Latest / Deeply Well with Devi Brown / Integrating Sacred Earth Medicines

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Integrating Sacred Earth Medicines · Deeply Well with Devi Brown

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Speaker 1: M from grandmothers who whispered in their baby girl in
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Speaker 1: two fathers on dimly lit street corners, instructing young soldiers
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Speaker 1: to always keep their eyes open. You be queen, you
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Speaker 1: were fired. You will pass through centuries on the hands
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Speaker 1: of your daughters. They called you wisdom. Proverbs on the
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Speaker 1: backs of diamond eyed school children who growing into hymnals
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Speaker 1: recited by amethyst holding urban philosophers who recited neighborhood commandments
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Speaker 1: out of the windows of restored alchimedo chariots, to keep
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Speaker 1: the warmth of their blood, be wise, be smart, being black,
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Speaker 1: Opal Brown courts bloodstone and prayer. Be every form of
0:50
Speaker 1: jim se King told, scribe, scribe, told son, son, told wife,
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Speaker 1: wife told her daughter, and daughter told the ass is.
1:00
Speaker 1: And the ancestors told me that you would come to
1:04
Speaker 1: give wisdom of thousands. They said you would come Dropping
1:09
Speaker 1: Dropping Gim. Hey, welcome, it's the Dropping Gim's podcast. I'm
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Speaker 1: your host, Debbie Brown. I am the Chief impact Officer
1:16
Speaker 1: at Chopriate Global, the voice of Daily Meditation, and the
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Speaker 1: founder of Karna Bliss, and the host of the show.
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Speaker 1: I just realized that I don't actually I don't think
1:25
Speaker 1: I've ever fully introduced myself and we're on episode fifty something,
1:31
Speaker 1: but yes, this is dropping Jim, so welcome back all
1:34
Speaker 1: of my o G listeners, and welcome to those that
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Speaker 1: may be joining us for the very first time. This
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Speaker 1: is a show where we unpack, dive into, and nourish
1:44
Speaker 1: with higher consciousness and make it incredibly applicable to our
1:47
Speaker 1: day to day life in service to our liberation and
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Speaker 1: our expansion and are living a life that truly deeply
1:56
Speaker 1: feels joyful and full from the inside out. On today's show,
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Speaker 1: we are going to be exploring something that I haven't
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Speaker 1: done a full episode on yet, and I'm really excited.
2:07
Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about working with sacred medicines also
2:12
Speaker 1: referred to as psychedelics or plant medicines earth medicines, and
2:18
Speaker 1: it is a very special path and tool for this journey.
2:27
Speaker 1: I'm excited, especially to talk about this today because working
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Speaker 1: with plant medicines has been something that has radically enhanced
2:37
Speaker 1: and healed my life personally. And I've been working with
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Speaker 1: plant medicines for the last couple of years in tandem
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Speaker 1: with so many other healing modalities, and I feel and
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Speaker 1: believe that in my life it has served monumental purpose
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Speaker 1: and it has brought me into the highest level of
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Speaker 1: my personal expression and the highest level of healing that
3:02
Speaker 1: I have had thus far in my life. So I
3:05
Speaker 1: am happy to be here with you today unpacking this conversation.
3:10
Speaker 1: I do want to share that we are going to
3:12
Speaker 1: be talking about things that are not necessarily legal everywhere. UM.
3:17
Speaker 1: That there is a lot of taboo around and a
3:20
Speaker 1: lot of misinformation and mis education around, and so I
3:24
Speaker 1: do want to share that don't take this show as
3:27
Speaker 1: a command in any way, UM. And please as always
3:31
Speaker 1: consult especially if you have UM special medical concerns of
3:37
Speaker 1: any kind. Uh. And if not, consult a medical physician
3:42
Speaker 1: as you feel called. And really, UM, if you are
3:47
Speaker 1: called to this work. I am a purist and I
3:50
Speaker 1: believe in always treating it with the respect, the reverence
3:55
Speaker 1: and the responsibility UM that it deserves. So sharing that
4:00
Speaker 1: with you, be responsible and be safe. So today's episode,
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Speaker 1: I am joined by an amazing woman named Charlotte James,
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Speaker 1: who is the co founder of the Ancestor Project. The
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Speaker 1: Ancestor Project, which was formerly known as the Saboina Project,
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Speaker 1: integrates ancestral sacred Earth medicine wisdom into the modern journeyers
4:23
Speaker 1: experience to reduce harm and expand consciousness. They believe that
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Speaker 1: Sacred Earth medicine is key in liberating all oppressed people's
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Speaker 1: They facilitate online and in person opportunities for learning that
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Speaker 1: support radical self transformation and the name of collective liberation.
4:42
Speaker 1: And Charlotte has been a harm reductionist and psychedelic explorer
4:46
Speaker 1: for over ten years, but her path through this work
4:49
Speaker 1: has certainly not been linear. After leaving harm reduction years
4:52
Speaker 1: ago because of rapid burnout, she's returning to this work
4:56
Speaker 1: with a new energy thanks to the power of healing
4:58
Speaker 1: with Sacred Earth medicines. Charlotte is fascinated by communication, has
5:02
Speaker 1: a love of language, and is captivated by the power
5:05
Speaker 1: of human connection. She's been in fearless pursuit of her
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Speaker 1: passion since she can remember, always gifting herself new experiences
5:13
Speaker 1: and opportunities to expand her mind. And Charlotte works to
5:17
Speaker 1: create a world in which everyone is able to live
5:19
Speaker 1: in fearless pursuit of their radical transformation. She uses her
5:24
Speaker 1: skills as a digital strategist, coach, and spaceholder to build
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Speaker 1: and engage a community focused on pursuing equitable liberation. Charlotte
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Speaker 1: work and Ancestor Project has been featured in Gravity, in Vogue,
5:39
Speaker 1: in Forbes, and an Input highly recommend checking out articles
5:44
Speaker 1: on her. And then also there are so many beautiful
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Speaker 1: UM expressions and ceremony offerings that Charlotte has through her
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Speaker 1: work in the Ancestor's Project. So, without further ado, Charlotte James,
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Speaker 1: welcome to the show. Yes, thank you so much for
6:00
Speaker 1: having me. It's honor. I don't even know where to begin,
6:07
Speaker 1: and I literally never feel that way. And I'm like,
6:11
Speaker 1: I'm feeling so alive and excited to be having this
6:15
Speaker 1: conversation with you that it really feels like where do
6:17
Speaker 1: I even begin? How do we start telling this story?
