Edgewalker: An Interview with Jeffrey J. Kripal

Jump to Section

Jump to Section

Jeffrey J. Kripal is an academic edge-walker, one of the most unusual and compelling scholars of religion working in America today. Rather than study mainstream religions from his perch as head of the department of religious studies at Rice University, Kripal focuses on the more informal modern world of the “spiritual but not religious” crowd, an increasingly popular orientation that Kripal calls the “religion of no religion.” As such, his interests include weird stuff like superhero comics, the paranormal, and the tantric undercurrents of Esalen and the human potential movement. Lucky for us, Kripal is also one of those rare scholars whose books are not only clear but engagingly written and even a little goofy at times. Moreover, Kripal is one of the few academics willing to speak and write openly about his own mystical experiences.

Kripal’s first book, 1998’s Kali’s Child, looked at homo-erotic and tantric dynamics in the life and spirituality of Bengal’s wild nineteenth-century saint Ramakrishna. Though Kripal looked at the guru through the secular lenses of psychoanalysis and sociology, he did not try to reduce the spiritual to the materialist but instead saw them as playing off one another — a “tantric” stance that was informed in part by an ecstatic Kali-inspired mystical download he experienced while doing research in Calcutta. Though very well received by scholars, Kali’s Child proved extremely controversial outside of academia, as Hindu fundamentalists sought to have the book banned and Kripal’s career destroyed.

Kripal then followed the flow of the mystery, writing books about the mystical experiences of scholars of mysticism and the gnostic dimension of the study of religion. Kripal then wrote Esalen, the definitive history of the Esalen Institute, where he continues to work closely with Michael Murphy on the evolutionary intersections of consciousness, culture, and the body. Through Esalen, Kripal came into a deeper appreciation of human and paranormal potential, an interest that he explored in last year’s Authors of the Impossible, an important and entertaining study of some under-sung scholars of the paranormal, including UFO researcher Jacques Vallee and the great Charles Fort. For Kripal, the paranormal is simply the form the sacred takes in our secular world. And according to his latest book, Mutants and Mystics, this esoteric story of human potential is directly mirrored in the pop culture lore of superhero comic books — as well as the lives of many of their most important creators.

Erik Davis: A lot of your scholarly work boils down to a basic argument: that many people throughout space and time, including scholars, have extraordinary experiences that possess powerful spiritual, religious, or cosmic implications. For some RS readers, this is kind of a no-brainer. Why is this reminder so radical in today’s academic world?

Jeffrey J. Kripal: Part of the reason is because the academic world no longer believes in experience.  No, really, I’m not kidding.  From the scientific materialism side, we are constantly asked to believe that we are not even truly conscious, that consciousness is an illusion, or a bit of neuronic froth.  From the postmodern side, we are also asked to believe that the subject does not exist, that subjectivity is a Western ethnocentrism, that the author is dead, so to speak.  I am exaggerating here.  But not much.


In terms of integrating the full range of human experience back into scholarly discussion, what positive signs are you seeing?

Colleagues constantly come up to me after lectures, and at very prestigious universities, and say in so many words, “I am so happy you are saying these things.”  It is not that they think, or that I think, that I somehow have the answers.  It is simply that some of us are refusing to shut up about these things.  We are talking about them, writing about them, querying them with the tools of the humanities and the social sciences — with literary theory, cultural anthropology, and the history of religions.  My sense is that in fact most colleagues in the humanities and the social sciences are quite open to such matters personally but are reticent to “come out of the closet,” as they fear the reaction of our peers.  My reply to this is simple: “But that is what tenure is for.”  I do not encourage younger scholars to go here, not at least directly and so flagrantly, for the same reason.

The professional parapsychologist, stage magician, and skeptic George Hansen has inspired me here.  His beautiful book The Trickster and the Paranormal is a long erudite treatment of the paranormal in the light of anthropology, literary theory, and the study of religion.  He convincingly demonstrates that the paranormal is marginalized for a real reason: it is marginal, that is, it is all about the edges and gaps and conceptual abysses of our culture.  It is where the structures of society and rationalism break down and enter a kind of fervent liminal or in-between zone of deconstruction, anti-structure, and, hopefully, creativity.  There is also a real connection here, as with the tricksters of world mythology, to deception, fraud, and trickery.  Perhaps most provocatively, George also demonstrates that to seriously engage the paranormal is to invoke it, to conjure it forth.

