Psychedelics Archives - Page 2 of 28

How Will Our Value Systems Affect The Psychedelic Movement?

How are the value systems of our world affecting the trajectory of the psychedelic movement?

What societal forces are shaping its course?

How will this in turn affect our culture and society’s evolution?

These questions were brought to my mind recently as I finished listening to the audiobook version of The Nature Of Drugs.

The Nature of Drugs is a series of lectures from a class that legendary folk chemist cum psychedelic lore legend Alexander ‘Sasha’ Shulgin gave. It has been lovingly transcribed and put together by those wonderful folk at Synergetic Press. Through the series of lectures, Sasha details a lot of biological knowledge whilst touching upon politics and culture, and mixing in some funny and insightful personal anecdotes.

It was one of those personal anecdotes, in one of the last chapters, that got me thinking about this topic of cultural values and reward systems in regard to psychedelic work.

Sasha and his wife Ann contributed massively to the psychedelic world. They were true pioneers. Sasha was known as the ‘godfather of MDMA’, and he discovered over 200 psychedelic compounds, including 2-CB. Sasha even created his own scale for measuring the effect of a drug: the Shulgin scale.

Something that I found to be thought-provoking is that Sasha, one of the greatest figures and contributors to the modern psychedelic movement, was only able to do the depth of work that he did because he developed a drug for industrial purposes.

How Sasha Gained Freedom

Shulgin acquired the freedom to do his independent research because of a prediction he made that helped chemical corporation DOW to develop a hugely profitable insecticide. In other words, he was able to help a commercial company make tons of money out of drugs. Because of that, DOW rewarded him with free reign and the resources to do his own research.

‘Sasha’ Shulgin – Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

With that freedom, he was able to do the work that he really wanted to do and was passionate about: drugs of the mind. He cooked them up in his shed/lab in his back garden and tested them on himself. He was able to do his research fully legally and had a license under state law for everything he was doing.

I think this mixing of a commercial interest with psychonautical passion illustrates something about how entangled everything we do is with commercial prospects. With big money, commercial interests, and pharma-like corporations already having entered and influenced the space, I think this is a worthy consideration. This topic was explored brilliantly in the online comic We Will Call It Pala.

What If?

What if Sasha Shulgin had never developed that insecticide? How much contribution from him would we have actually seen? Where would the psychedelic space be without his and his wife Ann’s contributions?

To tie it into our current reality, how many potential amazing underground researchers, activists, artists, and creators are out there, who might be deprived of contributing their gifts to the world because of financial interests? Because they’re not able to make fat stacks for a big company?

How many choose paths that aren’t to their heart’s calling, because of how our society rewards and incentivizes financial profits? Or status via money? What ripples are we missing out on? What revolutionary and groundbreaking work for humanity is going unrewarded and unrealized?

Maybe it’s the case that brilliant minds find a way to bless the world in their own ways regardless of circumstances. Perhaps if it wasn’t through an insecticide development for DOW, Shulgin would’ve discovered another way to do his work. Maybe there is some truth to that.

But what about all of us with less-than-genius philosopher-chemist minds? And what about all the big hearts? How might the world look different if we found a way to encourage and foster the ability for all of us to do work that lights up our souls?

There are a lot of questions here. And this isn’t something I pretend to have the answers on. But when we consider the type of world that we want to create, they are topics I think we should all be thinking and talking about.

08/12/2022/by John Robertson

conscious psychedelic explorer program course testimonial review

Student Interview – The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer Program

The second cohort of my 6-week course, The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer finished a couple of weeks ago at the end of November.

As I’ve wrapped up, I’ve been talking with some of the members inside to learn about their experiences. The post today is a transcription of one of those conversations.

I wanted to share this to give people an idea of what it’s like inside and for those of you who might be on the fence about joining and would like to know more.

This conversation is between myself (J), and Mark (M) – an alias- and has been edited with permission for clarity:

–

So where I’d like to begin is to ask, where were you before the course versus where you are now?

So I’ve probably taken the psychedelics for, we’re probably coming up on two and a half years. I’ve probably taken 15 to 18 doses of psilocybin and three doses of MDMA. All of which, the protocol and the means by which I took them was formed out of just research that I did on the internet. And while I had what I thought was a fairly good protocol, as you can imagine it was evolving over all that time.

