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The Psilocybin in Magic Mushrooms Could be a Promising Treatment for PTSD

PTSD is one of the worst afflictions for members of our military. It is so damaging, an average of 22 veterans commits suicide every day due to PTSD.

PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, can come from all sorts of traumatic situations. It’s extremely common in people returning from the battlefield, but also impacts anyone who has to make a major transition from a life in uniform back to civilian life. The US Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that up to 20 percent of Iraq War veterans suffer from PTSD.

Psychedelics as a Solution

Research suggests that psychedelics, particularly psilocybin (which is present in “magic” mushrooms), is a promising treatment for PTSD.

For many years, people thought that the drug was only “useful” for the “trip” – the ability it has to cause someone to see something completely different and go on a journey in their mind, leading to major introspection and a new view of the world around them. While this is certainly a major reason for the popularity of mushrooms as a recreational drug, this new research indicates that the mushroom’s qualities might restructure the brain in ways that could have a significant healing impact.


Brain Growth from Mushrooms

One study from the University of South Florida found that psilocybin actually stimulates the growth of brain cells in the hippocampus. The hippocampus, researchers believe, is the center of emotion and memory in the brain. By rejuvenating and replacing those cells in mice, researchers were able to help them overcome fear far more quickly and easily than mice who had not received the drug. That means that psilocybin might be able to treat a number of mental conditions, including addiction, OCD, and PTSD, by restructuring the parts of the brain that are the centers of addiction, fear, and painful memories.

The mouse study referenced involved mice being taught to fear a certain sound. Researchers played the sound and then shocked the mice immediately after, causing them to eventually fear the sound even when there was no shock afterwards. This experiment essentially triggered PTSD in the mice. The normal mice were incapable of overcoming the fear and became paralyzed by the sound.

However, some of the mice were dosed with psilocybins – one a low dose and one a high dose, while a third group received a saline solution. The study found that the low dose group was the most effective in overcoming their fear. That indicates that the drug may have helped the mice regrow the cells in their hippocampus that store fear and anxiety.

The Potential of Mushrooms

If psilocybin is successful in treating PTSD, it might be successful in treating other neurological disorders. While research on psychedelics continues to be illegal in the United States without special permission, if scientists continue to find these encouraging results, it’s certainly possible that the drug could eventually be used for treating these disorders regularly.

Source : Trufflemagic.com ... Where you’ll receive a wealth of information about this psychedelic substance ... and more !


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Depression is Painful

Clinical depression is an extremely common affliction, impacting more than six percent of American adults. Everyone knows someone who suffers from depression, whether or not it is diagnosed. The pain generally lasts a lifetime, although it can be alleviated with therapy, meditation, and other treatments. In the meantime, it causes a person to become lethargic and unmotivated, draining their energy.



Mushrooms may be a solution

More than half a century ago, scientists did early research on psychedelics hinting that they could have wide-ranging applications. The research didn’t meet the high standards of rigor that science expects today, but the results of those experiments hinted that these drugs may be able to significantly improve some people’s lives.

For example, one study treated more than 500 alcoholics using psychedelics. The drugs were found to vastly outperform other contemporary treatment options. However, the research stalled out in the middle of the twentieth century, since drug control made it extremely difficult to access psychedelics even in a research setting.

Imperial College London and the Beckley Foundation have teamed up to pick up where those 60s scientists left off and learn more about the potential medical uses for psychedelics.

More recent research

One study recently gave a daily 25 mg dose of psilocybin – the active ingredient in magic mushrooms – to a dozen people who had suffered from treatment-resistant depression (which cannot be effectively treated by antidepressant drugs). After their “trip,” all twelve reported feeling less anxious and enjoying more aspects of their lives. A week later, eight were in remission. Three months later, five of the study participants remained free of depression.

Another study at Johns Hopkins University found that psilocybin can be effective in helping people to quit smoking, with an unprecedented 80 percent success rate in one study.

Moving forward

Of course, depressed readers shouldn’t just head out to find some psychedelic mushrooms of their own. These are still an illegal drug, and you need to know exactly how much to use to get the best results. However, with careful supervision and parameters, it’s been proven that psychedelics can be a legitimate medical tool. However, much more research is needed before they’re widely used in treating any sort of mental difficulties.

Source : Trufflemagic.com ... Where you’ll receive a wealth of information about this psychedelic substance ... and more !


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New research has shown that using “magic mushrooms” might rewire the brain, leading people to have entirely new experiences. The brain builds pathways over the course of a lifetime, and strengthens those pathways every time it uses one. That means that people tend to get into a rut of having the same thought cycles many times over.

Many parts of the brain are not directly connected to each other. Thoughts, memories, and ideas in the different regions are not linked together, so they operate relatively independently. Some of the most creative people have had unusually structured brains so they connect different parts of the brains.

A Unique Phenomena

Typically, brain pathways don’t change. However, when someone ingests mushrooms, that can change. The main ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms is psilocybin. This drug has been shown to create new neural pathways between brain regions that were previously unconnected. That’s what leads to things like seeing music or hearing numbers.

In one study, researchers gave psilocybin to some people and a placebo (a fake) to others. They gave exactly two milligrams of psilocybin to the study participants, though mushrooms are eaten, not injected, and don’t always have the exact same dose.

The scientists found that the people who received psilocybin had more erratic brain functioning than the control group – the neural pathways that were lighting up were unusual. However, they weren’t completely random.


Restructuring your thoughts

Instead of random chaos, the new pathways formed an entirely new organizational structure, and it has the potential to do amazing things, such as treat depression. Studies have found that people who suffer from depression have too much activity in the area of the brain that’s devoted to a sense of self. It’s important to have a moderate amount of activity in that region, but when there is too much self-criticism and negative thought, a person can spiral into depression.

Since psilocybin removes old pathways as part of creating new ones, it can help people get out of a rut. The brain chatter that leads to depression – negative self-thought can be muted and lead to people having a new experience.

This effect has been studied. One Johns Hopkins study gave psilocybin to a small group of volunteers, who reported an out-of-body experience. Those volunteers reported feeling more open and more appreciative of the beauty in the world – and that the effects lasted a long time. One of the participants reported feeling a sense of a greater force, and a realization that the many anxieties they struggled with were just not as important as they felt. A full year after the study, almost two-thirds of the participants said the experience was one of the most important in their lives. Half continued to be more open than they had before.

While mushrooms (and psilocybin) continue to be illegal in the United States, there is definitely a possibility for future therapeutic use, especially in cases of depression.




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As I feel indebted to the shamans who saw themselves in me and helped me understand why I have always felt like I don’t belong in mainstream medicine, the intention of this article is to respectfully honor the shamanic tradition, and not to violate it in any way.

Because modern culture doesn’t have a role for the shamanic archetype, many people who grow up outside indigenous villages are shamans and don’t know it. Many naturally wind up in overtly healing professions, such as medicine, psychology, or life coaching. But some wind up in professions where they may feel like they don’t fit in at all. Even those who enter the healing professions may feel out of place, because the systems of Western medicine and psychology leave little room for a shaman to practice his or her natural healing art. But many will wind up in various forms of sacred activism, healing the planet, for example, rather than healing people.


Are you a shaman and you don’t know it? Here are some telltale signs that you might fit the archetype.

1. You sense that you’re meant to participate in the global shift in consciousness that is currently underway.

We can all feel it, this impending shift that New Agers have talked about for decades. But those with the shamanic archetype don’t just feel it, they feel it pulling them, like a magnet, towards leadership positions that help facilitate this transformation of human consciousness and evolution of the species.

