Let’s begin here: it’s 28°C in Lima. The sun is blazing, the streets are buzzing, and yet — a giant inflatable snowman deflates slowly on the sidewalk next to a fully decorated pine tree. Children eat panettone beneath blinking icicle lights while their parents plan surfing trips for Christmas Day.

In other words: Christmas is weird down here.

And not in a “quirky holiday sweater” kind of way but in a “why are we still doing this?” kind of way. Because beneath the fuzzy nostalgia and cozy capitalist veneer, Christmas is still one of the clearest expressions of colonial cultural dominance the world has ever known.

Before Jesus Came to the Jungle

Before European colonization, there was no Christmas. No nativity scenes, no reindeer, no Jesus-in-a-manger narratives. Indigenous communities across the Global South had their own sacred seasonal rhythms. Solstice celebrations, fertility festivals, and rituals tied to land, moon cycles, and cosmos.

As Sanneh (2009) and Burkhart (1989) have written, Christian holidays like Christmas were strategic tools in the colonial project used to replace Indigenous cosmologies and install European religious narratives as the new sacred order. And with that came a shift in orientation. From the land to the cross, from Pachamama to the Virgin Mary, from ancestral reverence to imported salvation stories.

First they brought the cross. Then they brought the crown. Then they brought Coca-Cola.

The image of Christmas most of us grew up with is built entirely on a Northern Hemisphere fantasy. Snow, chimneys, sleigh bells, mulled wine, fireplaces, and fuzzy socks.

It makes sense… if you’re in Germany. It makes none if you’re in Ghana, Peru, or Australia.

Yet even in the height of summer, we mimic the North.

Snowflakes in the tropics. Santa in the desert. Pine trees on beaches. It’s cultural cosplay and Gramsci would call it cultural hegemony: the normalization of one worldview as universal.

The entire South reoriented its rituals to match the North’s mythology. Instead of celebrating our own solar cycles, we ended up importing theirs.
In the Andes, December once marked the festival of Capac Raymi, the Inca summer solstice celebration honoring the Sun God, Inti, with rituals of purification, gratitude, and initiation into adulthood. Now? Most people are setting up inflatable Santas next to plastic nativity scenes, in 90°F heat. The irony is delicious and a little devastating.

Capitalism, Our Favorite Religion

Let’s not forget: Christmas is now primarily a capitalist holiday, not a religious one.
Even if you don’t believe in Jesus, you probably believe in free shipping.

And this ritual of frenzied consumption? It’s global. As Belk (1993) notes, Christmas has become a “commercial rite” where the act of buying replaces the act of believing.

Coca-Cola, of course, helped lock in the global image of Santa as a jolly white man in red — a symbol now recognized in places that have never seen snow. The holiday has become an economic engine, timed perfectly to close out the fiscal year with a dopamine-spiked spending spree.

We’re not exchanging sacred gifts. We’re panicking on Etsy at 2 a.m.
We’re not sowing seeds of reflection. We’re ordering same-day delivery.

Displacement and Syncretism: What Was Lost

Some Indigenous communities resisted the holiday altogether. Others, recognizing that survival sometimes requires camouflage, adapted it — blending Catholic rituals with their own ceremonial frameworks in ways that preserved older cosmologies beneath the surface. Mexico’s Las Posadas, for example, is not simply a nine-day reenactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging; it is also a continuation of pre-Hispanic procession rituals, with song, movement, and communal storytelling woven into Christian liturgy like an undercurrent of ancestral pageantry (Gruzinski, 2001). It is less an adoption than a quiet strategy of resistance.

But let’s not romanticize this too much. Most ancestral solstice ceremonies weren’t gently braided into Christmas; they were suppressed, mocked, banned, or overwritten. And what replaced them was not spiritually richer simply better funded, institutionally enforced, and backed by the global marketing department of empire.

Take the Andes. The Inca festival of Capac Raymi once lit up the December solstice with rituals of purification, cosmic renewal, and warachikuy, the initiation of youth into adulthood. It was a solar ceremony; a moment when community, cosmos, and identity aligned under the gaze of Inti, the Sun. Fire offerings, ceremonial bathing, and public rites connected people to the turning of the year in a way that was both celestial and embodied. Today, most of that world has been pushed to the periphery. Instead of sun altars, we have LED reindeer; instead of rites of passage, we have mall promotions; instead of the cosmic order of Inti, we have inflatable Santas drooping in the heat. Capac Raymi survives, yes, but mostly in folkloric fragments. Present, but rarely centered.

