Gain wisdom about ancient mystery traditions and their relevance to ayahuasca spirituality.

This course is taught by one of the world’s leading minds of psychedelic spirituality, culture and consciousness. Des Tramacchi weaves together a powerful array of knowledge from his 30 years of studying psychedelics. He equips us with matured insight for enhancing the ayahuasca experience.

In this short course, you'll learn about:

  •  Psychedelic mystery traditions across the world and throughout time.
  •  How to cultivate your ayahuasca experience with “set” and “setting” and conscious intention.
  •  The spiritual significance of ayahuasca purging, visions and integration. 
  •  Psychonautics and the difference between ayahuasca and DMT.



“Des Tramacchi is a leading hands-on scholar in the growing field of entheogen research. He has valuable and practical insights to share about the spiritual and cultural aspects of ayahuasca and DMT. I thoroughly recommend this course.” 

Graham St. John, Ph.D. Author of the book: Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT


Humans have been using psychedelic sacraments and medicines like ayahuasca for thousands of years. In the beginning of this course, Dr. Des Tramacchi teaches us about different spiritual and religious traditions of psychedelic use throughout history. He also explains important insights and cultural frameworks that help people make sense of profound spiritual experiences.

This sets the foundation for the second part of the course where he offers teachings about the enhancement of the ayahuasca experience. Dr Tramacchi highlights the importance of tradition, ceremony and belief in shaping the actual experience of ayahuasca. You’ll also learn about the therapeutic and spiritual significance of ayahuasca purging, visions and integration.

The course then presents powerful insights from the lesser known tradition of psychonautic spirituality. You’ll learn a wide variety of ways to intelligently understand ayahuasca visions and experiences. This includes teachings about where ayahuasca visions come from and the transformational potential of ego-death and psychic-rebirth.

Course curriculum

  • 01
    Course Introduction
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    • Introduction
  • 02
    Ayahuasca, Spirituality and Health
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    • Ayahuasca in the Context of World Religions (5:27)
    • Religion Defined: Cosmogonic, Substantive, and Functional Definitions (10:10)
    • Religion Defined: Symbolic Definitions, Desacralization and the "Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans" (6:08)
    • The Union of Opposites (7:27)
    • Historical Mystery Traditions (4:06)
    • What social, historical and psychological factors that favour the current popularity of ayahuasca? (6:22)
  • 03
    Enhancing the Ayahuasca Experience
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    • What is The Medicine (7:16)
    • Therapeutic Objectives and Types of Transformation (4:28)
    • Set and Setting and Sensory Experience (5:31)
    • Different Traditions and Different Experiences (8:36)
    • Plant-Spirits, Beliefs, and Social Categories of Healing (10:55)
    • Purging and the Gifts of the Medicine (3:50)
    • Integrating the Experience (7:34)
  • 04
    Ayahuasca and Psychonautics
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    • Introduction: Basement Shamans (4:27)
    • From Ayahausca to DMT (8:58)
    • DMT Visions and Beings - Part I. Where do the visions come from? (16:21)
    • DMT Visions and Beings – Part II. Visions and truth (15:01)
    • DMT Visions and Beings – Part III. Psychic death and rebirth (9:23)
    • Mind and Body / DMT and Ayahuasca (7:03)

Des Tramacchi, PhD

Meet Your Instructor

Des Tramacchi is a scholar of religious studies specialising in entheogens. He has an abiding interest in trance and altered states of consciousness, entheogenic chaplaincy, shamanism and other wisdom traditions. For his doctoral thesis Des conducted interviews and fieldwork with Australian psychonauts to obtain qualitative information about their DMT experiences. He is a student of ethnobotany and has trained in both biology and anthropology. Des has published and taught university courses on entheogens, religion and anthropology and new spirituality movements. He is a member of EGA (Entheogenesis Australis) and PRISM (Psychedelic Research In Science and Medicine).
Des Tramacchi, PhD

FAQs

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