2. You’ve been through a difficult initiation, which has prepared you for this leadership role.

In indigenous cultures, the village knew who the shaman was because he or she was struck by lightning and survived. In modern culture, you may not literally be struck by lightning, but you may have survived some other life or heart-threatening ordeal. You may have experienced childhood abuse, sexual violence, a near-death experience, or some other trauma that put you through the crucible and forged you into the healing earth shaman you are becoming.

3. You are an introvert.

Shamans are multi-dimensional beings who dance between the realms of the seen and unseen worlds, so if you’re of the shamanic archetype, you may have a hard time navigating the 3D realms of this dimension, which may cause you to withdraw into yourself so you can visit the realms of consciousness where you feel most at home.

4. You feel most at home in nature.

The shamans of a culture are the bridges between nature and humans, serving as translators between the mountains, oceans, rivers, animals, and people. You may sense that nature is talking to you or that you get your most tuned in downloads when you are surrounded by the natural world.

5. You’re very sensitive.

You may feels things others don’t feel, see things others don’t see, hear things others don’t hear, smell things others don’t smell, and sense things others don’t sense. This may make it hard for you to be out in public, where you may feel accosted by over-stimulation of your senses. If you embody the shamanic archetype, it’s likely that you’re the kind of person others may feel is “too sensitive.” But this sensitivity is a blessing. It’s part of your gift.

6. You feel a sort of spiritual calling to ease the suffering of people, animals, and nature.

Many health care providers are called to medicine the way priests are called to the priesthood. But you don’t have to be a health care provider to have the shamanic archetype. It may transmute itself into healing service to animals, sacred activist causes, or conservation of Mother Earth.

7. Physical ailments that fall under the category of “shaman sickness.”

In the indigenous cultures, shamans who have been called to service but haven’t yet said “yes” to the call often wind up struck with physical ailments. In modern culture, these shamanic sicknesses may fall into difficult to treat categories like chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic Lyme disease, chronic pain disorders, and autoimmune disorders. Acceptance of the call to shamanic service often resolves the symptoms of shaman sickness. If you’re suffering from one of these illnesses, ask yourself, “Am I a shaman who hasn’t said yes to my calling yet?”

8. You tend to have vivid dreams.

The unseen realm may be communicating with you through your dreams, so try analyzing your dreams. Pay particular attention to any animal totems that may appear in your dreams. Google search the animal and “spirit totem” and see if you can find any messages from the animals in your dreams. Or try a Jungian analysis, like the one described here.

9. You may discover unusual spiritual superpowers, or what the yogis call “siddhis.”

You might be psychic. You might get healing visions like the one in my previous post about the meeting of Western medicine and Shamanism. You might realize that you can heal people with your hands or that you can telepathically communicate with animals, people, or even inanimate objects.

10. You’ve always felt like you don’t quite belong anywhere, because you are a bridge.

Shamans tend to live on the outskirts of the village for a reason. They are not like the others – and this is a blessing! In village life, this is understood and recognized. But in the modern world, it may leave those with the shamanic archetype feeling like they don’t ever fit in. But don’t despair. You DO fit in. Your role is essential. You may find that you fit in best with others who share this shamanic archetype. Among your fellow shamans, you will feel like you are with family.

Embrace Your Bridge Work

Because shamans are always operating between worlds, you may find that you’re connecting mainstream culture and the culture that wants to be born in the new consciousness, and this may feel uncomfortable, as if you don’t quite fit in. When I realized that I am a bridge between mainstream medicine and the new world of medicine that is being co-created by others who share the shamanic archetype, it brought me such a profound sense of relief! This relief is shared by the health care providers who participate in the Whole Health Medicine Institute, which I founded for doctors and other stealth shamans. If you’re one of those bridge workers, please know that you belong with all the other stealth shamans in this program, designed to merge medicine and spirituality, and we’re enrolling for the 2016 class now.

In our culture, it can be quite challenging to be a stealth shaman. Yes, it’s a blessing to have the opportunity to help people end the story of separation, to dissolve the apparent duality into Oneness, to fulfill our callings to bring the worlds together, to heal people, animals, and the planet. But it can be lonely and disheartening and scary and isolating. I sense that many of us stealth shaman bridge workers have scores of past lives during which we were persecuted for our attempts to connect the worlds, so no matter how much we know in our hearts that we are all One and we DO belong, we have cellular memories of past traumas, during which we were literally killed because we refused to fit in. So it takes tremendous courage to come out of the spiritual closet as someone who embodies the shamanic archetype. In order to keep being brave, we need to feel safe. To feel safe, we need to foster a sense of belonging so we don’t feel isolated on top of feeling scared. In order to feel safe enough to keep bridging, we need each other.

Are you a shaman who is still in the closet? If so, please know that there are many of us, and we hold you close in our hearts while you muster up the moxie to claim your place in the world.

To begin embracing your purpose, please feel free to check out my new book The Anatomy Of A Calling. Click the link below to see if it’s for you:

http://theanatomyofacalling.com


Here’s to bridging the realms and healing our world!

Lissa


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Handling Marijuana Is Often More Difficult Than Major Psychedelics

In the fight for the legalization of various drugs, many people are under the impression that marijuana should be legalized before other types of drugs. Their thinking presumes marijuana is an easier type of psychedelic for people to handle, so it should become legal before more major psychedelics should. This certainly seems like sound logic, doesn’t it?

Indeed, it is the common belief of most that marijuana provides a mellow experience, rather than the intense psychedelic experience that comes from other drugs. That is not always the case, however. It is, in fact, the opinion of many users of various psychedelics (including marijuana) that weed can be a lot harder to handle. They claim that psychedelic overdose can be handled and is well understood, but a marijuana overdose is shrouded in confusion and misconceptions, and therefore is more dangerous when an overdose occurs.

What is a Psychedelic Overdose ?

There is a lot of confusion that accompanies the idea of a “marijuana overdose” or a “psychedelic overdose.” Many people believe it does not occur, while others imagine it to be the exact same experience as an overdose of hard drugs, like cocaine or heroine. For the sake of this article, a psychedelic overdose is not exactly the same kind of overdose as would be experienced with alcohol or other drugs. The main difference between a psychedelic overdose and a hard drug overdose is that they are not fatal at all -- the overdose is simply a stronger experience than the user would like. In other words, it might overwhelm a person's threshold.

Just like alcohol users learn to avoid a hangover, psychedelic users learn how to avoid this “overdose.” Simply being familiar with your personal limits, and keeping tabs on how much you take is usually sufficient. Also, be sure to consume in a safe environment, in case the experience is more than you bargained for. In fact, psychedelics are better to overdose on than other drugs for another reason: the overdose can be turned around into a positive, transformative trip if the surrounding environment is a good one.

The Marijuana Overdose

Perhaps the main problem that surrounds understanding marijuana overdose is the fact that everyone thinks it’s an easier drug to handle, so it is taken much more casually, without planning or second thoughts. The fact that marijuana is usually consumed via smoking rather than ingesting it (such as with most psychedelics) means that its effects occur much more rapidly. It is said that the faster a drug affects a person, the stronger the addiction is to that drug. This, for instance, is the reason heroine overpowers opium in addictiveness.

With marijuana, many of the people smoking it really enjoy the act of smoking. This means that, even once they have gotten to the point of being at the “right” level of high, they will just continue smoking because they enjoy it. They likely would not do the same thing if they were using tinctures or consuming marijuana edibles, for example.

