Highly acclaimed author Dr. Joe Tafur releases second book on bridging scientific medicine and spiritual healing 

What’s driving people to psychedelic intervention and sacred ceremony? What does that say about our society and culture? Dr. Joe Tafur explores these questions in his latest book. 

[Phoenix, July 25th, 2025] – Dr. Joe Tafur, a Colombian-American medical doctor, highly acclaimed author, and curandero, publishes his new book “Medicine Song: Spiritual Healing and the Psychedelic Renaissance,” which concludes that scientific medicine and spiritual healing are finding common ground. 

Drawing on experience from traditional training in the Peruvian Amazon and opening a healing center with his Indigenous Shipibo teacher (and colleagues) to administering Ketamine-assisted therapy as a physician in the US, Dr. Tafur leads us through a chronicle of the past 30+ years of the Psychedelic Renaissance (including clinical research into MDMA, psilocybin, and more). The growing interest in this field is driven by our urgent need to address the mental health crisis and widespread disequilibrium or disconnectedness from purpose, people, and nature. 

Through exploring near-death experiences, spiritual gifts, brain entropy, dreams and visions, nature’s wisdom, interconnectedness, emotional breakthroughs, and mystical connections, Dr. Tafur investigates the current role of spirituality in our world. 

“Spirituality has often been associated with so much division,” said Dr. Tafur. “How might a universal spirituality demonstrate its wide-ranging relevance across diverse belief systems and philosophies? Can science help us to elucidate a more universal spirituality?”  

With medical institutions showing interest in transcendent experiences for healing and the mystical possibilities of psychedelic treatments for addiction, end-of-life anxiety, and more, Dr. Tafur suggests we are reconnecting with “millennia-old spiritual traditions.” This is what the book frequently refers to as the ancient prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor – Indigenous predictions about the rebalancing of the world and reencounter of people, history, culture, and ancestry after 500 years of disharmony. 

“Joe Tafur brilliantly bridges the worlds of science and spirit and shows us how we can expand consciousness and heal with psychedelic medicines and sacred practice,” said Andrew Weil, MD, author of the Natural Mind and Mind over Meds.

Crucial to uniting two distinct realms, Dr. Tafur’s studies resonate with diverse groups: He draws on the principles of Western pharmacology while also providing detailed accounts of unseen and invisible energies during ceremonies. He recognises the restrictions of modern medical training for healing, making space for experimentation and the extraordinary; energy healers in hospital spaces, medical screenings for spiritual ceremony, new avenues for Indigenous peoples to explore different sacred medicines, legitimizing the protection of sacred plant medicine, and bringing spiritual ceremony to experiences with synthetic substances.

Jeremy Narby, PhD, author of The Cosmic Serpent, stated that Dr. Tafur “has followed the healing path with heart and humility, and his work deserves attention.” 

“Medicine Song” succeeds Dr. Tafur’s debut book, “Fellowship of the River: A Medical Doctor's Exploration into Traditional Amazonian Plant Medicine,” for which Dr. Gabor Maté wrote the foreword. This previous book focused on his training to become an ayahuasquero and on case studies from his work in the Amazonian jungle, understanding how psychoactive plants interact with our minds and hearts. It is included in the MAPS Bookstore and is recommended by several programs teaching psychedelic psychotherapy.

“Medicine Song” is now available at amazon.com, Audible, and Kindle.