The Esoteric Debussy

Jump to Section

Jump to Section

The following is excerpted from Occult Paris: The Lost Magic of the Belle Époque by Tobias Churton, published by Inner Traditions.

 

Tout est nombre. Le nombre es dans tout. L’ivresse est un nombre.”
(“Everything is number. Number is in all. Drunkenness is a number.”)
Baudelaire

Claude Debussy destroyed the great majority of his musical sketches, so finding personally written evidence for the impact of esotericism on his musical thinking is somewhat hampered, especially as he followed the Hermetic dictum to keep silent on such matters, nor did he relish the idea of anyone getting inside his deepest thoughts or techniques. However, he left a solitary written clue, whether an intentional leak or not, we shall probably never know.

In August 1903 Debussy wrote a letter to publisher Jacques Durand along with corrected proofs of his work Estampes. Its title inspired by artists’ concentrated use of potent images in prints and engravings, Estampes was written for solo piano in three movements: Pagodes (Pagodas), La soirée dans Grenade (Evening in Granada), and Jardins sous la pluie (Rainswept Gardens). “You’ll see,” Debussy alerted Durand, “on page 8 of Jardins sous la pluie, that there’s a bar missing—my mistake, besides, as it’s not in the manuscript. However, it’s necessary, as regards number; the divine number [elle est nécessaire, quant au nombre; le divin nombre], as Plato and Mlle. de Pougy would say, each admittedly for different reasons.”

Plato we know; Liane de Pougy (1869–1950) was one of the most famous women in France. Folies Bergères star and beautiful courtesan of Paris’s demimonde, Liane is famous now for her novelized account of her lesbian affair with American Salon hostess and talent magnet, Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972), Idylle Saphique (1901). Remy de Gourmont called the no less beautiful Barney, “the Amazon” for her lesbian hunting skills. Symbolist poet Renée Vivien (1877–1909) split painfully with Barney in 1901 over her lover’s infidelities while Vivien’s neighbor Colette enjoyed a brief affair with Barney after ­leaving Gauthier-Villars in 1906.

Roy Howat’s brilliant analysis of Debussy’s use of esoteric ­proportional techniques (Debussy in Proportion, 1983) recognizes at once that Debussy’s “divin nombre” probably signifies the “nombre d’or” (golden number), the French term for what is commonly called the golden section or golden mean. The joke about Mlle. de Pougy is, he thinks, a pun on the expression for “the divine few,” that is the Parisian élite: “le nombre des élus,” consistent with her ­demi-mondaine, outside-the-norm, status. Liane had the pick of the gold, so to speak, of the rich and the aristocratic men who courted her. I should suggest Debussy might also have been hinting at same-sex harmonies, since the golden section divides a single line into an internal harmony or divine ratio of greater and lesser, analogous perhaps to Liane’s idea of a “Sapphic Idyll.”

Once the missing bar is put in, Jardins sous la pluie does conform to the golden section proportion. Furthermore, since the missing bar referred to by Debussy in his letter to Durand merely repeats the previous one, we can see that the bar’s addition is intended specifically to generate Debussy’s required internal symmetrical consistency. The means to acquire that internal symmetry was, for Debussy, application of Euclid’s Elements, Book 5, Proposition No. 30, that is, how to cut a given finite line in extreme and mean ratio. This is how the Divine Proportion is established, and its discovery, before Euclid first wrote it down (ca. 300 BCE), is attributed to Pythagoras and his mystical school, a school concerned with the occult but no less practical properties of numbers.

How does all this affect a piece of music? Revolutionary as Debussy was in so many ways, he still wrote his music out in conventional bars using conventional notes. In the simplest application of the golden section, you may have a piece of music of, say twenty-one bars. If at the thirteenth bar you climax the first movement, since thirteen is the golden section division of twenty-one, the piece then conforms dynamically to a “divine” proportion. What this means is that while a musical statement may not conform to expected or traditional rhythms, repeats, codas, or melodic development, it possesses a hidden, underlying, unbreakable form, an “occult” form of celestial authority and coherence that prevents mere fancy from breaking the bounds of the internal laws of nature. While it looks like a constraint, it in fact guarantees a special kind of freedom, and most importantly, it is harmonious. This freedom was dear to a man who was to many ears, initially, “breaking all the rules.” Roy Howat is quite right to point out that the combination of the letter to Durand and the analysis of Jardins sous la pluie “leaves no doubt that at least on that occasion, Debussy was consciously constructing with numbers.”

