Research shows that a facilitated intake of Psilocybin does wonders in treating PTSD, addictions, anxiety, and depression. Desi Valentine works with clients all over the world to help them heal these inner wounds through sacred mushroom healing. Sitting down with Tanya Memme, he discusses how his one-on-one session works, which involves more than just consuming plant medicines. Desi explains how he integrates music, massages, and even deep conversations with higher beings into his work. He also reaches out to those who question the effectiveness and legality of Psilocybin by sharing several success stories of his clients.

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Desi Valentine On How He Touches Lives Through Sacred Mushroom Healing

In this episode, I want to talk about plant medicine. We’re talking about ayahuasca, iboga, psilocybin or any kind of plant medicine. I have guest Desi Valentine who is a shamanic healer. He’s an energy healer sound healer, clairvoyant and transformation coach. He’s a recording artist. You have to listen to his stuff on Spotify. It’s beautiful. He’s the Founder of the DV Elemental product line. He’s been involved with plant medicine for many years.

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Desi, I’m happy to be interviewing you because the hot topic is psilocybin and ayahuasca. The talk of it is spreading like crazy. I’ve been extremely interested in it. I had to have you come on the show because you’ve been involved with it for many years.

Thanks so much for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here to talk about this very important and powerful subject.

I met Desi at a mutual friend’s house who’s also in this space. I have been so blessed to meet shamanic healers from the jungles of Costa Rica and also Columbia. You’ve studied with some of the most world-renowned shamans in this space. You’re from the UK and then you moved to Los Angeles. You spent a decade studying with some of the top shamans not in the business because it’s such a sacred thing. How did this all start for you? It’s not like you were born of a shamanic tribe or a tribe in Costa Rica or the Amazon somewhere. You were born in the UK.

My story is pretty wild. When I was ten years old, I was told that magic didn’t exist. Even at that young age, there was something like, “I don’t think that you’re right about that. There’s more going on behind.” I was a beautifully, bizarre young child. I had a lot of wisdom beyond my years at the time. I figured out some stuff already. It was clear that my soul had done this dance many times before.

As a child would do, I went looking for it. I was in the Yellow Pages. I went to the Yellow Pages and was flipping through to find magic. I was like, “I know magic exists. I’m going to find it.” I found a metaphysical magic supply store called Mysteries in Common Garden. I decided to go. I was like, “I’m going to go.” It was okay to go on the train and go to Common Garden. I checked it out and it was these crystals, candles, amulets and Buddhas. There were water features, all of these different books and interesting people. I was like, “I knew that magic exists.”

At that moment, I began to study. I saved up my pocket money and bought my first spell book to understand incantations and spells. I then got more deeply into the Wiccan side of things, working with the elements and the essence of nature and being able to understand that there’s so much available for us to harness as humans. We just don’t talk about it.

It was almost weird and forbidden. Especially when you hear the word Wicca or Wiccan, I always knew that as being black magic, dark magic or something negative. I remember when I first met you, you told me that’s how you started. I thought, “Many people think that is labeled as dark magic.” Explain that a little bit too that it’s not like that.

The interesting thing about anything, like magic, is it can be used for good and evil if people want to take things into a dark place. Wiccanism is using nature. The foundational pieces of it are moon blessings and connecting to the power of the moon, the elements, Mother Earth and the orbit it has. There are offerings, rituals, fruits and blessings. It’s so much about light and connection.

I’m curious too. Is it something that was based on something that I would think that the tribes of whatever jungle or whatever part of the Amazon has been doing for many years? It’s these ancient rituals. This isn’t something that somebody made up, decided to put in a book and teach you how to pray to the moon. It’s not like that. These are very sacred ancient rituals, aren’t they?

They are. There are many different faiths, modalities and approaches. The basis of Wiccanism and paganism is coming more from the Celtic faiths and religions. It’s more that way rather than the indigenous Native American side of things. Nature in itself is not exclusive. It is welcome for all, every faith, every belief and anybody that truly wants to harness it. It’s a God and Goddess-given gift for us.

A lot of us don’t realize that until we start diving into it. I had my awakening a couple of years ago when I did my first ayahuasca journey with a shaman that I had met. She’s from Costa Rica. It changed my life. It can be used for good and bad. There’s such a wave. Everybody’s talking about ayahuasca and psilocybin but it did change my life.

I wanted to go back for one second. You mentioned to me when I first met you that you had some mystical experiences when you were a kid. That started to make you think, “There’s something more out there than what we just see with our two eyes.” Can you share one of those things that happened when you were a kid? I’m so curious. What was the first mystical or magical thing that happened to you that made you believe or notice that?

