Magic Medicine

Originally published on Blossom Analysis

Magic Medicine by Cody Johnson is a great exploration of 23 (categories of) psychedelic plants and substances. It takes an observational perspective in which it’s open to theories and traditions, but sticks to the science and actual description of the drugs’ effects. Both for people who are new to psychedelics and the more experienced, the book offers new insights to all.

Quick Take

Magic Medicine is divided into four parts:

• Classical Psychedelics (serotonin-related/oriented)
• Empathogenic Psychedelics (amplify emotions)
• Dissociative Psychedelics (detached from your body)
• Unique Psychedelics (others)

Throughout the four parts, you’re introduced to 23 psychedelics or groups of psychedelics. You encounter the well-known ones like MDMA, LSD, psilocybin (truffles), but also meet less familiar compounds like Mad Honey, DXM, and MDA.

Each chapter describes the effects of the compound (group), it’s short history, discovery, and possible medical applications. The author is careful in being not too optimistic or wish-full, yet at the same time does do a good job of describing how (traditional) cultures use the substances in rituals.

Throughout the book, you get the distinct feeling that all the different psychedelics offer unique perspectives (lenses/doors) into our perception. It’s thus such a shame that most are banned in many countries and that many don’t get to experience these different perspectives.

Below are my personal new insights and interesting tidbits from the book. Here I skip over the more obvious or well-known facts, so please do consult Erowid or another site to learn more about a substance, or give the book a read.

Part 1 – Classical Psychedelics

Chapter 1 – 2C-B and the 2C Family

• Invented by Alexander Shulgin and Michael Carter in 1975 (see Pihkal)
  • Discovered when tweaking/changing the DOB/Dox family (see chapter 5)
• Used in therapy, possibly still underground, for it’s lucid and gentle effects
• 2C-E is known to be even more intense
• 2C-1 and 2C-C are lighter, possibly more tactile

Chapter 2 – 5-MeO-DMT

• This Vice article and Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia (docu-series) are recommended
• 5-MeO-DMT is present in human tissues
• It’s 5 times more potent than N,N-DMT (DMT)

Chapter 3 – Ayahuasca

• Made from plants that contain DMT (Chacruna, chaliponga), and a carrier (caapi – contains harmala alkaloids)
• Used in traditional healing a lot, but not many rigorous scientific studies on it’s healing properties (e.g. how good is it at kicking addiction)

Chapter 4 – DMT

• Changa is a new way of smoking DMT by adding MAOIs that potentiate (increase power/effect) DMT’s effects
  • The onset is slower than smoking it pure, and more manageable
• Used by Timothy Leary and friends, but then by injecting it
• Best documented by Dr. Rick Strassman (60 volunteers, 400 dosages) in DMT: The Spirit Molecule

Chapter 5 – DOM and the DOx Family

• Duration of 24 hours (12 to 36)
• Produces a body high, tactile positive experiences, hallucinations (3-5 milligrams)
• Also used by Richard Alpert (Ram Dass)
• DOI is also used in PET scans (by replacing the iodine with a radioactive isotope)
• DOI appears to be effective in preventing asthma in mice

Chapter 6 – LSD

• Pure LSD is a white crystalline powder with no odor (but usually dissolved in water and add to ‘tabs’)
• It’s a derivative of ergot (parasitic fungus on rye grains)
• The Grateful Dead shows were used as a distribution network for LSD
  • The original audio engineer and financier, Owsley Stanley, was even a producer of it
• MAPS (known for MDMA research) also studied LSD and anxiety in patients with terminal illnesses (paper)

Chapter 7 – Morning Glory

• Of the thousands of variations only some are psychoactive (e.g. Turbina corymbosa, Ipomea tricolor)
• Morning glory seeds are also used to treat excessive bleeding in postpartum women
• Albert Hofmann was the one who discovered that he psychoactive morning glory seeds contained ergot alkaloids (like LSD)
• Effects are similar to, but lighter, than LSD

Chapter 8 – Peyote

• Also see Mescaline (book), and The Doors of Perception (ditto)
• Used since as far back as we know (6000 years)

