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Podcast: Psychedelics Today
Episode:

Jean-Francois Sobiecki - African Psychoactive Plants & Phytoalchemy
Category: Science & Medicine
Duration: 01:09:19
Publish Date: 2025-04-08 04:22:00
Description:

In this episode of Psychedelics Today, Joe Moore sits down with South African ethnobotanist and healer Jean-François Sobiecki to explore the rich and largely underrecognized world of African psychoactive plants. With over two decades of fieldwork and research, Jean-François sheds light on the traditional use of these plants in healing, divination, and spiritual practices across Southern Africa.

Topics covered include:

  • Jean-François’s early inspirations and the ancestral roots of his herbal knowledge
  • His discovery and documentation of 306 African psychoactive plant species
  • The ritual use of Ubuwalu (dream-enhancing emetic infusions) and their role in personal transformation
  • How vomiting, dietary restrictions, and sensory isolation are used as part of initiation processes
  • Cross-cultural parallels between Southern African and Amazonian plant healing traditions
  • The underexplored use of psychoactive plants to treat mental health conditions like schizophrenia and hysteria
  • Ethical fieldwork, indigenous knowledge protection, and the dangers of overharvesting sacred plants
  • Visions for healing and conservation gardens in Africa and the role these plants could play in global mental health

Jean-François shares moving stories of his 15-year mentorship with a Northern Sotho diviner and healer, Letti Ponnya, and how she introduced him to African “plant teacher” medicines. His message is clear: Africa has a deep, sophisticated, and scientifically underappreciated tradition of psychoactive plant use that deserves recognition, respect, and further study.

Get the book: African Psychoactive Plants: Journeys in Phytoalchemy

Learn more at: phytoalchemy.co.za

Related reading: ️ African Psychoactive Plants: Journeys in Phytoalchemy – Chacruna
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