The Council Tree

A series of free monthly talks about

indigenous knowledge, people, and plants
Twenty years ago I started working a documentary about the indigenous
use of certain shamanic plants. I was trying to understand what happens
when people coexist with certain plants for hundreds even thousands of
years. At first I tried to read all I could on the subject, but after some time I
realised that I had been terribly near-shighted, you simply couldnt
understand shamanism by itself. You needed to understanding the context
around it, the people, culture, mythology, history, natural environment...
Furthermore you couldnt understand how things were without
understanding how we changed them when we arrived.

So I set off on an intellectual investigation: looking at how other people

lived. Twenty years later Im not sure how much Ive actually learned
about how those other people live. I do know what I learned ended up
profoundly changing the way I understand myself and my own culture
instead.

Recently I thought it was time I began to share. In Ibiza we have incredible access to health, meditation and spirituality, not so
much to research, debate and reflection. Thats the Council Tree. Once a month I will talk for 30-45 mins, then well open the floor
for discussion. The range of topics will be broad, including but not limited to life, history, people, and plants, indigenous and not.

Some might think Ill be talking about the strange things the people who live very far away do, and what does that have to do with
any of us? The truth is that one cannot look at indigenous cultures, how they live, work, raise children and go to the doctor, without
looking at ones own life. Anthropology is like a mirror, the most valuable thing that comes from it is not what you learn about
other cultures, but what you end up understanding about your own.

Thats the Council Tree.

Looking at others, seeing yourself - Thurs. March 16 - 7:30PM

About concil trees, Western and indigenous ingenuity (and folly), forthright personal reflections on being white, some under-
analyzed Western dreams, some often-ignored indigenous realities and a hopeful glance towards the future.

Spiritual tourism and spiritual materialism - Thurs, April 27 - 7:30PM

Did you know that the modern tourist industry, as well as the credit card industry, started with pilgrimages to sacred sites? Well
travel from medieval Santiago de Compostela to todays Iquitos de la ayahuasca and see how it all connects ...and disconnects.

Carlos Castaneda and other polemics - Thurs, May 18 - 7:30PM

Well review the stories of a number of people who wrote extremely popular books about their experiences with indigenous people,
only to find themselves accused of having made the whole thing up.

Some future topics: The life of Maria Sabina. Women and Shamanism. The historical Amazon. Parenting in indigenous
communities. A selection of creation myths. The invention of Nature & more.

The Council Tree happens every third thursday of the month, 7:30PM, at Open Space Ibiza