It was a very deep knowingness, even the simple fact of being led to exactly where I was at that moment. A child that thinks, knows and is aware of what’s going on somewhat behind the scenes looks in the Yellow Pages of all things and manages to find the said thing. This isn’t when there were crystal shops and things all over the place. There was one in that particular part of London. To go there, see it, realize and understand the plug into something, even that in itself is magical. It seems very divinely led.

With the mystical things that I experienced, there’s one I will share with you. I was a champion gymnast. That was the first thing I was. One time, I was drunk with my friends. I must’ve been 14 or 15 at the time. In London, this is the type of thing that we do. My friends were like, “Do some backflips.” I was like, “That doesn’t seem like a smart idea to be drunk and trying to do these things.” I was young and foolish so I was like, “I’ll do it.” I do a few of these backflips and go onto my hands. I smashed my knee into the concrete and was like, “Uh-oh.” I’ve done some serious damage. I could barely walk on it. I have been deeply working and studying in the magic and Wiccan space for all those years leading up to that point.

I went home. It happened to be a full moon. There was a deep knowing that I’d done some serious damage here. I did a full moon healing on my knee. With everything, I drew down the power of the moon and brought it into my knee. I envisioned it healthy and clear. At this point, I had never done anything as big as this. I go to sleep and when I woke up, my knee was healed as if nothing had happened. It got to the point that I was like, “Am I losing my mind?”

I was still a rational human so I was being practical. I was checking my knee to see if there were any tenderness or some remnants of what I did that I could barely walk the day before. It had no pain to the touch at all. It had complete movement. I understood the power of what we can do to harness. That’s free. That’s power and beauty that’s available for us to harness, plug it into, send some intention and work with it and bring real healing. That’s the essence of what I do in this space.

I started to dive into this whole world after I had that experience with ayahuasca. It’s incredible what is out there that we’re not aware of. The awareness or the belief is not there. I might be talking to somebody about ayahuasca or psilocybin and what I’ve seen it do. I have seen with my two eyes miracles happen to people, especially when I went to this place called Rythmia. I don’t know if you know about Rythmia. Have you been there?

I’ve not been there but I know of it.

It’s a beautiful place. I went through a ceremony with 50 others. I can’t even tell you what I saw, the transformation, the healing, the love and the joy. You know because you work with people. You’ve seen it. You are a part of this every day with your clients. Let’s move forward a little bit to get into it. What are the benefits of using plant medicine? You can start with ayahuasca, psilocybin or whatever you want to do. I want to talk about the different kinds of plant medicine too and the differences between them to understand that a little more.

I work with psilocybin medicine. That is the front and center medicine that I work with but I also co-facilitate in ayahuasca ceremonies and work with sacred tobacco. I have worked with a full myriad of different plant medicines depart my training. In answer to your question of what are the benefits of this type of work, the best way that I can explain it in layman’s terms is the essence of nature. These plant medicines have the resonance and frequency of nature. When we ingest these beautiful medicines, we’re able to highlight and understand what is out of nature and resonance in our minds, bodies and systems.

There’s deep wisdom and power that these ancient plants and fungi that we are able to bring ourselves into awareness of. Our minds are incredible but a lot of the time, we are trapped in the mind. We are trapped in stories of things that have happened to us in the past. We’re trapped in the ideas and the old programming of what we needed to keep us safe. We’re back to the caveman days when it was life-or-death survival. If you weren’t in a community or your pack, you were unsafe. At any moment, you could come across a dangerous animal or something to become hurt.

Don’t you think it’s the same but for different reasons? Most of us live in survival mode.

That’s the thing. We’re behaving that way when that’s ultimately not the case. We are in houses. I won’t speak for everybody but for the most part, we are safe on a day-to-day basis. We’re not going to walk out of our front door and see a tiger that will attack us. Our minds are still wired and programmed to still have those same instincts.

Most people deal with anxiety, depression, mood instability, some sort of addiction and a lot of battles between the head, heart, mind and soul. It’s the tug of war that exists within all of us until we ultimately start to bring in and harness these very beautiful natural tools. There is meditation. We’re connecting and communing with nature. There is also breath work, yoga and working with plant medicines.

Sacred Mushroom: Wiccanism is about using nature. Its foundational pieces are moon blessings, the elements, Mother Earth, and its orbit. It’s all about light and connection.

We’re able to take these journeys to understand more of ourselves and free ourselves from any of the constraints of the mind. In answer to your question in a simple fact, we can create powerful transformation with these medicines and bring about a connection to nature that has been devastatingly missing for many years.

What can it help? I know it helps with depression and addiction.

