The Psychedologist Leia Friedwoman

The luminous Sovereign Xavier lights up the room! In this episode we talk about mending, the birth of Blackadelics in Colorado, collective and decentralized movements, deepening commitment to community, sharing resources, and queerness giving hope for the world.

Sovereign serves as a catalyst for systemic change, leading as Founder and Co-Creator of ALKEMI Consulting and Development, a niche consulting firm that specializes in transmuting individuals, communities, and organizations through the process of alchemy. Collaborating with individuals, organizations, and movements, Sovereign facilitates the transmutation of cultural, interpersonal, and ecological design. Their work is grounded in core values of self-care, community care, and collective liberation, striving to create inclusive ecosystems where every voice is heard and valued. Sovereign believes in shared responsibility for creating positive change and emphasizes the importance of mutual support and care in pursuit of collective liberation.

Links:

IG: Sovereign_Xavier

Email: sovereignxe@gmail.com

The course Leia mentioned taking, Roots Deeper than Whiteness, was organized by White Awake https://whiteawake.org/

The second ​episode of a two ​part series, with Justice Rivera and Paula Graciela Kahn of Body Autonomy: Decolonizing Sex Work and Drug Use!

In this conversation, Justice, who compiled the essays and stories that make up the book, and contributor Paula Graciela Kahn, go deep into topics such as substance use, colonization, bodily sovereignty, rites of passage, sex worker centered harm reduction, collectivity, and the importance of education to help shift paradigms.



Body Autonomy is coming out May 14, 2024 - you can preorder it from Synergetic Press here:

https://synergeticpress.com/catalog/body-autonomy-decolonizing-sex-work-drug-use/

Justice Rivera (she/they; ella/elle) is a writer, social justice consultant, harm reductionist, and pleasure activist based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Justice’s professional and artistic work is grounded in principles of harm reduction, anti-oppression, and healing justice. Her expressions seek to deconstruct carceral and punishment-driven paradigms to race, gender, and bodily autonomy. Justice has worked to provide direct services, organizing leadership, and capacity building support to people in the sex trade, survivors of trafficking, and people who use drugs in Denver, Washington DC, Seattle, and nationally. She is now a Partner with Reframe Health and Justice Consulting. She is collectrix and co-author of Body Autonomy: Decolonizing Sex Work and Drug Use. When she isn’t working, Justice loves to travel, cook, volunteer, and play with her cat, friends, and family.

Paula Graciela Kahn (she/they) is a first-generation Mayan-Iberian-Ashkenazi Jewish community-based researcher, policy advocate, movement strategist, edu-tainer, facilitator, herbalist and healing arts practitioner. Paula's research investigates the roles ofpsychoactive substances in pluri-cultural contexts for processes of historical memory, accountability, reparations,reconciliation, transitional and transformative justice, demilitarization, disarmament and reintegration.

Links:

Pre-order Bodily Autonomy

Justice’s websiteIG @‌justicerivera_writestwitter @‌justice_writes

Paula’s websiteIG @‌plurproductions

The first ​episode of a two ​part series, with contributors to Body Autonomy: Decolonizing Sex Work and Drug Use!

In this conversation, Melodie and J share so many nuggets of wisdom and experience from the realms of sex work, drugs, gender, religion/spirituality, consent and altered states of consciousness.

Melodie Garcia, MPA is the Co-Director for New Moon Network, an activist-led intermediary funder and capacity builder advancing sex workers' rights in the USA. Melodie is a published author, speaker, and nonprofit strategist with over 12 years of experience leading social justice projects ranging from direct services to advocacy to philanthropy.

At the intersection of people, policy, research, and creativity is where you will find longtime sex worker J Leigh Oshiro-Brantly. As a multi-racial Ryukyuan non-binary trans person who has lived with disabilities, poverty, food/housing instability and violence, they have brought this experience to their research and advocacy. J loves to support their sex worker and survivor communities by serving at organizations like New Moon Network and the Ishtar Collective.

Links:

Preorder Body Autonomy!

https://www.newmoonnetwork.org/

https://www.ishtarcollective.org/

J Leigh IG: @‌dominartrix

Melodie Twitter: @‌theworld_onfire

Melodie IG: @‌melodiekk

The riveting Rebecca Martinez in a conversation about her new book, Whole Medicine! In this episode you will hear about the natural world as central in the conversation about people, plant medicine, ethics and expanded states; Alma Institute; being on both sides of the altar; power, harm and responsibility; normalizing conflict; a wish for this book to educate and empower the psychedelic naive; shrinking the power dynamics between facilitators and journeyers; and a pondering of, how are the medicines doing? Finally, Rebecca reads an excerpt from Whole Medicine for us.

