ru: Timothy Leary: Start Your Own Religion

Justia.com: Church of the Eagle and the Condor et al v. Garland et al

Psychedelics Today: Psychedelics, Religion, and the DEA’s Quest for Soul

Casetext.com: Ariz. Yage Assembly v. Garland

Cannadelic.miami

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PT386 – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

In this episode, David once again interviews a teacher and student from Vital, speaking with Grof-certified Holotropic Breathwork® practitioner, author, and developer of InnerEthics®: Kylea Taylor: M.S., LMFT; and therapist and Lead Consultant of psychological therapists at NEU: Shabina Hale. 

This Vital Psychedelic Conversation is largely centered around ethics: how practitioners and facilitators define ethics; how InnerEthics® is involved; power dynamics; accountability; how the energy in a session is transferable and can bring up shadow elements for both parties; the need to be honest about one’s own scope of competence; the need for facilitators to have more experience both as a sitter and experiencer; and the very simple but most vital aspect of facilitation: considering how any decision made will affect the person on the psychedelic.    

They also discuss having a code of ethics inspired by Indigenous culture and decades of underground use; how the psychedelic experience is affected by the ways it’s treated by its surrounding culture; how the practitioner becomes a protector; defining what is normal in a psychedelic experience (can you?); informed consent and the importance of explaining how roles will change throughout the process; and what the world would be like if everyone followed the same set of ethics.

Have you seen our commercial for Vital yet? We’re pretty thrilled with how it came out.

 

Notable Quotes

“We’re doing psychedelics in a different culture and a different community. I come from an Asian community that is often more tight knit and more tribal in its way of being, and mental health is seen differently within that community, care for elders is seen differently in that community. And so immediately, you’ve got these different rules and different structures that happen. And psychedelics obviously have come from some of those communities, but we don’t have the same communities anymore. We’re in the West. People will take them [and] they don’t go back to communities. They’re on their own. And that’s really isolating. …How do you keep people safe in some form of community when they go back into a society which is much more individualistic?” -Shabina

“I think it helps to just consider it all normal and not abnormal, because it’s only abnormal in the context of our society and our culture. What happened to Indigenous people in their psychedelic experiences was held; whatever it was was held by the culture, so it was not abnormal. It was normal in the extraordinary state of consciousness, and they assumed that it was healing and worked with it.” -Kylea

“You can see things that may not make sense on the outside, but to that person, on the inside, they really do make sense. And they make sense of it in a way that is far more profound than you could ever interpret or analyze or try and take apart.” -Shabina

“I think if people really find out what is theirs to do and do it, that is so satisfying that all these other things that cause problems for other people disappear.” -Kylea

Links

Kyleataylor.com

Innerethics.com

Holotropic.com

Brainspotting.com

Psychedelics Today: PT290 – Kylea Taylor, M.S., LMFT – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

The Ethics of Caring: Finding Right Relationship With Clients for Profound Transformative Work in Our Professional Healing Relationships, by Kylea Taylor

Neupractice.com

Greencamp.com: Honoring the Legends: Stephen Gaskin and The Farm

Maps.org: MAPS MDMA-Assisted Therapy Code of Ethics

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PT379 – Intergenerational Trauma, Late-Stage Capitalism, and the Urban Indigenous Collective

In this episode, David interviews published researcher, social entrepreneur, and internationally recognized Indigenous rights activist: Sutton King, MPH.

In New York City alone, 180,000 people identify as Indigenous, Native American, or Alaskan Native, and this community is facing a disproportionate prevalence of mental health disparities, poverty, suicide, and PTSD due to intergenerational trauma from attempted genocide, forced relocation, and the erasure of culture and identity via boarding schools. Her purpose has become to bring light to what Indigenous people are facing due to being forced to live under a reductionist, individualistic Western approach that is in direct opposition to their worldview.

She talks about growing up being instilled with the importance of ancestry and tradition; why she moved to New York; how psychedelics helped her move through the trauma she felt in herself and saw so commonly in her family tree; and capitalism: how we need to move away from our private ownership, profit-maximalist, extractive model into a steward mentality inspired by the Indigenous voices and principles that have been silenced for so long.

And she lays out all that she’s doing to push these goals forward and help these communities: her work with the Urban Indigenous Collective, Shock Talk, the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund, Journey Colab and their reciprocity trust, and even her time last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos. We’re thrilled that she’ll be speaking at our conference, Convergence, this March 30 – April 2.

