• Pioneering Seed Banking for Global Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration.
    Feb 24 2025

    Jill Wagner has been a forester in Hawaii for 30 years. She started at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden as a horticulturalist for the garden, where she grew native Hawaiian species. She received a Bachelors Degree from the University of Hawaii in Ethnobotany. She has been conducting forest restoration projects for the State of Hawaii, Department of Hawaiian Homelands, The Nature Conservancy, The National Park Service, Kamehameha Schools and other private land owners. She has trained people in ecosystems restoration and nursery management for decades.

    She started the Hawaii Island Seed Bank in 2008, which banks seeds for large landowners on Hawaii Island. It also serves as a model for small, regional seed banks, called Seed Arks. She conducts training to people from all over the world so they can save their native seeds, and their food crop seeds. Seed Arks are off-grid solar powered seed banks that are built to keep seeds in the hands of the people.

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • The Sacred Coca Plant, an 8,000 Year History & The Fight to Liberate It.
    Jan 20 2025

    Wade Davis is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker whose work has taken him from the Amazon to Tibet, Africa to Australia, Polynesia to the Arctic. Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society from 2000 to 2013, he is currently Professor of Anthropology and the BC Leadership Chair in Cultures and Ecosystems at Risk at the University of British Columbia. Author of 23 books, including One River, The Wayfinders and Into the Silence, winner of the 2012 Samuel Johnson prize, the top nonfiction prize in the English language, he holds degrees in anthropology and biology and received his Ph.D. in ethnobotany, all from Harvard University. His many film credits include Light at the Edge of the World, an eight-hour documentary series written and produced for the NGS. Davis, one of 20 Honorary Members of the Explorers Club, is the recipient of 12 honorary degrees, as well as the 2009 Gold Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the 2011 Explorers Medal, the 2012 David Fairchild Medal for botanical exploration, the 2015 Centennial Medal of Harvard University, the 2017 Roy Chapman Andrews Society’s Distinguished Explorer Award, the 2017 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration, and the 2018 Mungo Park Medal from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2018 he became an Honorary Citizen of Colombia. His 2020 book, is Magdalena: River of Dreams, Knopf, 2020, is a tribute to his love for Colombia, of which he is an honorary citizen. His latest book, Beneath the Surface of Things: New and Selected Essays (Greystone, 2024) has been termed ‘A timely and eclectic collection from one of the foremost thinkers of our time, “a powerful, penetrating and immensely knowledgeable writer” (The Guardian).

    Andrew Weil, M.D., is a world-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine. Combining a Harvard education and a lifetime of practicing natural and preventive medicine, he is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, where he is a clinical professor of medicine and professor of public health. A New York Times best-selling author, Dr. Weil is the author of 15 books on health and wellbeing, including Mind Over Meds: Know When Drugs Are Necessary, When Alternatives Are Better, and When to Let Your Body Heal on Its Own; Fast Food, Good Food; True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure; Spontaneous Happiness; Healthy Aging; and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health. Dr. Weil is a frequent guest on talk shows and the lecture circuit. He is the editorial director of DrWeil.com, the leading online resource for healthy living based on the philosophy of integrative medicine. He is also a founder and partner in the growing family of True Food Kitchen restaurants. In partnership with Seabourn and The Onboard Spa by Steiner, his “Spa and Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil” mindful-living program is offered on all of the Seabourn cruise ships.

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    49 mins
  • Bridging interdisciplinary perspectives from Psychedelic-Induced Psychosis to Spiritual Emergency
    Jan 13 2025

    Mariya Garnet is a Ukrainian-born artist, traditionally trained psychedelic facilitator, and student psychotherapist with over 15 years of experience in indigenous healing practices. Since 2008, she has been in apprenticeship with mestizo curanderos in the Peruvian Amazon. During her eight years living full-time in Peru, Mariya co-founded Canto Luz Centre for Research and Cultural Preservation, a treehouse retreat dedicated to healing and environmentalism.

    Mariya integrates her expertise in psychedelic therapy within the Amazonian Vegetalismo tradition with modern therapeutic approaches. Currently, she leads retreats in Peru and maintains a private one-on-one practice, focusing on healing complex trauma and restoring holistic health.