I find now that when I look at the overall protocol after the course, I can see it’s gonna be much more structured. Considering a lot of the things that you brought up throughout the course, I look at them and say, oh, that makes sense.

Like, setting aside a specific day. I mean, those thoughts come up, but when you hear somebody else say things, it makes it a little bit more solid to you. So going into my next experience, it’s gonna be much more structured.

I think because of that, it’s going to be better because I’m a structured kind of person, it gives me a sense of comfort. I don’t know why I didn’t tie to it before, but having you lay things out from one end to the other, has allowed me to see a more complete view of it. So that’s kind of where I stand.

Right. Yeah, it’s great to hear that as a structured person, you’ll bring some of that more to your psychedelic work.
What has been your biggest win or your biggest result or benefit from taking the course?

I’m gonna say twofold. So one of the big wins for me is the structure and the way you laid out the modules and stepped through everything and gave me that view.

Next, I think as I look at the journaling exercises and look at the exercises that we’ve done, I have more confidence in planning my next experience. I think having that confidence, having that control, and going into the next experience is huge.

Finally, I would say the community. The group calls and the breakout rooms, I found much more value in that than I anticipated, especially the breakout rooms. I usually don’t like that. When you first said you’re gonna do the breakout rooms? I was shaking my head saying, “no, why are we going down this path?” <laughs>

But I found them, literally, every one of them was fruitful, in one way, shape or form. So that was huge for me. Being able to talk openly within the community calls was so incredible. I don’t have anybody I can talk to about it, nobody around me, or in my sphere, is active in psychedelics. I mean, we’re talking about something that’s illegal here, so it’s not like you can have this open conversation about it. It was huge for me to be able to just talk about it openly and freely and hear other people’s experiences.

…

Viewing my work with psychedelics through the lens of your course materials has forced me to take a broader, more holistic look at how I approach the whole experience. Instead of shallow planning really focused on just the day of dosing I now look at it from end to end.

First for me was setting a date on the calendar, making it an official or special event to work toward. Now that I have my sights on this special event how can I prepare in the days leading up to it to ensure success? The groundwork outlined in the course materials has helped me to create a much more engaged and thorough approach to the event day.

Sticking with the holistic approach of your course I have also, for the first time, created a structured plan on how to address the hours and days following the event. Instead of a loose idea of what Integration will look like, I have a plan and scheduled activities for my aftercare and integration.

Reflecting on the two major areas I have described above; each is built upon multiple concepts from within the course materials.

What is my biggest takeaway or lesson? That cannot really be named. All components build upon and complement each other, all have value and importance.

Amazing to hear so much has sunk in for you. What was your favorite part of the course?

The way you packaged and presented it. I’ve looked at some other courses before and I mean, we’ve obviously all been to courses, we’ve been to classes and learned things. To me, you provide the wisdom of experience in your knowledge that lies beyond just teaching. Beyond that it’s not delivered in an antiseptic way, or the way I would traditionally see a course. It was more like having a discussion with a wise friend that understands what you’re talking about.

You deliver and lead the course more from a caring perspective. I mean, the way you present your materials, lead the calls and facilitate the conversations, it was all delivered and created, not in a “yeah, I’m just going put this class together so you can learn the material and get through it” way.

There was caring and that’s the best way to describe it. There was care in the content that you created and the way you facilitated it. So that was super good for me. I didn’t feel like I was just in a class to just learn the material and go away, you know what I mean? Even the material done at home away from the calls, seemed to be done in a very caring way. That was huge for me too.

Very much appreciate that. What would you say to somebody who’s on the fence about purchasing or joining the course?

I would say do it!

Again, I’m going to go back to the way the overall course is presented, because it is presented in what is such a caring way, conscientious if you will. A way that is backed by what is obviously a passion for what you’re teaching.

If you’re interested in it, then you’ve got some questions or you’ve got some learning to do, to be honest, don’t we all have something we can learn from one another?

The volume and the accuracy of the content were rock solid too. It wasn’t this happy little kumbaya moment where we all just sit around and feel fuzzy and warm, but don’t learn anything. You were able to combine the kumbaya moment where it’s fuzzy and warm and everybody feels happy, but you were also able to present a lot of knowledge, and a lot of solid takeaways that will make you think and make you look at how you do things.

