Program Notes
Guest speakers: Shonagh Home and Alyssum Old Coyote
Today we join Shonagh Home in a conversation with Alyssum Old Coyote as they talk about peyote. In addition to describing the elements of a traditional peyote ceremony, we learn of the difficulties that Native American people have had in preserving these important ceremonies as well as stories about some of the astounding stories of healing that has been brought about through the proper use of the peyote plant.
Shonagh Home
is a teacher, shamanic practitioner, and the author of
‘Ix Chel Wisdom: 7 Teachings from the Mayan Sacred Feminine,’
‘Love and Spirit Medicine,’
and the upcoming, ‘Honeybee Wisdom: A Modern Melissae Speaks.’
Website: www.shonaghhome.com
Contact: shonagh.home (at) comcast (dot) net
Allysum Old Coyote
is a woman of prayer who leads peyote ceremony for her community. She is a master beader, wife and mother.
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Transcript
00:00:00 ►
Greetings from Cyberdelic Space.
00:00:19 ►
This is Lorenzo, and I’m your host here in the Psychedelic Salon.
00:00:24 ►
And today we get to join Shona Holm as she interviews Aslan Old Coyote,
00:00:29 ►
and they’re going to discuss, among other things, the people involved and the elements of a peyote session.
00:00:36 ►
This was particularly interesting to me because, well, that’s a ceremony that I’ve never participated in.
00:00:43 ►
And maybe this is the right time for me to pass along another little thought that I’ve had.
00:00:48 ►
Recently I spoke about the famous Alan Watts quote,
00:00:52 ►
Once you get the message, hang up the phone.
00:00:55 ►
In truth, well, I have a problem with the statement in that it implies that there’s only one message to get.
00:01:01 ►
Now I’m sure that our practicing psychonauts will tell you that
00:01:05 ►
there are a great many messages to be gotten. So where’s the middle ground here, you ask?
00:01:11 ►
What if we were to change the word message to the word answer? Then it reads, once you’ve
00:01:17 ►
received an answer, stop calling other numbers. Here’s what I mean by that over 15 years ago I first began participating in ayahuasca ceremonies
00:01:28 ►
and one of the members of our group began trying to convince me to join him in a peyote ceremony
00:01:34 ►
for reasons that I can’t explain, well it just didn’t feel right to me
00:01:38 ►
and so for a couple of years I politely turned him down each time that he would call
00:01:43 ►
and tell me about an upcoming circle.
00:01:46 ►
Eventually, well, he became quite persistent and was almost badgering me to join the group.
00:01:51 ►
So I took that question about whether I should try peyote, and I took that question into an
00:01:57 ►
ayahuasca ceremony and asked Lady A about it, and her answer was very clear. I had made a call and the call was answered. Messages began
00:02:07 ►
to come in through the ayahuasca ceremonies that I’d been taking part in and what I learned that
00:02:12 ►
night was that while there is an infinite number of messages that can come through via a particular
00:02:18 ►
substance, what I think Watts was maybe talking about is that once you get an answer from an
00:02:23 ►
entity that you trust,
00:02:25 ►
well, it’s time to quit making more calls. Don’t keep dialing. You’ve got a number now.
00:02:30 ►
In other words, I’d found my ally and it was ayahuasca. There was no need to continue making
00:02:36 ►
calls to every new and exotic experience that came my way. And from then on, I even quit using
00:02:42 ►
mushrooms. So that’s why I never tried peyote.
00:02:45 ►
Now, my friend thinks that it’s because I’m a coward and afraid to try it.
00:02:49 ►
I won’t deny that because, well, I find that it takes an enormous amount of courage for me
00:02:54 ►
to just use these medicines, even the ones I know about.
00:02:58 ►
And the more experience that I had with them, the more I came to understand their power.
00:03:03 ►
So, yes, I am extremely cautious,
00:03:06 ►
but that’s why I’m still here after 72 years and far too many of my friends have left this planet,
00:03:12 ►
primarily due to bravado and stupidity. So I guess this is just a long way of saying that
00:03:18 ►
if you are deeply drawn to one or the other of these sacred medicines, then do your research
00:03:23 ►
and follow your heart.
00:03:30 ►
But please don’t keep on trying one new experience after another just for the thrill of it or to be able to brag to your friends about what a top-notch psychedelic explorer you are.
00:03:35 ►
This is really serious work and hopefully you treat it that way.
00:03:39 ►
It isn’t a race or a contest.
00:03:41 ►
The work is about consciousness, your consciousness, which is the most important
00:03:47 ►
possession that you have. Take good care of it, because once you damage your mind, well,
00:03:53 ►
there may be no turning back. Now, with that cautionary tale in mind, let’s sit back and
00:03:59 ►
join Shona and Coyote while they teach us about ways in which peyote is properly used, and
00:04:06 ►
about its almost miraculous healing power that most certainly is needed today.
00:04:12 ►
So this is Shona Holm, and I am here today and about to have a conversation with a very special woman who I had the privilege of meeting briefly last summer.
00:04:30 ►
Her name is Alyssum Old Peyote, and she was the roadman for an all-women’s peyote ceremony
00:04:42 ►
through the Native American Church that I had the great privilege of participating in last summer.
00:04:50 ►
And it was really, really, really amazing, incredibly healing, and not easy.
00:04:57 ►
It’s an all-night ceremony, and I learned so much that night.
00:05:02 ►
And I shared with the group that I came there, showed up that evening,
00:05:10 ►
and the following morning I left there a better woman.
00:05:13 ►
And it is my endeavor now to bring forth the voices of these women who I see are very quietly doing very sacred work with plant medicines
00:05:30 ►
that they are approaching in a very, very sacred way,
00:05:36 ►
and I think a very different way than a lot of people approach these medicines.
00:05:41 ►
And so, and Alyssa has told me that she does not want to be labeled
00:05:47 ►
as anything. In other words, she doesn’t want me to identify her as a medicine woman or, you know,
00:05:54 ►
road man. She thinks of herself as a woman of prayer, and she is looked upon as a leader in
00:06:02 ►
her community, but she doesn’t see herself as that.
00:06:06 ►
She had told me she does not want to be in any kind of position where she is higher or lower than anyone else in her community,
00:06:13 ►
but wishes to keep herself as humble as possible.
00:06:17 ►
And she is a self-employed master bead worker, and she’s a wife, and she’s a mother of three children.
00:06:25 ►
And so I welcome you, Alyssa, to this conversation.
00:06:29 ►
Thank you so much for being here this morning.
00:06:32 ►
Let’s just begin.
00:06:33 ►
I have a number of questions for you, as you know.
00:06:37 ►
And I want to begin first with if you could just explain how the peyote ceremony is done, and we’ll start there.
00:06:53 ►
Okay.
00:06:54 ►
Every fireplace is different, and every person is different.