Another reason a marijuana overdose can be difficult to deal with is the fact that a person who is overdosing will seem fine to everyone else. While their emotions begin to spiral in fearful, confusing directions, they won’t receive the care they need because they look fairly normal. A psychedelic overdose, on the other hand, makes the person look obviously unwell, meaning the proper care will be taken.

Proper Marijuana Education is Needed

Ultimately, the main problem that comes from marijuana during the present day is the fact that people are not accurately educated about the drug. If everyone learns about limits and smoking safely, these overdosing issues can easily be avoided. It should not be a more complicated issue than with major psychedelic drugs, and we can make it that way through education.

As marijuana becomes more widespread and legalized across the nation, we truly need to address this issue. The new technologies allowing for concentrated doses is just another reason why people need to fully understand what they are consuming similar care to how we treat major psychedelics. Most things are good in moderation, we should focus on defining what that is.

Author : Robert Bergman, Founder of ilovegrowingmarijuana.com.

Robert has been growing cannabis passionately for over 20 years and shares this insight to educate growers avoid mistakes and to fully capitalise on a bud's potential.


Can you Overdose on Marijuana ?



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Being a sensitive person in a highly desensitized world can be worrisome at times as one tends to absorb energies which are not our own and get conditioned to believe ourselves to be a certain way ... fueling the ego even more. There are many a pitfall on the spiritual path of awareness ... for one, the idea of having acquired knowledge or enlightenment of some kind without having lived through the hellish realms of dark despair and grief brings one back to similar learning experiences we thought we had once mastered.

Once we realize we are sensitive to energies (some call us HSP, a Highly Sensitive Person) we become more aware of the present moment, more in touch with reality without being affected by our fears and paranoia about the past and the future. Experiencing increased synchronicity and the cessation of worry are signs of an awakening brewing within our being. We can quickly be drawn into the world of illusions (Maya), getting sucked into self created whirlpools of darkness and despair, while trying to gratify the hunger of our Ego.

For all empaths its imperative to let go off unnecessary baggage and mental clutter which keeps us from accessing our intuition and other extra sensory abilities ... It's one thing to theorize universal love ... infinite consciousness .... oneness ... to live it one has to experience all the shades of life .... from light to dark ... dull to bright ... all of it. If you consider yourself an empath and a lightworker ... you know energy and you know how to trans-mutate when the need arises. Here is a brilliant article from our friends at the Openhand Foundation on being an empath ...

Unfolding the Higher Paradigm

Imagine being able to feel and sense everything, whether positive or negative around you, 24/7. An Empath can’t turn off empathy (unlike someone who is perhaps 'empathising'). It is possibly one of the most challenging of psychic gifts to master. I am an Empath who has spent nearly two decades, since awakening, mastering my empathic nature. It is an ongoing process. I am still not perfect and not sure that I ever will be whilst incarnated here. I am however content, despite the challenges of integration, as I see it as an incredible gift to humanity...

Empaths incarnate into this world without a manual. Some seem quite blessed in that they bring with them the memories of mastery from past lives. Even then, the remembering is often a bumpy journey in itself. To add to the confusion, most Empaths cannot tell the difference between their own energy and someone else’s. Something happened on my journey where I just ‘got’ the difference. It came from increased presence. There is a subtle vibrational difference that we can discern when we are fully present. Constantly attaining presence within spiritual evolution is a very important key to mastering empathic gifts that I cannot over emphasise.


Everything is Energy

Everything is energy, pulsating particular vibrations. Since an Empath feels energy, just like a living person breaths air, it is understandable why a few issues might arise as an earth-incarnated-being. Humanity (apart from perhaps indigenous cultures), is one big confusing energetic vibrational mess! The modern world is a melting pot of fractured and frantic energies: for example, loaded emotional projection, hidden agendas (whether personal or global), wi-fi, mobile phone radiation, electric gadget emissions, multi media marketing designed to allure and captivate, highly processed foods, TV, the thudding din of consumerism... the list goes on and on.

Empaths will feel the energy in the field, feel the energy of conversation, feel body language, feel words used (or not used) without intellectual interpretation. They will intuitively know what an energy is ‘really’ about despite what is conveyed on the surface. They will also know what a person is really saying, no matter what words are being offered.

Because of the tendency for people to hide the full story, or try to control the situation, an empath will tend to feel a huge inner conflict or inability to process the enormity of the engagement. One of the main problems for Empaths is the lack of transparency and honesty in the world and the consequent resentment of having to process all the energy that is not in full view. Of course lots of of these sensitive beings struggle also with things that are in full view too.

"Make it go away!!!"

Most people who have this trait do not see it as a gift. I would more often expect to hear the pleading cries to make it stop. Initially, it often involves being so overwhelmed with feeling energy that it is challenging to function in an ordinary sense. Empaths often come across as over emotional, at times others become emotionally detached in order to cope. It wouldn't be unusual that they might just 'freak out', without apparent cause. They often prefer their own company and don’t like to build many personal relationships.
In my early days I used to cry out to the universe

"I don’t want to feel all this energy - it’s not mine"...
the universe would always reply that it is a gift.
“How on earth is this a gift!!!”

I often found it difficult to get close to people in a personal ‘every day’ sense. It would drive me nuts, so I would prefer independence or distance. Independence and contentment with only a couple of close friends still feels very natural to me. In a way, it's a saving grace.

Powerful impetus to sort it out

The initial overwhelming intensity served a wonderful purpose for me. It evoked a powerful yearning to master my unique configuration here as an earth-being. It created the impetus for me to come to terms with my natural born empath traits and master them, eventually finding a high altitude of peace and functionability with it all.

The importance of releasing emotional attachment

Releasing emotional attachment is the main key to mastery. Most Empaths suffer needlessly because they cannot release their personal emotional attachment to feelings. If we let go of attachment, it doesn’t mean we won’t feel. It just means that we don’t get tangled in the feeling anymore. It means we can watch as things happen and really discern that ‘that isn’t us’, ‘that isn’t our own feeling’ and really begin to embrace when we are DIVINELY GIVEN to take action or not.

For me this involved years of becoming consciously aware and centred. Once I started coming from a centred place of presence, I began to discern what I was meant to do, releasing emotional attachment to both that which is not meant for me and that which was. This is a very powerful factor as it means that we can still feel the energy empathically, but it doesn’t bother us adversely any more. We are able to act of infinitely more divine service when we are not attached emotionally. In fact unless we come from this place, we would tend to make a situation worse not better. That’s the bottom line. It means we feel the energy with the deepest compassion, yet we can truly hold the space for another. In so doing, we reflect the light of benevolence, allowing true healing to take place.



Finding inner peace and stability

Daily centering, meditation practice, yoga, compassionate eating, conscious lifestyle, conscious choices that cleanse our energy field and promote centredness will all help big time! Being in nature serves to recentre and recharge depleted energies. Spending regular time in solitude away from idle chatter and drama can be invaluable. I would say that making sure that a bare minimum of half an hour per day consciously looking after yourself is crucial. The more the better. The above are very important. There may also be many other ways, such as swimming in the ocean, hill walking, having a bath with oils or salt, giving yourself a foot massage, listening to your favourite music, playing an instrument, conscious bodywork or massage... basically whatever it is that helps you maintain balance and build up your sense of inner peace and stability.
Another important key is ownership. If you have the trait, then to deny it just makes it worse and ensures that our spiritual evolution is dysfunctional. Our evolution will happen when we embrace our unique configuration. So we need to be 100% honest with ourselves and know that it will get much easier the more and more present with become with it. The only way out is through.

