#19 - Tricia Eastman: Are We Responsible Psychedelic Stewards?

Tricia Eastman is an author, speaker, medicine woman, facilitator, and the founder of Ancestral Heart, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and deeper understanding of ancient ritual and Indigenous wisdom. Tricia is also the founder of Psychedelic Journeys, where she has curated transformative medicine experiences and retreats in different locations around the world and for which she is currently building a retreat center in the Azores Islands. Tricia has trained under two different Bwiti traditions and after nearly a decade of working with iboga, she has a deep understanding of its spiritual technology.

What we discuss:

• Tricia’s introduction to the psychedelic realm and her experience working with different medicines, including iboga

• How ibogaine helped her overcome a lifelong struggle with eating disorders

• The different Bwiti traditions that she has been initiated into and trained under

• How stewardship informs Tricia’s work at Ancestral Heart and beyond

• The ritualistic use of iboga among the Bwiti for initiation

• The spiritual technology of iboga

• The difference between working with iboga in Gabon and receiving ibogaine in a clinic

• The cost of losing connection with ritual

• Are we being responsible stewards of this movement, and respectful of traditional practices and medicines that do not belong to us? If not, what will it take?

Why it’s important:

Consider the definition of stewardship: the conducting, supervising, or managing of something, especially: the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care. Now consider that word in the context of iboga and ibogaine. In a recent article for Psychedelic Alpha, author and medicine woman Tricia Eastman and co-author Dr. Joseph Barsuglia suggest that we ought to have a nuanced appreciation of stewardship in the context of iboga; considering it both an appreciation of the responsibility we owe to the cultures and ecosystems from which iboga is derived, and also the safety of those who ingest it. In this episode, Tricia, the founder of Ancestral Heart and Psychedelic Journeys, explains how connection to ritual helps build that appreciation, and how, without proper care, rushing to legalize or decriminalize iboga could have unintended consequences. The show ends with the question posed in the title: Are we being responsible stewards of this movement, and respectful of traditional practices and medicines that do not belong to us? Keep listening to find out.

Relevant Links:

• Psychedelic Alpha article, “Ibogaine’s Surge in Popularity Could Be a Huge Loss for the Gabonese People Unless We Shift Course”
• Ancestral Heart website
• Psychedelic Journeys website
• Tricia Eastman on Instagram
• Stewardship definition, Merriam-Webster