Newsletter May 2023

Dear Friend,

The lengthening of the days gives us some indication that summer is here but brrrrrrrr, I don’t know how it is where you are but here in Amsterdam there is still a cold wind blowing.
But in our hearts we try to stay warm ❤️.

I have recently returned to the jungles of Colombia to undertake two weeks of my own medicine work,  under the guidance of a very experienced shaman and family of medicine people. The journey to get to and back from these sorts of things is so often a symbolic part of the whole process. In this case it involved two days of travel each way including international and internal flights, buses, motorbikes and pickups.  And then ten days in the jungle, multiple ceremonies with a variety of plant medicines, clean home cooked food, plant baths, drinking and showering from the river, beautiful nature (the jungle sounds at night are a wonder) and lots of nothingness and presence.  Beautiful.  But also extremely challenging.  They say that your work is never done and they are right. A humbling and profound learning experience. Now I emerge, offering a deep bow to the wisdom of the plants, with a lot to integrate.

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Connecting further to our ancient European traditions, I really enjoyed this short film exploring the Bulgarian tradition of Kukeri. Kukeri are elaborately costumed villagers who perform traditional rituals intended to scare away evil spirits. A tradition that has been practiced since Thracian times. 

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The benefit of psychedelics reaches the Hay Literary Festival - Kate Bingham, who chaired UK’s Covid vaccine task force, tells Hay Festival how she hopes psychedelics could treat mental illness. 

And click here for some bird song to brighten your day.