Ayahuasca, NASA & the Origins of Life | Dr. Bruce Damer on Psychedelics, Science & Consciousness

What if psychedelics aren’t just medicines for healing—but elixirs of discovery?

In this boundary-breaking episode of The Awaken Podcast, Dr. Bruce Damer—astrophysicist, visionary researcher, and President of the Center for MINDS—joins Natasja Pelgrom for a groundbreaking conversation on psychedelic-catalyzed insight and its role in shaping the future of science, technology, and human understanding.

📍 Recorded live at Breaking Convention 2025, Bruce shares the story behind how an ayahuasca journey catalyzed a breakthrough in origin-of-life research—a theory now being explored by NASA and peer-reviewed by the scientific community.

This is where mysticism meets microbiology, where altered states ignite innovation, and where the line between science and spirit dissolves.

🌍 In this episode, we explore:
🌱 How a visionary ayahuasca experience led to a breakthrough in astrobiology
🧠 Why healing medicines may also be tools for discovery, creativity, and leadership
🧬 The question: Can psychedelics accelerate scientific understanding?
👁️ Encountering an “entity” that delivered insight even NASA couldn’t discredit
🌀 The role of psilocybin, creative flow, and memory in cognitive research
🤖 Collaborating with AI to extend ancient knowledge systems
🌐 Ethical and methodological guardrails for researchers coming “out of the psychedelic closet”

📚 About Dr. Bruce Damer:

• President, Center for MINDS
  
• Astrobiologist & origin-of-life researcher
  
• Former NASA consultant & visionary systems designer
  
• Author, public speaker, and psychedelic science pioneer
  🌐 More: www.damer.com  

🎟️ This episode was recorded live at Breaking Convention – Europe’s leading psychedelic conference:
🔗 breakingconvention.co.uk

🎥 Subscribe for more episodes on YouTube:
🔗/@natasjapelgrom

🌿 Retreats, integration & community:
🔗 natasjapelgrom.com

📲 Connect on Instagram:
🔗 @natasja_pelgrom

Are You a Mushroom Having a Human Experience? | Darren Le Baron on Psychedelic Consciousness & African Wisdom

In this enlightening episode of The Awaken Podcast, host Natasja Pelgrom is joined by Darren Le Baron—renowned mycologist, psychedelic educator, and speaker on ancient African plant medicine traditions. Recorded live at Breaking Convention 2025, this conversation explores the intersection of psychedelic consciousness, ethnomycology, and ancestral wisdom.

With humor, reverence, and grounded insight, Darren shares how mushrooms can awaken new understandings of identity, spirituality, and our relationship with nature.

🌿 Topics covered in this episode:

✅ African wisdom traditions & the lost roots of psychedelic use

✅ “You Are a Mushroom Having a Human Experience” — unpacking Darren’s signature teaching

✅ What mushrooms teach us about consciousness, transformation & healing

✅ How cultivating your own plant medicine deepens the integration process

✅ Cultural and spiritual perspectives on fungi across the globe

✅ Ethical leadership in the era of psychedelic commercialization

✅ How fungi mirror our inner and collective evolution

✨ Whether you’re a psychonaut, spiritual seeker, or student of mycology, this episode is a journey through the soul of the soil and the spirit of the mushroom.

🌐 Learn more about Darren’s work, webinars, and courses:
 🔗 www.darrenlebaron.com

🎟️ This episode was recorded live at Breaking Convention – Europe’s leading psychedelic conference:
🔗 breakingconvention.co.uk

🎥 Subscribe for more episodes on YouTube:
🔗 / @natasjapelgrom

🌿 Retreats, integration & community:
🔗 natasjapelgrom.com

📲 Connect on Instagram:
🔗 @natasja_pelgrom

Exploring consciousness, metaphysics, and psychedelic insight through the lens of Spinietzschean thought.

In this mind-expanding episode of The Awaken Podcast, Natasja is joined by Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, philosopher of mind, metaphysician, and lecturer at the University of Exeter. Renowned for bridging ancient philosophical questions with modern psychedelic insight, Peter invites us into a layered inquiry on consciousness, altered states, and the mysteries embedded within nature itself.

