Life is a Festival

Do you party to escape or celebrate to connect? I think we all do a bit of both, and while it’s not a bad thing to be checked out sometimes, fostering deep connections is one of the core tenets of the festive life. Today’s podcast is in two parts. The first section is live at Spotify’s end of year party in Stockholm (please forgive the distortion on the track). The second half is our review of that experience at the Castle co-working space in downtown Stockholm two days later. My guest on the show is Gustaf Tadaa, co-organizer of the Borderland, a Nordic regional Burning Man event and Europe’s largest self-organized festival. If you’d like to learn more about him and that event, check out Episode 2 where I interview him about leaderless leadership. On the show we explore ways to cultivate an environment for connection both as an organizer and as an attendee. During the live taping we locate the audience with Burning Man culture and the Borderland. We talk about participation, the joy of crappy art, and the futility of understanding an event like Burning Man through photographs. In the follow up conversation we review our experience at the talk as well as the party afterwards. We answer some questions from Spotifiers including whether costumes help or impede connection and whether the transformational quality of Burning Man is simply the result of a big acid trip. Did Gustaf and I achieve connection at the Spotify party? Tune in and find out! Gustaf Tadaa: http://www.guff.se/ Burning Man: https://burningman.org/ The Borderland: https://talk.theborderland.se/main/ The Castle: https://www.thecastle.nu/

It is the humility of the failed hero that allows him to truly connect with his brothers. My man Ian has a new podcast called The Mythic Masculine. It’s a bimonthly exploration of myth, culture and the emerging masculine archetypes. On today’s episode of Life is a Festival I’m sharing our conversation from Episode 5 of his show titled The Boy Hero Must Die. If you’ve been following my story, this conversation picks up where we left off in Episode 18 of Life is a Festival where I shared my Rite of Passage initiating with the Bwiti people in Gabon and the plant medicine iboga. On today’s show, we explore the aftermath of that self-authored hero’s journey and the Sisyphean task of the ego attempting to surpass itself. We discuss the Mythopoetic Mens Movement and the idea of using masculine archetypes for personal development, particularly the paradox of the hero archetype. We explore masculinity as non-universal, we discuss the troubles with building brands around mens work, and we share tools to cultivate a culture of trust amongst men. Ian MacKenzie is a writer, documentary filmmaker and now a podcaster. You can check out his writing on Medium (I really loved “Home is Wherever I’m With You — And Other Modern Calamities”). He produced the films Occupy Love in 2012, Amplify Her in 2017 and the forthcoming documentary Love School about the polyamorous community Tamera in Portugal. If you’d like to learn more about the philosophy of Tamera and how they are teaching love free from fear, check out the interview Ian did with Tamera co-founder Benjamin von Mendelssohn on Episode 5 of the Mythic Masculine. From our speaking tour in Australia, to lounging at Bass Coast in Canada, I have had many edifying conversations with this brilliant man and I’m honored to share this one with you. LINKS: Ian MacKenzie: https://www.ianmack.com/ The Mythic Masculine Podcast: https://www.ianmack.com/mythicmasculine/ “Home is Wherever I’m With You — And Other Modern Calamities.”: https://medium.com/@ianmack/home-is-wherever-im-with-you-and-other-calamities-db950a300202 The Mythic Masculine #5: A Culture of Love Beyond Patriarchy with Benjamin von Mendelssohn: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2WSPQRb529sK2x21k3gF59 A special thank you to Adam St. Simons, my Medici supporter on Patreon. If you have the means and the vibe, consider visiting Life is a Festival on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/lifeisafestival) and dropping a coin in the fountain.

