The Universe Within Podcast Ep. 10 - Claude Guislain - Anthropologist and "Bridgekeeper," Indigenous Wisdom & Modern World
Hey everybody! Episode 10 of the show is out. In this show, I spoke with my friend Claude. Claude is a Peruvian anthropologist and ‘‘bridgekeeper,” an apt title for what he has become. I met Claude working at the Peruvian Amazonian plant medicine center, The Temple of the Way of Light. I find Claude to be a truly great bridge between many of the indigenous cultures he has studied and worked alongside with, and the outside world. He holds a depth of wisdom and an ability to communicate complex and different ideas in a very human and simple way. I could speak to Claude for hours, as we ended up doing in this show. Its three hours long but I think you will find Claude’s insights invaluable and very enlightening. This was one of my favorite conversations. I always enjoy talking to him and I think you will too. As always, to support this podcast, get early access to shows, bonus material, and Q&As, check out my Patreon page below. Enjoy!
“With experience living and studying in the West, and apprenticing with Peruvian and Ecuadorian curanderos, Claude calls his mission at the Temple “bridge keeping”: the art of establishing and facilitating smooth communications and understanding between different worlds.
Claude was born and raised in Lima, geographically close but very far away from the medicine traditions of the Peruvian jungle. While living in Europe he learned about Peruvian shamanism, and the idea of teacher plants such as San Pedro and ayahuasca fascinated him enough to return to Peru. But Claude’s first experience with San Pedro sent him directly back to Europe to study anthropology before he traveled to Iquitos for his first experience with ayahuasca in 2003.
Here, he found the perfect setting for his research fieldwork as he became deeply engaged in how local ayahuasquero traditions were being understood by Westerners and how traditional medicine practitioners were interacting and understanding their foreign guests. Right before graduating with an Anthropology License, Claude met an Ecuadorian mestizo curandero who traveled often to Europe and chose him as a helper and apprentice. After five years working with this man and his beautiful medicine in Europe and Ecuador, Claude again decided to return to the roots of the medicine in Peru. He has been working and learning from Maestra Ynes Sanchez and her family since early 2013 and collaborating with the Temple of the Way of Light since June 2015.”
These are the links Claude mentioned: https://www.facebook.com/bridgekeepers and https://chaikuni.org
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If you would like more information on plant medicine and the work I do, visit my site at: https://www.NicotianaRustica.org
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Music courtesy of Nuno Moreno. See his work at: https://m.soundcloud.com/groove_a_zen_sound and https://nahira-ziwa.bandcamp.com/
Thanks and until the next episode!