MPP78 Jeremy Narby: Medicine & Myth of Ayahuasca & Tobacco

Jeremy Narby is a Canadian-born anthropologist and bestselling author who became an early pioneer of ayahuasca research while living with the Ashaninka people of the Peruvian Amazon in the 1980s. He works as Amazonian projects director for Nouvelle Planète, a nonprofit organization that promotes the economic and cultural empowerment of indigenous peoples. Jeremy is perhaps best known as the author of The Cosmic Serpent which was published in English back in 1999.His new book, Plant Medicines: Ayahuasca, Tobacco and the Pursuit of Knowledge, which he authored with Shawi indigenous elder Rafael Chanchari Pizuri, presents a cross-cultural dialogue that explores the similarities between ayahuasca and tobacco, the role these plants play in indigenous cultures, and the hidden truths they reveal about nature.I’ve been a fan of Jeremy’s work since reading The Cosmic Serpent a number of years ago and it was a real pleasure to speak with him about the two plant medicines that have been most integral to my own healing journey. We discuss the scientific and shamanic views of these two important plant teachers and begin to imagine a Western animism that could help restore our kinship with the more-than-human world.Topics: psychedelics, ayahuasca, tobacco, plant medicine, shamanism