Are you aware of the threat to Indigenous communities, traditions and medicines? As a privileged, white facilitator it is critically important for myself and others doing this work to amplify their voices and be an ally if we are to be in right relationship with these medicines and traditions. I believe all of us have a responsibility, especially those of us who are privileged, to become involved in Indigenous reciprocity, ensuring a future where Indigenous Peoples, their medicines and knowledge thrive for generations to come.
I have made a commitment to donate 2.5% from each purchase of my Main Offering to the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund. I have connected with the IMC Fund so I can become an ally and so I can help support their organization in other ways, not just through donations.
They are an Indigenous-led philanthropic vehicle who work to ensure the resilience of their Peoples in the face of cultural appropriation, environmental extractivism, human rights violations and climate change. Their knowledge is vital to all humanity: How to work with medicine, how to protect vital biodiversity and ecologies. Protecting this knowledge will: Improve mental health in disadvantaged communities, protect sophisticated knowledge in using plant medicines for individual and collective healing. Put the communities with deep knowledge of place in direct leadership of conservation efforts in the places at greatest risk and of greatest importance on Earth.
We can deeply support Indigenous communities with everything needed to protect, maintain and strengthen their traditional knowledge. The 5 Biocultures IMC Fund is working to protect are: TOAD, Iboga, Peyote, Ayahuasca and Mushrooms.
My Commitment to the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund
Cure yourself with the light of the sun and the rays of the moon.
With the sound of the river and the waterfall.
With the swaying of the sea and the fluttering of birds.
Heal yourself with mint, with neem and eucalyptus.
Sweeten yourself with lavender, rosemary, and chamomile.
Hug yourself with the cocoa bean and a touch of cinnamon.
Put love in tea instead of sugar, and take it looking at the stars.
Heal yourself with the kisses that the wind gives you and the hugs of the rain.
Get strong with bare feet on the ground and with everything that is born from it.
Get smarter every day by listening to your intuition, looking at the world with the eye of your forehead.
Jump, dance, sing, so that you live happier.
Heal yourself, with beautiful love, and always remember: you are the medicine.
I would like to acknowledge and celebrate the life and teachings of Maria Sabina, an Indigenous Mazatec medicine woman and steward of the psilocybin mushroom. Everyone credits R. Gordon Wasson for being the one to introduce psilocybin to America but he would have had no interest in mushrooms if it weren’t for his enthnomyologist wife, Valentina Pavlovna Wasson. Maria Sabina was sought out by R. Gordon Wasson, he didn’t conduct himself with integrity when Sabina was reluctant to serve him. He made up a problem with his son to persuade her. This resulted in Sabina being featured in a 1957 Life Magazine article “Seeking the Magic Mushroom” under a pseudonym, which were the conditions she agreed upon. Even though Wasson had previously agreed to keep the identity of the subjects of his story confidential, he reneged on that agreement and later divulged her real name and details. This is how we, in the US, came to know of this holy sacrament. All of the seeking that ensued by spiritual tourists and hippies was at a great detriment to Maria, her family and her community. Sabina’s home was raided by Mexican authorities, her son was murdered and her house was burned down. Maria faced punishment from her community, who felt that she had exposed them and she ultimately died alone and destitute. I share this with you to honor her life and sacrifices and I vow to be in right relationship with these sacred teachers.
- MARÍA SABINA MAGDALENA GARCÍA
