Psychedelics Today

Download In this episode, Kyle and Joe host Rebecca Ann Hill and David Jay Brown, Authors of the book, Women of Visionary Art. The book showcases the work and inspiration of female artists such as Josephine Wall, Allison Grey, Amanda Sage, Martina Hoffman, Carolyn Mary Kleefeld and many others. 3 Key Points: Rebecca Ann Hill and David Jay Brown are co-authors of the book, Women of Visionary Art, which includes discussions with 18 female artists. The book and the episode are an exploration of the role that dreaming, psychedelic experiences, and mystical visions play in visionary art. There is a strong need for a balancing of masculine and feminine energies. Females tend to be more nurturing and more cooperative, and it's exactly the factors that are missing in our current world and are causing problems of greed. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About David David's background is in Psychobiology, the interface between psychology and biology He spent 10-15 years working in neuroscience and research labs His interest in Neuroscience came from his experience as a teenager, experimenting with psychedelics He wrote his first book, The Science of Psychedelics, about 10 years ago David mentions that the psychedelic renaissance has allowed him to write openly about psychedelic topics that he's been preparing his whole life researching for About Rebecca aka Molly Moon Sparkles She has a huge creative drive She is currently studying psychology and is playing in the art program She is fascinated by entheogens, plant medicines and psychedelic compounds She is a painter and is working on the Molly Moon Magick Series that focuses on the divine feminine She wrote and illustrated the book Ecstatic Love, Lost Dreams and Mystic Visions Psychedelics and Creativity There is strong evidence that psychedelics improve creativity Music, art, technology, so many great things are influenced by psychedelics Putting the Book Together David was so fascinated with the visions he would see on psychedelics and wished that he had the talent to portray it through artwork, and then he began to see artists bring these visions to life He also saw a lot of gender inequality, that there were more men than women in the visionary art space It urged him to highlight the under recognized women in visionary art Rebecca was experimenting with other realms with plant medicines and psychedelic compounds She says her consciousness was so drastically different from any other time in her life, and she started painting her psychedelic experiences This led her to begin building community with other artists who shared the same 'vision' as her She said that the psychedelic experience has so much feminine nature to it that wasn't being voiced "We are going through a serious ecological crisis right now and the teachings behind the psychedelic experience is to heal the collective and help climate change" - Rebecca Stanley Krippner conducted a survey of artists and psychedelics The Imbalance of Masculine and Feminine There is an uprising of feminism with the "Me Too" movement, women in congress, women's marches Our species has been so dominated by men and we need the nurturing and caring aspects of the feminine perspective Surprising Aspects of the Women The most surprising aspect is how much in common the women had David says it was beautiful how well each artist was connected to each other through their stories Laura Holden is completely self taught There were two women from the book that had never touched a psychedelic substance They were inspired through dreams and daydreams The psychedelic experience not only inspires the artwork, but it creates a new way of viewing artwork Kyle mentions that he always wished he could record his dreams Joe says he has been seeing research around capturing visual or imagined imagery Discovering the Artists David discovered most of the artists that he had not previously known through the community Rebecca had been a part of as visionary artists COSM and Entheon August 3rd, Rebecca and David are giving a presentation as COSM in New York Entheon, the Sanctuary for Visual art may be open by them Entheon will have workshops, painting classes, rooms to stay in, full moon ceremonies, etc. It will be an art sanctuary, a church with a spiritual and psychedelic essence Visionary art is getting into museums and becoming a recognized art form The Desperate Need for Balance Terrence McKenna told David that early on in human civilization, men didn't understand the role that sex had in creating babies The power of reproduction was within women and sex was something else Once men began thinking that they were responsible for the generation of life, they starting saying its "my baby" its "my wife" instead of 'our' baby or the community's baby. It kept developing into "my child" into "my country", "MY". Then people started using less psychedelics and started consuming more alcohol and now everything is an over exaggerated male dominance "Females tend to be more nurturing and more cooperative, and it's exactly the factors that are missing in our current world and are causing problems of greed. It could be balanced and harmonized with more feminine energy." - David There is a crucial imbalance from male and female in history alone But more than an imbalance between just males and females, it's about an imbalance of masculine and feminine energies Each of us, male and females have both a masculine and feminine energy We can see the masculine and feminine imbalance in the world and our planet right now. We don't need to shift to a goddess worshiping planet, but we just need to be back in balance and bring more feminine energy of nurturing and compassion and caring and healing Penny (an artist highlighted in the book) mentions about Sandos giving LSD to researchers who gave it to artists Getting Involved "If you want to get involved in painting, dancing, making jewelry, clothing, gardening, don't wait. Do it. If you are true to yourself and your own inner visions, you will succeed" - Rebecca One thing all artists have in common is fear and insecurity, so you can't let it hinder you from beginning Final Thoughts Artists like Android Jones are doing visionary artwork in virtual reality mediums David thinks visionary artwork will become only even more interactive and immersive spaces We need to find a more yin-yang balance between masculine and feminine Links Women of Visionary Art (Amazon) Women of Visionary Art (Inner Traditions) David's Site Rebecca's Site MollyMoonSparkle blog About Rebecca Rebecca Ann Hill (AKA Molly Moon Sparkle), is a visual artist with a wide range of experience in different creative mediums. She is the co-author and illustrator of "Ecstatic Love, Lost Dreams & Mystic Visions", as well as "Women of Visionary Art." Primarily a painter, she is creating a new series entitled "Molly Moon Magick," and her other projects include dancing with "Gold Town Burlesque," writing a blog -"Go Ask Molly"- and working on a new book about her spiritual awakening. About David David Jay Brown is the author of Dreaming Wide Awake: Lucid Dreaming, Shamanic Healing and Psychedelics, and The New Science of Psychedelics: At the Nexus of Culture, Consciousness, and Spirituality. He is also the coauthor of five other bestselling volumes of interviews with leading-edge thinkers, Mavericks of the Mind, Voices from the Edge, Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse, Mavericks of Medicine, Frontiers of Psychedelic Consciousness, and of Women of Visionary Art. Additionally, Brown is the author of two science fiction novels,Brainchild and Virus, and he is the coauthor of the health science book Detox with Oral Chelation. Brown holds a master's degree in psychobiology from New York University, and was responsible for the California-based research in two of British biologist Rupert Sheldrake's books on unexplained phenomena in science: Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and The Sense of Being Stared At. His work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Wired, Discover, and Scientific American, and he was the Senior Editor of the special edition, themed MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) Bulletins from 2007 to 2012. In 2011, 2012, and 2013 Brown was voted "Best Writer" in the annual Good Times and Santa Cruz Weekly's "Best of Santa Cruz" polls, and his news stories have been picked up by The Huffington Post and CBS News.