Without these practices it is very difficult (I am not sure if it is even possible) to master being an empath here. So if the motivation is a little lacking, JUST DO IT anyway until you find a rhythm to your daily life that you see working.

A true gift of benevolence

So whether you are an empath or you know one personally, hopefully this is helpful in some way.

I truly believe that, the challenges as highlighted are there to help us refine and alchemically transform this true gift of benevolence. The gifts of empathy have the power to really make a difference in this world. This is what most people who feel the call of Divine Service long for, to be able to help others in a life changing way.

An evolved Empath has the natural ability to connect on a Soul level, helping to release blocked energy with another. An Empath, if given, can also release coagulated energy within the field at large, discerning between what is benevolent and what is not. Since everything oscillates a frequency that can inadvertently influence everything around it, then a truly benevolent Empath realigning the energy field can help make a huge difference in terms of spiritual evolution.

Whether an Empath not, if we can all work together with our gifts we can allow this higher paradigm of to unfold together.

Soul to Soul
Trinity

Source : Being an Empath - Openhand Foundation

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Goa has seen it all. Freed from Portuguese rule in 1961, a village of bare minimums is what remained. A virgin paradise with lush green palm trees, open fields, serene beaches, quaint structures and a magical sunset. Little did it know that its next invaders were going to be of quite a different nature. The world’s flower children were on their way from all over the world, onto a common path through the Middle East now known as the ‘hippie trail’. Sad to know that is not at all possible in this present day. “See you in Goa for Christmas’, were the words said to all compatriots on the road. As we have it, they finally reached. The locals were primal and basic, almost shocked to see bare-naked bodies of different color jiving on the beach.

They brought an atmosphere to the young and independent village of Goa. Sensing the newcomers’ demand for food and refreshment, chai shops and restaurants with fish curry and rice started to flourish. The ever-popular Flea market started simply as a place of trade and exchange amongst these baby boomers, a very different scenario from the commercial center it has become today. Yes, we must ‘adapt’ with the times. In fact, the present day beach shack culture that is a trademark, all the live band jams prominent through pubs, bars and restaurants and many other signature elements of modern day Goa can be credited to our hippy friends. They were the first ones to put Goa on the map for any kind of tourism. It’s quite sad that the authorities only glorify and attack the few negative aspects of this culture. Goa created a new shrine for the perfect collection of young hedonistic, differently thinking individuals at the perfect place and at the perfect time.

The most unique ritual however, developed by this tribe, were the full moon parties.

Since Goa was not always powered all over with electricity. Especially in the areas of Anjuna and beyond. Even now the ever-faithful orange streetlight shines dimly, leading the way. These colorful marauders would wait for the moon to be at its brightest, and then come out to play. Starting with acoustic jams leading into pure electric Rock N Roll, as our flowery friends did manage to bring in Fender sound systems, an electric bass and an electric guitar. Long time Psychedelic Trance master Goa Gil was a prominent figure in these jams, and is from the first generation of hippies to enter Indian soil. Goa flourished with what seemed to be a perfect amalgamation of counterculture and spirituality. ‘Goa is a state of mind’ it is popularly said. Many of these individuals were exposed to mystical experiences, within and around themselves. Instances of synchronicity, connection, oneness and freedom. With time their music of preference began to change.

Due to the developments made by Roland from Japan in the 80s, many analog synthesizers drum machines and digital audio workstations came into existence. This lead to a boom in electronic music all over the world and people, who didn’t even know music, could become musicians. This electronic music took different shapes in different parts of the world. From their visits back home, these Goa freaks brought back with them Techno from Germany, Acid House from England and various other electronic musical styles. With the use of cassettes and DAT mixers, it became possible to join these pieces of music together, to create a long term, hypnotic and transcendental effect. This switch took place somewhere in the late 80s. By this time, the tribe had become bigger and word had spread around the world, for Goa being a center for hedonism, spirituality and dance rituals.


Journeying into the 90s, Goa Trance was born. At the time very similar sounding to Acid house, due to the use of similar synths, but more indigenous to the experience the Goa party had to offer. Musicians in the scene had become more enthusiastic about converting there own experiences into sonic stories and slowly an arsenal of Goa trance DJ’s and producers started to birth. DJ Laurent and Goa Gil are said to be the pioneering minds behind what became the new sound of the psychedelic movement. Along with other musical brains such as Green Nuns Of the Revolution, Psykaos, Shiva Joerg and the Infinity Project, the sanity of young psychedelic travellers were in good hands. Parties were arranged differently, back then. As opposed to the fixed venues we have today, Goa was open free land.

Parties were set up anywhere and everywhere. Bamboo Forest, Anjuna Temple, Arambol Lake, the hill on South Anjuna, Chapora fort and I could keep going on. 9 Bar is one such venue that has existed through the course of this modern movement. A signature sunset spot, it is close to many psychonaut hearts. Speakers were set up, and the ‘techno shamans’ would weave audio webs of consciousness for thirteen to twenty four hours. The freaks did the decorations themselves, involving UV paint, banners with psychedelic patterns, aliens, Hindu deities and fractal designs. Parties have been said to go on for days. In my conversations with many who have experienced those times claim that even though the music was not as intense as it is today, the experience was a lot more twisted. I was told that people would stare at the morning sun and celebrate their survival.


Ozora Promo Party ~ One Day in Goa : Shiva Valley, Anjuna

I do believe a ceremony such as this is about breaking layers. We come in the night with our burdens of our everyday rat races. We begin our journey and since it is the destination we begin to lose ourselves. In a space of common rhythm and pure ecstasy. Slowly these layers start to shed and it becomes a little uncomfortable, because you are slowly being exposed into your true self. This does get a little uncomforting, but you just have to let go. Somehow it is happening through an extremely powerful hypnotic groove. The sweat is gushing away the impurities and the muscles are working overtime, the ultimate detoxification. All around you are specimens going through similar processes and this most definitely creates a common understanding. As the morning sun rises there are expressions of empathy, appreciation and smiles of gratitude being hurled around, and you are still dancing. Somehow I do understand the old school annoyance with what the scene is like today, but it is all on an upward path. I’ve heard there was a time when no alcohol was involved, no onlookers standing around the dance floor. Due to some occasional trouble, even today, people come to experience magic more than pick up girls and ‘look cool’. That does prove for this scene to be one of meaning.


As the dawn of the 2000s approached, Goa Trance had started travelling the world. Due to the heat of the Goan summer and the intense monsoons that followed, they were trying times for partying to take place. In order to replicate the Goa experience internationally, these freaks took to stomping on festival grounds in Europe and other areas in the world. More producers started to rise and bring their own style. This was also made possible with development in music technology and Goa Trance slowly became Psytrance. CDJ’s were now available and could take the weather conditions mother Goa had to offer. This is of course in no comparison to all the live MIDI controllers and analog set ups we are seeing today. Full On music started to pump out of Israel and England, Dark Psychedelic was surging out of Europe and Russia, the distinct twilight style of South Africa. Now of course we get everything from everywhere and not to forget many more sub-styles at our convenience. This music is exceptionally intricate as it deals with minds that are most vulnerable.

