72: Mark Plotkin – Plants of the Gods; Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice

The Sacred Speaks

Conversation starts at - 6:25 In this episode, Dr. Price interviews Dr. Mark Plotkin, one of the world’s renowned ethnobotanists who has studied traditional indigenous plant use with elder shamans (traditional healers) of Central and South America for much of the past 30 years. In this conversation we explore traditional Amazonian medicine, the great ethnobotanist Dr. Richard Schultes, shamanism, the modern psychedelic renaissance, the ethics of entheogens, ethnobotany 101, Western and Indigenous medicine and spiritualty, the placebo effect, culture, Covid, building relationships with the indigenous community in the Amazon, conservation and the Amazon, Western prohibition on alternate states of consciousness, a brief history of substances and alternate states, and many other practices that the world may gain by studying those who have learned to live with the earth, not dominating it. https://markplotkin.com https://www.amazonteam.org Dr. Plotkin’s Podcast: Plants of the Gods https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/plants-of-the-gods-hallucinogens-healing/id1549464922?i=1000532364213 Bio: Dr. Mark Plotkin is a renowned ethnobotanist who has studied traditional indigenous plant use with elder shamans (traditional healers) of Central and South America for much of the past 30 years. As an ethnobotanist—a scientist who studies how, and why, societies have come to use plants for different purposes—Dr. Plotkin carried out the majority of his research with the Trio Indians of southern Suriname, a small rainforest country in northeastern South America, but has also worked with elder shamans from Mexico to Brazil. Dr. Plotkin has a long history of work with other organizations to promote conservation and awareness of our natural world, having served as Research Associate in Ethnobotanical Conservation at the Botanical Museum of Harvard University; Director of Plant Conservation at the World Wildlife Fund; Vice President of Conservation International; and Research Associate at the Department of Botany of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Plotkin is now President and Board member of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT), a nonprofit organization he co-founded with his fellow conservationist and wife, Liliana Madrigal in 1996, now enjoying over 20 years of successes dedicated to protecting the biological and cultural diversity of the Amazon. ACT has been a member of the United Nations Environment Programme Global 500 Roll of Honour since 2002, and was recognized as using “Best Practices Using Indigenous Knowledge” by UNESCO, the United Nation’s cultural organization. Website for The Sacred Speaks: http://www.thesacredspeaks.com WATCH: YouTube for The Sacred Speaks https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOAuksnpfht1udHWUVEO7Rg Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/ @thesacredspeaks Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesacredspeaks/ Brought to you by: https://www.thecenterforhas.com WATCH Get Centered https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdbeVcDXWXezYMkHJg-2duw Theme music provided by: http://www.modernnationsmusic.com