From Spinoza to Nietzsche, Kant to panpsychism, this conversation travels through rich philosophical terrain—exploring how altered states may not only expand the mind, but also reframe our understanding of what mind is.

In this episode, we explore:

• What is consciousness—and is it embedded in or emergent from nature?
  
• How psychedelics challenge traditional views of the mind-body problem
  
• Can altered states give us access to otherwise hidden layers of reality?
  
• How metaphysical frameworks like panpsychism and pantheism influence the interpretation of psychedelic experiences
  
• Why plants, fungi—and perhaps even matter itself—may be conscious in ways we overlook
  
• The intersection of Spinietzschean philosophy and expanded states of awareness
  
• What philosophers like Kant might say about psychedelic experience
  
• The role of awe, sublimity, and moral insight beyond reason
  
• Key philosophical questions in psychedelic research that remain unexplored
  

This episode is a contemplative feast for psychonauts, scholars, and seekers alike—an invitation to see not just differently, but deeper.

📚 About Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes:

• Lecturer at the University of Exeter, Co-Founder of the Exeter Psychedelic Research Group
  
• Director & Trustee at Breaking Convention
• Author of Noumenautics, Modes of Sentience, and editor of Philosophy and Psychedelics
  
• TEDx Speaker | Published with Bloomsbury, Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, and Psychedelic Press
  
• Inspiration behind Marvel’s philosopher superhero, Karnak
  

🌐 More about Peter: www.philosopher.eu

🎟️ Join the Breaking Convention psychedelic conference:

Get 10% off your ticket with the code AWAKENTHEMED10

🌿 Resources & Next Steps:
→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

💬 If this episode sparks questions or cosmic reflections…
Share it with a fellow seeker or philosopher. Subscribe, leave a review, and tag us in your favorite quotes or “aha” moments.

#TheAwakenPodcast #ConsciousnessExplored #PsychedelicPhilosophy #Panpsychism #Spinietzsche #MetaphysicsAndMedicine

‘Feminine Intelligence, Somatic Depth, and Expanded States’

In this timely and thought-provoking solo episode, Natasja Pelgrom opens Season 4 of The Awaken Podcast with a powerful call to remember the forgotten arc of transformation—one rooted not in the peaks of expanded states experience, but in the embodied return.

Drawing from decades of space holding, ancient initiatory wisdom, and her own recent darkness retreat, Natasja reframes psych*del^cs and other expanded states not as interventions, but as initiations. At the heart of this return is the Initiatrix archetype—a feminine intelligence that guides transformation through descent, mystery, and relational leadership.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why modern psych*delic culture is obsessed with ego death and “how many journeys”
  
• The deeper questions we should be asking about integration and embodiment
  
• The Initiatrix archetype as a model for feminine-informed facilitation
  
• Natasja’s 3-day darkness retreat as a lived descent—and why it changed her leadership
  
• Polyvagal theory, the default mode network, and the neuroscience of re-entry
  
• Why some traditions require 40 days for integration—and what we’ve lost by rushing
  
• How to reframe leadership in medicine work as relational stewardship, not performance
  
• The cost of ignoring the feminine process of transformation in facilitation and service
  

This episode sets the tone for a season dedicated to re-orienting our collective compass—from seeking the peak, to honoring the slow, sacred spiral of return.

📍 Resources & Next Steps:
→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

🎟️ Join the Breaking Convention psychedelic conference:

Get 10% off your ticket with the code AWAKENTHEMED10

🔗 breakingconvention.co.uk

💬 If this episode resonated with you, share it with a fellow seeker, facilitator, or space holder.

Tag us with your reflections and let us know:

👉 What does “the return” mean to you?
👉 How are you honoring the feminine arc in your work?

#TheAwakenPodcast #PsychedelicIntegration #TheInitiatrix #SacredLeadership #EmbodiedTransformation #5MeODMT #DarknessRetreat #FeminineArchetypes

"Life is not a destination—it’s a courageous journey of returning to what truly matters."