Chapter 9 – Psilocybin Mushrooms

• Used in the Harvard Psilocybin Project (Timothy Leary, Ram Dass), but also mentions the good research done by Rick Doblin (of MAPS fame)
  • The latter showed that recidivism of prisoners was unchanged
• Psilocybin is now actively being studied and shows much promise (depression, anxiety, OCD, quitting smoking, etc)
  • Mostly attributed to ‘resetting the brain’ and being able to ‘confront/revisit experiences’

Chapter 10 – San Pedro

• Contains mescaline like Peyote, less well-known than Ayahuasca
• One of the traditional uses is to find lost items

Chapter 11 – Yopo and Vilca Beans

• These are seeds of the Anadenanthera trees
• Used mainly in South America
• Mostly used as a snuff that is inhaled into the nostrils
• Contains bufotenine, also DMT and 5-MeO-DMT
• People with schizophrenia and autism have significant concentrations of natural bufotenine in their urine
  • It’s unclear if this has any causal effect or is a byproduct

Part 2 – Empathogenic Psychedelics

Chapter 12 – MDA

• Gordon Alles discovered amphetamine in 1927, MDA in 1930 (the A stands for amphetamine)
  • The effects lie somewhere between MDMA and cocaine or amphetamine
• Before 1970, it was widely used in psychotherapy (notably by Leo Zeff and Claudio Naranjo)

Chapter 13 – MDMA

• Almost 7% of American adults (20+ million) have tried MDMA
• “If alcohol is a social lubricant, MDMA is a full tune-up of body and mind, generating a sense of physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being”
• Frequent high doses (daily/weekly) is neurotoxic, moderate doses are not correlated with brain damage
  • Most deaths which are linked to MDMA are caused by other factors (too much water/overheating/co-drug use)

Part 3 – Dissociative Psychedelics

Chapter 14 – DXM

• Dextromethorphan (DXM) is cough suppressant
  • The bad taste/syrup of cough suppressant is intentional, to prevent people from doing ‘too much’
• Low dosage leads to euphoria, anesthesia, unusual bodily sensations
• High dosage leads to profound out-of-body experiences

Chapter 15 – Ketamine

• Now commonly used for anti-depressant effects in clinics
  • Also being studied for effects on alcoholism, opioid addiction, chronic pain
• “Stumbled upon” by Calving Stevens in 1962
  • Found as a derivative of PCP
• “The synthesis of ketamine is quite complex, so the black market supply is most often diverted from legitimate sources”
• Used by John C. Lilly (quite the mad scientist) who subsequently also invented the isolation tank (sensory-deprivation chamber)
• Tried by 2.7 million Americans (close to 1%)

Chapter 16 – Nitrous Oxide

• The smallest psychedelic, one oxygen atom attached to two nitrogens
• Discovered (and then used by aristocrats) in 1772 by Sir Joseph Priestley
• Tried by 16 million (5%) Americans
• Dangerous is used irresponsible (gas masks – directly from container), safer if inhaled from a balloon
• Used by William James (1842-1920) – father of psychology
• Still being used for labor pain relief
• Also being studied in combination with talk therapy for anti-depressant effects (pilot study)

Chapter 17 – Salvia

• Salvia Divinorum is part of the mint family
• Salvinorin A (the active ingredient) is the most potent psychoactive compound in all of nature
  • Half a milligram can do the trick
• Usually made into a water diffusion, or chewed, but can also be smoked
• Used as a back-up psychedelic by María Sabina (Mazatec healer)
• Works by triggering the kappa opioid receptor (KOR)

Unique Psychedelics

Chapter 18 – Amanita Muscaria

• Red mushroom with white spots (like in the Disney movies)
• Used by traditional cultures in Siberia (specifically Kamchatka)
• It can’t be cultivated but only grows next to birches or pines (other trees sometimes work too)
• Fly agaric “produces stillness of mind, delusions often mistaken for reality, and a sense of detachment“
• Contains the active ingredient muscimol (and ibotenic acid which is converted into the former)
• Can be extracted (read: drunk) from urine up to 5 times

Chapter 19 – Cannabis

• The Cannabacae family (of which Cannabis is part) also contains hackberries and hops
• The protein-rich seeds are now also being used for hemp sprouts, hemp milk, hemp oil (and hemp fiber)
• In the medical context, there are positive effects on neuropathic pain, epilepsy, MS, and it’s anti-inflammatory
  • But, as the book notes, “Cannabis is not a miracle drug … most of its medical benefits remain anecdotal or speculative, and it does have real side effects.”

