All language subtitles for Psychedelica.Series.1.06of14.Cacti.Indigenous.Medicine.of.the.Mind.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[NON-ENGLISH SINGING]

>> One of the mysteries
of the New World,

beyond the debated origins
of the Native Americans,

is the length of their
inhabitation on this land

and their use of
psychoactive plants.

How did these
indigenous discover

the psychedelic effects of
many of the New World's plants,

and how were they
used for ceremony?

We must look back
into history through

archaeological
discoveries and listen

to the stories of the natives.

And with any luck, we
might be able to construct

a glimpse of what the
psychedelic cacti known

as Peyote and Huachuma meant
to them and how they were used.

When a Franciscan
friar and ethnographer

named Fray Bernardino De Sahagun
studied the Shisha Mecca nomads

and Toltec culture, he
found that a specific cactus

was venerated through rituals
from almost 2,500 years ago.

Then, in the late 1800s, the
Danish explorer Carl Sofus

Lumholtz discovered carvings
in lava rocks from Mesoamerica

with the symbol of the
Tarahumara Peyote ceremonies,

putting the origin considerably
farther back in history.

Excavators in the 1930s
discovered the Shumla Cave

near the Lower Pecos
region of southwest Texas

in which processed
Peyote slabs were found.

The radiocarbon
dating puts the origin

of these items at
roughly 4,000 BC.

And throughout the
region, depictions of what

is known as the White Shaman
appear, as well as depictions

of early European explorers.

Though many interpretations
of the origin of Peyote use

abound through several
regions, the true origin--

like that of most psychedelics--
are lost to history.

Peyote Roadman
Chris Long has been

working with this medicine
and the Native American church

for years and recounts the
most common origin myth.

>> It's said, amongst
many different tribes,

there is a story of the
pregnant woman who's lost.

And she's been lost in the
desert for about four days,

and so she hasn't
had food or water.

She hears this singing,
these voices singing,

telling her that she
is surrounded by water.

And that, if she would only eat
this medicine, that she could

find her people, and that
she could deliver the child

and be able to breastfeed.

She's dried out,
she has no milk,

and she's about to give birth.

And so they tell her that
she can have an easy birth,

and that her milk will flow.

So she asks, "Where are you?"

And they said, "We're
this plant at your feet."

And so she bites it off
the ground, like the deer.

And so she had learned
those original songs

during that experience.

>> An origin myth claiming
that the plants express

their intentions and power to
the first humans through sacred

songs is not an
isolated phenomenon.

In the Amazon jungle
of South America,

many indigenous,
such as the Shipibo,

claimed that they discovered the
powerful visionary properties

of the ayahuasca vine, chacruna
leaves, and other teacher

plants that sang themselves
to the original shamans

many thousands of years ago.

The songs were only to be
heard by those pure enough

to hear their language.

[WHISTLING]

As if Gaia-- or the
intelligence of the planet--

bestows messages and
teachings only to those

worthy of such power by
singing to their higher

faculties of perception.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles
west in the vicinity of Chavin

de Huántar, Peru, the oldest
archaeological evidence

of psychedelic plant use was a
carving of a Huachumero holding

the Huachuma cactus.

Huachuma is a psychedelic
cactus containing

the phenethylamine
alkaloid called mescaline,

the same psychedelic
compound found in Peyote.

However, each of them
have several species

from different locations
with different sub-alkaloids

which create a wide
spectrum of psychoactive

complements to the
effects of mescaline.

These psychoactive differences
create the plant's signature

entourage effect.

Different soil content, watered
and fed throughout its lifetime

in varying amounts, and the
parental history of the cacti

will produce different
percentages of alkaloids,

and therefore, a different
entourage effect,

making every plant unique
in effect and story.

Some are even believed to
have MAO inhibitors, which

would keep the enzyme
that breaks down mescaline

from being produced, accounting
for the long 8 to 12 hour

duration of the journey.

But is there a way to simply
look at a psychedelic cactus

and tell what the
properties are?

Is it even possible to
know what the plants want?

>> One reason why cactus grow
needles is to prevent you from

touching them.

And this is this really
ingenious method of protection,

right?

Cactus protect themselves
by covering themselves

with needles.

But some cactus grow
needles in a way

that allows you to touch them.