    As a postgraduate student at the CREATE Institute in Toronto, Mariya is deepening her knowledge in Expressive Arts Therapy. She views creative expression as a powerful pathway to an integrated Self, believing that artistic practices, similarly to plant medicines, can help individuals access deeper layers of consciousness and embodied cognition, facilitating personal transformation.

    Mariya is also an active member of the sound healing duo Project Mariri, organizing community events that leverage music and creativity as tools for healing and self-discovery. Through her work, she invites clients to explore their inner landscapes, guiding them towards embodying their true selves and authentically expressing their essence in the world.

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    51 mins
  • Sound, Consciousness and the Divine
    Jan 6 2025

    Alexandre Tannous is as an ethnomusicologist, sound therapist and sound researcher. He has been investigating the therapeutic and esoteric properties of sound from three different perspectives - Western scientific, Eastern philosophical, and shamanic societal beliefs - to gain a deeper understanding of how, and to what extent, sound has been used to affect human consciousness. This search has led him to the intersection of art, science, philosophy and spirituality.

    His ethnomusicological approach entails a social scientific study of sound use in several traditional contexts—religious, spiritual, holistic, and cultural—for various purposes and occasions in entertainment, worship, meditation, and rituals of healing and trance. Consequently, his approach in researching, understanding, experiencing, transmitting, and working with sound has always been based on a multidisciplinary approach.

    The material he transmits about sound is based on a multidisciplinary research over 24 years: observations he made during his fieldwork in over 40 countries, scientific studies, personal experiences, and data collected from thousands of people he has worked with doing sound therapy. This has led him to a deeper understanding of how sound reveals and unlocks hidden powers we have within us to promote profound inner transformation and healing.

    Alexandre is the principle founder of the ResonantMind Collective, a non-profit collective providing support in processing and integration.

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    1 hr and 38 mins
  • A Grateful Tribute to Amazonian Wisdom in "Yuriana's Garden"
    Dec 16 2024

    Luis, born in Galicia, Spain, has been fascinated by dreams, the occult, spirits, and magic since childhood. This lifelong curiosity drew him to science fiction, comics, and ultimately, filmmaking. After beginning his career with short horror and sci-fi films, he soon grew weary of commercial work and moved to London to expand his career. There, he joined London Real and rose to the role of creative director, where he eventually met one of his idols, Dennis McKenna. Together, they created ReConnect, a documentary that introduced Luis to the world of ayahuasca, sparking a profound shift in his life.

    Driven by the transformative experience, Luis journeyed to the Amazon to immerse himself in shamanic practices, arriving just as COVID lockdowns began. This unplanned, extended stay led to Psychedelic Pandemic, an awardwinning documentary chronicling his time in the jungle. He spent three years in the rainforest, undertaking "dietas," facilitating ayahuasca retreats, and co-creating Biognosis with the McKenna Academy. His experiences are shared on his YouTube channel Dissolution and distilled in his latest project, El jardín de Yuriana.

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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • The Spirit of Huachuma
    Dec 2 2024

    Laurel Anne Sugden is a Ph.D. candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of British Columbia. She grew up in rural Montana, where she developed deep connections with the flora and fauna of the Rocky Mountains, and went on to earn a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology. Her PhD research centers on the visionary San Pedro Cactus (Huachuma) and its cultural and ecological roles in the Andes. Laurel conducted a broad survey of the endemic habitats of Huachuma which revealed the decline of wild Huachuma in Peru.

    Josip Orlovac Del Río is a maestro huachumero from coastal Peru with over 33 years of experience growing, cooking, drinking, and sharing Huachuma. He received his connection to the plant through his Andean grandfather, and from a young age studied traditional healing in a lineage of curanderos from the Río Santa. He has been planting San Pedro for 30 years, and collectively his gardens are home to over 5,000 individual cacti. Josip is the creator of the Peruvian cultural phenomenon Mullu. Together with an alliance of traditional curanderos and Indigenous leaders, Josip and Laurel co-founded Huachuma Collective, a nonprofit association in Peru which works with Andean communities towards the bio-cultural sustainability of the San Pedro Cactus.

