Brainforest Café

From Conventional Medicine to Plant Dietas and Spiritual Growth

Nissan started his career as a medical doctor and began his work as a general practitioner in an urban community clinic system. He then specialized in ophthalmology and practiced in a small town for 36 years. He became dissatisfied working strictly on the physical level and received training in Gestalt psychotherapy and had a small private practice. He became interested in the field of Natural Vision Improvement which combined his interest in vision with present moment, embodied presence. A reading from a tarot card reading psychic suggested the need for working in and with the spiritual realm to facilitate the Natural Vision work and suggested there were some gifts for him in shamanism. His wife had had a powerful experience in a ceremony with Don José Campos and encouraged him to explore Ayahuasca as a method to open himself spiritually. He had two very different , but powerful experiences with Don José and participated in a plant dieta in the Amazon in 2005 with Don José. He received what he interpreted as an initiatory experience and felt called to be trained as a vegetalista. He embarked on the training under Don José and Don Lucho’s guidance and began leading ceremonies in the US in 2009 and in 2011 began leading plant dietas in the Amazon. He continues to lead ceremonies in various locations in the US and occasionally Canada and leads dietas in the Amazon twice a year.

The Faerie Rings, a Magical Tale of Healing and Rebellion.

Zina Brown is the writer and director of The Faerie Rings, an upcoming narrative feature film about the promise of visionary plant medicines, and the cruelty of those who would outlaw them. Zina’s unique visual and narrative style has been awarded in film festivals across the world, including the Barcelona International Environmental Film Festival, Kyiv Film Festival in Ukraine, Mexico City International Film Festival, Amsterdam International Film Festival, San Antonio Film Festival, and the Woods Hole Film Festival. He has over 25 years of writing and directing experience, including numerous music videos and festival favorite short films. His short film, Dreams of the Last Butterflies, was screened at 50 Film Festivals in 13 countries, as well as winning many awards.

Entheogen Stewardship Project—Protecting Sacred Plants and Indigenous Wisdom.

Kevin Reed, founder and president of the Entheogen Stewardship Project, a vital new nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting culturally significant plant and animal species sacred to indigenous communities worldwide. Kevin brings a remarkable 45-year journey as a student of psychedelic science and culture to this crucial conservation work. His path began in 1984 under the mentorship of legendary researchers Sasha and Anne Shulgin, followed by profound connections with iconic figures including Wavy Gravy, Jack Herer, Timothy Leary, Rick Strassman, and many others who have shaped the modern psychedelic renaissance. Kevin's hands-on expertise spans an impressive range of fields: from teaching cannabis extraction in the mountains of Jamaica in 1985, to large-scale indoor cultivation in the Netherlands, to designing and successfully opening a state-of-the-art Type 7 cannabis manufacturing facility in California. His diverse interests encompass mycology, conservation biology, indigenous traditions, accelerated learning, transpersonal psychology, and ethical wildcrafting—principles that now support his conservation philosophy. The Entheogen Stewardship Project represents the culmination of Kevin's decades-long commitment to both psychedelic wisdom, indigenous rights and environmental protection. The organization combats illegal trafficking and exploitation of endangered entheogenic species while fostering respectful collaboration with all indigenous communities whose ancestral knowledge have safeguarded these sacred plant and animal spirits for millennia. Kevin's work addresses one of the most pressing issues facing our community today: how do we honor and protect the plant and animal teachers that have guided human consciousness for thousands of years, while ensuring their survival for future generations?

(2nd Installment) Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna

Graham St John, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and historian of transformational events, movements, and figures. His forthcoming book Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna (MIT Press, Oct 7, 2025) is the latest among his ten books, which also include Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT (North Atlantic Books 2015). Graham is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Media, Humanities and the Arts at the University of Huddersfield, UK.

Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna

Graham St John, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist and historian of transformational events, movements, and figures. His forthcoming book Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna (MIT Press, Sep 30, 2025) is the latest among his ten books, which also include Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT (North Atlantic Books 2015). Graham is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Media, Humanities and the Arts at the University of Huddersfield, UK.