K'hiel Anker is a pioneer of safe, powerful, effective psychedelic therapy and men's work.
When his path into manhood was turned upside-down during a poorly facilitated Ayahuasca retreat in the Amazon which nearly took his life, he decided to take matters into his own hands and create a solution to the problems of unsafe psychedelic experiences and rites of passage.
He is now a fully apprenticed medicine guide who synthesizes both ancient wisdom and modern psychology to provide comprehensive, safe, initiatory experiences with psychedelics.
His focus in this work is to revive the mature masculine within men so we can once more live within harmonious communities built on healthy relationships.
K'hiel Anker, Psychedelic Integration Coach and Medicine Guide
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
My birth name is Kyle Del Bonis, and I now go by K’hiel Anker – ‘K’hiel’ being a traditional spelling of my name, and ‘Anker’ being the name given to me by my medicine tribe for being known as an anchoring and grounding presence during medicine journeys.
I was born in Oceanside California at Fort Pendleton while my father was in the military, and I was raised predominantly in Rhode Island, where ‘Hope’ is the motto and the Anchor is the State Seal.
I attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute to study Management Information Systems, Computer Science, and English Poetry, graduating magna cum laude, after which I was accepted into the Information Management Leadership Program with General Electric – touring the world as I was dispatched into 4 different global branches to assess, analyze, and improve organization wide technology infrastructure.
I quickly realized the corporate world of technology was not for me, and ultimately followed my heart to California at the age of 27 where I discovered the heart-opening and consciousness-expanding joys of psychedelics while attending my first music festival.
After a few years of exploring psychedelic realms and their vibrant communities, including many trips to Burning Man, I found myself distraught and dispassionate despite living a life that looked picturesque and perfect on paper; in retrospect, I realized that my burgeoning awareness due to my inner work led me face-to-face with my deepest, darkest, shadow. (more on that in the last question of this interview)
After deciding to face it by saying ‘yes’ to both my first Ayahuasca journey and attending the MITT Basic, I realized that there were parts of which I was unaware that were hurting those that I loved, including myself – at that point, I made a vow that these hurtful patterns and programming that I inherited were going to stop with me.
Almost immediately after stating that prayer, the course of my life set sail towards new horizons … I followed the guidance of spirit to many new places and callings, from Bangkok, back to LA, Sonoma County, Oakland, The Amazon, Berkeley, and then, finally, Costa Rica.
During that time I continued to sit with Ayahuasca while endeavoring into the risky and rewarding world of start-ups and entrepreneurial work; from independent IT consulting for a psychedelic thinktank, to selling all-natural tooth powder and CBD products into some of the countries most well-known natural foods grocers, my commitment to self-mastery of my inner and outer worlds eventually led me to my mentor during a San Pedro medicine ceremony.
After some years supporting him and his work, and being introduced to Men’s Work and being squarely set on the path to manhood, it dawned on me that I, too, wanted to contribute to the healing and development of men in the same way – and so I made another prayer to be shown the way.
Shortly afterwards, my relationship with my business partners went sour, leaving me with nothing. Lost, aimless, and purposeless, I accepted an invitation to the Amazon Jungle where I would drink Ayahuasca nearly a dozen times in 2 weeks with some of the foremost stewards and wisdom keepers of this mystical tradition, and in the very home of this incredibly powerful plant medicine.
The experience lovingly shattered me into pieces, unearthing all of my core trauma and wounding, which I spent the following years slowly, deliberately, and purposefully healing as I recreated myself in the embrace of my medicine community, guided by the indispensable wisdom of my mentor.
After emerging from that; dark night of the soul’, I deepened my apprenticeship with my mentor, developed my spiritual practice, became certified as an integration coach, and then … COVID hit.
That was the final straw for me: I decided that if there was any time in my life to fully say ‘yes’ to my soul purpose, this was the time – and so with the Western World engulfed in the fires of fear and division, I moved to Costa Rica to be immersed in nature, spirit, and – most importantly – myself. This rite of passage guided me into my life’s work as a Champion of Men devoted to recreating lost rites of passages for men by carefully alchemizing my gifts of psychospiritual coaching, men’s work, and medicine work.
I have been living on Mt. Chirripo, Costa Rica, since 2021 with my dog, Jimmy, and cats Frigga and Embla. I practice yoga, qi gong, breathwork, and meditation daily, circle with men weekly, and regularly read a balance of ancient mythology and modern psychospiritual works.
I enjoy sweat lodges, hiking, fire spinning, song and prayer circles, studying the mythopoetic origins of men’s work, making the perfect bone broth or pancake, and the occasional music festival.
I am a certified Internal Family Systems Practitioner, certified Psychospiritual Integration Coach, Master Reiki Channel, and student of Craniosacral Therapy.
