August 1-14, 2015

Invited speakers

Jonathan Ott
Manuel Torres
Donna Torres
Dale Millard

Lectures by Dr. Jonathan Ott

  • Concordance Between Shamanic and Natural Scientific Worldviews
  • Ayahuasca additives and Banisteriopsis as Additive to Shamanic Inebriants
  • Ayahuasca Analogues Twenty Years On

Lectures by Manuel Torres

  • Entheogens and Iconography in Prehistoric South America I: The View from Chavín de Huántar, Peru (900-300 BC)
  • Entheogens and Iconography in Prehistoric South America II: The View from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile and Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco), Bolivia (300-1000 AD)
  • An inquiry into the origins of the ayahuasca/yagé concept. Commentaries concerning the synergy between ß-carbolines and DMT

Lecture and workshop by Donna Torres

  • Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 – 1717) and José Celestino Mutis (1732 – 1808). Botanical art in the Age of Discovery
  • The Wasiwaska Garden. A two part workshop in drawing and painting shamanic plants

Lectures by Dale Millard

  • The History, Chemistry and Ethnobotany of Psychoactive Acacia species

This lecture will explore the history as well as the current discoveries into the use of various Acacia species with regard to their entheogenic potential as well as their inclusion in Ayahuasca admixtures. We will determine which species are regarded as ideal, and safe from a chemical perspective. We will also go into detail regarding cultivation, conservation and sustainable practice.

  • Immunomodulation through Medicinal Plants and Fungi

The subject of this talk will explore in detail the scientific findings of key species of plants and fungi on the human immune system with regards to primary healthcare. This lecture will incorporate both traditional herbalism and Western scientific findings into the role of these medicines as an alternative or complementary approach to modern pharmaceuticals. We will endevour to cover the potential roles they play in common ailments as well as chronic disease.

Lectures by Luis Eduardo Luna

  • Plant Domestication and Land Use in pre-Columbian America
  • Sacred Amerindian Plants: Persecution and current Revival
  • Ayahuasca Visions: An Epistemological Approach
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