Download In this episode, hosts Kyle and Joe interview Balázs Szigeti, PhD and David Erritzoe, PhD to discuss the self-blinded microdosing study in collaboration with the Imperial College London. In this episode, they explore the self-blinding study and it's pros and limitations, with the aim to collect data on microdosing and its possible benefits. 3 Key Points: Microdosing (LSD) has the least amount of research so far among research on drugs like Psilocybin, MDMA and Ketamine. This microdosing study includes a procedure on how self experimenters can implement placebo control. This will help determine whether microdosers feel benefits due to the placebo effect or because of the pharmacological action of the microdose. Just because microdosing may have a placebo effect (the way a user feels while taking it) it may actually have benefits that one cannot necessarily 'feel' (users may become more creative, have better problem solving skills, etc). Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Balázs Balazs attended his undergrad in the UK at Imperial College and studied Theoretical Physics He moved to Scotland to get his PhD in Computational Neuroscience He became interested in psychedelics via the Global Drug Survey He was doing MDMA research and then the microdosing project came to him About David He is a medical doctor and works in clinical psychology doing research He does brain imaging and his background has been in addiction, depression and schizophrenia He did his postdoc at Imperial and worked with Robert Carhart Harris He worked in a clinical trial working with people of treatment resistant depression He is currently working on an online survey for microdosing Psychedelic Medicine MDMA for PTSD is the most advanced in terms of available scientific evidence for psychedelic medicine There is already a big gap in psilocybin vs MDMA for treatment There isn't much research on microdosing yet In order to do research on microdosing, you'd have to bring in a 'patient' and have them in the lab for many hours at a time, very frequently, and it's not practical The Microdosing Study In this microdosing study, they are testing cognitive function The user will have to fill out a questionnaire throughout the duration of the microdose There were a lot of things, very political for the downfall of psychedelic science When the double-blind method was introduced for science, it used methods that would have compromised the 'setting' of taking psychedelics There is a manual that the users have to follow for the setup process Its a semi-randomized process where they take the microdose over 4 weeks and it may be either the psychedelic or a placebo It works on a method of a dose hidden in a capsule assigned to a QR code, where the user doesn't know what they take until the end of the study This is a study inviting people that plan to microdose a blotter based psychedelic Its a hands-off study of observation, based on a users own plan on taking the substance Limitations of the Study Its half-way between a clinical study and an observational study They aren't sending the users the LSD, they are just providing the platform for the users to share their experience on In this trial, the flaw is that the research team doesn't know the dose size of the blotter the user takes, it could start as a 100mg, more, less. Its a variable that cannot be controlled The fix would be to have the LSD sent to the lab, tested for dose size, and then sent back to the user (anonymously), but since it's illegal it cannot be done It's also hard to determine even distribution of a blotter into microdose size They don't know if the user is cutting the blotter paper like a pie or in squares Also, because the drug is being bought on the black market, they wont know if there are adulterants in the drug unless the user tests the drug themselves David and Balázs also say that based on current findings, most LSD tested is pure LSD, where a drug like MDMA is more common to contain an adulterant They do have plans to extend the study to include plant based psychedelics and volumetric dosing What is a Psychedelic Microdose? Psychedelic microdosing is not the same as Pharmacological microdosing A microdose in pharmacological context is 1/100th of a dose, where a psychedelic microdose is more like 1/10th of a dose Is Microdosing Worth it? People like David Nichols and Ben Sessa think microdosing is pointless It could be that microdosing is a glorified placebo effect Most people who are microdosing have had previous experience with psychedelics People are doing it because they believe there is a benefit that comes from it The placebo control is the most important component of this self-blinded method People say that microdosing stimulates their creativity, but creativity is hard to measure One thing they could measure is personality through a personality assessment One thing that has been studied is an increase in the 'Openness' personality trait after psychedelic use The flaw is that a personality test is a person answering questions about themselves Current Findings The benefit of this study, is it doesn't take people out of their natural, personal setting Based on the feedback already received, the users are getting their guess right only half of the time, on whether it is the microdose or the placebo Just because microdosing may have a placebo effect (the way they feel while taking it) it may actually have benefits (users may be more creative, have better problem solving skills, etc). Homeopathy is widely believed to be a placebo effect in the scientific community, but the homeopathy is continuing to grow Links Self-blinding Microdose Study About Balázs Szigeti, PhD Dr. Balazs Szigeti has studied theoretical physics at Imperial College, but turned towards neuroscience for his PhD studies at the University of Edinburgh. His main work is about the behavioural neuroscience of invertebrates, but he has a diverse scientific portfolio that includes computational neuroscience and driving forward the OpenWorm open science initiative. Balazs is also the editor of the Dose of Science blog that is published in collaboration with the Drugreporter website. Dose of Science discusses and critically assesses scientific studies about recreational drugs. Recently Balazs has started a collaboration with the Global Drug Survey to quantitatively compare the dose of recreational users of various drugs with the scientific literature. About David Erritzoe, PhD Dr. David Erritzoe is qualified as a medical doctor from Copenhagen University Medical School and currently holds an Academic Clinical Lectureship in Psychiatry at Imperial College London. Alongside his clinical training in medicine/psychiatry, David has been involved in psychopharmacological research, using brain-imaging techniques such as PET and MRI. He has conducted post-doc imaging research in the neurobiology of addictions and major depression. Together with Prof Nutt and Dr Carhart-Harris he is also investigating the neurobiology and therapeutic potential of MDMA and classic psychedelics.

