Then they ransacked the lawfully-run botanical shop warehouse. They seized funds, stole inventory and even seized the savings account of the owner’s six-year old son.

Read all the details here.

See pictures of the destruction left behind here.

We are shocked at the shameful behavior of so-called law enforcement officers who “enforce drugs” in the mistaken and failed “war against drugs” in the USA. It has been proven that prohibition does not work. And so many innocent bystanders end up getting hurt.

We urge our readers to assist Jon Sloan by making a contribution to his defense fund.

Jon Sloan Defense Fund
POB 944
ST Charles MO 63302

He needs $200,000 to fight the false charges brought against him.

Please tell others about this campaign.

Bouncing Bear and Jon Sloan need all the support they can get. They are still in business and say they will continue to be in business until their last breath.

Please click the links above to read and see what happened.

Then, if you believe in freedom, please join their team in fighting these anti-freedom charges.

Thank you!
Ayahuascashaman.info

Review by Erik Davis

In this tome, Beyer has found the sweet spot between scholarly and popular writing, the otherworldly and the ordinary, participation and observation; the result is the single best book I have seen yet on ayahuasca.

In addition to a law degree, Beyer hold doctorates in psychology and religious studies, but his discovery of ayahuasca was more than intellectual. Arriving in the Amazon to practice wilderness survival, he soon realized that learning about the jungle meant learning about the spirit of its plants. So he apprenticed himself to two mestizo teachers named Don Roberto and Dona Maria. He studied ceremony, healing plants and the inevitable sorcery tactics with them and others for many years.

While Beyer’s personal tale enlivens Singing to the Plants, he resisted the temptation to write a memoir. Instead, he allowed his experiences to round out, deepen, and authenticate what is a manifestly solid work of scholarship designed, happily, for the rest of us. Beyer’s book offers broad discussions more than new data or highly focused arguments; despite some arcane and fascinating discussions of magic stones and sex with plant spirits, I suspect that ethnobotanists and anthropologists familiar with the Amazon will find relatively few surprises. But the ant hills of detail are not the point. Singing to the Plants is designed to inform a wider audience–and gently bust some myths–by presenting this almost literally kaleidoscopic phenomenon through a number of distinct lenses: anthropology, ethnobotany, pharmacology, psychology, international law, cultural politics, and magic both crafty and occult.

I knew I was gonna love this book when, after presenting illuminating and occasionally disturbing tales about his own teachers, Beyer frames the shaman’s work through an understanding of performance. Like stage magicians (or western doctors), shamans are, on one level, performers with an audience, and aspects of their performance are deeply linked with everything from the sleight of hand of conjurers to costume. Beyer’s breakdown of shamanic performance is thorough and fascinating, with chapters on “Phlegm and Darts,” “Sucking and Blowing,” and “Harm.” I was particularly wowed with his discussion of shamanic sounds and songs, and especially the haunting, nasal whine of icaros. In addition to presenting research on how these sacred songs are passed on and improvised, he emphasizes the abstract effects produced when lyrics break down into alien tongues or pure sounds like whistles, hacks, and hums, whose “correct resonance and vibration [are] more important” than meaning.

Beyer roots shamanic performance and the ayahuasca ceremony in the body. As initiates know, the aya ritual can be an intensely physical experience–a woozy, vibrating, literally gut-wrenching dance of coughing, spitting, burping, and, of course, puking. (Beyer spends a lot of time with phlegm, for example, an aspect of shamanic performance that is not always emphasized north of the border.) This carnal and even carnivalesque dimension reminds us that ayahuasca is not a mystic or transcendentalist affair, and resists the highly internalized or even disembodied approaches that many American seekers bring to it, with their background in meditation or other more internalized psychedelics. Along these lines, Beyer makes the provocative argument–which is growing on me the more I think about it–that DMT (the most active ingredient in ayahausca) deserves to be classed as a “hallucinogen” distinct from “entheogens” like LSD and mescaline, which peel away the layers of the self to reveal the god within (the literal meaning of entheogen). In contrast, according to Beyer, DMT unveils a visionary world out there, one that is not only believable but seemingly inhabited.

While Beyer uses plenty of concepts and lingo drawn from anthropology and psychology, he does not offer these views in a spirit of reductionism. After all, Beyer has been learning the ropes for years, and has spent far too much time wrestling with wizardry to try to dissipate its dialectic of healing and harming with the word-spells of academe. Beyer’s critical discussions only help illuminate the central mystery with greater intensity. So while he offers up useful maps of the phenomenology of visionary states, when it comes to talking about the spirits themselves, Beyer just calls `em as he sees `em. Spirits–or “doctores”–are simply part of the picture; there is no need to reduce them to projections or myths–they harm and they heal, converse and confuse. As long as we remain aware of the various contexts which structure our encounters, we have every reason to acknowledge and engage the spirits as part of our world–an aspect of nature and consciousness, but also–and this is crucial–an aspect of modernity itself.