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art Visionary Art is a style popular in the festival world that depicts mystical realms often touched first through psychedelic journeys, But what’s the difference between work that truly transports the viewer into hitherto unimagined vistas, and rainbow vomit? It is the dedication to craft and the difficult work of persistent creation. Amanda Sage is one of the luminaries of the visionary art world. Trained in Vienna under the enigmatic Ernst Fuchs, Amanda is deeply studied in the style of Mischtechnik, layering paint and using different substances to create works of art. In addition to her prolific body of work and her transformational painting workshops, Amanda’s deep passion today is called the Vision Train, a collaborative art project to imagine our collective future. On the podcast Amanda and I discuss the artistic rigor necessary to bring your vision into the world. We talk about internal resistance to creative work, how to get started, collaborating with others, and how to know when a piece of art is complete. We are both former Waldorf school students and chat about founder Rudolf Steiner’s mysticism. We also discuss the pitfalls of creating mythology out of psychedelic revelation and the language we use to describe our encounters with the ineffable. Get aboard the Vision Train my friends and let’s do the work to create the world that we’ve imagined. LINKS Amanda Sage: https://www.amandasage.com/ The Vision Train: Visiontrain.org Visionary Art: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visionary_art Ernst Fuchs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Fuchs_(artist) The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: https://stevenpressfield.com/books/the-war-of-art/ Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott: https://www.amazon.com/Bird-Some-Instructions-Writing-Life/dp/0385480016 Waldorf School: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_education Rudolf Steiner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Steiner A special thank you to Adam St. Simons, my Medici supporter on Patreon. If you have the means and the vibe, consider visiting Life is a Festival on Patreon and dropping a coin in the fountain.

“Beans on Toast… it’s cheap, it’s easy, it’s English, does what it says on the tin.” Jay McAllister, aka Beans on Toast, is a true English folk hero. You’ll find him at a British festival on a Sunday afternoon, belting out his irreverent songs for worn out ravers. From helping Banksy launch sky lanterns, to extolling the virtues of a bamboo toothbrush, Beans is the paradigm of a festive life that makes a difference. On the show we talk about the long chain of folk heroes and how Beans became a political songwriter. We chat about festival favorites from Glastonbury to AfrikaBurn. We discuss what it means to bring a child into a festival lifestyle and run the whole show as a family. We end the podcast with a track from Bean’s new album called “Take Your Shit Home With You,” which was requested by the organizers of Boomtown Fair to combat rampant tent abandonment at the event. You can purchase his new album, “The Inevitable Train Wreck,” all of his prolific catalogue, and his book “Drunk Folk Stories” from his website. Your purchase will be delivered with love from his Mum and Dad who manage the merch. A huge thank you to all my supporters on Patreon! Thanks to your help, I am over halfway to my goal of covering my monthly expenses for this show: Affinity Mingle, Randy Barnowl, Lea Jinks, Nate Levin, Noah Weston, Quayle Hodek, Tim Chang, Troy Dayton. And a special thank you to my first Medici-level supporter Adam St. Simons. If you have the means and the vibe, consider visiting Patreon.com/lifeisafestival and pop a quid in the till. SHOWNOTES Beans on Toast: https://beansontoastmusic.com/ Glastonbury Festival: https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/ Boomtown Fair: https://www.boomtownfair.co.uk/

Happy New Year! Here are the most listened to episodes of Life is a Festival woven into a single narrative arch. This week's show has three movements. We start with festivals as transformational incubators and discuss the creation of these spaces for personal growth, from psychedelic origin stories, through decentralized gatherings to the intersection of safe, sexy and silly. In the second movement we discuss the life of the artist and how to create, grow and serve as a creative. Finally we move into pretty deep philosophic territory with healing ancestral trauma through psychedelic medicine, a debate on impermanence, a critique of conscious culture and finally how to follow your erotic destiny. My deep gratitude to everyone who made this show a success, most of all Ari Anderson, the producer who helped me launch the show, Andy McErlean, my multimedia design partner who creates the graphics that make my guests look like superheroes and Atish, guest off the show and composer of Particular Colors, the beautiful track you hear at the beginning of each episode. 

 And most of all YOU, the listener, for being interested in this culture and may we all grow together through fabulous self-experimentation in 2020!