Download In this episode, Joe interviews Nathan Sepeda, a Research Coordinator at Johns Hopkins. Joe and Nathan cover topics on 5-MEO-DMT research and survey studies, the difference between synthetic and toad sourced 5-MEO-DMT, the sustainability of the Bufo Alvarius toad, and the benefits of a proper facilitator. 3 Key Points: 5-MEO-DMT is starting to gain traction in the research world. The conversation continues on whether the synthetic 5-MEO-DMT experience is any different from a 5-MEO-DMT experience sourced from the toad venom. As the popularity of 5-MEO-DMT increases, concerns about the wellbeing and sustainability of the Bufo Alvarius toad also increases. Proper facilitation has been shown to affect a person's experience on a substance like 5-MEO-DMT. The use of a practitioner, finding the substance from a reputable source, and integration all play a critical role in the user's experience. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes 5-MEO-DMT Joe found out about Nathan Sepeda and the work being done on 5-MEO-DMT after Johns Hopkins released a poster on 5-MEO-DMT Alan Davis put together a survey about people's 5-MEO-DMT experiences Half of the use was recreational, and then the other half of survey participants used more of a therapeutic approach set and setting including a sitter and integration The study found that the more structured the 5-MEO-DMT experience was around set and setting, the more often participants reported a more mystical experience as well as a lower likelihood of having a difficult experience The survey only looked at synthetic 5-MEO-DMT Using 5-MEO-DMT from a toad also runs the risk of the other toad venom constituents Joe said the first time he heard about data on 5-MEO-DMT was at the Oakland Psychedelic Science Conference in 2017 Stan Grof had a keynote saying that 5-MEO-DMT was the future of psychiatry Toad Conservation The Bufo Alvarius toad's population is increasingly declining Joe says he knows someone who lives on the Mexican border in the Sonoran desert, and he would have toads jump into his house all the time He doesn't even see them anymore Joe also mentions the toads flocking to the UV street lights, and people scooping them up or even running them over "How do we do less harm to living things and treat our environment better?" - Joe Nathan's Role at Hopkins Nathan is the Research Coordinator of Psychedelic Studies at Johns Hopkins He works as an Assistant Facilitator (sitter) for the psychoactive drug sessions He is involved in Psilocybin studies (currently the depression study) He says he is grateful to be a part of the research, seeing people change in a matter of days from the help of the substances Nathan has a background in Psychology and Neuroscience Mary Cosimano is the primary facilitator for all of the studies at Johns Hopkins His training consisted of mock sessions, ways to ask/answer questions, and overall hold the space A lot of people will describe their experience being the most spiritual experience of their life Joe asks about upset stomach with synthetic 5-MEO-DMT Nathan responds saying they ask patients to eat a light breakfast, but he never really sees upset stomach with synthetic 5-MEO Proper Facilitation The use of a practitioner and finding the substance from a reputable source are the two biggest factors in having a great experience, along with integration Nathan says that these findings are preliminary but they are a great start to data on the substance and its use Joe says he is cautious about the religious affiliation people prescribe to their experience with these substances It can get out of hand, there are "shamans" that taze people or throw buckets of cold water on their patients when they are on the substance Waterboarding, sexual assault, all of these things speak to the value of screening practitioners Joe has heard about a facilitator using an extremely high amount of 5-MEO-DMT on his patients, far above the effective dose Joe mentions a story about a "shaman" who was to facilitate a session. The participant thought they were going to do standard DMT, and the shaman gave them 5-MEO-DMT instead (without the users consent) Joe suggests that just because you know a reputable source for a substance, doesn't mean they are a good facilitator Final Thoughts People can find information on the study at clinicaltrials.gov People can apply by contacting Nathan's team directly They will have room for healthy volunteers in healthy volunteer studies in the future They are currently working on "insight surveys" that are surveys asking people about their psychedelic experiences Links Hopkins Psychedelic Research Website About Nathan Sepeda Nathan Sepeda is an assistant facilitator (or guide) for psychoactive drug sessions and research coordinator for the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Unit. Nathan earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota studying psychology and neuroscience. His interests in addiction and mood disorders, in combination with the promising research with psychedelics, have led Nathan to Dr. Roland Griffiths' lab. Nathan is involved in a number of projects investigating the effects of various psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, salvinorin-A, and 5-MeO-DMT.