And the Andes are not alone. Across Mapuche territory in southern Chile and Argentina, communities once gathered for Nguillatún, a ceremony of reciprocal renewal with land and spirit. Through days of prayer, drumming, dance, and offerings to the ngen, the beings who guard rivers, forests, and winds, the Mapuche affirmed their covenant with the natural world. There is nothing in the Christmas catalogue that resembles this depth of ecological intimacy.

In the Amazon, December often ushers in the rainy season, a time of cleansing and spiritual potency. Among the Shipibo-Conibo, Asháninka, Huni Kuin, and many others, this was, and in many places still is, a moment of communal storytelling, plant-teacher ceremonies, and nights filled with icaros that align the human mind with the renewing pulse of the forest. The idea of performing a winter holiday in equatorial humidity would be laughable if it weren’t such a stark example of cultural displacement.

Across the Pacific, Aboriginal Australian nations read this same month through an entirely different cosmological grammar. For the Noongar people, Birak, the “first summer,” is a season marked by fire stewardship, kinship travel, and ceremonial songlines. Ritual here doesn’t revolve around an imported holy family — it revolves around the land’s own choreography.

In southern Africa, Zulu communities historically welcomed the solstice with Umkhosi Wokweshwama, the First Fruits Festival, offering gratitude to ancestors and to the Earth for the season’s first harvests. It was a ceremony of renewal, reciprocity, and embodied thanksgiving. A far cry from flashing sale banners and plastic wreaths.

And across what is now the United States and Canada, many Native Nations observed their own solstice ceremonies. The Hopi Soyal ceremony welcomed the return of the sun with prayer, masked dancers, and the rekindling of communal harmony. Navajo communities marked the solstice period with rituals honoring cosmic balance and the restoration of hózhǫ́, harmony and right relation. Along the Pacific Northwest coast, winter potlatches reaffirmed kinship, ancestral teachings, and systems of reciprocity so powerful that colonial governments outlawed them for decades. Imagine outlawing generosity because it threatened the economic order — an irony that practically writes itself.

None of these traditions were archaic. None were waiting for replacement. They were cosmologies intricate, embodied, ecologically literate ways of being in the world.

Yet under colonial rule, many of them were pushed into silence, folded into Christian calendars, or dismissed as superstition. A single imported holiday became the gravitational center of the season, flattening a planetary landscape of solstice celebrations into one snow-covered narrative that never belonged to the South in the first place.

Jesus, Santa, and the Colonial Gaze

There’s also the matter of race which we need to name.

The figure of Jesus Christ, as exported globally, is often whitewashed. Pale-skinned, blue-eyed, gentle and glowing. Santa Claus, similarly, is a bearded white man who travels the world giving gifts a symbolic savior with a credit card.

As Jennings (2010) and Tisby (2019) have pointed out, the Christian imagination in colonial contexts was racialized: whiteness was made synonymous with moral authority and divinity; Blackness and Indigeneity with sin, paganism, or savagery.

So yes, Christmas is not just religious and capitalist, it’s racialized too.
Its imagery reinforces a narrative of moral salvation arriving from the North, via a white man, in a robe or a sleigh.

 — With so many suns and seasons guiding us, the invitation now is not uniformity, but expansion — to let our celebrations grow wide enough to hold every land’s rhythm —

Rituals Matter. But Let’s Rethink Them.

This is not a takedown of celebration itself.

Creating ritual is human. Marking the passage of time is sacred. Gathering with loved ones is vital.

But how we do it matters.

Let’s ask:
What would a decolonial holiday season look like?
What would happen if we celebrated Capac Raymi instead of Christmas?
What would it mean to give time, presence, and story instead of products?

Because the real issue isn’t just snowmen in the sun. It’s that our rituals have been replaced with routines — and our reverence with receipts. So this year, let’s light candles for what was lost, and what still survives. Let’s read the land instead of the calendar. Let’s celebrate the solstice, the rain, the sun, the silence. Let’s make room for Capac Raymi, Las Posadas, Nguillatún, and all the traditions that never made it into Hallmark movies.

Because the world doesn’t need more plastic tinsel. It needs remembrance, rhythm, and rituals rooted in place.