In this rich and soul-stirring episode, Natasja sits down with a visionary entrepreneur whose journey began in Hong Kong and led them through the bustling streets of Amsterdam’s creative scene, where they co-founded iconic spaces like Doka, Canvas, Werkplaats, and Vrijland Festival.

Together, they explore:

✨ Aligning business with soul-purpose and personal values
🌀 The art of shedding identity to reinvent oneself
🪶 Embracing humility and becoming a student of life again
🧭 Following intuition to navigate profound life shifts
🌱 Building community spaces rooted in integrity and inclusion
🌍 Emigrating and starting anew while holding a vision for freedom
🌿 Reclaiming connection to nature as our ultimate guide and teacher

Their story is not just about entrepreneurial success—but about daring to lead with heart, choosing integrity over conformity, and embodying freedom as a lived philosophy.

💡 Highlights from the Episode:

• Letting go of success to rediscover self
  
• Lessons in leadership from hospitality to holistic living
  
• Moving from city life to a new rhythm in Portugal
  
• Creating spaces that serve both inner and outer transformation
  

📍 Connect with our guest:
👉 www.freedomville.pt

🌿 Resources & Next Steps:
→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

💬 Loved this episode?

Share it with a friend, leave a review, and tag us on Instagram with your insights!

#TheAwakenPodcast #ConsciousLeadership #SacredEntrepreneurship

“No matter how much you prepare someone, it’s always a unique experience.”

In this insightful and nuanced episode, Natasja welcomes Jeanine Souren, a clinical psychologist, sexologist, and co-founder of the Experiential Training Institute. Jeanine brings her extensive expertise in trauma, couples, and family therapy to the evolving field of psychedelic-assisted treatment—bridging the scientific with the soulful.

🌀 In this conversation, we explore:

• What it means to journey as a therapist alongside your clients
  
• The mindset needed to hold diverse and sometimes unpredictable mental landscapes
  
• Why preparation and integration go far beyond checklists—they’re deeply values-driven
  
• The role of family dynamics and early imprinting in psychedelic outcomes
  
• When cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may not serve the process
  
• How constellation work can enhance or complement psychedelic facilitation
  
• The subtle yet significant difference between MDMA and Psilocybin journeys
  
• Addressing the misunderstood theme of “Nothing happened”
  
• Group vs. individual psychedelic therapy—what works, and when
  
• Supporting intimacy, sexuality, and connection in psychedelic couple/family therapy
  
• Offering training to academic professionals stepping into this sacred space
  

Jeanine brings clarity, humility, and depth to the complex terrain of therapeutic work with expanded states—and reminds us that rites of passage are not just for clients, but for space holders, too.

📍 Connect with Jeanine and her offerings:
🌐 www.jeaninesouren.com

🌿 Resources & Next Steps:
→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

💬 If this episode sparked insights or reflections, share it and tag us.
We’d love to hear how you’re navigating your own therapeutic landscapes—whether as a practitioner or seeker.

#TheAwakenPodcast #PsychedelicTherapy #IntegrationMatters #TherapeuticJourney #RitesofPassage

A special feature from the Stewards of the Sacred Conference

What if the plants around you—yes, even the common ones—were not just botanical companions but profound spiritual teachers?

In this special edition episode from the inaugural Stewards of the Sacred conference (October 2023), Natasja welcomes Pam Montgomery, a beloved Earth elder, international teacher, and pioneer in plant spirit healing. With more than three decades of experience as an herbalist and author, Pam shares a moving and timely teaching on how plants initiate us into higher consciousness and co-create our evolution alongside Nature.

🌱 In this episode, Pam explores:

• How even the most common plants serve as Teacher Plants
  
• Why plant initiations help us answer the questions: “Who am I?” and “What am I doing here?”
  
• How plants guide our spiritual evolution in this age of awakening
  
• The emerging paradigm of co-creative partnership with Nature
  
• Our responsibility to listen, collaborate, and walk in reverence with the green beings
  

Pam reminds us that the sacred is not separate—it grows beneath our feet and calls us into a new era of conscious stewardship.