6:20
Speaker 1: And I think, especially you know, some people are probably
6:23
Speaker 1: getting familiar with certain language and terminology because so many
6:28
Speaker 1: new modalities of healing have come online literally figuratively in
6:33
Speaker 1: a really big way for people either internally or through
6:36
Speaker 1: their Instagram feeds, especially for black and brown communities. Were
6:40
Speaker 1: expanding in these worlds, UM and even though these are
6:45
Speaker 1: the worlds that are very indigenous to us, we're expanding
6:48
Speaker 1: to these worlds in a way that we were not
6:50
Speaker 1: previously UM allowed or thought we had permission for or
6:53
Speaker 1: even knew about it all. Uh. So I think I
6:57
Speaker 1: have a little pressure on myself because I'm like, I
6:59
Speaker 1: want to frame this so gorgeously so that there is
7:02
Speaker 1: this deep understanding. Um. But I'm thinking, Charlotte, let's start
7:07
Speaker 1: with you. How did you find your way on this
7:12
Speaker 1: sacred journey working with plant medicines and then creating such
7:16
Speaker 1: a powerful company and resource to educate to serve in
7:21
Speaker 1: this way? Yeah? Absolutely, And I think you know, the
7:27
Speaker 1: framing for all of these conversations is also the framing
7:29
Speaker 1: for this story, which is to give thanks to our
7:33
Speaker 1: ancestors who laid the path for us to be in
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Speaker 1: this place, to be having this sacred conversation, to be
7:41
Speaker 1: having the privilege of sitting with these sacred medicines, um,
7:46
Speaker 1: and just thinking, you know whatever you refer to the
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Speaker 1: universe source, collective consciousness, UM, the great Spirit for just
7:58
Speaker 1: aligning all of the pieces so that we can be
8:01
Speaker 1: in this place and be having this conversation. So um, yeah,
8:05
Speaker 1: big thanks to the spirit guides and the elders and
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Speaker 1: the ancestors and you know, um a request that they
8:15
Speaker 1: guide our hearts and guide our tongues in this conversation
8:19
Speaker 1: as we share this truth, because I think, as you said,
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Speaker 1: it is so important that we lay this framework from
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Speaker 1: a place of reverence and respect for the medicines, and
8:29
Speaker 1: recognition that we're not new to this, were true to this,
8:34
Speaker 1: from our traditions. We all have indigeneity when you go
8:39
Speaker 1: far back enough, we all have animus traditions and and
8:44
Speaker 1: traditions that work with the mystic and the mystery and
8:48
Speaker 1: the medicines. So you know, for me, that's really like,
8:53
Speaker 1: that's the easiest way to sum up thirty years of
8:57
Speaker 1: this current lifetime. And however, man the other life times
9:02
Speaker 1: to get to this that came before. Um. But you know,
9:10
Speaker 1: I was I have always been a seeker, a curious human.
9:16
Speaker 1: I was raised by two seekers and curious humans who
9:21
Speaker 1: in their own ways had deep connections to nature and
9:26
Speaker 1: the earth and um and and different spiritual traditions. My
9:32
Speaker 1: dad was a rasta growing up in in Jamaica and
9:36
Speaker 1: his youth. My mom is a horticulturalist, and so we
9:40
Speaker 1: spent so much of my of my life outside and
9:44
Speaker 1: with plants and cultivating a relationship with plants, and and
9:50
Speaker 1: you know, when I look back now, um, I'm sure
9:55
Speaker 1: you you understand this as having sabbath medicine, like you
9:58
Speaker 1: start to you start to like pick up the bread
10:02
Speaker 1: crumbs of your life that got you to the place
10:05
Speaker 1: where you currently are. And so yeah, if I think back, UM,
10:10
Speaker 1: you know, one of the medicines I'm sure we'll get
10:12
Speaker 1: into this conversation deeper. That UM I work with now
10:17
Speaker 1: is combo, which is a frog medicine UM and its
10:20
Speaker 1: traditional use. It's it's actually a vaccine UM and a
10:25
Speaker 1: medicine to amplify the senses, the less human senses for
10:30
Speaker 1: hunting UM in indigenous communities in the Amazon. And the
10:35
Speaker 1: reason that I knew what combo was the first time
10:40
Speaker 1: I saw the marks on someone else was because at
10:43
Speaker 1: fourteen or fifteen, I was like deep nerd ing out
10:46
Speaker 1: in anthropology and national geographic and had seen the traditional
10:51
Speaker 1: application of this medicine. And so I was able to
10:53
Speaker 1: pick up that that little thread um you know, nearly
10:58
Speaker 1: fifteen years later, that then just blew the door wide
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Speaker 1: open in my path and my purpose as a medicine
11:05
Speaker 1: woman and as a community steward. UM. My first, my
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Speaker 1: first plant love relationship was cannabis. UM. I started smoking
11:18
Speaker 1: when I was fourteen, and while I didn't have the
11:21
Speaker 1: language or understanding or intentionality that I have now. UM,
11:27
Speaker 1: I can look back and recognize that it was so
11:30
Speaker 1: instrumental in allowing me to move through the stickiness of
11:35
Speaker 1: being a teenager, being by racial having really heavy anxious
11:41
Speaker 1: thought loops, really UM sort of serious body dysmorphia UM
11:47
Speaker 1: as a young woman, and to sort of just move
11:51
Speaker 1: through life with this like I don't give a funk attitude,
11:57
Speaker 1: which as an adult isn't always the most but as
12:00
Speaker 1: as anxious teenager, really helped me to like entered in
12:06
Speaker 1: myself while the chaos of life was happening around me.
12:10
Speaker 1: And I've been able to do that. And I'm also
12:13
Speaker 1: an only child. My parents divorced when I was young. UM,
12:18
Speaker 1: I had a really clear vision at the beginning of
12:20
Speaker 1: our pandemic UM in a mushroom journey of feeling really
12:27
Speaker 1: disconnected from the collective chaos and the collective anxiety of
12:32
Speaker 1: loneliness and UM having this vision of being a small
12:37
Speaker 1: child with just chaos happening around me and having to
12:42
Speaker 1: figure out very early on how to manage myself. And
12:46
Speaker 1: so you know, the medicines really helped amplify that that
12:51
Speaker 1: ability to hold space for myself um as a young
12:55
Speaker 1: person and and then all so just kept my mind
13:01
Speaker 1: very open. So then when I was in college and
13:03
Speaker 1: like M D m A came across the table, I
13:05
Speaker 1: was like, let's do it. And had you know, a
13:09
Speaker 1: couple of years of incredible somatic release through dance in
13:13
Speaker 1: the rave culture right in like around warehouse rave culture.
13:17
Speaker 1: We wouldn't most people wouldn't frame it like that. I
13:20
Speaker 1: didn't know that's what I was doing, but just like
13:23
Speaker 1: deep deep release through my late teens early twenties. Then
13:28
Speaker 1: I moved to Bolivia. I lived in a conscious community
13:32
Speaker 1: we're working with LSD, and would take these massive hikes
13:35
Speaker 1: and be in nature. Um. And then I had some
13:40
Speaker 1: a couple of years of not healthy relationships with substances
13:45
Speaker 1: UM cocaine and alcohol and just um definitely like cannabis
13:51
Speaker 1: overuse um to a numbing space. UM. So I steered
13:57
Speaker 1: myself off my path for a little bit and then
14:00
Speaker 1: uh are the little teachers. Mushrooms brought me back and
14:07
Speaker 1: like I said, combo really sort of combo and um
14:11
Speaker 1: five mm O D M T or Buffo just sort
14:15
Speaker 1: of blew the doors back open and where I needed
14:18
Speaker 1: to be and put me in contact with Dre Right,
14:23
Speaker 1: who was my ancestor project co creator. Um. He served
14:27
Speaker 1: me combo my first ceremony and became my my early teacher.