That also reminds me of the reticence — or refusal really — with which most people in the humanities and social sciences deal with the experiential and even ontological questions raised by entheogens. I wonder what will happen as the humanities and social sciences lose more institutional power to cognitive science and neuroscience, which certainly seems to be happening. From the perspective of the brain, drugs are very interesting. Might there be a way in which the rise of cognitive science and the turn towards the brain might also be a return towards the “wild facts” of consciousness? 

I am not really sure what you are asking or saying here, Erik. If you are asking me whether I think cognitive science can get us to a deep understanding of the phenomenology of mystical experience, my answer is, “No, I don’t think so.”  If you are asking me whether cognitive science can help us toward this task, say, through, bilateral models of the brain, my answer is, “Yes, I think so.”  If you are asking me whether I think scientific studies of psychoactive chemicals could help us toward this same end, my answer is, “I definitely think so, but as much through the reports as through the chemistry.”


Why do you think cognitive neuroscience is so limited? Many cognitive scientists, and even some Buddhist ones like Francesco Varella, have combined a description of biological systems underlying consciousness with a non-reductive account of experience. I think, for example, of the sense of spaciousness and the loss of boundaries that many serious meditators report. There is some evidence that this profound state is correlated with the brain’s relaxation of its proprioceptive system, which orients our bodies in space and provides constant feedback on physical position. Or do those seem like non-explanations to you?

I do not want to dismiss all of this important work.  I am simply pointing out that these are not real explanations, as we still lack any sense of a causal chain or mechanism between a material process and the state of awareness.  I understand we can show all sorts of correlations, but correlations are not causes.  I simply want us to be more humble here, that’s all.  I read neuroscientists too, and it always seems to me that the very best ones are also the first to admit what we don’t know and where materialist and mechanistic models cannot take us.  That seems exactly right to me.  It is that kind of intellectual honestly and courage that I admire.

A lot of scholars in the humanities seem very concerned about the encroaching tide of science and technology. Beyond drawing attention to important but marginalized topics like mysticism and the paranormal, what role do you see the humanistic study of religion playing during our crazy moment of chaotic global transition?

I’m writing a textbook now on how to compare religions.  I open by claiming that the comparative study of religion is the most exciting, important, radical, dangerous, and promising thing currently going on in the university, and that most of the world’s problems boil down to a failure of individuals, communities, and cultures to compare — that is, to balance human difference and sameness — in sufficiently nuanced, just, and beautiful ways.  I mean that.  I am not exaggerating in the least.

In terms of religions, what does comparison help us do? What might I understand by studying medieval Kabbalah and Amazonian shamanism together that I might not learn from just studying one of them?

Ideally, you might learn something about human nature — about you, about me — that is not a product of local culture or language.  Max Muller, one of the founders of the comparative study of religion, took a page from the study of languages and wrote that, “He who knows one knows none.”  That is to say, one cannot really understand how language works until one can set side by side many languages and figure out the deeper grammar.  The same is true of religion and the religions.  One cannot recognize, for example, that one is living in a “mythology” and re-enacting these cultural narratives within “rituals” until one has studied numerous mythologies and ritual systems and tracked how they play off of one another.  In short, there is a deeper grammar here as well.


For you, what is the substance of that deeper grammar? Is it the body? Language? Consciousness?

All three.  You’re good.


Your recent book, Mutants and Mystics, uncovers the paranormal and occult dimension of modern comic books. What happens to the sacred in the era of modern publishing and the collapse of traditional religious narrative?

It migrates into popular culture.  The paranormal is rejected by the elite scientific establishment and by the traditional religious institutions, so it goes where it can go — right into film, science fiction, and comic books, where it can be beautifully displayed and explored.


Sure, the paranormal is good subject matter for fictions, which is how most people who produce and consume popular culture think of it. In what way does the paranormal trace in popular culture point to something more than a good yarn?