And, you know, the
cactus medicine

has told me that this is
the cactus telling us,

"Come in contact with me."

And something that I've
observed is, the less

the needle structure there is,
and the more blue that there

is, the combination of those
things, the more medicine

content that there is.

But this grew this
much in one year.

I can tell because this pinch
is when it grew the next year.

Then the head was somehow cut
off here or got knocked over,

and it started growing fresh
new nodes out of this point.

And these fresher nodes
that are newer, actually

have more mescaline
content in them.

And you can see that from
the blue that they express,

that kind of blue power.

Huachuma likely used
this kind of language

to speak to the old Huachumeras
and Huachumeros, the medicine

workers of this
particular plant.

This shamanic heritage dates
back into the ancient world.

The Huachuma carving found
at Chavin de Huántar is said

to date back to
at least 1,500 BC.

It should be remembered
that though this

is the earliest remnant pointing
to a psychedelic society

in Peru--

over 3,500 years ago--

it is unlikely that the
use of this plant sacrament

started right at the time that
the carving was constructed.

The sacred use of Huachuma could
date back considerably farther.

And like the kykeon beverage
in the Eleusinian Mysteries

in ancient Greece, the temple
grounds of Chavin de Huántar

was likely a spiritual mecca and
was equipped with a public area

above the ground,
while the initiates--

seeking universal mysteries--
were ushered into secret

underground galleries.

They would likely
imbibe the Huachuma brew

and undergo a transformational
psychedelic journey

in these dimly lit halls.

Acoustic studies-- with the
help of Stanford University--

were conducted and determined
that this underground labyrinth

must have been constructed
for mind-altering sonic

experiences, causing
the environment

to come alive and play
tricks on the senses,

as well as transport sound
to other areas of the temple

complex.

These were likely initiation
chambers to test candidates

for the higher and elite
levels of governance.

Those entrusted with
the secrets of the world

history, humanity's origins,
and the practice of magic.

The Raimondi Stele was carved
in a highly polished granite,

depicting a curandero
holding two Huachuma cacti,

gazing towards the heavens
as animal totems emerge

from the crown of his head in
an apex of entwined serpents.

Much like the
caduceus of Hermes--

which is a symbol most commonly
associated with healing--

all throughout this
region and north

into Central America
and present day

Mexico, similar
artistic styles were

found amongst ancient
cultures, including headdresses

that plume from
the wearer's head,

like the Indian
belief where the crown

chakra is depicted with 1,000
petals of different colors.

This represents what is known
as the rising of the kundalini.

The origin myths of
psychedelic plants, as well as

the art that
surrounded them, are

too similar to dismiss
as coincidence.

Are these similarities
across time and geography

from a common
origin of humankind

or did the plants
impart the messages?

>> People discovered how to
combine these plants through--

basically with divination
with other plants.

You know, they
asked the plants--

or through the plant
they ask the spirits--

what are these other plants for?

And as a group, it would be
shown different things, what

to do through our subconscious.

That's the datura
tree, tree datura.

So, that was the
plant, I believe,

that showed how to make
these other concoctions.

The datura taught people all
kinds of incredible things,

like how to turn into
animals and how to fly.

In Middle East,
they flew on carpets

and the witches flew on brooms.

And that was the same exact
recipe with that plant.

And even in this
area, people would fly

in baskets the very same way.

And also the story of
the werewolves too,

that was the same plant and
pretty much the same recipe.

>> Psychoactives like Datura,
and psychedelics like peyote,

and even shamanic rituals may
be the common denominator behind

the legends of
shapeshifting, flying,

and other miraculous feats.

>> So, what that medicine is is,
it's medically turning the fork

in your brain that allows
you to perceive sound, light,

vibration, energy,
spirits, those things.

It's a bridge.

>> This is the difference
between what we call

hallucinating and
increased perception.

Hallucinating is when you're
seeing things that don't exist,

which is also fun.

I think it's like imagining.

But increased perception allows
you to see things that exist

but because your mind is
not trained to see them

in normal activity,
the peyote helps you

to see what's already there.

Some of this is
this energetic body.

And of course, if anybody
studies the energetic body,

you know that there's a
magnetic design to it.

Just like if you put a magnet
underneath some iron filings,

you'll see how the magnetic
force creates a pattern.

