New Articles

Intention by Ralph Miller (June 27th, 2009)

Intention is something we take into the sacred moments of our life. It is the prayer that we offer with each breath we take. Real intentions are our will to act and do in a way that guides our souls through this universe. What should those intentions be? Can they lead us to contentment and peace?

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To Live an a Better Way by Ralph Miller (June 11th, 2009)

The morality of the Inca cultures was a beautiful and simple approach to life: Do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy. The guiding principal of the Inca would seem to be that living in a truthful way is better than living in a false way. We individually can develop higher consciousness within a path that is truthful.

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The Black Swan by Ralph Miller (December 12th, 2008)

The world is going to change in some fundamental way; you know things will change but you can’t put your finger on what the change would be. You just feel it. A great transformation will happen and the form it will take will be something we never anticipated. The concept of a black swan is a metaphor. It is reference to anything that is utterly improbable. It refers to events or things which are not predictable but at the same time feel inevitable.

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Read more articles in our Article Library.

Articles by Other Authors

Why we inevitably all become Ralph! by Piers Portman (February 28th, 2008)

The path to enlightenment is a path to be walked alone. This may seem something we would not choose, as we are all addicted to the comfort zone of our companions. If we are to take the essential lesson of self-responsibility we will see that we are only able to walk through the door alone.

"We recently received an article entitled 'Why we inevitably all become Ralph!' from our friend Piers. The title of this article is deceiving which seems to be the very point he was making in writing the article. And certainly was not encouraged by Ralph himself who has said to me so many times over the years 'This work with ayahuasca is not about you, or me or any of us.'

This article describes a realization that we are ultimately responsible for every choice we make and it is our choice alone to encounter this sacred medicine. No matter what we do, or what we think we know, we are not prepared for this experience. Even if you have drank ayahuasca before you still remain unprepared. Ralph is pretty good at getting that message across with humor."

-Peter Richardson

Peter's blog entry

New Videos About Our Workshops, Ayahuasca, and More

Alex Grey on Ayahuasca

Alex Grey, visionary artist, talks about an ayahuasca experience he had in Brazil. He shares the dichotomy of touching his own true Buddha nature and confronting his own shortcomings as a human being. His style is very personable, down to earth, and he invites the viewer to simply accept all aspects of who they are.

"I think ayahuasca can show us how beautiful we are inside; and what kinds of possibilities we have for love and for actions of kindness. What better way to root ourselves back into the web of nature and a compassion for this web of life, than through the plants themselves. The plants are talking to us; we need to listen." - Alex Grey

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Alex Grey: Artwork Music Video

Drinking ayahuasca medicine is an encounter with the deepest sacredness that exists within each of us. One of the master lessons of the plant is to let go and allow the plant to enter into us. We embrace this intelligence of nature and allow it to help us to heal our humanity, reconnecting back to the primal force in all things.

This music video by Alex Grey and Eamon Barling graphically demonstrates the rewiring and reconnecting process of the human soul back to the universal web of nature, where all things are connected as one.

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Graham Hancock: The Mystery of Human Origins

Watch this engaging interview with Graham Hancock speak on the mystery of human origins, sacred plants, and the shamanic realms beyond this world.

"The original inspiration [to drink ayahuasca] in my case was an intention to explore the mystery of human origins. As I started to investigate this material I found that most of the story is incredibly dull. Our early ancestors behaved for millions and millions of years in an incredibly dull and uninteresting manner with no creativity, no symbolism, no evidence whatsoever of a spiritual life.

The brain was there but it wasn't being used. Something happened that led to it being used. I believe that the evidence is compelling that our ancestors discovered altered states of consciousness. They may have come across hallucinogenic plants by chance; they may have thought they were food items. Then when they consumed them it brought about a radical transformation in the way that they looked at the world. It changed everything about being human." - Graham Hancock

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Wade Davis: Cultures at the far edge of the world

With stunning photos and stories, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the world's indigenous cultures, which are disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate. Wade Davis has been described as "a rare combination of scientist, scholar, poet, and passionate defender of all of life's diversity." His talk covers a wide range of indigenous cultures from the Kogi indians of northern Colombia to the ayahuasca traditions of the Cofan in Amazonia.