Can you describe your journey into becoming a Champion of Men and what inspired you to specialize in rites of passage and psychedelic therapy?
I became a Champion of Men because that is what I lacked in my young adult life, and what I now realize was not only at cause for the majority of pain and trauma I have healed so far, but the majority of pain and trauma we experience as a people in the world.
What I mean by this is that the world is largely dominated by what most of us would call ‘men’ – that said, upon closer inspection, supported with an understanding of what it is to be a man, it became clear to me that it was not at all men who were largely running the world, it was adult boys.
These adult boys – and their errant and unchecked shadows of boy consciousness of being bullies, tyrants, and sycophants – are the prime perpetrators of our collective pain as human beings because their immature and arrested psychological development is responsible for the panoply of problems we are currently facing in the world.
Whole, caring, paternal men would not engage ceaselessly in war, they would not capriciously poison our plants, animals, food, and earth, and they most certainly would not blithely disparage and demean women.
And so, after entering into a relationship with a true man as my mentor, who so lovingly guided me through many rites of passage with his understanding of men’s work and psychedelic therapy, I came to understand that this was not only the path I had chosen, but also the path of greatest healing for the world – that being a Champion of Men was what I made for, and that mature, powerful men are what is lacking most in our world, and what is truly required for us to forge ahead as a global community in harmony with ourselves and nature.
How do you integrate Western and indigenous wisdom into your approach, and what role do these traditions play in your work with clients?
I love this question, as it points to the absolute most important aspect of medicine work today.
The integration of Western and indigenous wisdom and tools is critical to ensure safe, powerful, and effective experiences of psychedelics and plant medicines (which I will refer to as ‘entheogens’ – meaning ‘to experience God from within’) for Westerners, and anyone who was raised in a Westernized culture (all of whom I will simply refer to as ‘Westerners’ from here on out.)
And for the sake of accuracy we shall refer to the entheogenic wisdom keepers of the Native Americans, Central Americans, South Americans and Africans as the ‘Indigenous’, as these lands house the indigenous tribes and entheogenic rituals that are largely being indicated when Westerners use the term ‘indigenous’ when speaking of entheogens and related rites.
(Also, I’d be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to speak the truth that we are all indigenous, and this powerful modern differentiation exists simply to highlight how far Westerners have strayed from their inherent indigeneity – which we are blessedly reconnecting to thanks to this work)
The urgent and necessary need for syncretizing Western and Indigenous healing wisdom in modern medicine work is largely due to the vast differences in culture and society between these parties. For starters, it helps to know that the Indigenous do not have a word for ‘trauma’ – a word that paints a powerful portrait of both the Western predisposition towards pathology, and the prowess that psychic, subconscious, pain holds over us.
In short, Indigenous peoples do not have a word for ‘trauma’, and do not require technologies from the Western arts of Integration, because they are integrated people; they have long-standing and healthy relationships with themselves, their community, their food, nature, and spirit / god / source, however you define the latter.
They have no word for ‘trauma’ not only due to these strong energetic bonds to life internally and externally, but also because their healing rituals and practices with entheogens are experienced as a community, which allows all healing to transpire as the single, natural, organism that they are.
This, to me, is the way of The Village – an integrated group of people that live within a container of homogenized and embodied values, ideals, and ethics regarding all of life. Living in this way is what maintains such a healthy and whole homeostasis of the mind, body, and spirit – and this way is what Western souls are largely lacking, and sincerely seeking.
Western communion with plant medicines, psychedelics, and Indigenous wisdom is helping us slowly return to the Village (or, rather, create an entirely new one.) However, we require novel support and tools in doing so as we have strayed so far from it, and have endured pain and suffering heretofore unknown to mankind.
Western psychotherapeutic and psychiatric practice, I believe, was born out of necessity to help us take the first steps in addressing this pain, and offers timely and necessary wisdom to help us walk the path of indigenous healing, though the steps we need to take now can only be done with the guidance of integrating Indigenous wisdom.
Most important of all is the development of a caring and understanding relationship between the ‘aspirant’ (the one seeking healing support with entheogens) and the ‘guide’ (the one facilitating the experience with the entheogen).
This need is inherently met for the Indigenous as their elders, chiefs, and medicine men/women intimately know everyone in their tribe well enough to understand what they are struggling with, and thus how to support them.
For Westerners, that is generally not that case; some have therapists, counselors, or coaches … even less have those who truly care to understand them … and even less have those that care to understand them and are fit to guide them through a healing entheogenic ritual.
Considering the breadth and depth of trauma many Westerners hold, it takes impeccable care, skill, experience – as well as much dedicated time and practice with the aspirant – for a guide to safely and effectively hold space for a healing ritual.
