City of Refuge

Jump to Section

Jump to Section

Twenty years or more ago, I wrote a novel called The Fifth Sacred Thing. In that story, an ecotopian Northern California–Califia–struggles to resist an invasion by the brutal, militarist Stewards of the Southlands using nonviolence and magic.

This month, I’m officially releasing the sequel, City of Refuge. Writing it was a long process—and writing a sequel to a book decades old is probably not a great career move—but the themes and issues in Fifth seem more relevant today than ever, and the world and characters were calling. When Bantam—the original publishers for Fifth and its prequel, Walking to Mercury—declined the sequel, I mounted a Kickstarter campaign that ended up the second-highest funded fiction project ever on Kickstarter!

The Fifth Sacred Thing ends with the Resistance successful, but then what? How can the Califians heal and rebuild while the Southlands remain subjugated? What will prevent the ruthless Stewards of the Southlands from mounting a new assault? Should the Califians go down to the Southlands and liberate them? But how do you liberate people who have no concept of liberation? How do you build a new world when people are so deeply damaged by the old?

I write fiction for many reasons. Perhaps the most important is that I love to read fiction, to immerse myself in a story, in the lives of characters and the world of the author. I especially love visionary fiction, fantasy and sci-fi, when they are well done, because speculative fiction allows us to confront ideas and possibilities and explore them. Writing is like meta-immersion, the chance to sink into a world of one’s own creation for months or years at a time, while avoiding hospitalization and maintaining the comforting illusion that you are doing something socially useful.

But these days, most of the fiction, the movies and TV shows and other popular media that addresses the future paint a fairly dismal picture of our possibilities. For me it is also a writer’s responsibility to hold out some hope, to imagine not just how bad things might get, but how they might get better, or how people might cope with the apocalypse and still bring something beautiful out of it. So below are a few excerpts of the vision of possibilities from City of Refuge.

 

A broken-nosed beauty, that’s what we are, thought Madrone as she picked her way through the tangled maze of torn-up trees and chunks of paving left by the Stewards’ Army in their latest invasion.

Punched in the face, eyes blackened, lips split. But we’re tougher than we look. We simply spit out a couple of teeth, and go on.

All around her lay the evidence of destruction. And all around her, as she wove her way through the tangle of paths and torn-up gardens, teams were at work, clearing away the rubble, digging new beds, pruning damaged trees.

She stumbled on the deep track left by a bulldozer and came out onto a cleared space overlooking the grounds of the healing center. Before the invasion, the old brick building had been surrounded by lush gardens filled with herbs used to staunch wounds or treat illnesses, and flowers to refresh the spirit, for the medicine of the City integrated the ancient knowledge of root-women and cunning men into Western allopathy, along with acupuncture and Ayurveda and the physic of the East.

Now the plants were trampled, the ginkgo grove was a waste-ground, and the myrtles and chaste trees of the Women’s Grove overlooked a ruin of torn-up leaves and shattered stalks.

The Stewards’ Army had taken a special delight in destroying gardens and uprooting sacred groves, as if beauty and abundance offended them.

We chose not to fight with bullets, but to make beauty itself our prime weapon, Madrone thought. Offering it to the invaders, beckoning … Join us, become us, taste our fruits. Until, in the end, the soldiers of the Southlands fell into our embrace, and were undone.

No wonder they went after fruit trees and flower beds! They recognized our true arsenal.

* * *

Madrone walked home in the fading summer light, threading her way through the ruins of the Math Park. There, in happier days, children had swung on pendulums or climbed up a helical ladder into the eye of the Fibonacci spiral slide. An enormous Aeolian harp had made music from the wind. In the center had stood a giant chessboard, with pawns and knights a child could ride that moved forward, sideways, diagonally. On lazy summer nights, in times of peace, teams would compete in chess tournaments while supporters grilled corn and baked potatoes in geometric fire pits.

Now it was all a ruin of smashed parts and torn up broccolis and sunflower seedheads. She perched, for a moment, on the remains of a sculpted earthen bench, then realized that was a mistake. Weariness washed over her, and it would take an effort of will to get up again. She was so tired!