📚 Pam is the author of:
Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness
Partner Earth: A Spiritual Ecology
Her forthcoming book: Co-Creative Partnership with Nature

🌿 She is also a founding member of United Plant Savers and Organization of Nature Evolutionaries (ONE)

🌍 Discover Stewards of the Sacred conferences and watch at you convenience:
🔗 www.stewardsofthesacred.com

🌿 Resources & Next Steps:
→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

💬 Feeling the call?
Share this episode with a fellow plant lover, space holder, or spiritual seeker. Let’s reweave the threads of sacred connection—together.
 

#StewardsoftheSacred #TheAwakenPodcast #PlantSpiritHealing #NatureWisdom #EarthElders

Reconnect with Natasja in this solo episode as she returns to The Awaken Podcast, guiding you through a journey of introspection, self-discovery, and the transformative power of silence.

After seasons of holding space, guiding others, and walking alongside transformation in its many forms, Natasja returns—more rooted, more tender, and more devoted to the still voice within.

In this intimate solo episode of The Awaken Podcast, she explores the sacred technology of stillness—not as something passive, but as an active portal to awakening, clarity, and embodiment.

Stillness is not absence.
Stillness is presence amplified.
It’s where the deeper truths speak.

🌬️ In this transmission, Natasja explores:

• What it means to pause in a world addicted to momentum
  
• Why silence is not empty—but full of wisdom
  
• The difference between numbing out and dropping in
  
• The role of stillness as integration—especially after peak experiences
  
• How to listen to what is asking to emerge through the quiet
  
• Why returning to silence is a radical act of self-leadership
  
• Practices to anchor your nervous system and soul in the here and now
  

Whether you're in the midst of transition, longing for reconnection, or feeling stretched by the world’s pace—this episode is a gentle invocation to return to your own source.

🌀 Mentioned in this episode:

• The practice of breath awareness & embodied presence
  
• How nature mirrors the intelligence of stillness
  
• The space between stories, identities, and initiations
  
• Living from the inside-out: A foundational leadership principle
  

🌿 Resources & Next Steps:
→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

💬 Your Invitation:
What if the clarity you’ve been chasing lives in the pause?
Share this episode with someone who needs space to remember.
Subscribe, rate, and tag us with your insights.

#TheAwakenPodcast #StillnessIsPower #AwakeningThroughSilence #SacredPause #SelfLeadership

Navigating Transformation in an Ever-Changing World

Imagine a world where every transition—birth, death, heartbreak, coming of age, leadership, spiritual awakening—was honored with deep intention, belonging, and community.
That world is not lost. It lives in the echoes of our ancestors—and in the choices we make today.

In this solo episode of The Awaken Podcast, Natasja invites you on a profound exploration of Rites of Passage—timeless ceremonial frameworks that guide us through the liminal spaces of transformation.

As modern life accelerates, we are asked to remember: our milestones matter.
Whether through ancient initiations or psychedelic journeys, rites of passage offer us mirrors, maps, and meaning.

🌍 In this episode, we explore:

• What rites of passage really are and why they’re vital today
  
• How traditional societies and indigenous lineages honor transitions
  
• The synergy between rites of passage and psychedelic experiences
• Why reclaiming ritual is essential for individual and global evolution
  
• How initiation builds resilience, self-trust, and deeper belonging
  
• Modern distortions of initiation—hazing, spiritual bypassing, and more
  
• How to begin integrating conscious rites into your own life and leadership
  

Whether you’re navigating identity shifts, creative rebirth, career pivots, or deep spiritual awakenings—this episode offers a compass to walk these thresholds with clarity, reverence, and courage.

📚 References & Inspirations mentioned in this episode:

1. Mircea Eliade – Rites and Symbols of Initiation
   
2. Victor Turner – The Ritual Process
   
3. Arnold van Gennep – Les Rites de Passage
   
4. Joseph Campbell – The Hero with a Thousand Faces
   
5. Maureen Murdock – The Heroine’s Journey
   
6. Aldous Huxley – Island
   
7. Ram Dass, Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner – The Psychedelic Experience
   
8. Rize – Directed by David LaChapelle
   
9. Studies on college initiation & hazing (2005)
   
10. Frat House – Documentary by Todd Phillips & Andrew Gurland
    

🌀 Plus: Egyptian Craft Guilds, the Eleusinian Mysteries, Christian initiation rites, and more...