I hope you, reader, are beginning to see how incredibly sensitive approaching this work right now can be …
I would say the second most important aspect of a healing entheogenic ritual is community. While the guide can prepare the aspirant and usher them through the experience, a supportive and loving community is vital to integrating the lessons in a meaningful and useful way.
Again, the Indigenous live within such a community, and so that need is met. And, again, most Westerners do not – living largely isolated lives amidst acquaintances and strangers; even most families do not have a foundation of shared values and ideals that hold them together, and are thus ill-equipped to support a loved one when they likely return with wild, bold, new ideas of themselves and life.
Lastly, I would posit that a strong relationship to nature / spirit / god is very helpful. Although this is not entirely necessary in the beginning, since many Westerners are very far from the step on their path where they get to develop a personal spiritual practice to move forward, it eventually becomes not only necessary but, in my opinion, the most important aspect of offering doing this work – whether for others, or for yourself.
And, truth be told, many Westerners are coming into these relationships and practices thanks to their experiences with entheogens – many would say that is inevitable, and I am one of them.
Personally, this comes through in my daily spiritual, self-care, practice that consists of yoga, qi gong, breathwork, meditation, and sometimes chanting and singing. That is because, over the years, this practice has become less about my relationship to my body and more about my relationship to Spirit, and how that affects my body.
And so, that begs the question – how do I meet these needs?
In short, I have studied with Indigenous wisdom keepers, I am mentored by an expert of Western psychology and Integrated Medicine Work and – most importantly – I have a wealth of experience with entheogenic rituals within both Indigenous and Western contexts where I have seen, felt, heard, and embodied the results of the most impeccable care and skill – as well as the utterly life-threatening lack of it.
My path to offering Integrated Medicine Work was a circuitous and untrodden one, though with some mystical bouquet of grit, magic, and luck, I made it out to the other side with shining colors and brilliant gifts.
Through my several years apprenticeship with my mentor and teacher, which is ongoing, I have learned the ways of navigating and creating safe containers for medicine journeys, as well as the discipline and rigor of men’s work, and how to weave the two together to recreate rites of passage for men.
My mentor not only personally studied with Central American Indigenous wisdom keepers of the San Pedro / Huachuma tradition after a full and successful career in psychotherapy – which he continues to this day – but also with a Western Mystery School that received the teachings, and the blessing to share them, of the Oaxacan Mushroom healing traditions lovingly curated by Maria Sabina – a well-known Mexican Shaman who is renowned for introducing the West to the healing power of Los Ninos (‘the children’, a term of endearment for the often playful and child-like medicine of psilocybin mushroom).
In addition, this Mystery School also incorporated training inspired by a new, Western, medicine modality of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Pioneered by MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), this entheogenic experience has been proven to cure PTSD in a matter of months for most aspirants in the study, and has offered lasting relief from anxiety and depression as a corollary result in many others.
My training with this approach under my mentor equips me with a very novel and unique offering. Created by Westerners, for Westerners, MDMA-assisted healing rituals are easily some of the most potent and effective medicine for the Western psyche, and it is a great honor to offer this rarified remedy.
As an aside, my apprenticeship is of great importance to note here, as the way of the medicine guide has, and always will be, that of the apprenticeship model – there are no certifications that exist, or that ever will exist, which can attest to one’s ability to serve medicine in such a way. Direct transmission and experiential training from a master to a student has always, and will always, be the way of such arts.
That said, there are many skills and technologies that medicine Guides can and should be trained in in order to best serve Western Aspirants, all stemming from their need to be assessed and understood from the perspective of the Western psyche. And so, training as a therapist or counselor is of great value, as is training and certification in similar arts such as integration coaching, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Hakomi, Somatic Experiencing, Family Constellations, and similar arts.
Here it is important to note that it is not a matter of therapist versus coach – to be clear, both can be well or ill equipped to do the work. What matters here is that they develop a capacity to meet another human being where they are at, be curious about who they are, guide them into deeper understanding of themselves and –– most importantly – do so with a great deal of experiences with entheogens themselves (warning: the latter part is very much lacking with many coaches and counselors who claim to be medicine guides; always be curious about their experience).
In addition, it is of immense benefit to be trained in energy work and bodywork modalities from any tradition, such as Reiki or Craniosacral therapy, as the realm of medicine work is energy work. The more a Guide is equipped to engage with energy in and around the body, the more capable and effective they will be.
Last, but certainly not least, is to have a committed spiritual practice at the core of one's life. In the end, what we are all working with here is consciousness itself, which is the very bedrock of all spirituality, religion, science, faith, and philosophy.
