E10 - Carlo Brescia
This interview features Peruvian filmmaker, storyteller, community builder and occasional San Pedro Curandero, Carlo Brescia.
Carlo shares insights into Peruvian culture and the importance of psychoactive cactus. From San Pedro visions at Chavin de Huánatar, to the San Pedro experience of Carlo’s family – his grandmother, great grandmother, great great grandfather, uncles and cousins. Carlo speaks of a historical, cultural shift away from community towards the individual, a balance of opposites evidenced by Quechuan language and architecture, and the possibility of accessing lost cultural knowledge and initiation to psychedelic traditions via dreams.
Carlo also provides some practical information for people curious about cactus consumption in traditional Peruvian settings, the immense work in serving cactus, the importance of travelling to North Peru and speaking to local people for locating genuine, longstanding cactus traditions.
Links
E9 - Joey Santore
Joey Santore, Creator of Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t..
In this episode Liam interviews Joey Santore of Crime Pays But Botany Doesn’t. Joey has an impressively broad knowledge of ecology, particularly of desert in south Texas where he lives, which is the home of Peyote and many other special cacti.
This episode has a slightly different flavour – to quote Joey “psychoactives are fucking boring” and mescaline is “shitty”. We wouldn’t phrase it quite the same way, but Joey has an important message – all plants are special and play an important role, even if we don’t understand exactly what they’re up to. Kill your lawn and plant the locals.
Humans are interwoven in the living fabric of ecology, but we don’t pay attention to plants unless they clearly benefit us somehow. Joey encourages us to pay attention to all local plants, and to spend less time obsessing over foreign species and cultivar groups.
Links
Hongos sagrados de Mexico gel genero Psilocybe poster
Plants
Duboisia hopwoodii (pituri)
Stylidium graminifolium (trigger plant)
Lophophora williamsii (peyote)
Astrophytum asterias (star cactus)
Banksia species
Corypantha macromeris
Echinocereus species
Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood)
Sequoia sempervirens (coast redwood)
E8 - Darren Williams
Darren Williams, founder of Herbalistics.
Once a bright eyed high schooler reading Food of the Gods and picking blue meanie mushrooms near Nimbin, Darren Williams grew up to spread seeds of exotic species far and wide. From horticultural R & D, to stand out fruits on clumping Trichocereus huasca, to finger lime hybrids and huffing strange psychoactive petals from a bag. This flora fuelled conversation follows Darren’s journey with obscure psychoactive and edible plants, to the magical plant petri dish that Herbalistics is today.
Links
Gamma radiation of cactus seeds
NICM Health Research Institute
Plants
Alstonia constricta
Citrus australis, etc. (Australian citrus)
Desmodium spp.
Duboisa spp.
Helichrysum odoratissimum
Ipomea costada
I. polpha
Mentha diemenica etc. (Australian mint)
Panaeolus cyanescens
Petalostylis cassioides
Phyllodium spp.
Psilocybe cubensis
Trachymene incisa (Australian parsnip)
Trichocereus huasca
Zornia latifolia
Reading
Schultes, R. E., & Hofmann, A. (1992). Plants of the Gods: Their sacred, healing, and hallucinogenic powers.
Bodkin, F. (1993). Encyclopaedia Botanica; The essential reference guide to native and exotic plants in Australia.
E7 - Fahim
Trichocereus hybrid "Fahim03” (T. macrogonus OP)
Fahim's reputation precedes him as a breeder and collector of some the worlds’ most prized San Pedro clones. In this episode we discuss genetic engineering with a focus on developing cacti with high mescaline content as well as cacti with unique and stable mutations. Fahim's philosophy encapsulates a spirit of sharing, collaboration and abundance. His special relationship with plant teachers is fascinating.
Links
Photos of the original T. terscheckii “Dawson’s Short Spine Outside Garden”
Reference guide to common wattles
Rare Dragonfruit Farm
E6 - Halcyon
Trichcocereus macrogonus “Halcyon Beast”
Halcyon is an ecologist and plant explorer breeding San Pedro with medicinal and disease resistant qualities, as well as fragrant flowers and delicious fruits. Halcyon is the co-author of Coke Bottle Tek: A terrarium technique and the Damascus garden catalogue. Amongst growers Halcyon is well known for propagation of the infamous Trichocereus macrogonus ‘Halcyon Beast.’
