My Ethos and Mission

Psychedelic medicines have a long and distinguished history of use spanning continents, cultures and the ages. From the Soma of the Vedic sages in India to the Amanita Muscaria of the Siberian shamans, mankind has forever had an intimate relationship with these powerful plant teachers. Indeed, the great thinker Terrance McKenna put forth his ‘Stoned Ape Theory’ that the ingestion of magic mushrooms by our primate ancestors was the very basis of religion, art and conscious thought.

Unfortunately for the planet and our individual selves, the patriarchal dominance of Western culture has, over countless generations, sought to undermine our connection with the beauty and wisdom of nature, Mother Earth and our sacred medicines. This has manifested in the destruction of our beautiful home, a sense of isolation from our fellow brothers and sisters and in the suppression of the wisdom and healing available through our ancient plant allies.

Now, in these powerful and pivotal times, we are seeing what many have dubbed “The Psychedelic Renaissance”. Initiated in the 60’s and the free love era, there was an explosion in Western culture of alternative thought and psychedelic use. This counterculture was a direct rebellion against the repressive systems and beliefs still in place today and sought to satisfy people's need to reconnect with the unity of nature and the philosophy of love and compassion for all beings. Unfortunately, this backlash against the ruling regime did not have strong roots. Although it was a time of freedom and love in many ways, it was also a time where hedonism, depravity and rampant drug use were also present. The core principles of peace and love were never sustainably rooted in our culture and allowed to flourish as evidenced by humanity's state of perpetual war and consumption of our planet.

Now, however, the cycles of time are turning as we move into the Aquarian age and hope for a positive collective future is renewed. Indigenous wisdom keepers from around the globe recognise this time as the potential dawning of a new golden age. The Hindus tell of a new Yuga, the Hopi of the beginning of the Fifth World and the Maya of the awakening of Quetzalcoatl inside us all. Central to many indigenous cultures’ beliefs around this time is the myth of the Eagle and Condor.

The Eagle, representing masculinity, power, knowledge, industriousness and the dominating culture of our time, and the Condor, representing femininity, gentleness, intuition, wisdom, harmony and the repressed indigenous cultures of our world will finally fly together in the sky, weeping tears of joy after an age of separation.

This theme is integral to how I now approach and work with our sacred plant teachers. The integration of indigenous wisdom, ceremony and medicines together with western psychoanalytical models and therapy techniques offers profound and sustainable healing and personal development. Through years of personal study and experience I have found that each of these models used individually, although often effective in many ways, fails to realise its full potential.

Western psychoanalytic therapy models can take a long time to break down the inherent resistances in our psyche and the clinical setting fail to deliver the sense of sacredness and meaning that our souls so rightly crave.

The use of sacred medicines by themselves, even in a ceremonial context, can provide us with a profound and luminous experience, rich with insight but coming from a culture so far removed from these wisdoms we can lack the perspective and understanding to fully integrate the lessons received. The experience melts away before the teachings can be fully embodied, sometimes with negative consequences to the very psyche we are trying to heal.

However, just as the Eagle and Condor now fly together in the sky, these two approaches to healing go hand in hand. Shamanic wisdom, sacred medicine and a ceremonial (rather than a clinical setting) can quickly open up our subconscious and melt through the toughest of internal resistances. Simultaneously, psychoanalytical models and therapy provide a framework and context for our western minds to hold these divine experiences and that helps us to digest and integrate the received insights into our daily life and being.

I have found that the psychedelic experience can give us profound insights into the patterns, beliefs and habits that we need to change in order to realise our souls full expression in our lives. However, often the root causes of the behaviours and beliefs that we need to change can be buried so deep in our subconscious, and even that of our collective, cultural subconscious, that we can fail to address this root cause. We often hear that ‘the real work begins after ceremony’ and this is the permanent integration of the teachings we receive.

In the period immediately following our medicine work it can be easy to put our new insights into practice but as the resonance of the experience fades into memory and we are back in our daily lives it is easy for old patterns to remanifest without the knowledge of where these patterns came from in the first place. Working with someone who understands both the sacred medicine space, the internal functions of the human psyche and an ability to hold space for this process we can work back from our experience to the root causes of our patterns. The awareness of where and how these patterns came to be greatly diminishes their power and makes lasting, concrete change in our being much easier to assimilate.

My mission is to fully integrate both the shamanic and western approaches to healing the soul and self development so that clients can receive the maximum lasting benefit from their sacred medicine journeys. After years of my own work in the medicine space, I understand how vital it is for you to feel safe, supported and cared for throughout this process so that you are able to fully relax and surrender to the experience. You can rest assured that your safety and comfort is of the highest priority and you will be looked after every step of the way, before, during and after the ceremony.