An untold history of the Americas
On November 4-5, 2022 we had the honor of hosting the legendary Michael Stuart Ani for a two-day talk covering the topics of "half a century of life and rituals with remote indigenous peoples of the Americas" and "where politicians and scientists have failed, can plants preserve the human niche in nature?" Michael Stuart Ani has been a student of plant wisdom for almost fifty years and an advocate for Indigenous environmentalism. He is a friend and mentor of Xapiri Ground over the years and we honor him for his dedication to the ancient ways of the Americas. Having lived in Mexico's remote Sierra Mazateca cloud forest of Oaxaca in the late 1960's through the 70's, Michael is the only outsider to have ever been allowed into their sacred cloud forests- where he still maintains contact today.
He is also recognized for his pivotal work in 1988-2002 where Michael, along with his Amazonia Foundation, were a central part of the medical outreach program introduced to fight the epidemics among the Yanomami people of Venezuela. He introduced the plant Artemisia annua which proved to be a much more effective antimalarial than the WHO pharmaceutical used at the time.
"Stepping off the cargo plane, I took a deep breath and inhaled the confusion heavy in the air. Two completely incompatible worlds were about to collide at Parima B and I was somehow caught in the middle, watching a human drama unfold that could affect the entire world. At that moment all I could do was lend a helping hand and hope that the Yanomami would survive the changes they were facing."
- Michael Stuart Ani
In 1992, Michael co-won the US Documentary of the Year Award for "Yanomami: Keepers of the Flame." He also directed the Catalina Island Conservancy documentary "Coming Home" about the repatriation of pure American Bison to the Lakota people of Rosebud, South Dakota. Over the last fifty years, he has followed the Rope of the Dead from the tribes of the Amazon rainforest to the tribes of North America, tracking the hidden steps of the Ghost Dance along the way.
In the 80's and 90's, he fought the epidemics with the Yanomami people of Venezuela. Throughout his journeys, he learned that the Indigenous ritual knowledge and entheogen plant sacraments (Talking Plants) may be key to repairing the bridge of communication between humans to nature and how essential the survival of our species is to that reparation.
THE GHOST DANCE BOOK
Michael's book "The Ghost Dance" is a historical account of the author's experiences over the last 53 years in his search for the lost steps of the Ghost Dance through the most remote regions of the Americas. His path led him to the Sierra Mazateca of Oaxaca, a place known for its sacred mushrooms, and between 1960-1970 he lived in the Mazateca's most remote cloud forests in Mexico. He became the only outsider who was ever allowed to collect the sacred mushroom species of the region, Desheto.
In 1890, the United States government outlawed the Ghost Dance. The ceremony remained illegal until 1978. This book also questions why the authorities feared the Native American Revival Movement and what it ignited or did they also recognize that the dance itself awakened a power all its own? In his writings, Michael disseminates the ancient knowledge paths of this tradition whose practice spans throughout the Americas and how it is being kept alive today.
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