Notable Quotes

“One of the principles that I always was taught is that Indigenous peoples were always taught to be humble and not to be proud and not to be loud. But I have always felt like that was a way to keep us stagnant, to keep us complacent. So I would say I’m definitely a disruptor of this generation.”

“We are dealing with a burden of poverty, we’re dealing with so much chronic morbidity and mortality, as well and our chronic health. There is a number of different issues that we’re facing as Indigenous peoples. However, I’d also like to highlight how resilient we are as well. To be able to survive genocide, forced relocation, boarding school, and the poor socioeconomic status that many of us face [and] our families face, but continue to be a voice for our communities; continue to be on the front lines, advocating for missing and murdered, advocating for the protection of our land and demanding land back – I see a resurgence.”

“When you look at that skyline of that concrete jungle in New York City, I love to remind folks that it was the Mohawk ironworkers who risked their lives on that skyline, to be able to create the world we see around us. The paths that we walk today [and] the rivers that flow have always been used by the Indigenous peoples who came before us.”

“When we think about the economy and this market, it’s not capital that creates economic growth; it’s people. And it’s not this reductionist, individualistic behavior that’s centered at the core of economic good; it’s reciprocity, and being able to make sure that we have a market and an economy that’s inclusive; that’s bringing in all voices, that’s also considering all voices, all of the different parts of the ecosystem – not to silo people, but to bring everyone together, I think, will be the opportunity of a lifetime to really be able to really enact change.”

Links

Sutton-king.com

Urbanindigenouscollective.org

Imc.fund

Doubleblindmag.com: Why the “Psychedelic Renaissance” is just Colonialism by Another Name

Menominee-nsn.gov

YouTube: The Jingle Dress Dance

Wikipedia: Carlisle Indian Industrial School

Wikipedia: Ingrid Washinawatok (Flying Eagle Woman)

NPR.org: The pope’s apology in Canada was historic, but for some Indigenous people, not enough

Nysenate.gov: Senate Bill S6924A

IHS.gov (Indian Health Service)

Shocktalk.io

Wikipedia: Potlatch

Theseventhgeneration.org: Introducing The Seventh Generation Principle – to Promote True Sustainability

YouTube: TED Talk: The dirty secret of capitalism — and a new way forward (Nick Hanauer)

Bloomberg.com: Forget Burning Man — Psychedelic Shamans Now Heading to Davos

Journeycolab.com

Journeycolab.com: The Journey Colab Reciprocity Trust

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PT328 – Courtney Watson, LMFT – Ancestral Veneration and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy For (and By) QTBIPOC

In this episode, Joe interviews Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and certified sex therapist, Courtney Watson.

In just two years’ time, Watson grew from “Psychedelics are white people drugs” to opening a ketamine clinic to serve the marginalized communities she comes from. She shares the work she is doing through Access To Doorways; her Oakland-based non-profit whose mission is to bring psychedelic-assisted therapy to queer, trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming, Black, Indigenous, people of color, and two spirit communities.

This discussion is all over the map, from the platform of African traditional religion through the prospect of trauma healing for white supremacists, across BIPOC erasure in psychedelic research studies, and down into the realms of connecting to the spirit of entheogens from our pasts. Watson waxes on Black resilience; Hoodoo; how ALL plants are entheogenic; how conceptualization and talk in the psychedelic space often falls short of real action; ancestral veneration and ways to connect with one’s ancestral past; and the concept of “spirit-devoid” synthesized compounds actually being the evolution of those plants’ spirits.

She breaks down thoughtful considerations for queer and trans people in the psychedelic space, pointing out that while our society places too much emphasis on gender and sex, the acknowledgement of gender diversity and tearing down of the myths of hetero- and cisnormativity is hugely important. She believes that true access to these medicines can lead to true healing, which leads to love, justice, and actual equality. You can support Access to Doorways by making a donation here.

Notable Quotes

“Our people will talk to us. They will guide us. They will direct us. Especially for folks that don’t have ancestral practices in their day to day and haven’t had for generations; ancestors are starving for attention. They’re like, ‘Thank God you see us!’ Give them some light, give them some love, give them some attention, and they will open roads for you in all sorts of ways that you never knew were possible.“

“I think we also place way too much emphasis on gender and sex in this culture in this way that ends up stigmatizing the fact that there is gender diversity. …Holding all of this knowledge that heteronormativity is a thing and cisnormativity is a thing, and that these are not the default when we’re working with trans folks and folks that do not identify as heterosexual – that is really important.”