Download In this episode, Kyle interviews Dr. Jenifer Talley, Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Director at the Center for Optimal Living that does harm reduction in psychotherapy. Topics include the current stigma of substance use and the benefits of using a harm reduction approach. 3 Key Points: Dr. Jenifer Talley is a Clinical Psychologist at the Center for Optimal Living who practices harm reduction with her psychotherapy clients. Substance abuse is typically a symptom of a bigger issue. Jenifer uses a model called the 7 Therapeutic Tasks that helps build a safe relationship with her clients in adjusting their substance abuse mindset. There is a stigma on substance use, and shifting away from the current model into a harm reduction framework could help users be more receptive to change and healing. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Dr. Jenifer Talley Jenifer grew up outside of DC and moved up to New York area for her internship and was working with female survivors of trauma and substance use at St. Luke's Hospital. Dr. Tatarsky has founded the Center for Optimal Living and she is the Assistant Director The Center for Optimal Living is known best for their work with substance use and harm reduction Substance Abuse Jenifer says that 'abstinence only' or 'abstinence first' approach doesn't really work It's all about determining the relationship the patients want to have with a substance People really struggle with vulnerability and trauma is a player as to why someone wants to use a substance "Substance use is a symptom of a bigger issue" - Jenifer It's unfair to ask someone to change without asking the whole system to change 7 Therapeutic Tasks The Therapeutic Alliance - Letting the client know they can trust them The Therapeutic Relationship Heals - Jenifer says they are sensitive about creating a safe therapeutic relationship with clients Enhancing Self Management Skills - How to better help with coping skills, shifting how people relate to cravings "What's driving my urge to go for a drink right now?" Loneliness, boredom and sadness are reasons for craving Assessment as Treatment - What was the craving, how did they respond to that craving, how did they give into the craving, how did they feel afterward When Friday night rolls around, can the client picture the guilt and shame of Monday morning in that moment? Embracing Ambivalence - The client might have different parts of themselves, one part of them may want to really work on healing and change, and the other part of them might never want to change Goal Setting - helping clients think through bigger lifestyle changes they want to make, such as diet, self care activities, and specific substance use related goals Personalized Plan for Change - asking people to really evaluate their use Substance Use Stigma How do we not be judgmental about someone's substance use, and care about their safety? Jenifer says she feels very protective about people she works with, and is very sensitive to her clients because of the shame about their drug use Clients Under the Influence Jenifer asks herself "does this person need medical attention right now?" She had a client that came in intoxicated but they were able to have a conversation still But she didn't let him go home because the fact that he drank She gave him food and water and waited until he was able to get home safely She thought about it from a compassionate approach and thought "what is that telling us about his use?" and the next time the client came in they said their drinking was hardly manageable Harm Reduction Model There is a gap in training as clinicians as providers In the US specifically, the 12 step process and abstinence are used which are a part of the disease model There is a lot of stigma and shame in calling someone an addict The fear about the harm reduction model is that it is thought to lead to decriminalization The other issue is that the harm reduction model is thought to not include abstinence Jenifer says it does include abstinence, she just doesn't lead with the abstinence approach Kyle mentions that a common thought for clinicians is "How do I incorporate a hard reduction approach without condoning drug use?" Jenifer says the drug use is happening already The first step is noticing your own biases first, and then getting informed about the model Andrew Tatarsky's Book Patt Denning and Jeannie Little - Over the Influence Shifting to the Harm Reduction Model Help clients build a life that they are happy with 3 day training coming up The training goes into the history and why there needs to be a paradigm shift in looking at addiction The second and third days really go into the 7 Therapeutic Tasks Because there is more funding, they are going to train the region of Florida to train the staff at the Department of Health The idea of harm reduction might be less appealing to parents, so they really focus on educating parents and teens on harm reduction versus strict abstinence Safety First Robert Meyers Kyle mentions a statistic he read saying that the older generation's vice is alcohol, and that young adults are using opioids and pills Psychedelic Education and Continuing Care Program is psychedelic harm reduction Final Thoughts A harm reduction approach is necessary to teach people how to test, it could possibly save lives Families for Sensible Drug Policy We need to re-humanize treatment for users Links JeniferTalley Center for Optimal Living Check out our online course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Dr. Jenifer Talley As the Assistant Director of The Center for Optimal Living, Jenifer coordinates clinical services and training activities along with providing individual psychotherapy.Together with Dr. Andrew Tatarsky, she started the first-ever Harm Reduction Psychotherapy Certificate Program. In her clinical work at The Center for Optimal Living, she provides individual psychotherapy using an integrative harm reduction framework where the focus is on developing a collaborative and compassionate relationship with my clients to promote positive change.

Download In this episode, Joe and Kyle sit down with Renn Butler, who graduated from the second ever class of Holotropic Breathwork in 1989. During the show, they discuss topics on Breathwork, Stan Grof practices, archetypal astrology and the astrological landscape we are entering in 2019. 3 Key Points: Renn Butler is an Archetypal and Holotropic Astrologer since the 70's who uses astrology in his Breathwork practice. Stan Grof's Internalized Protocol includes lying down with eye shades and headphones with a sober sitter. A sober sitter is more common in therapeutic settings versus the shamanistic group settings, and Renn believes there is more benefit to a sober sitter in a personal session than a group session. We are moving into a Jupiter square Neptune for all of 2019. Neptune represents our soul's yearning to reawaken to the universal field of consciousness and Jupiter amplifies whatever it touches, so we are entering into a time of opportunity for self exploration and awakening. