Fear of Death? Psychedelics Can Help!

The answer to the universal fear of death, Tricia Eastman says, may be in using psychedelics to hold a mirror up to the inner psyche.

Eastman, a medicine woman trained in facilitating Iboga and DMT experiences, will give a talk tomorrow on death and psychedelics at East Village herb store The Alchemist’s Kitchen.

Eastman said the talk is about using psychedelics and “really addressing people’s fears about death and having an open conversation to allow people to have more acceptance.” Among other things, she plans to touch upon the “ancestral wisdom” of Siddha alchemy, an ancient Tamil medicine system that, according to The Lancet, “has immense faith in the ‘miracles’ of mercurial drugs and in the prolongation of life through rejuvenating treatments and intense yogic practices, among which regulated breathing has pride of place.”

In recent years, psychedelics have garnered more acceptance among the research community; studies at NYU and Johns Hopkins have indicated that they can help alleviate depression and stress in terminally ill cancer patients.

Eastman has given numerous talks on the power of psychedelics since she first trained as a medicine woman in Mexico in 2013.

US law currently prohibits the use of Iboga and DMT. Aside from a ceremonial peyote experience, which is allowed due to its use in certain Native American religious rituals, Eastman has had to travel to countries like Mexico or Costa Rica to facilitate psychedelic use.

Death Becomes Her: Psychedelics, Death, and Immortality is tomorrow, Dec. 6, at 8 p.m. at The Alchemist’s Kitchen in the East Village. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door.