They are entrusting their psyche to these frequencies, which is why the one controlling them must really understand what he/she is doing. Psychedelic Trance music has another beautiful property. It is designed according to the time of day, surroundings and to induce a certain flow of emotions. There are fun daytime psychedelic sounds by the likes of Dickster, Tristan, Laughing Buddha and Earthling. There is the groovy night sounds that come from Ajja, Dust, SouthWild, Psymetrixx and Gaspard. We have powerful dark psychedelic music, coming from masters such as Dark Elf, Kindzadza and Darkshire. The folks from Parvati Records, Disco Valley Records, are developing beastly forests sounds. Forest Psychedelic is said to have been born under the age old trees of Chapora.


I can see the relation between the sound and the surroundings that inspired it. There are various other styles such as Psygressive and Suomi Saundi that are slowly gaining in popularity. The list of labels grooming and spreading talent, is endless. The style of Psytrance is becoming more profound and musical as time progresses. Technological wonders have lead to producers converting the experiences in their minds into proper waveforms of brilliance. There is an infusion of rhythms from various cultures, melodic ideas from different geographical locations and a thumping bassline of unison and oneness. We now have psychedelic producers implying musical modes and complex mathematics in order to produce crisp, mind-boggling sound. The beats per minute ranges from 138 – 170 onwards. The various styles can no longer be classified through speed because now there is dark music at 138 and Full on Music at 148. It now mostly depends on the dynamic and mood with which that space of silence is filled by the producer. Many artists are even sampling live instruments into their act, let alone artists such as Highlight Tribe and Peaking Goddess Collective, who replicate electronic sound with organic instruments.

The local scene in the motherland is also booming, with the burst of versatility and maturity in Indian musicians. We now have acts like Starlab, Kerosene Club/ Flipknot/ Fiber Stomp, Janux, and Farebi Jalebi taking international stages regularly. Artists such as Groove Addict (Nano Records) are affiliated with top record labels all around the world. Producers such as Daash, Hydropanic, Chakraview and Aghori Tantrik are some of the talented homegrown musicians that are influencing many younger minds. There is also a local army of labels such as Vantara Vichitra and Digital Om that are doing wonderful things to put India on the world map. The availability of Indian DJ’s with eclectic music tastes is not a problem anymore. Triptone, Nitin, Karan ‘Third Eye’, Karran Khanna are some of these prominent names. Goa is still the world center for the Psychedelic Trance culture with ever-mystical spots such as Shiva Valley, Monkey Valley, Pipers Plateau and Hill Top that are curating top of the line Trance –n- Dance experiences.

Even though the culture has had to adapt to a more industrial framework as compared to the free flowing days of the sixties to nineties, it is still a new wave world culture. People are still uniting over different ideologies, mystical experiences and a sense of belonging. This music is often shunned and disregarded as a ‘sensible’ genre of music. I do strongly believe it is only for those who wish to understand it. Not in any tone of judgment, but simply to agree to disagree. Quoting Bob Dylan, one must not criticize what they cannot understand. It is also one of the youngest styles of music to exist, and is undergoing a period of rapid growth. It is only exciting to know what evolution in the human mind and available technology will bring in the coming years. Psytrance is a perfect mixture of modular analog physics, rhythm, groove, melody and cutting edge production. There is also a plus point, which is exclusivity. The crowd comes for the experience the music has to give. It is not simply a soundtrack to another ‘epic’ evening with the ‘bros’. It is not simply a theme song to use an excuse to interact with the opposite sex. It takes a lot more than that to really groove. Psychedelic Trance truly provides that, and to top it all, it is an anthem of a movement that is still going strong. Trusted in the hands of musical connoisseurs and new wave concepts that hold the solutions to all the problems our world has today.


Author : Vir Rattan Chowdhry (Philostrate/SpaceCadet)

Vir is a young and upcoming Psychedelic Trance Music Producer from India, studying sound engineering in Canada at the moment.

Check out his soundcloud profile : https://soundcloud.com/philocadet
& Facebook Page : www.facebook.com/philocadet26


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"True Hallucinations", yet another brilliant documentary on the life of Terence McKenna ... Aficionados of Terence McKenna need no introduction to the story that started it all. A journey through the Amazon basin becomes an experiment to hyper-carbolate human DNA, while the events spark the idea of an eschatological theory based on the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching.

Packed with alchemical ramblings about the concretisation of the hyperdimensional object that is accessible in the ecstasy of mushroom intoxication, this is a story not for the faint hearted!


The bizarre adventures of Terence McKenna, his brother Dennis, and a small band of their friends, is a wild ride of exotic experience and scientific inquiry. In search of mythical shamanic hallucinogens, they encounter a host of unusual characters—including a mushroom, a flying saucer, and the voice of the Other — and discover the missing link in the development of human consciousness and language.

My name is Peter Bergmann, I'm the creator of a 3+ hour long documentary movie about the ideas of Terence McKenna, which I made available to watch in its entirety on YouTube.

It was a result of many years of work, and while my summer and all time went into the production last year, it was clear that the 'Experiment at La Chorrera' would be impossible to incorporate into the already lengthy project. Also, it felt as a separate entity, and a story so outlandish, it couldn't possibly be translated into any kind of visual experience, mostly because of the lack of actual material.

(With the Terence McKenna movie, I had hundreds of hours of audio and many videos to choose bits and pieces from, but there is very little tangible material for True Hallucinations, except of course the 9+ hour long talking book.)


The documentary above is highly recommended to be conquered on a long summer weekend, you can help my efforts by liking/sharing/commenting, thank you!

As a consequence of an unbearable itch to continue expanding the McKenna universe, it became obvious to me in recent months that 'True Hallucinations' can reach its fruition.

I've already finished some sequences which prove to me that it would be foolish not to release it to an audience, even though the full and finished product might suffer in the area of consistent quality.

I feel it's necessary to push the envelope on this one, and so I launched this campaign boldly, to gather funds for hardware costs that I'm encountering, and to finance sequences that require the help of other artists, most importantly animated parts, where there is no other way to tell the story.

Terence McKenna's words are poetry to those who know how to listen, and I'm confident the movie I created called 'The Transcendental Object At The End Of Time' provides the viewer with plenty visits from the alchemical angel.

'True Hallucinations' on the other hand strives for something much stranger, it is a set of experiments and ideas that perhaps seem like 'the ravings of an unhinged mind', as Terence often put it, yet the story carries with it an eerie sense of gnostic truth that cannot be ignored, and I believe must be packaged for new generations of psychonauts who will always be drawn to the work of the McKenna brothers.


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Why are so many people all across the world changing their diet and lifestyle to something more in harmony with the natural ways ? Why are so many countries urging their citizens to move to a vegan diet ? Animal husbandry apparently is one of the major causes for global warming also discussed at length in a recent documentary film called, "Cowspiracy". Consuming meat for us humans isn't the best choice and comes at the price of our health.



Our bodies tend to wear out faster when we live on meat based diet. On the contrary, its proven that vegans live a much longer and healthier life. There may be some exceptions though, for example in cold temperate climates where its hard to grow fruit and veggies, humans need to eat some sort of meat to survive and in such circumstances eating fish and other sea food may be the only option. We must however, try and eat more of fresh, organic fruit and veggies as much as possible to maintain optimum health.


Here are some interesting videos discussing why we should be moving towards a vegan diet ....










Finally, each one of us has the power to change things by taking small steps in the right direction. If one truly loves all animals it shouldn't be that difficult to give up eating meat, but for most part, people say they love animals, namely their pets or other exotic creatures which perhaps don't make it to our plates.