And so, while a well-trained and apt agnostic or atheist guide can certainly help many with their healing, they will only be able to take their aspirants as far as they have gone – and it has been modeled by great medicine men and women throughout time immemorial that those who have a strong and active connection to Spirit are able to be of the greatest support to those hoping to heal by exploring their consciousness with entheogens assisted rites.
And so I will conclude by sharing that, aside from my comprehensive, integrated, and enduring apprenticeship, I am also a certified integration coach, master reiki channel, Internal Family Systems practitioner, intuitive bodyworker, and student of: the mythopoetic tradition of men’s work, yoga meditation, qi gong, breathwork, and my Celtic / Gaelic / Norse ancestry of whose mythology and traditions I study and practice on a daily basis.
I employ these tools and technologies over several weeks – sometimes months – while developing a true, caring, relationship with any aspirant who is interested in an entheogenic healing ritual, and I only offer those rituals in one-on-one or small group gatherings, to ensure the safety and power of the container.
In doing so I create a community – not a rolodex of clientele – that can learn, heal, and grow together while I guide them into understanding of new skills and ways of being that empower them to navigate and embody the lessons and teachings from their medicine journeys.
This, I believe, is how we will once again learn to create the Tribes and Villages our souls are aching for.
Could you share a significant experience or story from your time in the Amazon that deeply influenced your approach to healing and guiding others?
My time in the Amazon is solely responsible for catalyzing the creation of the unique gifts and wisdom I use in my approach to healing and guiding Westerners with my medicine work.
Sitting with the medicine of Ayahuasca at the yearly Eskawata Kayawei festival in 2017 with the Huni Kuin tribe in Novo Futuro village, deep in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, was easily one of the most powerful experiences of Indigenous medicine wisdom and ritual one could have the honor of being invited into.
Though, as noted, the Indigenous lack the understanding of the pathology-addled Western psyche, and thus the skills, tools, and wisdom necessary to safely usher them through their entheogenic healing rites. Further, the ambassadors who gathered and escorted the Westerns to Eskawata Kayawei –– who were a mixture of Indigenous and Western folk – were also unaware of (or entirely failed to address) these needs. Consequently, that resulted in a highly risky and generally unsafe endeavor for all Western aspirants.
I spent nearly two weeks in Novo Futuro village living, eating, dancing, and praying with nearly 100 other Westerners and 100 Indigenous Huni Kuin tribe members. During that time, we all cooked medicine and food together, hiked the lush, local, jungle trails side-by-side, and drank their Ayahuasca brew as a ceremonial family 200-strong nearly a dozen times. To be clear, that is a great deal of medicine, with a great deal of people, in a very short period of time. And, to be further clear, I had no awareness of the inherent dangers that posed at the time – which I now know to be very potent ones.
The ceremonies were incredibly bountiful and powerful beyond my wildest dreams. I had journeyed with Ayahuasca several times over the years leading up to the Amazon (with many months in-between journeys), but nothing could have prepared me for what I had seen, felt, and heard during those rituals with Grandmother Ayahuasca, deep within the bosom of her ancient jungle home, in the care of the Huni Kuin – her original stewards and guardians.
Yes, I had read and heard about the tell-tale cosmological visions thanks to the stories I had collected and the book, ‘The Cosmic Serpent’, by Jeremy Narby, but to be visited by these monumental mythologies with such vivid and visceral volition arrested my consciousness with beauty and awe beyond comprehension.
I beheld The Rainbow Serpent itself – a living metaphor of the energy of Ayahuasca – as a massive snake coiled in and around itself with no tail or head in sight; iridescent and refulgent, radiating all color, and pulsing with love to the beat of my own heart.
Grandmother Ayahuasca herself visited me in the form of a towering, beneficent, Samauma tree – not unlike an Ent from Lord of the Rings. As my vision traveled up the length of her ancient form, I felt a loving embrace and holding like no other – as if I was cradled in her very roots. Finally, from a thicket of branches and vines in the canopy – a full, wizened, matronly face emerged: Grandmother Ayahuasca herself.
With slow and deliberate care, she cocked her gaze down towards me, smiled widely from ear-to-ear, pulling the creases of her crow’s feet back into the wild recess from which she came, filling me with unparalleled grace and compassion, after which I bolted upright and awake with a quickening and vitality of which I had never known.
One evening during our only outdoor ceremony, bathed in the auspicious and crisp light of a full moon, I opened my eyes to gaze at the fire around which we circled and noticed apparitions dancing in circles around it. I hastily dismissed it as a hallucination, as I was deep in the middle of my journey. Though, as the ceremony was concluding with the rising sun, I shared that experience with one of the tribe members, to which he replied ‘oh! You meet the ancestors? Amazing!’. And then I remembered; during the beginning of every ceremony, they chant to honor and invite the presence of their forebears into the space, at which point it dawned on me – I saw ghosts!