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Renn Renn became interested in Stan Grof's work through many conversations with Richard Tarnas in 1980, and then participated in a Grof month long session with guests like Gwen Frishkoff He spent much time in Esalon He remembers walking through the hallways where the mandalas from breathwork sessions were hung He has been an Archetypal/Holotropic Astrologer since the 70's Archetypal Astrology Stan Grof looked at ways to determine the content of people's experiences in assisted psychotherapy Through his friendship with Richard Tarnas, he found that people's planetary alignments or 'transits' corresponded in a remarkable way with their experience in a session "The purpose of astrology is to predict the meaning behind events rather than trying to determine the specific concrete forms they take." - Renn Carl Jung coined the term archetype based on the Greek word "arche", which means 'the forms' It's the psychological meaning behind events Richard learned astrology by looking at his sessions and the content of the sessions and their correlation with astrological transits Based on his findings, he was able to predict the best days to do sessions A Powerful Breathwork Session Renn had Kundalini Experiences happening for 4 years Transiting Pluto was conjoining his natal Neptune Pluto compels into being whatever archetypes it aligns with Neptune represents divine consciousness He did a 5 hour breathwork session that caused him to re-live aspects of toxic womb (disturbances of intrauterine life) Pluto can help clear out disturbances of the psyche At the end of the session, he felt way more cleared out than he did before It resolved his Kundalini episode that he was in for the last few years Kundalini Awakenings Some describe it as energy moving up the spine or chakra It means to clear out leftover traumatic baggage in the psyche People can have emotional outbursts and start crying or screaming as they discharge the energy Afterward, they will care what happens to the ecosystem and around them and want to be a part of the solution Spiritual Emergence and Psychosis Joe asks when to tell the difference between knowing if someone is going through a Spiritual Emergence or needs hospitalization Renn responds saying you need to look for if the person is taking responsibility for their healing versus projecting. Projecting would be someone saying "You guys are trying to poison me" versus taking responsibility and saying "I'm feeling toxic feelings inside myself" Free Webinar on Spiritual Emergence and Psychosis Renn mentions a woman who did 90 LSD sessions with Stan Grof "The greatest therapeutic outcomes exist with intelligent well established individuals whose lives become boring and rigid in routine" - Stan Grof Current Astrological Alignments The Astrological Alignments for the next few years are supercharged Uranus square Pluto - a powerful set of archetypes The last time this happened was the end of the 60's Richard Tarnas calls it the 'sunset effect', colors will saturate the sky in the archetypal realm Many people are going to have dramatic healing breakthroughs and openings until 2020 For those who are a bit skeptical about astrology, Renn suggest reading newer texts; Cosmos and Psyche Prometheus the Awakener Making the Gods Work for You Horoscope Symbols Planets in Transit Astrological Transits in Relation to Breathwork Richard's correlation of the outer planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto with Grof's 4 perinatal matrices shows the process of revolutionizing astrology Carl Jung would do chart work before seeing all of his patients He would try to find transits with Jupiter, Uranus, Venus, etc There are no astrological alignments that would be too dangerous to do journey-work during But Renn says it's like putting up the lightning rod during certain transits during breathwork "Lie back and let the mother give birth to you" - Renn Renn says it's safer if you are on your back during journey work versus walking around and facing gravity and falling or hurting yourself Grof Internalized Protocol One patient at a time (sitter, breather team) to lie down, wear eye shades, and listen to music through headphones The sitter agrees not to judge or direct the process or abandon the process You can expect miracles with this type of protocol You can't face this material by yourself, you really need people you trust, who are sober and not doing a substance, one person at a time Renn says the ayahuasca revolution has brought a lot of greatness to the western world, but the shamanic traditions usually meant that the shaman drinks with the clients to have a magical insight into the users psyche Sitter Role In a therapeutic framework, the sitter is sober and lets the client do all of the work, and the sitter is there to assist, but not to interfere with the process Stan describes it as a way to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks Renn brings up an example of 3 people doing mushrooms together One person might be feeling aggressive, and another person might feel like a baby wanting to be held The aggressive person won't want to be doing any cuddling One person does the catalyst, and the other 2 support them, and then the next time they rotate Renn thinks one deep session is more beneficial than 3 'half-assed' sessions Interruptions During Sessions Some people have a fear that their experience may interrupt another person's experience Renn says that if someone is laughing or screaming or crying that he understands it is just a part of the universe of the way things just are He is shocked to hear stories about people having a loud experience getting taken out away from the rest of the group and told to contain themselves Kyle mentions that sounds usually aren't a bother, and the loud music helps But it's talking, English words that bring people out of a session People can have great ayahuasca ceremonies, and then they think that ayahuasca is the best psychedelic out there Renn says that all psychedelics are great tools But he encourages people to try breathwork and this solo session style healing Joe says he dreams of a place where shamanism takes a look at the solo process and maybe not always the group process, that all cultures can combine our knowledge for the best result 2019 We are moving into a Jupiter square Neptune for all of 2019, 90 degrees between Jupiter and Neptune Neptune represents our soul's yearning to reawaken to the larger world's soul, to the universal field of consciousness Jupiter amplifies whatever it touches This presents a large opportunity for self exploration, with a feeling of deeper cosmic safety "It seems like our psyche's wait until things are safe for the deepest material to surface." - Renn Renn says it's good to focus on death so that we can constantly keep our priorities straight Links A Week of Holotropic Breathwork, Dreamwork, Archetypal Astrology, and Visits to Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Mexico Archetypal Astrology Consultations Renn's Books The Archetypal Universe Pathways to Wholeness Check out our online course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Renn Following a B.A. in English and Religious Studies from the University of Alberta, Renn Butler lived at the Esalen Institute in California for 2½ years where he became deeply immersed in the transpersonal psychology of Stanislav Grof and the emerging archetypal astrology of Richard Tarnas. He completed training as a Holotropic Breathwork facilitator with Stan and Christina Grof in 1989 and has facilitated many workshops in Victoria, Canada. His research includes over three decades of archetypal-astrology consultations and Holotropic Breathwork workshops, and thirty-five years of Jungian-Grofian dreamwork.