In contrast to many Euro-American aya fans, who fetishize the otherness of the Amazonian shaman, Beyer does not characterize the Amazon’s techniques of religious ecstasy as archaic residues free from any contamination from today’s globalized world. The culture of ayahuasca is both stronger and weaker than that, more expansively eclectic and also more ordinary. Beyer notes that Dona Maria’s spirit doctors regularly spoke in “computer language,” just as an earlier generation of shamans used metaphors of electro-magnetism and radio to characterize the spirit world. The UFOs found scattered through Pablo Amaringo’s paintings are icons of this visionary futurism. But they are equally signs of the syncretic, mix-and-match, opportunistic, and almost willfully contaminated aspects of mestizo culture–which must make itself up as it slips along between jungle and city, modernity and the indigenous forest. That said, Beyer is all too aware of the political, economic, and spiritual costs of the Amazon’s deepening imbrication with global flows of capital and culture–an encounter that is increasingly taking place through the medium of ayahuasca tourism, which receives a sharp if too short treatment here.

If shamans are not frozen under glass, they are not squeaky-clean avatars of sweetness and light either. Beyer is very clear: to enter the shamanic world is to enter a world shot through with sorcery, with harms as well as healings. Budding shamans either struggle with sorcerers or join the wickedness; in his fascinating discussion of psychic darts, which healers store in their bodies for a rainy day after extracting them from victims, Beyer explains why the dark side is actually an easier path to take. “Good” shamanism reveals itself to be an intensely ethical discipline, not only in relationship to the community of persons (human and otherwise), but to the darkness within. The shaman’s predicament is also grounded in social reality: a successful healer necessarily creates rivalry and envy, and when he fails at his healing task, necessarily creates paranoia and suspicion as well. This accounts for what Beyer calls the “social ambiguity of the shaman,” the fact that many of them are sneaky, unstable, and mistrustful. It’s a lonely path, anxious and ambiguous all the way down the line.

And the job has only gotten harder, even though there is more cash to be had and the global profile is at an all time high. Beyer closes the book with a pessimistic assessment of Amazonian shamanism’s future in a world where the younger generation would rather learn quick techniques from occult books than take on the ascetic rigors of the plant healing path. Beyer knows that conscientious gringos like himself will not fill the gap, especially when the general effect of the exploding Euro-North American interest in Amazonian shamanism is a spectral assault of dream darts soaked in naive assumptions and often narcissistic desires. Hopefully, Singing to the Plants will help us realize that one of the best cures for our own poisons is to learn how to hold them.

We think this is a good question, so we did a bit of research. Here are some suggestions:

Ayahuasca Songs: Healing Prayers and Chants by Don Valerio Cohaila

You can preview the tracks online, and then download the mp3 file if you want it.

El Canto del Tiempo/Ayahuasca Icaros by Don Evangelino Murayay

With this CD also you may preview the tracks online, before downloading the mp3 version.

Ayahuasca Songs from the Peruvian Amazon by Luis Panduro Vasquez

Icaros are songs that have been given to an apprentice shaman by the spirit of the plant or animal that is the focus of his/her attention and journey. The Icaros on this CD are very well done, and highly recommended for anyone interested in researching traditional use of Yage in a native context. The singers voices ring with the truth and innocence of children, reminding us of who we really are. note: the lyrics are by no means explicit, quite the opposite as they cleanse the enviornment in preparation for sacred work.

This CD is really simple. It is a clear recording of an authentic Shaman singing, that is it. There are no effects, no background music, no narrator giving a documentary (although that would be cool so heads up you anthropologists out there). It is for a yage ritual and a means of saving what seems to be another dying and doomed culture.

With a run time of 334 minutes, this DVD actually contains four full-length programs focusing on the shamanic use of Ayahuasca in the amazon and elsewhere.

For those who like live presentations about important topics by major authors and experts on a subject, this DVD product delivers. I love recommending products that I care about and I only bother reviewing DVDs I like. Anything else is just a waist of my time. For anyone that really cares about the topic of the Shamanic use of Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the World at large for healing and transformation, this DVD product deserves a spot in your library right next to Shamans of the Amazon, another vital DVD product on this topic. Both of these products offer vital research material for anyone who cares about this subject. For those who are new to this topic, this is the kind of research material you will need to prepare, before you embark on any healing journey using Ayahuasca.

Click here to see “Ayahuasca & Mystical Secrets of the Amazon” available online.

April 3 – 16 2010 SHAMANIC PRACTITIONER AND HEALER DIPLOMA

This unique course condenses a whole year of normal practitioner training into a two-week residency, saving you time and money and ensuring that you qualify more quickly. It is ideal for those who wish to learn shamanic skills so they can incorporate them into their lives and/or those who would like to act as guides and healers for others, helping them to find their own soul pathways.