00:06:59 ►
Could you explain what a fireplace is?
00:07:03 ►
Well, there’s many different fireplaces.
00:07:06 ►
I don’t know too many of them, but there are fireplaces all across the United States,
00:07:11 ►
all across Canada and Mexico, all over.
00:07:15 ►
How we do ceremonies up here is way different from how they do it down in Mexico and South America,
00:07:22 ►
where this ceremony originated from.
00:07:26 ►
But for my teachings from what my dad passed on to me is we gather in a group
00:07:35 ►
and we sit there and we humble ourselves and we sacrifice our sleep and our comfort all night
00:07:42 ►
for the prayer, for whatever it is that we’re praying for.
00:07:47 ►
And we have the one that sits up front behind the medicine.
00:07:52 ►
And it’s not really what comes from that meeting doesn’t come from that particular person.
00:08:01 ►
That person opens themselves up and becomes like a vessel, and the medicine
00:08:06 ►
works through them, and that’s how we talk to the ancestors and stuff, is that person
00:08:13 ►
up there that sits up there is, you know, my dad always says, be a hollow bone, you
00:08:20 ►
know, don’t work from your mind, work from your heart, just follow your heart and be that hollow bone so those old ones can speak to you.
00:08:29 ►
And so then they have helpers, which is drum chief,
00:08:33 ►
and the drum chief is the one that carries the heartbeat,
00:08:35 ►
the one that keeps that prayer alive and that ceremony alive throughout the night
00:08:40 ►
by using their drum kettle.
00:08:43 ►
And it’s a connection to Mother Earth from what I understand it is we use those different elements,
00:08:51 ►
the water and then the skin.
00:08:53 ►
And so you’re kind of bringing nature into life in there.
00:09:11 ►
Then you have the cedar person that sits on the left side of the person that’s sitting behind the medicine.
00:09:19 ►
And they are the ones that use that cedar, those herbs, to keep the air clear in there so the spirits can do their work that we ask them to come in there and do.
00:09:26 ►
And so if there’s, like, something really intense going on, then they put cedar down.
00:09:31 ►
Or if somebody’s having a hard time, they put cedar down for them
00:09:35 ►
because cedar is, from what I understand, it is a cleansing herb.
00:09:41 ►
It’s a cleansing tool that we use. And then we have the fireman. And
00:09:55 ►
the fireman is the one that, they say that the fireman is the one that runs the meeting.
00:10:01 ►
The guy that sits up, the road man, let’s say, sits up there
00:10:06 ►
and is doing the spiritual work, as for the fireman sits directly across from him, and
00:10:12 ►
he works with that fire, and it has always been taught to me that fire, it collects the
00:10:19 ►
negativity in the world and turns it into good. The light brings the negativity towards it.
00:10:26 ►
People give their negativity to it.
00:10:28 ►
And it builds the fire up, and the fire turns it into light so we can see.
00:10:33 ►
The fire turns it into warmth so we can be comfortable.
00:10:38 ►
So the fire is like a major tool, and it like switches it around for us
00:10:42 ►
and turns negativity into good.
00:10:45 ►
Helps us out, heals us through its warmth through its heat um and the fireman like does most of the work pretty
00:10:55 ►
much i think in my opinion because he works on that fire he keeps that fire clean as well as
00:11:01 ►
the ground around if you go to a meeting you’ll notice that the fireman and the doorman are always sweeping, they’re always
00:11:09 ►
cleaning, they’re always getting stuff for the roadman, for the drummer, for the
00:11:12 ►
for the scenery man going in and out of the teepee or in and out of the circle.
00:11:17 ►
And so the fireman is a really big job. And he has a helper, the doorman, and the doorman is the one that watches that door.
00:11:30 ►
Whatever comes in that door and goes out that door, that is, I don’t know how to word that,
00:11:40 ►
but kind of has to go through the doorman first, you know, so the doorman
00:11:46 ►
is like a protector, kind of a keeper of, you know, make sure that everybody’s all right
00:11:53 ►
from whatever he or she lets in or out of that door, and also is the one that goes around
00:12:00 ►
and collects the wellness, takes it out, you know, back to watches, whatever
00:12:08 ►
goes out that door.
00:12:10 ►
And then there’s the sponsor, the person that we’re all there for, the family that we’re
00:12:17 ►
all there for.
00:12:18 ►
And we do all this work and we work together as one for this particular prayer, for this particular family,
00:12:26 ►
to make sure that whatever it is that they’re asking for,
00:12:31 ►
that there is a good, clear way for them to ask for it.
00:12:37 ►
And so then there’s also that good, clear way for their prayers to get answered,
00:12:41 ►
for them to get some kind of showing or something to help
00:12:45 ►
them out, some kind of healing.
00:12:49 ►
And then there’s the supporters, I guess you could say, the supporters of the friends and
00:12:57 ►
family, the relatives that come and then they fill up the empty seats all around.
00:13:02 ►
that come and then they fill up the empty seats all around.
00:13:11 ►
And they all pray together as one to that fire with that medicine for that family. So it’s like their support to be there just to help make things happen.
00:13:19 ►
It’s not, from what I’m understanding is that it’s not just one person or one group of people.
00:13:26 ►
It takes a whole meeting to make this happen.
00:13:30 ►
So every single person is just as important as the next.
00:13:35 ►
My father-in-law, he always says that the newcomers are the blessing because we’re in there praying,
00:13:45 ►
we’re in there trying to encourage, we’re in there trying to make a better way for the future.
00:13:50 ►
And so the new ones that come in are the blessing because they’re the ones that we’re praying for to come in
00:13:55 ►
so we can, you know, make our circle that much stronger.
00:14:00 ►
That’s so beautiful.
00:14:02 ►
That’s so incredibly beautiful.
00:14:03 ►
And the whole, the idea that the entire group is essential,
00:14:09 ►
every single person is essential to that happening, I think, is profound.
00:14:14 ►
And I recall also when we did this ceremony last summer,
00:14:20 ►
and it was, I believe, 55 women in this huge teepee.
00:14:24 ►
and it was, I believe, 55 women in this huge teepee.
00:14:30 ►
There were also, I remember, a small group of men outside,
00:14:38 ►
and I believe they were there in some kind of protective function.
00:14:38 ►
Is that correct?
00:14:40 ►
Through the night they stayed up?
00:14:42 ►
I believe so.
00:14:44 ►
I’m not quite sure on that.
00:14:46 ►
That was like a last-minute thing. Oh, it was? Yeah, I believe so. I’m not quite sure on that. That was like a last minute thing.
00:14:52 ►
Yeah, I believe so. Yeah, that was really nice and I also loved how in the morning at the end of the ceremony
00:14:55 ►
food was brought in and I know that that has
00:14:59 ►
symbolism as well. Could you speak to that as well, to the sharing
00:15:04 ►
of that food and what each dish represents?
