The Universe Within Podcast

Hey everybody! Episode 122 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with my friend, mentor, and teacher, jubb david. Jubb’s was one of the first people who introduced me and opened my eyes to the world of plants as food, nutrition, medicine, and life-force. I met jubb’s when we were both living in the East Village of New York and where he had a cafe. I would attend his lectures with my friend...

Hey everybody! Episode 121 of the show is out. In this episode, I was interviewed on another podcast called Mi Yuyabo. It was a nice interview and I was happy to share a bit of my background, what brought me to plant medicine, some things I have learned, and going a bit deeper into the world of plants. I hope you all are able to learn something new from this interview and my sharing. As always, to...

Hey everybody! Episode 120 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Jacob Toddson. Jacob has a really excellent YouTube channel called The Wisdom of Odin where he explores his own journey delving into his wandering the ancient world in search of information pertaining to the religions of the past. Jacob is a photographer by trade and it really shows in the production value of his videos....

Hey everybody! Episode 119 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen. Rune was introduced to me by a listener of the podcast. It was serendipitous timing as I had been wanting to bring on guests to speak more about European myth and tradition, especially about Celtic and Nordic traditions. So it was a pleasure to sit down with Rune and have him share in his experience...

Hey everybody! Episode 118 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Larry Pahl. Larry was introduced to me by a mutual friend who is a fan of Larry’s work. As someone who is deeply interested in ancient cultures, esoteric wisdom, and the interconnectedness of life and cultures, the pyramids of Giza have fascinated me since childhood. Therefore Larry was a wonderful guest to bring on as al...

Hey everybody! Episode 117 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Andrew Camargo. A friend of Andrew’s, Jude, recommend I interview Andrew a while back as he lives quite close to me. I am grateful for this recommendation as I really enjoyed sitting down with Andrew and having him share in his life story and work. He has an excellent free webinar series about the call of shamanism that i...

Hey everybody! Episode 116 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Satya. Satya’s assistant had reached out me about a year ago but unfortunately I was busy at that time, but serendipitously our paths crossed when I was recently in Portugal running dieta, and as things would have it, it was much nicer to do this interview in person. Satya has a beautiful presence and is doing great work...

Hey everybody! Episode 115 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Josh Schrei. Josh has an excellent podcast called The Emerald. A few episodes were recommended to me and after listening I could see why. Josh speaks excellently on themes such as animism, shamanism, religion, myth, and is a story teller in the truest sense of the word. His podcast is excellently produced and is engaging,...

Hey everybody! Episode 114 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Joe Moore. I was on Joe’s podcast, Psychedelics Today, about a year ago, so it was a pleasure and honor to have him come on mine. We got into some interesting topics including Joe’s background, his podcast, his work with transpersonal psychology and Stanislav Grof, the emerging psychedelic renaissance, the decriminalizati...

Hey everybody! Episode 113 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with my friends Brian James and Adam Aronovich. I met both of them when we all worked together at a big plant medicine center in the Peruvian Amazon. I interviewed both of them separately in previous episodes, Brian in episode 30 and Adam in episode 55, so you can check those out for a more in-depth look at them both. I have b...

Hey everybody! Episode 112 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Hamilton Souther. Hamilton is the chairman and founder of Blue Morpho, one of the oldest and most well-respected ayahuasca centers in the Peruvian Amazon. I worked for many years at another one of the pioneering ayahuasca centers, the Temple of the Way of Light, and so I was familiar with Blue Morpho and Hamilton and alwa...

Hey everybody! Episode 111 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with John Wood. I met John in jiu-jitsu with our mutual friend and teacher Chase Moore, who was also on this podcast. John does somatic therapy work and it was a really fascinating conversation sitting down and learning more about John and his work. We spoke about his story and how he got caught up a bit in a cult and what tha...

Hey everybody! Episode 110 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with my friend Bruno Momeni. Bruno is a 1st dan black belt in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and Luta Livre. I met Bruno a few years ago and began training with him shortly after. Bruno has a really deep understanding of martial arts and is very creative in his game. I respect him as a teacher and man and am also honored to have received...

Hey everybody! Episode 109 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Jerónimo Mazarrasa. This is Jerónimo’s second time on this podcast. Jerónimo works for a great organization called ICEERS (International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service). He came on this episode to speak about a new course that ICEERS is offering about harm reduction for facilitators of plant med...

Hey everybody! Episode 108 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Melanie Reinhart. Melanie was recommended to me by a friend of mine, James Robinson, and I’m really grateful that he did. Melanie is an astrologer and I really enjoyed speaking with her. She has a beautiful voice, presence, and wisdom and I think you all will find this a fascinating conversation. We spoke about her early...

Hey everybody! Episode 107 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Yukia Sandara. I met Yukia recently and felt she had a really interesting story and had something special to share. I was really happy to sit down with her and this conversation exceeded my expectations. In fact I think it was a masterclass in many ways of a lot of different concepts of a spiritual path. We got into some...

Hey everybody! Episode 106 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with my friend Luke Jensen. Luke and I practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu together where I met him. Luke is a former Marine and served in Afghanistan. He now works with brain mapping and neurofeedback and is integrating this work with plant medicines. We had a long conversation and got into some really interesting and I think deep t...

Hey everybody! Episode 105 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Megan & Nicole Michelena from the Zenchronicity Podcast. I really enjoyed sitting down with these two sisters and getting to know their background and work. They have a really beautiful story and we got into that, their work with psilocybin, the legalization movement in Colorado, the archetypes of masculine and femini...

Hey everybody! Episode 104 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Chris Kilham. Chris is also know as the Medicine Hunter and is an author, educator and yogi. He is the founder of Medicine Hunter Inc ., and conducts medicinal plant research and sustainable botanical sourcing in over 45 countries. I met Chris a few years ago when I was working at the Amazonian plant medicine center, The...

Hey everybody! Episode 103 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Joan Parisi Wilcox. Joan is the author of a very good book that I read, Masters of the Living Energy: The Mystical World of the Q'ero of Peru , when I moved to and became interested in the Andean cosmovision. Joan has spent many years learning from a group of Andean wisdom keepers called the Qero nation. They consider the...

There are many cosmovisions, many ways of looking at life and the nature of reality.  Some may hold more true than others, some may hold more true for some and less for others.  But being able to see the world in different ways is vital. Science is always changing.  What was seen as ‘The Science’ 500 years ago is very different from 400 years ago and very different from today. The S...

Hey everybody! Episode 101 of the show is out. This was an interview that my friend Angell Deer did for his podcast, The Sanctuary , also the name of his shamanic healing center in upstate New York where my colleague Merav Artzi and myself have been running retreats the last two years. In this interview, Angell interviews Merav and myself on our background stories, our work with tobacco and tree m...

Hey everybody! Episode 100 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Mallku Aribalo. I first saw Mallku in an excellent documentary a number of years back called The Revelation of the Pyramids. I was really impressed with his knowledge and when I realized he lived in Cusco I knew he would be a great guest. We got into a lot of topics that really fascinate me such as ancient cultures, Andea...

Hey everybody! Episode 99 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Bettina Fischer. Bettina was recommended to me by two friends and colleagues, Marta and Allen, who I also interviewed in episodes 16 and 13 respectively. They both have worked with Bettina and both spoke very highly of her. Bettina describes herself as an energy worker and as a channel. We got into some really fascinating...

Hey everybody! Episode 98 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Marc Aixalà. Marc is a psychotherapist and has worked in collaboration with a very good organization called ICEERS (International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research and Service). ICEERS worked in collaboration with a large ayahuasca center where I worked for many years (the Temple of the Way of Light) doing rese...