'I Wake Up and I'm a Baby': An NFL Star's Journey into Ayahuasca

From www.guardian.com: “Kerry Rhodes says a series of hallucinogenic trips he took as part of a documentary helped him understand himself more deeply. “Once it kicks in there are prisms and shapes and stuff like that, I could see visually stunning stuff. I literally had to tell myself, ‘You’re OK, you’re good, this is what you signed up for.’” The first “purge” – vomit – into a bucket brought a particularly bizarre vision: Rhodes, at his playing peak one of the NFL’s pre-eminent safeties, was brought face to face with a foetus…”

Oakland California Decriminalizes Magic Mushrooms, Other Natural Psychedelics

“Oakland, California has become the second city in the United States to decriminalize the use and possession of psychedelic mushrooms, The Associated Press reports. The Oakland City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday night, just weeks after Denver voters narrowly approved a similar measure. Along with mushrooms containing psilocybin, the resolution also decriminalizes other psychedelics naturally derived from plants or fungi, such as ayahuasca, peyote and DMT. Synthetic psychedelics like LSD and MDMA, are still illegal…”

DMT, Psychedelics, PoliticalArtful AlchemyFebruary 24, 2020DMT, Psilocybin, Peyote, MDMA, Ayahuasca, LSD, legalisation, Laws, America, Politics, Drugs, Depression, PTSD, Mental Health

We Are Harvesting the Ayahuasca Vine at an Alarming Rate

“The signs that wild ayahuasca is being overexploited for the global market are evident, according to the main players of this industry. “Wild ayahuasca is being depleted.” “There is almost none.” “Over harvested.” “We are worried.” “There is a shortage.” “You don’t find thick ayahuasca anymore.” “In a couple of years there won’t be any there.” Gatherers, intermediaries, processors and exporters based in Iquitos, the capital of the Peruvian jungle, or in the indigenous communities near Pucallpa, the other major production center, are in agreement about the overexploitation of wild ayahuasca…”

Psychedelic Events Are Going Mainstream, Where The Much-Maligned Mushroom Industry Focuses On Mental Health

“Psychedelics have been a mainstay for a millennia and appreciated in the counter-culture for decades. In 2020, whether consuming, investing, or both, mushrooms are having a moment…”

Frogs, Brain Noodles and a Lot of Vomit – I Took Ayahuasca and Finally Found Inner Peace

From Metro.co.uk: “I’m drowning in mud, my brain has turned into noodles, and I’ve just tipped a bucket of my own vomit over my head. This is the reality of doing ayahuasca, a transformative hallucinogen. Despite a terrifying trip involving ghosts, broccoli, and frogs, I’m so glad I did it. I’ve finally found inner peace and my life has radically changed. But let’s rewind a bit…”

Ayahuasca, ExperiencesArtful AlchemyJanuary 9, 2020Ayahuasca, Peru, Experiences, Healing, Dieta, DMT, Purging, Visions, Shaman, Tribes, Anxiety, San Pedro

Women Are Leading Amazon Ayahuasca Ceremonies for the First Time

From Vice.com: “Ten years ago, Waxy would not have been allowed anywhere near this ritual. Women were considered too fragile for ceremonies and told to avoid coming into contact with spiritual leaders all together. Waxy and her friends are trying to change that—they pioneered a movement to bolster women's roles in spiritual ceremonies that has now rippled throughout the Amazon…”

Ayahuasca, PoliticalArtful AlchemyNovember 19, 2019South America, Shaman, Tribes, Traditions, Ayahuasca, Ceremonies, Brazil, Amazon

The Most Psychedelic Technology in Human History is Here, and it’s Called Neuralink

“One could say that all software impacts our consciousness in some way, from grandma’s dopamine-fueled enjoyment of a casino game to the banal ubiquity of spreadsheet programs at shitty office jobs everywhere, to the way that weaponized Facebook ads affected elections in 30 countries. But thanks to Elon Musk and other pioneers in brain-computer or brain-machine interfaces (known as BMI), software, in conjunction with brain-implanted hardware, will soon have the power to impact our psyche directly, at the level of our neurons…”

(New!) Interview with Leading DMT Researcher Dr. Jimo Borjigin

“I recently had a chance to have a conversation with a woman who is leading the scientific pathway to researching the mysterious compound DMT… Dr. Jimo Borjigin from the University of Michigan. Dr. Borjigin received her PhD from John’s Hopkins University and has published ground-breaking research regarding increased brain oscillatory speeds & coherence following cardiac arrest, the neurochemical fluctuations following asphyxia-based cardiac arrest, the discovery of DMT production in the pineal gland of live rats, and now the most recent study that has observed comparable levels of DMT to common neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine) in the brain…”

Psychedelic Compound DMT Officially Discovered in Human Brain

““DMT is not just in plants, but also can be detected in mammals,” says Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. Her interest in DMT came about accidentally. Before studying the psychedelic, her research focused on melatonin production in the pineal gland…”