It begins with an introduction to shamanism, its methods and practices, including little-known and seldom-taught techniques from a range of shamanic cultures, and builds to a deep and detailed exploration of shamanic healing including soul retrieval, spirit extraction, energy balancing, shamanic counselling, future-seeing and Earth and community healing using specialist techniques which are not taught on any other shamanic training programmes.

A Diploma is awarded on completion and graduates have the opportunity to add their names to The Four Gates healer referrals list.

April 28 – May 2 2010 TRIBAL SPIRIT

Shamanic Skills, Medicine Plants and Survival Arts
The prophecies of many cultures speak of a time of coming change when our current ways of living will no longer serve us. More recently scientists and economists have been giving us the same message and some have calculated that the world’s energy resources will be depleted within 30 years, impacting our ability to grow food, to transport it and even to cook and to heat our homes. James Lovelock, the renowned earth scientist and originator of Gaia Theory, writes that the world is now entering a period of “unprecedented change” and to prepare for it we must become ‘tribal’ people again and learn the skills and medicine ways of our ancestors.

This workshop gives you some of the skills we may all need in this changing world. Participants are shown how to connect to nature through methods of special shamanic consciousness in order to find allies, medicine plants, food and shelter, and how to understand the signs of the natural world. Instruction is also provided in how to track for medicines and foods, including the key methods used by shamans to find edible and healing plants. Practical arts are also taught including camp and shelter-building, making fire, and creating tools and utensils from natural materials.

At the end of the course participants will have a better understanding of nature and its allies, be more at one with the land and its bounty, and know the key elements of survival and tribal community life.

May 8 – 12 2010 THE RETURN OF THE SERPENT

Plant Spirit Shamanism and the Vine of Souls

On this workshop we explore our connection to nature and the folkways, medicines and wisdom of our ancestors as we restore balance to our souls through the healing and visionary powers of one of the world’s greatest teacher plants.

Participants learn practices of plant spirit shamanism, including methods for connecting to and working with our guides and allies in nature, how to recognise and prepare healing plants, give and receive blessings, and aspects of soul healing and retrieval using plants, herbs and flowers. Two sacred vine ceremonies are included.

For more information visit www.thefourgates.com

‘An informative and compelling exploration of Shamanic use of Ayahuasca the extraordinary visionary brew. – Rick Strassman MD author DMT: The Spirit Molecule.

‘Human Future will be designed on how conscious we will be able to make ourselves and if there are plants that can accelerate consciousness then we must seek out and utilize these things. Something could jump out of some unexpected dimension and change everything.’- Terrence McKenna.

In a time when indigenous people their culture and the natural environment are experiencing dramatic changes this in-depth series of programs examine what these SHAMANS OF THE AMAZON their hallucinogenic rituals and their special relationship with nature have to offer humanity at this crucial time in history. This video presentation shows how westerners around the world are using Ayahuasca and other Shamanic plants to receive knowledge to understand their relationship with nature and to seek visions of how best to deal with deep personal spiritual and environmental questions. In a ’say no to drugs’ era there is a new subculture emerging based on an ancient ritual of hallucinogenic plant use.

Here is a review of the DVD found on Amazon: “I was excited when I discovered that this series of films was available on DVD and I purchased this product on the spot. After taking it home I couldn’t wait to view it because documentary films on the Shamanic use of Ayahuasca in the Amazon simply aren’t available and this subject is a passion of mine. Further more, the DVDs feature comments by Terence McKenna who really knows his stuff and he is supper fun to watch for his comments and biting wit. In fact the DVDs contain an interview by Terence which may be one of his final interviews before he past away in 2000. I join Denis McKenna, co author of The Invisible Landscape and Rick Strassman MD, author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, in saying that Shamans of the Amazon is by far, bar none, the best documentary every produced on the Shamanic use of Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the world at large. It includes a look at the political implications around the world regarding the use of Ayahuasca and a whole host of remarkable bonus features in what is a phenomenal 3 DVD set. I highly recommend this product to all Terence McKenna fans and everyone who cares about this subject.”

A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy: Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the United States

Published in 2008, this book by Marlene Dobkin de Rios and Roger Rumrrill covers not only the traditional usage of ayahuasca in the Amazon, but also by its modern day encounters with the so-called war on drugs in the USA.

Dr. Dobkin de Rios is a medical anthropologist who has conducted fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon and the coast on plant hallucinogens and healing. She is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine, and Professor Emerita of Anthropology at California State University, Fullerton. De Rios has spearheaded research on the plant hallucinogen, ayahuasca in Peru, Brazil, and the United States. The author of six books and several hundred articles on hallucinogens and culture, she resides in Southern California.