We have the power to change ourselves and help others who wish to do the same ... For the rest of the crowd who still wish to continue the killing, we can only wish them well and allow their destinies to unfold as they have to. Everything which has come into form will finally return to its original formless state. Learning and growth for the formless happens while being in the form and we always create our realities and experiences by the choices we make, consciously or unconsciously.

May we awaken compassion in our hearts for all living beings and allow our true divine nature to guide us rather being driven by our limited egos.




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Love ... is perhaps one of the most commonly misunderstood words among us humans. Language for most part falls short to convey the precise meaning behind what we feel emotionally, deep within our soul. We grow up learning love is something which is shared between people you care for. Aren't we capable of extending this feeling towards all ? Why is it so difficult to love everyone ... why do we feel like sometimes people don't deserve our love ? Perhaps the ones we don't show love towards are the ones who need it the most. Deep down you know this is true, yet we continue fighting our egos leading us down a path of sorrow and despair, which we try and hide behind momentary pleasures of the external world.


We fall in love, with fleeting moments of infinite joy which make our spirit soar high in sheer ecstasy as we gracefully unite with the seeming other. When two people or personalities are attracted to each other, it may be for various reasons which draw us closer to each other. These may simply be outer manifestations of our personalities which are bound to change and evolve with time. We sometimes mistake physical attraction for love and get all caught up in our self created hormonal deluge which only gratifies the desires of flesh, oblivious of the union of two souls, completely uniting as one. Aware of each others short comings and strengths ... sensing each others thoughts and feelings ... nurturing each other to grow and be better versions of themselves. This is what keeps two people in love ... sharing, allowing ... while being completely authentic about each others needs, with no secrets and lies hiding our own inadequacies which with time become evident anyway.


We are restricted by our limiting definitions of love which keep us trapped in our egoic consciousness, if there is such a thing. It's simply a lack of self awareness which seeks the other to complete us. Most of us 'fall' in love with an idea of love given to us through mass conditioning and propaganda. We foolishly 'fall' for outer appearances and the masks ... rarely listening to the universal language of frequency and vibration which speaks for itself. We can sense each others energies and we keep denying our innate abilities confusing it for paranoia or our wild imagination. Once you recognize yourself as a spiritual being ... or simply consciousness ... which permeates all creation, you lose the illusion of your separate identity, hence wake up to reality. In a relationship, its important to realize that its two souls who come together in order to heal each others wounds and help build an environment of compassion and understanding while envisioning the future together, growing and expanding always ... continually.

Sometimes we get stuck in certain ideas about love and struggle to free ourselves from its shackles as we continue to seek "love" from another. Someone who we feel will complete us ... physically, emotionally ... It may seem like it works, for a while, until life rearranges itself to bring about a new learning experience, in letting go off attachment and the need to control. Many couples who come together in love tend to get lost along the way and so does their idea of love, which goes right out the window ... because it was never based on a strong foundation, it was never a deep rooted spiritual connection. It can be wrecking to find oneself in a situation like this especially with children involved as it changes your world completely, sometimes quite dramatically.As Terence Mckenna said, "Nothing Lasts ... but nothing is lost."

In an ideal world, couples nurture each other all along, accepting each others light and dark side, while healing the parts which are wounded. What's wrong with the general idea of love in our reality is that people don't know themselves or love themselves enough to be able to accept another for who they are. With time things change and when people resist change it becomes uncomfortable. Some relationships were never built to last and crumble with time and its important to learn the necessary lessons from these relationships and move on bravely into the unknown, with love in our hearts. To love is not to be physically present with the one you love, always. Sometimes, you have to love and let people take their own roads while wishing them well, in hope that someday they will realize the truth for themselves.



I have been through similar challenges in my personal life lately and my own experience makes me share this realization with others who might be facing similar challenges in their lives. I am happy there is hope even in the darkest of times as we are being prepared for greater things to manifest on Earth and in our lives, in the time to come. By healing our own wounds and by letting go off our personal baggage we are in a way freeing the collective unconscious from its self limiting paradigms rooted in fear and separation. We all have great abilities to manifest in this lifetime, but first, we must endeavor to free ourselves from negative karma and let go off any extra baggage we might be carrying with us from our past. The only real relationship we have is the one we have with ourselves. We must be true to our selves and live the life we came here for. If we don't fit into this world, its because we came to create a new one and its time we start moving in that direction, one step at a time.



I came across this brilliant article by Jackie Lapin shared by an evolved soul on facebook ... maybe this will help you fix your relationship and heal your life in a way its meant to. Look forward ... while learning from the past mistakes.

People who are making the change to a conscious and spiritually-driven life often discover that they are yoked to someone who is not prepared to come along on that journey. The partner is mired in his or her own negative thoughts and emotions, and meets any topic of spiritual enlightenment, positive vibration and conscious creation with a wall of resistance. Don’t despair…lots of others have gone through this phase too, and come out on the other side with a happier life. Let’s look at what you can do in this situation:

• Stay in your positive vibration state. Don’t allow your spouse or mate to pull you out of alignment with the Universe. When you feel yourself drawn into it, take a walk, go play with the kids, read a book, go have lunch with your best friend… and continue to think and feel positive about yourself, your life and the good qualities in your partner.

• Create a sacred place in your home where you can go to meditate, clear your chakras, express gratitude, Consciously Create, connect with the Universe, —activities that keep your frequency high. Ask your partner to respect this private time, so that you can “recharge.” This recharging should continue to buttress you against his or her negativity.

• Demonstrate how your life has changed by just being happier, more upbeat, less stressed…and soon your partner may want to know what it is that has changed you and how he can he/she get some of it!

• By changing how you respond to things, your spouse is bound to have to adjust. If you are doing something different, that will change the dynamic between you and within the family. Your partner will have to adjust in some ways to meet or stay up with the new you.

• Visualize a harmonious relationship. See your relationship changing and your partner opening up to greater dialogue, a more open-minded attitude and a willingness to explore new avenues—new ways of thinking. Take your focus off of what is WRONG, and put it on what is right and what you desire.

• Throw your “love net” around him or her. I really believe this is an empowering tool to create waves of love that generate vibrational change. See yourself throwing the net of positive loving energy over your mate and yourself, so that it will allow him/her to release the negativity in a net of safety and acceptance. This raises vibration between the two of you, and floods him or her with your loving, positive energy.

• Each day of the week, spend five minutes telling your partner one or more of the things you love about him or her. Your partner will be delighted to hear praise instead of complaints! It may well begin to shift his/her expectations, mood and outlook.

• Focus on making the present moment the very best and most enjoyable you can and vision for the future. Release the past. Don’t reintroduce old patterns, hold him or her to past behavior by bringing up how it’s been previously, and make sure that you don’t fall back into old negative repetitive interactions yourself. Let go of the anticipation that your partner will respond in “the same old way.” Leave the door open for change and possibility. Create a new pattern of interaction through your change of emotions, thoughts and energy habits.

• Present your partner with positive alternatives. When he or she focuses on the negative, gently demonstrate what alternative thought, emotion or perception may further his or her desire. Be a teacher, but do it gently, don’t force-feed these concepts.

• Become a Master Manifestor. As you raise your frequency, good things will increasingly come to you at your beckoning. If your spouse or partner gets jealous, point out that he/she can do this too if he/she follows your path. Then hand your partner a copy of The Art of Conscious Creation!

• Accept that the Universe is creating an opportunity to test how effectively you can maintain your own positive energy in the face of a challenge!