“Healing could actually help shift what’s happening. It can help turn things in the ways that they need to be turned; in the ways towards love, towards justice, towards actual equality. It’s only when we are healed that we can actually do that; 1) because we have enough energy to be able to do that, but also because we have enough vision and foresight to be able to do that. The clarity of what it means to actually love only comes when we are healed.“

“There’s a lot of conversations, there’s a lot of talk, there’s a lot of conceptualizations, there’s a lot of dreams. But there’s not a lot of action. …So many people get stuck in the conceptualizing piece of it and the philosophizing piece of it that action gets missed. Access to Doorways is action. With $7000, we have given 4 subsidies. I know people that have raised ten times more than us and have not done that much. It is completely about doing what we say that we’re doing. It is completely about action towards healing.”

Links

Access2doorways.com

Access2doorways.com: The Access Key Pledge

Doorwaytherapeutics.com

Psychedelics Today: PT278 – Ayize Jama-Everett, Courtney Watson, Leticia Brown, and Kufikiri Imara – A Table of Our Own

Chacruna.net

California Institute of Integral Studies: Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research Certificate Program

Wikipedia.org: Hoodoo (spirituality)

Wikipedia.org: Anthropocentrism

Ancestry.com

Journal of Psychedelic Studies: “Diversity, Equity, and Access in Psychedelic Medicine,” by Monnica Williams & Bia Labate

Alma Institute

Fireside Project

Wikipedia.org: Papa Legba

About Courtney Watson, LMFT

Courtney Watson is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and AASECT Certified Sex therapist. She is the owner of Doorway Therapeutic Services, a group therapy practice in Oakland, CA focused on addressing the mental health needs of Black, Indigenous & People of Color, Queer folks, Trans, Gender Non-conforming, Non binary and Two Spirit individuals. Courtney has followed the direction of her ancestors to incorporate psychedelic-assisted therapy into her offerings for folks with multiple marginalized identities and stresses the importance of BIPOC and Queer providers offering these services. Courtney has received training from the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research at CIIS, MAPS, and Polaris Insight Center to provide psychedelic-assisted therapy with a variety of medicines. She is deeply interested in the impact of psychedelic medicines on folks with marginalized identities as well as how they can assist with the decolonization process for folks of the global majority. She believes this field is not yet ready to address the unique needs of Communities of Color and is prepared and enthusiastic about bridging the gap. She is currently blazing the trail as one of the only clinics of predominantly QTBIPOC providers offering ketamine -assisted therapy in 2021. She has founded a non-profit, Access to Doorways, to raise funds to subsidize the cost of ketamine/psychedelic-assisted therapy for QTBIPOC clients (now accepting donations!!!). When not in the office seeing clients or in meetings for the businesses she leads, she’s watching Nickelodeon with her kids, kinda working on her dissertation and more than likely taking a nap!

Socials:
Instagram: Access to Doorways / Doorway Therapeutics

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Update on the Fight for Religious Liberties in Oregon

A progress update on the Oregon Health Authority, Measure 109, and religious liberty.

It turns out a whole lot of people care about religious and spiritual freedom issues surrounding psilocybin. A few weeks ago, Oregon had two public hearings on its proposed psilocybin rules on products, testing, and facilitator training. The overwhelming majority of the public testimony received was in support of religious freedom, affordable access, and the community container for psilocybin service. The support was so overwhelming during the first meeting that I tried to keep tabs on the second meeting. I counted 31 total comments that were received. 24 of those 31 – or 74%! – voiced support for the adoption of the entheogenic practitioners framework for safely regulating community-based practice. I do not believe a single person testified in opposition to its adoption. 

Additionally, we are starting to receive written comments that people and organizations have submitted to the Oregon Health Authority (OHA).

David Bronner, CEO of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, has published his comments to OHA about the proposed rules, in which he recommends adopting the proposal in whole and even making some of the provisions around safe, affordable ceremony applicable to the entire M109 program. You can read his statement here.   