Chapter 20 – DiPT

• Also discovered by Alexander Shulgin and Michael Carter, in 1980
• Leads to auditory hallucinations, but usually not pleasant/enhancing
  • One early tester said “Piano sounds like a bar-room disaster”
• But another also described being more aware of sounds in the time after experiencing the effects of DiPT

Chapter 21 – Fish and Sea Sponges

• Some sea sponges contain 5-Bromo-DMT
• The effects are psychedelics, but not per se pleasant
  • Usually, tightness in the chest is reported for instance
• There might be many more aquatic animals that contain psychedelics, we are just not so familiar with most of them

Chapter 22 – Iboga

• Traditionally found in Gabon, also being used in detox centers in Mexico, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Canada
• Works both on serotonin and other receptors that lead to more dissociative effects
• Used in small dosages as a stimulant
• In higher dosages leads to the inability to stand, vomiting, photosensitivity
• Lasts up to 20 hours, with after-effects for days
• Howard Lotsof is responsible for promoting Iboga for its anti-addiction capability
  • He used it to kick a heroin addiction, as did 5 of 7 of his friends
  • But long-term results about the effectiveness of this type of treatment is still lacking

Chapter 23 – Mad Honey

• Found in Nepal and Turkey
• Happens when bees are in regions with azalea (a type of rhododendron)
• One spoonful leads to mental high, sensations of movement, and spatial distortion
  • At higher doses, it leads to convulsions, hallucinations, vomiting, problems with breathing
• Used multiple times in warfare (let the opposing party consume it)

The Psychedelic Experience

I wrote a review of this book for Blossom. See a copy below:

The Psychedelic Experience by Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) merges the psychedelic experience with the Tibetan Book of the Dead. It’s an interesting book that tried to merge Western use of psychedelics (which originate mostly from South America) with Eastern philosophy. As Daniel Pinchbeck states in the introduction, the book can best be seen as a product of the time (the 1960s), not as a complete guide on how to approach the psychedelic experience.

Quick Take

Introduction

Daniel Pinchbeck (in 2007) has some wise words to give in the introduction: “[the book] is both a historical document and an anthropological curiosity.” The book is an early attempt at a guide, but one in which “… the Harvard psychologists grasped these chemical catalysts as the Answer, rather than approaching them, with skepticism and proper caution, as tools that, potentially containing hidden dangers, required scrupulous care.”

The mismatch between the more Shamanistic origin of psychedelics (mainly psilocybin, mescaline, and ibogaine) from North and South America, and the Eastern philosophy is what strikes Pinchbeck as misguided. It also doesn’t do ‘right’ to the original Tibetan Book of the Dead. “[the book] overlays a simplistic and moralizing psychological perspective on the subtler and more profound exegesis of an ancient spiritual science found in the original text.”

General Introduction

The introduction (by the authors) gives a short explanation of what the psychedelic experience is, “[it’s] a journey to new realms of consciousness.” They state it’s not only psychedelic drugs that allow you to have such an experience. Yoga, sensory deprivation, disciplined meditation, religious activities, or even spontaneous occurrences are also possible.

A drug is only but the key to open the mind, breaking you free from ordinary patterns and structures. Already here they highlight the effect of set and setting (terms that are often attributed to Leary). Throughout the book, there is plenty of mention of ego dissolution and breaking free of your ‘personality’ and ‘games’ that we play (or ‘game reality’).

The book is divided into the three phases of the psychedelic experience:

1. Chikhai Bardo – complete transcendence, beyond words and space-time, pure awareness and ecstatic freedom
2. Chönyid Bardo – external game reality, clarity, hallucinations
3. Sidpa Bardo – return to routine game reality and the self

They state that the second phase is the longest (and is described in most detail in the rest of the book). But for someone who has a bad experience, the (struggle to) return to reality (third phase) may be the longest phase.

One good point of advice that is mentioned repeatedly is to trust the process, or in their words: “Trust your divinity, trust your brain, trust your companions. Whenever in doubt, turn off your mind, relax, float downstream.”