We might also slip in here the fundamental Symbolist “formula” that the artist contemplate the idea, find its symbol, then give it form. It is on account of Debussy’s general, inherent—but not too formulaic—­observation of this principle that we must once and for all drop the use of the word Impressionism when referring to Debussy. It is painfully misleading, and he rightly hated it, as we shall see. Intrigued by how painters applied geometrical proportion, including golden section proportions, to pictorial composition, Debussy applied the occult principle to music as a means of giving form to ideas perceptible to him through nature.

The Magic in Music

Let us look a little closer at what we mean by the golden section and why it had mystical and magical properties for the ancients, such that from the late 1880s, men such as Papus and Edmond Bailly could promote “occult sciences” as the “high sciences” and the keys to bringing spiritual knowledge in to revolutionize a nonmaterialist new science, integrating matter and spirit on a higher plane of consciousness.

The golden section is the point on a given line where the ratio of the shorter part of the length created by the point is in the same proportion, or ratio, to the longer part, as the longer part of the length is to the line as a whole. This is not an arbitrary piece of geometry; nature herself uses the principle in its growth patterns and in their manifestation as organic forms. The rule is inherent to the universe of things; it is an implicit not an imposed idea, and it speaks of transcendent, or if you prefer inherent, intelligence present in cosmic formation. A single line divided into its golden section also exhibits the idea of microcosm—little universe—in relation to macrocosm or greater universe. That is to say, the ratio of the shorter section to the larger section is a kind of microcosm of the ratio of the larger section to the line as a whole. This principle demonstrates the Hermetic dictum: “As above, so below.” The harmony of the greater ensures the harmony of the minor, and the two are proportionately and harmoniously interrelated. Recall how important harmony is to music; it is what color is to painting.

The golden section exhibits other, more specific, special properties.

First, the exact figure for the ratio is always irrational. That means that the figure for the ratio is always a figure whose decimal places continue indefinitely. Where we measure a given line as 1, the golden section is approximately 0.618034, or a little under two-thirds, but the decimal places ratchet on infinitely.

Another special property, which might be used to show the section’s potential to create infinite microcosms, is as follows: say we have divided a line AB at the point of golden section and called that point C. 
If we now seek the golden section of the longer section AC, and create the point D, we shall find the golden section of AC (at D) is proportionately equal to the golden section of AB, but in the other 
direction!

However, we really get to grips with what the ancients found so astonishing about the golden section when we look at its relation to the five so-called Platonic solids, and to the pentagon and magical symbol of the pentagram in particular.

Born at Samos circa 596 BCE, Pythagoras initiated a school that perpetuated and developed his doctrines. From that tradition, Plato knew of five solid geometrical bodies that embodied the principles by which the universe was formed. Constituted of atoms, these solids represented the four elements: earth (the cube), fire (the tetrahedron), air (the octahedron), and water (the icosahedron). An ultimate fifth element, often symbolized in terms of “spirit,” was represented by the dodecahedron. This twelve-sided, three-dimensional figure of regular pentagons completes the creation-palette of the cosmos.

Plutarch (ca. 50–120 CE) recorded the Pythagorean belief that the heavenly sphere was formed from the dodecahedron. Jews, Christians, and pagans could see meaning in the 12-fold symbolism manifesting on Earth: 12 tribes of Israel, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 apostles, the number of the saved: 12 squared (Revelation 7:3–8), and so on. The dodecahedron exhibits a fundamental relationship between the numbers 5 and the heavenly 12, for it is made of pentagons, and the pentagon is constructed from two lines that are in golden section proportion to each another.

This is done as follows: take a given line and adduce its golden section. The longer part of the line we call A, the shorter part B. We now take B and use it as a baseline for a triangle, where the base is B and the other two sides are the length of the longer section A. We then construct a circle around the triangle whose three points touch the circle’s circumference. We see our isosceles triangle precisely in a circle. We now take the baseline B (the shorter part of the original section) around the circle in consecutive order, marking a point where the line ends 
on the circumference. These points joined up, we see a pentagon as well as the triangle within the circle. Once we join the points diagonally across the figure, we see a perfect pentagram within the pentagon, within the circle!

