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IN SEARCH OF THE DIVINE VEGETAL -- SYNOPSIS
A deceptively simple combination of two plants from the wilds of the Amazon brewed together to create an elixir of uncommon potency has inspired investigators and artists alike, generated new avenues for adventure travel, and raised issues around the commodification of Indigenous knowledge. In the face of the seemingly intractable encroachment of the global market, is the current fascination with Ayahuasca in the West yet more evidence of a rampant and insatiable consumer thirst, or an authentic search for soul and substance in an increasingly empty material world?
Ayahuasca, long revered by the people of the Amazon as the alma mater of the forest and medicine sine qua non, has been part of shamanic tradition and technology for centuries. Believed to be a bridge to the ancestral realm, her esoteric power and wisdom are valued beyond measure, as are her healing and regenerative properties. Recently, Western science and culture have been inducted into her pharmacological mysterium, with far-reaching effects and implications both sober and sublime.
Never one to be pigeonholed, this sludgy-yet-numinous concoction has sparked international debate, spawned a handful of new religions, and problematized certain conventional distinctions which we tend take for granted, such as love or money; science or spirit; drug or medicine; freedom or control; Us or Them. To many, reconciling the paradoxes inherent in the concepts and practices of Ayahuasca is key to deciphering the human code, understanding our essential condition and conditioning, and rediscovering that the truth of our origin and destiny is knowable to us through our indivisible bond with nature and the cosmos.
From South American jungle to downtown Canada, ideas about Ayahuasca revive a decades-old argument about the uses and abuses, the ecstasies and the efficacies of sacramental, therapeutic, and mind-enhancing plants.
Join us now as we travel the old trails, attend the ceremonies, and break new ground as the religious, economic and ethical questions surrounding the Divine Vegetal take hold.
A deceptively simple combination of two plants from the wilds of the Amazon brewed together to create an elixir of uncommon potency has inspired investigators and artists alike, generated new avenues for adventure travel, and raised issues around the commodification of Indigenous knowledge. In the face of the seemingly intractable encroachment of the global market, is the current fascination with Ayahuasca in the West yet more evidence of a rampant and insatiable consumer thirst, or an authentic search for soul and substance in an increasingly empty material world?
Ayahuasca, long revered by the people of the Amazon as the alma mater of the forest and medicine sine qua non, has been part of shamanic tradition and technology for centuries. Believed to be a bridge to the ancestral realm, her esoteric power and wisdom are valued beyond measure, as are her healing and regenerative properties. Recently, Western science and culture have been inducted into her pharmacological mysterium, with far-reaching effects and implications both sober and sublime.
Never one to be pigeonholed, this sludgy-yet-numinous concoction has sparked international debate, spawned a handful of new religions, and problematized certain conventional distinctions which we tend take for granted, such as love or money; science or spirit; drug or medicine; freedom or control; Us or Them. To many, reconciling the paradoxes inherent in the concepts and practices of Ayahuasca is key to deciphering the human code, understanding our essential condition and conditioning, and rediscovering that the truth of our origin and destiny is knowable to us through our indivisible bond with nature and the cosmos.
From South American jungle to downtown Canada, ideas about Ayahuasca revive a decades-old argument about the uses and abuses, the ecstasies and the efficacies of sacramental, therapeutic, and mind-enhancing plants.
Join us now as we travel the old trails, attend the ceremonies, and break new ground as the religious, economic and ethical questions surrounding the Divine Vegetal take hold.
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