00:15:06 ►
From my understanding is that the morning food is the food that represents the different spirits,
00:15:16 ►
the different elements. The water that comes in is the water of life.
00:15:21 ►
And actually there’s a woman that comes in right before the food comes in, and
00:15:26 ►
she is the morning water woman. And her prayer is that she brings in that water, and she
00:15:34 ►
takes the whole night, the whole night, the whole prayer and everything, and she puts
00:15:39 ►
it into that water so each and every one of us can take a piece of that home with us,
00:15:43 ►
so we can actually touch each and every one of us in some sort of way.
00:15:50 ►
And so then she brings the water back in with the food, and it’s the water of life.
00:15:56 ►
It’s your connection to Mother Earth.
00:15:58 ►
My family always was taught, you wake up in the morning, you drink water,
00:16:04 ►
so you can always keep your connection to your mother. Always keep
00:16:08 ►
your connection to your ancestors. It’s the giver of life.
00:16:11 ►
It gives life.
00:16:15 ►
And then the corn is for your mind.
00:16:20 ►
It’s to help your mind, strengthen your mind, help you to think.
00:16:24 ►
I’ve heard many different times that if you get bored It’s to help your mind, strengthen your mind, help you to think.
00:16:30 ►
I’ve heard many different times that if you get bored or if you’re confused, to eat corn.
00:16:35 ►
And so the corn, like, strengthens your mind and how your mind works.
00:16:50 ►
And then the meat is for the physical being, your strength, your physical body, to keep you strong, to keep you healthy, to keep you going.
00:16:56 ►
The berries are for joy, to bring sweetness to your world.
00:17:04 ►
They’re just to bring the laughter, the happiness that the kids are usually thought of when the berries come through.
00:17:10 ►
And then I’ve also heard many times is that actually growing up, what I heard was that this food is medicine that comes in to honor
00:17:17 ►
and respect the World War II vets because there is a lot of World War II vets
00:17:24 ►
that died out there in the field and
00:17:26 ►
there was nothing.
00:17:27 ►
There was no service.
00:17:28 ►
There was no funerals.
00:17:30 ►
They weren’t brought home to their families and they were just left out there.
00:17:33 ►
And so I’ve heard that they bring those foods in to honor them, to honor what they’ve done
00:17:40 ►
for not only this country but the future of this country.
00:17:46 ►
And there’s a whole story that goes along with that through my uncles.
00:17:52 ►
And so, but one of the things that I really like is that he uses that,
00:17:59 ►
those berries for sweetness,
00:18:01 ►
to keep your connection with the natural sweetness of the world. And when, back in the day when native babies were born, first thing they would do was inject them with sugar water.
00:18:17 ►
And that broke their connection to that natural sweetness of, you know, like nature and everything.
00:18:23 ►
Who injected them?
00:18:26 ►
The nurses, the hospitals.
00:18:28 ►
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
00:18:29 ►
And so he uses those berries to keep the sweetness, to bring the sweetness back, to keep that
00:18:37 ►
connection with everybody.
00:18:39 ►
And then the meat was, whenever they started giving out vouchers, they started giving out commodities and stuff.
00:18:46 ►
They took our meat away, our elk, our deer, our buffalo.
00:18:50 ►
They took it away and they gave us salted pork.
00:18:54 ►
So when we bring that meat in, it’s to keep our old ways alive, keep our old connection.
00:19:02 ►
And then they replaced our corn with flour.
00:19:01 ►
keep our old connection.
00:19:04 ►
And then they replaced our corn with flour.
00:19:11 ►
And then they replaced our water with, like, juices and coffee and alcohol.
00:19:16 ►
And so they’re all just, like, these foods are for, like, connections.
00:19:19 ►
And there’s so many different ways to describe them. And there’s so many different ways, different beliefs that come along with these.
00:19:24 ►
Those are just a couple that I follow, that I keep in my heart.
00:19:31 ►
Well, it’s just so beautiful.
00:19:36 ►
And speaking of that beauty, I wanted to also have you speak to, because I remember through
00:19:42 ►
the night, each woman would take a turn singing and she
00:19:47 ►
would sing like four songs.
00:19:50 ►
Could you speak to that as well?
00:19:51 ►
Because that was incredible.
00:19:56 ►
From my understanding, these songs are prayers.
00:20:00 ►
And so music, even in church today, well, church today is still ancient, but even it’s like rejoicing in the Lord, rejoicing in your higher entity, your higher power.
00:20:33 ►
You make noise, joyful noise, to invite whoever it is that you’re calling, your ancestors, spirits, the ones from the old world.
00:20:45 ►
And so these prayers, each song, there are certain songs that are for certain things. Sometimes there’s healing meetings.
00:20:52 ►
Sometimes there’s meetings for sadness, for joy, for celebration, for birthdays.
00:20:55 ►
And then they have different songs for each and every one of these.
00:21:02 ►
For ceremonies, there’s the opening songs that clears the way, clears the air, and then they also call the certain spirit helpers to come and help.
00:21:09 ►
And then there are certain songs for, like, when you bring in the water,
00:21:13 ►
there are certain songs that you sing to make a way for that water to come in safely,
00:21:18 ►
to make a way to where whoever it is bringing in that water is coming in a safe way, that they’re okay.
00:21:26 ►
And then there’s closing songs, where it wraps everything up, where you give thanks,
00:21:32 ►
and you safely send those spirits, those helpers, those oldies back to wherever it is that they came from.
00:21:49 ►
And so there’s before midnight is straight songs, open songs.
00:21:52 ►
And then after midnight, you can start singing morning songs. And they’re usually songs that are, like, greeting the day.
00:21:56 ►
You’re saying good morning.
00:21:57 ►
You’re giving thanks for your family, your children, your life.
00:22:08 ►
your children, your life. But each and every person, like, goes back to what I was saying before, how each and every one of us in that ceremony is just as important as the next.
00:22:15 ►
Because each and every one of us does a certain thing to make the prayer possible, and singing is one of them.
00:22:30 ►
I’m struck by that also just because, you know, we don’t do that anymore. I mean, you know, many cultures have lost that entirely, and I think even maybe one
00:22:40 ►
or two generations ago, people sang more, you know, and mothers would sing to their
00:22:47 ►
children, and children would sing, and I just, I don’t see that so much anymore, and it also
00:22:54 ►
calls to mind, like, a joy, and like a celebration of life, And the song is very potent.
00:23:07 ►
It’s very sacred.
00:23:10 ►
And, yeah, I was really, I could feel my own impoverishment in terms of, you know,
00:23:19 ►
I’m not around that.
00:23:22 ►
It’s hardly at all right.
00:23:24 ►
And so that ceremony last summer, the songs were just so beautiful.
