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Botanical Dimensions

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Ethnobotanist Kathleen Harrison.
Plants, fungi & humans: Education, Fieldwork, & Library. 41 years of international projects. 🌿

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Ethnobotanical Book Sale:
Books and Art from the collection of Kathleen Harrison and Botanical Dimensions

Join us at the Berkeley Alembic @berkeleyalembic for a rare community sale and gathering featuring hard-to-find books, signed first editions, vintage artifacts, artwork, and ephemera related to plants, ethnobotany, consciousness, and psychedelic culture, herbal medicine and cannabis history, from the libraries of ethnobotanist Kat Harrison. @kathleen_island

All sales support Botanical Dimensions’ ongoing research, conservation, and cultural preservation projects. @botanical.dimensions

Featured items include:
• Rare and unusual books on ethnobotany, psychedelics, spirituality, botany, and plant medicine
• Many signed first editions from renowned authors - Schultes, the Shulgins, Ott, McKenna, Metzner, Stamets
• Klea McKenna’s art books
• Kat Harrison’s original 1970s mushroom cards
• Vintage ethnobotanical artifacts
• Original 1980s paintings by the late, renowned Peruvian artist, Pablo Amaringo
Also: Live plants for sale – unusual ethnobotanical specimens. Come early!

Sale is open 11am - 5pm
The afternoon will include informal talks and conversations with Kat Harrison and others, from 12pm - 2pm.

Please note: Botanical Dimensions is not selling its core Ethnobotany Library collection. Only duplicate titles and donated books will be available for purchase. The core library remains safely stored for future accessibility. Kat is also selling some books and art from her personal collection.

Learn more: Link to BD site: www.botanicaldimensions.org
Berkeley Alembic: www.berkeleyalembic.org
Artist, Klea McKenna: www.KleaMcKenna.com by @botanical.dimensions

by @botanical.dimensions

Bay Area Plant/Art/Book people, you know who you are!

There are two events within blocks of each other in west Berkeley on Saturday Sept 19:

Exhibition “What we Hold” at @kalagallery_berkeley from 2-4pm

And

Ethnobotanical Book Sale at the @berkeleyalembic from 11am -5pm. These are books and artifacts from the collection of @botanical.dimensions and my mom @kathleen_island by @botanical.dimensions

Ethnobotanical Book Sale: Books and Art from the collection of Kathleen Harrison and Botanical Dimensions

Join us at the Berkeley Alembic for a rare community sale and gathering featuring hard-to-find books, signed first editions, vintage artifacts, artwork, and ephemera related to plants, ethnobotany, consciousness, and psychedelic culture, herbal medicine and cannabis history, from the libraries of ethnobotanist Kat Harrison.

All sales support Botanical Dimensions’ ongoing research, conservation, and cultural preservation projects.

Featured items include:
• Rare and unusual books on ethnobotany, psychedelics, spirituality, botany, and plant medicine

• Many signed first editions from renowned authors - Schultes, the Shulgins, Ott, McKenna, Metzner, Stamets

• Klea McKenna’s art books

• Kat Harrison’s original 1970s mushroom cards

• Vintage ethnobotanical artifacts

• Original 1980s paintings by the late, renowned Peruvian artist, Pablo Amaringo

Also: Live plants for sale – unusual ethnobotanical specimens. Come early!

Sale is open 11am - 5pm

The afternoon will include informal talks and conversations with Kat Harrison and others, from 12pm - 2pm. No need to sign up, feel free to just swing by!

Link in bio, or:
www.berkeleyalembic.org/events by @botanical.dimensions

The TIME IS 7pm - please note!
Join Kat Harrison, ethno-botanist and co-founder of Botanical Dimensions, and Meghan Walla-Murphy, animal tracker and ecological writer, for a lively discussion about how we can tune into the deep learning available from our spirited world. Whether in the form of animals, or plants, or ancestors, beings from outside the disenchanted world of modernity lean in with tales to tell, challenges to mount, and wisdom to learn. What does it mean to be animist today? Moderated by fellow traveler Erik Davis.

Kathleen Harrison, MA, is an independent scholar and teacher of ethnobotany. Her work explores the relationship between plants, mushrooms and human beings—particularly in the realms that are often hidden: cultural beliefs, personification of species, rituals of healing and initiation, vision-seeking modalities, and artistic creations that illustrate the plant-human relationship. Since the 1970s, Kathleen has done recurrent fieldwork in Mesoamerica, the Amazon Basin, the West Coast subcultures, and the Pacific islands, and is a published author and photographer. She also studies and teaches the deep history of humans in nature, encompassing the eras both before and since the advent of agriculture. Kat continues to teach classes on psychedelic perspectives and various branches of ethnobotany.