It helps with depression anxiety and the ability to ultimately make decisions. We have large life changes. A lot of people come to me when they’re like, “I’ve been doing the same thing for a long time. I’ve become successful at it.” It ultimately isn’t fulfilling them there but they’re afraid to make a choice that will take them into an unsafe place or to transition.

A lot of people stay in unhealthy and toxic relationships. They’re not understanding that there is another choice or another way to operate. There is so much more freedom available than we are giving ourselves credit for. A lot of the people that are coming to me are two particularly different dynamics. They’re people that are extremely energy sensitive and empathic. They don’t have a way to handle the chaos of what life can be because they’re absorbing everything from everyone and everywhere. They don’t know how to cleanse their system. They don’t know how to reconfigure their energy, become still and be silent. They don’t have any of these pieces.

I always acquaint that with what it would be like if you never took a shower. What would your skin be like? What would you smell like? That’s it. Energetically, most people are not showering. They don’t have any of the tools to clean and cleanse their energy. It becomes gunk. That’s what is going to pull you into that anxiety. It is going to contribute to depression or why you don’t feel very good or at home in your body. All of these pieces are contributing factors.

What about PTSD? I’m speaking from what I’ve read and learned. From your experience working with clients, have you worked with clients with PTSD?

I have. A lot of people have dealt with deep and complex trauma and maybe don’t realize how much it is and then some are very acute and obvious. I’ve had clients that have gone through rape, abuse, serious abandonment or their parents being drug addicts. There is a run the gamut of all of these different things. It’s creating deep, complex syndromes like PTSD.

By working with psychedelics and being able to go into that safe and beautiful space, people can go into places that are seemingly unsafe in the mind because it has been so traumatic. The parts of the brain lock up. The mind is saying, “That’s not a safe place to go. We’re going to contract around that and close that off.” In the psychedelic space, we can go into those places where that trauma may live or where the shadow aspects of our personality and our minds exist. We get to be able to witness it, sit with it and not be affected by its trauma of it. We’re able to go into it, sit in this beautiful place and witness what happened. We’re there with a clear mind without shutting down.

I have undergone probably 8 psilocybin journeys and 8 ayahuasca journeys. The ayahuasca is not done in the US. It was done in Costa Rica. When I tell my friends or family about these stories, the first thing that some of them say, especially friends that have had very traumatic pasts is they’re afraid to try it. They have heard stories or seen bad trips. When you have clients come to you and say, “I’m scared. I want to do this and heal. I have a lot of anxiety. I come from a very traumatic past,” what do you do next? How do you treat them? What is a one-on-one journey with you like with someone who has had a very troubled history?

First of all, we’ll have a discovery call. We get into the crux of it. We’ll ultimately decide whether it’s to go straight into the medicine space or whether it’s something in which I’ll be giving them some support and preparation. I’ll get them into a meditation practice or a breath work practice so I can bring them into a place of stillness within themselves. They can even have an awareness of themselves as to where they are. They’re like, “This is who I am and where I’m at,” without being in a state of anxiety and panic from the offset or the jump.

It’s different for everyone. You don’t jump right into the medicine. It depends on where they’re at. You gracefully bring them towards whatever it is they need.

Everybody is unique. Everybody has different paths and traumas. There are other aspects of it. There’s a past life, epigenetics that come from the family and things like that. Several other mystical things going on there too. I’m able to meet each person where they’re at and give them the love and support to hold them wherever they’re at. We’re not in a rush to get anywhere. I’m not trying to get you into the ceremony. We take the time to have them feel safe and supported.

A lot of the people I’ve worked with had a meditation practice or some sort of experience in other modalities of healing and this is the first time they are stepping into a medical space. I’ve worked with people that have done so much medical work that is adept at navigating that space. It’s a case-by-case meeting with them where it’s at with that.

We’ll talk about the process of what is involved in a ceremony because we elusively talk about that. People are like, “What is it?” For me and my way of working, I create a sacred space. I use my experience with Wiccanism in creating a ceremony. In that way, we create magic circles. We harness the power of the elements like fire and water. We are able to create almost an energetic bubble to make sure that there aren’t any outside energies trying to get in. It’s a clean, clear and beautiful space for us to go into.

You’re at their house. You’re going to them.

It depends. I’ve hosted people here. I’m about to go on a nomadic voyage where I’m going to travel with the medicine and bring healing around the country and the world. I’m going to be leaving my space. I host ceremonies here and I also bring the ceremony to people. That’s mainly what I’m doing. We have one-on-one sessions that are private where I’m bringing the ceremony into their home, which in itself, cleanses and clears the energy too bringing that much juicy, powerful energy in there. It’s the positive association of the home. Being able to be at a place where you’ve received deep healing is also a piece for it to feel even more like a sanctuary for you.

