Psychedelics are regarded by many as a tool for personal and social transformation. And yet, even at this moment of rising racial tension, the psychedelic community mirrors the white privilege common across much of our society.
The psychedelic life is the opposite of the racialized life. In the dissolution of the ego and the groping toward transcendence, people of color are confronted with horizons. This panel seeks to explore the meaning of Black consciousness, as we trip through internalized racist imagery, navigate a drug war, and experiment with hallucinogens while tapping into the knowledge of the Shaman.
This panel will explore the following questions:
What is the role of psychedelics in the current racial atmosphere?
Why are the descendants of the indigenous peoples who are the source of profound plant spirit traditions so disconnected from the medicine lineages of their ancestors?
What can be done to defend against the cooptation of sacred indigenous traditions by Westerners in search of novel "experiences," and who exploit these traditions for financial gain?
Tickets:
$20 online
$25 at the door
Dimitri Mugianis is an activist, anarchist, community organizer, artist, Bwiti Initiate and was an IV drug user for 20 years. In 2002 he was treated with Iboga. Subsequently he has facilitated over 500 underground Ibogaine ceremonies/detoxes in the US. Dimitri was initiated into the Bwiti in Gabon and returned several times for spiritual strengthening and study. Dimitri was arrested in 2011 by the DEA in a sting operation using a paid informant. After a protracted legal battle he was convicted of greatly reduced charges. He is currently the N’ganga-in-residence at New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE a syringe exchange in East Harlem), where he is also the co-creator and co-facilitator of “We Are The Medicine,” a holistic approach to drug use and life. He also has a private practice where he works with clients in multiple modalities including sound meditation and white mesa. Dimitri has spoken and lectured at numerous conferences around the world. Has a television show in development
Baba C. Awolowo Johnson is a retired CUNY sociology professor (Queens College, BMCC). Outside of academia, Baba's work has been as an organiser and healer. He was a field secretary for SNCC in Mississippi in '63 and a tenant union organiser throughout the 60's. He worked as an acupuncturist at Lincoln Hospital Detox in the early 80's, was initiated as Tata Nkisi in the 70's, initiated as a priest of Ifa and given chieftaincy title in Ogboni Society in Nigeria in the early 90's. Baba is a co-founder of the Universalist Bwiti Society.
Kilindi Lyi is the head instructor and technical advisor of Tamerrian Martial Art Institute. A world traveler and mycologist, Kilindi has presented on the subject of psilocybin as far north as Norway and as far south as Australia. His exploration and research talks about and centers on the high dose of psilocybin magic mushrooms. Kilindi shares information gleaned from many excursions into the hyper-dimensional and inter-dimensional realms through his direct experience with dosages in the 20 thru 30 dried gram range of mushroom ingestion. Kilindi brings decades worth of traveling in novel states of consciousness to share, coupled with the skills of master cultivator of exotic mushrooms lends a power and authenticity to his presentations. Kilindi remains a student, teacher, and advocate for the hallucinogenic experience.
Cristie Strongman is a native of Central America, Panama. She grew up there as well as partially in Germany and in Texas before making her moved to New York City. She is a graduate student at Columbia University in the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program studying psychoactive plants, with a concentration on Ayahuasca, examining the role these plants may have as “interspecies communicators” to humans - just as some wild orchids have been found to attract bees and wasps so that they will carry their genetic material in pollen on their bodies to other orchids in order to pollinate. Cristie is interested in exploring the consciousness of psychoactive plants and in investigating how they might be shaping human societies and cultures. She is also a trained opera singer.
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Katherine MacLean is an academically trained research scientist and meditation practitioner with a long-standing interest in the brain, consciousness and the science of well-being. As a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, Katherine was supported by a prestigious National Science Foundation research fellowship to study the effects of intensive meditation training on concentration, emotional well-being and brain function.
As a postdoctoral fellow and faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she was one of the only scientists in the world studying psilocybin — a psychedelic chemical found naturally in certain types of mushrooms. Her groundbreaking research on psilocybin and personality change suggests that psychedelic medicines may be the key to enhancing mental health and promoting openness and creativity throughout the lifespan.