After the introduction, the book describes the different phases, gives practical suggestions on how to prepare for and hold a psychedelic experience, and finishes with passages from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

First Bardo: The Period of Ego-Loss or Non-Game Ecstasy

In modern language, this chapter can be understood to describe ego loss (death) and a lowering of the activity of the Defaul Mode Network (DMN).

The authors describe two different phases of ‘the clear light’.

Second Bard: The Period of Hallucinations

This part speaks mostly about experiencing the things that happen during a psychedelic experience. It highlights that you should accept what is happening and enjoy the ride.

This chapter then dives deeper into 7 different types of visions, I would argue that this part is the most esoteric. The 7 visions are:

1. The Source or Creator Vision
2. The Internal Flow of Archetypal Processes
3. The Fire-Flow of Internal Unity
4. The Wave-Vibration Structure of External Forms
5. The Vibratory Waves of External Forms
6. The Retinal Circus
7. The Magic Theatre

Note: Here (in my opinion) they strife the furthest from making reasonable claims. A direct link is made between the psychedelic experience and physics. They talk about experiencing the vibrations of the universe, your every cell being able to communicate and have ‘intelligence’, and although in a way this is true, it’s very much not so in the anthropomorphized way they describe it.

Third Bardo: The Period of Re-entry

This is the period in which someone returns to reality (the come-down) or ordinary waking life. The chapter describes ways in which difficult experiences in this phase can be avoided, recognized, and alleviated.

Signs of the third Bardo are described as follows:

1. the feeling of supernormal perception and performance
2. experiences of panic, torture, and persecution
3. restless, unhappy wandering
4. feeling stupid and full of incoherent thoughts
5. a feeling of being dead, cut off from surrounding life, and full of misery
6. the feeling of being oppressed or crushed
7. grey twilight-like light suffusing everything

The chapter then continues to describe the six levels or personality types to which a person can re-enter, from saints to psychosis.

Judgment visions are also considered a possible part of this period. The authors do make a very good comment about this: “Remember that fear and guilt and persecuting, mocking figures are your own hallucinations.”

This ends the description of the Bardos and the authors advise the reader to go over the text multiple times to really capture it.

The rest of the book consists of more practical and preparatory steps about holding a session, your intention, and advice for dosages.

The final pages are devoted to instructions to give during the different Bardo phases.

Drugs

Original review on Blossom Analysis

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Drugs Without the Hot Air by David Nutt is an eye-opening book that delights with statistics and rational information about drugs and their effects. Effects on you, your environment, government, international effects, and effects compared to riding a horse. To get the last reference you have to read the book, something I recommend you do if you’re interested in a policy-oriented overview of drugs.

One thing that stands out and really makes the book shine, is the constant comparison of ‘drugs’ with our two most widely used substances – tobacco and alcohol. Minimizing the harms of legal and illegal drugs is the subtitle of the book. Policy should be aimed at reducing harm (which is David Nutt’s perspective too), but more often is driven by headlines whilst the effects of alcohol and tobacco are much larger (in most ways you can measure it) than ‘hard’ drugs.

Quick Take

One thing that angers (as far as a book can convey that) David is the use of too stringent drug categories for the ones that do less harm. This diminishes our trust in the system. It makes many people do illegal things (and he argues that the legal effects – getting jailed – are much worse than smoking it) – kids included. And makes research with compounds that could help (classical psychedelics, ketamine, MDMA) way more difficult.

One of the ‘scares’ in the UK (on which the book focusses, but lessons apply widely) was that of Ecstasy/mollie/MDMA. In the book (and this paper – published in a leading psychology journal) he argues for the greater danger from Equasy. A condition from which (from the paper) “The harmful consequences are well established – about 10 people a year die of it and many more suffer permanent neurological damage as had my patient. It has been estimated that there is a serious adverse event every 350
exposures and these are unpredictable, though more likely in experienced users who take more risks with equasy. It is also associated with over 100 road traffic accidents per year – often with deaths.” It’s riding a horse (and the accidents related to it).

