7. For the Love of Grandmother Yagé

In this first episode of 2025, Sonya gives some brief astrological insight for the year before digging into the story of how she came to the decision to participate in a multi-day ayahuasca plant medicine ceremony in Costa Rica. She outlines her life experience as the daughter of a mother who struggled with addiction, her resulting caution around any type of substance use, and her limited experiences with psychedelics prior to arriving in Costa Rica. Sonya draws on journal entries to explore the wisdom she gained from Grandmother Yagé (the divine feminine accessed through ayahuasca), including visions of cosmic love and Mother Earth; the ways the body and soul are "divine collaborators" led by the soul; the epigenetic reasons behind Sonya's seeking of extremes and the connection to chattel slavery; the ways the extremism of centuries of white terrorism has shaped the souls and bodies of Black people as well as white people; and how Sonya was able to purge codependency and love addiction by placing them into the sacred cleansing fire of Grandmother Yagé. Sonya also allows space for critically thinking about how to protect Indigenous spiritual modalities and the multitude of ways we can access these lessons in our own lives without being extractive to Indigenous communities, drawing on our unique lineages of spiritual wisdom. Miraculous Musings: *Who have you become? Is this in alignment with who you aspire to be? *In what ways can your healing be gentler? *Are there ways you might be better able to relate to your body and soul as divine collaborators rather than as in tension or competition? What would that look like in your life? *What lineages of ancestral and cultural wisdom might you have access to that you may not have known about? Where can you look to find it? Producer: Sonya Renee Taylor Editor: Dr. Shannon Weber Music: "Joy & Grief" and "Dying", The Bengsons Support Sonya's work and get episode drops a day early: www.patreon.com/sonyareneetaylor