The Entheogenic Evolution

My guest this week is Hamilton Souther of Blue Morpho Academy. In our conversation we get into Hamilton's spiritual awakening, his controversial apprenticeship in the world of ayahuasca, and the development of Blue Morpho and its programs for serving ayahuasca and dietas. 

Dive into the fascinating world of 5-MeO-DMT facilitation training in Iowa! Discover the importance of a trauma-informed approach and hear transformative stories from participants. Learn about the rise of entheogenic churches in the U.S. as a response to shifting spiritual landscapes during the pandemic. The podcast also teases an upcoming women's spiritual coaching initiative focused on healing through Bufo medicine. Experience reflections on theory and practice that shape the future of psychedelic training!

Pyasa Neko Siff, an artist known for her spoken word pieces, shares her journey inspired by 5-MeO-DMT. She speaks about the power of authentic expression and the process of articulating deep truths from psychedelic experiences. The conversation touches on healing through art and the transformative impact of surrender and emotional integration. Listeners are treated to a captivating audio segment that highlights themes of self-discovery and connection, revealing how art can beautifully convey the ineffable.

My guest this week is director and filmmaker, Jeffery Lando, who's here to share all about his new film, "Lissa's Trip". A young actress accidentally takes too much LSD and has to take an inner and outer trip across Los Angeles for an audition in this delightful indie film which makes novel use of AI in a variety of ways, including the production of psychedelic visuals. Jeffery joined me for a lively discussion all about it. You can find the film online HERE.

Continuing with my ongoing theme of collecting narratives from founders of modern entheogenic churches, this week's episode features a lengthy conversation with James Hin, founder of the Psilo Temple in Eugene, Oregon. James shares his story and his emphasis on Psychedelics, Sound, Integration, Love, and Oneness (P.S.I.L.O.), his personal journey into entheogens, his experience of operating the church, membership, offerings, community relations, and more. You can find out more about the church online at Psilotemple.org. 

My guest for this week's episode is founder of the Universal Shamans of the New Tomorrow Bufo Alvarius Church in Texas. Brooke and I discuss her process of her coming into working with Bufo, the inspiration for founding the church, how church services work in her outside ceremonial space, and also their integration services and facilitation training through developing a relationship with the medicine. You can find out more about the church at their website, USNTchurch.com. 

This week I'm joined by Madison Callahan to discuss her work with Iboga Healing Retreats in Portugal as well as her work as an integration coach specializing in Iboga and Bwiti traditions. We discuss being a parent, raising kids outside of the US and in the context of traditional medicine work, her time with the Bwiti, and more. You can find out more about the Iboga retreats at IbogaHealing.com and learn more about her integration work at Roots Integration

Inspired by his recent post about receiving religious freedom tax exempt status, I invited Ian Wallin of Ashland's Psilo Sangha for an interview to share his story of the process of setting up a religious ministry for psilocybin sacraments. We met at Ian's downtown Ashland office where he shared his emotionally raw and surprising story of attempting to work through two different psilocybin assisted services facilitator training programs for the state of Oregon, which did not go well, to put it bluntly. In this lengthy and very personal interview, Ian gives us an intimate inside look at some of the problems in the state-run program, and how it inspired him to take his mission into his own hands and make Psilo Sangha official.And here's an additional statement from Ian: "I'd like to start by saying thanks again, Martin, for giving me the opportunity to share my experience in creating Psilo Sangha and giving me the opportunity to introduce our church to the community. I want to give a big shout out to our amazing team and board of directors, Jaron Riddle, Anna keppen, Dani Thomas, Urith Davis, and Caleb Upperton, along with all of our beautiful supporters. We're an eclectic group from different backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identities, and I'm just extremely thrilled we've found each other and united in support of this spiritual work and practice. I also want to bow and thank my mom, Jaymie Lujan, for being so supportive of me as I've tripped and stumbled and crawled and dusted myself off along this path. We've often had a difficult relationship but this medicine has been very healing for both of us. Our board is going to visit her where she lives in Oaxaca next year, and she's going to connect us with a traditional curandera, in support of our efforts to better honor and understand the indigenous roots of these practices. I know we're all really excited to deepen our relationship with this medicine and hopefully build a bridge with that community in Oaxaca."

My guest this week is author Paul Karasik who's here to discuss his newly released book, Getting High on Leadership. In addition to being an author, Paul is from the old school psychedelic world who has found new life in the modern psychedelic movement and is the founder of the Psychedelic Institute of Los Angeles and is the organizer of the Psychedelic Awakening event in LA, which got started in 2023 and will be returning for 2024. In this interview we discuss his early experiences with psychedelics, his renewed interest in the "psychedelic renaissance," and of course, his new book.

This week I'm joined by author, Astraeus Amori, to discuss his new book, Psychedelic Sacred Sexuality. We discuss the role of various psychedelics in sexual experiences and how to work with your consenting partner. You can find out more about him and his book at his website.