Happy Summer Solstice, friends.
Or whatever you celebrate when the light returns.

Remembering What It Means to Give Back

Thanksgiving has shifted meanings many times throughout history. What began as a sacred time to give thanks for our blessings has been reshaped, rewritten, and in many ways, forgotten. But long before Europeans ever set foot on these lands, Indigenous nations across Turtle Island held ceremonies of gratitude—living, breathing moments of reciprocity between humans, land, water, animals, and Creator.

For thousands of years, nations such as the Wampanoag, Haudenosaunee, Powhatan, and Nipmuc gathered to give thanks for corn, beans, and squash. They feasted as communities. They honored their ancestors. They offered prayers and sacred gifts to the land that nourished them. Gratitude was not a holiday—it was a way of life. Thanksgiving, in its truest form, predates the Pilgrims by millennia.

In 1621, after a brutal winter that took half their community, the surviving colonists at Plymouth held a harvest gathering. They invited Massasoit of the Wampanoag Nation, who arrived with 90 of his men. For three days, they shared food and diplomacy. It was not called Thanksgiving, nor was it a simple celebratory feast. The Wampanoag were mourning great losses brought by foreign diseases. Their presence was also political, a fragile alliance aimed at survival. Still, this moment became the mythologized origin of the holiday.

Yet one of the earliest official “days of thanksgiving” came in 1637—after English colonizers massacred hundreds of Pequot people. The governor declared a day of thanksgiving to celebrate the victory. This painful truth is often erased from the story. For many Native Nations today, Thanksgiving is honored as a National Day of Mourning—a time to grieve, remember, and resist erasure.

Thanksgiving didn’t become a national annual holiday until much later. In 1863, amid the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to create unity. In 1941, the U.S. Congress fixed the holiday on the fourth Thursday of November.

And yet, through all this retelling, something profound was lost.

The Creation of Holidays: Building our own Future

In modern times, society has hijacked this day—reshaping it into a spectacle of consumption. “Buy more, or you’ll miss out.” “Sale ends tonight.” The natural rhythm of gratitude has been swallowed by artificial urgency. Somewhere along the way, we forgot the art of giving. True giving. The giving that flows from the Earth to our hands and back again. The giving that is an act of selfless love rather than feeding the corporate machine.

But we are living in a moment of conscious return. A moment where we can pause, reflect, and choose differently. Our intuition knows better. Our spirits know better. We are not bound to the stories of scarcity and speed. We can choose actions that regenerate our bodies, our land, our communities—not just our pockets.

Indigenous peoples around the world have been trying to remind us of the most basic truths: reciprocity, offerings, humility, reverence. Remembering that we are small human animals walking upon a living Earth. No show. No ego. Just love. Just gratitude. Just the simple acknowledgment that everything we touch is a gift.

So what does it mean to make an offering?
How can you offer something meaningful from your home?
What can you give back to the land this year—water, food, prayer, silence, protection?
Why should our gifts be ones that continue the legacy of regeneration?

Because the most powerful gifts are not disposable, not quick, not forgotten. They are gifts of knowledge. Gifts of insight. Gifts that inspire others to grow their own wisdom and nourish their community. Gifts that give back.

So this year, what will Thanksgiving mean to you?
What offering will you place on the altar of the Earth?
What seeds—of consciousness, of kindness, of regeneration—will you plant?

The answer is yours to create.

Exploring ESPD55: The Next Chapter in the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs

There are books that document a field… and then there are books that shape it.

ESPD55 is one of those rare, lineage-carrying works.
It arrives at a moment when psychedelic science, ecological awareness, and ancestral plant traditions are weaving together in ways we’ve never quite seen before—and this volume feels like both a continuation and a new beginning.

For more than fifty years, the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs (ESPD) has been the gathering place for those exploring the meeting point between old-world plant wisdom and contemporary research. It has always been a space where scientists, healers, mycologists, anthropologists, and visionaries sit in full-spectrum dialogue.

ESPD55 carries that torch forward with the proceedings of the 2022 ESPD Conference, curated by Dennis McKenna, PhD and hosted by The McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy. This edition brings together over thirty leading thinkers whose work spans continents, knowledge systems, and generations of inquiry.

This book is a journey through six interconnected spheres of understanding—the ethnosphere, phytosphere, mycosphere, faunasphere, archeosphere, and sonosphere—each one opening a doorway into deeper cultural, ecological, and visionary insight.