Links
Lewisham cactus and psychedelic plant workshops
E5 - Huan Shuma
Brazilian biotechnologist and renowned San Pedro seed collector, Huan Shuma has been a member of the Santo Daime ayahuasca church for his entire adult life.
Huan shares his positive view of psychedelic tourism and stories from his own entheogenic path, ranging from snorting yopo seeds while looking for cactus at the Chavin archaeological site, to curious strategies for drying fruits and seeds on the go.
Links
Huan’s Youtube channel Fruit Codex
E4 - Carlos Ostolaza
Carlos Ostolaza and his wife Carmen Rosa. Photo by Gpinoi.
Carlos Ostalaza is likely the most influential author on Peruvian cactus. He’s written more than four books and dozens of articles on cactus and has been involved in determining more than 50 cactus names, including Trichocereus peruvianus ssp. puquiensis. Carlos advocates for listing Trichocereus peruvianus in Appendix I of CITES, in the hopes of protecting this species from wild harvesting for the production and export of San Pedro powder as a source of mescaline.
Links
Carlos’ written answers to interview questions
The Peruvian Cactus and Succulent Society (SPECS)
Diccionario etimológico ilustrado de cactáceas
Backeberg, Cactus Lexicon and Die Cactaceae
Neoraimondia arequipensis subsp. roseiflora
E3 - Tony
Liam has a curious chat with the classic psychedelic character and Shaman Australis member, Tony.
From microdosing cactus flower tinctures, to psychedelic McDonalds, to a bigfoot sighting that smelled like DMT. Interesting, practical and a healthy dose of weird.
Liam has a curious chat with the classic psychedelic character and Shaman Australis member, Tony.
From microdosing cactus flower tinctures, to psychedelic McDonalds, to a bigfoot sighting that smelled like DMT. Interesting, practical and a healthy dose of weird.
Links
Wollongong cacti workshop tickets (last weekend in April)
Garden States 2021 livestream (cacti videos include old footage of Tony’s San Pedro in bloom)
Reference Guide to Psilocybe subaeruginosa
Dr Alistair McTaggart on Psilocybe subareuginosa genetics
E2 - Snu Voogelbreinder
Dr Liam Engel interviews illusive ethnobotanical author and psychonaut Snu Voogelbreinder about his personal journey through the Australian plantscape. They give special emphasis to two of Snu’s favourite organisms; cacti and Acacia.
Links
Appreciating the small things (Snu’s EGA Microdose presentation)
Tobacco substitutes in Australia – The non-Indigenous experience
Compass pathways, psychedelic patents and pharma: Drug reform advocacy as reciprocity
Designing drug combination displays: Enter the Entheogen Combination Matrix
E1 - Dr Anya Ermakova
Dr Liam Engel interviews ethnobotanist and neuroscientist, Dr Anya Ermakova. They discuss Anya’s fieldwork with Peyote, sustainability, harm reduction and implications of the psychedelic renaissance for mescaline-containing cactus.
Dr Liam Engel interviews ethnobotanist and neuroscientist, Dr Anya Ermakova. They discuss Anya’s fieldwork with Peyote, sustainability, harm reduction and implications of the psychedelic renaissance for mescaline-containing cactus.
Links
The San Pedro Appreciation Guide
Ermakova, A., Trout, K., Terry, M. K., Whiting, C. V., Clubbe, C., & Fowler, N. (2021). Densities, plant sizes, and spatial distributions of six wild populations of Lophophora williamsii (Cactaceae) in Texas, USA. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 15(1), 149-160.
Ermakova, A. O., Terry, M. K., & Trout, K. (2022). Cultivation as a conservation tool for cacti: review of the botanical evidence and a case study of Lophophora williamsii. Bradleya, 2022(sp40), 71-82.
Chan, C., Poulie, C., Wismann, S., Soelberg, J. & Kristensen, J. (2021). The Alkaloids from Lophophora diffusa and Other “False Peyotes”. Journal of Natural Products, 84(8), 2398-2407.
Sugden, L. & Del Rio, J. O. (2022). Ethnopharmacology and phytochemical profiling of Huachuma. Ethnopharmacological Search for Psychoactive Drugs 55.