00:23:30 ►
You know, they really stayed with me.
00:23:34 ►
So in terms of, well, actually, tell me, what is your tribal heritage?
00:23:42 ►
Could you speak to that real quick?
00:23:42 ►
What is your tribal heritage?
00:23:44 ►
Could you speak to that real quick?
00:23:53 ►
I am Cree of Saskatchewan over in – my dad was born and raised in Minnesota.
00:23:57 ►
And I’m English on my dad’s side.
00:23:59 ►
I’m Cree and English on my dad’s side.
00:24:08 ►
And then on my mom’s side, I am Stolo of Chilliwack, Canada, D.C., and Filipino.
00:24:11 ►
Okay, wow. Now, I recall a story, you’ll have to tell it, about how when your father started this fireplace,
00:24:31 ►
fireplace, that did he not have to also speak with the elders, and was he told that they didn’t want white people invited to the ceremonies, but he chose to open it to them?
00:24:38 ►
Is that correct?
00:24:46 ►
My dad was, okay.
00:24:53 ►
I, myself, was raised AIM, American Indian Movement.
00:25:01 ►
And we fought and we still fight the government for Native American rights,
00:25:07 ►
for our right to belong, for our water, for our right to do ceremonies, for our land, for, you know, just to belong.
00:25:12 ►
Because there was a time where the government, when they came here, they saw us as savages.
00:25:19 ►
They put us lower than animals.
00:25:22 ►
They called us uncivilized, called us all kinds of things, looked at us
00:25:26 ►
that way, and so kind of created a picture for us.
00:25:30 ►
And when it was really bad, my dad and my mom were activists, and they did a lot of
00:25:39 ►
marches.
00:25:39 ►
They did a lot of protests.
00:25:50 ►
to protest. And my dad grew up in a boarding school, and he, you know, he still has scars.
00:25:56 ►
He still has, he still suffers from the trauma from those places. My mom… So these were the boarding, I’m sorry to interrupt. Listen, these were the boarding schools that
00:25:59 ►
they sent these Native American children to, where they were pretty graciously abused. Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:05 ►
My dad was, they had to cut his hair.
00:26:09 ►
He got beat every time he spoke his language.
00:26:11 ►
They pretty much beat his tradition out of him.
00:26:15 ►
And so, and then my mom, she never went to boarding school,
00:26:20 ►
but she went to missionary school.
00:26:22 ►
And being a young Native girl back then, it was really, really hard for her as well.
00:26:28 ►
She felt like she was just disgusting, like she was just, you know, not amongst the other kids,
00:26:38 ►
like she was an outcast.
00:26:39 ►
She was just, it was very traumatic for my parents.
00:26:43 ►
She was just, it was very traumatic for my parents.
00:26:51 ►
And so whenever they were really active in the ceremonies, they kept it as Native only.
00:27:00 ►
And because, not because they’re racist, not because they’re against anybody or any race, it’s because of what they’ve been through in their life.
00:27:03 ►
So they needed to feel safe.
00:27:07 ►
They needed to make sure that they were getting their point across to their children, to their
00:27:12 ►
grandchildren, to make sure that they were heard.
00:27:14 ►
And so they wouldn’t have to feel any kind of way but security.
00:27:40 ►
security. And so they, that’s, that got really misunderstood because they were so native only, native only, so it got really misunderstood and really twisted, but it is what it is. It’s understandable, and it’s for myself, for seeing them on a daily basis
00:27:46 ►
and hearing their voices on a daily basis.
00:27:49 ►
It really touches a place close to my heart, inside my heart,
00:27:53 ►
because, you know, here we are trying to create world peace.
00:27:59 ►
Here we are trying to create all these things, you know.
00:28:01 ►
But at the same time, those things happened.
00:28:04 ►
And those things
00:28:05 ►
that happened are really, really intense. And so they’re going to stick with a person
00:28:09 ►
for life. And we can’t forget about that, just because we want it to be another way.
00:28:15 ►
We can’t forget about how it used to be. And so when my dad, my dad has health issues, physical health issues, so he quit sitting up.
00:28:29 ►
He quit doing his ceremonies.
00:28:32 ►
And whenever I decided to come back to the real world, to start cleaning up and getting sober and getting clean and everything,
00:28:42 ►
my dad passed the family fireplace on to me.
00:28:47 ►
He gave me the bundle.
00:28:48 ►
He gave me it.
00:28:50 ►
Pretty much talked to me and told me that, you know, it’s time for me to start picking it up
00:28:54 ►
because he can no longer do it, so I need to pick up where he left off.
00:28:59 ►
And so I really, we really had a long talk about it. And I told him that, you know, I understand.
00:29:11 ►
I didn’t want him to feel disrespected or anything.
00:29:14 ►
And so, but I wanted to open it to everyone because I want the world to be humble.
00:29:22 ►
I want the world to work together as one because our world is dying.
00:29:27 ►
Our Mother Earth is dying.
00:29:28 ►
And if we are just in separate groups, then it’s going to be a lot harder for us to lift her up, to help heal her, to work together.
00:29:48 ►
work together. And so I wanted to not only touch my Native American heritage, but every other heritage out there in the world, because we all share the same home. We all live on the same
00:29:52 ►
earth, no matter if our ancestors came from that side or that side or up there or down there or
00:29:57 ►
wherever, it’s all still our home. And so I want to make it possible for everybody to pray together, for everybody to not necessarily hear,
00:30:11 ►
it’s open to you now, so this is your ceremony, this is where you come from.
00:30:15 ►
No, not like that, more of here’s a piece of my life, here’s a piece of my heritage, of my history, my ancestry,
00:30:24 ►
to share with you, to share with each and every one of you.
00:30:28 ►
So maybe it can do something for you that it’s done for me.
00:30:33 ►
Maybe it can do something for you that it’s done for my family.
00:30:38 ►
Kind of caring for one another, you know, like if I go to a Buddhist temple, they’re going to smile at me and they’re going to welcome me in.
00:30:46 ►
If I go to church every Sunday, every time I show up at that door, they smile at me and let me in.
00:30:52 ►
And so if somebody wants to come to my church or my heritage’s church, I want to do the same thing.
00:31:00 ►
Come on in.
00:31:01 ►
Come on.
00:31:01 ►
Let’s work together.
00:31:02 ►
Let’s be one people because we’ve separated for long
00:31:07 ►
enough. And I want a good future for my children. I want a good future for my children’s children,
00:31:13 ►
and so on and so forth. And so therefore, I want to teach them to work together as a whole,
00:31:19 ►
and to not have to feel that pain, feel that hurt, see that anger, see that hatred that I have lived with my whole life.
00:31:29 ►
I’ve had people spit at me.
00:31:32 ►
I’ve had people call me everything under the sun.
00:31:35 ►
I’ve had people throw things at me.