Well, every human being
has an energetic pattern.

And sometimes these
patterns are disrupted

through what we
call diseases, which

are imbalances or malfunctions
in the cellular structure.

So, peyote helps
you to see this.

>> With peyote, I would be able
to see people's sicknesses.

You know, if somebody was
clogged in their uterus,

or clogged in their intestines,
or if they had spinal issues,

or if their circulatory--
like, I would see these things.

And in seeing them, it's
like I looked at the person

and the thought would
come to my mind.

>> Seeing illness in people is
just one of the phenomena that

these peyoteros or huachumeras
claim to be capable of.

Some even claim that peyote can
put you in touch with ancestors

or give glimpses into the
raw nature of world issues

without transporting you
to a foreign dimension.

Daniel McQueen from
Medicinal Mindfulness

recounts his experience with the
Native American Church peyote

ceremonies.

>> You know, while peyote
is a classic psychedelic,

mescaline is a little different
than other psychedelics.

And you can have
visuals, you can

have experiences of
engaging with spirits

and communicating with
entities beyond this world.

But it's a little
different in that

you can feel more lucid,
more clear, more present

than you've ever felt before.

And so it's kind of a paradox.

You can be incredibly
altered in the experience

but also feel very, very
present in this world

and engaged in this reality.

And it seems to
have the capacity

to open up our frontal cortex,
our capacity to think clearly.

And so instead of having
to sort through something,

figure something out,
a complex problem

out, or looking
for understanding,

it's just right there.

It's just revealed to you.

>> The issues peyote or huachuma
introduced to those who drink

are said to usually come
from our own subconscious,

even if that issue is an
outer phenomena that we are

struggling to come
to terms with,

coming from the angle that
all events in the universe are

intimately linked to
human consciousness.

And though the traditional use
of these plants cannot be put

into one simple explanation,
the commonalities tend to be

involved in community bonding
rather than isolated healing

procedures.

>> The use of this medicine has
always been a community event.

But if somebody needed healing
and they came to a road man,

they could do it individually,
but that's more rare.

It's almost always done
in a community setting.

>> Clearly there were
ways in which the use

of the psychedelics augmented
our ability to be moral

individuals, to have
compassion for others,

and to take action on behalf
of others that were not

our immediate family members.

What we see in traditional
societies around the world

is that they were
used for augmenting

the effects of ritual,
enhancing bonding

among members of the
community, and using

these dynamics for healing.

>> One of the hallmarks
of expanded or flow states

of consciousness brought
about by psychedelic plants,

shamanic drumming and dancing,
or other methods seems to be

the release of several
neurotransmitters,

such as anandamide,
oxytocin, serotonin,

and dopamine in varying amounts
depending on the method.

These chemicals
on their own lend

to feelings of closeness,
sensuality, relational bonding,

and security.

Several are present during
breastfeeding, lovemaking,

hugging, and even eye contact.

Even single-celled organisms
that had grouped together

to become more
complex creatures had

the impulse towards community
bonding for a higher cause.

And in this way, the
real shamanic medicine

was understood to
be relationships,

and the strength of the
group, and a great remembering

of the deeper purposes of life.

And the relationships begin not
only with the human community,

but the plant community
used to guide and protect

the medicine work.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And in some groups,
they pray with cedar.

But most often, people
pray with tobacco,

and then the medicine
would come around.

And everybody will have four
portions of the medicine,

and that would go around at
least four times in the night.

After we have the
medicine, then we

get to sing with the
staff and the rattle.

And it goes on like
that until morning.

[DRUMMING]

I know that the rhythm of the
music in the Native American

Church is very important.

There's always been the
quick rhythm, rhythmic beat.

It's very important, the songs,
to keep the rhythm the same.

And also for everyone to
play pretty much the same,

rather than trying to
show their individuality,

because the ceremonies are very
much about learning by example

and being consistent.

[DRUMMING]

>> The importance of the
group to be in the presence

of, listening to, and even
performing the drum rhythm,

is said to bring the individuals
into a hive mind where

the intentions or thoughts
that they hold are as singular

as one unit and
therefore more powerful.

Dr. Luciano Bernardi, at the
Pavia University in Italy,

has shown that heart
rhythms in humans

sync their pace to music,
showing that the heart listens

to and responds to music.