You’ll find research and stories from:

• Mark D. Merlin, PhD – Ancient Psychoactive Plant Use in Eurasia

• Wade Davis – Coca: The Divine Leaf of Immortality

• Andrew Weil – The Therapeutic Potential of Coca

• Jonathan Lu – Psychoactive Substances in Chinese Culture

• Laurel Sugden & Josip Orlovac Del Río – Biocultural Sustainability for the San Pedro Cactus

• Glenn H. Shepard – The Harpy’s Gift & the Jaguar’s Curse: Matsigenka Hunting Medicines

And that’s just a taste.

From the earliest ceremonial uses of Ephedra and San Pedro, to new ecological frameworks for ayahuasca sustainability, to the emerging conversations around cognitive evolution and sonic ethnomedicine, ESPD55 beautifully bridges the ancient and the emergent.

This isn’t just academic material—it’s the living, breathing story of how humans have learned from plants, fungi, animals, and the intelligence of the Earth itself.

Why This Book Matters Now

We stand at a threshold in history, and ESPD55 arrives as both a beacon and a blessing. Curated by Dennis McKenna, whose life’s work has shaped the very foundations of modern ethnopharmacology, this volume gathers an extraordinary constellation of thinkers, explorers, and friends who have walked this path beside him—Wade Davis, Paul Stamets, Merlin Sheldrake, Monica Gagliano, and many more. Their contributions form more than a collection of research—they weave together a living tapestry of devotion, curiosity, cultural respect, and scientific courage.

This book is a commemoration of decades of inquiry and relationship-building, the culmination of journeys that once required crossing invisible frontiers into Indigenous worlds at a time when such exchanges were rare, even misunderstood.

Today, as we enter a new psychedelic revolution—one grounded not in spectacle, but in ecological wisdom, cultural respect, and a return to Earth’s ancient teachings—ESPD55 stands as a guidepost. It speaks to ethnobotanists, therapists, students, plant stewards, historians, psychonauts, ecological thinkers, and anyone who feels called to understand how this movement has evolved and where it is headed. If you are drawn to the roots of psychedelic knowledge and inspired by its unfolding future, this book is an offering for you—a bridge between legacy and emergence, honoring the pioneers who dared to explore consciousness long before it became a renaissance.

Speakers and Participants in the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs Conference, hosted by the Mckenna Academy, May 2022

A Three-Day Ceremony With Grandmothers

& Earth Wisdom Keepers

Beloved Community, This November, we are called into a circle of prayer, healing, & unity.

From November 14th – 16th, 2025, Santa Fe, New Mexico will host Guardians of the Sacred: Ancestral Teachings for Global Awakening.

For three sacred days, Indigenous Grandmothers, Elders, & Wisdom Keepers from around the world will gather to share teachings, songs, & ceremonies for the healing of Mother Earth & the generations to come. Together, we will also celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Temple of the Golden Child, a vision of divine light & remembrance entrusted to Grandmother Flordemayo.

Learn more about our event & see the list of Confirmed Guardians & Wisdom Keepers: https://www.guardiansofthesacred.earth/

Get your tickets here!

Are you a New Mexico resident? Use code NMLocal or PASA for 20% off any ticket

Why This Matters – The Golden Child Vision

In 2010, during sacred prayer, Grandmother Flordemayo received a vision. She was shown an egg of Earth, which as she sang prayers of love, transformed into crystalline snowflakes. From within, a golden newborn child emerged — a symbol of humanity’s highest potential.

Her words remind us:

“We all have the capacity to become that Golden Being, whether we are male or female. When we reach that place of spirituality, we transform into this Golden Being.”

This vision gave rise to the Temple of the Golden Child, and it continues to guide the heart of our work today. 

Mission

Our mission is to gather Indigenous Grandmothers, Elders, Wisdom Keepers, and Seed Stewards from around the world to share sacred teachings that reconnect us to the land, the elements, and ancestral traditions. Together, we will honor:

The Sacredness of Traditional Knowledge – ancestral ways as guides for healing, balance, and resilience.
The Power of Ceremony & Ritual – creating spaces of gratitude, alignment, and healing with the Earth and our Ancestors.
The Sacred Seeds of the Future – uplifting seed keepers and land stewards who protect biodiversity and the spirit of food and plants.
The Four Directions & Elements – remembering the balance of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air in sustaining life and transformation.