I highly recommend the book! Link to purchase in the show notes.

Rebecca Martinez is a Chicana parent, writer, community organizer, and social entrepreneur living in Portland, Oregon. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Alma Institute, a nonprofit educational institution that equips trainees from marginalized communities to become legal psilocybin facilitators. She is also the author of Whole Medicine: A Guide to Ethics for Psychedelic Therapy and Plant Medicine Communities, published by North Atlantic Books in 2024. She is a voice on psychedelic justice and has been featured in NPR, Business Insider, STAT News, Lucid News, and Psychedelics Today.

Links:

Order Whole Medicine

Alma Institute

Rebecca's Website

Rebecca's Instagram

https://www.psychedelicsafetyflags.com/

Ayize just released his final book of the year, Box of Bones: Book Two. By popular demand, he comes back on the podcast for a part 2!

We discuss, “what is evil?” and Ayize shares some stories from his work as a counselor, therapist and spaceholder. He says that evil could perhaps be defined as “that which does not lend its support to the life cycle.”

I hope you enjoy this elaboration on the rich topic we unearthed in our first podcast conversation (the episode before this one)!



Links:

A Table of Our Own

Ayize’s writing

Therapy/psychospiritual work with Ayize

A Table of Our Own on IG

Buy Box of Bones Book 2

Ayize Jama-Everett holds three Master’s degrees: Divinity, Psychology, and in Fine Arts, Writing. He blends these degrees in all his work, often identifying as a guerilla theologian, a community-based therapist, and an afro-futurist in the same breath. He’s taught at Starr King School for the Ministry, California College of the Arts, The University of California, Riverside, Western Colorado College, and several private High schools for over twenty years. His expertise includes working with adolescents, the history of substance use in the United States, the history of Sacred Plant medicines in the Maghreb, the religious roots of political violence from Ireland to the Middle East, educational arts pedagogy, and Afrofuturism. He’s published four novels (The Liminal series )and two graphic novels(Box of Bones and The last Count of Monte Cristo). As an associate professor at Starr King, he teaches The Sacred and the Substance, a course that examines the role of consciousness altering plants in religions around the world. He also coordinates the Psychedelics and the Seminary lecture series for Starr King, which invites luminaries from the Psychedelic world to discuss their orientations to faith and religion.

Ayize is the producer of a documentary about Black people and psychedelics entitled A Table of Our Own. His shorter works can be found in the LA Review of Books, The Believer, and Racebaitr. He is a Board member of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, leading their initiative to look at the role of psychedelics in the mental health of People of color and poor people. Ayize also serves as a board member to Access to Doorways, a non-profit committed to increasing the number of Queer and BIPOC people involved in psychedelics at every stage. In addition, he serves as a board-level advisor to Psychedelics Today, focusing on their VITAL psychedelics training program. He’s also served in an advising capacity at UC Berkeley Center for psychedelic science, has been a guest lecturer at the California Institute of Integral Studies Psychedelic Therapies and research center, and was a featured speaker at Stanford’s first Psychedelics and design symposium.

A Table of Our Own is a groundbreaking documentary about Black People and Psychedelics/Plant Medicine. Although Ayize wears many hats, from therapist to writer to professor, filmmaking was not something he ever saw himself doing. He shares about the process of seeing this project through, including the fact that no major psychedelic organizations put forth support to make it happen.

Through discussion of one of his books, Box of Bones, the topic of stories arises - who gets to tell the stories, and why? The cornerstone of therapy is, what stories are you telling yourself, and why? Stories always reinforce a narrative.

Adjacent to this and the discussion of evil, Ayize pushes back on the “hurt people hurt people” trope - not all hurt people hurt people. Some hurt people hurt people, some hurt people protect people, help people, say “never again, I’m not going to let that happen to me or anyone else.”

During and following this conversation, I find myself reflecting on the position of privilege that is to take a stance that evil does not exist. In the context of harms in community, Ayize puts forth that people who want to avoid conflict will ask what was going on for that person who caused harm? You get to ask the question because you haven't been hurt.

The conversation winds down with a tip of the hat to speaking the truth, and all of the people who have come together to birth A Table of Our Own.

Links:

A Table of Our Own

Ayize’s writing

Therapy/psychospiritual work with Ayize

A Table of Our Own on IG

“The greatest tool the colonizer has is the mind of the colonized” - Franz Fanon