Rosella Latella and Expanded Consciousness: A Journey with Master Plants
Rocco FontanaPsychotherapist, sexologist, soul explorer. With Other States of Consciousness and Other Truths, Rosella Latella creates a powerful, intense, and unconventional work. A book that crosses the threshold of the visible to describe what happens when the mind frees itself from its automatisms and entrusts itself to the silent—and overwhelming—guidance of the Master Plants .
Through visionary experiences, shamanic rituals, lucid dreams, and alchemical insights, the author takes us on a journey of consciousness expansion that is anything but escapist: it is a return to the origin, a confrontation with the shadow, and a rediscovery of the essential.
We interviewed her to better understand the beating heart of this book that defies definition and, precisely for this reason, manages to speak to the inner self of those who are ready to listen.
Rosella Latella is a psychotherapist and sexologist. She lives and works between La Spezia and Genoa. For years, she has lectured on topics related to Jungian psychology, spirituality, and esoteric symbolism.
Requests :
1. In your book, you recount powerfully symbolic and transformative experiences you had thanks to your encounter with Sacred Plants. What prompted you to cross that threshold for the first time? Was there a specific moment when you "felt the call"?
A. I've always felt alienated from what we might call "consensual reality." That is, everything we conventionally consider real. In fact, there's much more. Mysteries that can't be understood based on our patterns and mental categories. It's a bit like the situation experienced by the protagonist of the movie "The Truman Show": he realizes it's all fake and wants to move on, no matter the cost: there's suffering and a whole mental turmoil to escape it. After years of spiritual research, I've felt that the visionary dimension is more congenial to me than the conceptual one. Dreams, intuitions, and synchronicities have guided me, increasingly and better. Until I met the right people and began my journey with the Master Plants.
2. Your writing blends psychological rigor, esoteric wisdom, and poetic vibrations. What is the relationship, for you, between healing, symbol, and words? Can words be medicine, like a healing plant?
A. In psychotherapy, there's a very close connection between treatment, symbols, and words, but in my opinion, the fundamental element is hypnotic trance: an extraordinary state of consciousness in which the brain's electrical activity changes, shifting from beta to alpha or even theta rhythms. A sort of "waking sleep" in which the patient is particularly receptive to therapeutic work. Hypnosis (I'm referring to Ericksonian hypnosis) is ideal for desensitizing ancient traumas and activating resources. And precisely in the trance state, words, images, analogies, metaphors, symbols ... when used by the therapist with the right dexterity, acquire great healing power. So yes, in the right context and with the right state of consciousness, words can be medicine. Much like Master Plants.
3. In one passage you say that Mother Ayahuasca "gives you what you need, not what you want." What was the most unexpected—or most difficult—gift you received from these experiences?
A. The most unexpected gift was the overwhelming and direct experience of the sacred. Ecstasy. I became infinite while remaining who I am. I felt that God is love, not in the romantic or ethical sense of the term, but rather love understood as fire. As energy. The most powerful and creative energy that can exist. That mystery we call God is not an entity external to us, but a state of consciousness that everyone can experience. The most difficult gift was feeling the depths of darkness in its most suffocating aspect. Quite terrifying. But precisely in the midst of fear (I would say in the midst of panic), I learned that there's no point in fighting the darkness. Rather, it makes sense to find a way to light our candle... in the midst of the darkness that exists.
4. You've encountered entities, visions, and perceptual states "other" than ordinary waking life. As a psychotherapist, how do you interpret this expansion of consciousness? Is it an opening to "imagined" worlds or to "real" worlds?
A. There's much to clarify about the concept of reality. We commonly consider what exists materially to be real. However, quantum physics has taught us that matter is immaterial... in the sense that it doesn't exist, since the atom is empty. The atom is a cloud of energy. It's true that we are programmed to perceive three-dimensional and solid objects, but if we had quantum eyes, we would only see an ocean of constantly boiling energy. Rare or concentrated energy. I'd say that different realities exist. Very subtle dimensions and very dense ones. Master Plants expand our consciousness, which begins to oscillate from one dimension to another. And this experience is like a quantum leap: in an instant, it changes our view of the world and of ourselves. It's not a hallucination, nor is it imagination. The point is that our brain normally functions like a reducing valve. It has filters that allow access to very little information compared to the infinite amount that remains outside. Master Plants neutralize these filters. And so, literally, the doors of perception open.
5. Alchemical, archetypal, and shamanic imagery pervades the book. What role do symbols play in deep healing processes for you?
A. It's useful to clarify what a symbol is. Essentially, it's something that alludes to something else. One idea for another, one image for another. For example, a seed being planted is a symbol of growth and transformation. Fog is a symbol of confusion and bewilderment. We must always consider two different levels: something sentimental manifests in something material, something internal manifests in something external. Every symbol has multiple meanings, even opposing ones. Think of fire: it is purifying but also infernal, it illuminates and warms but can also be destructive. There are symbols of infinite complexity, like the snake: its venom can kill but is also connected to knowledge and healing. A book could be written about the snake... and perhaps it wouldn't be enough. Jung said that the symbol is numinous, from the Latin "numen," meaning god or spirit. Therefore, the symbol contains within it a sacred and powerful energy that marks and transforms our consciousness. In my work, I pay close attention to dreams. Dreams are articulated through a language of symbols. Objects, animals, people, landscapes... everything in dreams is a symbol. Typically, our reasoning mind doesn't understand this language and therefore considers dreams a simple quirk of the brain. A grave mistake. In reality, the wisest part of the unconscious (our greatest ally) seeks to help us understand ourselves better through dreams, to give us guidance on how to face critical moments, and sometimes to anticipate future events so we can be prepared to face them. It's no coincidence that in all shamanic societies, the "dream weaver" is venerated: an intelligence that lives within us, to guide us on our journey.
6. You speak of "viriditas" as a fertilizing force and of sexuality as a sacred energy. This is a theme often ignored in contemporary spirituality. How can we recover an integrated vision of Eros and Spirit today?
A. I was referring to Hildegard of Bingen, a German Benedictine nun. She was also a prophetess, artist, and philosopher, and she spoke of "viriditas": the power of efflorescence and fructification, the breath that gives life, the creative power. In essence, Eros. This is sacred energy. An energy that unifies opposites (seemingly irreconcilable) and bridges the human and divine dimensions. Think of Tantra: a set of spiritual teachings that combines sex, love, and meditation. It's a method for being absorbed in the infinite. Through pleasure, one reaches enlightenment, liberation. Upon closer inspection, ecstasy and orgasm are the same type of experience; the intensity is different. Ecstasy is a more powerful orgasm, which leads us to bliss. As Lama Govinda teaches, sacred and profane, samsara and nirvana, sensuality and spirituality are complementary. Two faces of the same reality. According to tantric teachings, every aspect of daily life can be transformed into something sacred.
7. Your book is a courageous invitation to overcome fears and limitations to get in touch with what is most authentic. What would you say to those who feel the call but hesitate for fear of "getting lost" or losing control?
A. I'd say that losing oneself and losing control is exactly what happens with sacred plants. Our boundaries dissolve, and for some, this is a disturbing sensation. Our boundaries limit us on the one hand, but also define us on the other. What I feel I am is within the boundaries, what I feel I am not is outside. Our sense of identity also depends on this. Therefore, if the intention to live the experience with the Master Plants is strong, one can process the anxiety so that it isn't completely hindering. Otherwise, it's much better to abstain and seek other methods: meditation, yoga, autogenic training, fasting... one chooses how to expand one's consciousness based on one's own feelings, which are our compass.