There are multiple factors to keep in mind, this includes the harm done to the user, others in the community, others around the world, nature (in total he identifies 16 sorts of harm). Based on this model he (with the backing of a panel and much research) concludes the overall harm to be ordered as follows (on a 0-100 scale):

• Alcohol 72
• Heroin 55
• Crack 54
• Methylamphetamine 33
• Cocaine 27
• Tobacco 26
• Amphetamine 23
• Cannabis 20
• GHB 19
• Benzodiazepines 15
• Ketamine 15
• Methadone 14
• Mephedrone 13
• Butane 11
• Anabolic Steroids 10
• Ecstasy 9
• Khat 9
• LSD 7
• Buprenorphine 7
• Mushrooms 6

See the full ISCD report here.

People have been taking drugs for a very long time. One of the main reasons is to ‘change our consciousness’. With alcohol we feel more open to talking, with tobacco less nervous, with heroin we can get the pain to go away. There are a variety of reasons for taking drugs, and they are almost all reasons that are hardwired into us.

The book does not focus only on psychedelics (as this site does), but does devote a chapter to them and explains the relatively little harm they do to the user (or their environment). It even mentions some studies that are related to LSD and the ability to increase creativity (and mentions anecdotes from Steve Jobs to Francis Crick).

The most interesting/out-there chapter is the one about the future of drugs. It ponders if we can use gene sequencing to make drugs more personalized. Both for treatment (as is already being done in some cases), and also for recreational use and identifying possible genetic risks. The future might also help us negate some of the negative side effects of drugs (e.g. Tuesday dip after MDMA use, the memory loss from alcohol). How much governments are open to innovation and research is one of the main factors as to where the future will bring us.

About the author

David Nutt is known as a great advocate for looking at drugs and their harm in an objective and scientific manner. This got him dismissed as ACMD chairman. He subsequently wrote this book. He has also founded the informational website Drug Science.

Mescaline

Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic by Mike Jay gives you a full history of Mescaline. It takes you on a journey through the jungles of South America, over the plains of North America, to labs around the world. It not only documents who has been involved with the early use of it, but also how it’s been taken up (and later left behind) in popular culture. A deep-dive into mescaline.

This review also appeared on Blossom.

Quick Take

A quick take summarizes key points from the book but doesn’t go as deep as our regular analyses.

• Mescaline has been used in rituals for as long as we know
• The peyote cactus is where Mescaline finds its origin from (the dried buds of the plant)
• The effects of Mescaline are comparable to LSD, but the bodily discomforts are much higher

• Aldous Huxley made mescaline popular with his book, The Doors of Perception
• Mescaline would launch the psychedelic era, but now isn’t part of the drugs people like to take
• One reason for this is that we’ve become better at isolating ‘easier’ substances like 2cb
• Alexander Shulgin was inspired to do much of his work on making new compounds by his mescaline experience

• As long as Westerns have had contact with mescaline, their governments have tried to ban its use
• This stretches from the first contact with the Spanish conquistadors to the current US government

• The rituals surrounding mescaline/peyote are part of what makes it a ‘good’ experience (e.g. rhythmic drums)
• Without it, as some of the Americans who used it at a house party discovered, it can be very unpleasant
• With it, the experience can be pleasant, transformative, mind-bending (and was used by many artists to this effect)

Back of the book

“Mescaline became a popular sensation in the mid-twentieth century through Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, after which the word “psychedelic” was coined to describe it. Its story, however, extends deep into prehistory: the earliest Andean cultures depicted mescaline-containing cacti in their temples. Mescaline was isolated in 1897 from the peyote cactus, first encountered by Europeans during the Spanish conquest of Mexico. During the twentieth century it was used by psychologists investigating the secrets of consciousness, spiritual seekers from Aleister Crowley to the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, artists exploring the creative process, and psychiatrists looking to cure schizophrenia. Meanwhile, peyote played a vital role in preserving and shaping Native American identity. Drawing on botany, pharmacology, ethnography, and the mind sciences and examining the mescaline experiences of figures from William James to Walter Benjamin to Hunter S. Thompson, this is an enthralling narrative of mescaline’s many lives.”

Heaven and Hell

Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley is another take on the psychedelic experience. It’s written by the author of Brave New World, and The Doors of Perception

It isn’t as good/interesting as The Doors of Perception, so not per se the most interesting (but also not too long) book.

