Françoise Bourzat - Consciousness Medicine: Indigenous Wisdom, Entheogens, and Expanded States of Consciousness for Healing and Growth

Franoise Bourzat is uniquely qualified to write this book. She not only has the multicultural training and a deep and real connection with indigenous traditional healing techniques, but she has for decades applied, tested, and extended these techniques, specifically for the training of Western therapists. Her own Western training was first class; perhaps because of that, she is not caught up in idolizing or fantasizing the value of either Western psychodynamic therapies and research or these older systems of indigenous healing. She has no ideological ax to grind, but only to press for effective practice for the healer and for their clients.

James Fadiman, PhD, psychologist and author of
The Psychedelic Explorers Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys

Franoise Bourzat has been a student and friend of mine for over thirty years. We have shared our prayers for health and help through our breath of life and our heartfelt quest for a healthier world to live in. Our Native American way of life is not a religion; it is a Way of Life. When I met Bourzat, she was living in the mountains, living in nature, and teaching her students they are one with nature. Bourzat was already connected to our Mother Earth and our Way of Life was not a mystery or difficult to connect to.

Marilyn Youngbird, Chief Woman Among Chiefs, Arikara Nation

Bourzat has an extensive background as a teacher and facilitator of altered states of consciousness, utilizing a variety of techniques including meditation, vision quests, sweat lodges, and entheogens. Regarding entheogens, also known as psychedelics and hallucinogens, Bourzat has done considerable fieldwork among the indigenous Mazatec people of Mexico, who have a vast history and knowledge of the spiritual and healing properties of psilocybin mushrooms and other psychotropic plants, predating the European conquest of the Americas. Having worked closely for many years with these native healers of the Mazatec, Bourzat has acquired considerable insight into these ancient practices that she has transmitted to the many contemporary students and seekers that she has worked with over the past thirty-five years. Given the increasing interest in the range of effects and applications of psychedelic plants in the modern area, Bourzats knowledge of these ancient practices holds great relevance to todays world.

Charles S. Grob, MD, professor of psychiatry, UCLA School of Medicine

Franoise Bourzat has been studying [Mazatec] tradition for many years. Through this study and through her personal experiences, she has acquired an understanding of our ancestral ways and is able to speak about them with respect and the clarity of that responsibility. I support her voice and I trust her approach in combining her psychological angle together with our ancient ways of the ancestral medicines of our Mazatec tradition.

Eugenia Pineda Casimiro, guide for the sacred ceremonies of the Mazatec area, Oaxaca, Mexico

In Consciousness Medicine, Franoise Bourzat deftly pulls together a practical guide for all serious travelers of the inner universe, meant for those who are intent on getting the most out of their journeys with the goal of personal and societal transformation. She draws upon her deep knowledge of indigenous wisdom and techniques for expanding consciousnesscombining this with her broad knowledge of contemporary psychological and spiritual practices and thirty years plus of working with people in expanded and extreme mind statesto weave together a multihued cloak of compassionate guidance and loving presence for those brave souls who dare to explore the further reaches of consciousness. Throughout this book, in clear, frank, and humble language, Bourzats lived experience of the inner landscapes she explores herself and with her clients shines through.

Gary Bravo, MD, psychiatrist and coauthor of Birth of a Psychedelic Culture

A valuable resource for anyone using altered states in their practice of psychotherapy. Franoise Bourzat is not only experienced in how to integrate material gained while in these states into ones daily life, but in addition she is an experienced and insightful psychotherapist. She also has many years of training psychotherapists in how to deal with difficult situations. Bourzats depth of understanding is unmatched in the work with psilocybin. Her many years as an apprentice to a Mazatec healer has given her both a depth of experience and an appreciation for the origins and purpose of this work. This book is clearly written, with valuable specific examples of clients work and experiences to illustrate salient points.

PAdma Catell, PhD, author of Drugs and Clients: What Every Therapist Needs to Know and a contributor with Ralph Metzner to Through the Gateway of the Heart

Copyright 2019 by Franoise Bourzat and Kristina Hunter. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief review, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the written permission of the publisher. For information contact North Atlantic Books.

Published by

North Atlantic Books

Berkeley, California

Cover art by Jacques Roussow

Book design by Happenstance Type-O-Rama

Printed in Canada

Consciousness Medicine: Indigenous Wisdom, Entheogens, and Expanded States of Consciousness for Healing and Growth is sponsored and published by the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences (dba North Atlantic Books), an educational nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, that collaborates with partners to develop cross-cultural perspectives, nurture holistic views of art, science, the humanities, and healing, and seed personal and global transformation by publishing work on the relationship of body, spirit, and nature.

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DISCLAIMER: The following information is intended for general information purposes only. The publisher does not advocate illegal activities but does believe in the right of individuals to have free access to information and ideas. Individuals should always see their health care provider before administering any suggestions made in this book. Any application of the material set forth in the following pages is at the readers discretion and is his or her sole responsibility.

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data is available from the publisher upon request.

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For Jacqueline and Julieta

I am a woman who looks into the insides of things, I say

I am a woman who investigates, I say

I am a woman wise in medicine, I say

I am a mother woman, I say

I am a woman wise in medicine, I say

Mara Sabina

Amidst the current plethora of books on shamanic and entheogenic healing practices, Consciousness Medicine is a rare and precious contribution. It is a womans book, using the ancient metaphoric language of weaving. It speaks of the authors multi-year apprenticeship with the Mazatec medicine elder woman Julieta Casimiro, herself a unique example in a field dominated by men. Julieta calls Franoise the interpreter, whose task it is to translate the indigenous way of women healers into the modern world. She weaves together stories of medicine healings in Mexico, with stories of how these teachings can be applied in the contemporary world, using experiential modalities such as dance and movement, sweat lodge, breathwork, meditation, sensory awareness, meditation, Hakomi therapy, and others. Throughout her book, Franoise emphasizes the need for clear intentions and integration of altered state experiences into everyday life, giving many detailed suggestions for ongoing practices. I especially appreciate the conscious attention she gives to two factors often omitted or neglected in groups that emphasize individual enlightenment experiencesthe integration of the new insights into community life and the integration with environmental concerns. The healing stories shared in this book, by both men and women, radiate with the authors infectious enthusiasm and