Download In this unique episode, Joe brings Tom Hatsis and Dr. Jerry Brown together for a psychedelic debate. They go back in forth in conversation on whether there was psychedelic use in medieval or ancient Christianity and if so, was there a secret tradition of including art of mushrooms or psychedelic substances in cathedrals and castles. 3 Key Points: Jerry Brown makes the claim that there is evidence of visionary plants in Christianity and the life of Jesus found in medieval art and biblical scripture. Tom Hatsis makes the claim that Christianity is not hiding a giant secret inside the biblical texts about the true hallucinogen at the root of the religion being an Amanita Muscaria. Jerry and Tom debate back and forth, pulling from art and textual evidence (and lack thereof) to support or deny the claim that Psychedelic Mushrooms are the root of Christian religion. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes Jerry B. Brown PhD. Anthropologist, Author and Activist Served as the Prof of Anthropology at FIU in Miami He designed and taught a course on hallucinogens and culture He is the Co-Author of Sacred Plants and the Gnostic Church: Speculations on Entheogen use in Early Christian Ritual The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity Tom Hatsis Author, Public Speaker, Roller Derby Player and Potion Maker He is the Author of three books in Psychedelia; The Witches Ointment: the Secret History of Psychedelic Magic Psychedelic Mystery Traditions; Spirit Plants, Magical Practices and Psychedelic States Microdosing Magic: A Psychedelic Spellbook Partnered with event organizer and short film maker, Eden Woodruff, who runs Psanctum Psychedelia in Portland in the process of winning the Guinness Book of World Record in Magic Intro The debate is around the early Christian use of psychedelics and mushrooms in Christian art The conversation is on the validity on whether or not psychedelics were used in early Christianity Dr. Jerry Brown on Psychedelics in Christianity The Miracle of Marsh Chapel - a double-blind experiment conducted by Walter Pahnky in 1962 where 20 students were divided into two groups, half received niacin and the other half received psilocybin 9 out of 10 who took psilocybin had a profound psychedelic experience Brown explains that this is an important part in the entire history of psychedelics After discovering the Amanita Muscaria mushroom (confirmed by Paul Stamets) in a 15th Century Church in Scotland, he realized that there were many entheogenic images in Christian art He says that most church historians do not have training in mycology to recognize entheogens and mushrooms He brings up an image of Adam and Eve standing next to a large Amanita Muscaria mushroom He went to a Parish Church and saw an image of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a Donkey, and one of the youths welcoming Jesus is holding a long mushroom cap He went to churches in England, Germany and France In the drawing of Genesis, he saw God creating plants (psilocybin mushrooms) "When you go back beyond the 3rd century, there are no visual images or Christian art due to poverty and persecution" - Jerry Jerry reads a passage, "Jesus said to his disciples, "compare me to someone and tell me who I am like" Thomas said to him, "Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like." Jesus said "I am not your master, because you have drunk you have become intoxicated from the bubbling wellspring that I have personally measured out. He who will drink from my mouth will become like me, I shall become like he, and the things that are hidden, should be revealed to him." He interprets the passage as a reference to drinking a psychoactive mushroom substance Jerry goes on to explain that Jesus realized his feeling of eternal life through the use of psychoactive entheogens He says that this is not a means of dismissing Christianity, but instead to reintroduce Christianity with its original roots Tom Hatsis on Psychedelics in Christianity Tom says that Jerry makes a lot of assertions, but does not present any evidence. He talks about art, but not anything in scripture Tom is curious why the only artwork that Jerry brings his assertions about mushrooms are from a time where we can't ask them about it Tom brings up Julie and Jerry's book and that the first chapter has nothing to do with Christian History at all Tom uses an example of stone mushrooms. Someone doing a cross cultural analysis, might agree that they are mushrooms based on the other findings of cannabis and opioids But, as a historian, Tom looks for evidence and in this case, there are eye witness accounts of its use He brings up the example, the infamous plaincourault fresco of Adam and Eve at the tree of good and evil with the forbidden fruit Using this one example, he wants to prove how critical historical methodology is used to prove unsubstantiated claims on Christian art as wrong Tom urges listeners to view the unaltered versions of the plaincourault fresco at Georgio Samorini's Flikr page The paradise tree is a mix of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and a symbol of Christ's victory over Adam's transgression. In the play, it was tradition to place small Eucharist wafers on the tree branches so that's what the white dots are on the tree branches The tree's shape is not a mushroom cap, it is a parasol of victory Jerry's Rebuttle Jerry says that the absence of evidence, is not equal, or proof of evidence of absence (just because it's not written in text, doesn't mean that its not there in the art) Jerry's issue with the fresco is that "The Fall" is a New Testament creation, not all the way back in Genesis He says that on their website, they do not 'alter' the image, they 'enhance' it He says that Tom claims the fruit doesn't matter, but the fruit does matter (it could be a psychedelic mushroom) He touches on the skeletal appearance of Eve and the meaning of renewal of life Jerry thinks this image is the beginning of the religious experience and symbolism that the soul is immortal and will continue to exist after death He says the serpent is not a depiction of evil entering Eden, but instead a source of knowledge and a spiritual guide to the feminine to help bring man into higher awareness Tom's Rebuttle Tom says he didn't hear any evidence from Jerry, he heard arguments to authority He says that Jerry uses anthropology to uncover history, and opinions of art historians, but medieval historians agree that the mushroom is not present in Christian art He also says he did agree with Jerry about the mushroom in art, but that was last year and he has proven himself wrong and that the mushroom caps are parasols of victory Jerry says that Amanita Muscaria was in the Soma, but Tom says cannabis was, and mushrooms were not Chris Bennett's book on Soma There is zero evidence for mushroom art during medieval times In Jerry's book, he writes about the Basilica di Aquilea, saying that they are Amanita Muscaria, but Tom says they are not that type of mushroom Tom also says that in the play depicted in the plaincourault, that the script literally says the wafers are hung on the tree, and that the little white dots are not the dots from an Amanita Muscaria Jerry's Closing Remarks He says that this isn't just cultural analysis, this is about fieldwork and looking at how native people view this artwork The problem he has with Tom and Church historians is that it is not taking evidence from Ethnobotanists Jerry says he believes that there is a long tradition of entheogenic mushrooms in Christian art and would like this debate to continue Tom's Closing Remarks Tom says he still isn't hearing evidence, he is only hearing assertions and argument to authority and eminent scholars Tom says that Genesis doesn't matter in the plaincourault, because we know that it's about the play He has multiple articles debunking these images on his website Carl Sagan's Bologna Detection Kit - which shows how to spot fake conspiracies Tom says the holy mushroom hypothesis fails against all the claims Jerry has made Links Tom's Website Jerry's Website Check out our online course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Jerry Jerry B. Brown, Ph.D., is an anthropologist, author and activist. From 1972-2014, he served as Founding Professor of Anthropology at Florida International University in Miami, where he designed and taught a course on "Hallucinogens and Culture." The course examines the use of psychoactive plants by tribal and classical cultures, including Ancient India and Greece, and by and discusses the discoveries of the modern mind-explorers, the "psychonauts of the twentieth century." About Tom Thomas Hatsis is an author, lecturer, and historian of witchcraft, magic, Western religions, contemporary psychedelia, entheogens, and medieval pharmacopeia. In his spare time he visits rare archives, slings elixirs, and coaches roller derby.