The Entheogenic Practitioners Council of Oregon created a petition for people to sign to show support for the Oregon effort. At the time of this writing, the petition has received 517 signatures and many poignant comments. One person who has signed the petition and commented is William Richards, Ph.D., the legendary psychedelic researcher from Johns Hopkins and author of Sacred Knowledge: Psychedelics and Religious Experiences. He wrote: 

Concisely: (1) Psilocybin in mushrooms or as synthesized substance provides access to many different states of human awareness, some powerfully facilitative of psychological and/or spiritual development; (2) The safety and probability of benefit are best ensured when preparation/education is provided in the context of a supportive relationship or community, either in a framework of mental health or of religious care; (3) When wisely integrated into our culture, psilocybin may well significantly decrease human suffering and promote the fuller realization of values such as peace, respect for diversity and compassion; (4) Access to this molecular tool for those who desire it, whether in medical or religious contexts, may be seen as a fundamental human right to explore our own minds. 

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The Psychedelics Bar Association’s Religious Use Committee has also released a statement, in which it asks OHA to reevaluate its draft rules and accommodate the needs of religious practitioners:

“Currently, no state or federal law protects religious communities or practitioners who utilize psilocybin from being prosecuted by Oregon law enforcement. As charitable non-profit organizations, most if not all of these communities and practitioners lack the resources to hire attorneys to secure their rights. Measure 109 promised to welcome these communities into a legitimate legal framework. However, we believe that some of the proposed rules for implementing Measure 109 would substantially burden such communities and force them to operate illegally while remaining in the shadows.”

It also points out the following: “We note nearly half (49%) of the respondents to your Community Interest Survey indicated that their interest in accessing psilocybin under Measure 109 was for spiritual purposes. For context, the interest in spirituality ranks higher than interest in psilocybin for trauma-related issues (47%), addiction and substance use (17%), end of life psychological distress (10%), or “other” reasons (9%).”

It also offers some legal analysis to show that, based on the language of M109, Oregon has the legal rulemaking authority to protect religious practice. Here’s just one example:

“…Subsection (C) empowers the OHA to regulate the use of psilocybin products and psilocybin services ‘for other purposes’ deemed necessary or appropriate by the authority. The phrase ‘for other purposes’ indicates that the OHA may create rules that achieve purposes that are not explicitly stated in sections 3 to 129 or implied from them. This too means that OHA can create rules for the purposes of accommodating religious practice.”

You can view or download their full statement here:

Psychedelic-Bar-Association-statementDownload
In this brand new CE-approved series, Kyle, Veronika Gold, and experts in trauma and ketamine-assisted therapy (KAP) explore the ethical and compassionate uses of KAP in the treatment of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. Sign up now!

The Entheogenic Practitioners Council of Oregon has also released its public comment letter to the Oregon Health Authority.

“Affordable access to psychedelic healing is perhaps a wholly new equity issue that touches on racial, health, and spiritual equity. Equity means affordable access. Lack of affordability reinforces inequity that exists around race, gender, and class lines. We believe access to psychedelics to be a means of promoting spiritual equity, that we not create “spiritual privilege” as a function of socio-economic privilege. Equity also means culturally-sensitive. It must not impose Western medical paradigms on non- Western approaches to psilocybin.“

You can view or download their full statement here:

Entheogenic-Practitioners-Council-of-Oregon-statementDownload

The Oregon Health Authority will be publishing its written summary of the public comments soon. Stay tuned to hear how Oregon responds to the public outcry to protect religious and spiritual communities!

For those who have been following closely, a revised edition of the proposal for the entheogenic practitioners framework can be viewed/downloaded here.

Revised-proposal-Privileges-and-Duties-of-Entheogenic-Practitioners-v.12Download

Please note that we are continually striving to improve upon this document and welcome feedback on how we can make aboveground entheogenic practice safe and affordable for all. 

To learn more about the movement to protect religious freedom and community access under Measure 109, see: Eyes on Oregon, The Entheogenic Practitioner’s Council of Oregon website, or my earlier article that summarized the beginnings of this fight, “Religious Practice Under Oregon Measure 109.” 

Additionally, Eyes on Oregon will be changing shape over the coming month, from a somewhat sporadic web series into a more traditional and more regularly-released podcast. I will be hosting and interviewing various people from the frontlines in Oregon, with Joe joining when he is able. With so much happening, there’s a lot to talk about, and we hope you tune in.

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PT317 – Jason Grechanik – Ancient Wisdom, Plant Dietas, and The Universe Within

In this episode of the podcast, Joe interviews Jason Grechanik; a tabaquero running plant dietas, an ayahuasca ceremony facilitator at The Temple of the Way of Light, and host of “The Universe Within” (@universewithinpodcast) podcast.

