BEYOND THE VEIL

Psychedelics, Ancestors & the Ancient Mysteries of Death

A Dead Good Festival Event

📅 Sunday 1st November
⏰ 7:00pm–9:00pm
📍 Bar Nothing, 17 Cliff Terrace, Margate, CT9 1RU

🎟️ £20
 

What if the ancient rituals surrounding death were never simply about mourning?

As the nights draw in and we enter the season traditionally associated with the dead, the ancestors and the unseen world, cultures across the globe have long recognised a time when the boundary between worlds becomes thin.

Join ethnomycologist, educator and psychedelic researcher Darren Le Baron for a fascinating journey into the hidden connections between death, ancestral traditions, psychedelics, mythology and altered states of consciousness.

From the ancestral altars of Día de los Muertos in Mexico to Fèt Gede in Haiti; from European Samhain traditions and ancient mystery systems to initiation rites, funerary ceremonies and encounters with the spirit world, Darren explores the remarkable similarities that emerge across cultures separated by time and geography.

Why do stories of descent into the underworld, death and rebirth, communion with ancestors, spirit encounters and ritual transformation appear again and again throughout human history?

And what role have plants, fungi, ceremony and altered states of consciousness played in humanity's attempts to communicate with — or understand — what lies beyond ordinary perception?

Drawing on historical research, ethnomycology, mythology and his own experiences researching traditional communities across Africa and beyond, Darren will uncover some of the forgotten, transformed and sometimes obscured meanings behind our rituals and symbols of death.

Beyond the Veil is an exploration of the ancient human fascination with what comes after death — and the extraordinary ways in which people have used ritual, mythology and altered consciousness to cross the threshold between the known and the unknown.

Come curious. Leave questioning what you thought you knew about death, the ancestors and the unseen world.

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ABOUT YOUR GUIDE

DARREN LE BARON

Darren is an ethnomycologist, educator and psychedelic researcher based between the UK, Caribbean and Africa. His work explores the relationships between fungi, psychedelic traditions, ancient cultures, mythology, ritual and humanity’s enduring connection with the natural and ancestral worlds.

Alongside his work in mycology, Darren has spent years researching ethnomycology, ancient African plant medicines, psychedelic traditions, ancestral practices, mythology and mystery systems. His research has taken him across Africa and beyond, learning from traditional communities and exploring how cultures throughout history have understood altered states of consciousness, initiation, death, rebirth, the spirit world and our relationship with the ancestors.

Darren is a dynamic international speaker and educator. He is a member and presenter with the London Psychedelic Society and a chair and committee member of Breaking Convention. He has also presented at the Detroit Psychedelic Conference, All Things Fungi, Ozora, Noisily, Lightning in a Bottle and numerous gatherings around the world.

At the heart of Darren’s work is a fascination with the knowledge humanity has inherited from those who came before us — and what ancient traditions, fungi, plants, ritual and altered states of consciousness might teach us about life, death, transformation and our relationship with the unseen world.

@daren_le_baron