Purging the Pain

Purging the Pain: Hurting As Healing

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As neuroscientists and pharmaceutical companies further scrutinize the expansive scope for healing and the therapeutic value of earth-based psychedelic compounds such as ayahuasca and psilocybin, it comes as no surprise that the pursuit of bio-hacking to tailor them better to our needs is also high on the agenda. With the medicalization of magic mushrooms approaching fast and the psilocybin decriminalization incentive gaining momentum, science is also speedily researching methods of synthesizing the most ‘efficient’ and effective laboratory-produced equivalent of these earth-based medicines. Psychedelic experts believe purging the pain is the most powerful way to heal.

The bid to minimize the “body-load”, a blanket term for explaining the discomfort and uneasiness felt in the body induced by some of these earth-based substances is a priority as these medicines are geared up to be sold on a mass scale. Although it can be said that there is validity in creating a model suited to providing mass access to these medicines, should we also question the risk of spiritually bypassing the healing offered by these earth-grown compounds, by seeking a faster, softer, pain-free experience?

So, let’s explore a little about the physical demands of the mind-body healing process of sacred earth medicines.

Synthesizing and Medicalization

Magic mushrooms are currently being fast-tracked towards medicalization. Psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in these sacred mushrooms, is being extracted and isolated in a reductionist process that is suited to scaling for industrialized countries in the west.

Should we consider the implications of taking a synthetic version of an earth-based organic dose of mushrooms over a lab-made pill? Of course, there is a lot of talk of in psychedelic circles of the synthetic options having less depth and body and instead more mind, but what are the implications of the ‘body-load’ being reduced or illuminated altogether?

A Traditional Perspective

“The path to heaven often comes through the belly of a personal hell”

Ben Stewart

The traditional shamanic and indigenous beliefs associated with many of these sacred earth medicines tie the purgative factors to the spiritual element of how these drugs help us to heal neurologically and psychologically.

They also contain what practitioners and shamans call ‘Earth Wisdom’, a quality every organism that is based and grown and nourished by the earth carries in their molecular structure. Medicines such as psilocybin, ayahuasca, ibogaine, peyote, and San Pedro all carry earth knowledge, due to the fact they have been grown naturally in the earth’s soil for millennia.

Many traditional practitioners, facilitators, and shamans hold the firm belief that the releasing and purging that happens during a sacred medicine ceremony be it by crying, screaming, vomiting, sweating, or shaking acts as the medium for emotional release. It is central to the healing process of our repressed subconscious and the psychological traumas whilst under the medicine. The purging process of many of these sacred plant medicines is regarded as the core of the cleansing and purification of the mind-body, which leads to healing through the act of this cathartic release.

Minimizing the Process

The uptake of recent trends like ‘lemon tekking’, is reflective of our Western model of seeking ‘quick fixes’. Lemon Tekking is one of the widely publicized hacks for helping reduce the feelings of nausea that often lead to purgative effects after taking higher doses of psilocybin mushrooms. It is a process that though organic in nature dramatically minimizes nausea, but also speeds up and intensifies the trip.  The process reduces the trip duration by up to half the number of hours.

It’s evident that there is a growing desire to tease apart and speed up the psilocybin experience in a quest to remove ‘negative or painful’ aspects such as nausea/vomiting, anxiety, and the journey duration in favor of a softer pain-free experience that is more compact without the need for several hours of time sacrificed for a ‘traditional’ ceremony.

No Pain, No Gain

It’s our natural human condition to steer our bodies away from physical harm. We are biologically geared to reject pain and suffering so it’s no surprise that many westerners would be more drawn to an invitation to skip that part of the process altogether, why would we want to put ourselves through hours of vomiting if we had an option not to?

Working with the discomfort of the trauma and the unknown aspects of the psyche that result in the mental health and chronic illnesses rising to epidemic levels in the Western world is not the prescribed modern approach to healing. Most medicines produced by pharmaceutical companies and provided by doctors today do the exact opposite. They dull the pain and mask the symptoms, and require no real work or effort throughout the process of taking them. We receive a prescription, and health practitioners encourage us to get on with life.