14:33
Speaker 1: And yeah, at the beginning pre pandemic, we had all
14:38
Speaker 1: these grand plans to do a bunch of local events
14:40
Speaker 1: in Baltimore and I got shut down very quickly. Um,
14:45
Speaker 1: and we put it online and you know, um yeah,
14:51
Speaker 1: it's just from there just amplified as like a rocket
14:54
Speaker 1: ship that we an ancestral rocket ship that we didn't
14:57
Speaker 1: fully understand that we were signing up for missing the ancestory,
15:03
Speaker 1: Like let's go celestial, it's time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
15:08
Speaker 1: exactly exactly. Wow, thank you for sharing, um, thank you
15:14
Speaker 1: for sharing the journey and all the twists and turns
15:16
Speaker 1: that came with it. And what I really heard in
15:18
Speaker 1: you describing even that that realization and that stelf awareness
15:23
Speaker 1: and understanding, Okay, I'm going somewhere a little different with
15:25
Speaker 1: the medicine that maybe isn't serving um my soul in
15:30
Speaker 1: the highest way. The thing that really connected me to
15:33
Speaker 1: that is like, oh wow, she was meant to know both,
15:36
Speaker 1: like she needed to understand the reversal of the way
15:40
Speaker 1: it blesses and heals you because that re enforces you
15:44
Speaker 1: as a teacher. It creates even more language that you
15:47
Speaker 1: can aid people with as they use it in a
15:50
Speaker 1: way for their highest good. Mm hmmm. And I think
15:53
Speaker 1: and greater empathy as well. Um, and understanding like where
15:57
Speaker 1: the darkness can take you when it's not integrated, like
16:02
Speaker 1: where your shall and take you if you keep ignoring it. Um. Wow. Yeah.
16:08
Speaker 1: And it was a combination of the medicine and also
16:13
Speaker 1: traditional psychotherapy that sort of brought me back into my
16:18
Speaker 1: into myself. Yeah, because that's the I think that's the
16:22
Speaker 1: risk we all run in any work that we do.
16:24
Speaker 1: You know, it's like there's always a way, even the
16:27
Speaker 1: things that are like the delicious treats of the divine
16:30
Speaker 1: that are available to us on earth. You know, it's
16:33
Speaker 1: like we have to still stay in our spiritual integrity.
16:37
Speaker 1: We have to still reconnect to our self awareness. So
16:40
Speaker 1: we say, okay, let me trust Where am I going
16:43
Speaker 1: with this? You know, it's interesting, like a little bit different. Charlotte,
16:47
Speaker 1: I was such a late bloomer um to this. I
16:50
Speaker 1: was actually as a young person. I think the way
16:52
Speaker 1: that my trauma manifested was that I became really hyper
16:56
Speaker 1: vigilant with myself, and so there were so many things
17:00
Speaker 1: I would just never allow myself to do for many decades,
17:03
Speaker 1: and like doing any kind of medicines UM for me
17:07
Speaker 1: through the lens as a young woman, I was very
17:10
Speaker 1: trained by Dare. I talked about this, like briefly on
17:13
Speaker 1: a past episode, but like I really you know, you know,
17:17
Speaker 1: on the flip side of that, sometimes in our communities,
17:19
Speaker 1: we do see there, especially depending on when you were born.
17:23
Speaker 1: I'm born in the late eighties, there was like immense
17:29
Speaker 1: amount of drug abuse that was rampant in our communities.
17:32
Speaker 1: I grew up in a way like there was, and
17:35
Speaker 1: so that became like this whole other thing. There became
17:38
Speaker 1: so much propaganda around that, so much miseducation. First of all,
17:42
Speaker 1: drugs were planted in the communities that turned into drug abuse,
17:46
Speaker 1: you know, But we didn't see the other sides of that.
17:48
Speaker 1: We didn't see the sacredness. We didn't see the ways
17:51
Speaker 1: to grow and transform with other types of medicines. And so,
17:55
Speaker 1: you know, when I was a young person, I was
17:57
Speaker 1: so judgmental around it. Um I'd like, no, I don't
18:00
Speaker 1: do that. And I used to work in the music industry,
18:03
Speaker 1: and you know, everybody would offer and I'm like, no,
18:05
Speaker 1: I don't do that. And I thought that that somehow
18:07
Speaker 1: like said something impressive about me, right, Like I was
18:10
Speaker 1: caught in this judgment about it. So I actually started
18:14
Speaker 1: smoking for the very first time after I turned thirty,
18:18
Speaker 1: and for me, it was using cannabis. It really helped
18:24
Speaker 1: me after my child, climb out of like postpartum depression
18:28
Speaker 1: and postpartum anxiety tremendously. There was a lot one I
18:33
Speaker 1: was in a difficult circumstance, but too it was very
18:36
Speaker 1: triggering for me for my inner child wounds, like having
18:40
Speaker 1: a brand new baby and a brand new baby that
18:42
Speaker 1: looked exactly like me, Like, it brought up so much
18:44
Speaker 1: to the surface that I had to really meet and
18:47
Speaker 1: make peace with about myself as I was creating what
18:52
Speaker 1: my parenthood would be, what kind of woman, would kind
18:55
Speaker 1: of divine mother I would be to my child? Um
18:58
Speaker 1: And so I feel that like of this initially it
19:01
Speaker 1: gave me the space to do that exploration UM and
19:04
Speaker 1: it gave me it helped me remove so much judgment
19:07
Speaker 1: of myself as I was doing that exploration, and I
19:10
Speaker 1: helped me sleep because I really needed to sleep. And
19:14
Speaker 1: then from that, you know, I ended up finding my way. UM.
19:18
Speaker 1: I've done some of my deepest work with mushrooms. UM,
19:21
Speaker 1: some of my most transformative work. I need the gentleness
19:26
Speaker 1: of that medicine. UM. I needed to ground and really
19:30
Speaker 1: connect with God is earth UM in that way connect
19:34
Speaker 1: with my body. And when I heard you, when you
19:36
Speaker 1: were sharing about you know, dancing and adding that somatic
19:40
Speaker 1: expression UM with the rave culture, that is something that
19:45
Speaker 1: I think would have really served me at that age two,
19:48
Speaker 1: that I didn't really fully discover UM and to really
19:52
Speaker 1: the last handful of years, but dance has become one
19:55
Speaker 1: of the most profound practices for me of my growth,
20:00
Speaker 1: my healing, my transformation. So this is yeah, I'm hype
20:05
Speaker 1: so so many threats there. Have you ever done or
20:09
Speaker 1: practice five rhythms? No? Oh so five rhythms? I really
20:18
Speaker 1: wanna UM. Yes, Gabrielle Roth is the creator of this
20:24
Speaker 1: modality UM called five rhythms, and it is Uh. It's
20:30
Speaker 1: this dance that you do. It It's called a wave.
20:33
Speaker 1: It has five parts. UM. The five parts are oh
20:39
Speaker 1: um like flow, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. Those are
20:46
Speaker 1: like the five types of movement that you do, and
20:50
Speaker 1: it takes you through the five movements line up with birth, childhood, puberty, adulthood,
20:56
Speaker 1: and death, and they line up with the elements and
21:00
Speaker 1: UM so it's it's just a really beautiful UM practice
21:03
Speaker 1: or framework for UM for a dance and movement practice. UM.
21:08
Speaker 1: I'm in a training PhD program for trans personal psychology
21:13
Speaker 1: and psychedelic medicine, and we just came back from our
21:15
Speaker 1: first trans personal retreat in Colombia, ten days of breaking
21:22
Speaker 1: the character all the way down, which is so exhausting.
21:25
Speaker 1: I think I just stopped sleeping twelve hours a night
21:27
Speaker 1: like two days ago. UM. But movement was a big
21:32
Speaker 1: part of that, and and the release and the ecstasy
21:35
Speaker 1: that you can feel without medicine, like from these very
21:38
Speaker 1: simple practices that we all have access to. UM, drinking water,
21:44
Speaker 1: moving our body, breathing well, UM, meditating like the basics. UM.