The paranormal is such a popular subject because it is real, that is, because people actually have these sorts of experiences all the time.  It is not simply a good yarn, as you say. This is not to say that paranormal events are entirely objective or simply measurable.  They are not.  They in fact work a lot like stories.  The fact is usually woven right into the fiction, and vice versa.  It’s a both-and, not an either-or.  A paranormal event is a real yarn.


So you are saying that one reason that paranormal phenomena do not generally lend themselves to laboratory capture is that they often look and act like a fiction or story. We can understand our lives in a scientific way — as movements of our physical bodies through space — but there also seems to be an irreducible dimension of meaningful story-telling to our lives, and the paranormal seems to flit between those two layers. What is one of your favorite examples for how the paranormal manifests as this sort of slippery story?

Just look at powerful synchronicities as they are reported by people.  They often work through story-lines, metaphors, or even puns, that is, through the lowest form of humor.  I start out Mutants and Mystics with just such a little myth-in-the-making — my finding of a little piece of costume jewelry in the shape of an “X” beneath my mini-van door in the hot theater parking lot just after watching an X-Men movie and being overwhelmed with the resonances I saw on the screen between the West Coast mysticisms I had been working on (Esalen and the human potential movement) and the East Coast mythologies (the X-Men).  That cheap piece of jewelry literally catalyzed the book project around these resonances.  X marked the spot, as well as the next five years of work to the extent that I chose to enter that little myth and engage it, participate it, write it out, as it were.  The paranormal is nothing if not engaged, interpreted, retold.  It is not a rock or a chair.  It is a living story in which we are caught.

If the paranormal has the character of a story, what does that tell you about the state of parapsychological research today? Is it barking up the wrong tree? How do these guys respond to your work?

I know a number of neuroscientists and psychologists working in this area.  I think they are doing really important work, and I always enjoy reading them.  There is good scientific evidence for psychical phenomena, and it is far more extensive, nuanced, thoughtful, and sophisticated than most realize.  But I also think that the most robust psychical phenomena will always be of the real-world, spontaneous type, as that is what I think these appearances are for or what they are about — they appear to create meaning, to tell stories, to help people write themselves.  If we go looking for something like psi in random card experiments or die rolling, then, we may or may not get statistically significant results, but we will seldom get the really big “hits.”  This is why I think the genres of literature and religion are so productive here, even as I recognize that these are not “methods” in the same sense, at all, and that these sorts of narrative approaches to the paranormal will never produce what the parapsychologists and scientists want, that is, replication and proof.

A lot of people interested in mysticism and religious experience today are still influenced by the ideas of perennialism: the idea that if you strip religious or mystical experience down to its raw components, people are experiencing the same thing. Its a noble idea in many ways, and popular among people like Aldous Huxley and even some scientists studying the “the god part of the brain.” But others say that the closer you look at people’s experiences, in different traditions and even within traditions, you actually find more and more diversity. There is no absolute experience of God. What do you think this emerging model does to our sense of mysticism and its importance in getting to the heart of religion?

Again, I think it’s a matter of balancing sameness and difference.  Most forms of perennialism went too far to the sameness pole, but the kinds of pure constructivism that took their place (all human experience is constructed by culture, language, local context, and so on) went too far, in my opinion, to the difference pole.  I think we need to swing the pendulum back to the middle now and emphasize, at the same time, the local shapings, framings, and formings AND what still looks very much like shared or common forms of Mind, always experienced through and mediated by culture, language, neurology, biology, and so on.  Again, it’s a both-and, not an either-or.  Why is this so hard for people?  Why can’t we be more nuanced, more comfortable with paradox?


That seems like a sensible position — and a good comparativist one, since comparing different religious traditions and experiences means engaging sameness as well as difference. From your perspective, what types of visionary states or mystical insights say the most about our common human heritage?

I think the evidence is extremely strong that, as I write in the book, “the Human is Two.”  That is to say, we are not simply social egos. We are more than we think we are. There are levels and dimensions of mind that far, far overflow anything we have imagined, and probably can imagine.  We are not tiny.  We are immense.