🌿 Retreat Mentioned:
5-Day Psilocybin Retreat in the Netherlands
🔗 awakenthemedicinewithin.com/stewardship

🌿 Resources & Next Steps:
→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

💬 If this episode resonates with you…
Share it with someone crossing their own threshold.
Rate, subscribe, and tag us with your reflections and rituals.
Let’s walk the ceremonial path together.
 

#TheAwakenPodcast #RitesOfPassage #ThresholdsOfChange #LivingCeremony #ModernMystics #ConsciousLeadership

The work is rewarded by the gifts you receive in silence.

The Awaken Podcast—a space for seekers, leaders, and visionaries ready to walk in deep alignment with self, spirit, and purpose.

After a sacred pause, Natasja Pelgrom returns to the mic with fresh insights, a reawakened sense of purpose, and a powerful new season dedicated to exploring self-leadership, ritual, and stewardship in a time of psychedelic expansion.

This solo episode sets the tone with one of the central pillars of this season: Living in Ceremony—and more specifically, the profound art of decoding prayer as a living, breathing practice.

🌿 In this solo transmission, Natasja explores:

• Why we must stop waiting for sacredness and begin co-creating it with life
  
• What it means to “live in ceremony” in everyday moments
  
• One of the nine principles of ceremonial living: decoding prayer
  
• Insights from science, quantum physics, and ancient wisdom on prayer and intention
  
• How your inner landscape shapes the outer world—and how to lead from within
  

This is an invitation to listen not just with your mind, but with your body, your breath, and your heart.

📚 Mentioned in this episode:

• The Isaiah Effect & Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer by Gregg Braden
  
• Prof. Kevin L. Ladd's work: The Science of Prayer: Opportunities and Limits
  
• Video resource: Quantum entanglement explained
  
• 5-day Psilocybin Retreat in the Netherlands:
  🔗 awakenthemedicinewithin.com/stewardship
  

🌍 Discover Living in Ceremony 3-week Self-Paced course:
🔗https://www.eudaimonia.institute/living-in-ceremony

🌿 Resources & Next Steps:
→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

💬 If this episode speaks to you…
Share it with someone walking the path.
Subscribe, rate, and tag us with your reflections.

 Let’s remember together: every moment is an invitation to live in ceremony.
#TheAwakenPodcast #LivingInCeremony #DecodingPrayer #StewardsoftheSacred #ConsciousLeadership

“Stewardship and Leadership the way forward.”

In this powerful and intimate episode, Natasja is joined by sacred medicine facilitator and cultural steward Marc-John, whose path has been shaped by over 15 years of study, practice, and deep relationships with indigenous communities across Latin America.

Together, they explore the unseen layers of what it truly means to walk the path of sacred medicine facilitation—not as a role, but as a lifelong commitment rooted in reverence, reciprocity, and personal evolution.

🌿 In this episode, we dive into:

• The soul’s calling and sacrifices required to walk the medicine path
  
• Cultivating energy, relationships, and faith through the dark
  
• The sacred responsibility of holding space for others
  
• Prayer, intention, and integrity as foundational pillars
  
• The delicate balance between the seen and unseen realms
  
• Living reciprocity: the ethics of working with indigenous wisdom
  
• The day-to-day life of a facilitator, beyond ceremony
  
• Navigating inner and outer challenges on the path of service
  

Marc-John’s journey is one of humility, stewardship, and deep listening—to both the plant spirits and the communities that carry their wisdom.

📍 Connect with Marc-John and his work:
🌐 www.nativewisdomhub.com

🌿 Resources & Next Steps:

→ Join the next Sacred Continuum live class (integration & embodiment support)
→ Explore upcoming retreats and mentoring opportunities

🌐 natasjapelgrom.com
🎥 youtube.com/@NatasjaPelgrom
📲 @natasja_pelgrom

💬 If this episode resonated, share it with a fellow seeker or facilitator.
Tag us with your reflections and let us know what sacred stewardship means to you. #TheAwakenPodcast #SacredFacilitation #PlantMedicinePath #IndigenousWisdom