21:53
Speaker 1: But you also touched on this like such a key
21:55
Speaker 1: element of this conversation around UM so I refer to
22:00
Speaker 1: sacred Earth medicine instead of psychedelics. Psychedelics is like a
22:03
Speaker 1: term that some German dude made up in the nineteen fifties.
22:07
Speaker 1: I feel like sacred Earth medicine like encompasses the animal medicines,
22:14
Speaker 1: the fun medicine, the plants, the you know, all of it,
22:18
Speaker 1: the breath, all these different modalities. Um. But this this
22:24
Speaker 1: tension in talking about sacred Earth medicines for collective liberations,
22:30
Speaker 1: specifically in bipop communities, is this the ways in which
22:35
Speaker 1: we've internalized colonization to be like modal citizens. Like you
22:42
Speaker 1: try to have this conversation. A lot of the time,
22:45
Speaker 1: you'll see, like in this conversation on Sacred Earth medicine,
22:48
Speaker 1: it's a lot of young folks trying to lead other
22:52
Speaker 1: young folks, which is dope. And also when you look
22:56
Speaker 1: at these traditions in our ancestral context, they our rights
23:00
Speaker 1: of passages that are led by elders. But our elders
23:04
Speaker 1: have had to become so conservative in order to survive
23:07
Speaker 1: in this white supremacist, patriarchal, weird ass realm that we
23:14
Speaker 1: all are collectively buying into experiencing that like, we don't
23:22
Speaker 1: have the elders in our communities to to say, okay, kids,
23:26
Speaker 1: come on down to this like challenging but life talking
23:29
Speaker 1: experience that like will bring you into being a member
23:38
Speaker 1: of this collective and um will bring you home to
23:43
Speaker 1: yourself and your ancestors and your trends and your traditions, um,
23:48
Speaker 1: and so there is this tension. I think, you know,
23:51
Speaker 1: a large part of the reason my story started so
23:54
Speaker 1: young is that I am by racial. I was raised
23:58
Speaker 1: in a predominantly white space, and these conversations were not
24:02
Speaker 1: the same, Like everyone was experimenting. All of my early
24:06
Speaker 1: experiences were we're in predominantly white spaces, um, in predominantly
24:13
Speaker 1: white college university, and that words you used, it was
24:18
Speaker 1: wrapped around we're experimenting, like this is something we're just
24:21
Speaker 1: doing to passtime and have fun, but it's not really
24:24
Speaker 1: anything significant or important. Yeah it's not, but it almost
24:29
Speaker 1: becomes it becomes this nonchalant right of message. Instead of
24:34
Speaker 1: being like, oh, this could make us better humans, we
24:37
Speaker 1: were like, let's get more turned right, yes, right, you know.
24:44
Speaker 1: And that's such an enigma that's still so prevalent I
24:48
Speaker 1: think for so many especially for for adults who were
24:51
Speaker 1: coming to this work, you know, like let's talk tell
24:53
Speaker 1: it like there's like a lot of beautiful things happening
24:56
Speaker 1: with gen Z. But for those of us that maybe
24:59
Speaker 1: are older millennials and older than that, it's like there
25:04
Speaker 1: is this stigma that we can't quite put our fingers on,
25:06
Speaker 1: or there is this lack of reverence in a way
25:10
Speaker 1: that we don't we can't really quantify that keeps a
25:13
Speaker 1: barrier in place from being expressive and freeing this way.
25:19
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, And I you know, the other um weird
25:25
Speaker 1: quote unquote weird thing that I'm into and it feels
25:29
Speaker 1: like liberation to me is nudism. And like, try to
25:32
Speaker 1: have that conversation with people at James Books. We are
25:39
Speaker 1: on parallel paths, my friend, just do like a ink check.
25:47
Speaker 1: I saw your yeah yeah, um yeah, which people are
25:57
Speaker 1: also about tell me talk to me about your nudism
26:01
Speaker 1: because I crave being naked all the time and I
26:04
Speaker 1: love being naked with people. Yeah but you say that,
26:11
Speaker 1: and people are like, what deviant sex thing are? You know,
26:16
Speaker 1: just like we came into this world naked. If we
26:20
Speaker 1: look back at most of our traditions also naked, um,
26:25
Speaker 1: and we've again bought into this like tool of control
26:28
Speaker 1: and colonization, which was used to distinguish who had more value,
26:32
Speaker 1: Like it was it's a tool of hierarchy to be like,
26:35
Speaker 1: oh you have that shiny cloth. Now it's like you
26:39
Speaker 1: have that whatever designer or you choose this way to
26:42
Speaker 1: express yourself with your clothes and that means this about you. Um.
26:47
Speaker 1: This though, so nudism. Huge ups to my partner UM,
26:53
Speaker 1: who has been getting naked for years um. And when
26:57
Speaker 1: we met, he yeah, he just he was very open
27:03
Speaker 1: about it. He lived in a house where like part
27:04
Speaker 1: of the agreement was that there were roommates, but he
27:08
Speaker 1: would live there if he could be naked. So he
27:10
Speaker 1: was naked all of the time, Um, which is you know, okay,
27:19
Speaker 1: this household is really open with it. Like a couple
27:24
Speaker 1: of months into us dating, for my birthday, he um
27:28
Speaker 1: took me to a new I mean he asked me
27:30
Speaker 1: if I wanted to go, and I was like, you
27:33
Speaker 1: know what, why not? Like I been hung up on
27:37
Speaker 1: this body thing for long enough. It's kind of exhausting
27:40
Speaker 1: to carry around and so like, yeah, where everyone else
27:46
Speaker 1: else is gonna be naked? Um, And it was really living. Yeah,
27:52
Speaker 1: it's amazing. Also, the body becomes wildly de sexualized when
27:57
Speaker 1: you're just seeing a bunch of naked bodies all the time,
27:59
Speaker 1: like human body in and of itself is Yeah, it becomes,
28:06
Speaker 1: at least in my experience, becomes very desexualized. So since
28:09
Speaker 1: then we started this platform called We Are Naked and
28:14
Speaker 1: we take people naked camping. You know, let's stop the
28:21
Speaker 1: interview so I can go sign up for this rocking.