Vision

We envision a world where Indigenous wisdom, ceremony, and ancestral knowledge are honored, protected, and preserved as essential for the healing of humanity and Mother Earth. A world where ancient ways guide us forward, and future generations continue to walk in reverence, reciprocity, and respect for all life.

This gathering is a call to remember, a call to heal, and a call to protect the sacred.

Ways to Support & Participate

On behalf of my mother, I humbly ask for your support in helping us bring this vision into form.

There are many ways you can walk with us:

Stay Connected – Sign up for our newsletter and follow The Path on social media to receive updates, prayers, and teachings.

Spread the Word – Share this gathering with your family, friends, and communities. Your voice helps us weave this sacred web.

Travel Support – Consider donating air miles so we can bring Elders and Wisdom Keepers from across the globe.

Fundraising Circles – Gather your community and create a fundraising team. Every contribution sustains this prayer.

Creative Offerings – Share art, crafts, or small gifts for Elders. These carry your heart and prayers into the circle.

PROGRAM

A Day of Indigenous Wisdom, Psychedelic Healing, and Community

New Mexico, often called the Land of Enchantment, lived up to its name during the Enchanted State Conference—a gathering that was as much a prayer as it was a revolution. In today’s turbulent climate, to come together in dialogue is not only an act of hope but also a radical statement of what is possible when community, wisdom, and vision meet.

Hosted in collaboration with the Limina Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to psychedelic education, the event was designed as a one-day immersion that was both concise and expansive. Its aim was to explore how New Mexico can grow into a sanctuary for healing, consciousness, and community, and how psychedelics can play a transformative role in building a healing economy for the state.

From the beginning, it was clear this would not be a conventional conference. The organizers—Michael Williams, Adele Getty, Ellen Petry Leanse, and Janine Sagert—created something alive: not a series of isolated lectures but a production where storytelling, research, music, film, and lived testimony flowed together like threads of a single tapestry.

Leonard Pickard reads an excerpt from The Rose of Paracelsus, sharing poetic reflections from a life lived on the psychedelic edge.

The day opened with grounding words from Adele Getty and an invocation from Doña Eugenia Pineda Casimiro, a Mazotec healer from the María Sabina lineage, daughter of Julieta Casimiro member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. Her blessing, offered in Mazotec and Spanish, carried the weight of ancestral memory and set a sacred tone for the gathering. Doña Eugenia reminded us that healing is strongest when ancient wisdom and modern practices walk hand in hand. Her presence resonated deeply with the spirit of Grandmothers’ Wisdom, one of Synergetic Press’s newest titles, which honors the teachings and prayers of the Grandmothers.

Throughout the day, voices from across disciplines and backgrounds shared their visions. Dr. Andrew Weil reflected on the significance of psychedelics in healing, while Leonard Pickard, Synergetic Press author of The Rose of Paracelsus, made a special appearance. For the New Mexico community, Leonard’s presence was profoundly meaningful—his life and work are deeply entwined with the landscape of the state. He not only presented but also hosted part of the day’s program, weaving together conversations with Larry Leeman (UNM School of Medicine) on group psychedelic therapies, Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian on the needs of first responders, and Brian Hubbard (Americans for Ibogaine) on ibogaine progress in the U.S.

Other presenters included Representative Andrea Romero, who spoke on building a healing economy in New Mexico, Marlena Robbins (Diné, UC Berkeley), who shared a multigenerational Native perspective on psilocybin, and philanthropist Bennett Nemser, PhD, who reflected on funding this field responsibly. Film excerpts such as Shock to Awe and Dying to Know added emotional depth, while cultural voices like Louis Schwartzberg and Mary Cosimano offered meditations on beauty, presence, and integration.

For Synergetic Press, being part of Enchanted State was both an honor and a homecoming. As a pillar of the New Mexico community for more than four decades, Synergetic has published works at the intersection of consciousness, ecology, and culture. At the heart of the conference, we hosted the bookstore, showcasing the voices shaping the psychedelic renaissance and ecological renewal. Our two newest titles—Grandmothers’ Wisdom and The Language of Water—were particularly aligned with the themes of the day. Together, they highlight how opening consciousness and healing the mind naturally lead to ecological awareness and a deeper care for the Earth.

