In A Perfect World

As the Western resurgence in entheogenic shamanism grows, teething issues abound. Joshua Wickerham is one of the founders of the Enthnobotanical Stewardship Council, a new NGO dedicated to facilitating the safe and sustainable cultural use of ayahuasca, iboga and other plant sacraments. Here Wickerham chats with experiential journalist Rak Razam on the need for a fair trade system for cultivating entheogens like ayahuasca, applying NGO standards to an emerging spiritual paradigm, navigating the huge political issues between curanderos, operators and the law, and the minefield of cultural and ethical considerations. How can the conservation of bio-diversity be balanced against the rapid growth of the shamanic community worldwide? What differences do sacred medicines make to running a Western NGO? Can shamanism be regulated into the Western experience without being commodified? The groundbreaking shamanic documentary Aya: Awakenings is now available for viewing and download on Vimeo on Demand and you can read the book that inspired the film and join the discussion on our Facebook page. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

As the Western resurgence in entheogenic shamanism grows, teething issues abound. Joshua Wickerham is one of the founders of the Enthnobotanical Stewardship Council, a new NGO dedicated to facilitating the safe and sustainable cultural use of ayahuasca, iboga and other plant sacraments. Here Wickerham chats with experiential journalist Rak Razam on the need for a fair trade system for cultivating entheogens like ayahuasca, applying NGO standards to an emerging spiritual paradigm, navigating the huge political issues between curanderos, operators and the law, and the minefield of cultural and ethical considerations. How can the conservation of bio-diversity be balanced against the rapid growth of the shamanic community worldwide? What differences do sacred medicines make to running a Western NGO? Can shamanism be regulated into the Western experience without being commodified? The groundbreaking shamanic documentary Aya: Awakenings is now available for viewing and download on Vimeo on Demand and you can read the book that inspired the film and join the discussion on our Facebook page. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews a legal psilocybin shamanic facilitator from the Netherlands, Olli, where the mushroom sclerotia ('Philosopher Stones') are a legal thing to possess and ingest. Olli has been working with mushrooms for over 20 years, and here we discuss potentiating them with a MAO-inhibitor, just like ayahausca does in its brew, and the benefits of 'psilohuacsa'. We examine the issues around both ayahuasca and its resource management and the advantages of locally-sourced entheogens in native settings, and the role of the magic mushroom as a global sacrament for healing and enlightenment. The role of neo-shamans like Olli in the West using entheogenic sacraments is explored, and the history of mushroom use in Europe. Moreover, Olli discusses the heart-opening, ego-dissolving experience of high dose psilocybin to bring us back into unity consciousness and the need for such remembrances in today's world. For more info see http://www.psilohuasca.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews a legal psilocybin shamanic facilitator from the Netherlands, Olli, where the mushroom sclerotia ('Philosopher Stones') are a legal thing to possess and ingest. Olli has been working with mushrooms for over 20 years, and here we discuss potentiating them with a MAO-inhibitor, just like ayahausca does in its brew, and the benefits of 'psilohuacsa'. We examine the issues around both ayahuasca and its resource management and the advantages of locally-sourced entheogens in native settings, and the role of the magic mushroom as a global sacrament for healing and enlightenment. The role of neo-shamans like Olli in the West using entheogenic sacraments is explored, and the history of mushroom use in Europe. Moreover, Olli discusses the heart-opening, ego-dissolving experience of high dose psilocybin to bring us back into unity consciousness and the need for such remembrances in today's world. For more info see http://www.psilohuasca.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

with Ashera Hart Experiential journalist Rak Razam explores the world of sound and vibration with sound therapist Ashera Hart. What is vibration and frequency and how can that be used to heal or harm? Learn about the Schumann Resonance of the planet (7.83 hertz) embodied in the ionosphere, Solfeggio frequencies, the Fibonacci sequence, and our own internal frequencies of consciousness that connect us to the earth and each other. Explore shamanistic alteration of consciousness through vibration, the effect of electromagnetic frequencies (EMF), military use of sound as a weapon and hear some beautiful healing frequencies in this extended interview/ guided sonic meditation. For more information watch Ashera here: www.youtube.com/asherahart This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