This five-sided figure itself has even more properties of a special kind. It has now ten triangles within it (5 x 2), together with a proportionately reduced inverted reproduction of itself heading into the center ad infinitum, alternating in inversions. Each point on the circle occurs every 72 degrees on the 360 degree circle, as we should expect, but, surprisingly at first, all of the internal degrees are either 36, its double 72, or its triple 108, and each of these numbers reduces to 9, and all are of course made from an odd and an even number: symbolically speaking, the masculine-feminine harmony in dynamic androgynous union!

Imagine the wonder of the first person who realized all of this! It looked like the Grand Geometer’s building formula, revealed by mathematics and geometrical construction. And of course, the Pythagoreans were famous for linking these numerical relationships directly to musical intervals, scales, modes, and proportions.

I have by no means exhausted the mathematical implications of the pentagonal geometry in relation to the golden section, but I hope I have clarified why golden section carried such meaning for Debussy and his esoterically minded friends, and why he had every cause to ­experiment with it. Oh, and if one should object that the task of calculating the golden section for a proportional number of bars, or, as he did, a proportional sequence of notes, as well as sub-golden sections within golden sections would have been extremely onerous, Debussy could easily have employed Fibonacci sequences to simplify the process.

Briefly, a Fibonacci series is created by taking a number and adding the previous number to produce the next number, viz: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and so forth. Take three numbers in Fibonacci sequence and the figure in the middle gives you the longer part of the golden section (to round figures), the figure on the left gives the shorter part of the line, and the figure on the right gives you the length of the whole line, viz: 21, 34, 55.

Roy Howat offered many examples of Debussy’s use of, and partial use of, golden section proportions in his works. Not surprisingly, La Mer gains much of its force from Debussy’s attempt to get really inside the natural dynamics of water to locate its occulted melody, rhythm, and harmonic scope, or as the Greeks would say, its oikonomia, or proportional law. The golden section is much in evidence in La Mer’s mighty scope.

One of the clearest examples of golden section proportion can be found in the two sets of Debussy’s Images (1905, 1907) for piano. In the first piece of the first set, Reflets dans l’eau (Reflections in the Water), the principal climax occurs at bars 56–61, after 58 bars of a total 94. This is only 1 percent out and that is due to a tempo change. There are other instances of golden section proportion in this piece. Howat recognized that it had often been remarked that the opening phrases of the piece followed a wave shape. He is more specific: “the tops of these 2-bar phrases give each a Golden section shape (5 quavers out of 8), anticipating in miniature the piece’s dynamic wave form.” In the third piece of the 1905 Images, Mouvement has its principal climax at bars 109–110, conforming to golden section proportion. In the first piece of the 1907 Images, Cloches à travers les feuilles (Bells through the Leaves), there is only half a bar of fortissimo at its climax, and it is at the point of overall golden section, in the second half of bar 31.

Possibly Debussy’s most famous piece, Clair de Lune (published in 1905, but dated 1890 by the composer) included in the Suite Bergamasque, uses the golden section throughout its duration, in the sequence 36:22:14. The much-loved Clair de Lune was composed then, at the high tide of the explosion of Occult Paris, when Debussy regularly played at Bailly’s l’Art Indépendant bookshop, that period immediately preceded by what Howat describes as “arguably the largest evolutionary leap in Debussy’s career” (1885–88) when we see “expressive chromaticism suddenly taking a dominating role in their forms, replete with tritonal and other chromatic relationships.” Howat marks the leap with Debussy’s Ariettes oubliées (Forgotten Arias), and the work entitled “Spleen” in particular. From that point, Debussy was particularly open to new ideas that expanded liberty of composition, and the ideas were to hand, presented in a charmed intellectual setting.

The composer experimented carefully, until, from about 1894, “virtually all Debussy’s works show proportional organization, although to varying degrees of structural importance.” With some works, the pattern is not obvious to locate. For example, La Cathédrale Engloutie only revealed its golden section proportion when Debussy’s own playing of it was heard on an authentic piano roll, where it was discovered he doubled in tempo some of the bars, demonstrating how he intended the proportions to work, even though this doubling was not present on the published score.