Grechanik tells his story and digs deep into the rich history of shamanism, herbalism, and Indigenous spiritual traditions that span the globe from Siberia and India to Peru. The unifying theme rests on bridging our cultural commonalities; recognizing the fundamental truths consistent across cultures and acknowledging how this seemingly lost knowledge has been kept, guarded, and passed down through epochs of change.

He unfolds the many layers of ayahuasca medicine work; examining plant intelligence, plant dietas, ways of seeing beyond yourself in the world of spirit, and how deep ayahuasca work can inspire gratitude and humility. And he discusses how group containers exemplify universal oneness; the value in both Western and Indigenous medicine; critiques for the current psychedelic renaissance; the power of breathwork; and the debate between traditional plant medicines and newer lab-derived substances – how everything has a spirit, even a mountain. 

Notable Quotes

“I think it’s always really important when we’re talking about these experiences to also realize that they’re extremely personal; that there’s certainly archetypal experiences that these plants can invoke, but they’re very personal as well. And for some people, what they need is the opposite of that. They need to see beauty and love and their own self-worth and to have a very gentle experience. And then other people need to be thrown into the abyss to kind of shake themselves out of something. And I think that’s where that idea of plant intelligence comes in.”

“It’s not that far-fetched to think that these medicines were ancient, and that they were guarded even through apocalypses and catastrophic events and colonization. They kept these things, but why did they keep them? They kept them because they were seen as not only important, but actually something that was inseparable from humanity.”

“All of these things; there’s a time and a place for it. There’s benefits to certain things, there’s some drawbacks to certain ways of doing things, but ultimately it’s: what is going to be best for the patient? And that’s also something that’s fundamental to any holistic medicine, is realizing that there’s no panacea for everyone. We’re all different. We all have different body types, we have different stories, we have different physical ailments, [and] different mental stories. So how do we find the medicine that’s going to be best for us in this moment?”

Links

Jasongrechanik.com

Nicotianarustica.org

The Universe Within podcast

Templeofthewayoflight.org

Santodaime.org

The Bhagavad Gita, by Eknath Easwaran

Dreamshadow.com

The Vedas: With Illustrative Extracts, translated by Ralph T.B. Griffith

About Jason Grechanik

Jason Grechanik’s journey has led him around the world in search of questions he has had about life. Early in his twenties, he began to develop a keen interest in plants: as food, nutrition, life, and medicine. He began learning holistic systems of medicine such as herbalism, Traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and nutrition. That curiosity eventually led him to the Amazon where he began to work with plants to learn traditional ways of healing.

Jason came to work at the ayahuasca healing center Temple of the Way of Light in 2012. After having worked with ayahuasca quite extensively, he began the process of dieting plants in the Shipibo tradition. In 2013, he began working with maestro Ernesto Garcia Torres, delving deep into the world of dieting. Through a prolonged apprenticeship and training, involving prolonged isolation, fasting, and dieting of plants, he was given the blessing to begin working with plants.

He currently runs plant medicine retreats in Peru and travels abroad running dietas. He also works at the Temple of the Way of Light as a facilitator of ayahuasca ceremonies. In 2020, Jason created a podcast called “The Universe Within.”

Socials: Instagram / Facebook / YouTube

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PT305 – Emma Farrell – Plant Spirits, Entities, and Remembering Lost Traditions

In this episode of the podcast, Joe interviews spirit healer, geomancer, and author of the new book, Journeys With Plant Spirits: Plan Consciousness Healing & Natural Magic Practices, Emma Farrell. 

After traveling the world and seeking knowledge for 15 years, a conversation with the spirit of iboga helped her realize that the highest teachings were all there in her own culture, and she could have healing relationships with plants in her own environment – that while it’s beneficial to learn other cultures’ traditions and have reverence for the spirit of other cultures’ medicine plants, you can achieve the same result at home, with plants you can be more connected to, and through a lens you may understand better. 

She discusses her process and the importance of plant dietas; the idea of the “ethical warrior”; the types of energies she sees in different plants; how we’ve forgotten our connection to nature; what can help strengthen connections to plant energies; why she recommends starting a plant exploration with mugwort; the concept of ayahuasca helping you to die consciously; the power of energy fields; how we are the most amazing technology; and how, for many reasons, people are often carrying around attachments they’re not aware of.