with Ashera Hart Experiential journalist Rak Razam explores the world of sound and vibration with sound therapist Ashera Hart. What is vibration and frequency and how can that be used to heal or harm? Learn about the Schumann Resonance of the planet (7.83 hertz) embodied in the ionosphere, Solfeggio frequencies, the Fibonacci sequence, and our own internal frequencies of consciousness that connect us to the earth and each other. Explore shamanistic alteration of consciousness through vibration, the effect of electromagnetic frequencies (EMF), military use of sound as a weapon and hear some beautiful healing frequencies in this extended interview/ guided sonic meditation. For more information watch Ashera here: www.youtube.com/asherahart This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Art: Adam Taylor Experiential journalist Rak Razam talks with DJ and "post-rave intentional dance community advocate and facilitator" Sobey Wing about conscious festival culture and the evolution of the tribal mind. Many societies have rites of passage for initiation and marking milestones in personal and tribal evolution, and today's conscious festival culture provides a space where that initiation can happen. But how can we learn from and embrace indigenous cultures without appropriating from them? Can we use the sacred songs of the land to reconnect us in our dance and "reindigenize" the West? How can we balance hedonism with radical community, capitalist modes of festivals with sustainability and spirituality? How can we use the Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ) of festivals as incubators for new modes of tribal evolution that can be integrated into the larger mainstream culture? A provoking discussion on the past, present and future of the global tribe as a planetary civilization in the making… This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Art: Adam Taylor Experiential journalist Rak Razam talks with DJ and "post-rave intentional dance community advocate and facilitator" Sobey Wing about conscious festival culture and the evolution of the tribal mind. Many societies have rites of passage for initiation and marking milestones in personal and tribal evolution, and today's conscious festival culture provides a space where that initiation can happen. But how can we learn from and embrace indigenous cultures without appropriating from them? Can we use the sacred songs of the land to reconnect us in our dance and "reindigenize" the West? How can we balance hedonism with radical community, capitalist modes of festivals with sustainability and spirituality? How can we use the Temporary Autonomous Zone (TAZ) of festivals as incubators for new modes of tribal evolution that can be integrated into the larger mainstream culture? A provoking discussion on the past, present and future of the global tribe as a planetary civilization in the making… This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Art: Beau Deeley Experiential journalist Rak Razam talks with journalist and filmmaker Charles Shaw (the Exile Nation) about the consciousness revolution and the value of the psychedelic and shamanic experience in today's culture–on the point of global collapse. The history of the counterculture has been interwoven with not just that of the mainstream, but of black ops like MK-Ultra detouring and shaping the cultural history. From claims of Gordon Wasson's involvement with the elites and CIA to the use of LSD as a soma for the anti-war movement, are things that different with today's 'conscious festival culture'? Has the revolutionary act of altered states been commodified and controlled, and are we in a state of collective denial about the context and proper use of transcendence? Are neo-shamans and the New Age movement experiencing spiritual growth in a planetary battery farm? Can we explore the shadow within ourselves and the planetary shadow to collectively strategize ways forward–in the face of authoritarian control? For more information see Charles' talk: Exploring Truth in the Shadows: the Repressive Forces Against the Consciousness Movement This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Art: Beau Deeley Experiential journalist Rak Razam talks with journalist and filmmaker Charles Shaw (the Exile Nation) about the consciousness revolution and the value of the psychedelic and shamanic experience in today's culture–on the point of global collapse. The history of the counterculture has been interwoven with not just that of the mainstream, but of black ops like MK-Ultra detouring and shaping the cultural history. From claims of Gordon Wasson's involvement with the elites and CIA to the use of LSD as a soma for the anti-war movement, are things that different with today's 'conscious festival culture'? Has the revolutionary act of altered states been commodified and controlled, and are we in a state of collective denial about the context and proper use of transcendence? Are neo-shamans and the New Age movement experiencing spiritual growth in a planetary battery farm? Can we explore the shadow within ourselves and the planetary shadow to collectively strategize ways forward–in the face of authoritarian control? For more information see Charles' talk: Exploring Truth in the Shadows: the Repressive Forces Against the Consciousness Movement This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

photo: Jeremy Narby/ Rak Razam overlay art: Andy Debernardi In a landmark meeting experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews The Cosmic Serpent author and anthropologist Jeremy Narby, in the gardens of Greenwich University at the UK's premier psychedelic and consciousness event, Breaking Convention, July, 2013. In which these two ayahuasca commentators discuss the commodification of ayahuasca and the impact of the spiritual tourism boom in South America, the drive of the U.N.'s INCB to criminalize the growing entheogenic revival around the world, the nature of culture clash and the power of 'isms' to dichotomize worldviews and keep us separate. Narby relates his Marxist-anthropology origins and efforts to tackle the World Bank's damaging effect on tribal peoples; his first ayahuasca experiences and shape-changing into a jaguar; the UV spectrum and seeing 'spirits'; the double-helix DNA shape and the ubiquity of snakes in shamanic iconography; molecular biology, plant sentience and the Gaian worldview that such a paradigm opens up, and much, much more... With thanks to Joshua Wickerham of the Ayahuasca Sustainability Initiative.

