reetings fellow Virions,
As you know if you have been reading my discussion with Reed on the philosophy of science, I have recently returned from the Amazon rainforrest where I participated in a 10-day experiential seminar on shamanism, holotropic breathwork, transpersonal pyschology and the use of sacred plants (primarily ayahuasca).
Luis Eduardo Luna, the facilitator and leader of the ayahuasca sessions, along with Dennis McKenna will be conducting ayahuasca sessions in California and Hawaii in August. He lives in Finnland and doesn't get to the US all that often, so he's motivated to meet with a lot of people and make a lot of stops each time he crosses the Atlantic. He offered to come to Seattle to conduct a session if I made the arrangements and assembled the group.
We'd ask that each participant pay $150.00 to cover Luis and Dennis's airfare to Seattle and to cover to the cost of the ayahuasca. Lodging for the weekend would come to around $60 to $70 dollars, so your main expense would be travel to and from Seattle.
Of course, the real reason to attend an event like this is to make connections and share an experience with an extraordinary group of people. My question to you is, can you see yourself being part of that group? If you're interested, let me know.
-KMO
If you'd like some more information, here are a few links that will provide you a good jumping-off point for your own investigations.
For some general information on ayahuasca check out:
Luis Edwardo Luna is the author or "Ayahuasca Visions: the Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1556430647
You can find a bit more about Luis here:
http://www.lycaeum.org/~entheos/holotropoi.htm#facilitadores
Dennis McKenna is co-author with his brother Terrence of "The Invisible Landscape : Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062506358
You can find more about Dennis here:
http://www.phuture.sk/drugs/nepenthes.lycaeum.org/People/dennis.mckenna.html