Indigenous

Ancestral Teachings for the Psychedelic Renaissance

August 20, 2024
Featuring: Alonso Del Río & Francisco Rivarola

As the psychedelic renaissance continues to spread throughout the West, we learn more about these substances and experiences every day. But are we losing the important ancestral teachings and Indigenous knowledge that got us here?

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As the psychedelic renaissance continues to spread throughout the West, we learn more about these substances and experiences every day. But are we losing the important ancestral teachings and Indigenous knowledge that got us here?

In this episode, Kyle interviews Alonso Del Río: author, musician, filmmaker, founder of the Center for Healing and Consciousness Studies (Ayahuasca Ayllu), and facilitator with 45 years of experience largely under the framework of the Shipibo tradition.

Together with translator, Francisco Rivarola, they have developed a course called “Ancestral Teachings for the Psychedelic Renaissance,” which aims to be both an honoring of knowledge that has safeguarded these traditions, and a bridge between that wisdom and our Western frameworks, teaching ancestral traditions (largely Shipibo and Incan-Peruvian), the roles and function of dietas, the less talked-about dangers of brujeria (witchcraft), holistic frameworks for dealing with mystical experiences, and the connection between spirituality and responsibility towards nature. The course features 20 hours of Del Río’s teachings (with subtitles) and is the first time they’ve been made available to the general public.

He talks about:

  • The importance of following guidelines when working with ayahuasca, and how Westerners often don’t respect the rigor required to do it right
  • The different types of healers in the Shipibo tradition, from good and bad to the “Ascended Master,” who transcends physical limits and is incapable of causing harm
  • The potential for ayahuasca to be weaponized, how often this happens, and the risks for Westerners who aren’t aware
  • How the consciousness level of a person can be related to the emotions that that person allows themselves to have
  • How the expansion of consciousness is healing in itself

and more!

Ancestral Teachings for the Psychedelic Renaissance is a self-paced course that can be taken at any time, so if you’re interested, take advantage of early bird pricing and check it out in the Psychedelic Education Center now!

Links

Ancestral Teachings for the Psychedelic Renaissance

The Center for Healing and Consciousness Studies

Alonso Del Río (1)

In this Episode

Alonso Del Río

Alonso Del Río has 45 years of experience working with entheogenic master plants and ancient cultures. Born and raised in Perú, he participated in ceremonies from a young age and spent thirteen years living in the Peruvian Amazon undergoing the traditional training of a curandero, mostly in the Shipibo tradition through the teachings of his master, Don Benito Arevalo. In the year 2000, he founded the Center for Healing and Consciousness Studies “Ayahuasca Ayllu,” where he has led hundreds of ayahuasca and san pedro ceremonies, as well as offering dietas for people from all over the world. In 2004, he co-founded a free school called Wiñaypaq for the rural-farming population of the sacred valley, where kids learn from an Indigenous-quechua perspective. He’s the author of two books on ancestral knowledge and entheogenic work: Tawantinsuyo 5.0 and The Four Altars. He has also directed documentaries regarding medicine work and most recently, “The Four Altars” movie, denouncing the ecological crime caused by the extraction of gold in the Amazon.

Socials: Instagram / Facebook

Francisco Rivarola

Francisco Rivarola

Francisco Rivarola is from Argentina, Buenos Aires, and is the co-founder of Sunflower Sutras, a multimedia educational platform based on Berkeley, dedicated to documenting the work of Indigenous elders and consciousness researchers to help bridge the paradigms of ancestral knowledge and modern-Western science. Francisco is currently filming and producing courses with Indigenous masters aimed at psychedelic practitioners and guides, hoping to make their voices and cosmovisions accessible for the stewarding of the psychedelic renaissance, in a reciprocal and non-extractivist manner.

Socials: Instagram / Sunflower Sutras Instagram