You create this bubble and then you’re sitting there. You’re one-on-one. What happens then?

One of the most powerful and important pieces of any medicine is intention. Leading up to the experience in itself, I’m coaching, supporting and helping them get clear on what they are creating, what they are leaving behind and what is alive for them. They’re able to get clear as to what it is. I put it this way. If you were going to have a conversation with God, what are the things that you would ask for? What are the things that you would want to be blessed in your life and use as an opportunity? That’s what we’re doing. We’re visiting with spirit. We’re going into the sacred space and our healing is a blessing. That’s ultimately what it is. In simple layman’s terms, it helps them get clear on what their intentions are.

Once we do that, I do an opening blessing. I’m inviting the spirits, guides, angels and archangels into the space. I work with a beautiful team whom I’ve developed such a beautiful relationship with. We all have a team of angels and archangels with us. We have our ancestors. We have all of those essences and spirits with us guiding our way, looking out for us and taking care of us. The more you study and the more you bring yourself into stillness, you can communicate even more with them. I have a healing team that works with me when I go into the healing space or ceremony space. I’m calling all of them, their guides and anyone that is here to amplify and deepen the work we’re about to do.

We ingest the medicine. In my case, it’s psilocybin. It’s sacred mushroom medicine. At that moment, I’m allowing the medicine to come on. I’ll guide them through meditation and drop them into the heart called HeartMath. We do HeartMath meditation. We activate the heart, bring them into a safe and beautiful memory and have them think of a person, place or memory that makes them feel loved unconditionally from the inside out. We’re settling the body and the system and opening the heart. For me, my job is ultimately to be listening to the medicine. I’d be like, “Do I teach them a breathwork exercise?”

This is all while the medicine is settling into the body. This is happening before they’ve felt some kind of an effect. You do this all first.

It’s building. It’s a gentle runway into that. It’s welcoming them. When the medicine comes on, it can potentially be a little bit intense. It can feel like a lot so bringing them into some meditation and breathwork is perfect for that. When they’re in that flow and everything’s starting to work is when I start to do my work. I’m doing energy cleansing and clearing. I’m working with the power of the elements. I’m conjuring the sun’s energy and bringing it into clear. I call on any energies, entities, beings, cords, connections, blocks, heavy or dense energy or attachment. We thoroughly go through every single cell, chakra, organ and energetic particle. There is no stone unturned.

I do craniosacral work and connect to the subconscious mind. I’m working with light, ultimately. I’m working with different colors of light and different organs and chakras. I’m doing deep, physical somatic release work. Those are deep shoulder massages and abdominal massages. We’re cleansing, clearing and dispelling any negative frequencies that exist in the body. It’s very thorough. As a recording artist and a sound healer, I play guitar and sing for moments. I’m using my voice doing chant to change the sphere of the space. I’m working with rosemary, sage, palo santo and essential oils.

A lot is going on. That is amazing. You get to do your one-on-one with your clients or a few more but you do love to do more than one-on-one. This is a beautiful experience. What happens when the medicine starts to take effect? What does that look and feel like for that person?

Sacred Mushroom: Plant medicines have the resonance and frequency of nature. When ingested, they help people understand nature and the resonance in the mind, bodies, and systems.

It has a full journey aspect of it. In the beginning, most of the time, people experience the tingles of euphoria. You feel physical tingles. You may start to see visions and have different sensations in the body. The medicine in itself will show and illuminate places that are blocked or feel like they need some loving attention. The very essence of that on an energetic level is clarifying.

When you’re working with a practitioner like myself, we’re in deep communication. The medicine’s letting me know where to go. We work together. It works like a dance. As the energy is beginning to flow, the medicine’s doing its work. From the neurological standpoint, it’s creating new neuro pathways within the mind. It feels like the perfect bridge between science and the spirit. There’s real data that backs up everything that we’re experiencing when people are going into this space but in a clinical sense.

They’re working with a psychotherapist. It’s not a sacred ceremony, shamanic or evoking that type of energy. It’s going in more of a scientific way. The energy and the essence of the medicine are magical nonetheless. They can’t explain exactly what it is because there’s a mystical element to working with these plant medicines.

That is for sure, especially from my experiences as well. What do you say to the people that say, “Where’s the research? Where’s the scientific proof that it lengthens the telomeres and creates new neuro-pathways? How can you go around saying that? How do you know that we’re not all hallucinating when we’re on it and it’s our mind playing tricks on us?” I’ve gotten that before from people too.