Duncan Autrey, conflict transformation catalyst and educator, discusses resolving conflict in relationships and society. Conflict happens when one person wants to be heard so much that they stop listening. We have more rights than we think when dealing with law enforcement. They also explore systemic racism, legal rights, and evidence tampering.

Download In this episode, Joe interviews Steve Hupp, the Host of Kentucky Ayahuasca, a new series on Viceland. Topics include Steve's background and how he wants to impact the American Ayahuasca scene through his work. 3 Key Points: Kentucky Ayahuasca is a docu-series on Viceland about Shaman, Steve Hupp as he works with people seeking healing from severe emotional and physical issues. Steve comes from an unusual background of career criminal and bank robber, and because of his time in prison with a Peruvian Shaman, has decided to bring the tradition to the United States. Steve is careful not to mock what shamanism is by creating ceremony in the States. He wants facilitation to be done as safely as possible and is simply trying to help people through Ayahuasca ceremony. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Steve He was a career criminal who robbed banks It landed him in prison and put him into the same cell of a Peruvian shaman who had overstayed his visa and was probably doing some facilitating in the States His name was Guadalupe and Steve called him Loopy because of the things he was talking about But here and there Guadalupe would say something that would resonate with Steve days and weeks later that just made sense Prison He spent 4 years in prison He got into the federal system because he had beaten the state system so the federal system picked up the case Steve pleaded guilty and made a deal with them to give them their money back He also agreed not to sue the police for opening fire on him He was one of the first bank robbers released on a bond Religion and Spirituality Up to that point he was an Atheist He decided that something else was keeping him alive for something because of what he survived during the police chase Steve says he's seen how religious law worked by seeing gangs turn into congregations He says he is no longer an Atheist after having experience with Ayahuasca He had an epiphany that "anything is possible" and he decided he wanted to bring this to everyone He started to have coincidences that led him to facilitation Shamanism Steve isn't trying to defraud what Shamanism is, but he is trying to tailor it to the American way of life He says the Shaman in the jungle has a different context than an American does Joe mentions that people get upset about how the word 'shaman' is used Steve says 'shaman' comes from the Siberian word, 'saman', which means "to know" but has been branded by anthropologists He also says shamanism is the oldest world religion Joe brings up that so many people suggest doing Ayahuasca in the Amazon because that's where the spirit of the plant is, but he also mentions that the same type of biodiversity exists in Kentucky too Purpose Steve says they face reverse-racism because they can't work with native tribes because they are white, but he's just looking to bring everyone together "If we don't start helping our little blue sphere heal, it's all we've got" - Steve He said he had more fear transitioning into Ayahuasca facilitation than any bank he's robbed because he had to put his name on it His intent is not to build a cult, he believes we are at the dawn of a new world and we are all in this together Helping Addiction with Ayahuasca Steve says he believes there are no addicts, just unbalanced humans Joe says he read recently that the term "addict" keeps people in their problems When he helps people who are addicted to drugs, and they drink Ayahuasca, they realize the drug is not the problem, but the guilt and the shame about using the drug is the problem Plant Teacher Steve believes we are intergalactic children We could use our technology and knowledge to better us rather than being so distracted by the 'lines in the sand' He says we could feed everyone on the planet with land the size of Texas What Ayahuasca is trying to teach us is to be kind to each other and we have that choice everyday We need to get past this barbaric attitude of domination "I know I've got grandchildren that I may never see, but I've got to try to leave them a world better than the one I've found" - Steve If we were to teach our kids to teach our grandkids something, we wouldn't be handing them millions of dollars in national debt Its a non-violent change "What if we collectively manifested accountability in our government?" - Steve Law Enforcement Steve believes law enforcement shouldn't be able to have more power than soldiers at war Soldiers in Iraq can't fire unless they have been fired upon Shaman University No one has ever done this before, Steve wants to put together a structure to make sure this operation is done ethically He wants to lay the foundation for people to participate in Ayahuasca ceremony safely He says anybody can brew Ayahuasca, but doing it safely and properly is key Joe encourages viewers to check out the series on Viceland Steve also encourages listeners who want to do Ayahuasca abroad to do tons of research before attending to make sure there are proper facilitators, ethical procedures and quality emergency response techniques and resources Links Kentucky Ayahusca on Viceland Website Check out our online course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Steve Steve Hupp had spent time in the Military. He was lost in materialism, drug abuse, alcoholism and pride that led him on a 5 year bank robbing spree that ended with him in Federal Prison, where he met his first Shaman, a cellmate. Now he is an Ayahuasca Shaman performing psychedelic healing ceremonies in Kentucky. Steve has worked with Ayahuasca for 15 years, trained by a Shaman from South America on how to work with Ayahuasca. He has spent much of that time working alone and experiencing many visions and entities that called him to found Aya Quest.