She’d been in and out of the bee mind since before dawn, using the powers she’d gained from the Bee Priestesses of the Southlands. All through a long night shift and an endless day, she’d tasted the sweat of her sick patients and let her body brew up just the homoeopathic drop of honey that could cure. Magic. Or some science so advanced that only her intuition could follow it.

It was a gift, the healing gift that had made their victory possible. For the chemists could analyze her potions and reproduce them, and that was how the Cityfolk had been able to defeat the Stewards’ engineered epidemics. And how they’d weaned deserters away from the immunoboosters that had kept them enslaved to the army, and freed them to take up the place at the table they were offered. It was the magic that had allowed Maya’s vision and Lily’s strategy to work.

And now it was the magic that healed the wounds and the residue of diseases. But the trance took energy and concentration. Energy to slide in, and energy to pull herself back out, to shore up the walls that kept her human self distinct from the bee mind. She was tired now, and the walls were slipping.

A bee hummed, and a river of scent flowed over her: lavender, concrete dust, sunflowers, metal, human sweat. Two teenage girls bore away the severed horse-head from one of the huge pawns. A group of younger children were sweeping up the shards of the blown-glass beads that had been threaded on the poles of the life-size abacus. A boy gathered up the mess of springs and gears to be recycled.

She shook herself, and with an effort of will stood back up. Just take one step, then another, she told herself. Down the path through the replanted gardens—waves of lavender, whiffs of rose. Hungry! Dive in and let velvet flower petals enfold you in fragrance and soft touch. Hear the song of the bees, the song of well-being, that low, harmonic tone that hummed, All is well, all is blossom, all is golden pollen, sweet honey, and the Queen content upon the brood.

“Look out!” A young boy on a skateboard careened within a few inches of her nose. She jumped back. In her reverie, she had wandered onto the skateboard and bike path. A racing bike zoomed by. She shook her head and jumped over a patch of sage back onto the walking path. The cyclist left a trail in his wake, as if a hundred bicycles dopplered in and out of her range of vision. She was going to have to get a grip on herself.

* * *

Writing fiction is a bit like being in an extended trance, or a semi-controlled hallucinatory state, and it gets really interesting when your characters enter into trances or visionary states. In order to write about them, you have to experience them yourself, and in order to experience them—with enough of an internal witness to remember and describe them—you can’t (or at least, I can’t) just ingest something, I have to self-generate the endorphins or the entheogenic hormones or the connection to spirit allies or whatever it is that produces them.

But to work as part of a story, a trance can’t just be tripping. It needs to have some meaning for the character’s development, some way it moves the story forward. So below is an excerpt from the moment when Cress—the angry, bitter commander of one leg of the Army of Liberation—is introduced by the tecchies to the heart of their crystalline computer networks.

* * *

They lay down with their heads in a circle, their bodies radiating out like a five-pointed star, and began breathing in a slow, unified rhythm to bring themselves into trance. Cress synchronized his breathing with theirs, and forced himself to relax.

The lights dimmed and the dome above took on a pearly glow. Beams of light appeared, streaming out in all directions, in pure optic colors—red, yellow, violet. He was inside a sphere of light with shafts extending out like sea urchin spines. Then they began to fold back upon one another in a jumble like a cosmic game of pick-up sticks, a three-dimensional maze, a rat’s nest of rays.

He saw five speeding globes of light that carried him in their wake. They were confident, familiar with this strange world. He forced his body to breathe, to not panic as they towed him along at unimaginable speeds. Light speed…

They were racing along lines of force, tracking their way through a labyrinth of pure colors, trails of reds and blues and purples that were brilliant and clear, the essence of light…at last they halted in the center of a glowing chamber where questing fingers of light played upon the walls like the beams of a searchlight.

… Dimly he could remember one of his teachers warning them about techie-tripping, a fad among the teens when they had first begun to explore the use of intelligent crystal technology. You need training and preparation, Ms.Winslow had warned. Otherwise, it’s easy to get so distracted your body literally forgetsto breathe.