I understand the skepticism. It comes from a place of fear. You’re like, “Why should I believe you?” That’s a very fair and just question to ask. I’m never alienating anybody that feels like that. I’m like, “Come on in because your curiosity is welcome.” When it comes down to it, we have the data. Johns Hopkins has got an entire department. Johns Hopkins is one of the most incredible medical centers in the entire world. The brightest minds are going there. They’re sharing their research and doing all of these things.

They have an entire department that is dedicated to the expansion of consciousness and doing this deep work to understand. We can bring science into this spiritual thing. It is natural. It’s growing from the earth. It is curing and bringing massive transformation into some of the most severe things that humans are suffering from across the board. That’s the answer.

All we’re getting is more data. People are getting more intimate. More psychedelic-assisted therapists are being certified and trained. People are working with ketamine. MDMA is another one that’s starting to come. It is naturally derived from sassafras. It has the essence of plant medicine nature. It’s been synthesized. This is a very powerful time. It’s a wonderful time that people are getting it.

Especially when they try it because it’s hard when someone has a lot of judgment towards it but they’ve never tried it. It’s interesting because I’ve had some experience with it as well. It’s a knowing that you have. You’re not just tripping out. It’s like you can feel the spirit of nature or the plants taking care of your body, helping you through past traumas and healing you. I have experienced love on a level that I can’t even understand or explain. Even that alone is so incredibly healing to experience love because what it does is it puts your life in perspective. It tells you what’s important and what is not important.

I used to have a lot of anxiety. I went through a tough 5 to 7 years. I was depressed. I talk about it publicly. What helped me was an ayahuasca journey that changed my life. It wasn’t easy. I know that spirit rewards those who are brave. You have to be somewhat brave to try it. The gold on the other end is beautiful. I’ve had a couple of friends say, “There’s not a lot of scientific research behind ayahuasca. How do you know you’re not just tripping out on taking the psychedelic?” There is more research. The research is there if you go and try and find it

This is going to sound crazy to some people. You’ll understand. I don’t always need the research after I’ve done this. It is a knowing. Who I was before and who I am now are two different people in some aspects to myself. There’s been a lot of healing done and I am healed. I look at the world differently. I know things that I didn’t know before. You go about life differently since the effect of plant medicine. You don’t have to name names but what are some success stories that you’ve had with some of your clients?

I had one particular client that had deep abandonment that happened when they were young. It was abandonment by the parents. One of the parents was narcissistic, alcoholic and abusive. This particular person’s rock was their brother. The brother was older but he went into a relationship and ended up leaving. The depth of the abandonment created such deep, complex PTSD.

Once you have that frequency where you’ve known it from such a young age, you continue to create those same patterns. You’re attracting relationships in which you don’t feel safe. You’re attracting people that are ultimately going to be abusive to you. On a subconscious level, that’s what you’ve known. In those formative years, you learn that that’s how it is to love even though it doesn’t feel good. The subconscious piece of you is going, “This is what love is and how love feels.” You will have several relationships from that point that are devastatingly heartbreaking. You will have abandonment and abuse again.

This particular person spent a lot of time doing deep meditation and getting therapy as well. It wasn’t only one silver bullet but nothing had been able to bring them into a space of true safety within themselves. Their PTSD was still alive. We were able to go into the space. We were able to deeply go into that childhood wounding into the safe and loving space. Even though there was a lot of emotion, anticipation, shaking, things in the space and deep grieving for that, they were able to go to a safe place. They were able to feel, witness and understand it.

That’s very different from reliving it though.

That’s exactly it. It’s a different thing because they were able to witness what it was but not be re-traumatized by it. Going back into the same place again is horrifying and painful but with the psychedelic buffer or medicinal way, we’re bringing the person into that safe space. They’re able to sit in what that is and understand.

This is one of the biggest things that I have to share and teach. There is a reason why these things are happening to you. If you can take the most traumatic things that have happened to you, transmute them and turn them into something that can empower you and potentially inspire others to look within themselves, for me, that feels like the point of this work. That is the point of why we have challenges and traumas. It’s not for us to go through life to suffer. It’s for us to understand what that was and have an even deeper understanding of the presence, joy and beauty of life on the other side of that. That feels, from my perspective, the point of it.

I was bringing this person that had gone through such deep trauma all the way through. I checked in with her every day after that. She left me a voice note a few days later that said that the presence that she feels is the most beautiful thing that she’s ever experienced. She was like, “I can unequivocally say that I am not in the grips of PTSD anymore.”

This was after one deep dive. I’ve seen that happen before in a group setting with ayahuasca and psilocybin. Separately, I’ve seen transformations of that magnitude. It’s unbelievable to watch.