Even with all my research and limited experience, I was presented with completely new concepts that I was missing in the past. There is a lot of content here and I believe it contains something for everyone interested in psychedelics.

Thank you for your kind words M. I’m really glad you joined. I’ve enjoyed your presence and the curiosity and sharing that you brought to the group.

–

The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer opens for registration again on the 10th of January 2023. Join the waitlist to get first access.

07/12/2022/by John Robertson

Psychedelics, Society

Punk Ethos & Psychedelic Practice

Not a lot of people that know me through my psychedelic work know about one of my biggest loves:

Punk.

Punk music?

Absolutely.

But more relevant to my psychedelic work; punk ethos.

Punk and its associated ideas have played a huge part in my growing up, my identity, and the person I’ve become. A lot of the values I hold are also shared by punk as a movement.

If you think punk is all about people getting angry and shouting “fuck the system”, I’d like to show you that there is much more.

Here are some crossovers between punk and psychedelics.

Non-conformity

Punk challenges conformity. It challenges the norms of society. In a world where we’re burning our own house down, where corruption and inequality are rife, I think it’s a good time for us to challenge a few social and cultural norms.

If I conformed to the rules of the world, and the laws set in place by governments, I never would’ve started on my psychedelic journey. I never would’ve been able to receive these beautiful, wonderful, and healing experiences.

I never would’ve become able to help others on their psychedelic journeys either.

“One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”
– Dr Martin Luther King

Anti-Authoritarianism

Punk as a movement is anti-authority. It allows people to form their own beliefs rather than being handed them by people who are in positions, or supposed positions, of authority. Punk encourages you to question authority.

Do you believe what you believe because this belief has been passed on to you? Or have you come to this conclusion yourself through your own reasoning, agency, and experience? Punk encourages us to become our own authority and to discover truth for ourselves.

Psychedelics encourage us to find our own truths too. They help us to face truths, sometimes they will reveal them even if they’re f-ing uncomfortable.

Emotional Expression

As a genre of music, punk is pretty expressive.

Punk doesn’t repress. Punk lets it out and lets it rip.

And psychedelics encourage this in us too. Psychedelics do not reward suppression or repression of our deeply held emotions or beliefs. In fact, they punish them. They will often squeeze them out of us. Even those which may seem to be pretty full-on.

Some say punk is all about needless anger, for me it’s about standing up for what you believe in and being honest with yourself about things that you’re not cool with. It’s about not having your boundaries crossed.

As Pema Chödrön says, there is compassion, and then there is idiot compassion:

“For example, trying to smooth everything out to avoid confrontation, not to rock the boat, is not what’s meant by compassion or patience. It’s what is meant by control. Then you are not trying to step into unknown territory, to find yourself more naked with less protection and therefore more in contact with reality. Instead, you use the idiot forms of compassion and so forth just to get ground.”

Psychedelics encourage acceptance, but likewise, there is acceptance and then there is idiot acceptance. Idiot acceptance is pretending we’re OK with things and that it’s all love and roses when it’s not, it’s being soft when we actually need to draw a line.

DIY

Finally, something that comes from the punk movement but for me is very relevant to my psychedelic practice is the DIY ethic. With various organizations looking to establish themselves as gatekeepers in the psychedelic space I think this is becoming more and more important.

DIY as a subculture was brought forward by the punk movement of the 1970s.

Punks would release their own music on self-funded record labels, create and publish their own books and zines, put on their own shows, and book their own tours – without relying on an external source of authority or permission. Artists like Black Flag were trailblazers in the movement of underground do-it-yourself record labels within the subculture, exemplary in their tireless promotion of an autonomous DIY punk ethic and aesthetic.

Before the technological advances of the last few decades, this was a huge deal.

This ethic is something that informs my own psychedelic practice. I learned to DIY with psychedelics. I learned to journey solo and self-organize sessions with friends. Without therapists or guides.

And man I’m so glad I did. I love helping others to learn to DIY and self-organize, and I want to help you learn to DIY and self-organize. Because like punk I believe in the decentralization of power. I believe in the dissolution of the old systems that have led to this breaking point we stand as a species, as a global society.

