History
Traversing the Psychedelic Landscape: From Esalen and Millbrook to the Future of Shulgin Farm
March 26, 2024
Featuring: Maria Mangini, Ph.D., FNP
In this episode, Joe interviews Maria Mangini, Ph.D., FNP: researcher, educator, and midwife who has worked closely with many psychedelic innovators and was part of the original social network at Shulgin Farm – where this episode was recorded. She traces her journey from the influence of pioneers like the Wassons, Shulgins, and Grofs, and historic places like Esalen and Millbrook.
In this episode, Joe interviews Maria Mangini, Ph.D., FNP: researcher, educator, and midwife who has worked closely with many psychedelic innovators and was part of the original social network at Shulgin Farm – where this episode was recorded. She traces her journey from the influence of pioneers like the Wassons, Shulgins, and Grofs, and historic places like Esalen and Millbrook.
She discusses:
- Her early experiences with the Grofs at Esalen and how she met the Shulgins
- Gregory Bateson guiding her to become a midwife
- The similarities between midwifery and psychedelic facilitation
- The unsung work of Denis Berry in saving the Timothy Leary archives
- How the working relationship of the Shulgins is a perfect example of the coequality society should strive for
and more!
Notable Quotes
“There is a specific skill set that midwives, for the most part, actually have to possess because it’s the matter of what they do, that is identical or very, very similar to the skills that are needed for somebody who wants to be the ground control for somebody in an unusual state of consciousness [or] for somebody who wants to sit at the bedside of someone who’s actively dying. Those skills are the most difficult part of what we try to teach in those programs. You can’t really transmit that stuff very well in the classroom, but the midwives bring it. They already come with it.”
“Medicine really, at least the way it’s practiced in this country, is mostly about curing, whereas nursing is about caring. And there’s a bigger deficit for caring than there is for curing. We need nurses.”
“I think that the personal elements of the quality of the relationship that people who work side by side in that kind of co-equality can attain is inspiring for people, and it holds out a kind of hope for the ability to move in that direction. I think it’s very important and useful for us to think of the Shulgins as a couple.”
Links
Batesoninstitute.org: Gregory Bateson
Herb.co: Inside The Magical Drug Palace Where The Psychedelic 60s Was Born
Lucid.news: Leo Zeff and the Non-Directive Style of Being a Psychedelic Guide
Nytimes.com: Joanna Harcourt-Smith, 74, Dies; Lived a ‘Psychedelic Love Story’
Mushrooms, Russia, and history, by Valentina Pavlovna Wasson*
*Book links are affiliate links, meaning that Psychedelics Today will receive a percentage of the sale
