African Psychoactive Plants: Dreams, Ancestors, and Healing

In this episode of The Psychedelic Podcast, Paul F. Austin speaks with Jean-Francois Sobiecki, a South African ethnobotanist, clinical nutritionist, and healer whose work challenges the assumption that Africa lacks psychoactive plant traditions.

Find full show notes and links here: https://thethirdwave.co/podcast/episode-339/?ref=278

Drawing from over two decades of research and a 15-year apprenticeship with a Northern Sotho healer, Jean-Francois explores dream-enhancing medicines like Ubulawu, ancestral healing systems, and cross-cultural parallels with Amazonian plant traditions. The conversation also examines conservation, initiation, and the role of African psychoactive plants in global mental health.

Jean-Francois Sobiecki is a South African ethnobotanist, clinical nutritionist, and healer with over two decades of experience researching African psychoactive plant traditions. A research associate at the University of Johannesburg and founder of Phytoalchemy, he has documented more than 300 psychoactive plant species and completed a 15-year apprenticeship under Northern Sotho healer Leti Maponya. He is the author of African Psychoactive Plants: Journeys in Phytoalchemy.

Highlights:

Challenging myths about African visionary plants
Ubulawu and dream-based healing
Psychoactive vs psychedelic distinctions
African and Amazonian initiation parallels
Archaeological evidence of psilocybin in Africa
Conservation and healing gardens

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