Together this would cause
a group's nervous system

and cardiac rhythms
to come into harmony.

Even in Silicon Valley,
startup companies

have been toying with the idea
of using music and binaural

beats in headphones to a group
while electrodes are scanning

their brainwave
patterns, finding

that the music brings their
mental states into synchrony.

Why are they doing this?

Because they find that
groups perform better

when there's a form of
mental cohesion or a hive

mind happening.

Even high-level
military intelligence

sees the importance of thinking
as a group with no leader

except the one who
knows what to do next.

This may be the basis of all
human history's community

rituals.

But even though the medicine
is useful for community bonding

and cultivating a hive-like
mind, the spirit of the cactus

is differentiated from other
plant medicines like ayahuasca

and sings a message from a
very particular and masculine

standpoint.

Ayahuasca has this
very feminine energy,

where it's kind of
like she basically

allows you to feel, and
have emotions, and be very

watery in how you're
experiencing it,

while peyote has a
very masculine energy.

It's more like you're doing,
and you're making it happen.

And you know, even
in the prayer,

because with ayahuasca the
songs are more romantic.

They're more organic.

I mean, they're both organic,
but they're more feminine.

And then with peyote,
the songs are more like--

[VOCALIZING BEAT]

- because you're with
the drum the whole night.

So, it's literally a drum.

So, that sound is more masculine
sound, more physical sound.

And as a woman, it
definitely taught

me a lot of what it
means to be a woman when

I was faced with so much
masculinity in that tee-pee.

It taught me more
than I ever thought

I would ever think I would be
taught by a masculine entity.

>> It is a belief among modern
psychonauts and neo-shamans

that the planet has a
family tree of psychedelic

and psychoactive plants.

Each one is here with a
specific message for us.

>> Plant medicine's role has
been the same for thousands

of years.

It's to teach us.

And so these are
different teachers

that are put here to give
us different lessons.

>> Earth has designed these
plants that are curing humanity

because humanity is affecting
the functioning of the Earth

as a living organism.

So, the Earth needs
to protect itself.

So through these chemicals that
are contained in the peyote,

the consciousness of
the spirit of peyote

is helping human
beings to cure and heal

all of these society ailments.

>> Together, these plants
alter perception differently

and offer deeply unique
and profound teachings,

all to protect the
balance of life.

And this family tree of
psychedelic plant medicines

is thought to tell a complete
story of human history,

potential future, and
life's purpose to assist us

in the coming turbulent days.

And this is why medicine
spreads due to plant migration

or human intervention.

>> This medicine spread from
tribe to tribe all across North

America, all the
way up into Canada,

because people were
really desperate for help.

And so some people
would say that it

was prophesied
that it would come

to them to help the people.

So, I believe that this medicine
is here to help the people.

And just as in the
past, it helped

us to integrate into European
culture and academic way

of life.

Now it's also a way of
connecting back to your roots

and connecting back to the
ancient ways of all people.

>> But these cultures did more
than simply reconnect with

the past.

They also foresaw the future.

The fact that Western society
is becoming increasingly

interested in
psychedelic substances

and their historical
shamanic application

is said by some to be signs of
an ancient prophecy believed

to have stemmed from
Andean Quechua, New Mexican

Hopi, Guatemalan,
Honduran, Ecuadorian Shuar,

and Mexican Mayan cultures.

>> The ancients foresaw
the coming of the Europeans

and the destruction of
civilization as we know it.

But they also
foresaw the time when

the culture of the indigenous
people was going to reemerge.

And part of the culture of
native people inherent in all

of this is the use
of plants to create

a higher level of consciousness
for the human societies.

And it was also
predicted that 500 years

after the initial
onslaught of Christianity

and European colonization, a
new time was going to come,

which is the time
we are living now.

And this was referred
to as the Prophecy

of the Condor and the Eagle.

>> And a lot of people see
it as a spiritual thing

that's happening, which is
definitely what's happening

with the Native American Church
because it's just as strong

in South America as it
is in North America now.

But another part
of that prophecy,

the next part of
that, is that they

would soar as one, that
the eagle and condor would

soar as one.

And that can be interpreted
in many different ways.

