Addictions have us trapped. Disorientation is a killer. How do we focus when flashy thumbnails, sound bites, and hooks grasp our attention? It's impossible to get ahead. 

There's no hope (says an absolute pessimist).

But I have a secret: I've found the magic pill...

If you’ve got big dreams but you feel like they’re just out of reach, this is for you.

Let’s be honest: most people aren’t living their dream life.

They’re stuck in stagnation, weighed down by survival mode and distractions….

It's important to create space to acknowledge -and celebrate- the hardships and triumphs of our lives.

This past cycle has been huge for me.

I remember in past seasons feeling frustrated, irritated, deflated, depressed. Feeling like I was spinning my wheels but not really "getting anywhere”.

Offering ceremony on our previous lands in the High Country was the first big manifestation of a vision…

I’m not quite sure how to put it, but there’s something about the roar of wind through valleys and dry desert plains.

At times the whisper of a butterfly, at others, the relentless howl of an ancient power.

What am I seeking out here in the desert? 

Why am I really here?

Life is a game of mastery.

And most people live mediocre lives because the path of mastery is difficult.

Pain is inevitable. 

What would you rather choose...?

Back in 2017 I wrote about how ayahuasca and other entheogens were helping prepare me for my own death.

I was forced over and over again to stare at my own mortality down the barrel of the medicine cup.

If you’ve yet to experience any form of entheogenic medicine or psychedelic substance, the whole situation can get intense.Very intense...

We were nestled underneath a ginormous cathedral of bamboo, we had a lush rainforest creek flowing right beside us in our ceremonial area, two mountain ranges flanked us on either side, and the wind was shifting from a gentle breeze to an absolutely howling almighty constant roar.

Winter, mountain bear dreaming, rest, rejuvenation, hibernation.

It was minus five degrees in the Vic High Country this past weekend. That’s what several of our vehicles measured, early in the AM.

14 of us gathered around the fire as dawn broke, readying ourselves for a mid-winter saunter. A couple of us had frost on the INSIDE of our swags…

It was mid-morning by the time we reached the viewpoint, and plenty of others were clanking up steel stairs for the panoramic photos. 

People were loud, boisterous, making quips about the walk uphill, heavy footsteps and mindless chit-chat; obnoxious to the fact that there were others there before them, enjoying the views in quietude. 

People talk way too much up on the mountain, I thought…

This mountain almost killed me. It’s not a tale I’ve told often, but it deserves some air time.

Despite growing up by the coast, I’ve long felt like a mountain man. Probably no surprise to those who know me well enough. It’s hard to say when it all started…

It’s hard to see clearly sometimes. Windows foggy. Shrouded view.

Even if the skies aren’t grey and the colours of earth are in bloom, life can seem… a little dull.

Going through the motions, not sure what the next big stepping stone is, or when it’s going to come…

It’s not entirely uncommon for shamans to involve themselves in power games, dark magic, energy harvesting and any number of malevolent practices.

The polarity of light and dark, black and white, good and evil, knows no bounds…

When our eyes are graced with wonder, the world reveals its wonders to us.

So much depends on how we look at things. The quality of our looking determines what we come to see…

Anything is one of a million paths.

You must always keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions.

To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life…

Norse mythology has been coming into my field again lately.

I’m particularly drawn to the tales and travels of the great one-eyed god, Odin. I’ll spare you the finer details, but the imagery of how Odin came to sacrifice that eye is one worthy of rumination...

The indigenous peoples have long used ayahuasca to cure a range of ailments, with many seekers and testifying how ayahuasca cured their depression.

Finally, it seems like science is catching up to what is obvious to many…

However, while the findings are compelling, the answer may be more complex than you first think…

Human sacrifice has long been part of the dominant paradigm.

People wiped out to feed the beast and fuel hidden agendas.

There's almost always more than meets the eye, but most are too blind to see past their own emotional reactivity to see the many shades in-between…

For the uninitiated, or for those who don’t spend a lot of time in shamanic meditations, consciousness exploration, religious sects, new-age spirituality or otherwise, the eyes might glaze over when one references “the sacred”.

Over the years, it had me thinking…

How do I best try and describe this to someone that has little-to-no exposure within this world, as simply yet meaningfully as possible?

There is almost always a bone pile waiting out there in the bush for us. The more attention you give it, the bigger it tends to get.

Bone piles are all the little deaths that have occurred along the way. The descansos of your lives, the crossroads moments where something or someone got chucked under the truck….

Birds have fascinated humans for centuries; it shouldn’t be difficult to see why.

They’re graceful, beautiful, and possess the otherworldly quality of flight that captures our imagination.

Across worldly cultures and traditions, birds have played significant roles in story, mythology, folklore, and the very tangible reality of birds offering cues and teachings about the ordinary, and not-so-ordinary happenings within one’s local ecology…