00:31:37 ►
I’ve been cornered by the National Guard, by police of all different places and sizes.
00:31:45 ►
And so it’s like if we’re going to start, if we’re going to make this world a better
00:31:50 ►
place, then we need to be better ourselves.
00:31:55 ►
The fighting has to stop.
00:31:57 ►
The healing needs to start.
00:31:59 ►
My mom has told me for some time now that the time for suffering is over.
00:32:06 ►
So it’s like, okay, I’m going to think about that,
00:32:08 ►
and I’m going to figure out how I can get that out there in the world by example.
00:32:12 ►
So I myself need to stay as humble as possible to show everybody my thought on it.
00:32:22 ►
Does that make sense?
00:32:22 ►
my thought on it.
00:32:24 ►
Does that make sense?
00:32:26 ►
Wow, sweetie.
00:32:28 ►
So you were the one who initiated the opening of that ceremony then
00:32:30 ►
to Outlanders, essentially.
00:32:33 ►
Oh, wow.
00:32:34 ►
Wow.
00:32:35 ►
Wow, well, thank you.
00:32:36 ►
You changed my life.
00:32:38 ►
It’s quite something.
00:32:41 ►
And I want to share with
00:32:42 ►
the people who are listening
00:32:44 ►
that the prayer for that particular ceremony was for the empowerment
00:32:49 ►
of women to go out into the world and heal.
00:32:54 ►
And I really left holding that prayer and I still
00:32:59 ►
hold that prayer and that is my beauty walk.
00:33:04 ►
And I just can’t tell you how profound that was for me.
00:33:11 ►
And so you talked about kind of cleaning up your act here
00:33:15 ►
and then coming in to very serious holding of this medicine and this ceremony.
00:33:22 ►
What effect would you say the medicine, has the medicine
00:33:28 ►
had on your life?
00:33:29 ►
And when I ask you, I think this is really, it is, it seems to be a combination of both
00:33:35 ►
the medicine and the ceremony that would have that effect.
00:33:40 ►
Would you agree?
00:33:44 ►
Yeah, in some cases.
00:33:46 ►
Some cases, like, yeah, sometimes I need to actually be in the ceremony.
00:33:52 ►
I need to be with the other people that are praying.
00:33:55 ►
And then there are some times where I can just sit down myself and look at my medicine
00:34:02 ►
and instantly have that connection.
00:34:06 ►
Sometimes I can just stop in my tracks and just close my eyes and just start praying,
00:34:13 ►
and then the medicine comes to me and I instantly have that connection.
00:34:19 ►
So I guess it’s on how I feel myself.
00:34:24 ►
How strong do I feel at that moment in time?
00:34:28 ►
Okay.
00:34:28 ►
And how has it affected your life?
00:34:32 ►
How did it affect my life?
00:34:37 ►
Let’s preface that, sweetie.
00:34:39 ►
First of all, let’s preface it and say,
00:34:40 ►
how old were you when you first experienced the medicine?
00:34:46 ►
Start there.
00:34:49 ►
I was like six or seven.
00:34:53 ►
Okay.
00:34:55 ►
My mom had gotten sick with cirrhosis of the liver.
00:35:00 ►
And so my uncle and my auntie came down and ran services here at my mom and dad’s house.
00:35:08 ►
And all of us kids had to go upstairs because it was an intense meeting.
00:35:13 ►
It was a healing meeting, and they didn’t want kids in there because maybe they would catch something
00:35:18 ►
or, you know, to keep the kids protected, they wanted us upstairs.
00:35:22 ►
And the whole time I was upstairs, I just felt
00:35:25 ►
out of place. I just felt weird. And I was just, I mean, all the kids were around me
00:35:31 ►
playing and having fun, and I was just kind of sitting there. And so I would sneak downstairs,
00:35:38 ►
and every time, like, I was down there peeking around the corner, I felt normal.
00:35:45 ►
I felt like I was where I should be.
00:35:48 ►
Then pretty soon I just quit going back and forth, and I just sat there, and I just listened, and I paid attention, and I just felt it.
00:35:57 ►
The medicine was just calling me down there.
00:36:00 ►
Then I stayed with the medicine for a long time as a child. I would sleep in there.
00:36:11 ►
I’d have my birthdays in there. I just followed my dad all over. Everywhere he went, everything
00:36:19 ►
he did, I followed him and paid attention and watched. And then when I was about 19 or 20, I fell into that dark world.
00:36:35 ►
I started using drugs and I started drinking a lot.
00:36:39 ►
And then I walked away whenever I started doing all that.
00:36:45 ►
I walked away from it completely.
00:36:46 ►
I didn’t go to any meetings.
00:36:48 ►
I didn’t sing any songs.
00:36:49 ►
I just walked away from it.
00:36:51 ►
I put it down.
00:36:52 ►
And I would say seven years ago, yeah, seven years ago, six, seven years ago,
00:37:01 ►
I decided to clean up. And what I actually did was I went to my family, and I told them I needed help.
00:37:12 ►
And my brother took me on what is tribal journeys, canoe journeys.
00:37:21 ►
And he took me on that one summer, and that just, like, pulled my mind out of everything.
00:37:27 ►
And then when I got back from travel journeys, I went back to the fireplace.
00:37:32 ►
I went back to the medicine, and I actually went up to my father-in-law’s house.
00:37:37 ►
And he wasn’t my father-in-law at the time.
00:37:40 ►
I went up to his house, and I just, like, pretty much glued myself to him and I just stuck with him and it
00:37:47 ►
Just I kept getting stronger and stronger every every ceremony I came out of and for this medicine in myself
00:37:57 ►
This medicine opens a doorway
00:38:00 ►
It’s like a key to those locked doors in my own mind in my own life
00:38:04 ►
The things that I don’t want to look at the things that I don’t want to admit to you this medicine a doorway, it’s like a key to those locked doors in my own mind, in my own life, the
00:38:05 ►
things that I don’t want to look at, the things that I don’t want to admit to, this medicine
00:38:09 ►
opens that doorway for me so I can look at it, so I can let that medicine in and it can
00:38:15 ►
take care of me, it can help me, it can help myself healing myself, you know, by letting go, by understanding, by, you know.
00:38:26 ►
And so for this medicine, it is for myself.
00:38:31 ►
It’s a doorway.
00:38:32 ►
It’s a key to open those things that I refuse to look at myself on my own.
00:38:41 ►
Yeah, so powerful and that was what uh was my experience last summer because i really had to
00:38:48 ►
kind of purge a demon you know um and i was in a relationship that was uh
00:38:55 ►
really uh not serving and it was doing more harm than good and uh and i remember sitting in that teepee and looking into the fire uh because
00:39:10 ►
the woman who had sponsored me who brought me into that ceremony said uh you know shanna look
00:39:16 ►
into the fire and let the peyote speak to you and the medicine brought this piece up for me, and it said, let us call forth the one in you who is so desperate for love that she thinks she must settle for that.