Notable Quotes

“What I found was that if you approach our native plants and trees like the oak, alder, elder, etc. with reverence and in a sacred way – as you would with, say, a sacred ceremony with a psychedelic plant – if you approach them in this kind of reverential way, then they can be just as psychedelic.”

“[You] just have to have this patience that the plant spirit knows exactly what you need when you need it and it’s working in the background even if you’re not conscious of it. But then you become conscious of it.”

“I wouldn’t say we’re disconnected [from nature] because we are nature. It’s just that we’ve forgotten our deep connection. And so whenever we’re working with plants and trees (or any plants), it’s just a remembering – remembering who we are.”

“These plants show you what you need to resolve within yourself. The plants don’t fix you. Ayahuasca doesn’t fix you, but she gives you a lot of homework.”

Links

Plantconsciousness.com

Journeys With Plant Spirits: Plant Consciousness Healing & Natural Magic Practices, by Emma Farrell

Wisdomhub.tv

Plant Consciousness Apothecary

Verywellhealth.com: What Is Mugwort?

Druidry.org: Elder

About Emma Farrell

Emma Farrell is a plant spirit healer, geomancer, and author. Emma has held plant diet retreats and ceremonies in England and Wales since 2016. She holds a Master’s Degree in “The Preservation & Development Of Wisdom Culture & The Art Of Liberation” in the Tibetan Buddhist Mahayana Tradition, writing her thesis on “Understanding The Nature Of The Self Through Lucid Dreaming.” Emma spent 2 years at the Lama Tsongkhapa Institute in Tuscany studying under lamas and geshes including her refuge lama, Dagri Rinpoche. Emma has been initiated into Indigenous healing and magical lineages of the British Isles and the Ecuadorian Amazon, has trained in Geomancy, Pranic Healing, and Psychic Surgery. She lives in Somerset, UK, where she runs the Plant Consciousness Apothecary, a remote healing practice and WisdomHub.tv. Emma’s healing practice is grounded in quantum plant technology, which she believes is the healthcare of the future. Emma is the co-founder of Plant Consciousness, the ground-breaking London event about the conscious intelligent world of plants and trees.

Plant Consciousness: Facebook

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PT304 – Jerry B. Brown, Ph.D. – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, Kyle interviews professor of anthropology, author, and historian, Jerry B. Brown, Ph.D.

Together with his wife, Julie M. Brown, MA, he co-authored the book, The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity, where they present compelling anthropological arguments through early Christian frescoes and iconography of the major religion’s long-forgotten entheogenic history.

Brown discusses the historical and cultural use of entheogens, the major universities currently conducting clinical research, the importance of ethics in this space, the question of ‘will psychedelics survive success (in business)?’, the future of these substances in the fields of medicine and mental health, and rides on the back of giant bengal tigers up volcanoes during LSD journeys. He breaks down why it’s important to understand the role of psychedelics in religion and how they can play a large role in the returning of faiths to their mystical roots, and he highlights two important areas professionals ought to be well-versed in: the establishment of trust between the therapist and client, and the technique of guided imagery – evoking mental images and symbols to facilitate deep healing.

Brown teaches our CE-approved six-part course entitled “Psychedelics: Past, Present and Future,” and is one of the teachers of Vital, which begins on Bicycle Day, April 19th. Applications for Vital close on March 27th, so if you’re considering joining in, now is the time to act!

Notable Quotes

“The magic …is that it is the spiritual experience – the intensity of the mystical experience – that seems to be the kind of magical key that opens the door to healing, to what Grof calls the activation of that inner self-healing intelligence that psychedelics bring to the surface.”

“To borrow an American Civil Liberties Union phrase, ‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’. And I think that eternal vigilance within the psychedelic community against all kinds of abuse by egomaniacal leaders or ‘phony holies,’ as Julie and I call them (people who want to put themselves out as a spiritual leader and they have no credentials for that); that’s going to happen. And we have to be vigilant for that so it doesn’t derail the good things that are happening.”

“Guided imagery along with psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy could help heal even cancer, not just alleviate the psychological anxiety and depression.”

