Library
Podcast: Episode 100: Sacred Stream’s 20th Anniversary
Welcome to the 100th episode of the Sacred Stream Radio Podcast! On this episode, Laura Chandler is joined by Sacred Stream Founding Director, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D., to talk about the Sacred Stream and its 20th Anniversary. In 2003, Laura and Isa founded the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, a school for consciousness studies, to provide space for their workshops, and to provide a place for other teachers, artists, and thought leaders to share their vision and experience. In 2009, they opened the Sacred Stream Center in Berkeley, CA, which continues to be an important space for the community and where diversity, tolerance, inquiry, and inclusion thrive.
On the Air: The Practical Shaman Podcast: Renee Baribeau interviews Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
On this episode of the Practical Shaman Podcast, Renee Baribeau interviews Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D., the Founding Director of the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, a school for consciousness.
Special Announcement: Sacred Stream’s Isa Gucciardi Featured in MysticMag Article: Working Towards Self-Development with Sacred Stream
Dr. Isa Gucciardi is the Founding Director and Primary Teacher of Sacred Stream, a school for consciousness studies in Berkeley, California. In this special interview for MysticMag, Dr. Gucciardi presents to us her spiritual journey, the importance of learning shamanism, soul retrieval and much more.
Podcast: Episode 99: Jami Sieber & Kim Rosen: Feast of Losses
On this episode, Laura Chandler talks with poet Kim Rosen and composer and electric cellist Jami Sieber about their beautiful new collaboration of music and poetry, Feast of Losses. Kim is the author of Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words and is an advocate for the power of poetry to heal and transform individuals and communities. Jami is a multi-talented composer, singer, and electric cellist. Jami tours nationally and internationally and her compositions have appeared in film and television.
Blog: Insights Gained on the Path of Service as a Depth Hypnosis Practitioner
By Sasha Star Goclowski
I have gained many insights, as well as a sophisticated form of mind-body wisdom around the nature of human consciousness and healing from facilitating Depth Hypnosis sessions. I receive this wisdom through a felt sense in my body, through the voices and energetics and visual guidance of my guides, and through my clients as they speak and heal in real time as I bear witness.
In the process of practicing Depth Hypnosis I have received the following insights:
• We heal together.
• We heal through facilitating and holding others in their healing.
• We hurt in relationship, and so we heal in relationship too.
Podcast: Episode 98: Hogarth Brown: The Eclipses and Beyond
On this episode, Laura Chandler welcomes back author, archetypal consultant, and Neo-Vedic Astrologer, Hogarth Brown. Hogarth is host of a popular YouTube channel, Hogarth’s Global Astrology, where he offers astrological insights into global happenings, historical and contemporary figures. Today he is talking about the upcoming eclipses and their implications for this year and beyond. He also discusses the banking and financial crisis, the latest with China, Ukraine, and other global issues. Hogarth also explains the implications of the Pluto return that is happening for the US at this time and what we can expect in the coming years. Hogarth is always insightful and a lot of fun. So, join me for this riveting episode.
Blog: New Beginnings, New Potentials at the Spring Equinox
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
Since December’s winter solstice season, when the days were shortest and the nights the longest of the year, the days have been growing steadily longer and the nights shorter. Now, at the time of the spring equinox, they are of equal length. The spring equinox is always a time of renewal and rebirth as the earth reaches this point in its relationship to the sun.
In the Sacred Stream Center garden, there is new growth – and new members of the plant community. We have several new pitcher sage plants which are known for their powerful healing capacities in restoring health and well-being. Their beautiful purple flowers are always at the height of their bloom during the spring equinox season. This year, we celebrate their coming as we celebrate the renewal of the year along with the new moon which dawns just after the equinox on March 20.
Podcast: Episode 97: Clementine Moss: From Bonham to Buddha and Back
On this edition of the podcast, Laura Chandler sits down for a chat with author, songwriter, and musician, Clementine Moss. Clementine is the founding member of the popular all women’s Led Zeppelin cover band, Zepparella, and has just released her book, From Bonham to Buddha and Back.
Blog: Plant Medicine: Moving Between Worlds
By Sebastian Segovia
In 2005 I turned eighteen. My parents were getting divorced. We were about to lose our house with the bank and I was finishing high school and starting university. I was beginning to experiment with alcohol and recreational drugs. That is when my mom decided to take me to an Ayahuasca ceremony as my birthday present. This was the moment my world open to the sacred world of plant medicine.