Although known to be incredibly arduous on the body, medicines like ayahuasca and Kambô on the other hand provide us with evidence of the firm relationship between physical cathartic release and the process of emotional, psychological, and physiological healing.

These master purgers of psychedelic medicine are notably held in high regard for their purification and cleansing attributes which often are seen as a side effect of the medicine by western researchers and scientists and not always attributed to the actual physical act of purging itself. 

Master Purge Medicine

Kambô, known in the West as a ‘cleansing’ medicine, is named after the poisonous secretions of the giant monkey frog, the ‘phyllomedusa bicolour’. Individuals use this medicine in a healing ritual originating in South America, primarily in the Brazilian Amazon. The secretions are essentially an organic defense mechanism by the frog to kill or subdue any attacking prey. Indigenous people have been using these secretion – or DMT milking – methods for centuries to heal and cleanse the body by strengthening its natural defenses. It also wards off bad luck, while increasing stamina and hunting skills.  These days shamans and naturopathic practitioners use it for detoxifying the body and treating numerous health conditions.

With a long list of side effects, Kambô affects the body in minutes as the peptides in the secretion trigger an intense immune response. Some of the symptoms of the medicine experience include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, swelling of the face, pain and a rapid heart rate, loss of bladder control, and dizziness.

Not exactly the most enthralling of invitations is it? While this list of physical reactions is likely to sound extreme to many people there are many noted psychological responses as well. It is the historical-cultural beliefs and values of Kambo that do the medicine justice, enabling it to gain popularity quite quickly in the Western alternative medicine scene. Scholars and practitioners report the use is to purge “bad principles” from the body. The “purge” is often a physical bout of vomiting which reinvigorates the participant and enables them to expel ‘emotional toxins’ from their body. Consumers in the west have interest in frog medicine for these believed healing and cleansing properties.

Strangely, although experts have been studying Kambô for years, none of the existing research supports the health benefits Kambô experts praise for.

Natalie, a holistic trauma-informed medicine practitioner based in London, hosts Kambô medicine ceremonies. She is of the opinion that the resistance we have culturally to purging is due to the negative associations such as excessive alcohol consumption and physical illnesses.

“Purging is the conscious release of physical, mental, spiritual and emotional imbalances…when we purge with intention we feel freer, lighter and more aligned. Really it’s just our body releasing naturally, so when we release consciously and with intention it becomes a purge. We carry so much within us that’s in our spiritual, emotional, physical bodies and our mental self, we carry so much past negative energy and trauma, purging is a great way to energetically release these impurities and the more we release the lighter we feel.”

Natalie, holistic practitioner

Kambô advocates often speak of the feeling-good factor as being the primary reasons for them returning to the medicine. Many feel energetically cleansed post-ceremony and feel as though they have experienced an emotional detox of negative feelings, bad habits, and aliments through the physical purging of the body. It is the reiteration of this belief that has many Westerners attending Kambô ceremonies.

Entheogenic Exorcism

Purging as a ritual for cleansing and purification has been practiced in many indigenous religious cultures for centuries. The Taino people, an indigenous people of the Caribbean, are polytheists who practice inducing vomiting using a swallowing stick as part of a preparation ritual for their religious and agricultural celebrations. This culture of people induced vomiting to purge the body of impurities, both a literal physical purging and a symbolic spiritual purging.

Maria Sabina, the Mazatec sadia, or curandera (shaman), was a well accomplished, respected, and acclaimed healer. She was famed for her veladas, a healing ceremony based on the use of sacred psilocybin mushrooms. Many locals in her hometown of Oaxaca, Mexico seek out her ceremonies. Sabina spoke of the need for purging in her healing work with sacred mushrooms. In fact, Sabina had placed importance on the fact it was specifically in the act of purging her patients can expel their illnesses.

“The sickness comes out if the sick vomit. They vomit the sickness. They vomit because the mushrooms want them to. If the sick don’t vomit, I vomit. I vomit for them and in that way the malady is expelled.”