To be fair, there were also numerous trials of releasing physical and energetic pain – ‘purging’ or ‘getting well’, they call it. Whether it’s belabored bent-over heaving into the nearest bush, or egregious grunting and growling upon the wooden throne of the nearest composting toilet (all accompanied by the celebratory whoops of ‘Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!’ from the Huni Kuin custodians keeping watch – it’s like a team sport for them), Ayahuasca is well-known for its physiological and psychosomatic cleansing effects. These were the experiences I was heretofore most familiar with, but nothing akin to the prior visionary visitations.
Suffice to say, my mind, body, and spirit went through the cosmological ringer, so to speak. And while there were certainly challenging moments in the Amazon itself, the powerfully supportive setting of pristine and pure nature in tandem with nurturing and nourishing food and community, among other elements, was more than enough to hold me in that process. And so it wasn’t until I returned home that the true trial began.
Post-ceremony is where the real work begins, it’s what we refer to as ‘Integration’ as Westerners, which is the period of being with and making meaning of everything that you experienced in the ceremonies, as well as the matter of how you are experiencing yourself afterward. From the plethora of symbolism, archetypes, beings, and technicolor geometries you behold, to the novel and unfamiliar thoughts, feelings, and sensations flitting about in our minds and bodies afterwards, there is a host of material to contend with. And if one does not have the proper support or skills to do so, such a process can be incredibly painful and confusing – such was my journey for the better part of the following 3 years.
Metaphysically it’s referred to as ‘The Dark Night of the Soul’, psychologically it’s referred to as a ‘Spiritual Emergency’. Regardless of the terminology used, what we are talking about is the process of radically reconfiguring one’s identity due to an intense addition of energy into one’s system that ultimately upends their relationship with consciousness, and life, as they know it.
In the Amazon, the ‘purges’ relieved very deep, dark, wells of trauma in my psyche, and the visionary encounters imparted energies and insights from the high-seat of the cosmos – ultimately igniting an internal Axis Mundi of alchemical fire within my body that I was ill-equipped to tend.Old wounds were healing and new wisdom was gestating, and it was incredibly confusing and painful because I had no clue what was happening within me, or how to contend with it.
‘Depression’, Anxiety’, and the occasional visitation of ‘Suicidal Ideation’ is what my research and discourse led me to believe what I was, and what was happening. And to be fair, the symptoms were on point. That said, the causes were not; the Western psychological approach is quite limited in understanding both the myriad – and namely, mythopoetic – causes of such diagnoses, as well as their meaning and purpose. Essentially, common diagnoses such as depression and anxiety are indicative of energetic imbalances within the psyche, and their purpose is to make you aware of, and guide you through, your healing journey.
For the better part of a few years, I stumbled aimlessly through that healing journey – grasping to be saved by ‘practical’ Western approaches in supplements, pharmaceuticals, biohacking, and even trying to find a new job and home. The common denominator here is that these were all external forces; I was attempting to address what was happening inside me by reaching for something outside of me – and it does not quite work like that.
In fact, it was after taking my first dose of Wellbutrin offered to me by my partner at the time – who had been on it daily for years – that I had a wake up call. That morning I had woken up feeling so distraught and hopeless that the idea of death being safer than life visited me. I noticed that idea with a vivid, hyperaware, curiosity … I didn’t feel suicidal, but that thought did come to me. And so after sharing that with my partner, she suggested I try some of her medication. (note: this is not medical advice)
Within minutes of consuming it my system was shocked awake with a thunderous insight; the sensation of being so dissociated from feeling myself felt so entirely unnatural and wrong that it terrified me. It was at that point I realized I was going about this the wrong way, that I would not take this tragically common path that I knew – in my heart – was going to result in the absolute opposite of supporting my healing journey.
And so I redoubled my efforts and moved forward with a far more curious and open mind. I stopped trying to change the world around me, and started to change the world within me. I spent far more time in nature, paid more attention to what I ate and how it made me feel, allowed myself to rest and relax whenever it felt necessary and – most importantly – started to heed the ever-gentle and suggestive words of my teacher and his partner.
I began receiving acupuncture and massage, I visited hot springs and saunas more, got back into ecstatic dance, found a therapist who understood psychedelics and plant medicine, and began to practice yoga, breathwork, and meditation daily.
By listening to my body and following the advice from my teacher, I was able to find the community of support and develop the self-care practices required to help me navigate, and be with, my healing process – rather than avoid, mask, or dissociate from it like we are unfortunately taught and encouraged to do.
And so, to recapitulate, as this necessary integrative support and guidance was lacking from the Eskawata Kayawei experience, I was left to figure it out on my own. In doing so, I learned the core lessons about what is required to safely and fully guide others through comprehensive healing experiences.