I first studied plant medicine with the Kofan tribe of Putumayo, in Colombia. We have had an ancient tradition of plant medicine in our country for centuries, and this indigenous community was the first to share ayahuasca openly with non-native people, long before the plant became mainstream. Taita Querubín Queta Alvarado—108 years old now—was the first shaman (“Taita” in Spanish) I received yagé (ayahuasca) from. His lineage made it possible for ayahuasca to travel all over the world back then, and it was from his hands that this medicine touched my heart for the very first time.
Podcast: Episode 96: Barbara Higbie: Presence
On this edition of the podcast, we are excited to welcome back the prolific recording artist, Barbara Higbie. Barbara is a Grammy-nominated, Bammy award-winning composer, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who has just released her latest album, Presence, the third in a trilogy of recordings alongside Resonance and Murmuration. In this inspiring conversation, Barbara talks about the creative process, the distinctly nurturing feminine quality of her work, and her thoughts on music and healing.
Video: Isa Gucciardi Discusses Sacred Stream’s Plant Medicine Integration Certificate Program
This is an excerpt of a lecture delivered by Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. in the Plant Medicine Integration Certificate Program at the Sacred Stream. She discusses her approach to this field and stresses the importance of preparation and integration in working with plant medicine.
In this training at the Sacred Stream, students learn to connect with the intelligence of plants in ways that shamans have done for thousands of years. They gain practical methods for processing the insights of working with psychotropic plants and working with others in grounding and integrating their experience.
Podcast: Episode 95: Geshe Pema Dorjee: A Life of Compassion: Part 2
On this episode, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. is our guest host, and she continues the conversation from our last episode with Geshe Pema Dorjee, picking up where Laura and Geshe-la left off. They discuss his life in India after escaping from Tibet. He recounts his adaptation to a new way of life – the difficulties as well as the joys. He describes his early encounter with the street children of Nepal who helped him when he needed it most and who inspire his humanitarian efforts to this day. His fascinating story includes his time as the head of the Children’s Village in Dharamsala and his work to preserve the Bodong tradition of Tibet. He also discusses the many projects he has ongoing to help the poor and disenfranchised people of Nepal and northwestern India. His humor, sincerity, and kind spirit shine through in this at-times playful and engaging conversation with his longtime friend, Isa.
Podcast: Episode 94: Geshe Pema Dorjee: A Life of Compassion: Part 1
On this episode, Laura Chandler speaks with internationally recognized scholar, humanitarian, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, Geshe Pema Dorjee, about his time in Tibet, before the Chinese invasion, when Tibetans were a Nomadic culture still living close to the earth. His stories are heartwarming as well as heartbreaking as he recounts his trek as a young boy across the Himalayans with his family and the shock of the new life he found in India.
Article: Healing and Awakening with Buddhism and Shamanism
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
I’ve been exploring Buddhism and plant medicine and psychedelics for about six years now. One area that I find really absent in a lot of the conversations on psychedelics and spirituality is indigenous shamanism, and it’s hard to find people who know much about that, and also have some kind of Buddhist framework. That’s why I was so excited to hear about your work and listen to some of your talks.
The main question I’m working with in this book is how can we engage with plant medicines as tools or technologies to support awakening? How can we understand the psychedelic experience and also the outputs of psychedelics through a lens that is with the intention of awakening? When I heard about Depth Hypnosis and your work, I thought it would be amazing to talk to you and hear your thoughts on this. You’ve spoken about the catalytic power of shamanic practice and how you feel that there’s potential in that to be harnessed by Dharma practitioners in service of Awakening. This seems to be the focus of your work with Depth Hypnosis, so maybe we could start there.
Blog: Sacred Space on the Winter Solstice
By Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.
One thing I do know is that the building has held sacred space for all of us during this complex time of change, dissolution and challenge. As I have continued to teach out of the sanctuary on Zoom, I have felt the power of this sacred space infusing the teachings and supporting students all around the world. In some ways, its role as a refuge and a reminder of the sacred has expanded. As I see all the notices for new condo developments about to rise just blocks away, I feel even more committed to safeguarding and cultivating the peace and heart of the land here.
With so many of the ways we find meaning challenged over the last few years, the importance of cultivating and understanding what is truly sacred to us has been highlighted. Everyone finds meaning in their own ways and everyone encounters the sacred on their own terms. The task is to seek that meaning and that encounter. Even though this is largely an internal exploration, we need reminders, touchstones, in the everyday world to point us inward. Churches and temples provide this.