I also love jumping around to some fast pumping riffs and jumping off the stage for a cheeky little crowd surf from time to time. Try it out, it’s hella fun.

Walkthrough Preparation Guide for Self-Organised Psychedelic Sessions

06/12/2022/by John Robertson

the conscious psychedelic explorer review

Blog, Psychedelics, The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer

CPE Cohort #2 Review and #3 Preview

A couple of weeks ago, we finished the second run of my six-week cohort-based course, The Conscious Psychedelic Explorer.

Overall, beautiful. Helping others to work with psychedelics for learning and growing is something I find truly meaningful.

We had an amazing group come together with 10 members joining for this round. Now the dust has settled, I thought I’d share a few thoughts on this group, and my plans for the next cohort in January.

Diverse Group

We had a diverse group, which I always enjoy. We had members in France, Germany, Canada, Mexico, the US, and the UK. Love the international vibe. To my surprise, even two members of the group had no experience with any of the classic psychedelics, only plans and a desire for extra support and education before the first liftoff. A couple more were also new on the path of conscious use.

Originally I built this course for intermediate explorers, but I did adapt it a little this time around and make it more beginner friendly, making sure to cover all the basics. The upshot of this is that there is something for everyone and a more mixed group, some who’ve lots of experience alongside newcomers.

The newcomers keep it fresh, help to remind us all of the fundamentals and key principles, and connect us to the beginner’s mind. The experienced members offer their experience, knowledge, and resources. That is something that I love about the mix.

Community is a bit of a trite word these days but the wisdom and energy of a group really do contribute more than the individuals inside. Although I am facilitating the process and organizing, I do see that the group takes on a life of its own, becoming something of its own entity.

Camaraderie And Connection

What I also love is that the community sparks connections. I loved seeing friendships bloom. It has been great to hear that other members have been chatting with each other, or even better, planning ceremonies. 🙂 It’s cool to get updates from people before and after their experiences and to see the support from other members.

On our final call, we had the chance to get a bit sentimental and misty, and many members remarked how the depth of connection with others was a surprise. One mentioned how they joined the course hoping to gain a technical understanding of how to organize psychedelic sessions, but received personal insights by way of the group. We had space for sincerity and openness to challenges and doubts, and also for fun and laughs.

Offshoots

We had a couple of offshoots from this group. One was a Psychedelic Film Club. We made a separate Signal group and shared film recommendations, and had some discussions there. A few members went deep on this, having their own “psychedelic film festival” and plowing through a bunch of films and doing their own deep dive. Very cool. I joined in for a couple, a screening of Aware: Glimpses Of Consciousness, which we watched at the same time, and joining a pre-and post-screening zoom call for a chat with other members. The other was watching a new personal fave Descending the Mountain. It has been a movie I’ve been wanting to see for years, so it was great to have a free and legit viewing sourced by one of our members and the group energy impetus to set aside the time even in a busy period.

As another side quest, I invited all members to join me in a daily awareness/mindful practice for 30 days on week 2. This coincided with week 2’s lesson on awareness, one of the lessons in the first module on foundations for working with psychedelics.

When the 30 days were up, one of the members suggested we keep it going for another 30 days, so we’re currently continuing with that, with a post and update in the Signal group each day. I like sharing and supporting others in meditation practice, so this is something I’ll definitely invite from future cohorts.

Embers

Ultimately I’d like to build something that outlasts me, that stands on its own, something that would just continue if I disappeared. And whilst this small community isn’t there yet, I see the embers of something great. So I’ve decided to reopen the course for another 10 members in January.

I like this group size, its small enough to keep intimate and give all members a chance to get to know each other, but large enough to have some group energy and diversity.

Registration will be open for one week from the 10th – 17th January. The course will begin with the first live call on the 19th.

If you’re interested, I encourage you to join the waitlist here for early access.

What’s Inside CPE in 2023

Beyond the 6 weeks, I will be offering a whole bunch of extras throughout 2023 for all new course members.

We will have monthly community calls for all course alumni, and I’m quite excited to see members new and old mixing.

I’ll also be offering quarterly workshops. The first, Music, Playlists, and the Art of Listening in Psychedelic Sessions, is already on the calendar for February 5th. These workshops will be included for CPE members, but I will also open them to others who’d like to join in the fun.