For nearly three decades Meghan Walla-Murphy has dedicated her life to wildlife tracking. Though a seemingly esoteric vocation given the technological age we live in, this ancient art of tracking has given Meghan the skills to read landscapes, better understand ecology, and understand social dynamics, which enables her to also work on a variety of social, conservation, and pedagogical challenges in her community. Tracking has also lead Meghan into a deep dive with Traditional Ecological Knowledge, which serves as a bridge between mainstream environmentalism and the rich diverse world of animism.

#wildlifetracking #ethnobotany #animism #livingworld #plantmedicine by @botanical.dimensions

Livestream and in-person (Berkeley, CA) tickets available!

We hear much talk of healing and healers, in both indigenous and transplanted traditions. However, inner, intuitive methods of diagnosis and prescribed actions are often not handed down like the powerful medicines or larger rituals are. They arise from the worldview, and skills, of the healer and the sufferer, augmented by the setting and, sometimes, the chosen medicine.

Kat will describe an array of techniques and ways of thinking about what ails us. Folk illnesses such as susto are often described as ‘culture-bound’ conditions, having to do with trauma, depression, indecision, and buried memories. How does worldview affect wellbeing? Folk techniques of diagnosis and treatment are surprisingly relevant to many conditions we experience these days.

🎫 tickets here: tinyurl.com/dreamingthecure
🌎 Register for a livestream ticket if you are tuning in remotely. Video will be recorded and available at the livestream link if you are unable to join during the event time.

#healing #culture #plantmedicine #psychedelics #intuition #intuitivepractice #folkhealing #folktradition #perception #awareness by @botanical.dimensions

The journey on this long and winding road can be both beautiful and very challenging. Myths and folktales of the Serpent abound, both metaphorical and instructive. Kat’s life of fieldwork has included the gathering of such tales, from Indigenous sources in the Americas, and from ancestral European cultures. Decades ago, a saga was shared with her, that of a great shape-shifting snake with many facets – medicinal herbs, Indigenous knowledge, protective tobacco work, the power of song, and the roles of intention, observation and intuition. Come listen to the tale and explore what it means for the seeker and the healer.

We will invoke other signposts and beings whom we may meet, while traveling the wide, dusty path of awareness. We’ll examine the roles of memory and forgetting in staying on the path, and discuss what a real road brings and what it takes away from the wild, untrodden terrain – in terms both actual and symbolic.

Kathleen Harrison, MA, is an independent scholar and teacher of ethnobotany. Her work explores the relationship between plants, mushrooms and human beings—particularly in the realms that are often hidden: cultural beliefs, personification of species, rituals of healing and initiation, vision-seeking modalities, and artistic creations that illustrate the plant-human relationship. She also studies and teaches the deep history of humans in nature, encompassing the eras both before and since the advent of agriculture.

Since the 1970s, Kathleen has done recurrent fieldwork in Mesoamerica, the Amazon Basin, the West Coast subcultures, and the Pacific islands, and is a published author and photographer. In 1985, Kathleen co-founded Botanical Dimensions, and has managed its projects in Mexico, Peru, Hawaii and California. She hosted BD’s exceptional Ethnobotany Library and classes in Northern California from 2015-2020. Kat continues to teach classes on psychedelic perspectives and various branches of ethnobotany.

#ethnobotany #serpent #myth by @botanical.dimensions

Kat Harrison at the Alembic, June 23

Kathleen Harrison, MA, is an independent scholar and teacher of ethnobotany. Her work explores the relationship between plants, mushrooms and human beings—particularly in the realms that are often hidden: cultural beliefs, personification of species, rituals of healing and initiation, vision-seeking modalities, and artistic creations that illustrate the plant-human relationship. She also studies and teaches the deep history of humans in nature, encompassing the eras both before and since the advent of agriculture.

Since the 1970s, Kathleen has done recurrent fieldwork in Mesoamerica, the Amazon Basin, the West Coast subcultures, and the Pacific islands, and is a published author and photographer. In 1985, Kathleen co-founded Botanical Dimensions, and has managed its projects in Mexico, Peru, Hawaii and California. She hosted BD’s exceptional Ethnobotany Library and classes in Northern California from 2015-2020. Kat continues to teach classes on psychedelic perspectives and various branches of ethnobotany.