The beams radiated out from a glowing, pulsing sphere. Cress could hear it, like the harmonics of a crystal singing bowl, pulsing in rhythms that began to form music.

They journeyed toward it, and the tone divided into strands of sound, notes weaving around one another and merging into chords. The sphere was singing to him.

Music. The music of the spheres, as the ancients called it.

The song was itself made of light, multiple filaments woven and knotted with incredible complexity. He couldn’t imagine how anyone could ever grasp the intricacies of that tangle, yet the techies began searching rapidly, trying and discarding paths with amazing rapidity…

…And then they were facing a hard-edged, glowing crystal. It beamed out a brilliant white light that broke into rainbows against the prisms of the crystals that surrounded them. Cress and techies were six globes of light in a chamber studded with crystals, like the heart of a geode. Their reflections in the facets of the crystal sent rays bouncing and zinging around them, giving off pure tones like a celestial carillon.

…Suddenly he felt himself on display. The other lights dimmed around him and he could see rays spreading out from his own center, some of beautiful, bright colors, others the clotted dull red of blood or pain. Well, that’s who I am, he thought, a little ashamed. I didn’t choose that pain—it chose me.

He was a chord, a song, the deep tones of his grief giving weight to the blue rippling notes of flowing water.

He had wanted to be a musician once… But music was a luxury, Cress had believed. Water was a necessity.

Was that really it? a little voice whispered. Or were you afraid, afraid to be rejected, afraid of having to display your talent and falling short?

Fuck it! … His anger, his resentment, and yes, he admitted, his jealousy wove around him like dissonant chords, shrill and grating, so different from the sad but beautiful tones of his grief for Valeria and the child, his older grief for his mother and sister. This was like a needle scratch on an old-fashioned record, setting his teeth on edge. He wanted it to stop.

Then why do you keep digging it in deeper and deeper? Why do you worry it over and over, like a sore tooth?

Was that the voice of the crystal, or some voice of his own? Some half-remembered admonition of his mother’s? Was he getting lessons in forgiveness from a fucking machine?

But he could let it go, he realized.

He had turned his life to the service of something far more primal and vital than music, and he …could bring dead land to life.

And with that thought, the screech died away and instead he heard the roar of a river in flood, the liquid notes of an ocean-bound, rushing stream, the quiet chant of still pools sinking into parched land…

A wave of light broke over him. He was washed clean, absolved, forgiven. The airrang with song like an angel chorus rejoicing.

* * *

Ultimately, for me writing is a path of healing. So let me close with one of the passages from the book that speaks of healing and hope….

Bird dreamed of a fortress. Impregnable, formed of cold blocks of gray stone, it towered above him. A bugle blew. The gates opened, and legions of soldiers poured out. Masked and helmeted, armed and shielded, they marched in lockstep, left, right, left, an invincible force.

“But how do we fight this?” Bird asked. “How do we bring it down?”

He wasn’t sure who or what he was asking, but he heard a voice, low and toneless.

The fortress falls when the ground beneath it shifts.

A rumble…the earth shivered and trembled under his feet. He stepped closer to the fortress walls. A shaft of light came down out of the lowering clouds, and played over the surface of the stones. It formed a rippling pattern, like the broken webs of light playing through water. But the light, he realized suddenly, was shining through the stones. The walls that looked so solid were riddled with cracks. They were brittle, and ready to fall.

And now, up through the cracks, vines snaked, and out of the stones herbs and grasses sprouted. The walls began to crumble, but the roots and the twining stems held the structure together as mortar turned to dust. Trees took root in the rubble and arched overhead, their branches heavy with fruit.

Where the fortress had stood now was a leafy hall, open, with room for the multitudes.

Join Starhawk for a reading from City of Refuge at The Alchemist’s Kitchen, 21 East 1st Street near Bowery, NYC, this Sunday, February 21 at 7:00

 
unnamed

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.