Mr. Rumrill is a Peruvian journalist and author of 25 books. He is a recognized expert on Amazon themes, including narco-trafficking, biological wealth of the Amazon, and social and cultural issues of indigenous peoples in Peru and other regions of Latin America.

There are few true Shamans left, according to the Shamans de Rios interviews for the book. Training takes two years and requires many hardships, such as forays into the forrest, severe diets, celibacy: so much so, that the Amazon youth prefer city life to taking up tribal customs, such as Shamanism.

That’s not to say they don’t produce their own brand of Shamanism to tourists, offering Ayahuasca Tea (without the proper prayers, chanting, etc) to tourists. This is called “Drug Tourism” and the authors detail what Drug Tourism is and how it is harming Tribal life and how it affects how the plant is disappearing from the Amazon.

This is a great book that discusses the manners in which Shamans train, believe, go about their vocation, administer to local tribes (mostly women and children). With drinking the tea, a Shaman ‘communicates’ with spirits (not as we in the West describe them) then help whomever comes to him. In it’s proper respect, Ayahuasca Tea helps the proper Shaman delve into the problem, thus helping his ‘customer’.

Improper use of the tea has skyrocketed, and many false Shamans have sprung up around the Countries. Countries don’t seem to mind, as the ‘drug tourism’ brings in much needed capital. Although Shamanism is dying out, the religion it professes has spread to many Western and Industrialized Nations, including the United States.

And there was the problem, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency here in the U.S. When the religion started, the U.S. placed the tea on their list of forbidden substances. After many years and lawsuits later, the religion won their right to use the tea for their services.

The book is enjoyable, as the authors discuss conversations with Shamans, details religious rites, reasons for using the Hallucinogenic Tea, their use of psychology, biology, counseling, consultation of spirits, etc., the authors do repeat themselves quite often.

We are grateful to Amazon.com and Brick ONeil for the above review of A Hallucinogenic Tea, Laced with Controversy: Ayahuasca in the Amazon and the United States

If you are knowledgeable on these matters, what do you think?

A: I lived with a shaman outside Iquitos and it was an amazing experience. I was in Peru for longer than 2 weeks though and had time to build up a relationship with the shaman.

There are people in Peru who could help you but it would be helpful if you can speak Spanish.

I also took san pedro in Huancabamba but have to say the route is dangerous and I didnt get as vivid visions with this than with ayahuasca.

It is a brilliant experience but better on the body if you do not drink alcohol and eat much before the ceremony!

Suerte and if it is right for you to take it you will meet the right people to guide you.

A: My wife says you can do it by yourself or in a group. She says the most important thing is the shaman who is guiding you. He needs to be a longtime shaman who’s ancestors were shamans. She said you need to follow the diet and restrictions given by the shaman.

A: Two weeks doesn’t seem a very long time to me, to sort it all out from scratch.

A: Would also be very interested in trying it. Seems quite amazing! Sorry as I am not knowledgeable I can’t offer much advice other than as much local information as possible is necessary, and for that you would need a trusted source. I guess that was the advantage of the group in the video. It wasn’t a scam. It was the real thing.  The downside obviously is the expense. But if you had more time, it’s probable that you could come across a shaman who was the real thing.

Thanks to Yahoo at http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081226135757AASnT0L

Released by Câmera Viva, 2008, the film is 57 minutes in length. Its director is Michael Ende, and it was edited by Luis Eduardo Pomar with consultation provided by Bia Labate. Watch the trailer now…

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Since the beginning of time, medicine men, shamans, and other native spiritual healers have utilized various means of going into altered states where they can communicate with spirits in order to receive guidance, such as to assist in healing their patients.

Various traditional methods have been used to attain these altered states, including fasting, drumming, dancing, sweat lodges, and smoking or ingesting botanical materials.

Now, thanks to modern science, there is a new tool that is being used to help with shamanic journeying states. Those who have used it report ecstatic states of consciousness, out of body experiences, spiritual insights and a high level of inspiration.

The technology involved is a specific form of brain entrainment where the participant goes into a shamanic state by listening to recordings of specific sound frequencies.

An altered state of consciousness is said to be attained in as short a time span as eight minutes.

Here are some of the experiences described by users of the Shaman Wave program:

“This was quite amazing. I have used relaxation tapes before but this was very different. I just kept going deeper and deeper. I still had some awareness but completely lost all sense of self and ego.”

and

“I have used drum induced trance states for many years. You have understood the importance of not cluttering the sound with pointless music and talking. This program has been very helpful in my development. I am looking forward to using your delta wave and epsilon wave programs.”

The Shaman Wave program is one of several recordings available from the Mind Sync company of Somerset, UK. Some of their other products include recordings for lucid dreaming, becoming psychic, out of body experiences, remote viewing, past life regression and clairvoyance.