But I think amongst most
people in spiritual circles,

they see that as a spiritual
unification of the people.

The prophecy is said to
foretell of a pachacuti,

or 500-year period, in which
the eagle, which represents

the people of the northern
hemisphere that walked

the industrial, mental,
and masculine path,

would bring about a
near-extinction of the condor,

representing the people of
the southern hemisphere that

follow the heart
and are connected

with traditional
ways of the Earth.

Followers of the
prophecy see this

as having come true at the
time of the Spanish conquest

of the New World
shamanic and indigenous

cultures around 1490.

However, the prophecy
also foretold

of a reunification of
the eagle and condor,

starting at the end of
the pachacuti in 1990.

A striking development in
the unification of people

globally is the exchange
of ideas and values.

This has never been
as prevalent as it

was with the advent
of the internet,

and this revolutionary
communication technology

became publicly available
on August 6th of 1991.

Many skeptics have
disregarded and debunked

the details of this prophecy,
while all along, the remaining

indigenous of the
original tribes

carry on the belief
that regardless

of the skepticism, the
prophecy is in motion

and a revival of
shamanic traditions

and interest among even the
Western world is growing.

And signs of this
shift in consciousness

may also be appearing in pop
cultural trends returning

to nature-based activities.

Exercise rituals of
just a few decades ago

are being revisioned
in a natural setting,

linking the body and mind
back to these spaces.

Dietary trends are looking
back into ancestral traditions

that predate colonial
grain-based diets.

Workshops are popping up around
the world with catchwords

like rewilding, primal,
ancestral, and shamanic.

Could this be a
sign of the times,

that the innate balancing
intelligence of the collective

senses the need for uniting
with our roots once more?

>> We're reaching the point
where human beings are really

changing drastically, and we're
becoming more intelligent.

We're learning more, but we're
also becoming very conditioned

and becoming domesticated,
very literally.

And you can see the difference
between a domesticated animal

and a wild animal, even
how different medicines

and substances can have a
very different effect on both.

And one of my
concerns has always

been that we're losing
touch with our wild selves.

I think it's very important that
the human race in the future

stay in touch with our roots,
and where we come from,

and what we really are rather
than thinking that we're just

some kind of biological robots.

And I think it's very
important, the role

of the sacred sacrament
of the herb peyote

and also these
other medicines that

come from different traditions
to understand who they really

are and where they come
from, that we are animals

that come from the Earth.

What if the missing puzzle
piece to harmony on this planet

is missing because of the
civilized, cultural concept

we're fed from birth?

The trend in the
West has unmistakably

been a focus on technology
and human innovation that

tends to alter nature, push
it out, subdue and enslave

the natural world, and
bend it to our human will,

The same will that believes
animals living in factory farms

will yield the same
quality meat as those

that live in their
natural, thriving habitat.

The same will that believes that
monocultured and low-dynamic

environments will yield
the same quality crops as

would appear in
their native homes

in connection with
all other life forms.

Does this medicine illuminate
the social sickness of amnesia

towards our past
and hypnotic awe

at our flashy and
convenience-driven future?

Perhaps this is why peyote
ceremonies still to this day

are typically conducted
in tee-pees, which

seat the participants
on the earth,

with fire, and prayer,
and community holding

intentions of healing
rather than the sterilized,

nature-free clinics and
hospitals with synthetic

and compound isolated
meds intended to be

taken and forgotten about.

Healing practices have
never before been that way.

Psychedelic plants, like
peyote and huachuma,

are impossible to forget
about after ingesting

because the relationship
between their chemical makeup

and our neurochemistry causes
a journey of engagement,

attention, processing, and
coming to terms with all

that we are and all that
is no longer serving us.

There is no tuning out or
ignoring your subconscious

under these shamanic states.

Perhaps if we engage
with these medicines

or other natural methods of
expanding one's conscious state

and honor and respect the
cultures that have long

done this good work to integrate
and bond with our community,

then maybe, just
maybe, the prophecy

of the eagle and condor will be
seen as more than lofty hopes

and dreams but as a
return to the sanity

of wild, ancestral nature.

Up next, join us as we
investigate human's history

with cannabis, humanity's oldest
cultivated crop, providing food

medicine, and even
connection with the divine.

[MUSIC PLAYING]