We will also have a bunch of guest classes, experiences, and calls.

This includes a neuroscience class from Manesh Girn, a live deep listening session with Wavepaths & founder Mendel Kaelen, a look into psychedelic facilitated nature connection with Dr Sam Gandy, a research overview and Q&A with Floris from Blossom, and a few others to be confirmed. These classes themselves could be a course and I’m excited to learn from these experts alongside the community.

If you want 2023 to be the year where you go pro in your knowledge and practice with psychedelics, this is an amazing opportunity. It’s a course with basically an added one-year membership to a club with expert classes, community calls, and quarterly workshops.

What’s On For You in 2023?

To close on a year’s end theme, I’d like to invite you to consider, what are your goals for 2023? What are your hopes, dreams, and aspirations? What would, if accomplished or experienced by year’s end, would make the year a meaningful one for you?

If it’s anything to do with psychedelics, come join us in the CPE!

05/12/2022/by John Robertson

Navigation, Psychedelics

Movement & Stillness – Modules for High Dose Psilocybin Journeys

Movement.
Stillness.

Stillness.
Movement.

These are the four modules that make up the high-dose journey arc and outline, as proposed in the Psilo Psolo Journey Manual, from Psoirée founder Ray Christian.

I recently connected with Ray over our shared love of high-dose solo sessions, and being the idea nerd that I am, today I wanted to give a quick outline and share this framework. Let’s take a look…

Four Modules

Ray outlines four modules for a high-dose trip. They go like this:

Module 1: Pre-trip
Movement

Module 2: Liftoff
Stillness

Module 3: Cruising Altitude
Stillness

Module 4: Landing:
Movement

The idea is that physicality has a powerful impact on the journey. So it’s good to toggle between both movement and stillness. Although movement and stillness both repeat, each one is different. Here’s a closer look at each of the modules (M):

M1: Pre-trip

Movement

Duration: 20–30 mins
Description: After consuming but before it has taken effect
Directions: Utilize MOVEMENT to get endorphins flowing. Your mind and body state as you enter the “Stargate” portal will dictate the tone of the journey.

M2: Liftoff

Stillness

Duration: 1.5–2 hours
Description: The most intense module
Directions: Engage complete physical STILLNESS: this is key for going deep. Your body should be still for long stretches of the journey so your mind can travel.

M3: Cruising Altitude

Stillness

Duration: 30–60 minutes
Description: A stable equilibrium within the journey. You won’t feel “normal,”
but you’re finding balance
Directions: Aim for continued STILLNESS.

M4: Landing

Movement

Duration: 60–120 minutes
Description: Journey & “reality” merge
Directions: Gentle MOVEMENT. Dance or play an instrument, but take it slow. You’re like a newborn gazelle on the African plains.

Music And Modules

Ray also shares music suggestions for each of the modules. Here’s a peak…

Final Thoughts

If you know me, you know I love frameworks, systems, and methods. And when I see them applied to psychedelic work, it’s an easy fun geek-out moment.

I am happy to see stillness as the centerpiece of this framework. I consider inner work journeys to be like condensed meditation sessions, so an element of stillness is key. It means really being with the experience, being with ourselves. My own MO for these sessions is probably closer to stillness, stilness, stillness, stillness.

However, I like the movement at the start, getting the instant benefits of movement or exercise to induce the ideal set. I have tried this before, and a 20-minute low-grade run before an MDMA session, or a creative session with weed, have worked tremendously for me. Though much movement toward the end of the journey is rare for me, I know for sure that others benefit from it.

I also like the “1-2 punch” cadence suggested for music in module 2. It reminds me a lot of the “pendulum” effect employed by Mendel Kaelen in his psilocybin playlists, where he moves between intense songs (to get the emotional catharsis flowing), and more mellow songs (to give the journeyer a little respite from the intense emotional work).

I remain method agnostic when it comes to working with psychedelics and continue to champion a personalized approach, everyone finding what works for them. I think this four-module framework can work well for many, many people, and the ideas are certainly worthy of experimenting with.

You can check out the full Psilo Psolo Journey Manual here and Ray’s community at Psoirée, a hub for solo high-dose explorers.

…

23/11/2022/by John Robertson