There are many questions to consider… timing perhaps being the first. Am I ready to invite change into my life? Are there other areas of self care, like sleep, health, and diet that could be addressed first? Do I have a support network of family, friends and community that will help me with integration? Am I ready to take complete responsibility for my life?

The etymology of the word ‘psychedelic’ is from two greek words, psyche - meaning mind or soul and delos - meaning to reveal or manifest. My experience with substances that are referred to as psychedelics is that they alter consciousness and offer new perspectives, new associations, new ways of seeing and understanding the world. They expand awareness, heighten sensitivities and reveal hidden aspects and patterns within nature and Self. Ingesting these substances will not cure you or heal you but they may help you to see where you are holding yourself back with too narrow of a perspective. They may help you to access your own Inner Teacher, Inner Healer and Inner Guide.

Many people suffer with depression, repression, suppression and feelings of separation. Due to our own fears, resistance and neglect, these tensions can linger just out of reach within our unconscious realm. In order for these “knots of pain” to heal, they need to be lovingly tended to once again. They require our presence, our attention, our ability to feel them and emotionally move a little more of the energy that is trapped there. When successful, this movement of energy can often lead to a great release, feelings of expansion, euphoria, lightness and levity. This is all of Ours’ work to do whether we choose to work with psychedelics or not. Some people have found that certain substances are supportive in this process. There are indigenous communities that have been working with psychedelics in a community/ceremonial setting for the personal and inter-relational healing of their families for centuries. If we intended to maintain a ‘normal’ that existed before a psychedelic experience we would still be in a state of resistance to the new potentials revealed to us. Come prepared for growth, for change, for letting go of outdated belief systems that no longer serve you. Open yourself to be amazed and in awe and wonder at the nature of reality that cannot be contained within our preconceptions.

Another and more preferred word over psychedelic is entheogen. Again the word entheogen comes from the greek language, meaning en - in or within, theo - god or divine, gen - to generate or create. This gives us the meaning of generating or activating the divine within. As we grow in our awareness we may come to realize that we have compromised our truth along our path. We may come to recognize aspects of society that are playing at a low level of potential. Our divine creator within may have an overwhelming urge to birth something completely new onto the world scene, in fact we may realize that we were born to do so. It comes as no surprise that the structures of society suppress and make illegal the use and access of plant medicines.