Plant Medicines
A plant medicine can generally be classed as any plant that has medicinal properties for human beings. However, in today’s world the most common use of the words ‘plant medicine’ is in addressing the ancient and powerful medicines used by the world’s original peoples, most of which are psychoactive, inducing altered states of consciousness.
Since the turn of the millennium, an increasing number of Westerners has traveled to South America to discover the seemingly miraculous healing properties of the ancient Amazonian plant medicine, ayahuasca. This has created a global upsurge in interest surrounding not just this plant medicine, but a whole array of others used by the world’s indigenous peoples, including, but not limited to: sananga, rapé, Mapacho, San Pedro, Iboga, Peyote and Mescalito.
More and more people every day are becoming aware of the plant medicines used for health and longevity for thousands of years by indigenous peoples all around the globe. This shows a clear and viable route to health that is both alternative and complementary to the modern field of medicine that we know most intimately.
Ayahuasca Visions: The Wolf Medicine Woman Who Was Me 10,000 Years Ago
I found myself observing I found myself observing a scene from above, I was looking at an alpine landscape under a full moon. I could see the tree line of mountains rising up around a high Meadow. Traipsing in the meadow under the moonlight was the figure, a woman dressed in wolf skins. I had…
Read MoreHow Psychedelics Saved My Life, Part 2
It took me a while to connect with my ayahuasca medicine family, largely because my intention was to sit up in a circle of genuine practitioners, and not experience ayahuasca as a tourist in Peru. What made me even more intrigued about experiencing this plant medicine was meeting a 16-year-old girl in Cuzco, who shared with me her experiences living with a curandero in the jungle. She had run away from her family because her father
Read MoreAyahuasca Visions: A Procession of Divine Beings Celebrating My Existence
I could sense the approach of something divine, it was an emanation of otherworldly energy that radiated purity, love, and compassion, so different from anything incarnate on this earth. As whatever was approaching was getting nearer to me that radiating energy of Divinity increased from a glow to a furnace. Imagine imagine if God, or…
Read MoreSurprising Health Benefits From Smoking Marijuana
Art by Alex Grey Over the past few years the “green rush” has brought forth a new understanding and appreciation of marijuana. More than just a recreational substance, marijuana has many healing properties and health benefits that are now being taken seriously by mainstream culture and scientists alike. “We have been terribly and systematically misled for…
Read MoreEverything You Need to Know About Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca, or yagé, is an entheogenic brew that stems from the Amazon, the exact dates/place of origin are unknown, and can only be theorized. One certainty about the history of ayahuasca, is that by the mid-nineteeth century it had come to the attention of Western ethnographers, and was already wide-spread among numerous indigenous
Read MoreModafinil & Ayahuasca – Are There Contraindications?
I recently found myself in a situation where I would be taking modafinil and ayahuasca in close proximity to each other, and I wasn’t sure if this was a bad thing. I received a beautiful gift of a jar of ayahuasca honey – a highly concentrated syrupy reduction of ayahuasca. For those of you familiar…
Read MoreSan Pedro: The Master Teacher and Spiritual Healer
San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi), otherwise known as the Cactus of the Four Winds, Huachuma or Saint Peter’s Cactus, is a fast growing columnar cactus native to the Andes Mountains – which can grow up to 20 feet high. It is usually found in Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador – but is also cultivated in many other parts of the world. San Pedro has a history of being used in Andean medicine for healing and religious divination for thousands of years, and archeologists
Read MoreAn Essential Understanding of Peyote
“In consciousness dwells the wondrous, with it man attains the realm beyond the material, and the Peyote tells us, where to find it.” – Antonin Artaud What is Peyote? Peyote, or Lophophora Williamsii, is a type of entheogenic cactus native to the Chihuahua desert region of Mexico and can also be found
Read More