28:31
Speaker 1: So what do you noted, especially in terms of healing,
28:34
Speaker 1: because like, so part of my expression and part of
28:38
Speaker 1: my spiritual practice every day is that I dance naked
28:41
Speaker 1: with myself and it's just it's something, thank you, It's
28:45
Speaker 1: something that nourishes me in a way that I can't
28:50
Speaker 1: really quantify to another person, Like it nourishes me at
28:54
Speaker 1: the core of my being. Um, it helps me stay
28:57
Speaker 1: inside of my body. It helped me connect my by
29:00
Speaker 1: it helped me heal so much body dysmorphia that I
29:02
Speaker 1: had been carrying around for my whole life. And I
29:05
Speaker 1: feel like I was able to come to really the
29:07
Speaker 1: deepest levels of self acceptance but also like sensual expression
29:13
Speaker 1: by just giving myself a space to be nude, to
29:16
Speaker 1: just be nude for me and really even looking at wait,
29:20
Speaker 1: why wasn't I doing that? More like, why wasn't I
29:22
Speaker 1: just naked for myself? It's me, you know, And then
29:25
Speaker 1: being able to kind of follow that and see, well,
29:28
Speaker 1: what was that really and where does that show up
29:30
Speaker 1: in other areas of my life? And I being restrained
29:34
Speaker 1: or am I being concealed from myself in a way
29:37
Speaker 1: that I shouldn't be attention to? Um? And that's so
29:41
Speaker 1: powerful and so hearing you say that, you know, it's
29:44
Speaker 1: like there has to be such a beautiful, um, spiritual
29:49
Speaker 1: science behind it of being allowed to be that open
29:55
Speaker 1: with yourself, that free, but specifically in a non sexualized
30:00
Speaker 1: like this just is this is my human technology, this
30:04
Speaker 1: is the house of my soul. And it doesn't always
30:06
Speaker 1: have to be about if it's attractive or not, or
30:10
Speaker 1: how it looks or not. It's how does it feel? Yes? Yes, um,
30:16
Speaker 1: all of that and um Like if we think about
30:21
Speaker 1: you know, people will talk about earth thing, right like
30:23
Speaker 1: how important is to go stand outside in the earth
30:26
Speaker 1: with your bare feet? Okay? So but like what if
30:28
Speaker 1: you put your whole body on the earth, or you
30:31
Speaker 1: put your whole body in the ocean right like, or
30:34
Speaker 1: your whole body next to the fire, like what does
30:37
Speaker 1: what does that feel like? To have sun on places
30:39
Speaker 1: that don't get sun and to feel heat you know,
30:43
Speaker 1: enveloping you. Um. I mean if I'm at home journeying,
30:50
Speaker 1: you know by myself for myself, Like I'm a thousand
30:53
Speaker 1: percent naked and there's not I used to like start
30:55
Speaker 1: with clothes, and I'm like, there's no point, Like the
31:00
Speaker 1: greatest way to drift off into the void is without
31:04
Speaker 1: all of these attachments, these things that we that we have.
31:07
Speaker 1: Now we'll say, I love like body adornment. Obviously, you know,
31:11
Speaker 1: I think that, um, it's a temple, and you rarely
31:15
Speaker 1: see an undecorated temple. So I'm here for like the
31:18
Speaker 1: ways and which we've we've developed our expression and adornment
31:23
Speaker 1: of the vessel um and think, jam, I love it, um.
31:32
Speaker 1: And it's also like beyond being liberating, it's also just
31:36
Speaker 1: like a level of vulnerability to strip away, like all
31:40
Speaker 1: of the barriers that we put in place between us
31:47
Speaker 1: as humans. Like we also always talk about, um, like
31:52
Speaker 1: how important skin to skin contact is for babies, Like
31:55
Speaker 1: babies need skin to skin contact, like we're giant babies.
32:00
Speaker 1: So it's it's the same. Your skin didn't change as
32:08
Speaker 1: you you know, it just got there's more of it,
32:10
Speaker 1: so you need more contact on it. Um. So that
32:14
Speaker 1: is huge and so beautiful. That is so so so
32:18
Speaker 1: beautifully true, and it's it's even putting it in that
32:22
Speaker 1: context is just so powerful because it's like, I am
32:25
Speaker 1: still that baby. I am just still that soul wearing skin.
32:29
Speaker 1: And so of course intimate touch from myself for others,
32:33
Speaker 1: and by intimate I also just mean closeness, openness, acceptance,
32:37
Speaker 1: like of course that is necessary for my spirit to
32:41
Speaker 1: be an optimal positioning, an optimal power. That is so okay,
32:47
Speaker 1: let me ask this for for someone listening right now
32:51
Speaker 1: that maybe is intrigued or curious about what this kind
32:55
Speaker 1: of medicine journey could be for them, what is a
32:59
Speaker 1: good way to start for mean it to get started? Um.
33:01
Speaker 1: And also, but actually before we go there, Charlotte, why
33:05
Speaker 1: actually is this such a powerful companion with therapy or
33:11
Speaker 1: two specifically use in service to your expansion and your
33:15
Speaker 1: healing or to getting past maybe a barrier to healing
33:19
Speaker 1: that has been present. Mm hmmm yeah, absolutely, so many
33:25
Speaker 1: parts to that. So I feel like most simply, um put,
33:32
Speaker 1: this process of colonization, which we have all been subject
33:36
Speaker 1: to throughout history, is a process of separation. It's a
33:42
Speaker 1: process of trying to create um binary systems of identifying
33:48
Speaker 1: each other, oppositional systems of identifying each other um and
33:53
Speaker 1: really just this this constant pulling apart of humanity and
33:58
Speaker 1: sacred earth. Medicines are a direct tool of connection, of
34:04
Speaker 1: collective connection, of like melting away the stories and the
34:12
Speaker 1: traumas that we carry around with us that keep us
34:18
Speaker 1: in increasing disconnection from ourselves and then therefore increasing disconnection
34:24
Speaker 1: from everyone and everything around us, and so in in shamanism,
34:30
Speaker 1: um sometimes talk about going from domination to dominion or
34:36
Speaker 1: if you've ever seen that, there's like a meme that
34:38
Speaker 1: goes around sometimes that's like um ego, where it's a
34:42
Speaker 1: human on top of the pyramid of a bunch of
34:45
Speaker 1: animals versus Eco, where it's like a human in the
34:49
Speaker 1: circle where everything is together an equal. I think the
34:54
Speaker 1: medicines take us on an accelerated path to that place um,
34:59
Speaker 1: to underst standing that we really are just a human race.
35:05
Speaker 1: I know, like a lot of people, I sometimes feel
35:07
Speaker 1: like to having this conversation, but yeah, it's and I
35:15
Speaker 1: know where you are with it. Like it many things
35:19
Speaker 1: are to it once are we all? Are we all
35:22
Speaker 1: divine beings of God without hierarchy? Absolutely? Yes? Yes is
35:32
Speaker 1: what is what's happening in the five D happening in
35:34
Speaker 1: the three D. And this is where like, that's where
35:36
Speaker 1: there is this tension in this conversation and why UM
35:42
Speaker 1: at the Ancestor Project, we feel it's like so important
35:46
Speaker 1: to create this framework of how we work with these
35:49
Speaker 1: medicines for collective liberation. Like it is about healing yourself,
35:54
Speaker 1: It is about coming back home to yourself. It is
35:58
Speaker 1: about you know, UM, finding the source and giving love
36:04
Speaker 1: to UM, you know, the traumas that have created the
36:09
Speaker 1: ego and all of that. And also it's important to
36:16
Speaker 1: think about how we work with these medicines that show
36:20
Speaker 1: us as possible, like that show us this limitless possibility
36:25
Speaker 1: to make the current reality more equitable and more liberated
36:31
Speaker 1: for all people. And so there is definitely this tension
36:36
Speaker 1: in what I would say is like the consciousness community,
36:41
Speaker 1: the Sacred Earth medicine community, where there are people who
36:45
Speaker 1: want to skip straight to the we're all one race
36:49
Speaker 1: and we're good, and then there's people who understand that,
36:53
Speaker 1: like we can work with the medicine and with the
36:56
Speaker 1: modalities to get us to a place where that because
37:00
Speaker 1: of the reality, a reality of collective liberation. It's rocking
37:16
Speaker 1: to for everyone listening that this may have some charge
37:20
Speaker 1: with I completely understand, and I think I might dive
37:23
Speaker 1: into this in a future episode. But you know, what
37:26
Speaker 1: we're sharing, Um, so many things are true at once.
37:33
Speaker 1: And what we're speaking to is the greater really God consciousness,
37:39
Speaker 1: christ consciousness, understanding of the fact that we are all
37:43
Speaker 1: sacred vessels of the Divine, that we are all souls
37:47
Speaker 1: that are so much more vast and expansive than any
37:51
Speaker 1: of the human and earthly labels or titles could express.