I am grateful for these hard-earned gifts, and appreciate that my first-hand experience of such mishandling afforded me valuable, embodied, wisdom of the true risks of overlooking integration. That said, I consider myself very lucky, and I would not wish anyone else to walk the same perilous road to healing that I blindly ambled down.
Leaving the integrated environment of Novo Futuro village in the jungle into the unintegrated environment of Oakland California in the suburbs could have been a risk-free transition if they simply understood the differences in our lives, and it is my mission to support bridging that gap between our cultures.
Sadly, I brought this to the attention of some of the event producers last year at the most recent Psychedelic Science conference (produced by MAPS), where they were presenting a documentary on Eskawata Kayawei – which concluded with a suggestive ultimatum that the only way to truly experience Ayahuasca is to go sit with them in the jungle. They were not happy to receive my feedback and, to make matters worse, they did not believe they were doing anything wrong by continuing to offer the experience the very same way they did years ago when I was there. This sad and disappointing news made it very clear to me that we have a long road to walk …
What are some of the key principles of Mythopoetic Men's Work that you incorporate into your practice, and how do Celtic and Norse archetypes influence your approach?
Mythopoetic Men’s Work by definition indicates the approach to men’s work which experienced it’s revival by Robert Bly when he began his ‘Wild Man’ retreats in 1985, followed by his book which elegantly articulated and expressed the essence of this men’s work, ‘Iron John: A Book About Men’, which was published in 1990.I
t is called mythopoetic because it approaches the art of men’s work from a mythological and poetic lens, allowing us to navigate the now foreign and deep waters of initiation from these most appropriate and necessary perspectives.
Thus, the key principles of Mythopoetic Men’s Work that I incorporate into my practice are those of myth, ritual, and archetypes.
Myth is incredibly helpful in this work as it allows us to explore the material of what we are navigating in our lives within the context of a larger narrative. Myths differ from history in that they are not canonical or factual, though they are based upon truths of the world – such as symbolism, natural law, and archetypes (more on that last one in a moment).
And so, due to their richly metaphorical nature, the appropriate myth can provide the ‘world’ which one can enter to navigate and understand the current arc of their life – or a microcosm of it, such as a medicine journey.
Archetypes, as mentioned, are based upon worldly truths, and yet hold space for subjective interpretation and application. For example, there is the ‘King’ archetype of the male psyche – the part of a man that is sovereign, generous, orderly, and blesses through his connection to God.
Archetypes can also be more mundane, like ‘The Mountain’ or ‘The River’, or mystical and esoteric like ‘Kairos’ (Time) or ‘Althea’ (Truth). Archetypes are powerful because they are both subjective and objective. They are objective on the level that we know they exist and maintain certain qualities: we see the towering Mountain, we feel fleeting or dragging Time, we have known benevolent and tyrannical Kings.
And they are subjective on the level that we each have personal relationships with them – and this is where it becomes very valuable to this work; I may have a very different relationship to the energy of a benevolent King than someone else does, much like someone else may have a very different relationship to the notion of climbing to the cool, cloudy, peaks of a great Mountain. This is because archetypes are both mirrors for us and parts of us – their energy and meaning reflects our very own relationship to that energy and meaning within us, allowing us to explore what that relationship means for us.
The connection here is that myths are rife with the most potent and perfect archetypes for the stories they tell, allowing them to be great teachers for curious and open minds (or those who have curious and open minds to guide them through the myth)
Rituals themselves do not exist without myth, and therefore do not exist without archetype This is because rituals are man’s attempt to bring a myth to life; their attempt to harness the archetypal energy to support the transformation of one’s psyche (sometimes with the aid of an entheogen).
The performance of such rites and initiations throughout the majority of human existence is incredibly rich, varied, and well-documented and I, among many others in this line of work, feel very strongly that in order for this work to truly thrive, ritual gets to be the primary archetype that holds the experience.
My work with Celtic and Norse archetypes largely has to do with the exploration of my personal spiritual path, and thus presents as a unique flavor to my offerings. I sometimes work with runes for divination, use Celtic mythology to contextualize a story, or use Norse music to guide part of a medicine journey.
Lastly, ‘King, Warrior, Magician, Lover’, a very eminent (and in my opinion, necessary) book I use to work with men is focused solely upon excavating and illuminating the ancient meanings and modern applications of those 4 archetypes as they pertain to the maturation of boys into men.
In what ways does your training in psychospiritual integration coaching, Internal Family Systems therapy, and Reiki contribute to the holistic healing journey you offer your clients?
In order to offer comprehensive and holistic care to Westerners seeking entheogenic healing it is ideal to have adequate training and experience in the following: a pertinent coaching or therapy modality, body and/or energy work modality, and a religious/spiritual/mystical path related to your personal beliefs and values. It is also highly recommended to stay abreast of the latest news and events regarding Western applications and experiences with entheogens, as the landscape of research is rapidly evolving.