Our team, including founder Deborah Parrish Snyder, was present throughout the gathering, helping to bring together organizations, authors, and visionaries under one roof. For a single day, the walls between disciplines, movements, and perspectives dissolved, and the room was filled with a shared spirit of connection.

The Enchanted State was not just a gathering of ideas—it was a glimpse of what the future could look like when ancestral knowledge and modern science walk side by side. It was a reminder that the path forward must be grounded in reverence, creativity, and love.

As the day closed, there was a collective sense that something had shifted. We had entered into a sacred conversation—one that will continue to echo in New Mexico and beyond.

Synergetic Press was honored to be at the heart of it all, offering books, voices, and presence to support this unfolding future. We left with gratitude, inspiration, and a renewed commitment to building the world we know is possible: one where wisdom, healing, and enchantment guide us forward.

May the enchantment continue.

On September 7, 2025, Santa Fe’s Lensic Performing Arts Center will host The Enchanted State—a visionary one-day gathering exploring the transformative power of psychedelics in mental health, cultural renewal, and spiritual awakening. This groundbreaking event brings together an extraordinary lineup of national and local leaders—from healers and researchers to policymakers, Veterans, and artists—to imagine what the future of psychedelics could look like in New Mexico and beyond.

With confirmed speakers such as Dr. Andrew Weil, integrative medicine pioneer; Doña Eugenia Pineda Casimaro, Mazateca healer and wisdom keeper; and Dr. Anthony Bossis, NYU psychedelic researcher, this gathering offers rare insight into a field that is rapidly reshaping healthcare, therapy, and consciousness studies. From policy conversations with former Senator Kyrsten Sinema and New Mexico Representative Andrea Romero, to reflections from First Responders, Indigenous leaders, and integration experts, the event offers a 360° view of a psychedelic renaissance grounded in community, care, and cultural respect.

Join us as we cross the threshold into new paradigms of wellness, justice, and spiritual possibility.

📍 The Enchanted State
📅 September 7, 2025
🎟️ Tickets and info: lensic.org/events/the-enchanted-state
🌐 More details: liminafoundation.org

Musical offerings from Lorraine Weiss and Friends, dynamic panels, and thought-provoking dialogue will weave together a powerful container for connection and healing. Hosted by the Limina Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to psychedelic education, The Enchanted State aims to support mental wellness and nurture New Mexico’s emerging healing economy.

“Traditional methods of storing water can rejuvenate landscapes and protect land from climate change, according to this intricate primer.

Jain and Franses, founders of The Flow Partnership, an NGO that funds small hydrological programs, decry industrial hydrology and agriculture protocols that sequester water in giant reservoirs and deplete groundwater, resulting in dry, impoverished soil and hotter surface temperatures that exacerbate droughts and floods. Instead, they recommend the small-scale, locally controlled systems of water management that farmers have used for centuries. The authors emphasize 

a few simple elements: digging ponds, holes, levees, and dams that prevent rainwater from running off farmland; letting water percolate from these holding structures into the ground, thus recharging aquifers, raising water tables, replenishing wells, and improving soil moisture; and planting trees and other vegetation that release moisture by evapotranspiration through leaf pores, which cools the air and brings rain. (They cite rice paddies in India that lower temperatures by six degrees Celsius through evapotranspiration.) Jain and Franses spotlight many such efforts around the world, including a project in which building small ponds and dams restored flow to seven dried-up rivers in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Aided by well-chosen pictures and diagrams, the authors convey their ideas in lucid prose and intuitive metaphors, as in their comparison of water to money savings: “Water banks must invest in the future by allocating adequate area for holding water and planting trees to achieve profitability (long-term underground water recharge and a continuous water cycle) as well as liquidity (availability of surface water).” They also infuse the book with a lyrical eco-sensibility that celebrates water as the foundation of existence: “The countryside becomes quenched, the fields are like a cell full of renewed energy and bursting with green crops, the air is full of the songs of birds and insects, and there is a full-scale communication of life all around.” The result is a stimulating, hopeful take on humble but profound environmental innovations. 

A revelatory treatise on human-scale water management, full of fascinating information and inspiring insights.”