#ethnobotany #psychedelicperspective #katharrison by @botanical.dimensions

In these convoluted times, it can be difficult to know when to welcome, when to give, and when to step back. Rose-colored glasses do not seem to serve us as well as they might once have, so we need to refine our filters. Where should you draw a line between yourself and another person, a group, a gathering, a situation, or even a belief? What do we do with fears that arise, do we honor them or dismiss them? How do we listen and respond to our own instinct and intuition? A more animated world may feel filled with many kinds of invisible effects, yet traditional practices can show us some ways to acknowledge the perceived possibility of danger, and to navigate accordingly. Through the study of folk traditions and techniques from various cultures, and her own lifetime of personal practices, Kat will show us some ways that we can learn to discern who and what is safe. We can practice ways to subtly, yet powerfully, create a more discerning lens — a buffer, a boundary, and even a shield for deflection or protection, when needed. Learning to cultivate your inner sense is empowering. As we’ve seen in studying other realms, techniques of visualization and symbolic action can make a difference.

Kathleen Harrison, MA, is an independent scholar and teacher of ethnobotany. Her work explores the relationship between plants, mushrooms and human beings—particularly in the realms that are often hidden: cultural beliefs, personification of species, rituals of healing and initiation, vision-seeking modalities, and artistic creations that illustrate the plant-human relationship. She also studies and teaches the deep history of humans in nature, encompassing the eras both before and since the advent of agriculture.

#boundaries #protection #katharrison by @botanical.dimensions

Over the coming few months, ethnobotanist and teacher Kathleen Harrison will present a series of workshops that focus on deep practice. The initial event will be devoted to the workings of ritual. What are the fundamental elements of ritual, and what makes such practices feel both real and effective? While the world’s rites and ceremonies are incredibly diverse, we can still identify some universal aspects of ritual that are both older and larger than any specific culture or era. After all, ritual itself is as old as Homo sapiens, or even older. Kat will identify these time-honed elements—invocation, protection, rhythm, etc.—and weave them into engaging stories that help illuminate crucial features of ritual work like intuition, healing, courage, and the ancestors. Regardless of your heritage or points of origin, you can learn to work ritual effectively by using these principles, by respecting nature’s intelligence, and by learning to release and trust the insights that well up from your own roots. The goal is to develop sincerity in your spiritual, human, and plant relationships, and to manifest them in communal ceremony—a practice that can help us glimpse our own roles in the grand and challenging story.

Kathleen Harrison, MA, is an independent scholar and teacher of ethnobotany. Her work explores the relationship between plants, mushrooms and human beings—particularly in the realms that are often hidden: cultural beliefs, personification of species, rituals of healing and initiation, vision-seeking modalities, and artistic creations that illustrate the plant-human relationship. She also studies and teaches the deep history of humans in nature, encompassing the eras both before and since the advent of agriculture. #ethnobotany #katharrison #ritual by @botanical.dimensions

I was recently touched, when I had a late-in-a-sad-day impulse to drive to the western edge of the continent (which is always close) to see the departing light. And found assorted strangers there, all of us rejoicing and talking about beauty. Waving to the teary, glorious sky. Solstice blessings, everyone. by @botanical.dimensions

In 2019 artist Klea McKenna, my daughter, made a documentary short film that will be shown in the San Francisco Independent Short Film Festival, online for viewing Oct. 9-18. The film is a collaboration with the Andrade family of Oaxaca and me, ethnobotanist Kathleen Harrison. It draws on my decades of friendship and fieldwork with this indigenous family, as they spread outward from their ancestral land and ways. Four generations, descended from a healer, expert in the ways of plants, mushrooms, and ritual. Using photographs Klea and I shot over the years, journal entries, and more recent video, this 12-minute film began as a teaser for the longer film we’d like to make, if support is generated.

“Almost Visible tells the story of an unlikely 25-year friendship between an American ethnobotanist and an Indigenous Mazatec shaman in the mountains of Southern Mexico, and his multi-generational family. What began as fieldwork and a search for healing, became a deep entanglement of two families—different, but connected—witnessing an era of change and cultural upheaval.”

Director @klea_mckenna writes: “This story is about several things: It’s about plant knowledge and psychedelic tradition, but that’s the territory of my parents. For me personally, this is a story about what can happen when, individually, we step outside of our comfort zone and cross boundaries of culture and class and find ourselves in relationship with people who hold a different worldview. What can we learn from each other when we let those relationships become deep and long, rather than just brief encounters... and can it be reciprocal? What are the ethics of this kind of one-on-one relationship?”

Link to tickets in bio. Our film will be in the section True Stories, Part 1, along with six other short docs, which you can see for only $8, viewable all week. The entire festival agenda looks great.
Big thanks to editor @danalaman.

And yes, I’m writing the book too. @kathleen_island
Grateful for all of it.
Así es la vida.

Made under the auspices of @botanical.dimensions — with special thanks to our donors. DM if you’d like to support this project. by @botanical.dimensions