The need for a coaching or therapy modality was covered above and, in essence, is necessary to develop a trusting and informed relationship with the client so the guide can understand how to care for them before, during, and after the entheogenic experience.
Psychospiritual Integration coaching is a modern coaching modality that imparts the fundamentals of supporting a Westerner through such an experience, and is particularly efficacious if it teaches the basics of addiction and addiction recovery in my opinion.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an advanced coaching approach that is somatic in nature, focusing on the relationship the client has with their ‘family’ of sensations, feelings, triggers, pains, and traumas – all of which are embodied as ‘parts’ of them. This approach has become incredibly effective with medicine work because it brings the focus out of the head and into the body, normalizes all of the clients experiences, and is strengthened by the practitioners spiritual fortitude (the latter only being effective, of course, if that is strong and – if it is – it is a great boon.)
Energy work and body work are becoming more and more of a necessity, and less of a nice-to-have, in this work simply because we are beginning to realize the implications of working in the realms of consciousness and energy – which is to say that words, diagnoses, and pathology-driven approaches can only take us so far when we are navigating into the deep waters of the psyche as quickly as these medicines tend to take us.
Exploring the energetic realms of symbolism, archetypes, and transpersonal phenomena requires us to show up equipped with an equally energetic array of skills to navigate them. Reiki is excellent because the practitioner is simply a channel for its pure, healing, light energy – it comes into them, and goes through them into the client through their hands; there is absolutely no transference from practitioner to client, and the practitioner also benefits. Another excellent modalities is Craniosacral Therapy, as it is incredibly light touch, and works directly on the nervous system.
Hands-on bodywork is also incredibly effective in the right situations, but requires expert knowledge of transference and countertransference – as whatever unhelpful ‘shadow’ energies the practitioner may be carrying can easily be transferred, and because more complex and vigorous touch will literally stir up more material in the client. As it is, most medicine guides do no more than offer to hold hands, place a hand on the heart, or share a hug – and even sometimes that can be incredibly triggering – and that says everything about how much trauma we are currently carrying as a people.
There is a wealth of more information I could share on this topic, as it’s a very salient and vital one to understand well – but that is certainly enough to understand the gravity of this aspect.
How does living in Costa Rica with a community of healers and guides support your work and the experiences you facilitate for your clients?
First and foremost, living in such a community with so many skilled and talented peers who approach this work from various angles keeps me inspired, disciplined, and curious.
On a nearly daily basis I am humbled and awestruck by the talent and mastery my friends hold. What’s more is that we love sharing and teaching each other more than anything – in fact, even simple ‘recreational’ gatherings such as movie or board game nights are ripe with groundbreakingly progressive insight or ancient wisdom. We are truly living the dream of re-creating The Village here in Mt. Chirripo, Costa Rica (though, if I were being honest, we all are wearing the hats of every village role as we do this!)
It also keeps me quite sharp and focused, as the largely lawless sprawl of the jungle is an inviting and supportive environment for charlatans, grifters, and downright sociopaths who prey upon uneducated, ignorant, or desperate souls who often trust the first honey-tongued healer they happen across.
And then there’s the matter of the inefficacy of retreat centers, the majority of which are in less regulated countries such as Costa Rica. This is simply due to the fact most generally lack the rigor of comprehensive assessment, preparation, and integration despite having adequate training with indigenous teachers. From my experience, though, it is simply due to ignorance, and not avoidance, and so educational support really is the key here. Still, it reminds me of the great value and need of the integrative approach on a regular basis.
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
My greatest career achievement was guiding my own Mother through an MDMA ceremony about 2 years ago when I visited for the Fall Holidays.
True to the nature of any psychedelic experience, you never know what will happen, and I was thoroughly tested to the extent of my skill at the time as the medicine was coming on, a moment where I believe that any fear we have to receiving our uniquely full embodiment can manifest – and hers did in a way I had never encountered.
Sparing the personal details, I can say with confidence that my capacity to remain calm, meet her where she’s at, and hold her hand while encouraging her to take deep breaths was all it took. Shortly afterward, she was softly, slowly, nodding her head ‘yes’, while speaking ‘Thank you God’.
After gently cajoling her from her cocoon of consummate bliss, we were sitting in two lawn chairs in the backyard that were being bathed in the first mid-afternoon Sun of that blustery New England Fall visit. Breathing deeply, feeling peaceful, held in perfect, comforting, silence – she then began to speak; in crisp, clear, confidence, she shared her story of the trauma she incurred as a child. There wasn’t an ounce of fear or pain expressed in her elegant delivery … acceptance, forgiveness and – above all –– truth was speaking here: this was her re-creation of that moment, and thus her reclamation of her power and energy. A true miracle had transpired.