Or perhaps you could say we are superheroes. The notion that we contain powerful spiritual forces within us, and that we can tap these forces, is very important to the human potential movement that is represented in Mutants and Mystics, but also in your book on Esalen. How would you characterize the importance of Esalen to your work and your own self-understanding?

There is no more important influence on my work the last decade and a half than Michael Murphy and Esalen.  Mike, who co-founded Esalen, is my closest colleague and mentor. I tried to honor this fact in Mutants and Mystics both in the Introduction, where I discuss the inspiration for the book, and in the chapter on Mutation, which is really all about Esalen and Mike.  This notion that paranormal powers are the buds of our evolving supernature, that the X-Men are real, that this is the base Super-Story of science fiction and superhero comics — all this is Mike.  He is my Prof. X.


Esalen and the human potential movement had a tremendous influence on American psychology and spirituality in the 1970s, but then the inevitable backlash began. How do you see the influence of Esalen operating today? Are we in the midst of a come-back? Or did it never go away?

I think the influence of Esalen operates today indirectly, in the background, down deep, in a vast network of people and ideas that is largely invisible — an invisible college. Its public presence was most pronounced in the 1960s and early 70s, of course, but its half-century work by no means can be isolated there.  With each new decade came, in effect, a new Esalen and a different kind of work.  Much that the institute stood for in the early 1960s (like meditation, yoga, body work, and the confluence of science and religion) are all mainstream interests today, so if it has “disappeared” in some sense, it has disappeared into its own successes.  I still think there is a real need to nourish intellectuals, practitioners, and artists working on the edges of the culture, though, so I think there will always be a place, and hopefully many places, like Esalen.

And how has your experience of Esalen changed your own life?

Well, there is Esalen, and there is Mike.  Esalen has helped me see that the comparative study of religion is the “flip side” of the spiritual-but-not-religious demographic, that we are all doing the same thing, as it were, striving toward the same kinds of authenticity, trying to answer the same sort of questions, refusing the same easy answers and dogmatisms.  Mike has helped me to think big, to write for the world instead of a few dozen scholars (half of whom hate me), and, most of all, to write toward the future and not toward the past.  He has also turned my mystical thought in evolutionary directions.  And that has changed everything.

Image by kevin3141, courtesy of Creative Commons license. 

Psychedelic Resources

A Foraging Trip: Where Do Magic Mushrooms Grow?
Eager to learn more about the origin of psilocybin species? Read this article to find out where magic mushrooms grow and more!

How to Make Shroom Tea: Best Recipe and Dosage
A step by step guide on how to brew shroom tea, and why entheogenic psilocybin tea is a preferred method for psychedelic connoisseurs.

R. Gordon Wasson: Author and Mushroom Expert
Learn about R. Gordon Wasson, the “legendary mushroom expert” and popular figure within the psychonaut community.

Shrooms vs Acid: Differences and Similarities Explained
Ever wondered what the differences are between shrooms vs acid, or if you can take both together? This guide explains what you need to know.

Quantum Mechanics, Reality, and Magic Mushrooms
Scientist and author Dr. Chris Becker takes an in-depth approach in understanding how we perceive reality through magic mushrooms and quantum mechanics.

Psilocybin Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Psilocybin has everything you want to know about this psychedelic fungi from its uses to its legal status.

The Psilocybin Experience: What’s the Deal With Magic Mushrooms?
From microdoses to macrodoses, the psilocybin experience has been sought after both medicinally and recreationally for millennia.

Psilocybin and Magic Mushroom Resources
Curious to learn more about psilocybin? This guide is a comprehensive psilocybin resource containing books, therapeutic studies, and more.

Paul Stamets Profile: Mushroom Guru, Filmmaker, Nutritionist, Scientist
Learn about Paul Stamets, read his thoughts on psilocybin mircodosing, the future of psilocybin, and his recent film “Fantastic Fungi”.

Microdosing Psilocybin & Common Dosage Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivably, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing psilocybin.