    About Huachuma Collective: Huachuma Collective is a Peru-based nonprofit association that cares for the bio-cultural sustainability of the San Pedro Cactus. Their leadership is an alliance of curanderos, Indigenous leaders, and Andean community members. Together, they empower communities to protect, conserve, and plant Huachuma and explore sustainable practices for growing and working with traditional medicine in Peru. Their projects support and revitalize cultural traditions in Andean and Coastal Peruvian communities. The organization was founded in 2020 to unite and provide a platform for the voices of traditional curanderos and curanderas in North and Central Peru. The collective convened to address growing concerns with Huachuma's conservation status and the loss of traditional medicinal knowledge in North Peru. The knowledge and practices of San Pedro were declared Cultural Heritage of Peru in November 2022, an important step towards recognizing the unique cultural world of this medicine and the skill of practitioners. Huachuma Collective takes this a step further by working at the community level to ensure the survival of Huachuma and the healing arts of North Peru. The organization recently published a “Collective Statement from the Curanderos and Curanderas of North Peru on the State of Conservation of the San Pedro Cactus, their Traditional Knowledge, and the Use of Wild San Pedro by Foreigners.” In the statement, over 60 traditional practitioners and allies from the Huachuma / San Pedro Cactus bioculture in North Peru have drafted guidelines for foreigners about how to engage with their medicine. This statement is their response to the mistreatment of Huachuma in Peru and around the world. It makes their position clear about the exploitative practices used to produce commercial “San Pedro powder” and urges practitioners to give back financially to Andean communities. The statement is a call from the guardians of Huachuma to the world to st...

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    58 mins
  • Exploring Ancestral Pilgrimages and Visionary Art in Sacred Sites
    Nov 18 2024

    Delvin Solkinson is a visionary permaculture designer and art culture creator from the Elpinstone Rainforest of British Columbia, Canada. Holding four Diplomas, a experimental Masters and Doctorate in Permaculture Education, he teaches permaculture design, writes articles and books, makes videos and creates learning tools with his beloved wife Grace. He is the Diploma Program Coordinator for the Permaculture Institute in the USA, a Diploma Tutor With the Permaculture Association Britain, and Dean of the Permaculture School at Pacific Rim College. He recently co-created a 80 hour online permaculture course with Dr. Elaine Ingham's Soil Food Web School including 74 teachers from 22 countries.
    Senior Managing Editor of CoSM Journal of Visionary Culture since 2009, Delvin has served on the Board of Directors for CoSM Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, lived and worked there as senior staff member, and done a six year Future Ministers Training with Alex Grey and Allyson Grey.

    Grace Solkinson grew up on a small family farm nestled on the edge of the woods and spent her childhood and young adult years diving deeply into animal husbandry while raising and showing a variety of livestock and poultry breeds. Specializing in herbalism, food preservation and green building she is an Instructor on the Permaculture Design and Resilient Ecosystems Diploma at Pacific Rim College, on the Dr. Elaine Ingham’s Soil Food Web School permaculture design certificate and on many other courses with her husband Delvin.
    Serving as the Product Manager at CoSM Chapel of Sacred Mirrors for many years, Grace co-created artifacts of visionary culture including art prints, sculptures, clothing with artists Alex Grey & Allyson Grey with whom she did a five year Future Ministers Training. Celebrating happily ever afters with her business Grace Alchemy, she creates commitment jewellery and geek rings for engagements, weddings and milestone moments.

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • The Power of Unscripted Stories
    Nov 11 2024

    Lucy Walker is an Emmy-winning, twice Oscar-nominated director renowned for creating riveting character-driven nonfiction. Her films have won over 100 awards including two at Sundance and two at Berlin and include Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, Of Night and Light: The Story of Ibogaine, Bring Your Own Brigade, The Lion's Mouth Opens, The Crash Reel, The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Waste Land, Countdown to Zero, Blindsight, and Devil's Playground. For Netflix she directed/executive produced How To Change Your Mind, executive produced Ram Dass, Going Home and produced Why Did You Kill Me?. She was born in London and graduated from Oxford University before winning a Fulbright Scholarship to attend NYU's Graduate Film Program, where she supported herself with a successful career as a DJ.

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    1 hr and 14 mins