There is a saying that comes from ancient wisdom when it comes to healing work such as this: ‘when you heal the Mother’s wounds, you heal the families wounds’. And, I have to say, ever since that journey with my Mother, my own healing journey has certainly accelerated.
It is no surprise that women carry the majority of personal and cultural trauma in Western society, as they have been constantly and intensely oppressed and marginalized since the first spark of ‘Western’ culture took flight from its heart-hardened hearth, and my Mother is no exception.
That said, from the way she carried, and carries, herself through this boyish world, it would be hard to tell – and most other women are no exception. And so, while I was excited to offer this joyously healing experience, there was some trepidation, even understanding the incredibly safe nature of MDMA journeys.
I truly believe that my capacity to offer this work has everything to do with the gifts my Mother has blessed me with. She truly has the grace and compassion of an angel – which led me recently to understand why she has always believed in them (and fairies, and God, and the benevolent nature of Life in general) – and I have deepened more into my own softening, discovering my feminine gifts of empathy and stillness, the love for my Mother, and for all Mothers and women, has been endlessly flowing from my ever-grateful heart.
Thank you, Mom – I love you!
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
I would like to slow down, drastically. Primarily because we are operating within a system without any checks-and-balances, code of ethics, or comprehensive and shared understanding of the nature of harm reduction and integration (we hardly even have a codified vocabulary for what is happening).
If you ask me, the cause of the great majority of harm happening in these spaces is due solely to this, resulting in a gross lack of awareness and understanding of what we are actually doing – or attempting to do, for the majority.
My belief is that this is because the primary cultural impetus for creation in the West has been in the driver’s seat, and that can be easily summarized by the ethos of our well-known tech behemoth Meta (formerly known as Facebook): ‘Move fast and break things’.
I say this because the approach to the consumerization and commodification of nearly all products and services in the West is plagued by the ideals of hyper-efficiency and max-profit rendered by the boy psychology predominating the minds of the adult males at the helm of these efforts. The fruits of the ‘Psychedelic Renaissance’ – as it is endearingly mislabeled by many – are no exception.
This approach has its benefits when the product is a tool – some mobile app or biohacking technology – but has absolutely no value with the product at hand here which is, to put it simply, human consciousness itself; we do not want to ‘move fast and break stuff’ here.
Thankfully, there are intrepid and influential minds in this space, such as Bob Jesse, who expressed very similar sentiments while speaking with Michael Pollan – acclaimed author of the wildly popular ‘How To Change Your Mind’ – at the last Psychedelic Science conference in Denver, CO.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
I remember this moment very clearly. I was living in Venice Beach, CA, with my then partner – a wonderful and vibrant therapist who was very much on purpose and knew what she wanted in life.
I, however, was quite the opposite as I began to notice a great disenchantment and lack of vitality for all things in my life – my job, my partnership, my home … everything looked so good on paper, I should have been ecstatic, I thought!
But when I realized that sinking, dragging, feeling would not release me, I became curious about the vigor and joy my ‘less successful’ artist and creative friends were experiencing in the afterglow of their recent work with Ayahuasca and Large Group Awareness Training, such at Landmark and MITT.
I bit, I had nothing to lose at that point, and so within a matter of weeks I attended MITT Basic and had my first encounter with Ayahuasca. I learned what stories, triggers, and shadows were at MITT, and I had a hollowing and hallowed encounter of myself with the medicine – noticing some manner of ‘spiritual’ cleansing in my being that felt good, as if I had been gifted a clean mirror in which to see myself in a way I had forgotten to.
In short time, I came to grips with the fact that there were parts of me that I did not know or understand which were responsible for hurting those around me – nearly everyone I loved, in fact – and a montage of every hurtful word and spiteful action over the recent years flashed through my vision. I was horrified, I thought I was a good person, I never wanted to hurt anyone …I could not bear to live with that truth. I then made a vow that it would all end with me, in this lifetime, no matter the cost. And so, the course of my life changed that day, my prayer was answered, and I started down a path that would have me die and be reborn more times that I could have imagined. A road that would eventually lead me here, to this very moment, sharing this story, one of which I would not have a single word or act changed.
I sit here now, a proud, grateful, humbled man, ready to do whatever it takes to walk the same path with anyone else who is ready to make such a vow.
Thank you, Ariel, for patiently waiting for the right moment to help me see who I was, so I could become who I am.
Great job buddy really enjoyed reading all of this.
Please send me it when it gets published too as I would love to see the finished work.
And of course, if they ask for the name of a brilliant editorial advisor, you know I’m not too shy.
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