Psilocybin Nasal Spray: Relief for Anxiety, PTSD, and Depression
Microdosing nasal spray with psilocybin, is that possible?! Oregan a start-up Silo Wellness believes so and has created this new option for PTSD treatment.

Mazatec Mushroom Usage: Notes on Approach, Setting and Species for Curious Psilonauts
A look at traditional Mazatec psilocybin mushroom usage, and a comparison to the cliniical therapeutic approach, with an examination of the Mazatec setting and species used in veladas.

María Sabina: The Mazatec Magic Mushroom Woman
Magic mushrooms are incredibly popular today. How they became introduced to into American culture isn’t usually a topic discussed while tripping on psilocybin fungi. We all may have María Sabina to thank for exposing the Western world to the healing properties of the psilocybin mushroom.

Guide to Magic Mushroom Strains
Are there different types of psilocybin? Read our guide to learn about the different magic mushroom strains and their individual effects.

Kilindi Iyi: Mycologist, Traveler, Teacher
Learn about traveler and mycologist Kilindi Iyi known in the psychedelic community for his research and exploration of psilocybin.

How to Store Shrooms: Best Practices
How do you store shrooms for optimal shelf life? Learn how and why the proper storage method is so important.

Shroom Chocolate Recipes: How to Make Magic Mushroom Chocolates
This recipe provides step by step directions on how you can make mushroom chocolates with the necessary ingredients. Read to learn more!

Why Do People Use Psilocybin? New Johns Hopkins Study
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicines has just published a new study on psychoactive effects of psilocybin. Read here to learn more.

How-To Lemon Tek: Ultimate Guide and Recipe
This master guide will teach you how to lemon tek, preventing the onset of negative effects after consuming psilocybin. Read to learn more!

How to Intensify a Mushroom Trip
Learn about techniques like Lemon tekking, or discover the right time to consume cannabis if you are looking to intensify a mushroom trip.

How to Grow Magic Mushrooms: Step-by-Step
This step-by-step guide will show you how to grow magic mushrooms at home. Read this guide before trying it on your own.

How to Dry Magic Mushrooms: Best Practices
Read to learn more about specifics for the best practices on how to dry magic mushrooms after harvesting season.

How to Buy Psilocybin Spores
Interested in psilocybin mushrooms? We’ll walk you through all you need to know to obtain mushroom spores. Nosh on this delish How To guide.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

Having Sex on Shrooms: Good or Bad Idea?
Is having sex on shrooms a good idea or an accident waiting to happen? Find out in our guide to sex on magic mushrooms.

Gold Cap Shrooms Guide: Spores, Effects, Identification
Read this guide to learn more about the different characteristics of gold cap mushrooms, and how they differ from other psilocybin species.

Guide to Cooking with Magic Mushrooms
From cookies to smoothies and sandwiches, we cover various methods of cooking with magic mushrooms for the ultimate snack.

2020 Election: The Decriminalize Psilocybin Movement
Are you curious if mushrooms will follow in marijuana’s footsteps? Read to learn about how the U.S. is moving to decriminalize psilocybin.

Oregon’s Initiative to Legalize Mushrooms | Initiative Petition 34
Oregon continues to push ahead with their initiative to legalize Psilocybin in 2020. The measure received its official title and now needs signatures.

Canada Approves Psilocybin Treatment for Terminally-Ill Cancer Patients
Canada’s Minister of Health, Patty Hajdu approved the use of psilocybin to help ease anxiety and depression of four terminal cancer patients.

Mapping the DMT Experience
With only firsthand experiences to share, how can we fully map the DMT experience? Let’s explore what we know about this powerful psychedelic.

Guide to Machine Elves and Other DMT Entities
This guide discusses machine elves, clockwork elves, and other common DMT entities that people experience during a DMT trip.

Is the DMT Experience a Hallucination? 
What if the DMT realm was the real world, and our everyday lives were merely a game we had chosen to play?

How to Store DMT
Not sure how to store DMT? Read this piece to learn the best practices and elements of advice to keep your stuff fresh.

What Does 5-MeO-DMT Show Us About Consciousness?
How does our brain differentiate between what’s real and what’s not? Read to learn what can 5-MeO-DMT show us about consciousness.

