The Great Work

Preparation and integration coaching for people called to plant medicine ceremony — done with depth, respect, and Indigenous wisdom.

Most people approach ceremony the same way they approach everything else in our culture:

Fast. Alone. Unprepared.

They find a date. They show up. They hope.

And sometimes it helps. But often — without the right preparation and integration support — the insights fade, the patterns return, and the experience that was meant to change everything... doesn't.

That's not a failure of the medicine.

That's a failure of the container.

I'm James. I know what it means to do this without support — and with it.

I'm an Anishinaabe man from the Kitigan Zibi Algonquin First Nation. I'm an artist, musician, author, and guide.

For 25 years, I lived with alcohol and cocaine addiction rooted in unhealed trauma. At 40, I sat in my first intentional ceremony.

Not only did my desire for alcohol dissolve — almost immediately — but my lifelong asthma, present since childhood, resolved.

I've since traveled to the Brazilian Amazon to sit with the Shanenawa people. I've studied with Indigenous Elders. I've been trained in psychedelic-assisted therapy frameworks. I serve on the board of Ayahuasca Canada.

And through all of it, one truth has remained constant:

The ceremony is the door. Preparation and integration determine whether you can walk through it — and what you build on the other side.

The Great Work Framework

The Great Work Framework

PREPARATION / THE FOUNDATION
Commitment → Objections → Intention
Arrive ready. Not just booked.

NAVIGATION / THE CEREMONY
Arrival → Healing → Celebration
The door opens when you're truly prepared.

INTEGRATION / THE GROWTH
Recovery → Obstacles → Embodiment
The real work happens after.

Before Ceremony

  • Full intake: your history, your healing goals, your fears

  • Intention-setting — not a wish, a commitment

  • Psychological groundwork and capacity-building for surrender

  • Protocol guidance and safety planning

  • Building your integration plan before you sit

After Ceremony

  • Immediate post-ceremony debriefing and grounding

  • Making meaning of what emerged without rushing

  • Navigating obstacles and emotional vulnerability

  • Translating insight into sustainable life change

  • Long-term practice anchoring

This is for you if...

✓ You feel genuinely called to ceremony — not just curious about it
✓ You're healing from addiction, trauma, grief, or patterns that haven't shifted through conventional means
✓ You want to approach this with depth, respect, and proper preparation
✓ You understand that ceremony is one part of a larger journey
✓ You're ready to do the work — before, during, and after

Join the Waitlist

By joining you'll receive James' story, The Great Work framework, and an invitation to apply when spots open.

Abstract Visions | Art. Music. Medicine.