Newsletter August 2023
Dear Friend,
It's August! Is it just me or does this year seem to be flying past? Wherever you are I hope you are enjoying your summer and finding some time to rest.
These last months have again delivered some interesting highlights. I got to chant again with Krishna Das. I facilitated some beautiful retreats and attended a masterclass on trauma-informed psilocybin ceremonies. Celebrating the dawning of new seasons is an important part of my annual calendar and whilst this years summer solstice was very soggy and not outside in the forest as planned, it still provided a beautiful opportunity to gather a community of dear people together to reflect on the year to date and to tell stories. More and more am I turned on by the power of storytelling as a method of bonding, of deepening community and healing. Oh, and we had a hurricane in Amsterdam that felled 110 trees, which was quite devastating to witness.
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The mythologist Joseph Campbell is a bit of a hero of mine and I am loving rewatching these episodes of the 1980s series The Power of Myth. In this six part interview series Campbell presents his ideas about mythology and the ongoing role of myth in human society (way more watchable than it might sound!)
We are now very used to seeing positive articles in the press about psychedelics. This is great, but this time here I thought it might be interesting to share an article exploring the darker side of this world. This is an important dialogue to have. (The article is written in Dutch, in Chrome just right click and translate to English). It only highlights how important it is to have standards, checks and boundaries in place in this emerging space. I am a member of, a signatory of the code of conduct, and part of the governance team of The Guild of Guides and together as a community of guides operating legally in the Netherlands, we are busy trying the raise the standards of service and care within this sector.
It raining (again) as I write this, so perhaps the sound of some tropical waves crashing on the beach will brighten our days.