What does it mean to reclaim your identity through ceremony, not therapy?

In this powerful episode of Medicine with the Medals, Indigenous spiritual leader Shane Norte invites us into his world of earth-based sacraments, decolonized healing, and ancestral reconnection.

As founder of the Church of the People for Creator and Mother Earth, Shane offers a rare window into Native-led psilocybin ceremonies, sacred land defense, and what it means to heal in communion with the Earth, not in isolation.

Listeners will discover a radical, rooted alternative to clinical psychedelics, and learn why community, sweat lodges, and spiritual responsibility matter just as much as the medicine itself.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why psilocybin mushrooms are sacred, not psychedelic, and how they support ancestral memory

• How the Native American Religious Freedom Act protects Indigenous ceremonial medicine

• What the Wamkish ceremony is and how it integrates land, prayer, sweat lodges, and community

• Why over-commercialization of sacred plants risks severing people from their spiritual responsibility

• How Shane guides non-Native people to reconnect with their own earth-based identities and practices
  

Episode Highlights:

• 02:05 – Shane’s awakening: how one mushroom ceremony shifted the course of his life
• 06:45 – “Some families were forced to forget”—reclaiming culture after colonization
• 10:12 – What the Native American Religious Freedom Act actually protects
• 15:40 – From football fields to sacred land defense: Shane’s spiritual activism journey
• 20:31 – Founding the Church of the People: what Wamkish ceremony really looks like
• 28:10 – Why psilocybin is the most accessible earth-based sacrament
• 32:22 – The tension between clinical psychedelic therapy and traditional Indigenous medicine
• 38:48 – How to reconnect with spirit when you feel lost or culturally disconnected

Meet the Guest:

Shane Norte is a spiritual leader, land defender, and founder of the Church of the People for Creator and Mother Earth, a Native-led ceremonial nonprofit located on the La Jolla Indian Reservation in Southern California.

As a board member of Decriminalize Nature and appointee to Maryland’s psychedelic policy task force, Shane bridges grassroots ceremony with national advocacy—all while offering free, community-based healing rooted in the wisdom of his Payómkawichum, Paiute, Lakota, and Serrano ancestors.

Tools, Frameworks, and Strategies Mentioned:

• Wamkish Ceremony – Shane’s immersive healing practice blending psilocybin, sweat lodges, and sacred plants

• Native American Religious Freedom Act – Federal law protecting ceremonial use of sacred medicine

• Decriminalize Nature – Advocacy framework for culturally rooted plant medicine access

• Sweat Lodge Integration – A spiritual framework for post-journey embodiment and prayer

• Earth-Based Healing – Reconnection with land, ancestors, and the divine through non-clinical models
  

Closing Insight

“How we treat the Earth is not far from how we treat ourselves.” – Shane Norte

This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking a deeper, decolonized path to healing, one that honors sacred plants, spiritual responsibility, and the wisdom of the land.

For the best in microdosing products and education, visit http://mamadose.com

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