The Wise Women of Psychedelia: Rachel Harris, PhD, on PYP 559
Channel: Sick to Fit | Plant Yourself Podcast
Date: 20/07/2023

I first began learning about ayahuasca as a potential spiritual, psychological and physical healer, around 2003.

And at that point, there were very few people who had heard of it. I didn't start learning about other psychedelics as a student until much later -- my introduction to psilocybin "magic" mushrooms occurred around 2012.

In those days, there was kind of an underground of people doing it, but you didn't talk about it much. If you were doing it, you didn't talk about it, because it was illegal, because there are all these taboos about LSD, making people go crazy and people still having flashbacks from bad trips they did 50 years ago.

And my gosh, how much has changed even in the last three years.

From the bestseller status of Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind, which was turned into a Netflix series, to success in changing laws so that some of these psychedelic substances could be used in clinical trials, for addictions and also to help veterans recover from PTSD.

And we're starting to see this spread now into mainstream medicine with ketamine, which is apparently fairly legal in many places, and with other clinical trials.

Even in my field, coaching for change and personal development, there's a sort of bro culture that has embraced psychedelics, from Joe Rogan to Silicon Valley billionaires, to for-profit ayahuasca tourism, to courses that you can take to get accredited to share these medicines as a modern day Western shaman.

So these sacred substances have been brought into capitalism, and you could have predicted how that would go. There are promises of super productivity, clarity, inner peace, an end to doubt and fear and suffering.

All of this is totally divorced from the context in which these substances were first harvested and used by indigenous peoples.

Many of the wisdom keepers of these traditions, who have been silenced and marginalized for so long, have a tremendous amount to teach us about how to work with these medicines respectfully and effectively. That's why I was so eager to talk to today's guest, Rachel Harris, PhD, who's the author of a new book: Swimming in the Sacred: Wisdom from the Psychedelic Underground.

In the book, she shares her conversations with some of the elderly women who have been guiding people's journeys with ayahuasca, psilocybin, ketamine, and other illegal entheogens for decades.

Because while the the lore and legend of modern day psychedelia has really lionized the men who contributed to the revolution, from Timothy Leary to Gordon Wasson to Albert Hoffman, there are many women who've played pivotal roles and whose contributions have been overlooked until now, and whose voices have been silenced.

In our conversation, Dr Harris centers their voices and their stories, to the benefit of us all.

Enjoy!