RIPPLES
RIPPLES is creating and researching collective psychedelic practices which explore the potential of psychedelics for peacebuilding, sacred activism, liberation and healing collective traumas. It is currently focused on Middle East based conflicts but aims to create an approach applicable to different situations.
WHAT
A wish to develop a psychedelic peacebuilding approach began with some passionate seekers searching for new frontiers of collective healing (Leor Roseman, Sami Awad, Armelle Lehemen, Natalie Ginsberg, Antwan Saca, and Indios Brasil). The first research project was a qualitative and ethnographic inquiry into the underground ayahuasca scene in Israel-Palestine (see research below). The second project was a pilot psychedelic peacebuilding program for Palestinians and Israelis (see video below). Now, RIPPLES continues as a non-profit that builds upon previous work and seeks to expand it to more people and contexts and to support a wider ecosystem of peace-makers.
WHAT NOT
We are not THE Solution. We try to do what we can with the states of mind that inspire us.
NAME
RIPPLES sometimes means “Reconciliation Initiative of Psychedelic Peace and Liberation Encounters.” Other times some words can change: “Reconciliation” to “Resistance”; “Peace” to “Power”, “Liberation” to “Love”, and “Encounters” to “Emergence”
HOW
Collective Intention — Participatory Rituals — Healing Collective Trauma — Experimental Ethos — Political Grounding — Working with Narratives — Prophetic Visioning — Sacred Activism — Dialogue — Personal is Political — Insights-to-Action — Chaos-to-Magic — Emergence — Embedded in Culture — Ecology of Care— Part of Network — Imagination — Love
AYWA:
PSYCHEDELIC
PEACE PROGRAM
Sami Awad & Leor Roseman, Psychedelic Science 2023, Denver, 23rd of June 202
From personal to collective: ayahuasca as a peace-making tool among Palestinians and Israeli
In the spring of 2022, three groups of Palestinians and Israelis were invited to participate in an ayahuasca peacebuilding program. The invitation was to explore the ceremonial and healing space of ayahuasca through a collective intention: to ground the transformative spiritual practice in the political reality of conflict and oppression; to heal collective trauma and liberate from rigid narratives and ethos; to invite revelations and transform them into actions of co-resistance; to create a community of solidarity and care; and to celebrate life and good music together.
In this joint presentation, Sami Awad, a Palestinian peace activist and one of the leading facilitators (together with Armelle Lehman and Indios Brasil), presents the program – tailored for this intention - and discusses the processes the groups went through. Leor Roseman, an Israeli psychedelic researcher from the University of Exeter (previously from Imperial College London), presents quantitative, qualitative, and phenomenological research findings from the program. The presentation reveals how psychedelics can be used intentionally for socio-political endeavours beyond personal healing.
Research
The qualitative & ethnographic research presented below is on the underground ayahuasca scene in the Holy Land, where Israelis and Palestinians drank ayahuasca together without a direct intention of peacebuilding. This initial inquiry has set some of the ideas, practices, and research questions we put forward in our intentional creation of psychedelic peacebuilding practices.
From a phenomenological perspective, participants experienced both intense moments of group unity and identity dissolution, as well as awe-inspiring moments of interfaith and intercultural connection and recognition through music and prayers. Many participants also had powerful insights and visions about the conflict and collective trauma, which motivated them to work towards conflict resolution.
It is important to note that in times, we noticed that too much of a focus on oneness and harmony can serve the status quo, excluding Palestinian conflictual voices and history. Yet, some revelatory events can momentarily challenge the status quo; hence, they are revolutionary in potentia. In fidelity to such revelatory events, a political awakening can motivate the subject to change the reality around them based on their new perception.
Roseman, L., Ron, Y., Saca, A., Ginsberg, N., Luan, L., Karkabi, N., Doblin, R. and Carhart-Harris, R., 2021. Relational processes in ayahuasca groups of Palestinians and Israelis. Frontiers in pharmacology
Roseman, L. and Karkabi, N., 2021. On revelations and revolutions: drinking Ayahuasca among Palestinians under Israeli occupation. Frontiers in Psychology
Roseman, Leor. Oneness, Liberation, and Revolutionary Revelations: Observational Research on Ayahuasca Rituals of Israelis and Palestinians. MAPS Bulletin 2022: Vol 32
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