Greetings all. This is the seventh blog post featuring different aspects of and presenters at the upcoming Spirit Plant Medicine Conference, www.spiritplantmedicine.com, to be held at UBC Oct. 24-26. The previous six can be viewed here.

In case you haven’t checked it out, the presentation schedule for the conference has been up since last week and the excitement level is rising. This page also mentions our remaining pre-conference events, which include live and archived radio interviews with some of our presenters as well as two evening presentations.

Joshua Wickerham will be interviewed on Co-op radio in Vancouver, 100.5 FM, next Wednesday, October 15 at 6 pm PDT. His interview and several others will also be archived at consciouslivingradio.org under Past Shows.

We also have two remaining live pre-conference events, both at Eternal Abundance, 1025 Commercial Drive in Vancouver. Andrew Feldmár will give a presentation called “The Rainbow States of Consciousness” At 8 pm on Wednesday, October 15 and Sobey Wing of Evolver Vancouver will moderate a Talking Stick Circle at 8 pm on Wednesday October 22.

The Sacred Feminine

This year we’re proud to have particularly strong representation from women at the conference. There are six women with a wide variety of experience and perspectives on work with entheogenic plants and substances.

Evgenia Fotiou

Evgenia Fotiou is a professor of anthropology at Kent State University in Ohio and very knowledgeable about several aspects of the current state of affairs around ayahuasca, such as “shamanic tourism” for example. Evgenia will have a strong presence at the conference, doing a keynote address on Friday evening and participating in two panel discussions on Saturday. Her main presentation is called “Lessons Missed on the Way to Enlightenment.” We’ve previously featured Evgenia here.

Yalila Espinoza

Yalila has a PhD from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco and maintains private spiritual counseling practices in Oakland and Vancouver. She also has a forthcoming book, “In the Belly of the Serpent: Sensual Wholeness with Plant Consciousness.”  Yalila’s presentation has the intriguing title “The Erotic Intelligence of Sacred Plant Teachers.”

Gillian Maxwell

Gillian is a coach and facilitator, public speaker, and knowledge exchange broker who has been dedicated to the reform of drug policies nationally and internationally for the past fifteen years. She also has extensive personal experience with a variety of entheogens. Her presentation is titled “Developing a Relationship with Plant Medicines.”

Aletheia

Aletheia (pronounced ah-LAY-thee-ah) is an ecumenically minded, classically trained Spiritual Director and Vajrayana Tantrika whose work has been deeply informed by and incorporates the wise use of spirit plant medicines and other sacraments. Her talk is titled “Plantrika: Spirit Medicines and the Sacred Feminine.”

Rielle Capler

Rielle has long been one of Canada’s leading advocates for the recognition and legalization of medical cannabis. She was on the ground floor with Vancouver’s very first Compassion Club. She is also a co-founder and advisory board member of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries. Rielle will join Gerald Thomas and Kenneth Tupper to share some remarkable results from a unique study using ayahuasca for therapeutic benefit with a BC First Nations band.

Theda Phoenix

Theda is a singer, songwriter, and intuitive song and sound channel. At various times throughout the weekend she will use a variety of sounds and instruments to create beautiful, peaceful, and heart-opening music to help center us in the midst of a cornucopia of rich information and inspiration. Theda wove her aural magic at the conference two years ago, where many people spoke highly of her contribution.

Aho for now,
S.G.