Read the original review by Kirkus Reviews here.

https://synergeticpress.com/catalog/language-of-water/

A Day of Indigenous Wisdom, Psychedelic Healing,
and Community

New Mexico, often called the Land of Enchantment, lived up to its name during the Enchanted State Conference—a gathering that was as much a prayer as it was a revolution. In today’s turbulent climate, to come together in dialogue is not only an act of hope but also a radical statement of what is possible when community, wisdom, and vision meet.

Hosted in collaboration with the Limina Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to psychedelic education, the event was designed as a one-day immersion that was both concise and expansive. Its aim was to explore how New Mexico can grow into a sanctuary for healing, consciousness, and community, and how psychedelics can play a transformative role in building a healing economy for the state.

From the beginning, it was clear this would not be a conventional conference. The organizers—Michael Williams, Adele Getty, Ellen Petry Leanse, and Janine Sagert—created something alive: not a series of isolated lectures but a production where storytelling, research, music, film, and lived testimony flowed together like threads of a single tapestry.

Leonard Pickard reads an excerpt from The Rose of Paracelsus, sharing poetic reflections from a life lived on the psychedelic edge.

The day opened with grounding words from Adele Getty and an invocation from Doña Eugenia Pineda Casimiro, a Mazotec healer from the María Sabina lineage and a member of the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers. Her blessing, offered in Mazotec and Spanish, carried the weight of ancestral memory and set a sacred tone for the gathering. Doña Eugenia reminded us that healing is strongest when ancient wisdom and modern practices walk hand in hand. Her presence resonated deeply with the spirit of Grandmothers’ Wisdom, one of Synergetic Press’s newest titles, which honors the teachings and prayers of the Grandmothers.

Throughout the day, voices from across disciplines and backgrounds shared their visions. Dr. Andrew Weil reflected on the significance of psychedelics in healing, while Leonard Pickard, Synergetic Press author of The Rose of Paracelsus, made a special appearance. For the New Mexico community, Leonard’s presence was profoundly meaningful—his life and work are deeply entwined with the landscape of the state. He not only presented but also hosted part of the day’s program, weaving together conversations with Larry Leeman (UNM School of Medicine) on group psychedelic therapies, Lieutenant Sarko Gergerian on the needs of first responders, and Brian Hubbard (Americans for Ibogaine) on ibogaine progress in the U.S.

Other presenters included Representative Andrea Romero, who spoke on building a healing economy in New Mexico, Marlena Robbins (Diné, UC Berkeley), who shared a multigenerational Native perspective on psilocybin, and philanthropist Bennett Nemser, PhD, who reflected on funding this field responsibly. Film excerpts such as Shock to Awe and Dying to Know added emotional depth, while cultural voices like Louis Schwartzberg and Mary Cosimano offered meditations on beauty, presence, and integration.

Dr. Bia Labate, Dr. Clancy Cavnar, and Ibrahim Gabriell of the Chacruna Institute present the Chacruna Anthology and Dennis McKenna in a heartwarming meet-and-greet with fans celebrating wisdom, connection, and psychedelic culture.

For Synergetic Press, being part of Enchanted State was both an honor and a homecoming. As a pillar of the New Mexico community for more than four decades, Synergetic has published works at the intersection of consciousness, ecology, and culture. At the heart of the conference, we hosted the bookstore, showcasing the voices shaping the psychedelic renaissance and ecological renewal. Our two newest titles—Grandmothers’ Wisdom and The Language of Water—were particularly aligned with the themes of the day. Together, they highlight how opening consciousness and healing the mind naturally lead to ecological awareness and a deeper care for the Earth.

Our team, including founder Deborah Parrish Snyder, was present throughout the gathering, helping to bring together organizations, authors, and visionaries under one roof. For a single day, the walls between disciplines, movements, and perspectives dissolved, and the room was filled with a shared spirit of connection.

The Enchanted State was not just a gathering of ideas—it was a glimpse of what the future could look like when ancestral knowledge and modern science walk side by side. It was a reminder that the path forward must be grounded in reverence, creativity, and love.

As the day closed, there was a collective sense that something had shifted. We had entered into a sacred conversation—one that will continue to echo in New Mexico and beyond.

Synergetic Press was honored to be at the heart of it all, offering books, voices, and presence to support this unfolding future. We left with gratitude, inspiration, and a renewed commitment to building the world we know is possible: one where wisdom, healing, and enchantment guide us forward.

✨ May the enchantment continue.

