
S2 EP8 | Medicine of Music, Ceremony with the Grandmother & the Journey Back to Self -Chris Mapstone
Planting Seeds with SoulShow Notes
I first met Chris a few years back when I was climbing out of that deep dark pit I had found myself in. The universe presented the opportunity to meet his community, to sit in ceremony, and to work with the plant medicines. It was life changing. It was healing and transformative in ways I could never have imagined. There was no therapist or psychologist involved, yet everyone there was that therapist and psychologist. Life itself was that therapist and psychologist. The medicine was that therapist and psychologist. And in the end, I realised I was that therapist and psychologist. I was that medicine. I am the medicine.
Chris, through his presence and through his music, has been a huge part of that transformation for me. His songs, his spirit, and the way he carries ceremony have left a lasting mark on my path. For that, there is deep gratitude.
In this episode of Planting Seeds with Soul, I sit down with Christopher Mapstone. His music is a bridge between worlds. It is medicine. It is healing and transformative in itself. It is a guide that carries people into ceremony, into the heart, and into deeper states of awareness.
Together we dive into the medicine of ayahuasca, and the way ceremony can guide us into the stories and programs we have carried, take us through them, and then beyond them, so we can finally see them for what they are. Christopher speaks on music as medicine, how sound itself becomes healing, and how sharing our stories is one of the most powerful medicines we have. We explore the witness, the Atman, the unchanging self that lies beyond the stories, and what it means to rewrite the program we are running in life.
Christopher takes us into his own journey, from a fiery and angry teenager who ended up in juvie, to near death experiences, to finding deep healing through nature’s embrace. He opens up about feeling like an outsider growing up, about childhood wounds, and how music, medicine and community guided him back to truth.
We also talk about the upcoming Kindred Spirit Mini-Fest, a unique festival of medicine music in northern New South Wales, born from the same soil and community that has shaped Christopher’s path.
This is a rich conversation about healing, vulnerability, ceremony, music, and the mystery that lives beyond what we can see. A reminder that we all have a witness inside, the one who sees the stories, and that through connection, nature and sound, we can remember who we truly are.
Aho 🌱
More from Planting Seeds with Soul
Back into full time construction now so time’s a bit limited. These descriptions can suck up more energy than the podcast itself, so I’m keeping them simple from here.
Watene sat down with me and opened the door to parts of his life that most people would rather keep locked away. We spoke about a childhood shaped by chaos, a rough upbringing, gangs, anger, violence, addiction, and the kind of environments that can either swallow you whole or forge something powerful inside you.
This episode we covered a few topics around kids and phones, Corey collapsing in the middle of no where and to be honest we don’t really know what else we spoke about 😂 so if you wanna come along for the good times, have a listen🎙️👌
Sat down with Josh Hupfeld, the creator of the Better Half Journal, and just had a real, grounded chat.
The eldest stepping into high school. A threshold. The end of a season. The quiet grief and beauty that comes with watching your kids grow and something familiar slowly fall away.