The Brutal Mirror: What Ayahuasca Showed Me About My Life

“For four consecutive nights, a group of 78 of us here at a retreat center in Costa Rica [Rhythmia] have been drinking a foul-tasting, molasses-like tea containing ayahuasca, a plant concoction that contains the natural hallucinogen known as DMT. We’re part of a wave of Westerners seeking out ayahuasca as a tool for psychological healing, personal growth, or expanding consciousness…”

Reflections on 2019 World Ayahuasca Conference

“This was the third World Ayahuasca Conference held in Girona, Spain last June, which brought together 1400 people from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, disciplines, and traditions. Three days of fascinating, moving presentations, invocations, conversations, and declarations towards a common vision of a sustainable future for plants, people and the planet…”

DMT Research To Ask If Spirit Molecule Can Extend Life Beyond Clinical Death

“DMT is being closely examined by researchers in many fields from around the world, but acclaimed psychologist Dr. Ede Frecska, Chairman of Psychiatry at the University of Debrecen in Hungary, is pushing the envelope, aiming to demonstrate that DMT can extend the life of consciousness beyond clinical death for a longer duration of time than is currently possible…”

DMTArtful AlchemyJuly 12, 2019DMT, Research, Death, Consciousness, Ayahuasca, Rick Strassman, Science

What’s DMT and Why are Techies and Entrepreneurs Secretly Taking it?

“This probably isn’t a shock to anyone following trends in tech and startups, particularly the glorification of the 8-trillion hour workweek (#hustle). But business owners, entrepreneurs, and technologists are also turning to other hallucinogens to awaken higher levels of consciousness in hopes of influencing favorable business results…”

DMTArtful AlchemyJuly 10, 2019DMT, Rick Strassman, Microdosing, LSD, Ayahuasca, Experiences, Purging, Ego Death, Studies, Healing

Can a Psychedelic Drug Save the Terminally Ill from their Deepest Fears of Death?

“Ross and Dwyer are at the centre of the country's first clinical trial of psychedelic drugs for treating severe depression in the terminally ill. Within a month, they will begin recruiting 40 depressed and incurable patients in an attempt to relieve their distress with a novel treatment: between one and two 25-milligram doses of synthetic psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient found in "magic mushrooms", accompanied by intensive psychotherapy sessions…”

Psychedelics Change How You Read Faces, Which May Help Anxiety and Depression

“A new systematic review states that serotonergic hallucinogens help users recognize emotions in facial expressions. Sufferers of anxiety and depression often only read negative emotions in other people's faces, adding to their malaise. While more research is needed, psychedelics could prove to be a powerful agent in battling mental health disorders…”

Ontario Police Officers are Using Ayahuasca to Treat their PTSD

“As a constable with the Ontario Provincial Police, Matt Chorny regularly responded to car accidents. He often dealt with victims and family members throughout the entire process, from the crash to the morgue. Over time, such incidents took an emotional toll. These days, he’s coping with the help of a surprising source — ayahuasca…”

AyahuascaArtful AlchemyMay 26, 2019Ayahuasca, PTSD, Canada, Police, Peru, Amazon, Retreats, Therapy, Psychedelics, Mental Health

Denver Decriminalizes Mushrooms | Oakland Moves to Decriminalize Other Entheogens

“After Denver paved the way by decriminalizing mushrooms, a major city in California is moving on other psychedelics like ayahuasca, ibogaine, and mescaline cacti. Now Oakland is calling for decriminalization of other psychedelics like mescaline cacti, ayahuasca and ibogaine…”

Canada Grants More Religions Ability to Import Ayahuasca

“A total of five religious groups now are allowed to use the hallucinogenic in their ceremonies. Thanks to Health Canada, some folks in Quebec and Ontario are one step closer to finding god, as three more exemptions have been granted to religious groups to allow them to import ayahuasca, a powerful and controversial hallucinogenic, according to a report by Global News.”…

Ritualistic Ayahuasca Users Tend to Have Positive Health and Psychosocial Well-being

“New research provides evidence that the ritualistic use of the psychedelic drug ayahuasca is not a significant public health concern — and could in fact have potential benefits. The study has been published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs…”

Ayahuasca, Mental HealthArtful AlchemyMarch 3, 2019Ayahuasca, Psychology, Health, ICEERS, Research, Studies, Survey, Traditions, Risks, MAPS

Psychedelic Afterlife: Researchers Determine Which Hallucinogenic ‘Trip’ is Most Similar to the Near-Death Experience

“A new study – “Neurochemical models of near-death experiences: A large-scale study based on the semantic similarity of written reports” – has set out to quantify the possible links by comparing a bunch of NDE accounts (625) with a huge number of ‘trip reports’ (more than 15,000) “spanning experiences with 165 psychoactive substances of ten different pharmacological classes”…”