Lotus Vine Journeys Documentary

 

 

Warm Greetings Beautiful Community,

 

This is Spring Washam, the founder of Lotus Vine Journeys, an organization I created in 2015. It represents a fusion of two powerful ancient traditions: the Buddhist Lotus and Amazonian shamanism. I want to give an especially warm greeting to our family, supporters, and friends around the world, including the plant medicine communities and all the beautiful Buddhist Sangha’s in which I’ve lived, practiced, and shared my dharma path for so many years.

 

I made this video and created this fundraiser because I am asking for your support. I want to share with you a very special project that is near and dear to my heart. On November 15, 2021, we’re bringing together twenty-two of the most incredible people, including visionaries, activists, authors, medical doctors, social scientists, therapists, healers, and even a Buddhist Lama. They are all people of color who are gathering to participate in a 14-day Ayahuasca retreat at our lovely jungle lodge in Tarapoto, Peru.

 

 

THE VISION

 

Naming the Problem

 

For many years, the voices of a few “privileged” people have dominated and heavily influenced the mainstream plant medicine narrative. This is reflected in documentary films, books, blogs, podcasts, social media, and online videos, and has left little room for different stories, viewpoints, and experiences. The time is “now” for new voices to emerge on this important topic.

 

The downfall of the dominant culture’s impact has also shown up in the lack of diversity and inclusivity within the global medicine movement, even though these medicines and their uses come from indigenous communities of color. This imbalance creates delusion and perpetuates a kind of ignorance, and it’s time to expand the narrative and include diverse voices. Otherwise, we run the risk of perpetuating the same inequality that comes from biased and unconscious systems of oppression. We can see this struggle within the wider holistic health movements as ancient traditions are stripped away there too, losing essential teachings and the knowledge of their origins.

 

This lack of diversity within the “dominant” plant medicine community has led to an inability to acknowledge and address core traumas related to racism, white supremacy, and colonization, issues that deeply impact everyone worldwide and particularly communities of color. These traumas are a core planetary wound that must be seen and acknowledged so it can be healed. BIPOC communities desperately need access to these healing plants along with the wisdom rooted within these indigenous traditions. Many would receive great benefit from healing with plant medicines but don’t reach out because they don’t feel welcome, included, or represented within the dominant communities.

 

 

Our Answer

 

The goal is to expand the access point and shift consciousness around the use of plant medicine to create a new narrative, an inclusive dialogue, and present a radically different perspective around plant medicine “use” and “who” it’s for. In this documentary, we are seeking to amplify new voices because we want to diversify, create entry-points to these powerful healing plants, and help remove the unconscious barriers of access for BIPOC folks.

 

How can we amplify a new generation of voices, especially the voices of wise BIPOC individuals? We can do this by sharing our stories on film so that other BIPOC folks around the world can see themselves represented and identify with the stories of those who have experienced the same struggles, especially healing internalized oppression and racialized trauma. We want to document our stories of healing, love, and transformation during the retreat and share these personal journeys with others. We want to record these stories for you, for me and for the future generations to inform and inspire others

 

Additionally, we want to reconnect people to the wisdom of the plants and to the roots of the indigenous traditions of the Amazon. These powerful plants can cure, reconcile, and rebuild the spirit to create more conscious, compassionate, and wise human beings. In this way we not only heal ourselves but also our ancestors, family trees, and future generations. It’s time for a new generation to connect to these ancient healing modalities so we can accelerate our collective awakening.

 

 

How We Heal

 

We want to document for the world to see the actual healing process of working with Ayahuasca—how we can liberate ourselves from our collective trauma as a community, and how we can heal ourselves so that we can be of service to the world. Other topics include ancestral healing, dismantling internalized white supremacy, the legacy of colonization in our bodies, gender identity, patriarchy, and sexual orientation.

 

These are the stories of people of color and indigenous folks who have endured so much hardship and are overcoming that suffering to be a beneficial presence for the world.

 

The documentary will also the feature the indigenous Shipibo people and culture, and how they have carried the medicine lineages for hundreds of years. It is especially important to understand their perspective on healing trauma and collective liberation, to show how it’s possible to transform internalized oppression through love, forgiveness, and redemption.

 

We rise for the benefit of all beings and together we carry this energy out into the world. This is a documentary about How We Rise Together.

 

 

Our fundraising Goal

 

We’re trying to raise $25,000, and all that money will go directly into supporting this project. We have assembled an experienced crew traveling from Ecuador, so there are a lot of expenses

 

We need funds for the following:

 

· Film equipment

 

· People

 

. Travel and Accommodations

 

· Promotion and distribution of the film

 

To put this documentary out into the world, we will enter it into film festivals and create a series or a 90-minute documentary for Netflix, Amazon, Gaia TV, or Hulu.

If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out by email or phone, and we’ll set up an appointment to hear from you and to share our vision.

 

Thank you for reading through our vision!

 

Please feel free to share this GoFundMe video and share the link with family and friends. We thank you for the opportunity. We thank you from the plant spirit world and we give thanks to all the indigenous people who have carried this medicine. It’s a sacred task and we want to share these stories with all. I give thanks and gratitude for all the generosity.