00:39:34 ►
And, oh, did I start crying.
00:39:36 ►
And the peyote said, you leave that demon here with me.
00:39:44 ►
I’ll handle that.
00:39:47 ►
And it said, and leave every tear with me tonight.
00:39:51 ►
And then it said, you belong in the TV with the women, you know,
00:39:57 ►
and let them sing your healing.
00:40:01 ►
And you send in your healing.
00:40:03 ►
And you send in your healing.
00:40:13 ►
It just called me into that energy, that incredible healing energy of that circle.
00:40:15 ►
I mean, it was extraordinary.
00:40:18 ►
I mean, I was healed the next day.
00:40:19 ►
I was done.
00:40:20 ►
I was complete. And that has been, and I think for a lot of people, you know, who look to sort of
00:40:26 ►
relationship to complete them in some way, and many of us make a mess in doing so. And I just,
00:40:38 ►
I just so, it’s just a very profound healing, I must say. And there were other stories that the women were sharing of other people having similar healings
00:40:51 ►
with regard to other kinds of addictions and that kind of thing.
00:40:55 ►
I mean, it is just, you know, that medicine is not to be underestimated.
00:41:00 ►
And I’m also struck when you share about the power of family and really the power of the tribe.
00:41:09 ►
And so you get into trouble in some way and thank goodness then your family is there
00:41:17 ►
and they open themselves and welcome you back and help you to heal. I mean, that’s just, that’s so profound and really in sharp contrast to, you know,
00:41:30 ►
I just have noticed such a defamation of the family over the course of these past 20, 30 years.
00:41:38 ►
You know, all these are broken families and people at odds.
00:41:41 ►
And the power of the family, you know, when you stay close like that is co-found.
00:41:51 ►
And speaking of which, could you share some of the, you know,
00:41:58 ►
the very important teachings that you received from your father around the sacred use of the peyote medicine?
00:42:13 ►
I learned so much from my dad and my mom,
00:42:31 ►
and the ones that really helped me and really get me to my next step is they always told me to use my heart, to think with my heart, to see with my heart, to feel with my heart.
00:42:40 ►
And whatever comes out of doing those things, to not be afraid.
00:42:47 ►
And so that’s pretty much how I do it. I just go for it. I just follow my heart and I just don’t be afraid. I trust in myself of what I see, what I am hearing,
00:42:55 ►
what I am feeling. I trust in it and I go with it. And yeah, because there was a time
00:43:01 ►
where I didn’t trust myself, where I didn’t.
00:43:05 ►
I freaked out everything that I saw, everything I felt, everything I heard.
00:43:09 ►
And whenever I, you know, stopped being like that and I started listening to my mom and dad,
00:43:17 ►
it, like, just brought me to a whole different level, to a whole different place in myself, in, you know, in the world.
00:43:28 ►
So it’s just, yeah, to just trust it.
00:43:33 ►
Don’t be afraid of it because that medicine is not here.
00:43:38 ►
Those old ones are not here to scare you, to hurt you, to lead you wrong.
00:43:43 ►
They’re here to help you.
00:43:44 ►
And sometimes the help that you need is wrong. They’re here to help you. And sometimes
00:43:45 ►
the help that you need is hard, it’s difficult, it hurts, it’s scary. And so therefore to
00:43:53 ►
just go for it and you’ll be okay.
00:43:58 ►
Yeah. Well, I’ll tell you, I mean, you held that ceremony with, I was struck by the dignity and the integrity.
00:44:09 ►
I mean, you could feel it.
00:44:10 ►
You could feel it.
00:44:11 ►
I mean, you were so fully present.
00:44:16 ►
It was really quite something, really quite something.
00:44:20 ►
So this is maybe a silly question, but what is the purpose of sacred plant medicine in your estimation?
00:44:30 ►
I mean, what do you think really is the purpose of that?
00:44:33 ►
You’ve spoken to it a little bit, but I want to hear a little more.
00:44:37 ►
I consider it a tool.
00:44:40 ►
I consider it a doorway, a key.
00:44:40 ►
A tool.
00:44:44 ►
I consider it a doorway, a key.
00:44:50 ►
Whenever we were put on this earth, we didn’t have screwdrivers.
00:44:51 ►
We didn’t have knives.
00:44:53 ►
We didn’t have phones, computers.
00:44:55 ►
We didn’t have light switches.
00:44:56 ►
We didn’t have electricity.
00:45:01 ►
When we were sent to this earth, we had the tools that we needed to survive.
00:45:04 ►
And it was water. It was food, it was shelter, it was,
00:45:08 ►
you know, from the trees, the animals, the streams, the lakes, the rivers, the mountains,
00:45:16 ►
the forests and bushes, everything was, it all played together to help us survive, to help the animals survive.
00:45:25 ►
There’s a purpose for everything.
00:45:27 ►
And so I see these plants as our tools that keep us connected to that old world
00:45:36 ►
so we don’t get distracted by the modern-day life, the modern-day technology.
00:45:42 ►
It helps us remember and remind ourselves that we don’t need money.
00:45:47 ►
We don’t need electricity.
00:45:49 ►
We don’t need alcohol, drugs.
00:45:53 ►
We don’t need cars.
00:45:54 ►
We don’t need all these fancy pretty things because we have everything that we need.
00:46:00 ►
Whenever Creator created us and sent us to this world,
00:46:04 ►
she gave us everything that we needed.
00:46:08 ►
And so therefore, to make that connection, we use the herbs.
00:46:14 ►
We use the medicines of the earth.
00:46:17 ►
We still use those waters, those foods.
00:46:19 ►
We use not only the holy sacrament, but we use cedar, sage, lavender.
00:46:26 ►
We use the different elements that have been here for many, many years before us.
00:46:37 ►
Yeah, I couldn’t agree more.
00:46:40 ►
In fact, I see this as almost like two worlds.
00:46:45 ►
There’s the world of the unreal, which is the commercial world we live in.
00:46:51 ►
I mean, really, it’s all construct, isn’t it?
00:46:53 ►
It’s all mental construct.
00:46:54 ►
And then there’s the world of the real, and that is nature.
00:46:58 ►
And in nature, she’s abundant.
00:47:01 ►
And there’s no such thing as lack in nature,
00:47:05 ►
and there’s a cure for everything in nature.
00:47:08 ►
But in the world of the commercial, the quote-unquote civilized world that we live in,
00:47:13 ►
there’s no profit in cures, and there’s certainly no profit in peace, is there?
00:47:19 ►
Because war is big business.
