Carlos Tanner is an apprentice to the curandero don Juan. He lives with him and his family and study the science of plant spirit medicine. They run a healing retreat program that also offers two educational courses each year. It is their hope and dream to return the spirit to the reality of the civilized world so that it may guide us once again, and bring us back from the brink of destruction to a peaceful harmony with all things. ONCE WE HEAL OURSELVES WE CAN HEAL THE WORLD.
Carlos began studying with don Juan in January of 2004. After four year of living together in Iquitos, where they ran a healing retreat program called AYAHUAYRA, Spirit of the Wind, he has now begun to work with other curanderos and have begun the Ayahuasca Foundation, a non-profit organization that seeks to protect and preserve the sacred wisdom of plant spirit medicine in the Amazon Rainforest. He runs a six week initiation course in the spring and fall each year to introduce potential students to the study of curanderismo, and have put together the Amazon Curandero Seminar, a nine day event featuring five local curanderos leading workshops and holding ceremonies demonstrating the various aspects of healing traditions practiced here in the Amazon Rainforest. For Carlos this is a tremendously fulfilling life and he has never been happier in his life.
For more info please click HERE
Category: Resources
Mdma Ecstasy Research With Dr Michael Mithoefer
Posted By Ina Woolcott
Some doctors, including Dr Michael Mithoefer, believe MDMA could be the key to solving previously untreatable deep-rooted traumas. For a hard core of PTSD cases, no amount of antidepressants or psychotherapy can free them of the horror of systematic abuse or a bad near-death experience, and the slightest reminder triggers vivid flashbacks.
Dr Michael Mithoefer is a psychiatrist from South Carolina who struggled for years to get funding and permission to study with MDMA.
What makes MDMA so useful, Mithoefer believes, is the trust it establishes. “Many people with PTSD have a great deal of trouble trusting anybody, especially if they’ve been betrayed by someone who abused their trust, like a parent or a caregiver,” he says. “MDMA has this effect of lowering fear and defences. It also allows more compassion for oneself and for others. People can revisit the trauma, feel the original feelings but not be retraumatised, not feel overwhelmed or have to numb out to cope with it.”
One lady Mithoefer studied with was Donna, who suffered with PSTD (post-traumatic stress disorder), after being raped said:
“Michael and Annie Mithoefer aren’t your typical kind of therapists”. She was dubious about Michael’s ponytail and sandals when they first met, but she is emotional as she talks about him now. “I don’t think I’ve ever met two people who cared so much about people getting well. I’d see tears in their eyes when I told them what I went through.” Three other former patients of the Mithoefers who contacted me about this article described them as “heroes”, “pioneers”, even “life-savers”.
At the time the Mithoefers treated Donna, March 2004, their study had been a long time in the pipeline. Convinced of MDMA’s potential, Rick Doblin, founder of the MAPS, (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), had been in and out of the courts seeking permission from the FDA, Food & Drug Administration for clinical research since 1984.
For those of you against the use of MDMA to help people with PSTD –
In 2004, the most recent year for which there are records, 46 people died after taking Ecstasy, compared to 8,221 alcohol-related deaths. And most of those who die with MDMA in their system have mixed it with substances such as alcohol or cannabis, which confounds the picture. Earlier this year, the police chief for North Wales, Richard Brunstrom, called for the drug to be reclassified, claiming it was “safer than aspirin”. He was widely shouted down, but Steve Rolles of Transform believes he may have a point. “It’s not appropriate to have Ecstasy in class A. In terms of indicators of harm – toxicity, mortality, addictiveness and antisocial behaviour – it’s not comparable to heroin or cocaine. But the government won’t reclassify it. Reclassifying cannabis [from class B to C] in 2004 caused years of grief from opposition parties and the media.”
…if MDMA does prove effective, companies could stand to lose millions from lost sales of long-term antidepressants prescribed for PTSD. Sessa says: “There’s no financial incentive for the pharmaceutical companies to look into it. Psychotherapy is notoriously under funded and discredited by the drug companies. It could benefit the government to look into MDMA, but their funding is a drop in the ocean next to a company like Pfizer’s research budget. So who’s going to pay for a multi-centre psychotherapy trial for 10,000 people – the couch-makers?”
I personally feel that of course if it helps people it should be available – more so than the powerful antidepressants which can lead to suicide and indifference to life and addiction.
After all, antidepressants can be addictive and may eventually result in the patient needing drug treatment, which is an entirely different problem altogether.
Why don’t people just want to help one another, rather than just be interested in making money. I don’t get it. Don’t companies like Pfizer have enough profits in the bank to live happily ever after and fund quality research that genuinely helps people rather than make them dependent, or even iller and then needing different drugs to counter the effects, and then more drugs to counter the effects of those drugs.
To read more… : Ecstasy is the key to treating PTSD
Related reading :Research on psychedelics moves into the mainstream (FROM THE LANCET)
Further reading: : MDMA RESEARCH INFO
Sacred Music
Voices In Solidarity – Sacred Music
Voices In Solidarity is a not-for-profit organization that builds alliances with indigenous-led environmental movements. Our current work is with partner groups in the Brazilian Amazon, supporting reforestation, education, and cultural survival for tribal communities. Sacred music from around the world + a vision of the sacredness of the earth and all of its inhabitants = alliances for social and environmental action Voices in Solidarity is founded on a deep faith in the power of music to transcend differences and bring about positive change. It has two major goals, both related to building bridges.