Debussy was struck by natural phenomena such as the pebble in the pool that seem to speak of curious, dormant energies, but it was essentially the spiritual beauty, not the quantity that attracted him. Likewise, golden section proportion is not merely mathematical—though some mathematicians might think so—it has poetry about it; it is suggestive of a deeper, hidden order of subtle intelligence, inherently aesthetic. In other words, we find Debussy full of the Symbolist atmosphere and intellectual fervor of those who gathered, as he did, at Bailly’s bookshop. Michelet isn’t exaggerating when he tells us that Debussy absorbed the Hermetic universe. Since this universe has been unfamiliar to most commentators on the arts until recently perhaps, it is not surprising it has passed unnoticed, and people have been misled into the Impressionist fallacy. Debussy himself said that he professed “une religion de la mystérieuse nature,” a religion of mysterious nature. What is this religion but the Hermetic religio mentis, the religion of the mind whose axiom held that mundus imago dei: “the world is the image of God” (Corpus Hermeticum)?

Influenced by Impressionism, Symbolist poet Jules Laforgue ­(1860–1887) wrote an essay of that name in which Howat is wont to locate the perceptual eye of Debussy in works such as Reflets dans l’eau. According to Laforgue “the basic characteristic of the impressionistic eye” is one of “seeing reality in the living atmosphere of forms, decomposed, refracted, reflected by people and objects in endless variations.” I have to say I find this a bit woolly, its being merely descriptive, not revelatory, wholly confined to the visual plane. Nevertheless, Howat considers this reference to “seeing reality” might have influenced Debussy when he described his orchestral Images as “realities—what imbeciles call impressionism.” I should have thought that Debussy’s tone and specific denigration of Impressionist categories here makes it abundantly clear that the “realities” he was referring to were not primarily visual impressions, however spun out through enchanting plays of light and color, but the living spiritual principles that animated the perceived universe: the source of the enchantment. The beauty is essentially not in or of the object, but in the mind of the perceiver linking to the beauty of the mind of the creator, that is, the reality behind the visible reflection of that reality, not the mere reflection, as in Impressionism, which, when all is said and done, is fundamentally representational and illustrative.

Unfortunately, critics have been easily misled by the poetic titles Debussy placed before and, more significantly, after—as with the Préludes—his music. This has had the misleading effect of making critics think the music is purely descriptive of the content of the title, partly on account of the symbiosis between the dapples of color in Impressionist painting and Debussy’s gentle and dramatic piano effects, the merging of tonalities in echoes being taken as an aural analog of the Impressionists’ blurring of lines. However, it would be well to bear in mind that Debussy shared the specific attitude of Symbolist poets and painters with regard to titles, as exemplified by Debussy’s friend, who was also a musician and an architect (geometry again!), Odilon Redon. One is to look beyond the obvious; ambiguity is always to be preferred to specificity. If meaning is obvious, one has missed the nature of a symbol. As critic Edward Lockspeiser has put it: “A title is justified only by its vague indeterminate nature, suggesting a double meaning.”20—to which I should only add that we should not forget triple or quadruple meanings, for a true symbol implies infinite correspondences. However, the image is there, and there is nothing wrong with listening to “The Engulfed Cathedral” and quite naturally imagining an engulfed cathedral. But what does it mean? What does it portend? What does it evoke? What does it symbolize? The answer to those questions is expressed in the music, in the spirit, not in titles. Meaning is not exhausted by rational statements or descriptions, but limited by them. Such is the nature of mystery.

Since Pico della Mirandola announced in 1486 in his Oratio de dignitatis homini (Oration on the Dignity of Man) that Man the Magus had arrived, the Magus was one who sought in the “hidden recesses of nature” for the transcendent principles that sustained living things that, while accessible to the enlightened man, were closed to the dense. Debussy’s beauty is not superficial but ideal and divine. As Debussy would say to Michelet with regard to the success of his opera Pélleas et Mélisande, his music was “supported, but not digested.” This is still the case, judging by the DJ’s sentimental sighs that invariably accompany Debussy’s better-known melodies when played on 
classical radio.

Other than the books and assembled company of Bailly’s bookshop, where else might Debussy have encountered esoteric influences? Debussy’s education was very inconsistent. Julia d’Almendra interviewed Debussy’s sister Adèle in 1948, and from her she learned that many 
of Debussy’s earliest years were spent with his aunt in Cannes where he received training in the cathedral liturgy. D’Almendra wondered if this Provençal period might well have stirred in him a love for old modes as well as an attraction to Palestrina and his contemporaries.

