Night-Light Radio

Tripping the Trail of Ghosts with P.D. Newman


Listen Later

The use of hallucinogenic substances like peyote and desert tobacco has long played a significant role in the spiritual practices and traditions of Native Americans. While the majority of those practices are well documented, the relationship between entheogens and Native Americans of the Southeast has gone largely unexplored.


Examining the role of psychoactive plants in afterlife traditions, sacred rituals, and spirit journeying by shamans of the Mississippian mound cultures, P. D. Newman explores in depth the Native American death journey known as the "Trail of Ghosts" or "Path of Souls." He demonstrates how practices such as fasting and trancework when used with psychedelic plants like jimsonweed, black nightshade, morning glory, and amanita and psilocybin mushrooms could evoke the liminal state between life and death in initiatory rites and spirit journeys for shamans and chiefs. He explores the earthwork and platform mounds built by Indigenous cultures of the Mississippi Valley, showing how they quite likely served as early models for the Path of Souls. He also explores similarities between the Ghost Trail afterlife journey and the well-known Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Night-Light RadioBy Barbara DeLong

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

10 ratings


More shows like Night-Light Radio

View all
The Joe Rogan Experience by Joe Rogan

The Joe Rogan Experience

225,873 Listeners

New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast by New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast

New Thinking Allowed Audio Podcast

255 Listeners

Nothing Is Real - A Beatles Podcast by Beatles Pod

Nothing Is Real - A Beatles Podcast

375 Listeners

Shawn Ryan Show by Shawn Ryan

Shawn Ryan Show

42,466 Listeners

Fab4Cast - The Dutch Beatles Podcast by Fab4Cast - The Dutch Beatles Podcast

Fab4Cast - The Dutch Beatles Podcast

3 Listeners

PBD Podcast by PBD Podcast

PBD Podcast

4,046 Listeners

Blurry Creatures by Blurry Creatures

Blurry Creatures

4,896 Listeners

Julian Dorey Podcast by Julian Dorey | QCODE

Julian Dorey Podcast

750 Listeners

The Dig Bible Podcast by Justin Brown

The Dig Bible Podcast

60 Listeners

Through A Glass Darkly by Sean Patrick Hazlett

Through A Glass Darkly

27 Listeners

The Days of Noah by The Days of Noah

The Days of Noah

411 Listeners

Eyes on the Right Podcast by Amy

Eyes on the Right Podcast

568 Listeners

Prometheus Lens by Justin Brown

Prometheus Lens

135 Listeners

Free The Rabbits by Joel Thomas

Free The Rabbits

634 Listeners

Imagine Heaven Podcast with John Burke by John Burke

Imagine Heaven Podcast with John Burke

299 Listeners