Evolve: The Parables of Plant Medicine

By Geoffrey C. Wilson

Evolve: The Parables of Plant Medicine is a practical introduction to plant medicines, their physiological and psychological effects, and how they brought one man from the depths of depression to healing and inspiring others. Throughout his journey

• Language: English
• Publisher: Geoff Wilson
• Release date: May 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9780995814226

Book preview

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the people that stayed by my side and supported me through this.

I love you. Thank you.

Chasity D., Rachel M., Ma, My Two Dads: Wayne and Clare, Barb B., Pia E., Tammy W., Tammy E., Mel S., Oli G., Chris N., Brit, Jody K., Juan-David, Elisha J., Cam N., Jimmy Jam, Jeff-Cat, Kelly M., Lara K., Johnny and LeeAnn, Davey Boy, Fiona G., Pancho, AJ, Kelly R., Lee G., Hana K., Travis and Cayley, Denise M., Hillary S.,

Melisa N., Faisal, and Ramona.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Disclaimers

Introduction

Part 1: Lessons Learned

Chapter 1: Weakling

Chapter 2: A 12-Year-Old Canadian in Africa

Chapter 3: Conquering Evil

Chapter 4: Evil Friend

Chapter 5: Record Breaker

Chapter 6: Pain and Suffering

Chapter 7: Sweat Lodge

Chapter 8: Martial Arts

Chapter 9: Middle-Class Gangster

Chapter 10: Go with Grace

Chapter 11: A 15+ Year Chemical Romance

Part 2: Personal Psychedelic Experiences

Chapter 12: Kambo

Chapter 13: Crystals and Golden Teacher Mushrooms

Chapter 14: Bridging to the Beyond

Chapter 15: Microdosing Mushrooms & Conversations with Aliens

Chapter 16: A Love Story

Chapter 17: Sparking Fingers

Chapter 18: DMT

Part 3: Meditations & Mental Practices

Chapter 19: Dealing with Darkness

Chapter 20: Proper Preparation for a Ceremony

Chapter 21: Meditations & Mental Practices

Part 4: Integration Interviews

Chapter 22: Interviews

Final Words

Author Bio

Acknowledgments

Disclaimers

This book contains sensitive material relating to: physical/emotional/mental violence, drug and alcohol use, suicide, trauma, and death that some readers may find disturbing. Remember to practice self-care before, during, and after reading.

Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.

The creators of Evolve: The Parables of Plant Medicine do not condone taking illegal drugs and recommend that readers consult the drug section of their state or province’s law for its legal status and any penalties for its possession, use, or supply.

In no event will the creators of Evolve: The Parables of Plant Medicine be liable for any loss or damage arising from the use of the information contained in this book or its digital branches (e.g. podcasts, etc.)

Introduction

If you haven’t guessed it already, that premature weakling was me in 1972. I’ve grown up quite a bit in the past forty-plus years, but nothing has helped me evolve more than the people I surround myself with and the actions I have taken. That is, until these past couple of years when I was introduced to entheogens (plant medicines).

In 2019, after a fairly successful career in sales, I found myself jobless, depressed, addicted, and incredibly alone. I’ve heard men often live with a sense of quiet desperation, so I thought that maybe this was it; I wondered if it was a struggle a lot of people were having. A friend of mine said he was experimenting with prescribed magic mushrooms, and then three other friends had good results with them or have friends who have.

This book contains some of my journeys into plant medicine so far, and how you can use them to heal yourself. Maybe you can relate to my story and feel a huge sense of loneliness, like you have nobody to talk to? Maybe you are stuck in a job you hate or a relationship that makes you unhappy, and you wonder if this is all there is? But you also know you’re someone who knows there HAS to be something better for you, but you can’t quite see it yet.

Plant medicine and the people surrounding plant medicine have changed my life. I went from a state of depression to thriving, having a career I love, having beautiful, amazing friends and lovers, and living in one of the most magical places in the world, Costa Rica! You’re reading this book because you feel called to make a change. If you want to learn more, then keep reading...

Before we go deeper, it might make sense to share some of the major events in my life, my experiences with plant medicine, and how I’ve defined and taken the lessons from them. Later in this book, you’ll also learn what they can do for you and how you can get started on your own healing journey. Today, I am a trained entheogenic plant medicine coach, helping others heal through plant medicine. I hope you enjoy the stories and feel motivated to learn something new about yourself too, I sure do.

Part 1: Lessons Learned

Chapter 1: Weakling

A child was born in Peterborough, Ontario, on July 15th, 1972. He was six weeks premature. Normal children are fully formed and born at nine months. This one was born seven months and two weeks after conception and weighed only two pounds, two ounces.

The nurses didn’t know if it was the blinding hot lamps of an incubator that was keeping him alive, the annoying wires stuck to his skin that told the nurses he was still alive, or that he knew he was fighting this fight on his own, without his biological mother.