Links

Psychedeliceducationcenter.com: Psychedelics: Past, Present, and Future

Psychedelicgospels.com

Psychedelics Today: PT266 – Jerry B. Brown, Ph.D. – Psychedelics: Past, Present, and Future

Pewresearch.org: More Americans now say they’re spiritual but not religious

The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity, by Jerry B. Brown, Ph.D., and Julie M. Brown, MA

God: A Story of Revelation, by Deepak Chopra

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, by Michael Pollan

Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life, by Shakti Gawain

Healing with the Mind’s Eye: How to Use Guided Imagery and Visions to Heal Body, Mind, and Spirit, by Michael Samuels

Healing Visualizations: Creating Health Through Imagery, by Gerald Epstein

Bergin and Garfield’s Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, edited by Wolfgang Lutz, Louis G. Castonguay, and Michael Barkham

About Jerry B. Brown, Ph.D.

Jerry B. Brown, Ph.D., is an anthropologist, author, and ethnomycologist. He is a Founding Professor of Anthropology at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, where he teaches an online course on “Psychedelics and Culture.” He also co-created the “Psychedelics: Past, Present, and Future” course for us. Professor Brown teaches and writes on psychedelics and religion as well as on psychedelic therapy. He is coauthor (with Julie Brown, LMHC, an integrative psychotherapist and also his wife) of The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity, 2016.

Psychedelic Gospels socials: Facebook

 

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PT298 – Michael Sapiro, PsyD – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, Kyle interviews Michael Sapiro, PsyD: clinical psychologist, writer, meditation researcher, integrative coach, former Buddhist monk, Vital teacher, and now 3-time podcast guest. 

They begin with what he feels is the most vital conversation we should be having now, then he discusses the idea of bringing psychedelics to prisons; his mental time travel work with The Institute for Love and Time (TILT); building an ecosystem where those with means pay full price to enable those with less money a discount; rebuilding trust in the medical community; and the difference between a diploma and real-world experience and proper training. 

And he talks about the mystical experience, working with clients, and education: how so much more training is necessary than people realize, and how so much of the true education is learning how to vocalize an internal experience (and then integrating the positive aspects into everyday life). He talks about the complicated dynamics involved in what many see as a fantasy career; how he knows when to intervene; how he views “doing your own work”; whether or not the work can be gentle or joyous; the idea of joking during a session; his work with combat veterans and the intensity of 5-MeO-DMT; mainstreaming mysticism; and trusting that the universe has our backs. 

Notable Quotes

“We want people to have real, internal experiences that they’re aware of and they can vocalize, and that is the actual education; not just the knowledge I’m giving them about what this drug does to the brain or how you identify something. It’s really: What is alive in you, how do you identify what’s alive in you, how do you use it in real time, and then how do you navigate those circumstances and change and grow? That’s the real learning process.” 

“The mystical experience is a present moment experience where the universe unfolds in front, within, and around you, and then we integrate that into our human self. So Mike gets this amazing introduction to the universe through an experience and then it comes in and becomes insight and knowledge, and then hopefully practical application. So that’s where I think, in the end, we actually transform; is when that knowledge becomes integrated into the fabric of our own being [and] into our personality, and now Mike and the universe are more melded.”

“Zen is serious until you learn the universe is playful, and then you get to be kind of playful with it.” 

“My hope is that all of us touch on the unconditional love that’s here for us, within us. And once you touch that, you can’t not offer it. You can’t not take care of other things. …This work gives us access to what’s already fundamentally true, and helps us bridge that with everything else.”

Links

MichaelSapiro.com

Psychedelics Today: PT214 – Dr. Michael Sapiro – Engaged Spirituality: Bringing the Mystical Into the Ordinary

Psychedelics Today: Dr. Michael Sapiro – How Meditation, Mindfulness and the Psychedelic Experience Relate

Noetic.org

Loveandtime.org (TILT: The Institute for Love and Time)

Springer.com: Mental Time Travel? A Neurocognitive Model of Event Simulation

iRest.org

Missionwithin.org

Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek

About Michael Sapiro, PsyD

Michael Sapiro, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist, writer, meditation researcher, and former Buddhist monk. He is on faculty at Esalen Institute, is a Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and is completing a study on time travel, hope, and love with Dr. Julia Mossbridge of The Institute for Love and Time. Dr. Sapiro teaches nationally on the art and science of transformation, expanded human capabilities, and futuremaking. He is the integrative psychologist at the Boise Ketamine Clinic where he offers Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP and KAT) sessions, and is an integrative coach with VETS, helping former Navy Seals and other special operations team members recover from combat exposure with psychedelic-assisted therapy. He hosts a syndicated radio program called Radio Awakened out of KRBX. His work is dedicated to personal awakening for the sake of collective and planetary transformation. He can be found at Michaelsapiro.com.