00:47:22 ►
And then lack is totally manufactured, totally manufactured,
00:47:28 ►
because you know, right, you plant a few kernels of, you plant corn seeds
00:47:36 ►
and you end up with so many ears of corn or anyone who’s had a garden, you know,
00:47:40 ►
you end up with more lettuce than you can eat or you plant a fruit tree
00:47:43 ►
and you’ve got more fruit than you can eat.
00:47:46 ►
I mean, like, that’s nature.
00:47:48 ►
That’s the real world.
00:47:49 ►
That’s creator’s world.
00:47:51 ►
I so see that.
00:47:55 ►
What about the rest of your community?
00:47:57 ►
What would you, what effect would you say the medicine has had on your community in
00:48:03 ►
your observation?
00:48:04 ►
say the medicine has had on your community in your observation?
00:48:10 ►
Like what do you mean by that?
00:48:16 ►
Well, in terms of, you know, just observing people who come to the ceremony and take the medicine and how that affects their lives,
00:48:24 ►
and how that affects their lives.
00:48:32 ►
Just any sort of significant observations you might have in terms of what this has done for other people?
00:48:36 ►
It’s pretty intense.
00:48:38 ►
It has a pretty intense impact.
00:48:41 ►
It has a pretty deep, solid impact.
00:48:52 ►
Like for myself, it keeps me myself. It keeps me away from that dark world, because I fell into that dark world really deep. Like, all I had was my drugs.
00:49:00 ►
I walked away from my family, my kids, my life, everything. I quit my job,
00:49:05 ►
everything, and all I had was my dope. And I, like, fell in love with it. I had this
00:49:12 ►
connection, or not this connection, but this relationship with this dope that was more
00:49:16 ►
powerful than anything else in my life, because that’s all I wanted, that’s all I had. And
00:49:21 ►
so, therefore, it helps keep me, helps keep me in line, pretty much. Helps
00:49:28 ►
me understand things so I don’t go weak, so I don’t go back to that dark world. My brother,
00:49:36 ►
the same scenario. He fell into drugs. My auntie called us. We were living in Hawaii
00:49:42 ►
at the time, and my auntie called us, and she thought he was going to die.
00:49:46 ►
And so we came over here, and my dad just started feeding him medicine, just kept giving him medicine.
00:49:52 ►
And now my brother is a community leader.
00:49:55 ►
He created a canoe family called Sacred Water.
00:50:04 ►
canoe family called Sacred Water. He goes around and what Sacred Water is, is they gather and they sing for the people
00:50:08 ►
because he loves to sing. And so he goes around all
00:50:12 ►
over the state, all over Canada, and he sings
00:50:16 ►
for just families, for funerals, for weddings,
00:50:21 ►
for birthdays, for he just, him
00:50:24 ►
and his little family,
00:50:25 ►
they just go around and they just give back.
00:50:30 ►
And it was, the medicine played a big part in that.
00:50:35 ►
My dad, he deals with a lot of hurt and pain from his childhood,
00:50:40 ►
from the things that happened to him growing up.
00:50:43 ►
And that medicine helped him deal with that.
00:50:47 ►
So he doesn’t give in to that.
00:50:50 ►
With my mom, we found out that she had cirrhosis of the liver.
00:50:57 ►
And they told her that she had like three months to live before it took her life.
00:51:07 ►
And then my uncle came down and did that service for her here,
00:51:11 ►
and here, 20 years later, she’s still standing strong.
00:51:16 ►
She’s still just going for it.
00:51:19 ►
And the doctors, they don’t really understand
00:51:22 ►
because it hasn’t gotten worse and it hasn’t gotten
00:51:25 ►
better. It’s like it just got frozen in time and it’s just there, but it’s not really affecting
00:51:32 ►
her and it’s not really not affecting her. They don’t know how to explain it, but, and
00:51:36 ►
so it’s awesome. And my other sister, she got cancer a year or two back in her thyroid and um she quit eating medicine a long time ago
00:51:51 ►
but i did um well me and my husband my family we did a ceremony for her um and we put up the teepee
00:52:00 ►
and just ate medicine and just prayed for her to be okay.
00:52:06 ►
And then here she sits here today cancer-free.
00:52:10 ►
Oh, really?
00:52:11 ►
Yeah.
00:52:12 ►
And so it’s like it’s different for each and every story.
00:52:16 ►
And I’ve heard many times that people have walked into ceremonies with so much pain that they can’t hurt or they can’t walk,
00:52:22 ►
so much pain that they can’t do certain things, and then walk out of that teepee you know just fine and so it’s like this medicine it’s
00:52:30 ►
it’s really intense it’s really healing it’s not something to play with it’s not something
00:52:36 ►
to abuse it’s not something to just you know like just overlook like oh it’s just peyote oh it’s
00:52:43 ►
just you know crazy hippies are eating their peyote again.
00:52:46 ►
You know, it’s not that.
00:52:48 ►
It’s really life-changing for certain individuals.
00:52:51 ►
And the medicine is not here for everyone.
00:52:56 ►
So it’s not like something that you really want to push on to somebody either.
00:53:00 ►
So it’s like you just be gentle with it, and it will be gentle with you.
00:53:05 ►
Okay, so that’s a good foray into my next question, which is, how do you think these
00:53:10 ►
plant medicines like peyote should be approached, and do you think a ritual context is necessary?
00:53:21 ►
I think if you’re going to use it in a spiritual way, then you should know what you’re doing.
00:53:27 ►
You should have somebody there.
00:53:29 ►
Even if you’re a newcomer and you’ve never done it, you’ve never experienced that,
00:53:33 ►
you should still have somebody there to guide you through it so you don’t get hurt,
00:53:38 ►
so somebody else doesn’t get hurt.
00:53:41 ►
And what do you mean by get hurt?
00:53:43 ►
and what do you mean by get hurt?
00:53:50 ►
Like you can get your feelings hurt, you can get spiritually sick,
00:53:56 ►
you can offend somebody, you can, you know,
00:53:59 ►
you don’t want to be disrespectful to anybody’s teachings or ways.
00:54:13 ►
And then I just, I’m just curious to know what your thoughts are on this growing interest of Westerners toward these medicines.
00:54:20 ►
I mean, clearly you seem very supportive of that in that you have opened your fireplace to people like myself, but there is quite a growing number, eh, of these people who are seeking out not just the peyote,
00:54:29 ►
but, you know, we hear of the ayahuasca, and, you know, I’ve worked with the mushroom,
00:54:34 ►
and what do you think that is saying?
00:54:39 ►
I don’t really know how to answer that.
00:54:43 ►
Go ahead. You know, here’s what I, I mean, my sense is in this culture we are in, this society,
00:54:52 ►
I see people, many people, as so spiritually impoverished and certainly what is given to us by our media, our governments, is so devoid of any true meaning.
00:55:08 ►
And so I think people are reaching for something very deep to touch something that each of us carries, right,
00:55:21 ►
that is not being addressed in this modern culture.