Aged nine, during the events of the 1871 Paris Commune, Debussy and his father met the eccentric Charles de Sivry (1848–1900), whose mother taught Debussy piano. Through de Sivry, Debussy experienced the artistic avant-garde, for de Sivry was Verlaine’s brother-in-law, having married Verlaine’s half sister Mme. Mauté de Fleurville, who would also teach Debussy music. De Sivry was himself a musician, teaching piano, conducting, and composing songs for cabaret, while maintaining an interest in Kabbalah and the occult sciences. The January 1892 issue of Papus’s L’Initiation includes Charles de Sivry in its list of “principal editors and contributors” for its “Literary Section,” along with 
E. Goudeau, Catulle Mendès, Émile Michelet, and others. In the 1890s de Sivry also ran the shadow theater at le Chat Noir, where the French chanson tradition was born. With this experience, it is not surprising that Debussy entertained disrespect for the academic musical establishment, evinced when he went to the Conservatoire in 1882.

At the end of his student days, Debussy was naturally caught up in the Symbolist movement, enjoying many opportunities to learn about the golden section and kindred occult subjects of harmony and symmetry through his association with painters who were themselves using occult proportional systems to advantage, seeking what Paracelsus called the “divine signatures”: the encoded memory, if you like, in nature of the divine source of creation. These interests would manifest in works such as Paul Sérusier’s ABC de la peinture—see also his oil painting Tetrahedrons (ca. 1910). A large part of the work’s thirty-five pages is dedicated to proportional techniques, with four pages devoted to the golden section. Though not printed until 1921, the work contained ideas entertained by Sérusier, Maurice Denis, and their Nabi friends since their youth. Denis, you may recall, designed the beautiful cover for Debussy’s La damoiselle élue, published by Edmond Bailly’s l’Art Indépendant in July 1893.

* * *

Perhaps the most potentially significant writer on proportion whose works surely did not pass Debussy by was the mathematician Charles Henry, author of Introduction à une ésthetique scientifique (Introduction to a Scientific Aesthetic, 1885). Henry’s interest lay in demonstrating numerical relationships that related to sensations of harmony, whether produced by shapes, colors, or angles in pictures. He attempted to establish a scientific basis for aesthetic pleasures, happy to think in terms of correspondences more familiar to the world of occult philosophy. He could see how a musical line could correspond to a geometrical angle. He believed proper understanding could help artists avoid disharmonious elements in proportion as well as disharmony in music. His ideas justified the Symbolist search for deeper knowledge of the universe and seemed to put occult insights onto the level of an advancing science of the mind and spirit. Henry’s theories on number and proportion were appearing in Parisian Symbolist journals at precisely the time Debussy was composing his Ariettes oubliées (1885–88).

During the 1880s and ’90s, Charles Henry was mentor to the “Hydropathes,” a young men’s drinking club devoted to intoxication with drink, poetry, and ideas; de Sivry was an associate. Avant-garde artists constituted the membership, in whose company Henry bonded with Jules Laforgue, thanks to an introduction from poet Gustave Kahn. Laforgue’s critical works were much influenced by Charles Henry’s scientific approach; Debussy was familiar with them.

Debussy could also encounter Henry’s ideas through reading the review La Vogue, which Henry, also a poet, cofounded, while contributing articles to La Revue Blanche. Neo-Impressionists Georges Seurat and Paul Signac were also interested in applying Henry’s theories. According to William Homer, Neo-Impressionism may be laid in part at Henry’s door. Camille Pissaro dipped in but was afraid of theory becoming formula: a concern shared by Debussy.

Debussy read deeply and remembered what he read, and let it be said, if it is not obvious, that simply writing a piece of music according to golden section proportions isn’t necessarily going to light anyone’s candle! Debussy had the essential spark of genius in himself, and like others so gifted, he sought ways of enhancing his talent and taking it via depths and profundities to the heights through inspiration, originality, knowledge, and experience. Given what we now know of the genuine Occult Paris, it would be extraordinary, if not incredible, had a man like Debussy not taken advantage of the spiritual movement of Hermetism that was, for an epoch, alive and radiant in France’s capital. That he kept it to himself indicates I think not lack of interest, but depth of understanding, loyalty to its precepts, and innate seriousness about his vocation.

***

ocpacl

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.