How to Smoke DMT: Processes Explained
There are many ways to smoke DMT and we’ve outlined some of the best processes to consider before embarking on your journey.

How to Ground After DMT
Knowing what to expect from a DMT comedown can help you integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible from your journey.

How To Get DMT
What kind of plants contain DMT? Are there other ways to access this psychedelic? Read on to learn more about how to get DMT.

How DMT is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make DMT? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how DMT is made.

Having Sex on DMT: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered about sex on DMT? Learn how the God Molecule can influence your intimate experiences.

Does the Human Brain Make DMT? 
With scientific evidence showing us DMT in the brain, what can we conclude it is there for? Read on to learn more.

How to Use DMT Vape Pens
Read to learn all about DMT vape pens including: what to know when vaping, what to expect when purchasing a DMT cartridge, and vaping safely.

DMT Resources
This article is a comprehensive DMT resource providing extensive information from studies, books, documentaries, and more. Check it out!

Differentiating DMT and Near-Death Experiences
Some say there are similarities between a DMT trip and death. Read our guide on differentiating DMT and near-death experiences to find out.

DMT Research from 1956 to the Edge of Time
From a representative sample of a suitably psychedelic crowd, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who couldn’t tell you all about Albert Hofmann’s enchanted bicycle ride after swallowing what turned out to be a massive dose of LSD. Far fewer, however, could tell you much about the world’s first DMT trip.

The Ultimate Guide to DMT Pricing
Check out our ultimate guide on DMT pricing to learn what to expect when purchasing DMT for your first time.

DMT Milking | Reality Sandwich
Indigenous cultures have used 5-MeO-DMT for centuries. With the surge in demand for psychedelic toad milk, is DMT Milking harming the frogs?

Why Does DMT Pervade Nature?
With the presence of DMT in nature everywhere – including human brains – why does it continue to baffle science?

DMT Substance Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to DMT has everything you want to know about this powerful psychedelic referred to as “the spirit molecule”.

DMT for Depression: Paving the Way for New Medicine
We’ve been waiting for an effective depression treatment. Studies show DMT for depression works even for treatment resistant patients.

Beating Addiction with DMT
Psychedelics have been studied for their help overcoming addiction. Read how DMT is helping addicts beat their substance abuse issues.

DMT Extraction: Behind the Scientific Process
Take a look at DMT extraction and the scientific process involved. Learn all you need to know including procedures and safety.

Microdosing DMT & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing DMT.

DMT Art: A Look Behind Visionary Creations
An entire genre of artwork is inspired by psychedelic trips with DMT. Read to learn about the entities and visions behind DMT art.

Changa vs. DMT: What You Need to Know
While similar (changa contains DMT), each drug has its own unique effect and feeling. Let’s compare and contrast changa vs DMT.

5-MeO-DMT Guide: Effects, Benefits, Safety, and Legality
5-Meo-DMT comes from the Sonora Desert toad. Here is everything you want to know about 5-Meo-DMT and how it compares to 4-AcO-DMT.

4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
This guide tells you everything about 4 AcO DMT & 5 MeO DMT, that belong to the tryptamine class, and are similar but slightly different to DMT.