It’s a miracle.

A lot of it has to do with you and how you facilitate and guide. This is why you do not want to do it with somebody who either has bad intentions or no experience. You have to know who the facilitator is, who the shaman is, whom you’re working with or who the healer is because it can be detrimental. There’s a way of working with the medicine too to get the healing that you’re talking about.

It’s the same way with anyone of note that’s going to take you through healing, whether it be in psychedelics, therapy or anything. Check it out. Speak to the people that you’re about to work with. Ask them about their experience. A lot of the time, my people are coming as a direct referral from somebody else that has worked with me because they’ve gone through the experience. They know that it’s safe. They were able to experience a real transformation on the other side. I don’t take it for granted.

Each person is unique. We put these safety pieces in. With energy work, we stabilize the system after we’ve done this deep work. This has gone through a lot. Some toxins are released when you do this shamanic deep work. You’re giving people proper aftercare like what to do and how to do it. You’re like, “I’m here to support you if things come up.” There may be more that comes up in the following days. You’re able to get on a phone call and give them some support. Anything that has that much access and power to it needs double the amount of care, safety and attention to detail as to what it is that they go through so they can feel loved and supported in that space.

This is incredible. You and I could talk about this forever. You mainly work with psilocybin. There are other plant medicines. There’s iboga, peyote, ayahuasca and Kambo. There are all kinds. Some are from frogs and plants. Why do you work with psilocybin and not some of the others or do you dabble in everything at this point?

Psilocybin is where I received my training. I worked with a shamanic practitioner who trained me to do this work. I’ve built a scaffolding with the spirits of this medicine. At this point, I can safely go in and I’m fully supported by the spirits of the mushroom. I know how it works. I work powerfully with ayahuasca as well. I’m not a facilitator of ayahuasca. I don’t serve that medicine. It’s another set of training. It’s deep work. There are a lot of it in the jungle, in that respect, with that particular medicine. There are different tribes and lineages of that medicine. You’re understanding the different ways of working with it in Brazil, Peru and Costa Rica and these different ways of the tribes.

Sacred Mushroom: Energetically, most people are not showering. They don’t have the tools to clean and cleanse their energy. It becomes gunk. That’s what is going to pull you into that anxiety and depression.

For me, the mushrooms spoke to me. I was invited to come and be a spiritual counsel for a company growing mushrooms. Part of it was to do a deep dive, understand and be a liaison with the spirits of the medicine and these people that are growing and cultivating the medicine. My deep dive deeply cracked me open. There was a piece of me that ultimately needed to die a death and be reborn at that moment. On the other side of it, the medicine clearly showed me, “You are to serve this medicine and be a steward of this medicine.” It showed me the person I’m supposed to work with that was going to teach me. It was very much like a true calling, not a subtle one.

I know what that’s like. I experienced it with ayahuasca. I get it. You had an ego death. That’s what it’s called. You were reborn into your new self. It’s true. Sometimes, it will tell you exactly what to do.

I also worked deeply with incredible circles with peyote. I understand that medicine is an ally and a teacher for me. I’m working with the spirits of both of those other medicines too. I’ve started deeply working with 5-MeO-DMT or Bufo medicine, which comes from a toad. I’ve worked with Kambo, which is the frog medicine. Each one of these medicines has a different spirit and intention. Some are medicines of the body. Some are medicines of the mind. Some are medicines for the heart.

A lot of the time, these things will resonate with you. The medicine, when you hear it, pokes your ears up. You’re like, “That’s ayahuasca. What’s that?” You know that you can lean into that and start to do some investigation and research. If anybody has questions about resourcing, whom to go to or what medicine to use, I’m wide open for that. I have incredible circles of people that I deeply trust. They are incredibly trained and safe to go to. If people need advice about that, I’m here and available for that.

We have one more topic. This is what some people are thinking about when they’re reading this. It’s not exactly legal in the US. It’s almost legal. There’s a ton of research being done but it’s not exactly legal. Your website is out there for the public. People can contact you. You do one-on-ones. You fly all over the world where it is legal.

I’m always checking into what feels in integrity and what feels good for me. I believe that I’m doing, from my perspective, important work. I’ve dedicated my life to this work. I’m bringing powerful transformation to people that some of them may not be living in this moment if it wasn’t for the work that we’ve done. We understand the legality of it. Everybody knows, especially in these more progressive states that this is where it’s headed. It’s headed to decriminalization and then legalization. It is decriminalized in certain places for people to do this kind of work where they’re not ultimately selling it and, in that respect, they’re doing deep, sacred work with their transformational work. I stand by that and what that is.

