Sacred Plant Medicine with Sandor Iron Rope - ReRooted – Ep. 61

Francesca Maximé: WiseGirl

Sandor Iron Rope is the President of the Native American Church of South Dakota, and also a board member of the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative. Learn more about and donate to the IPCI at ipci.life. Sacred Plant Medicine Francesca asks Sandor how we can avoid further exploitation of sacred plant medicine, such as peyote, during the psychedelic decriminalization movement. Sandor talks about the need to have awareness and mindfulness around using these powerful medicines. He shares how his people have struggled to protect this medicine, and how the decriminalization effort has lost the sense of respect it needs in an attempt to move too quickly. “It’s been a battle since day one to protect our medicine, and grandmas and grandpas have been jailed for utilizing this medicine, peyote. They have been jailed for even practicing our way of life. Now, when you come and understand that history, you can understand a little bit of why we don’t want our peyote in this decriminalization movement, because it’s bio-cultural.” – Sandor Iron Rope Ram Dass talks about understanding the risks and rewards of using psychedelics on Here and Now Ep. 183 Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative (20:15) Sandor explains how his organization, the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative, has allowed reconnection, regeneration, and conservation of the sacred peyote medicine. They are also teaching their children about the spiritual harvest of the medicine, ensuring the knowledge is passed on. Francesca talks about the short-term thinking of Western culture. “Everything is about the transfer of energy. Energy is moving, energy exists in all things. Positive and negative energy exists. And when we generate this prayer through positive energy, we are creating this aura, this spiritual aura of energy. And we are projecting the energy upon our medicine, and we are asking it something to help us with. That has been missing.” – Sandor Iron Rope