But he wouldn’t stop crying. Something inside him just knew that his biological mother was gone, and he would never see her again.

According to an article from Penn Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania, At the turn of the twentieth century, a baby born prematurely (before thirty-eight to forty weeks gestation) had dismal prospects for survival. Except for a few scattered pockets of medical interest, the knowledge, expertise, and technology necessary to help these infants were not available. ‘Preemies’ who survived more than a day or two were often labeled ‘weaklings’ or ‘congenitally debilitated,’ implying inherent frailty that did not bode for their future. Survival of these tiny infants depended on many factors, chief of which was the degree of prematurity and the infant’s weight at birth.

***

Diane Cooke met Clare Jensen in high school and fell madly in love. They didn’t have any money or the engagement ring Clare bought her, which looked more like something you’d find on a bathroom pipe than a symbol of unconditional love. But Diane was smitten, and Clare expressed that he wanted to have children right away. Unfortunately, due to a medical condition, Diane couldn’t have them.

So a search for adoption began.

They had a love to share, and it didn’t matter if Diane couldn’t have a child; she had the burning desire to love and care for one. The paperwork, the processes, and their financial ability to provide for a child couldn’t have been an easy process, nor were they at the top of the list of candidates. She was a nurse in training, and he was a barber.

Now, the 1970s were a different time, so at the moment of that child’s lonely birth, and when the nurses, frustrated with the child’s constant crying, asked this young nurse who was seventh on the list of possible candidates, if she would like to take this malformed, screaming infant and ensure he took his meds to calm him down, she jumped at the chance. You just try and take this baby away from me! she exclaimed.

Diane and Clare were delighted for a week or so. Diane’s husband and the baby’s loving father, Clare, unfortunately, had been coughing a lot and went to the hospital for some tests. In a cruel twist of fate, Clare was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer and would be dead within 18 months. The child would experience tremendous loss for the second time in his young life, and his new mother would lose the love of her life.

Though overwhelmed and devastatingly saddened by this, Diane still had a glimmer of hope. The child, who no longer cried, was a light in the darkness. He was a child who just ate and ate as she kept feeding him and loving him. She had something to live for, and he had someone who now cared for him brilliantly; his tears, cries, and medications turned to giggles, laughter, and more food. The child was in heaven, or at least, heaven here on earth…

But there was something missing—a hole, a pain, and a loss that was not understood as he wondered, at 18 months old, where his father, his first friend was—and when he would be back.

The boy missed his father’s smile, the giggles, and the time they spent together.

Lesson: Tragedy will touch us all; however, the first lesson in getting through it is: No matter the loss, there is always hope as long as there is love.

Chapter 2: A 12-Year-Old Canadian in Africa

These years of my life were filled with great turmoil and incredible adventure as my mom divorced her second husband. For example, the only way I could communicate with my father (Wayne) was through the mail, as phone calls were ridiculously expensive. Ma became somewhat ostracized by the family, all while going to school to become a Registered Nurse.

Oblivious to me at the time, there were few jobs for nurses, and the economy wasn’t making it easy for a single mother and her son to thrive, much less survive. It felt like we lived on macaroni and cheese with spam for months at a time while mom struggled to find consistent work while moving amongst small towns like Wainright, Alberta, Canada; Wadena, Saskatchewan, Canada; and Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada.

We needed money, and Ma needed experience, so she applied to the Canadian University Students Overseas (CUSO) for work. Much to our surprise, Ma was accepted. Before we knew it, we were set to move to Banjul, Gambia, in West Africa. I would enroll in Marina International School while Mom would work in the most difficult conditions a new nurse could imagine herself in, with few resources in this third-world country.

Before I left Estevan, Saskatchewan, and not really wanting to leave my classmates, my grade five class made me a cake and sang me a farewell song. I was so touched that I hid my face in the lockers at the back of the room and cried. After shedding a few tears, I was finally able to say thank you and tell them I was grateful for the celebration and the adventures to come.

On my first night in Africa, I didn’t sleep a wink. Outside my window, sounds that I had never heard before, nor ever imagined, frightened and kept me awake. Wild birds, roaming lizards, and swinging monkeys made sounds that resembled every monster this 12-year-old had ever imagined under my bed.

My time in Africa was a collection of incredible adventures: my first girlfriend and my Irish friend, Sean, almost drowning in the ocean due to the undertow, watching our gardener/watchman kill what seemed like a 30-foot King Cobra, eating prairie oysters, getting my first pair of nunchucks, seeing gorgeous topless Gambian women who made me blush, and having a huge six-foot monitor lizard patrol our backyard every evening—it was an amazing adventure!

However, there were two experiences that changed me forever while in Gambia. One moment confirmed the existence of evil, and the other was one of conquering it.

Lesson: Change can be hard, but if you choose to change, and if you choose to learn, do, or be something new; if you decide to master something and then walk away from it and master something else, you are evolving. Maybe then, you are aligned with the universe. Maybe the more you evolve in your