I feel like there are people that are out in the world that are ultimately trying to do a lot more insidious, nasty things that don’t help anyone that are illegal. I understand that. I’m like, “Focus your energy on them. Give the support for us practitioners that are trained and in deep integrity with this work and has the ability to do this work. I’m part of the voice and movement to bring this into legalization and celebration.

Any person that’s over 21 can walk into a supermarket and buy 20 bottles of vodka. They’re legally able to do that. They’re like, “I’m throwing a party.” They don’t even have to tell anybody anything. They can buy whatever they want. All that is likely to do is serious harm. I’m championing microdosing and the social use of psilocybin and MDMA in these ways. These are safe, intentional ways as an alternative to getting blacked out. It is an alternative to drinking away a lot of the things that people are afraid to go to and see within themselves. I proudly stand by this movement of what that can be. There’s so much more happiness and joy that’s available.

Every time I’ve done the psilocybin journeys and the ayahuasca, it has been out of the country. I did it in Mexico and Costa Rica. There is a close friend of mine who was drinking a lot of alcohol or a bottle of wine very often. Since I have witnessed this person go through ayahuasca and psilocybin journeys, it’s interesting. The drinking has pretty much hasn’t stopped but it’s casual. He takes one glass and it’s done. It’s unbelievable. I’m not saying anybody is addicted but I have seen when I went to Rhythmia that there were people there with addictions. That’s why they went. The transformation is incredible.

There’s a woman there that was suffering from severe anorexia. We’re in a Facebook group after Rhythmia. She said she’s thriving and eating. We’ve seen photos of her and she’s happy. It’s interesting how nothing else has been able to penetrate some of these addictions and traumas, wherever they’re coming from. I have seen the effects of plant medicine and what a blessing it is that it’s always been here. It’s amazing. Once you try it with the right facilitator, like you, it’s beautiful. I don’t know how else to describe it.

It’s magical. One thing I would want to mention is it doesn’t mean your life is not going to have challenges in it anymore. Keep it real. There’s so much that’s available. This is such a powerful thing. It’s changing the world and the human psyche but you’re still going to go through stuff, have challenges and things maybe not go your way or something happens that comes into your field.

The point of all of this is that when things happen to you, you don’t crumble or spiral out of control or into addiction. You understand like, “I have a neutral place in my life. I’m in communication with myself, who I am and my truth. I can meet any challenge with patience, honesty, grace, love and kindness.” A lot of people haven’t had access to all of that.

I always would want to mention that any time I’m talking about this because it’s not a fallacy fairy tale. It is you being able to take practical steps each day to advocate for yourself to be able to manage your life and expectations. You’re understanding of what it is. You’re navigating the world with patience, joy and grace.

I am exponentially happier than I was when I started this journey a couple of years ago. I don’t mean I wasn’t but I wasn’t because I had hit rock bottom a few years ago. I was very attached to my accolades, my career, who I was because I was Miss Canada or because I won this or I dated a celebrity. All of a sudden, when my show didn’t get picked up and it was off the air for about seven years, I didn’t know who I was. I had also married someone wonderful but not the right person for me. I got into a variety of bad relationships after that.

The phone stops ringing and then the career disappears. You’re like, “I have no idea who I am.” I was so attached to my self-identity. I would go to parties and they’d say, “What are you working on? What are you doing?” I’d be like, “I don’t know.” I wouldn’t even go out anymore because I didn’t like myself. You’ve worked with clients that have gone through that. You have successful clients that were all caught up in their work. All of a sudden, a lot of my friends and I are in our 50s and we’re having to pivot because we’re all starting something new. It’s interesting.

This time around, my show ended up coming back. I ended up having wonderful, beautiful success after not being on the air for seven years. I realized, “To me, it’s okay if the show goes or if it doesn’t go. Life is so fun to explore. I’ll find something new that I love.” I’m not worried about it anymore. I’m not attached to the accolades, labels or any of that because I know who I am. I figured it out, finally, after 51 years. It’s this massive blessing where you have a perspective on your life that is so different and not skewed by traumas or things from the past, which is what it has done for me.

I want to honor you in sharing. As a person in the public eye that has eyes on you in celebrity culture, you sharing your story of those moments where you’ve hit rock bottom and those moments of vulnerability, emotions and perceived mistakes, people need to see it. I’m championing you for speaking out on all of those things too. People need to see that they’re not alone in it. We all have it.

I still have a lot more work to do, which is why I’m going to be talking to you after this because I want to do a deep dive with you. I have more there. I want to work on more. Even if I want to get more spiritually connected, it’s a beautiful way to do that through plant medicine.