Somewhere along the California coast, between breathtaking cliffs, mineral-rich springs, and ancient forests, Michael Murphy and his friend Richard Price created The Esalen Institute in 1962. This retreat center and intentional community was a magnet for luminaries like Alan Watts, Stanislav Grof, Ida Rolf, and Joseph Campbell who all became long-term resident scholars. Today on the show, I speak to the mighty Mike Murphy about the magic of Esalen and his menagerie of friends who’ve since become legends. We talk about brokering Boris Yeltsin’s trip to the US, psychedelics vs meditation, Alan Watts’ drinking problem, and how Esalen was vaccinated against cults despite hosting a few cult leaders (ahem Timothy Leary). The through-line of our conversation is the idea of evolutionary panentheism, a philosophy of an indwelling spirit made manifest through evolution. This perspective made Esalen the seat of the Human Potential movement and guides the continuing development of the center today. There is a Sanskrit word "Lila" which refers to a terrifying kind of play: this is the game of life and we are it’s divine protagonists. “The purpose of creation, is lila,” said Michael’s inspiration, Sri Aurobindo, “Lila is a purpose-less purpose, a natural outflow, a spontaneous self-manifestation of the Divine. The concept of lila, again, emphasizes the role of delight in creation.” So… you know, Life is a Festival. LINKS: Michael Murphy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Murphy_(author) Esalen: https://www.esalen.org/ The Future of the Body: Explorations Into the Further Evolution Of Human Nature: https://www.amazon.com/Future-Body-Explorations-Further-Evolution/dp/0874777305 Collected Essays of Aldous Huxley: https://www.amazon.com/Collected-Essays-Aldous-Huxley/dp/B001MAMC1W

Marcus Barnes, author and music journalist, is one of the most affable men I’ve ever met, and one of the most knowledgeable about British festival culture. So when Spotify asked me to do a live podcast for their London event “Rewound in Sound,” of course I called up Marcus. On the podcast we speak of Britain’s brilliant festival history from country fairs and fêtes, through the goliath of Glastonbury, the acid house revolution, and the explosion of festivals today. We end our chat discussing Emile Durkheim’s idea of collective effervesce, participatory events like Burning Man, and the reason we gather. Something I’ve noticed doing podcasts is that there can be an inflection point of shared vulnerability where we drop into effortless openness. I didn’t know if that would happen at a live performance, but as we discussed the Caribbean celebration Notting Hill Carnival, Marcus delivered and we dropped into a deeper vibe. I’d like to offer my deep gratitude to Jessica, Kelly, Tom and all London Spotifiers for making us feel at home while we spoke about connection. Big ups to Simon Kallin for shooting this video! Marcus Barnes: http://www.marcusbarnes.com/ Simon Kallin Films: https://www.simonkallin.com/ Glastonbury Festival: https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/ Notting Hill Carnival: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notting_Hill_Carnival Bluedot Festival: https://www.discoverthebluedot.com/

This is a more personal installment of Life is a Festival. On today’s episode I ask my friend Tim to explain to me how to get a job. Tim Chang is a Managing Partner at Mayfield, a 50 year old venture fund, but he is much more than a typical VC from the Valley. Child of Taiwanese immigrants, Tim is a musician, a burner, and as will become clear in this episode, a philosopher. On the podcast we talk work and external validation, the myth of the starving artist, and Tim’s formula for a beautiful life. We also talk about diversity in the venture capital world and the dodgy business of monetizing psychedelic medicine. Finally, at Tim’s suggestion, today I launched a Patreon for this podcast. If my work is enhancing your life consider slipping a fiver in my digital tip jar or going all the way to full medici and helping me paint this word chapel. Like the podcast, the path to its financial sustainability will be iterative. I would love your feedback about the value this brings in your life and how you’d most like to support its creation. Check it out here: https://www.patreon.com/eamonarmstrong Tim is a mensch, I hope you benefit from his wisdom as much as I did. LINKS Tim Chang: https://www.mayfield.com/team-member/tim-chang/ Tim on Twitter: https://twitter.com/timechange?lang=en BlacKMahal - Save The Flavor (Pance Party Remix): https://soundcloud.com/pance-party/blackmahal-save-the-flavor-pance-party-remix The Taste Gap: Ira Glass on the Secret of Creative Success, Animated in Living Typography (Brainpickings): https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/29/ira-glass-success-daniel-sax/ We Will Call It Pala: http://aurynproject.org/pala My new Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/eamonarmstrong

