Dialogues on Science, Art, History, Myth and Spirituality

Linguist, anthropologist and Doctor in Comparative Religion Luis Eduardo Luna and his wife, cultural producer Adriana Rosa, created Wasiwaska, Research Center for the Study of Psychointegrator Plants, Visionary Art and Consciousness in October 2003. It is conceived as a place for open-minded exchange on consciousness and creativity, science and the arts, history of ideas and spirituality. It is located in Florianopolis, on the island of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, on a hill overlooking the ocean and patches of Atlantic coastal forest. It is surrounded by an ethnobotanical garden, fruit trees, a vegetable garden, has a library, works of art, an extensive documentary collection, and space for lectures and discussion. Our institution is first of all a home, with a fireplace, hammocks, plenty of corners for small talk, and the freedom to pick up a book, a fruit, or a cup of tea at any time.

Wasiwaska is a place of learning and communication, but also of leisure. Every year we organize seminars opened to small groups of up to fourteen participants, including two or three guest speakers. Every seminar features lectures and workshops by distinguished scientist, scholars, therapists, writers, artists and musicians stimulated by excursions to the island’s different ecosystems, kayaking, bird watching, tree planting, botanical illustration, bookmaking, drumming, trance dance and other activities.

Our approach is highly interdisciplinary: neuroscience, psychopharmacology, psychobiology, psychotherapy, ecology, history, myth, visionary art, and whatever new art or discipline our expanding network of teachers and participants may bring to our project. There is a certain emphasis on the study of the botany, pharmacology, ethnography and psychodynamics of psychointegrator plants, such as those involved in ayahuasca, the sacred brew of the Amazon.

Participants typically come from many countries and various cultural backgrounds, with a common interest in wondering about the nature of reality and the mystery of temporality. Among them scientists, artists, writers, medical doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and other therapists, social workers, businessmen, students coming from various disciplines, and people from all walks of life. Many return, so that an extensive international multicultural and multidisciplinary family is being created.