Download In this episode, Joe sits down with Kevin Matthews, Campaign Manager of Decriminalize Denver, the group looking to decriminalize magic mushrooms. During the show, they cover topics such as the Right to Try Act, therapeutic success and what it might look like to have Psilocybin decriminalized in Denver. 3 Key Points: Decriminalize Denver's efforts are aimed to decriminalize Psilocybin Mushrooms in the city of Denver, CO., and are currently getting signatures to be on the May 2019 ballot. The Federal Right to Try Act allows a person with a life-threatening illness to use any substance that has passed phase one clinical trials. There is so much research and data on the benefits of Psilocybin Mushrooms, and being in an age of social media sharing, people are waking up to the idea of mushroom decriminalization. Support the show Patreon Leave us a review on iTunes Share us with your friends – favorite podcast, etc Join our Facebook group - Psychedelics Today group – Find the others and create community. Navigating Psychedelics Show Notes About Kevin Kevin is a part of the group, Decriminalize Denver The group submitted the ballot initiative called the Denver Psilocybin Mushroom Decriminalization Initiative and they are getting signatures to make the May 2019 ballot Kevin became interested in mushrooms after leaving as a Cadet at the US Military Academy due to major depression He was interested in Psilocybin Mushrooms impact on depression Talking Publicly about Psilocybin Use "Self-healing from psychedelics" is something most people want to be careful talking about Does it uninspire therapists? Does it ruin the medical model? Kevin states that people are afraid to talk about it because they are a schedule 1 substance Those who are willing to take the risk to talk about it are because they believe that mushrooms might have the best impact on them Right to Try Act Kevin knows someone with PTSD and tumors who is prescribed to Psilocybin under the Federal Right to Try Act Anyone who has a life-threatening illness can use any substance that has passed phase one under clinical trials His psychiatrist said that the psilocybin has been nothing short of miraculous in its effects He takes 1.5-2 grams of dried mushrooms every 7-10 days It puts him in control of his own protocol Trump just signed the Federal Right to Try Act this summer, Colorado has had their own since 2014 Generational Mushroom Use Joe says that the media landscape has really changed in the past few years and so much more research and information is becoming accessible to everyone Veterans for Natural Rights group is supporting this mushroom movement After the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, a lot of people went underground with their use 30 million people in the country have used psychedelics in the last decade More young people now are using psychedelics than the same age group used psychedelics in the 60's Decriminalize Denver The goal of the group is to decriminalize the personal use and personal possession of Psilocybin mushrooms, including the propagation of mushrooms for personal use "Our main goal with this is to keep individuals out of prison, help our vets, and help our loved ones who suffer from these traumas" - Kevin Colorado Always Making Progress Right now, Colorado state legislature is looking at safe injection sites and different kinds of penalty such as rehab instead of incarceration Joe says Denver is a kind of microcosm of the whole nation, it has an interest in both sides of an issue, instead of just one sided "Mushrooms help, in a very profound way. And opening that door is the first step to changing people's minds, both metaphorically and physically." - Kevin The medical applications of Psilocybin are huge such as for a stutter, autoimmune issues, anxiety and depression Talking about Psilocybin Kevin says you can't have a conversation without two opposing sides He is excited for when the conversation starts because there is a ton of points on why Psilocybin is proven to be effective John's Hopkins said that Psilocybin should at a minimum be a Schedule 4 (same level as prescription sleep aids) source Schedule 1 means "no medical value and high risk of abuse" From the clinical research and population studies alone on Psilocybin, we know that's false Decriminalize Denver's Current Focus Getting all 5,000 signatures (2,000 so far) by January 7th Coalition building, doing some fundraising Getting volunteers activated After getting all the signatures, then they will be on the ballot. Once on the ballot, the campaign and outreach starts Using Psilocybin for Therapy Joe brings up a story about his teacher Lenny Gibson who had multiple bouts of cancer and is a psychedelic scholar. Lenny was incredibly mad at Tim Leary because he was in cancer support groups and imagines how many more options cancer patients would have for pain if drugs were not made illegal Looking at decreasing suffering, it would be special for the Denver population to find relief in anxiety and depression before going into a life-threatening surgery, etc. If this turns into a regulatory medical paradigm, licensure is important How do we create the paradigm to open the work in a professional therapeutic manner? Grand Rounds Doctors will get together around a case study and share it within the medical community It's a way to share and practice case studies organically and internally With social media alone 30,000 people can be reached a month Typing in to Google "benefits of mushrooms" brings up a ton of research When people hear about John Hopkins, NYU, Harvard, UCLA Medical Center, and all of these companies that have already been doing the research they become more interested Medicalization does not equal rescheduling Carl Hart It takes the breaking up of a family after prison time of a drug offense, 7 generations to recover Joe knows of a case where someone in Colorado who got busted for having mushrooms only ended up serving 2 weeks and didn't get a felony for it In 2005 New Mexico Court of Appeal said that cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms does not qualify as the manufacture of a controlled substance, as long as they aren't dried Mushrooms are Beneficial, Not Harmful How do we ruin fewer lives by legalizing mushrooms and keeping people out from behind bars? Mushrooms can put you in touch with yourself and help connect yourself to others Feedback Most of the responses are, "Hell yeah I'm going to sign this!" or "This saved my life" Kevin says when someone says no, it's all about educating them They had 45% support it and 20% maybes Working with the City The bill would include a Psilocybin Mushroom Policy Review Panel, a city level committee made up of health professionals, Police, Denver Sheriff's office, city attorneys, etc Final Thoughts Kevin wants as many people as possible willing to participate to volunteer They will be starting public Q&A twice a month (and live streaming them) Links Website Facebook Instagram Check out our online course, "Introduction to Psychedelics" About Kevin Kevin Matthews is leading the decriminalization of Psilocybin mushrooms in Denver, Colorado. He and his group of dedicated volunteers are currently collecting signatures to make the May 2019 Ballot.