Tricia Eastman & Dr. Joseph Barsuglia: Iboga, the Mount Everest of Psychedelics Here he comes… Doctor Iboga! If you’ve been listening to Life is a Festival for a while, you may recall in Episode 18 I shared the story of my journey to Gabon to initiate with the Bwiti, the spiritual keepers of the psychedelic medicine iboga. Today on the podcast I go very deep with two experts on the plant and the traditions surrounding it, Tricia Eastman and Dr. Joseph Barsuglia. Tricia and Joseph offer the perfect yin & yang of perspectives on this shamanic heavyweight. Both worked at the Crossroads Igoba clinic in Mexico, Tricia facilitating the psychospiritual program and Joseph as the Research Director. Like all expressions of yin and yang, there is keen analysis in Tricia’s lofty visions and a tender heart in Joseph’s scientific rigor. On the podcast we talk about the specifics of the brambly root bark from its mythology to its pharmacology. We discuss the Bwiti people and share our stories of initiation. Joseph elucidates the difference between iboga and the alkaloid extract ibogaine, famous for its use treating opioid addiction. We end the conversation speaking on important matters of ethical stewardship both of the endangered plant and its guardians, the Bwiti. If this episode resonates with you, consider sponsoring an iboga tree through Blessings of the Forest (https://www.blessingsoftheforest.org/) Now sit back and enjoy the polyrhythms of the Bwiti harps and take a flood dose of ancestral knowledge from these two brilliant servants of the plants, Tricia and Joseph. LINKS Dr. Joseph Barsuglia: https://www.josephbarsuglia.com/ Tricia Eastman’s Psychedelic Journeys : https://www.psychedelicjourneys.com/ Sponsor an Iboga Tree through Blessings of the Forest: https://www.blessingsoftheforest.org/ The Global Ibogaine Therapy Alliance (GITA): https://www.ibogainealliance.org/ Ceiba Ibogaine Therapy - Ibogaine Coaching & Aftercare: https://www.ceibaibogaine.com/ Ancestral Heart: https://www.ancestralheart.com/ Terra Incognita Project: http://www.terra-incognita-project.org/ TIMESTAMPS :10 - Who are the Bwiti of West Equatorial Africa? :17 - The iboga experience and factors to its potential lethality :23 - Dr. Barsuglia explains the difference between iboga and ibogaine and what is physiologically happening when you ingest iboga :33 - Iboga vs Ayahuasca & my own experience :37 - Bwiti traditions including the polyrhythms of Bwiti harps and the rituals :51 - Tricia and Joseph’s journey to iboga :58 - Iboga vs 5 MEO DMT 1:07 - Addiction to healing and the psychedelic bucket list 1:11 - What steps are being taken to support the ecological integrity and people groups associated with psychedelic medicine 1:27 - Should we microdose Iboga? 1:36 - How’d the podcast go?

Welcome to a year of Life is a Festival! It has been 12 months and 40 conversations since I launched this project, and what a project it has become! In fact today’s episode opens with the announcement of some incredible news for the show: I have been asked to perform a live version of Life is a Festival for Spotify’s end of year parties in London and Stockholm next month. This exciting honor bubbled up as life’s treasures often do, thanks to the support and belief of you, my community. I will publish those interviews together as a special Holiday episode so keep you ears open for that. Today’s episode is perfect for an anniversary. If there’s one resounding theme of Life is a Festival, it is integration. Indeed, integrating festivals, psychedelics and even our regular yoga practice into our daily, sometimes prosaic, experience is the key to living life as a festival. As my mother used to say, only Hanuman the Monkey Man can leap from peak to peak. The rest of us must wander down into the deep valleys in order to ascend to lofty heights. But perhaps we might someday become like Hanuman, if we can only remember our true power. This is brief but mighty. I am interviewing my yoga teacher, Janet Stone. With her expertise in all aspects of the eight limbed path, Janet manages to pack a curriculum of knowledge into 40 minutes of casual conversation. Now in her 18th year at Yoga Tree in San Francisco, Janet teaches around the world including pretty much every yoga festival in the world from Bali Spirit to Wanderlust. On the podcast we talk about how to take yoga off the mat and assimilate asanas into our daily lives. We discuss the importance of humor and service, including Janet’s passionate dedication to the environment. Finally Janet tells the story of Hanuman, whose deep devotion to Sita and Rama gave him the power to leap all the way to the island of Sri Lanka. From Burning Man to the bake sale, Janet Stone teaches us to live life like a festival both on the mat and off it. 
 LINKS Janet Stone: https://janetstoneyoga.com/ Janet Stone and DJ Drez Hanuman Bolo: spotify:track:6tTCmkDFjD6Dl3zj8dS8uh Yoga Tree: https://www.yogatreesf.com/ Photo by Ali Kaukas