I wrote a longer summary on Blossom Analysis, replicated here:

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Key Quotes

“Like the earth of a hundred years ago [1856], our mind still has its darkest Africas, its unmapped Borneos and Amazonian basins.” Huxley remarks that we first need to map/explore our minds, only then form theories, classifications, etc.

He states that he knows of two ways to reach the depth of our minds (or its far-off destination), 1) mescaline (and LSD), 2) hypnosis.

Light is an important concept in the short book. Huxley states that in 2/3rds of our dreams there is no light. Whilst in the psychedelic experience there is almost always much bright light.

Another recurring subject is the absence of language. In many contemporary theories, language (or the absence of it) is often mentioned.

The third thing experienced is ‘objects’, by this he means geometrical forms, patterns, mosaics. An example of how this looks can be found on PsychonautWiki.

“Every mescalin experience, every vision arising under hypnosis, is unique; but all recognizably belong to the same species,” Huxley states that we don’t know why, researchers now are trying to identify what changes in the brain (and what underlies the experiences, but still makes them unique for every person – for instance, see this paper).

The theme of light is continued with an observation that many people see – brightly colored – gems. But, nowadays many people see pastel colors, so have we become too familiar with bright colors (e.g. through advertisements)? “Familiarity breeds indifference. We have seen too much pure, bright colors at Woolworth’s to find it intrinsically transporting.” This is an interesting observation, but in the PsychonautWiki link, there is (still) an overwhelming amount of bright colors in the visuals.

Huxley then observes that the beings some people see “… are content merely to exist,” which reflects nicely on his observations in The Doors of Perception that he felt the same (and thus also not motivated to do much).

In art (paintings), Huxley observes that we like some types more than others, “… natural objects a very long way off, and, second those which represent them at close range.” You could argue that these are also the domains that are extraordinary, that these are ones we don’t deal with normally (the average range), so observing them is ‘special’.

“But visionary experience is not always blissful. It is sometimes terrible. There is hell as well as heaven.” Seeing the world this way, Huxley argues, can be seen in the later Van Gogh landscapes and Kafka’s stories (e.g. The Metamorphosis).

Huxley again makes the link between negative psychedelic experience and schizophrenics. He makes a good point about schizophrenics not being able to ‘exit’ the experience, whilst most people on psychedelics do know quite well that in a few hours they will be back to ‘normal’.

He also argues that “If the liver is diseased,” then this may cause the negative psychedelic experience. There seems to be little to no proof of this hypothesis.

Huxley ends the book with the following: “My own guess is that modern spiritualism and ancient tradition are both correct. There is a posthumous state of the kind described in Sir Oliver Lodge’s book Raymond; but there is also a heaven of blissful visionary experience; there is also a hell of the same kind of appalling visionary experience as is suffered here by schizophrenics and some of those who take mescalin; and there is also an experience, beyond time, of union with the divine Ground.”

Key references/mentions

There is much reference to works of art (paintings, poems). Again he mentions the following book:

• The Tibetan Book of the Dead – by/translated Graham Coleman

Referenced by

Heaven and Hell has been used as a reference book in the 1960s counter culture. After that, it has found less fame than The Doors of Perception (review).

About the author

(from the back of the book) “Poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer, travel writer, essayist, critic, philosopher, mystic, and social prophet, Aldous Huxley was one of the most accomplished and influential English literary figures of the mid-twentieth century.”

His best-known work is the dystopian novel Brave New World.

His other work on the psychedelic experience is The Doors of Perception (review).

The Doors of Perception

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley is a very interesting take on the psychedelic experience. It’s written by the author of Brave New World, a very interesting book too.

I’m reading it for my new venture, and it’s a fun read. Not per se necessary to understand psychedelics. Michael Pollan’s How To Change Your Mind might be a better (and longer) intro.

I wrote a longer summary on Blossom Analysis, replicated here:

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The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley is a vivid first-person description of the psychedelic experience. It details a trip on mescaline (peyote, similar to LSD). His superior skill in writing makes the experience come to life. Huxley wonders about many aspects of life, describes his visual experience, and his interactions with a guide and his wife. A good, and short, introduction to the psychedelic experience.