photo: Jeremy Narby/ Rak Razam overlay art: Andy Debernardi In a landmark meeting experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews The Cosmic Serpent author and anthropologist Jeremy Narby, in the gardens of Greenwich University at the UK's premier psychedelic and consciousness event, Breaking Convention, July, 2013. In which these two ayahuasca commentators discuss the commodification of ayahuasca and the impact of the spiritual tourism boom in South America, the drive of the U.N.'s INCB to criminalize the growing entheogenic revival around the world, the nature of culture clash and the power of 'isms' to dichotomize worldviews and keep us separate. Narby relates his Marxist-anthropology origins and efforts to tackle the World Bank's damaging effect on tribal peoples; his first ayahuasca experiences and shape-changing into a jaguar; the UV spectrum and seeing 'spirits'; the double-helix DNA shape and the ubiquity of snakes in shamanic iconography; molecular biology, plant sentience and the Gaian worldview that such a paradigm opens up, and much, much more... With thanks to Joshua Wickerham of the Ayahuasca Sustainability Initiative.

Indigenous Australian culture is at least 60,000-100,000 years old. Hidden in the unbroken tradition are the shared roots of the Vedas, in which the Acacia (Khadira) was the Vajra, the weapon of Indra. The emergence of these plant teachers, and the passing on of indigenous knowledge could be seen to constitute a new reverse colonization of the modern world–the Dreamtime Invasion. "At the heart of indigenous philosophy is the Dreamtime. It is not the past, or the future, it is the eternal creation out of pattern in the Now.  The 'dot' patterns, the spirit worlds of the tryptamine space are always present, creating the external world. The ability to understand and modify 'reality' was at the core of the training of... indigenous elders with intact knowledge about these sacraments."  -  [Nen] Join DMT-Nexus forum moderator NEN and experiential journalist Rak Razam in this revelatory interview exploring the entheogenic realms of DMT and ayahuasca & their connection to the Dreamtime Consciousness and the Global Shamanic Resurgence.  A prelude to the UK lectures of the Dreamtime Invasion UK in London http://www.facebook.com/events/1387591788122404 and TICKETS: http://thedreamtimeinvasion-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk and Brighton: https://www.facebook.com/events/206770216143377 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Indigenous Australian culture is at least 60,000-100,000 years old. Hidden in the unbroken tradition are the shared roots of the Vedas, in which the Acacia (Khadira) was the Vajra, the weapon of Indra. The emergence of these plant teachers, and the passing on of indigenous knowledge could be seen to constitute a new reverse colonization of the modern world–the Dreamtime Invasion. "At the heart of indigenous philosophy is the Dreamtime. It is not the past, or the future, it is the eternal creation out of pattern in the Now.  The 'dot' patterns, the spirit worlds of the tryptamine space are always present, creating the external world. The ability to understand and modify 'reality' was at the core of the training of... indigenous elders with intact knowledge about these sacraments."  -  [Nen] Join DMT-Nexus forum moderator NEN and experiential journalist Rak Razam in this revelatory interview exploring the entheogenic realms of DMT and ayahuasca & their connection to the Dreamtime Consciousness and the Global Shamanic Resurgence.  A prelude to the UK lectures of the Dreamtime Invasion UK in London http://www.facebook.com/events/1387591788122404 and TICKETS: http://thedreamtimeinvasion-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk and Brighton: https://www.facebook.com/events/206770216143377 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Eleven years ago Dimitri Mugianis was a heroin addict who tried Iboga, the sacred medicine of the Gabon tribe and Bwiti religion in Africa. Not only did it help cure his addiction (alongside his own efforts), but it set him on a path as a Western medicine man following the call of spirit. Nicknamed the "Harlem Shaman," Mugianis began administering iboga to addicts throughout New York City, as recounted in the 2009 documentary film 'I'm Dangerous With Love'. Arrested by federal authorities in 2011, Mugianis saw the hand of a greater force in his arrest, deepening his work as a N'ganga (Bwiti) healer and commitment to the path. Eventually sentenced to only 45 days of house arrest by a judge sympathethic to his religious path and spiritual work, he speaks here with experiential journalist Rak Razam about addiction, iboga, the rise in medicine workers worldwide, the law–and the need for love, above all. For more information see: Iboga Life and Dimitri Mugianis.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.