Our Story...in brief

Origins...

What do Entheogen’s, 5 Element Chinese Medicine, and Evolutionary Astrology all have in common? I offer that they all have a profound potential for healing at the psycho/spiritual level of our being. What then happens when they are combined? You get Entheomedicne. Essentially, we use the Spirit, insight, and relationships gained from the Entheogenic experience in the treatment room. In no way are we using Entheogenic substances during our sessions, nor are we encouraging the usage of them. We simply use our experience with the spirits of plants to help assist in healing. In the following passage I wish to offer a brief history of the medicine, an explanation of what it looks like in practice, and also what the future of Entheomedicine might look like. I apologize in advance for it being a bit biographical, but I don’t know if there was any other way.
During our studies at the Academy of 5 Element Acupuncture my partner and I began to become disheartened with the limitations of school. The 5 elements branch of Chinese medicine is, no doubt, an elegant, and incredibly spiritual medicine, but we were hitting walls with it. Within the shadows of my own life I was doing extensive research and healing work with Entheogenic plants when an untimely opportunity arouse for me to explore a dormant dream to go explore the rainforests of South America and to drink Ayahuasca. I took the opportunity with a leave of absence from school and with a plan not to return for 6 months. My mission : to learn how to heal without anything but my own two hands and voice.
The trip was powerful! It wasn’t as long as expected,. It ended up to be just a few weeks, but it was just what I was looking for. Madre de Ayahuasca told me, along with the Curandero, Don Eduardo, that she wasn’t my medicine, and , in fact, it was wise for me to go back to the states because there was something I had to do there. Complying with these powerful oracles I booked my ticket the next day. When I arrived back in the states is when the seed began to sprout. Entheomedicine had started to grow.
I met my first spiritual teacher upon returning. Quite miraculously, Paul Fraser, an Acupuncturist/Qi Gong master invited me to participate in his Medical Qi Gong class. Throughout the transformation which was taking place for me in the class, my partner and I , who was still in her clinical year at the school, started seeing patients at our home. My dream had become manifest. Terence Mckenna once said, “Shamans in all times and places have gained their powers through relationships with helping spirits.” I had fully groked this relationship at this point. Within dreams and intuitions the spirits of these plants were communicating with me. Telling me how to treat, use the 5 elements, and manipulate Qi in my own body and the bodies of our patients. Most importantly, the spirits of the plants were doing much of the healing just by being asked. In Plant, Spirit, Medicine, an amazing text on ancient, but still accessible shamanic techniques, Eliot Cowan, who is also a 5 Element practitioner and who has also synthesized 5 Element theory with Shamansim, says, “Years later I found out it isn’t necessary to be poor, illiterate, and Indian to learn deep healing from a plant--most plants will teach anyone if they are interested. If you are interested, all you have to do is ask.”
Our practice was in full swing by the time we graduated and moved out West. The next chapter was an unexpected one and an indispensable one. I had my first Astrology reading. Not just any Astrology reading, but an Evolutionary one. Ari Moshe Wolfe, who is a certified Evolutionary Astrologer, blew my mind. It is different from all other forms of Astrology in that you focus on the Souls (Pluto‘s) desire in this lifetime and what obstacles and tools (Moons nodes and aspects) there are to make this desire manifest. I became determined to learn the basics of these techniques in this strange and alien language. I planned on using it to better understand the nature of our patients and to help them move through and evolve out of their circumstances. In just a few month’s of studying with him I had begun to apply this knowledge to our practice and what felt like some kind of Holy Trinity had been created (Plant Spirit Medicine, Acupuncture, and Astrology).
It was a difficult step for us to take in adopting the word Entheogen into our name. It is such a charged entity. Many don’t even know what it means, and for those who do--of course--the association goes straight to the sacred plants. The word Entheogen is just the best word for what we do, it encapsulates where our work is coming from. The word itself implies “to experience God from within.” Our assumption is that we aren’t the ones actually doing the healing, nor the plants really. Ultimately, it is the ineffable.
So, what does it look like in practice? The session begins with a 2hr diagnosis where we are able to get to know the person, establish rapport, and get some basic diagnostic information. I ask them to bring their birth information to assist us in understanding the nature of where their Soul is at in it’s evolutionary journey. Whether they want a full Astrological reading is up to them-- the birth information is useful either way. We then enter the treatment room where we do the acupuncture, medical Qi gong, and spirit work. In the year we have been experimenting with these combinations this seems to be the most effective approach. Everyone in our practice has left with the elimination of their symptoms and their overall wellbeing increased. In fact, most continue seeing us, even if they cannot see us in the flesh. A lot of what we are doing can be done just as effectively at a distance--sometimes it is even stronger. Never is the form set in stone. We are open to flux, in fact, we embrace it. Life demands it from us.
In conclusion, I hope this was inspiring. My purpose in writing this was to share my experience and to get feedback from those who are willing to respond. I know there are many out there who will embrace this fresh approach to medicine. In the face of all the change we are up against, we feel these new and ancient approaches to health care are what we need. I also felt the need to share this story because I want to attract others doing similar work who are hopefully interested in creating a cooperative system where we work and share resources amongst ourselves. We desire to create some sort of alternative energy exchange system which can be completely self-sustained. I hope for your feedback: the good and the bad. I need all of it pointed out. We are waiting, we are hoping, and we are praying for the cessation of all suffering in all beings.