Key Quotes

“Is the mental disorder due to a chemical disorder?” Throughout the book, Huxley asks if – at a level – it’s just a chemical imbalance. This matches our current understanding and hypothesis of what is going on in the brain. Nor he or scientists ignore the broader scope of interpersonal relationships (i.e. he isn’t preaching or arguing for a behaviorist interpretation of the mind).

“I swallowed four-tenths of a gram of mescalin …” This is on the high-end of a normal dose (PsychonautWiki).

“To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves.” This follows a part where he talks about our subjective experience/sensation (qualia) and how it’s difficult to (perfectly) understand others.

At various moments he talks about “Istigkeit” or “Is-ness“. He compares this to Being-Awareness-Bliss, and I think you can also understand it as a form of ego dissolution.

“When I got up and walked about, I could do so quite normally, without misjudging the whereabouts of objects.” The influence of psychedelics seems to be confined mostly to our ‘higher-level’ aspects of our brain, all – if not most – bodily functions and capabilities are not affected. Further on, Huxley remarks “… the body seemed perfectly well able to look after itself.”

“The suggestion is that the function of the brain and nervous system and sense organs is in the main eliminative and not productive. Each person is at each moment capable of remembering all that has ever happened to him and of perceiving everything that is happening everywhere in the universe.” This is a quote by Dr. C.D. Broad and highlights the ‘Mind at Large’ hypothesis. This seems like a top-down model and reminiscent of Plato (and that we have to go ‘back’ to this ideal state), and opposed to other ideas like those of Popper.

But there is logic and science to the “reducing valve”, the REBUS model and our, limited, understand of consciousness does say that there might be more criticality when under the influence of psychedelics.

Huxley also observed the following:

1. The ability to remember and to “think straight” is little if at all reduced
2. Visual impressions are greatly intensified
3. Though the intellect remains unimpaired and though perception is enormously improved, the will suffers a profound change for the worse
   • (later on, he mentions again no will to do anything productive/work) “And yet there were reservations. For if one always saw like this, one would never want to do anything else.”
4. These better things may be experienced “out there,” or “in here,” or in both worlds, the inner and the outer, simultaneously or successively.

“In the final stage of egolessness there is an “obscure knowledge” that All is in all – that All is actually each.”

“… when the cerebral sugar shortage … “ We now understand better how the brain works and that a sugar shortage is not how mescalin works. But that it binds to and activates the serotonin 5-HT_2A receptor with a high affinity.

“What the rest of us see only under the influence of mescalin, the artist is congenitally equipped to see all the time. His perception is not limited to what is biologically or socially useful.” A great way of describing what artists (he mentions some painters and musicians throughout) might be able to perceive over ‘the rest’ of us.

“How could one reconcile this timeless bliss of seeing as one ought to see with the temporal duties of doing what one ought to do and feeling as one ought to feel?” This speaks to the ‘importance’ or euphoria that one experiences on psychedelics. The here and now feels as important is anything in the world. “This participation in the manifest glory of things left no room, so to speak, for the ordinary, the necessary concerns of human existence, above all for concerns involving persons.”

“Mescalin opens the way of Mary, but shuts the door on that of Martha. It gives access to contemplation – but to a contemplation that is incompatible with action and even with the will to action, the very thought of action. In the intervals between his revelations, the mescalin taker is apt to feel that, though in one way everything is supremely as it should be, in another there is something wrong. His problem is essentially the same as that which confronts the quietist, the arhat and, on another level, the landscape painter and the painter of human still lives. Mescalin can never solve that problem; it can only pose it, apocalyptically, for those to whom it had never before presented itself.”

What a wonderful reflection of your mind under the influence of psychedelics.

“The Highest Order prevails even in the disintegration. The totality is present even in the broken pieces.” This again refers to the Higher Mind.

“Most takers of mescaline experience only the heavenly part of schizophrenia.” This refers to a moment of terror he experienced and which brought him more empathy for those who are suffering from mental illness.

Alas the trip has to end somewhere, “… I had returned to that reassuring but profoundly unsatisfactory state known as “being in one’s right mind.” “

Huxley laments that only alcohol and tobacco are available without restriction. He mentions that we use them to escape daily life and its drudgeries. Prohibition is not what will prevent this, “The universal and ever-present urge to self-transcendence is not to be abolished by slamming the currently popular Doors in the Wall. The only reasonable policy is to open other, better doors in the hope of inducting men and women to exchange their old bad habits for new and less harmful ones.”