Maria Sabina

The Science Behind Nausea From Psilocybin Mushrooms

Nausea after consuming psilocybin mushrooms is not uncommon. One of the reasons for this is the tough cell walls of the fungi themselves, which are mainly compose of the chitin molecule. Believe it or not but this molecule also makes up the exoskeleton of some insects and crustaceans. That fact in itself is probably nauseating to some, so it’s no surprise that the body might find this molecule quite tough to break down. The triggering of immune responses during the difficult digestion process is what brings about the feelings of nausea some people experience from psilocybin mushrooms.

The Psychiatrist Observes

The psychiatrist Salvador Roquet – who sometimes collaborated with Maria Sabina but remains largely unknown – inquired into the process by which traumas left the body of Sabina’s patients. Roquet would be present when her patients were under the influence of the mushrooms observing the ‘vomiting, sweating, shaking and screaming’.

Roquet also came to the observation the participants’ bodies had ‘released’ traumas that were once long stored in the psyche. Ultimately, causing the rupture of repression and the release of unconscious material.

Roquet was cautious in assuming that all these traumas lay entirely in the mind. His focus was primarily on the terrified body that lay before him. He was keen to skirt two line. The line between the mind-body duality of the customarily practiced holistic Mexican shamanism and the contemporary psychiatry he practiced. He observed something quite literally: Under the influence of the mushrooms, the boundaries between mind, body, and self are blurred.

The notion of the mind-body connection is a relatively new concept to scientists. Many are now starting to recognize that all facets of our human selves have a connection. The psyche is directly related to the body, and one informs the other. Fields of study like epigenetics are also teaching us how emotions influence our genes and directly influence our body. Undergoing a psychedelic trip ultimately takes you on a journey. A journey of past traumas, purging the pain, the pain of your past, the pain of your existence. Health starts at the core. Without getting down to the root problem of your dispirited life, your health will not progress.

Hurting to Heal

Psychedelic expert and writer James W. Jesso, who has publicized his self-initiated purges under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms in his book The True Light of Darkness, concedes that in entheogenic culture the idea of purging is based on the idea that the ‘darkness’ in the person can be exorcised through physical experiences of vomiting, sweating, shaking, crying, and various other forms. He suggests that the active ‘hurting’ in this context is the past pains within the person’s mind or subconscious leaving the surface of one’s experience, the body, as it begins to heal. It is in this context of purging that “the hurting is healing”.

Jesso emphasizes we can enjoy entheogens as a means to experience joy, beauty, and moments of profound bliss. More importantly, however, is the level of healing we can authentically own. Which will likely to be in proportion to the purging we have done psychologically through our every day lives.

Purging the Pain

In his book, Fellowship of the River, Dr. Joe Tafur writes about his explorations with the traditional Amazonian plant medicine ayahuasca. They led him to trace a common origin of epidemics in the US. When observing those with infliction of psychological illnesses – be it depression, PTSD, anxiety, addiction, or even psychosomatic issues like migraines – Dr. Tafur has found those people all have emotional processing problems.

Western therapy primarily focuses on talking to engage the intellect. Accordingly, Western therapy can last for years before the patient starts to see tangible results. Plant-based medicines like ayahuasca have seen a surge in popularity because the medicine can make your unconscious permeable. The Amazonian psychedelic plant has a way of rooting out emotions that need to be resolved within participants. The medicine works in a way that allows you to detach from the difficult emotions. Ayahuasca also remedies experiences you may be trying to heal, allowing for a spiritual psychotherapeutic experience. These ayahuasca experiences often allow the person to understand their traumas better and, in turn, let go of them.

This otherworldly manner that ayahuasca has the ability to introduce one to their shadow in such a unique way is exactly why indigenous cultures have been committed to it as a mind-body medicine for millennia. Indigenous cultures in South America have been using this medicine to successfully heal a variety of ailments for thousands of years. And more and more people are seeking ayahuasca retreats to heal modern aliments.