"Together the myriad cultures of the world make up a web of spiritual life, and cultural life, that envelopes the planet. It is as important to the wellbeing of the planet as is indeed the biological web of life. This cultural web of life is the ethnosphere, the sum total of all thoughts and dreams, myths, ideas, inspirations and intuitions brought into being by the human imagination since the dawn of consciousness. The ethnosphere is humanity's great legacy." - Wade Davis

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All of these videos and more can be found in the Video Library.

New Talks, Lectures & Ayahuasca Music

We would like to share with you some music from our good friend and shaman Warinei Wanare. Over the course of this last year he has spent a great deal of time with his own mentors of the Sikuani tribe in the eastern Orinoquia region of Colombia. This region is legendary for its wealth of healing and psychoactive plant medicines. There are more sacred plants here than anywhere else in the world.

The Sikuani have ancient healing traditions that use sacred words or prayers. During the ayahuasca ceremony these prayers are sung over the people and invoke healing. The language is sacred and comes from a place in the spiritual worlds. Warinei continues to bring forth their knowledge and healing traditions to share with people from all over the world.

Listen to Warinei's music recently recorded during the ayahuasca ceremonies this past September. Many of you have asked for longer versions so we have posted about 60 minutes of music.

Sacred Prayers	9:44 minutes (8.92 MB)	or download.
Hand Drum & Prayers	9:41 minutes (8.87 MB)	or download.

Listen to more ayahuasca music

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Logos: The Living WordNew Live Lecture by Ralph Miller!

Recorded live on March 16th, 2008 during our workshops in Brazil, listen to Ralph Miller lecture about the intelligence of nature and the origins of language.

"Ayahuasca activates the language centers in human consciousness. There is an ancient mystical Greek philosophy called the Logos. The Logos was 'the word'. Through the Logos, all things that came into being were made. The Greek mystics felt that there was a language that existed beyond three dimensional, temporal human language. That it would be a four or five dimensional language that can call into existence all that is."

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DestinyNew Live Lecture by Ralph Miller!

Recorded live on September 2nd, 2007 during our workshops in Brazil, listen to a lecture by Ralph Miller about approaching our own individual Destiny.

Each of us look at the circumstances that brought us here and the desire to approach our own individual destiny. We agree to put one foot in front of the other towards something that we are completely ill prepared for. Our destiny is unavoidable. Our egos take great comfort in the belief that we have choice in the decisions that we make. But free will is ultimately not reconcilable with Destiny. Destiny is a place and a point where you will be without option. It is because of your own design and your own desire that you create your Destiny.

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Podcast Episode 002

37:14 minutes (17.11 MB)
Download the podcast

In this podcast, we invite you to listen to a variety show with segments from various lectures from our March 2007 Brazil Ayahuasca Workshops. (read more)

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Watch & listen to more streaming media in our Audio & Video Library.

New Media & Press

Mind–Altering Vacations: Ayahuasca in Brazil article published in Condé Nast Traveler (April 01st, 2009)

Heart of the Initiate, a U.S.-based organization, offers ayahuasca workshops at an eco-resort on the coast of Brazil, where the indigenous, religious, and ritual use of ayahuasca is protected by federal law. The workshops—either 8 or 17 days—begin with 2 days of decompression, followed by ayahuasca ceremonies every other day, led by an experienced shaman.

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Brewed Awakening article published in Now Magazine (Toronto) (March 04th, 2009)

What seems to be happening is awareness on a quantum level not typically experienced in a person’s lifetime. Yet the experience for many is familiar and may be reminiscent of the earliest moments of our life when we first reached this world from a source that is somewhere else. The familiarity nurtures a confidence that we will ultimately return to a source we already know.

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News for the Soul live radio show broadcast (February 14th, 2007)

Join us to hear more about our workshops, how we came to take people from all over the world to this sacred medicine, and ideas about how this medicine helps people to understand who they really are. They key question in approaching this sacred journey is to ask yourself "why"?

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Read & listen to more press in our Media & Press Library.