00:55:26 ►
And I think the plant medicines are so – well, first of all, I see them.
00:55:32 ►
The plant medicines, by the way, not something made in a laboratory.
00:55:35 ►
I know that’s a whole other discussion.
00:55:38 ►
And I’ll say real quick, you know, my feeling about that is I don’t eat food made in a laboratory.
00:55:43 ►
I want my food out of the ground.
00:55:46 ►
And the same with, you know, the sacred medicine that I work with as well. But I see these medicines
00:55:55 ►
as ancient teachers. And they’re a mystery. They’re a mystery. I mean, scientific laboratories
00:56:02 ►
can reduce them all they want to what they think, you know, the main property is in there.
00:56:08 ►
But it is an ancient feature.
00:56:12 ►
And I think this is what many, many people are seeking, you know, a deeper, they want a deeper experience.
00:56:24 ►
They want to touch something more profound.
00:56:27 ►
And I think they want that because we all carry that.
00:56:31 ►
You know, it’s just it’s not acknowledged in this society.
00:56:34 ►
So that’s where I’m at with that.
00:56:39 ►
And also, you know, I think, you know,
00:56:42 ►
the native cultures who do work in a sacred way with these medicines,
00:56:48 ►
they are still holding that beautiful light.
00:56:53 ►
And so more and more people are coming to them for help, for healing.
00:57:01 ►
Yep.
00:57:03 ►
So, yeah.
00:57:10 ►
And do you get a number of, I hate to say outsiders,
00:57:12 ►
but you know what I’m saying,
00:57:14 ►
some more sort of Western people attending these ceremonies?
00:57:15 ►
Have you noticed?
00:57:20 ►
Yeah, over the years there’s been more and more.
00:57:29 ►
And have you had an opportunity to speak with them or hear from them in terms of how they were affected by the experience? No, I’m pretty to myself. Yeah, yeah, you are.
00:57:41 ►
Yeah, you are.
00:57:52 ►
Well, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you sharing like this,
00:58:10 ►
because I must say, you know, people who do this beautiful work, I find are, you know, fairly elusive, you know. So I’m really grateful to have you share in this way.
00:58:15 ►
And is there anything else you would, before we close,
00:58:21 ►
that you feel you would like to share with people who will be listening to this?
00:58:22 ►
No, not really.
00:58:26 ►
Just follow your heart and be human.
00:58:31 ►
Well, that is very sound advice, my dear.
00:58:32 ►
And speaking of sound,
00:58:38 ►
you posted yourself on Facebook the other day singing a morning song,
00:58:39 ►
and it was in your native language,
00:58:41 ►
and it was so beautiful.
00:58:43 ►
And would you maybe close this interview with a morning song in your language?
00:58:54 ►
I would love that.
00:58:55 ►
Yeah, I can do that.
00:58:58 ►
Right now?
00:58:59 ►
Yeah.
00:59:02 ►
Okay.
00:59:00 ►
Yeah.
00:59:03 ►
Okay.
00:59:12 ►
This song was taught to me by my cousin, and he said it’s,
00:59:18 ►
you’re asking Father Medicine, Grandfather, to come down and help us.
00:59:21 ►
So you’re saying good morning to Grandfather, and you’re asking Grandfather to look upon us and help us this morning.
00:59:25 ►
So, uh… Thank you.
01:00:01 ►
Thank you, Alyssa.
01:00:04 ►
Thank you very, very much.
01:00:07 ►
That was absolutely beautiful.
01:00:09 ►
And I know a lot of people are going to very much appreciate what you had to share today.
01:00:17 ►
So thank you and have a great day.
01:00:20 ►
I really appreciate this.
01:00:22 ►
All righty.
01:00:23 ►
You too.
01:00:23 ►
Thank you.
01:00:24 ►
Okay.
01:00:24 ►
Okay. Bye righty. You too. Thank you. Okay. Okay.
01:00:25 ►
Bye-bye.
01:00:28 ►
You’re listening to The Psychedelic Salon, where people are changing their lives one thought at a time.
01:00:35 ►
If you’ve ever been to a sacred medicine circle, at least in the tradition that I participated in,
01:00:41 ►
a big part of the work actually takes place the morning after the ceremony,
01:00:48 ►
when participants sit in a circle and talk about what took place during the night. And if you’re familiar with mornings like this then, well, like
01:00:54 ►
me, you probably feel as if you’d been sitting in just such a circle right now.
01:00:58 ►
And for letting us join you, I want to thank Shona and Coyote for such a rare
01:01:03 ►
treat.
01:01:09 ►
One of the things that I hope you picked up at the beginning of this conversation was that these medicine rituals are not fixed in stone, and that they vary from place to
01:01:14 ►
place and region to region.
01:01:16 ►
This is one of the common themes that I’ve been hearing from people all over the world.
01:01:21 ►
It seems like new rituals are being created every day, which is precisely what is
01:01:26 ►
needed, at least in my opinion. Rituals are important. They help us to bring a sense of
01:01:32 ►
grounding to these experiences. But our rituals should be ones that make sense to us in our age
01:01:38 ►
and in our own various cultures. We’re now just coming to the end of an age where for well over 2,000 years
01:01:45 ►
we’ve been repeating the same rituals over and over
01:01:48 ►
rituals that no longer have any connection to us or to our cultures
01:01:52 ►
They come from dead civilizations
01:01:54 ►
so I think the day has arrived for each of us to begin creating rituals on our own
01:02:00 ►
I’ve got a few for just myself
01:02:02 ►
You might want to do the same
01:02:03 ►
Now before I go, I’ve got a couple of announcements that you may be interested in.
01:02:08 ►
First of all, the Ayahuasca World Conference for 2014 is going to be held this month, September 25th through 27th, in Ibiza, Spain.
01:02:18 ►
So if you’re in that part of the world, I wouldn’t miss that if I were you.
01:02:22 ►
A little closer to home for those of us who are currently
01:02:25 ►
living in the States will take place on October 10th to 12th in New York City. The Horizons
01:02:31 ►
Perspectives on Psychedelics conference returns again in this October. This has actually now
01:02:38 ►
become one of the premier annual conferences held in the States each year and if you are in or near the new york city area
01:02:45 ►
you may want to check it out and finally for people like me who are fans of joe rogan’s podcast
01:02:52 ►
on october 13th which is just three weeks from today joe’s guest is going to be our own bruce
01:02:58 ►
damer and i’ve got an idea of some of the things that bruce hopes to bring up during the program
01:03:03 ►
and uh well i think that you’re going to want to tune in for sure.
01:03:07 ►
I know that I’ll be listening.
01:03:10 ►
And for now, this is Lorenzo signing off from Cyberdelic Space.
01:03:14 ►
Be well, my friends. Thank you.