How Much Does LSD Cost? When shopping around for that magical psychedelic substance, there can be many uncertainties when new to buying LSD. You may be wondering how much does LSD cost? In this article, we will discuss what to expect when purchasing LSD on the black market, what forms LSD is sold in, and the standard breakdown of buying LSD in quantity.   Navy Use of LSD on the Dark Web The dark web is increasingly popular for purchasing illegal substances. The US Navy has now noticed this trend with their staff. Read to learn more.   Having Sex on LSD: What You Need to Know Can you have sex on LSD? Read our guide to learn everything about sex on acid, from lowered inhibitions to LSD users quotes on sex while tripping.   A Drug That Switches off an LSD Trip A pharmaceutical company is developing an “off-switch” drug for an LSD trip, in the case that a bad trip can happen. Some would say there is no such thing.   Queen of Hearts: An Interview with Liz Elliot on Tim Leary and LSD The history of psychedelia, particularly the British experience, has been almost totally written by men. Of the women involved, especially those who were in the thick of it, little has been written either by or about them. A notable exception is Liz Elliot.   LSD Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety LSD, Lysergic acid diethylamide, or just acid is one of the most important psychedelics ever discovered. What did history teach us?   Microdosing LSD & Common Dosage Explained Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing LSD.   LSD Resources Curious to learn more about LSD? This guide includes comprehensive LSD resources containing books, studies and more.   LSD as a Spiritual Aid There is common consent that the evolution of mankind is paralleled by the increase and expansion of consciousness. From the described process of how consciousness originates and develops, it becomes evident that its growth depends on its faculty of perception. Therefore every means of improving this faculty should be used.   Legendary LSD Blotter Art: A Hidden Craftsmanship Have you ever heard of LSD blotter art? Explore the trippy world of LSD art and some of the top artists of LSD blotter art.   LSD and Exercise: Does it Work? LSD and exercise? Learn why high-performing athletes are taking hits of LSD to improve their overall potential.   Jan Bastiaans Treated Holocaust Survivors with LSD Dutch psychiatrist, Jan Bastiaans administered LSD-assisted therapy to survivors of the Holocaust. A true war hero and pioneer of psychedelic-therapy.   LSD and Spiritual Awakening I give thanks for LSD, which provided the opening that led me to India in 1971 and brought me to Neem Karoli Baba, known as Maharajji. Maharajji is described by the Indians as a “knower of hearts.”   How LSD is Made: Everything You Need to Know Ever wonder how to make LSD? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how LSD is made.   How to Store LSD: Best Practices Learn the best way to store LSD, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long LSD lasts when stored.   Bicycle Day: The Discovery of LSD Every year on April 19th, psychonauts join forces to celebrate Bicycle Day. Learn about the famous day when Albert Hoffman first discovered the effects of LSD.   Cary Grant: A Hollywood Legend On LSD Cary Grant was a famous actor during the 1930’s-60’s But did you know Grant experimented with LSD? Read our guide to learn more.   Albert Hofmann: LSD — My Problem Child Learn about Albert Hofmann and his discovery of LSD, along with the story of Bicycle Day and why it marks a historic milestone.   Babies are High: What Does LSD Do To Your Brain What do LSD and babies have in common? Researchers at the Imperial College in London discover that an adult’s brain on LSD looks like a baby’s brain.   1P LSD: Effects, Benefits, Safety Explained 1P LSD is an analogue of LSD and homologue of ALD-25. Here is everything you want to know about 1P LSD and how it compares to LSD.   Francis Crick, DNA & LSD Type ‘Francis Crick LSD’ into Google, and the result will be 30,000 links. Many sites claim that Crick (one of the two men responsible for discovering the structure of DNA), was either under the influence of LSD at the time of his revelation or used the drug to help with his thought processes during his research. Is this true?   What Happens If You Overdose on LSD? A recent article presented three individuals who overdosed on LSD. Though the experience was unpleasant, the outcomes were remarkably positive.

The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

Related Posts

Ready to explore the frontiers of consciousness?

Sign up for the Reality Bites newsletter and embark on a journey into the world of psychedelics, mindfulness, and transformation. It’s where the curious minds gather.

Become a conscious agent with us.

Featured Partner

Cosmic Melts

Cosmic Melts are the latest mushroom gummies we’ve been munching on. Choose from five fruity flavors, each gummy containing 350mg of Amanita muscaria.
 
Amanita muscaria offers a unique (and totally legal!) mushroom experience, and Cosmic Melts is an ideal entry point for the curious consumer.
Featured Partner

Lab Link Supply

Our go-to source for spores so you can grow your own shrooms right at home. Carrying several of our favorite species including B+, Golden Teacher, Jedi Mind F*ck, Blue Meanie and more. Browse their selection of spores and get started with your home grow.

Our Partners

Welcome to Reality Sandwich. Please verify that you are over 18 years of age below.

Reality Sandwich uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By entering Reality Sandwich, you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.