37:56
Speaker 1: So our soul does not have a race. But on
37:59
Speaker 1: Earth we are put into these systems for this experience
38:03
Speaker 1: where we do have specific backgrounds and cultural identities, where
38:07
Speaker 1: there are incredibly complex and oppressive systems in place, in
38:15
Speaker 1: structures in place um that have created the dynamics that
38:18
Speaker 1: we now are tearing down and breaking um. And so
38:22
Speaker 1: we're kind of speaking to like this this more advanced
38:26
Speaker 1: spiritual depth of soul unity. And we're also speaking to
38:32
Speaker 1: the thing that we're very clear on that there is
38:35
Speaker 1: absolutely racial divide, that there is absolutely racism, structures of oppression,
38:40
Speaker 1: colonial past, so many things that have been I mean
38:45
Speaker 1: just there's not even words, just utterly um, utterly destructive, mentally, physically, emotionally, experially, yeah, yeah, UM,
38:58
Speaker 1: in all of its beauty and complication. UM. And I
39:02
Speaker 1: think that too, like the medicine really helps you get
39:05
Speaker 1: to this place where you can recognize the immense beauty
39:08
Speaker 1: that there is in the human experience, UM, and that
39:13
Speaker 1: there is in experiencing your soul in this in this place.
39:18
Speaker 1: But to get back into like to pull it back
39:21
Speaker 1: into the practice work with these medicines, UM. You know,
39:26
Speaker 1: it really is like you can sit in one ceremony
39:32
Speaker 1: and come out and it will be like having done
39:34
Speaker 1: eight to ten years of psychotherapy in one way, and
39:41
Speaker 1: it seems so incredibly intense while it's happening, which it is,
39:45
Speaker 1: right and it's an incredible release and an incredible accelerant
39:51
Speaker 1: to the path of evolution, to your own path of evolution,
39:55
Speaker 1: And it gets you so deeply and directly connected to
40:02
Speaker 1: your inner teacher, to your inner spirit guide that then
40:07
Speaker 1: when you come back from a journey, you have just
40:10
Speaker 1: so much more capacity to manage what's happening on the
40:14
Speaker 1: day to day. UM. Will frequently talk about the medicine
40:18
Speaker 1: gives you a pause so that you can choose how
40:22
Speaker 1: you want to respond to your life as opposed to
40:25
Speaker 1: being in this place in this reactionary place and reactions
40:29
Speaker 1: that are learned from trauma and from survival. You give
40:34
Speaker 1: yourself this gift of being able to recognize the areas
40:39
Speaker 1: in your life that you have complete choice over, because
40:44
Speaker 1: that's like then to take it back out to the cosmos.
40:48
Speaker 1: Like that's the other challenging conversation to have, which is, like,
40:52
Speaker 1: we choose our reality. Do I choose structural racism and
40:56
Speaker 1: oppression and patriarchy every day? No? But I do choose
41:01
Speaker 1: how I respond to those structures within my own life.
41:05
Speaker 1: Um and and taking that power back little by little,
41:10
Speaker 1: like each of us coming back into that empowered state
41:13
Speaker 1: of being of choice means that we can ripple effect
41:17
Speaker 1: this out and and really choose to not have these
41:21
Speaker 1: structures anymore. Um And. So I think that a really gentle,
41:27
Speaker 1: um and thoughtful way you just describe that, because it
41:31
Speaker 1: is such a it's such a challenging conversation because it
41:34
Speaker 1: really is. It's just it's it's based on the level
41:41
Speaker 1: of acceptance you are at within your own self and
41:44
Speaker 1: where you are in your healing and with your connection
41:48
Speaker 1: to or relation to God, and so it's it's it's hard,
41:53
Speaker 1: and we're learning how to have it in real time
41:55
Speaker 1: in a way that doesn't UM convey that we are
41:59
Speaker 1: spiritually by passing in any way or that we're creating excuses. Yeah. No, UM,
42:07
Speaker 1: it's it's such a it's a both end and I
42:10
Speaker 1: feel like the medicine helps you hold that as as well.
42:13
Speaker 1: Right you said it earlier. It's many truths UM, and
42:18
Speaker 1: being able to hold that not even duality, it's like
42:22
Speaker 1: beyond do I, it's like multiplicity. UM. Being able to
42:27
Speaker 1: hold that is liberating. UM. It's yeah, how can someone
42:38
Speaker 1: use this and tandem with UM therapy mm hmm. Yeah.
42:46
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of conversation right now UM around
42:51
Speaker 1: psychedelic assist in therapy, which some of that is is
42:55
Speaker 1: actually accessible now. UM really only kindamine assist that there
43:00
Speaker 1: RP is what is like legal and available to the public. UM.
43:04
Speaker 1: Oregon will be the first date to have psilocybin assisted
43:08
Speaker 1: therapy MAPS, which is the Multi Disciplinary Association for psycho
43:14
Speaker 1: Psychedelic Studies is pushing m d m A through FDA
43:19
Speaker 1: approval process UM for PTSD. I think this is also
43:27
Speaker 1: a sort of a challenging crux of the conversation. So
43:30
Speaker 1: the work that UM I do and we do with
43:33
Speaker 1: the ancestor project predominantly is outside of the medical model.
43:36
Speaker 1: We're very much like in the grassroots community based ceremonial
43:41
Speaker 1: um relationship with the medicine and also recognized that that
43:46
Speaker 1: is not this space for all folks, but for bipop
43:50
Speaker 1: folks in our community. There is like this um tension
43:55
Speaker 1: in that through history we've had a very um like
44:02
Speaker 1: evidence based distrustful relationship with medical institution revenues as testing
44:08
Speaker 1: grounds for centuries, and so thinking about then stepping into
44:15
Speaker 1: work that is so physically, spiritually and mentally puts you
44:22
Speaker 1: in a in a vulnerable place. Um, there's definitely like
44:27
Speaker 1: larger conversations around what competencies providers will need to have
44:32
Speaker 1: in order to hold space for folks who are working
44:34
Speaker 1: through racialized cultural historical trauma. But I mean in tandem
44:40
Speaker 1: with psychotherapy or therapy. If you are doing um like
44:46
Speaker 1: really deep shadow work or work work around I know
44:52
Speaker 1: you talk a lot about inner child work and reparenting,
44:55
Speaker 1: that's a huge Any any type of work that you
45:00
Speaker 1: doing in therapy or conversations that are being had in
45:04
Speaker 1: therapy can be amplified and sort of accelerated and blown
45:07
Speaker 1: wide or open when working with the medicine as well.
