Wednesday, June 1st, 2022 from 12:00-1:30pm PST

As psychedelics reach the mainstream, and decriminalization advances across the US, there has been a boom in the use of sacred plants as an alternative form of medicine or therapeutic uses, as well as religious or spiritual uses by both organized churches and in more informal circles. But how do we determine who is qualified to lead these ceremonies? Jonathan Goldman, who began leading Santo Daime ceremonies in the US in 1993 and led the successful effort to gain legal status for the use of daime in 2009, will speak on his experience as a leader of a Santo Daime church. In this forum, he will be joined by ayahuasca researcher and executive director of Chacruna Institute, Dr. Bia Labate, to explore the process of obtaining legal status for Santo Daime in the US; the practical negotiations with the DEA to store and consume Daime; the process of transnationalization of the Santo Daime movement, including ceremonial and cultural issues between North and South, and the boundaries between the religious uses of sacred plants and the wellness industry. The forum will also address reflections around proper training of leaders and facilitators, safety, the need for guides to work on themselves first and foremost, among others. Can we as ayahuasca communities self-regulate and keep each other accountable?

📷Jonathan Goldman began practicing acupuncture in 1976. He went to Brazil in 1988, drank Daime (ayahuasca), and became an initiate in the Santo Daime path in 1990. He began leading Daime ceremonies in 1993, and in 2009 he led the successful effort to gain legal status for the use of Daime in spiritual ceremonies. He is the author of Gift of the Body and the principal teacher at the Essential Light Institute, where he teaches spiritually-based energy healing. He and his wife, Jane Seligson, are the spiritual leaders of the spiritual community of The Church of the Holy Light of the Queen, in Ashland, Oregon.

📷Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines (https://chacruna.net, https://chacruna-iri.org, https://chacruna-la.org). She serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She is also Diversity, Culture, and Ethics Advisor at the Synthesis Institute. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-four books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (https://bialabate.net).

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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Sacred Plant Medicine Ceremonies: Who is Qualified to Lead?