• Lastly, and this is the most extreme outcome, if you have tried all of these over time and you find yourself in a situation that is not emotionally healthy for you, you may have to leave the relationship. It is when the negatives outweigh the positives, with little prospects for change, that you have a responsibility to your ebullient and joyful soul to find an alternative lifestyle either alone or with a more positively disposed and spiritually aware partner. Remember, even when there are children involved, they fare better with at least one happy parent, rather than two miserable ones.

- Jackie Lapin


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The word “tantra” literally means a technique or a technology. This is an inner technology. These are subjective methods not objective methods. It is a limb of yoga called tantra yoga.

The human mechanism is a composite of the physical body – an accumulation of food consumed; the mental body – the software and memory part that makes the individual function in specific ways; and the energy body – the fundamental upon which these two are housed. What is beyond this is non-physical.

Tantra is a means to go beyond, so that compulsiveness of the body and mind does not keep us trapped in our limitations. It is about learning to use the body, not as oneself, but as a stepping-stone to deliver this being to the highest possible dimension.


Tantra is not about unbridled sexuality, as assumed by many. Sexuality is a fundamental instinct instilled in our bodies to ensure the species perpetuates itself. This is a basic requirement. At the same time, one must know the limitations beyond which it will not carry us. It is only on recognizing the limitations and the longing to touch other dimensions enters, that yoga and tantra become relevant.
People thinking in terms of “I have sexual needs so I will follow the tantric path,” is nonsense. In tantra, it is not that someone is using just sexuality to grow. They are using every aspect to grow. Unfortunately, there may be people who are attracted to such a path for the wrong reasons. They go because they want a spiritual sanction for their sexuality. Why do you want to bullshit yourself about spirituality? Handle your biology as biology, you do not have to give it other names.

Sexual needs can be fulfilled by forming relationships for that purpose, either within or outside the fold. Using spiritual process to fulfill sexual compulsions is reprehensible and irresponsible. It can lead to various levels of loss because the tantric process is not only used for the individual’s spiritual growth, but also to create an energetic space to support other possibilities that bring well being to many.

The simple principle of tantra yoga is: whatever can take you down can also take you up. The ways in which a man usually sinks in his life are through food, alcoholic drink and sexuality. Tantra yoga uses the same three vehicles to rise up. Unlike sexuality, which tends to find release at the lower level of the energy system, tantra is about building our energies to the fountain-head of the uppermost dimension of the energy system, so that one’s energies spill from the top. Of the different energy manifestations in the body – referred to as the 114 chakras – spilling from the top three is considered the highest. If you have to build up to this, every basic instinct, including the sexual instinct, emotions, intellect and survival process must be used to build and hype the energy system. The intention is to deploy all instincts for which a certain amount of energy is dedicated in the body. If one goes into an actual sexual act, the build-up and the purpose of it will be lost.



Tantra means you are able to use your energies to make things happen. If you can make your mind razor sharp to cut through everything, this is also one kind of tantra. If you make your energies work upon your heart to become utterly loving and you can burst forth with enormous love that just overwhelms everyone, this is also tantra. If you make your physical body enormously powerful to make it do incredible feats, this is also tantra. Or if you can make your energies do things by itself without employing the body, mind or emotion, this is also tantra.

Only when energies meet and mingle and a Guru’s energies overwhelm and override the shishya’s energies, it leads to an orgasmic experience – a union, but not of the sexual kind.

If all you want is to do a meditation or spiritual practice, you don’t really need a Guru. The Guru is here essentially to overwhelm you with nameless ecstasies. So tantra is a technology of salvation, not enslavement.

Reference : Sadhguru (Isha Foundation)


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It's no secret that mankind has been using various plants and herbs to heal and to attain extraordinary, visionary states of consciousness which the natives call a 'vision quest'. The Mazatec Indians have for long been known to consume hallucinogenic mushrooms as a holy sacrament to connect with the divine.


Catholic Priest gets out of the Psychedelic Closet !


An Interview with Catholic Priest José Luis Sánchez. By Oliver Quintanilla.

It was during the recordings of Little Saints in Huautla de Jimenez, Oaxaca, Mexico, that I interviewed Catholic Priest Jose Luis Sanchez. I wanted to know his opinion about the use of hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms, in the Indigenous Mazatec rituals practiced in that area, and also about their relationship with the Catholic religion. The result of this interview was totally unexpected, I prepared for an interview with someone who was supposed to take a stand against the ritual, to my surprise it was quite the opposite.

It seems to me a rather edgy stance of the Catholic Church in that region, but I dare to say, that I wished that Father José Luis, was the priest who gave Holy Mass in the elementary and middle Catholic schools to which I attended.

I recently reviewed the almost one hour long interview, I decided to select the most relevant moments, especially the ones that did not make the final cut of Little Saints, and create an extended version of this talk.

In the first part Father Sanchez tells us about an idea of creating a real Mazatec Church, that includes all that is Mazatec, that means the mushroom rituals. In the second part, he explains about the Mazatec Wise Ones, the medicine men and women who are responsible for helping their people, as well as the self-called guides that focus on serving tourists. And in the third and final part, the most revealing of them all, he shares about his own experiences with the Little Saints, name given to the mushrooms by the Mazatec people.

This interview led me to write to Pope Francis, asking for his comment on the relationship between the sacred plants, spirituality and religion. And although His Holiness may be unaware of the existence of these rituals, because in May 2015, I introduced myself to the current priest at St. John Evangelist Church in Huautla, Father Guadalupe Olmedo Solis, to whom I asked if he knew, what The Vatican thought about the mushroom rituals? To which he replied that “most likely they don’t even know about them”. If that was the case, I consider it important that a dialogue begins, because as Father José Luis mentions [The mushroom rituals] "are part of a spirituality that can give great richness to the Church and the world".


Today presents a unique opportunity to create conversation, and to raise awareness in the general public, about the use of sacred plants for spiritual and healing purposes. Especially now that the Pope will visit Mexico, and celebrate Holy Mass with the Indigenous community of Chiapas on February 15, 2016.

Part 1: The Catholic Church.

FATHER JOSÉ LUIS: The position of the Church towards the mushrooms, here in the sierra, has been turning every day, into a search for the truth of the Mazatec, the truth of the faith of the Mazatec. How is their form of expression, for knowledge, to worship, to understand God, so that the form can also enrich the Church, and all the other Churches. Let them not be strange things than they do in the Sierra, but it’s part of a spirituality that can give great richness to the Church and the world.

To discuss with them about their wisdom, about their faith, morals, customs, and try to start laying the foundations of which would make a Real Indigenous Church, the Mazatec Church, without being separated from the Catholic Church, but with out saying, well we are a Roman Church, we are not. We have to be Mazatec Church, someday we have to achieve it, to be faithful to Christ, we must be Mazatec Church, and that shall include all that is Mazatec.

It's not about making a folk church, no, but everything that gets done, has to be well-founded from their culture, and of course to be a Church, it has to be able to dialogue with Christianity, but a dialogue as equals, not a dialogue from inferior to superior.

For example, we have had a lot of discussions about the indigenous concept of God. For the indigenous people God is both Father and Mother. In Europe God is only Father, that makes them feel unease, and it's very elementary we even find it at the beginning of the Bible, the duality of God. God the Father and Mother, the masculine and the feminine in God. And in Europe it still doesn’t sound good to them, because of their macho culture, they still can’t accept the concept of God Mother. The maternal face of God, even being in the Bible, Europe has not been able to assimilate.