45:11
Speaker 1: And then I also think that working with the medicine
45:14
Speaker 1: gives you a much greater access to compassion, both for
45:19
Speaker 1: yourself and for those around you. So I know one
45:23
Speaker 1: of the things that I had been sort of just
45:26
Speaker 1: like talking about and around for you know, two years
45:30
Speaker 1: in therapy was like, how do I forgive my parents
45:33
Speaker 1: for whatever you know they did? Um, And just like, well,
45:39
Speaker 1: first you it was almost like twelve step, like first
45:42
Speaker 1: you do this process of the forgiveness and then you
45:45
Speaker 1: do this. You know. I took like one journey with
45:48
Speaker 1: an intention to learn about freanism compassion and have been
45:52
Speaker 1: able to you know, it's not like you come out
45:55
Speaker 1: of it and you're like over it, but it's gotten
45:58
Speaker 1: to this place where you're able to like revisit the
46:03
Speaker 1: past and revisit these stories and narratives that we have
46:07
Speaker 1: without the emotionality connected to it always and to just
46:11
Speaker 1: like look at it and see it and sort of
46:14
Speaker 1: re route how you want to think about it. Um,
46:19
Speaker 1: Like you expressed that so beautifully. Yeah, That's exactly how
46:25
Speaker 1: it was felt by me um in my first journey,
46:28
Speaker 1: and it was really with that same intention. It was like,
46:31
Speaker 1: you know, there are some things that you're like, I
46:33
Speaker 1: have approached this from absolutely every vantage point possible, from
46:38
Speaker 1: every perspective possible, UM. And I think especially for some
46:41
Speaker 1: of us that are really these highly processed beans that
46:44
Speaker 1: are sometimes really emotionally literate and also very cerebral, you
46:50
Speaker 1: can hit a standstill with yourself, like you can actually
46:54
Speaker 1: understand it too well that you forget to feel it.
46:57
Speaker 1: And that is what this journey for me working with
47:02
Speaker 1: the medicines has been. It is what has allowed me
47:04
Speaker 1: to come into a softness about my life and experience
47:08
Speaker 1: UM in a way that I never even thought was
47:12
Speaker 1: possible UM, and definitely in a way that I could
47:15
Speaker 1: not have gotten to by myself. You know. UM, it's
47:19
Speaker 1: that felt expression. It really is that ability to release
47:22
Speaker 1: what the feeling is, and then that's what helps us
47:25
Speaker 1: reprogram and actually make the life we're seeking our actual
47:30
Speaker 1: lives and make it sustainable and make it something that
47:33
Speaker 1: serves us in a moment to moment basis. UM. And
47:36
Speaker 1: I did something really similar to what you just said
47:38
Speaker 1: where the way I approach UM, I was really interested
47:43
Speaker 1: in what that connection is. But what you said, especially
47:46
Speaker 1: around the vulnerability, HiT's so hard for me and hearing
47:49
Speaker 1: that because all of the ways in which I've used
47:52
Speaker 1: medicines one across the board is ceremonial or it's through
47:57
Speaker 1: shamanic journeys. Um. And that for me is what I
48:02
Speaker 1: needed to because I needed to completely disconnect from these
48:06
Speaker 1: societal structures of how we're supposed to are allowed to
48:10
Speaker 1: experience our lives and ourselves, and I needed to bring
48:14
Speaker 1: it into a sacred container. I needed to exist in
48:18
Speaker 1: this kind of divine womb um and be able to
48:23
Speaker 1: experience myself truly as that spiritual being, disconnected from medicine,
48:28
Speaker 1: from society, from all of the structures, all of the opinions,
48:32
Speaker 1: all of the perceptions, all of the thinking yes, yes, yes,
48:37
Speaker 1: yes to all that. Yeah. This morning, I um sat
48:42
Speaker 1: with rape yes oh yes, um yeah. And and I
48:52
Speaker 1: call that my blank slate medicine because it's like it
48:56
Speaker 1: just shuts down the monkey mind. Like we have this
48:59
Speaker 1: mind that's like all the time chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter,
49:03
Speaker 1: chatter about a lot of stuff that really doesn't matter
49:06
Speaker 1: that much. Like we expend a lot of energy thinking
49:09
Speaker 1: about things that are either completely out of our control
49:13
Speaker 1: or really carry very little weight in the grand scheme
49:17
Speaker 1: of our lives and um, you can certainly get there
49:21
Speaker 1: with with meditation as well, but some of these medicines
49:25
Speaker 1: is just like okay, child to chatz down, listen to
49:32
Speaker 1: these teachings. But this thing, UM, so I'm yeah, I mean,
49:38
Speaker 1: I'm just forever grateful, um for the ways in which
49:42
Speaker 1: the medicine has allowed me to accelerate this path of
49:46
Speaker 1: understanding myself. And I think, what's so important what you said?
49:50
Speaker 1: Like my therapist used to my ow therapists used to say, like, okay,
49:55
Speaker 1: so if you stop intellectualizing this situation and you actually
50:00
Speaker 1: write like what's happening? And that was a very hard
50:06
Speaker 1: question for me to answer. I mean, even in this
50:08
Speaker 1: last UM, this transpersonal psychology retreat medicine retreat that I
50:16
Speaker 1: was just on, you know, the levels or the ways
50:19
Speaker 1: in which we perpetuate our disconnection from ourselves, which perpetuates
50:25
Speaker 1: our disconnection from from everyone around us, everything around us,
50:29
Speaker 1: from this understanding that we are everything and everyone at
50:33
Speaker 1: all moments um, which can be a like also an
50:38
Speaker 1: overwhelming sort of reality to welcome into your into your
50:42
Speaker 1: mindset um, but is an expansive and liberating one as well.
50:48
Speaker 1: To know that you know, everyone is a reflection of
50:50
Speaker 1: you and your reflection of everyone. Um. So yeah, yeah,
50:56
Speaker 1: it's it's ah. And you you said the about taking
51:00
Speaker 1: it out of the this Western context into a ceremonial context,
51:04
Speaker 1: which is you know, I think for me and my
51:09
Speaker 1: experience with the medicine has been the greatest sort of
51:12
Speaker 1: shift in in this intentional path and living life as
51:16
Speaker 1: ceremony or life as a ritual um. And we do
51:23
Speaker 1: have these new modalities and tools, right and like science
51:27
Speaker 1: and research and cool things that we can you know,
51:33
Speaker 1: combine with ancestral practice. So in our practice, part of
51:37
Speaker 1: the way in which we do keep our community safe
51:41
Speaker 1: and we do ensure that this is an intentional practice
51:44
Speaker 1: is by weaving in preparation for the journey and talking
51:48
Speaker 1: to you about your physical, mental, spiritual, environmental and communal
51:53
Speaker 1: health and what are your support networks look like, and
51:56
Speaker 1: what are your existent practices and where can we, you know,
52:00
Speaker 1: support you more, enhance your practices or have you dig
52:04
Speaker 1: and think a little bit deeper so that when you
52:06
Speaker 1: get to the place of the journey, which is really
52:09
Speaker 1: the awakening the awareness um like, you have more tools
52:15
Speaker 1: to navigate that space and you get more out of
52:18
Speaker 1: it like it is going to be an intense six
52:21
Speaker 1: to eight to ten hours, depending on what the medicine
52:24
Speaker 1: you're working with is. So you need like the stamina
52:27
Speaker 1: and the tools and the feeling of support and safety
52:31
Speaker 1: to really allow yourself to surrender into that space. So
52:34
Speaker 1: you can get those eight to ten years of therapy
52:36
Speaker 1: in one night, um, and then you need folks to
52:40
Speaker 1: support you after and check in and hold you accountable.