But, he is not advocating that we all should start using mescalin, “… there is a minority that finds in the drug only hell or purgatory.” The effects of mescaline (8 hours on average) are also much too long for most situations.

In the final parts of the book, Huxley comments on the “foppish” nature of speech, on how it isn’t everything that consciousness is.

Key references/mentions

Although the book is mostly his first-person experience, some other works are mentioned:

• The Tibetan Book of the Dead – by/translated Graham Coleman

Referenced by

The Doors of Perception are mentioned in many works and scientific papers. If particular ones spring to mind, they will be added here.

About the author

(from the back of the book) “Poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer, travel writer, essayist, critic, philosopher, mystic, and social prophet, Aldous Huxley was one of the most accomplished and influential English literary figures of the mid-twentieth century.”

His best-known work is the dystopian novel Brave New World.

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide

The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide by James (Jim) Fadiman gives you an overview of what we know today about using psychedelics for therapy/self-care/self-exploration.

I liked that it gave a good overview and added to my knowledge base around the topic. It was less structured/logical than I expected, but that was ok.

It does feature some very useful links and I think it’s a good stepping-stone to learning more.

– Presents practices for safe and successful psychedelic voyages, including the benefits of having a guide and how to be a guide
– Reviews the value of psychedelics for healing and self-discovery as well as how LSD has facilitated scientific and technical problem-solving
– Reveals how ultra-low doses improve cognitive functioning, emotional balance, and physical stamina

This year 600,000 people in the U.S. alone will try LSD for the first time, joining the 23 million who have already experimented with this substance.

Called “America’s wisest and most respected authority on psychedelics and their use,” James Fadiman has been involved with psychedelic research since the 1960s. In this guide to the immediate and long-term effects of psychedelic use for spiritual (high dose), therapeutic (moderate dose), and problem-solving (low dose) purposes, Fadiman outlines best practices for safe, sacred entheogenic voyages learned through his more than 40 years of experience–from the benefits of having a sensitive guide during a session (and how to be one) to the importance of the setting and pre-session intention.

Fadiman reviews the newest as well as the neglected research into the psychotherapeutic value of visionary drug use for increased personal awareness and a host of serious medical conditions, including his recent study of the reasons for and results of psychedelic use among hundreds of students and professionals. He reveals new uses for LSD and other psychedelics, including extremely low doses for improved cognitive functioning and emotional balance. Cautioning that psychedelics are not for everyone, he dispels the myths and misperceptions about psychedelics circulating in textbooks and clinics as well as on the internet. Exploring the life-changing experiences of Ram Dass, Timothy Leary, Aldous Huxley, and Huston Smith as well as Francis Crick and Steve Jobs, Fadiman shows how psychedelics, used wisely, can lead not only to healing but also to scientific breakthroughs and spiritual epiphanies.

Consciousness Medicine

Written equally for counselors and for clients, Consciousness Medicine provides a therapeutic framework that author Francoise Bourzat developed combining psychotherapy with 35 years of fieldwork among the Mazatec people of Mexico, who have a long tradition of taking psychedelics as medicine. The book guides the reader through preparation, setting intentions and goals, and the different types of experience one may have in an expanded state of consciousness, as well as guidance on how a trained counselor can best support someone through these states. The book then explores the art of integration–the application of the wisdom gained from such experiences into daily life–and how a guide or therapist can support the full integration of a journey after it is over. Enhanced by Francoise’s personal stories along with accounts of clients, the book builds a powerful case for a holistic view of non-ordinary reality and concludes with a heartfelt argument that modern psychotherapy includes expanded states of consciousness in earnest.

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For a new project I’m reading this book. It has some very good pointers and advice. It also provides a rather complete document for guidance. Yet my problem with it is the non-scientific lens it puts on. I don’t think we can quantify/measure/etc everything, but mentions of tarot cards and spirits just get me a little too riled up.

One thing about the last one, we people have been very bad for very long. It’s just your imagination/sub-conscious telling you something, it’s not a (where should they come from) spirit. Ok that was the rant for now.