Stellium Medicine
Engaging Plant-Based, Ancient Healing Technologies
with Clarity, Discernment & Depth
Stellium Medicine
Engaging Plant-Based, Ancient Healing Technologies
with Clarity, Discernment & Depth
Philosophy & Approach
Ancient Methods that Open Inner Pathways
We provide individualized consultation for those seeking to engage with plant-based healing traditions, offering guidance in the careful discernment of ceremonial contexts and practitioners, preparation for the experience itself, and the thoughtful embodiment of the insights, spiritual dimensions, and symbolic meanings that may arise through an ongoing relationship with ceremonial experience. We call upon the tools of transpersonal inquiry and traditional astrology to help each person find the right medicine, the right ceremonial container, the right ceremony timing, and a meaningful path through profound encounters with the deeper dimensions of psyche and being.
Offerings
Which Natural Medicine is Right for You, Right Now?
Not every medicine is appropriate for every person, and psychedelic medicines are neither universally indicated nor inherently beneficial simply by virtue of their use. Our work begins with discernment rather than assumption, recognizing that the question is not only whether one should engage with a particular medicine, but whether such work is appropriate at all, under what conditions, and for what purpose.Together, we will carefully consider your physical, mental, and psychological health history alongside your reasons for seeking this work. Drawing upon extensive field experience and research, we provide individualized counsel regarding the safety, suitability, and appropriateness of engaging with ayahuasca, iboga, psilocybin, or other traditional medicines within the context of your particular circumstances. For certain individuals, greater clarity may emerge through other longstanding traditions of inquiry, including astrological consultation, which can provide meaningful orientation, spiritual insight, and deep self-understanding without the use of psychoactive plants. Our role is not to advocate for any particular medicine, but to help determine whether medicine is called for in the first place, and, if so, which form of inquiry is most appropriate.
Selecting the Right Ceremonial Space and Practitioner
Not all plant medicine providers operate under the same ethical commitments and standards of care. Stellium Medicine provides individualized counsel about where to go to experience ceremony in a safe, deeply supportive, high-quality space. Gain a nuanced understanding of the unique strengths of different medicine providers in the field, enabling thoughtful assessment of which methodological approach and modality is most appropriate for your current needs, intentions, and circumstances. Benefit from personalized guidance and referrals to experienced, carefully selected providers of ayahuasca, iboga, and psilocybin medicines, chosen with consideration not only for safety, but also a rigorous commitment to traditional knowledge, ethical responsibility, and many years, if not generations, of dedicated practice.
Timing Your Inner Work
When it comes to selecting the best time frame to engage with non-ordinary states of consciousness, we operate upon the principle of As Above, So Below. Not all moments in time provide the same field of archetypal potentiality when it comes to individually particular healing objectives. Consult with us about which ceremonial time frame may be best suited to your particular intentions. We utilize timing techniques found in Ancient Hellenistic astrological methods to help you select the best dates for ceremonial work.
Preparing for Ceremony
We provide depth-level, individualized counseling designed to help you prepare yourself to enter into a plant-facilitated non-ordinary state. We acknowledge that these experiences are to be taken seriously, entered into with humility, reverence and respect, and understood as the temples of sacred space that they can become for each of us. When it comes to ceremony, preparation is everything, and we offer counsel about best practices and perspectives through which to approach the inner altar.
Working with Ceremonial Experiences: Discernment, Embodiment & the Realization of Insight
In the wake of ceremony, many find themselves seeking experienced accompaniment as they navigate the unfolding relationship between non-ordinary states of consciousness and their lived experience. We provide individualized consultation for those seeking to engage with, contextualize, and embody the experiences and insights that unfold through engagement with ayahuasca, psilocybin, or iboga medicines.We utilize the tools of Jungian, transpersonal analysis, archetypal psycho-spiritual work, and/or traditional (ancient) astrology, depending upon individual preference and need. We recognize that human suffering is a soul-centered experience that cannot be adequately explained by a clinical diagnosis, that healing is not merely a matter of mental health, and that what we encounter from within a non-ordinary state of consciousness cannot be boiled down to mere psychological processing. In light of these understandings, we seek to provide an integration lens capable of engaging content that transcends the forms of reductionism which have now become commonplace in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and even the increasingly mainstream practice of psychedelic medicine.
Natal Chart Consultation: Working with the Celestial Map of the Soul
Drawing upon traditional astrological methodologies, natal chart consultation offers a contemplative encounter with the symbolic language of the cosmos and the deeper patterns that shape a life. The birth chart is approached not as a fixed blueprint, but as a living map of correspondence, a way of entering into dialogue with the intelligible order of the universe and the unfolding trajectory of the soul. Astrology has long served as a means of opening perception beyond ordinary modes of knowing, revealing the subtle relationships between the celestial and terrestrial realms and inviting us into an expanded awareness of time, meaning, and purpose. Through careful examination of the planetary cycles, archetypal patterns and soul history that move through an individual natal chart, this celestial key can become a doorway into a more refined relationship with nature, one’s life path, and the unseen dimensions that inform our life experiences. Natal chart work offers a path of inner inquiry without the use of psychoactive plants, an opportunity to lift the veil, deepen receptivity to subtle awareness, and keep the “doors of perception” open through sustained contemplation, symbolic understanding, and the cultivation of an extra-sensory way of knowing that is as old as humanity itself.
Behind the Practice
Samantha Retrosi, Ph.D
Samantha Retrosi is a sociologist, psychedelic researcher and traditional astrologer whose work bridges academic research, contemplative inquiry, and plant medicine practice. She holds a doctoral degree in the field of Sociology, and her scholarship has focused on the social and cultural dimensions of knowledge production, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and our collective understandings of what it means to heal in these, our contemporary times.
For over a decade, Samantha has immersed herself in the ayahuasca field as both a social scientist and service provider, cultivating a deep understanding of plant medicine practices within the Shipibo tradition and supporting those who seek to engage these healing modalities with respect for their ancient origins. Her experience includes ethnographic research and facilitation at the Temple of the Way of Light, leadership as General Manager and Retreat Director at Soltara Healing Center, and service as Co-Executive Director of Thank You Life, a nonprofit dedicated to expanding equitable access to psychedelic-assisted care..
Alongside her work in the plant medicine field, Samantha has undertaken six years of rigorous astrological studies. She trained in Hellenistic astrology under Adam Elenbaas of Nightlight Astrology, and has continued advanced study integrating traditional astrological practice with a transpersonal approach to natal chart interpretation.
Today, Samantha offers individualized consultation for those interested in engagement with master teacher plants. She brings a rare combination of deep field experience within the psychedelic and plant medicine landscape, rigorous scholarship, and sustained study of depth-oriented and archetypal approaches to healing. Her work is informed by years of direct engagement with ceremonial traditions, ethnographic research, and traditional astrology.
Support Another in Need
We recognize that inner distress can produce economic instability. Your generosity of spirit enables us to serve someone in need. If you're interested in making a tax deductible donation to provide healing assistance to someone currently in a place of economic distress, please contact Samantha at snretrosi@gmail.com