Recent anthropology research papers on ayahuasca are shedding light on the psychedelic therapeutic effects of purging. The paper states the purge cannot be dismissed as a drug side effect only. It is also intrinsic to the healing aspect of this sacred medicine.

La Purge

La purge (the purge), as the indigenous ayahuasca maestros of the Amazon refer to it, is the physical outlet for energetic release. The person in the ceremony – purging the pain – surrenders. They believe it is part of the process of not only detoxifying but is intrinsic to the healing process.

In combination with the visions, when under the influence of the medicine, come the unusual bodily sensations and the psychological effects of the beta-carbolines in the vine. The common result of this is why you will often see bowls and buckets beside the beds in a maloka, an open-sided hut where the ceremonies take place. On account of the fairly recent explosion of interest in the brew among Westerners who primarily consume the medicine for its visionary effects, most people perceive purging as a side effect instead of being central to the experience.

From a physiological perspective, scientists have suggested ayahuasca vomiting, similarly to psilocybin, to result from higher serotonin levels, particularly in the gastrointestinal tract, which can cause direct stimulation of the vagus nerve, as well as diarrhea. The medicine permeates the body’s digestive tract via the enteric nervous system, a complex biochemical and anatomical network with about 100 million neurons, similar to what dogs have in their brains. Its complexity and ability to function independently have lent it the title ‘the brain of the gut’ or the ‘second brain’.

Therapeutic approaches to ayahuasca point to combined modulations of the gut and the mind, the body and the psyche.

Purification and Healing

Recent ethnographic data collected by anthropologists examine shamanic tourism in the Peruvian Amazon as well as neo-shamanic networks in Australia. The data also site a relatively unanimous description of the purging process from the shamans conducting these healing ceremonies.

“In this period, deep fears, traumas, and negative patterns of the personality emerge. The initiates have to confront them and go through this by themselves. It is a process by which the initiates expand their consciousness with regard to themselves and the world around them.”

The data from this survey also highlights a common theme in the descriptions of ayahuasca purging. The participants described the process as the “unblocking” and “letting go” of past experiences and healing of their trauma. These research papers also surmise that emphasis was on the purging of sexual abuse, domestic violence, and addictive patterns. These participants all had very severe emotional traumas that would have needed years of therapy and care to resolve.

Traditionally there is also a purification period, which individuals must adhere to before an ayahuasca ceremony occurs. Additionally, individuals must eliminate certain foods from the diet weeks before they consume the medicine. Using tobacco, among other plants, is also a way to ‘physically and spiritually’ cleanse negative energies in preparation. Many other plants purify the circulatory system since blood is a “potential storehouse of physical and spiritual impurities”. It’s not surprising that these ideas are widespread across many Latin American medical systems. The use of purgatives and laxatives to literally “expel” evil spirits is very common in the Andes. The word “purgas” describes the plants used for expelling “bad spirits” from a patient’s body. The psychedelic cactus San Pedro is also known as a “purgas”. San Pedro causes an emotional release in the person consuming it, in the form of crying.

A Deeply Personal Journey

An ayahuasca advocate, who is an annual ceremony participant, said the following about the purging process:

“At the beginning of my journey with aya, my purging was tied to the physical toxins in my body. I say this because after my very first ceremony, I really recognized how my diet was affecting me. Even though I felt it was relatively healthy, the medicine highlighted a few issues. Further along the process, the purge became more tied to and reflective of the emotions I needed to purge. The process of vomiting actually would come on whenever I was entering a negative storyline while in ceremony. So, you realize, as you keep moving through the ceremonies, the purge is acknowledging your subconscious. Things you’ve trapped within your subconscious that you need to work through.”

There is ethnographic evidence that directly relates to recent scientific studies, which connect the gut to our emotional health. Perhaps collectively, we westerners need to reflect our – at times shallow – approach to ‘healing’ originates from our addiction. Our addiction to the ‘quick fix’ culture of modern medicine.