There’s always more. “How much more beautiful can your life become?” A spiritual teacher of mine said that to me. That’s the question to ask yourself. How does it become more beautiful? What a beautiful question to ask yourself. I’m excited about our deep dive moment. It’s going to be beautiful.

I want to thank you so much. I can’t even believe it. I’ve been trying to keep these episodes between 30 and 40 minutes and we’ve gone to 1 hour and 2 minutes. We probably could have gone even longer.

I can talk to you until the sun is going down.

Maybe we’ll have to have a part two and talk about other kinds of plant medicine.

I would love it.

You’re about to go on this nomadic experience to go and see where the medicine brings you. This is wonderful.

Sacred Mushroom: In the psychedelic space, people can go into places where trauma lives. You can sit with it and not be affected because it is a beautiful space.

It’s been very clearly shown to me that there’s a lot of what I do here in LA. It’s the conscious capital in a lot of ways. There are a lot of spiritual people that are practitioners but so many places in the world don’t have any people working in medicine, in the healing space, in this transformational mindset, coaching, a lot of these pieces and support. I’ve been seeing all these places that I wanted to go around the world. I got a clear hit. I was like, “It’s time.” I’m stepping into the unknown and giving up my apartment. I’m fully selling everything that I own.

What an exercise that is on its own.

It’s its edge right there and it’s beautiful. Everything must go at this moment. What I need to replace or get again, I’ll get. At this moment, to do a full, clean sweep and to travel light and go to Costa Rica, Peru, Europe and all of the places I’ll be going to feels so good.

When you’re in Peru, the minute that you have Wi-Fi, we’re going to do episode number two. I want to know what’s going on in your journey.

I would love it.

We didn’t get to talk about your music but you’re an incredible musician. You can hear all of his music on Spotify. It’s healing music. That’s what you do. If you want to learn more about Desi, you can go to his Instagram or TikTok @DesiValentine. His website is DVETransformation.com. It has tons of information. It’s all on your website. You can also Google him and everything’s there. I did that. There’s so much information and beauty out there about you. I love all of it. Thank you so much for coming to the show. I hope you enjoyed it. We’ll talk to you soon. Thank you. You’re awesome.

Thank you for having me.

Important Links

• DV Elemental
• Spotify – Desi Valentine
• Instagram – Desi Valentine
• @DesiValentine – TikTok
• http://www.DETransformation.com/

About Desi Valentine

Desi Valentine is a Shamanic energy healer, Sound healer, Clairvoyant, Transformation coach, Recording artist & The Founder of DV Elemental product line.

Desi was born & raised in London, England. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

His story begins when he was a 10 year old boy growing up in London when through a series of unexplainable & mystical circumstances he realized that there was more to life than what we can see with our own two eyes. Always being a curious young boy he went on a mission to learn as much as he could about what he was seeing and feeling. After searching in the yellow pages he discovered a magic supply store in Covent Garden called Mysteries. There, for the first time he found books on Wiccan magic, energy work, crystals and an assortment of metaphysical tools to explore. It was there that he found where he truly belonged. From that point on, he started to develop his ability to see and work with energy.

In 2012 Desi moved his whole life from London to sunny Los Angeles. Over that decade he had the good fortune to study with & learn from many of the worlds finest spiritual teachers.

Some of his deepest teachings were from Master Stephen Co. Master Co is one the foremost experts in Pranic healing & the personal healer to the remarkable visionary, Tony Robbins.

Desi has also been fortunate enough to have an incredible career as a recording artist. Touring with legendary artists such as Andra Day & Blondie. In 2016 Desi’s song ‘Fate Don’t Know you’ was featured as the season finale of hit USA TV show ‘Suits’ which shot him into mainstream notoriety.

Desi believe’s it’s the most beautiful thing to use prayerful music as a way to bring healing energy into sacred ceremony space. To hear his musical stylings please click the link below.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/36dHG14WEpl3sG90gkOyf3?si=Pnr1DkdrQKOrLjV5e2farQ

In the world of plant medicine Desi studied Shamanic facilitation at The Liberation Dojo with Zahara Zimring & cultivated a beautiful sacred relationship with many plant & animal teachers.
The world is waking up to the power of plant medicine. Desi has clients around the country & the world that he is facilitating in this incredibly powerful journey work. Combining all of his skills and modalities to support powerful transformation in this magical space.

As a highly sought after shamanic practitioner, Desi has successfully helped his clients navigate major life changes, remove emotional blocks, work through complex trauma, eliminate limiting beliefs, relieve physical pain, grow energy levels, gain confidence, reduce stress, lessen anxiety & combat addiction. He cultivates a safe container for his people to grow & thrive.

http://www.dvetransformation.com/

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