'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…”

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

Jan Kounen Discusses Virtual Reality Experience ‘Ayahuasca’

“Jan Kounen, the Netherlands-born French film filmmaker whose best-known credits are “Dobermann‎” and “Blueberry,” has delivered his most personal work so far with “Ayahuasca,” a virtual reality experience exploring shamanic medicine from the Peruvian jungle. Produced by France’s leading VR outfit Altas V (“Gloomy Eyes,” “Spheres”), Luxembourg’s A_Bahn and Small studios, “Ayahuasca” was created by Kounen based on his multiple trips to the Peruvian Amazon where he participated in the Ayahuasca rituals…”

AyahuascaArtful AlchemyDecember 31, 2019Documentaries, Virtual Reality, Peru, Jan Kounen, Technology, Visions, Shaman

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 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…”

Wade Davis on the Popularization of Ayahuasca and the Climate Crisis

Wade Davis tells Reality Sandwich about how the use of ayahuasca among more modern, urban circles is not necessarily illegitimate, and poses challenges that must be discussed. He hopes to spark that conversation at the World Ayahuasca Conference this spring, where he’ll be giving the opening keynote speech. He spoke to Reality Sandwich about some of the central themes he’ll address and what he’s thinking about most now with regards to the popularization of ayahuasca around the globe…

From Bank Robber to Shaman

Steve Hupp was a stone-cold career criminal. And by his own admission, he was “damn good at it,” too. “I was a bank robber, a car thief and a lot of other stuff. I was the worst kind of offender you could face because you would never know I was coming, and you usually didn’t know I was there till I was gone.”

AyahuascaArtful AlchemyDecember 22, 2018Ayahuasca, Shaman, Drugs, Peru, Addiction, Depression, DMT