52:43
Speaker 1: What are the insights that you gained, what are the
52:46
Speaker 1: patterns that you see repeating that you want to shift,
52:48
Speaker 1: and what are the what steps are you going to
52:51
Speaker 1: take to do that? So that's that's what we referred
52:55
Speaker 1: to as the integration period, and like that period is
52:58
Speaker 1: just as important, if not more important, than the journey itself,
53:02
Speaker 1: Like how are you taking your downloads from your journey
53:06
Speaker 1: and turning it into daily action, Like how are you
53:08
Speaker 1: embodying the medicine in your day to day life to
53:12
Speaker 1: actually shift your being and contribute to our collective liberation,
53:16
Speaker 1: Because otherwise you're really just like on a mental playground
53:22
Speaker 1: for a couple of hours and then you come back
53:24
Speaker 1: to earth. Right, if you can figure out how you
53:29
Speaker 1: work with the medicine, how you exist in relationship with
53:32
Speaker 1: this ally to shift your life, to really bring intentionality
53:37
Speaker 1: into your every moment. That's how we begin seeing these
53:41
Speaker 1: really big shifts on personal and collective level. Oh my goodness,
53:46
Speaker 1: thank you m hm, so beautifully perfectly fully shared. How
53:54
Speaker 1: can everyone connect with your work, Charlotte. So you can
54:00
Speaker 1: find a lot of this medicine work at the Ancestor
54:03
Speaker 1: Project UM, the Ancestor Project on Instagram and Facebook, the
54:09
Speaker 1: Ancestor Project dot com. UM. If you want to come
54:14
Speaker 1: sit in ceremony, we got you. UM. We work with
54:19
Speaker 1: Combo Medicine and some others UM that we are really
54:25
Speaker 1: privileged to to share with with our community. If you're
54:30
Speaker 1: into the neked things Instagram and Facebook, we are naked UM.
54:37
Speaker 1: And then personally, I am at creative by Charlotte uh
54:42
Speaker 1: and you can find me in all those places. Let
54:45
Speaker 1: everyone go, go go Charlotte James. I am so grateful
54:49
Speaker 1: for your time today. Thank you for just the beauty
54:54
Speaker 1: that you expressed this profound work with UM in the
54:59
Speaker 1: way that you allowed us all to go a little
55:02
Speaker 1: deeper into our own minds and hearts and really investigate
55:05
Speaker 1: and and see what's on the table for us, what's
55:08
Speaker 1: that this buffet. What are some new tools you can
55:11
Speaker 1: try on, you know, what are some new surrenders we
55:14
Speaker 1: can make for ourselves some spaces. I am really grateful.
55:19
Speaker 1: I am going to be hitting you up separately because
55:21
Speaker 1: we're going to go be naked and ceremony somewhere. Also,
55:26
Speaker 1: if I could offer you asked I was listening to
55:29
Speaker 1: another UM one of your podcasts and you asked for
55:34
Speaker 1: like a practice or give us some work. Yes, so work,
55:40
Speaker 1: um So. One of my favorite activities that we share
55:44
Speaker 1: with folks is this questioning what you know. So take
55:50
Speaker 1: a sheet of paper and you make like a tea graph,
55:52
Speaker 1: you know, like a horizontal line across the top, vertical
55:55
Speaker 1: line down the center, and in the left column you
56:00
Speaker 1: write everything you know because you've been told, whether it's
56:05
Speaker 1: from a parent, a teacher, a religious leader, the news, UM,
56:11
Speaker 1: your peers, whatever it is, everything that you know because
56:15
Speaker 1: somebody has told you. And on the right side, UM,
56:19
Speaker 1: in the right column, right, everything that you know because
56:22
Speaker 1: you have experienced it, and you start to really peel
56:30
Speaker 1: back the layers of truth in your own existence. So
56:36
Speaker 1: that would be my offering m H for the collective.
56:40
Speaker 1: That is good. Thank you, Thank you, for that, thank
56:45
Speaker 1: you for this time, Thank you so much for having me.
56:49
Speaker 1: Has been a blessing sister. And again you can connect
56:53
Speaker 1: with Charlotte James on Instagram at Charlotte James and also
56:57
Speaker 1: the Ancestor Project. And Charlotte shared some really powerful, powerful,
57:04
Speaker 1: beautiful expressions on how to look at this work, how
57:08
Speaker 1: to utilize this work, how to incorporate and integrate this
57:11
Speaker 1: work into your spiritual practice or into the healing journey
57:14
Speaker 1: that you are currently on. Uh And I want to share,
57:18
Speaker 1: and I said this at the top of the episode,
57:20
Speaker 1: but when it comes to working with these type of
57:23
Speaker 1: ancient sacred tools of the earth, I am a purist
57:27
Speaker 1: and I believe um and really creating a sacred container
57:33
Speaker 1: around how you're experience this now this is my opinion,
57:39
Speaker 1: and move through the world as you see fit based
57:42
Speaker 1: on your intuition and your life experiences. But I personally
57:45
Speaker 1: don't use these medicines for a turn up in any way.
57:49
Speaker 1: I don't use them for fun. I use them with
57:53
Speaker 1: a deep gratitude and a deep reverence. And I set
57:56
Speaker 1: up a ceremony for myself, whether that is me working
57:59
Speaker 1: with mushroom, me working with cannabis, UH, me working with
58:03
Speaker 1: some of the other medicines that are available. I spend
58:07
Speaker 1: a lot of time in meditation before I go into
58:10
Speaker 1: this practice, and I set myself up to make sure
58:13
Speaker 1: that I'm safe, that I'm hydrated, um that I can
58:17
Speaker 1: be cared for. And then I also do quite a
58:20
Speaker 1: bit of intention setting before I go into one of
58:25
Speaker 1: these journeys. And so that can really look like taking
58:28
Speaker 1: a moment to take in some deep breaths, getting a
58:30
Speaker 1: journal and writing them down. What are you currently walking through,
58:34
Speaker 1: what are you currently looking to be liberated from? Where
58:38
Speaker 1: are you looking to be nourished, enhanced and healed, and
58:41
Speaker 1: committing it to paper, committing to your heart, placing a
58:45
Speaker 1: hand over your heart, and then saying a prayer for
58:47
Speaker 1: your journey, and as you come out of that journey,
58:50
Speaker 1: really allowing yourself to integrate the process. What did I learn,
58:55
Speaker 1: what was I shown? How can I use this information?
58:59
Speaker 1: How am I relating to myself in this moment? And
59:02
Speaker 1: writing those things down and then really spending time after
59:07
Speaker 1: the experience, not just like oh yeah, I did this,
59:10
Speaker 1: I did that, you know, not as like this kind
59:13
Speaker 1: of spiritual tokenism, but really allowing the medicine to inform
59:18
Speaker 1: you over the coming days and weeks, and then continuing
59:22
Speaker 1: to meditate on what came up for you, continuing to
59:25
Speaker 1: journal to what came up for you. UM. I believe
59:28
Speaker 1: that is how to use these tools and these sacred
59:30
Speaker 1: gifts at the highest level of service for yourself. So
59:34
Speaker 1: I hope you will take that under consideration. And if
59:37
Speaker 1: you feel called in a way that is safe, um
59:40
Speaker 1: and really serving for you, start researching this work, see
59:45
Speaker 1: if it's a fit, and see where it takes you. Okay,
59:49
Speaker 1: we'll be back next week. Big Love not a stay. Hey,
59:54
Speaker 1: find me on social Let's connect at deVie Brown that
59:58
Speaker 1: Twitter and Instagram, or go to my website Debbie Brown
1:00:02
Speaker 1: dot com. And if you're listening to the show on
1:00:04
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, please please please don't forget to rate, review,
1:00:11
Speaker 1: and subscribe and send this episode to a friend. Dropping
1:00:15
Speaker 1: Jams is the production of I Heart Radio and The
1:00:17
Speaker 1: Black Effect Network. It's produced by Jack Quease and me
1:00:21
Speaker 1: Debbie Brown. For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit
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Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.