Exploring ESPD55: The Next Chapter in the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs

In 2022, the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy hosted the third conference of the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs (ESPD) symposium—ESPD55, marking 55 years since the original landmark conference in 1967 held in San Francisco sponsored by the U.S. Department for Mental Health. The third conference brought together some of the most respected voices in ethnobotany, pharmacology, anthropology, and Indigenous medicine to explore the evolving science and cultural relevance of psychoactive plant medicines.

Synergetic Press is proud to publish the proceedings of the 2022 conference where over thirty papers were presented covering a wide spectrum of topics, including ancient and contemporary uses of psychoactive substances, the intersection of traditional knowledge and modern science, pharmacology, conservation, law and policy, and the cultural and spiritual significance of these compounds.

The conference program was organized into thematic “spheres”—Ethnosphere, Phytosphere, Mycosphere, and Sonosphere—highlighting the diverse ways psychoactive plants, fungi, and even sound have shaped human societies and consciousness. Presentations ranged from archaeological evidence of ancient plant use and indigenous perspectives on coca and ayahuasca, to modern neuroscience, sound as a psychoactive medium, and the evolving legal landscape for psychedelics.

ESPD55 also fostered collaboration between established experts and emerging voices, emphasizing the importance of biocultural conservation, respect for indigenous wisdom, and responsible innovation in psychedelic science. 

With contributions from luminaries like Dennis McKenna, Paul Stamets, David Nutt, Monica Gagliano, Wade Davis, and many more, this publication will serve as a vital resource for researchers, practitioners, and anyone curious about the profound role psychoactive plants play in human health, consciousness, and culture. 

Stay tuned for the release of ESPD55, a co-creation between Synergetic Press and the McKenna Academy for Natural Philosophy

Stay in the Loop — Please leave us your contact details, we will send you information about the release of ESPD55 this Summer. 

Speakers and Participants in the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs Conference, hosted by the Mckenna Academy, May 2022

The Future Water Association Honors The Language of Water with Future Water Award

In a powerful acknowledgment of work that bridges science, storytelling, and community-based restoration, the Future Water Association has awarded its prestigious Future Water Award to Minni Jain and Philip Franses for their groundbreaking work presented in The Language of Water.

Held annually, the Future Water Awards celebrate innovation, creativity, and vision in the water sector—recognizing those who are reshaping how we understand and engage with the world’s most precious resource. This year, The Language of Water stood out as an exemplary publication that transcends traditional boundaries of the water industry by weaving together cultural narratives, indigenous wisdom, and tangible community-led solutions for water restoration.

     “Water has its own language, a rhythm and intelligence that flows through all life. This book teaches us to listen.”                     — Future Water Association, 2025

Published by Synergetic Press, The Language of Water is more than a book—it is a movement. Authored by Minni Jain, Director of The Flow Partnership, and Philip Franses, systems thinker and teacher, the work draws from real-life stories across India, Africa, Europe, and beyond. It shares how communities are reviving traditional water-harvesting techniques to bring life back to rivers, soils, and people—healing not only ecosystems, but also the social and spiritual fabric of their environments.

In awarding the book, the Future Water Association commended Jain and Franses for their “courageous and creative approach to communication and cultural storytelling,” underscoring the importance of narrative and education in driving meaningful change in the water sector.

Based in the UK, the Future Water Association is a modern, innovative, not-for-profit organization that represents professionals and suppliers across the water and wastewater industry. For over 30 years, it has acted as the voice of the sector—engaging with government, regulators, and utility providers to influence policy, promote education, and drive innovation. Its annual awards align with World Water Day and aim to shine a light on transformative projects shaping the future of water management.

This year’s award adds another accolade to The Language of Water’s growing recognition as a vital contribution to the global water dialogue. Its pages are filled with deeply moving reflections and hopeful solutions—reminding us that water is not only a technical issue, but also a cultural, emotional, and spiritual one.

“We are honored to receive the Future Water Award. This book is the voice of the waters that still flow inside us all—waiting to be heard, waiting to be healed.”
— Minni Jain & Philip Franses

As the global water crisis intensifies, The Language of Water offers a compelling path forward—inviting readers from all walks of life to reconnect with the element that unites us all. The recognition by the Future Water Association confirms what many already feel: this book is a timely and vital offering, inspiring a new generation of water stewards across the world.

The Language of Water is available from your favorite bookstore or directly from the publisher, Synergetic Press.