Primal rhythm, swirling dancers, ancient instruments and futuristic technologies blend with mythic archetypes and alternative rock to create a musical, visual, sensual experience. Kan’Nal’s “Shamanic Rock,” documented on their Sony Red debut, Dreamwalker, conveys the power of these spectacles.
Workshops Retreats Courses
Zoe Seven (a.k.a. zoe7) has been researching consciousness for over ten years and was the first to combine entheogens and mind machines. This research revealed ingesting entheogens during specific mind machine induced brain states – theta, REM, or delta sleep – produced drastically different experiences than if taken independently of each other. Zoe Seven is the author of Into The Void, Exploring Consciousness, Hyperspace & Beyond with Brain Technology Devices, Psychedelics and Altered Mind-States (2001) and Back From The Void, A Modern-day Shaman’s Odyssey Continues (2005), the first two volumes of his on going trilogy dealing with the altered states of consciousness, shamanism and magic.
The Ayahuasca Healing Retreats have been created by Silvia Polivoy, a licensed clinical psychologist, who, having worked and trained with Peruvian and Mexican shamans, recognized the immense contemporary worth of these ancient traditions. The central tenet of her retreats isself-empowerment. Participants focus on how to access hidden resources of inner strength and personal power that stem from the shaman that is within us all: the higher self. The experience of the sessions can be challenging for some. Much of our sometimes cumbersome psychological armament can be – for the time of the session – dismantled. What Silvia recognized is that, if she could create a framework of loving encouragement, retreat participants would be able to better direct their own healing and self-exploration as well as do much more powerful inner work.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, Carolynne (Wawa Quilla) is a good friend of mine
Have you been feeling a pull or urge to travel to Peru and Bolivia? Do you feel a connection to Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca or the Amazon? Have you felt a calling to work with teaching plants? Are you ready for a journey to experience the magnificence of your inner self? If you feel any of these things, then I invite you to join me for a unique spiritual journey to the feminine energy vortex of the Andes Mountains. This energy vortex is within the Andean Triangle, which is marked by Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu and the Amazon. Following the path of an ancient pilgrimage, we will activate and open the crystal force within each of us by connecting to the powerful energies of Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu and the Amazon. You will have an opportunity to mediate in temples and sacred sites thousands of years old. You will participate in transformative ceremonies conducted by highly respected local shamans, including the “Guardian” Shaman of Machu Picchu. You will have the opportunity to work with sacred healing plants. You will see and experience the energy of places that most ordinary tourist do not see. By embarking on this journey you will also be helping the impoverished isolated communities around Machu Picchu, as a portion of the proceeds from this trip will go to the non-profit organization SS Manamach Ong.
Eagle’s Wing – Centre for Contemporary Shamanism
Centre for Contemporary Shamanism with Leo Rutherford & Howard G. Charing
“Eagle’s Wing Centre for Contemporary Shamanism founded in 1985 by Leo Rutherford, holds workshops, courses, practitioner training in the UK and abroad. We also organise journeys of self discovery, empowerment and vision to the Peruvian Andes and the Amazon to work with indigenous healers and shamans and participate in their ceremonies and teachings.”
Offering international participants the opportunity of first-hand exploration of the rainforest heritage, through transformative journeys and expeditions focused on traditional cultural, religious and healing practises accompanied by the direct investigation of the ethnobotany of the area.
The Samara Foundation
By attuning more to the energy of Life we become more and more aware of our own purpose and the role we have to play in the evolution of our planet as our subtle feelings guide us towards the action which is most beneficial for us and those around us. The result of such action is experienced as deep peace, happiness and contentment. Modern-day Shamanism presents us with ways of connecting more with the energy of Life – with the consciousness of the planet as a whole organism – enabling us to consciously play our role in the grand Divine comedy whilst maintaining an awareness of the bigger picture.
Crop Circles
Posted By Ina Woolcott
Crop circles are one of the most mysterious and profound phenomena of the modern age. They have had a powerful effect on 1000s of people who have witnessed and studied them through the years.
Irrespective of origin, crop circles have acted as a catalyst to spirituality as we strive to understand the meaning and purpose behind the genuine ones. It has been said these crop formations contain great wisdom, and perhaps are encoded and hold keys to the time of ascension that is ever faster approaching.
Even to the most casual observer, crop formations are eye catching and lovely. To mathematicians they represent the presence of an original and profoundly deep intelligence. To an ever-expanding community of spiritual seekers, they symbolise that our planet is reaching a decisive stage of evolution. Perhaps they may also indicate contact with kindred earth energies, spirits, or devas – or kindred extraterrestrial beings – whose communications are emerging at this time to assist us through this critical point in our planet’s and our species’ history.
The most direct and powerful way to experience crop circles is to walk within and among them. Whilst many millions are fascinated by and have strong interest in the formations, relatively few are able to partake of that unique and wondrous first-hand encounter.
The only way to truly become fully cognizant of, and experience first hand, the ‘shape, design, and geometry’ of the crop circles – which is not fully evident while on the ground and in their midst – is to fly above them in a light plane and gaze down.
To read more click HERE
Related links
JanoshArt
CropCircleSecrets