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PT296 – Dr. David Luke – Vital Psychedelic Conversations

In this episode of Vital Psychedelic Conversations, Kyle interviews researcher, author, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich, and Co-Founder and Director of the Breaking Convention conference: Dr. David Luke. 

Luke talks about the importance of understanding the full range of psychedelic experiences; the difficulty in defining and measuring the transpersonal, how science has pathologized (and religion has demonized) the weird; the need for counselors to be open minded to the reality (and after effects) of their clients’ experiences; the problem of trying to apply science to something science can’t define; and how the most important thing we need is community. 

And he talks about DMT and entity encounters: What could these encounters represent, or what could these entities be? And why do people who have these experiences have such massive shifts in belief afterward? While he can’t answer these questions, he shares a few stories of his own that led to prolonged, incremental ontological shock in his own life, including elves taking light from the sky and putting it into his chest, and meeting a being with “multiple snake body tentacles all morphing in a kind of fibonacci spiral covered in thousands of eyeballs.”

Reminder that each of the guests on Vital Psychedelic Conversations is a part of the teaching team for our 12-month Certificate course, Vital. We’re taking applications until March 27th, and classes begin April 19th!

Notable Quotes

“I would have these extraordinary experiences which I couldn’t quite explain, which begged me to kind of reconsider my worldview about the nature of reality. And just as I maybe started to incorporate that and go, ‘Okay, I feel comfortable with that now, that isn’t really so mind-blowing to me any more,’ …I’d have another experience which would be even more mind-blowing than that, and I’d have to try and get my head around it. And then on and on it went. …It’s a series of just shattering your beliefs and then just staring at them on the floor and wondering how to reconstruct them.”

“When your ‘boggle-threshold’ just gets exceeded, it finally finds some new equilibrium in a more expanded kind of worldview. But then that can be exceeded again. [There] doesn’t appear to be any apparent limit on how far out we can go with our beliefs. But just a word of caution: Keep an open mind, but not so much that your brains fall out.” 

“Experiences are real. It’s a real experience, no matter what. If you are somewhere in another dimension encountering with impossible entities, then it’s still a real experience. It doesn’t mean the phenomena are real or the entities exist, but it’s a real experience. …And that has a profound effect. We see these profound effects and how [they shift] people’s beliefs, so they should be treated with that respect and seriousness.”

“The very fact that the mystical experiences even are in the scientific parlance; [are] in the research agendas; [are] in some of the clinical research (not all of it); and being talked about is a massive shift. Basically, up until very recently, what we might consider a mystical experience was either demonized or pathologized. Now it’s completely done a 180, and it seems to be part of the solution for mental health problems instead.”

Links

His Certificate course at Alef Trust: “Psychedelics, Altered States and Transpersonal Psychology”

Academia.edu profile (publications & past public events)

University of Greenwich profile

ResearchGate profile

ORCID profile

Loop profile

DMT research profile

BreakingConvention.co.uk

Psychedelics Today: Breaking Convention Series: David Luke – Transpersonal Ecopsychology and Psychedelics

The Hard Problem of Consciousness

Newatlas.com: Largest ever DMT survey travels to the fringes of psychedelic science

Pubmed: Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance

DMT Entity Encounters: Dialogues on the Spirit Molecule, with Ralph Metzner, Chris Bache, Jeffrey Kripal, Whitley Strieber, Angela Voss, and Others, Edited by David Luke and Roroy Spowers

“Disembodied Eyes Revisited: An investigation into the Ontology of Entheogenic Entity Encounters,” by Dr. David Luke

The referenced John C. Lilly quote

Frontiersin.org: An Encounter With the Other: A Thematic and Content Analysis of DMT Experiences From a Naturalistic Field Study

About Dr. David Luke

Dr. David Luke is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Greenwich. His research focuses on transpersonal experiences, anomalous phenomena and altered states of consciousness, especially via psychedelics, having published more than 100 academic papers in this area, including ten books, most recently DMT Entity Encounters. When he is not running clinical drug trials with LSD, conducting DMT field experiments or observing apparent weather control with Mexican shamans, he directs the Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness salon and is a cofounder and director of Breaking Convention: International Conference on Psychedelic Consciousness.

Dr. David Luke socials: Twitter / Instagram 
Breaking Convention socials: Twitter / Instagram / Facebook

Photo credit: Jonny Greet – Breaking Convention

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