Ritual and Healing

November 1, 2025 Lynne Nardizzi

“Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation” is a new and unique podcast focusing on the hallucinogenic plants and fungi whose impact on world culture and religion – and healing potential - is only now beginning to be appreciated as never before.

This episode discusses ayahuasca, healing and ritual.

Short Film: Waska

June 23, 2025 Lynne Nardizzi

The plant medicine hayakwaska (ayahuasca), marketed as a mystical shortcut to healing and enlightenment, is an example of what the Indigenous storyteller Nina Gualinga, sees as commodification and extractivism in the Amazon.

Nina is from the Kichwa people of Sarayaku, Ecuador, and she speaks with the memory of her shaman grandfather about the ongoing cultural appropriation, environmental destruction and marginalisation of her people, questioning our very relationship to the Earth and the quest for healing

Ayahuasca Entity Encounters

June 9, 2025 Lynne Nardizzi

An online survey of ayahuasca users found that non-religious individuals tend to become more religious after experiencing entity encounters while under the influence of the substance.

When Ayahuasca Becomes Cult-Like

May 27, 2025 Lynne Nardizzi

This Peruvian shaman became a popstar—now he’s accused of sexual abuse and leading a ‘cult’.

Ayahuasca, Risks and Benefits

January 6, 2025 Lynne Nardizzi

UCLA psychiatry professor Charles Grob discusses ayahuasca's risks, his research on the substance, and the growing need for new ayahuasca studies.

Ethnobotany and Healing

November 29, 2024 Lynne Nardizzi

Here’s a fantastic podcast with ethnobotanist Dr. Glenn Shephard, a leading expert in plant medicine.

We explore how ethnobotany exemplifies the holistic, interdisciplinary approach to health that many aspire to create. Dr. Shepard shares his insights into the deep connection between plants and people, as well as the wisdom of indigenous cultures, where health is viewed as a balance of mind, body, and spirit. We also explore the importance of how storytelling can serve as a powerful catalyst for personal and collective healing.

An Anthropological View of Ayahuasca

November 27, 2024 Lynne Nardizzi

It is an open question why many global psychedelic therapies focus on the past, especially the traumatic past, as the royal road to healing and spiritually flourishing with ayahuasca and other psychedelics.

Alternate approaches, including across Amazonia, focus on the capacity to see possible futures when consuming the brew.

Podcast Interview with Dr. Jeremy Narby

September 23, 2024 Lynne Nardizzi

Jeremy Narby is a renowned anthropologist, author, and advocate for indigenous knowledge systems, particularly in the Amazon. His influential book, The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge (1998), explores the parallels between shamanic visions and molecular biology, proposing a connection between indigenous knowledge and our scientific understanding of DNA.

He has conducted extensive fieldwork with indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon, advocating for their rights and the preservation of their traditional knowledge.