The Mazatecs have that ability to do their ritual, and within the same ritual, they invoke the owners of the hills, the “chicones", the supernatural beings, they invoke them, along with the Christian saints.

In the evening rituals, we have examples that the Church should follow about faith inculturation. Under the effect of the mushroom the Mazatec dialogue with God, dialogue with the Saints, dialogue with Jesus Christ, with Mary, to find the light.

When the Mazatecs take the mushrooms, they always say, the little mushroom, is saliva God, why? Because it makes us talk, it makes us engage in conversation, it gives us the capacity for dialogue.

Translated into English we say the Little Saints but it is not diminutive, it’s of respect.

Based on their attributes they say, it’s the blood of God, because it gives us life, it gives us the life of God. They are saliva of God because they make us speak, God makes us speak. They are like the wings of God, because they raise us, they lift us. They have many expressions that describe what the mushrooms do.

OLIVER: The flesh of God also?

FATHER JOSÉ LUIS: Flesh of God, because it nourishes us, it feeds us.

God spread his blood around the world, and where his blood watered, Little Saints sprout, and those Little Saints are what gives us life, they are those who feed us, they are the flesh and blood of God, who left them for us, so we might have life. And they don’t say: "He left them here in Huautla" no. They say, "God's blood was not lost, it was poured across the world, and the Little Saints sprout worldwide so we have life."

Part 2: The Sages.

But the wise ones, who usually do not speak Spanish, They even use only a few elements of the Church. Their dialogue is with their supernatural beings. Their evening rituals are about reaching an encounter with God. They call the climax of the rite, to reach the sacred table. To arrive to the table, they say "yamixale títjon chjota” [pronounced ja me jan yi na], the table of richness. But the table of riches, they say, where God will hand out his gifts, where God will give you the true light, where he will show you your path.

Not in all rites we arrive. In some, one stays in the purification phase, in others in the healing phase, when there is disease or something, but you rarely get to the sacred table. But the goal is always that, I will achieve such a dialogue with God.

A truly wise one, never abandons their patient halfway through the trip. He or she will accompany the person through out the journey. Sometimes they go very far, and then return. Until the healer brings their patient back from where he or she went, the rite is completed.

And many people here, they give them the mushrooms, they pray, they sing to them and then leave them. Do you have problems? Well then you solve them. There is no such dialogue, to say, well, what do you see? What do you feel? How are you? When people get lost, because sometimes we can find very beautiful things, it looks very nice. And the sage, the true sage tells you, "Wait, you didn't come to see flowers, you didn't come to see colors, you didn't come to sing, What did you come for? What do you want to resolve? Well, look for it. Do not stay here in the beauty. Find your problem, solve it.”

When darkness or difficult things or animals or problems present, the wise one says,"Well this is your challenge. Follow it, follow it. You're going to win. Pray, ask God”. And the wise one prays, and starts to sing, uses “pisiete” [tobacco leaf mixed with lime], uses what the moment dictates, there isn’t a structured liturgy, but the wise one reads the now, to figure out what he must do, in order to help overcome the problems. It's really a walk with the person you're serving. And as far as you go, and then have to go back. The wise one never leaves halfway, but has to help to return.

I see in that a big difference, one thing is to come to Huautla and say, "Well I want to see how it feels to take mushrooms". But another thing is really getting into a search process, of meeting and understanding the wisdom of God. And that hardly would be found here in Huautla. Here in Huautla, the best known [healers] are not recommended for a process of knowledge of the people.

And many people do rituals, but they do it as family. Almost all Mazatecs do their rituals, but in a family setting. They meet each other, and help each other. So I think there is a big difference, to engage with the ones that come out of curiosity or to see, and another, is the ones who are engaged with their people, the ones who are helping their community. And it's very interesting here in Huautla, in this region we have seen an awakening of the vocation of sages. In young, and very young, sometimes 18, 20, 22, and they already feel that calling to fulfill this vocation.

Part 3: May God enlighten us!

I showed myself very reluctant to participate directly in the rituals for many years. I accompanied them, I was there, I helped them when they said they needed my help to pray, but I was there more as a companion. And I respected the ritual a lot, not to say that I didn't respected it before, but I would say, that's the Mazatec's space, and therefore I have to respect it. But gradually they would say: "You have to participate. It is not the same to only pray than to be within the rite”.

And once, when there was some crisis in the working groups here in the parish, especially in groups in the grassroots communities, those who we were handling some of this inculturation process, the ones that we were working with the most said: “We have to do a ritual between the coordinators, and you have to participate." And then, "Let's ask God to enlighten us where we will walk."

Then from there, the first experiences were very basic, I didn’t have so many visions. But I did have an experience of a very strong attitude of prayer. Maybe I did not see strange things, but I felt the need to pray with them, to be with them, to strengthen them. More than before. And those were group settings. And we had two or three like that, I did not have very strong experiences. But they were all intended to seek ways to solve problems.

But after, a wise old man told us: "It is not good that a journey is done between too many people”, because some are strong, and some are weak, and if the guide doesn't know very well, they may end up ill, and the weak may end up worse. He said: "It is better to be addressed one by one, up to two". There may be more people present, but not everyone takes the Little Saints, maximum two, he says, to be taken care of well. He added: "A doctor does not put many people in his office and attends to everyone at the same time, he only sees one by one, to listen, to serve, and to analyze, that’s how it must be done." And it is true, some will pull the whole effect from others. A few get a strong effect, and others don’t get any, because it depends on the strength of each person.

A situation that sometimes I do not understand much, the saints speak of bilocation, a saint is in his convent while at the same time healing the sick somewhere on another place. And one says: “Oh, the stories, right?”. But in the mushroom ritual, bilocation is possible. One does not lose the awareness of being here in Huautla, in a particular room, having a ritual, but at the same time, you can see yourself present, for example in the Basilica of Guadalupe. And one says, "Here I am and there's the Virgin and there it is ...". They may say, "Well, it’s a hallucination." Well ... perhaps. But it is the spirit that travels, and changes places while saying I'm here, but without losing sight of being here too. Ubiquity is not lost, the location of where one is located, it is a very curious phenomenon.

And that’s how those experiences are done, and it is how one starts finding... it is like it helps bring clarity to problems. I have asked to the Mazatecs "Well , have you heard… Have you listened to God? Or have you seen God?". “No, we don’t see God, but we can hear. God can be heard through the Little Saints". It is heard through yourself, because you start talking and start saying words, but not rare words from another language, you start talking about things that maybe you could not think of before, let's say in all your senses, in a normal situation, you could not think of such things, but when you're under the effect of the mushrooms, as you go spinning ideas, you express them, and that helps you to bring clarity to your thinking and you say aha!, “I think that here, and through here, problems can be solved, or we can deal with this or that”.

Or one may find meaning to things you did not understand. It happened to me with the elements of the ritual itself, the meaning of the offering presented, I suddenly understood “Aha! that’s why they do it that way”. But that knowledge sprouts from oneself. Some say that God makes you talk, well yes, you start to talk and to say things that you could not think of, and the mushroom helps you to get to understand many things. That has been a little of my experience. Very interesting to me. Very strong.

OLIVER: Very Good. Thanks.

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Oliver Quintanilla is Director, Producer and Editor of the documentary Little Saints, a movie that talks about the use of psilocybin hallucinogenic mushrooms in a Catholic ritual, practiced by the Mazatec Indigenous People from Oaxaca, Mexico.

For more information visit: http://LittleSaintsMovie.com



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