Perhaps we need to consider the repercussions of what reducing the body load of these psychoactive medicines would mean. More specifically, in terms of possibly minimizing the long-term benefits of these sacred healing medicines.

“Can it be consumed faster and more efficiently with the least pain possible? I think a lot of people want that. Except, in my psychological understanding, the process of mastering courage through pain and self-observation and resilience to face things that are difficult is the healing.”

Françoise Bourzat

This rebuttal from Bourzat about the issues relating to the medicalization of synthesized psilocybin is interesting. It further cements the notion that we westerners should consider the wider repercussions of a quicker, pain-free psychedelic experience. Bourzat is the author of Consciousness Medicine, counselor, and an expert in indigenous psychedelic practice. She suggests while there’s deep insight from a lighter experience, we risk bypassing aspects of the healing at our core.

“…by cutting through, the danger is bypassing. Spiritual bypassing, this is very convenient, nobody has to suffer, and the healing is not complete. The problem is the healing is not complete. That’s my worry about those things that are very fast and furious, and are more pleasant. The human healing, the human psychological burden that we carry has not gone anywhere, it’s just transcended and it keeps appearing everywhere, in our relationships, in the way we think, in the way we behave, in the way we feel.” 

Françoise Bourzat

This doesn’t sound like the goal of a ‘mental health revolution’ that the psychedelic renaissance is hoping to achieve.

Cross-Cultural Symbolic Purging

The irony is the idea of emotional renewal and restoration through purgation is not new to us in the West. Catharsis (from the Greek κάθαρσις, katharsis, meaning “purification” or “cleansing”) is the cleansing, releasing, and purgation of emotions. Particularly, pity and fear through theater and literature.

Purging was originally used by Aristotle in Poetics as a metaphor for comparing the effects of tragedy on the mind. To add, Aristotle used to believe the function of tragedy was the purgation of emotions.

Furthermore, it’s a cross-cultural and widespread medical belief that balance and equilibrium in the body are integral to our health. We just haven’t ever adopted the cultural traditions upheld by indigenous cultures in the practice of restoring health through plants. For centuries, our culture has also perceived a distinct separation between body and emotion. There is little to no emphasis on the importance of emotional and spiritual balance. Our medical system tends to focus more on fixing our problem’s symptoms rather than healing the issue. Perhaps because creating drugs to dull the pain is more lucrative and time-efficient for huge pharmaceutical conglomerates.

Likewise, many indigenous cultures use energy as a key metaphor to describe less physical components of our body and psyche. Things like the soul, our desires, and the belief that the body is where emotion and even knowledge live. The concept of energy is also a key metaphor in Amazonia, relating to the soul, power, desire, and intention. Spiritual cultures believe power resides in the human body, with ingestion or expulsion of substances affecting it.

Although a biological process, purging has lots of symbolic meaning cross-culturally. Likewise, the idea that balance or equilibrium in the body is central to health is the most widespread medical belief cross-culturally. Correspondingly, health and vitality often restore through medicinal plants, some of which are purgatives, expelling what causes imbalance. Notably, there is a lack of clear separation between body and emotion in native medical systems. Ultimately, emphasizing the importance of physical, emotional, and spiritual balance for wellbeing.

Traveling to receive healing at a traditional sacred medicine ceremony may not be available to everyone. We must consider these medicines’ natural components have been serving people in healing ailments and psychological maladies for centuries. Expelling such ailments through purging may be a small price to pay for a lifetime free of psychological burdens.

References

Purging and the body in the therapeutic use of ayahuasca.  Evgenia Fotiou, Alex K. Gearin Social Science & Medicine 239 (2019) 112532

Why do magic mushrooms cause-nausea: Psychedelicreview.com

Singing to the plants: Ayahuasca and the Grotesque Body 2012

Utilizing Expanded States For Healing And Transformation- Françoise Bourzat / Third Wave 2020

My First Darkness: Purging through the Entheos psypressuk.com  2015

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4-AcO-DMT Guide: Benefits, Effects, Safety, and Legality
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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.”

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