Hello Friend,
I feel I own you an explanation. Trust me, I do not think you are sitting around think it. But, it has been hanging around my heart for a litte too long.
There are few things I am more passionate about than the pathways that return us to Love and the healing journey. There is so much need. I daily attempt to shed light on the magic living below the pain and confusion that lives within too many. This includes myself.
There are many avenues that can lead us to a deeper awareness of our magnificence and an unburdening of our confusions. At the forefront are plant entheogens (psychedelics), the body of devotional spiritual practices, ceremonial and ritual arts and Nature- all which can ally the foundation of the necessary daily practice. Without them we will not make it as a human race. Only with these sacred technologies will the evolution of humanity turn towards a balanced reciprocity with our Universal families. The only resolution for our times is a shift in individual consciousness.
So, with this passion burning within me why have I stopped writing about psychedelics? Especially when I was serving, advocating for and bringing awareness to the necessity of their right use?
It’s a mixed bag. I had to weed out my cynicism around the pop culture, spiritual trends which have now claimed our blessed Earth medicines. Oof the pain of admitting this, but I had to examine my own self worth wounds around not feeling popular or credentialed enough. A true activist with real passion would speak their truth no matter what, right!? There was a little more ego death for me I guess (the endless death spiral). Until I could get into my heart around it I had to take pause.
Also, my healing path has evolved past psychedelic plant medicine. This is not to say I will not partake or serve again. I am not here to be an authority on plant medicine per se, regardless of the wisdom within me. It’s a blessed tool, an arrow, the finger pointing at the moon. My soul’s gift is the journey home and how I live to tell about it. That will take a few forms as I shapeshift accordingly. Of course there is a particular signature I carry, as do you, that is the rootstock of my expressions in the world. Thank you for walking through the evolutions with me.
The main reason I stepped back is that despite all of the extraordinary and valuable research around some of society’s most devastating ailmnets, specifically addiction- the most crucial elements within these medicines, Mother and God (often inseparable), are being diluted if not erased from the psychedelic movement. This is most specific to psilocybin mushrooms as they are the most researched and therefore the most vulnerable to corruption.
Also there are only a few remnants of intact traditions to carry the wisdom of what lives at the heart of healing within these sacred mycelial beings. Many of the original traditions were kept by ancient, burned and buried, European earth traditions. So, they live within us but it takes a lot of dedication to recover that inherent memory. A worthy path.
I have written about many of the pitfalls of the psychedelic movement before. One I have not touched on in depth is the disappearance of God and Mother from our medical models. Again inseparable, yet in our psyche have various separate functions pointing to the same Source.
Very few want to talk about God. Using the word, for many, discredits me. It sends cacauphonous ripples of contraction through the mind linking the term to all sorts of negative connotations. It is a word that has been used to justify war more than any other. So, naturally when it is heard a little war erupts inside of the individual without the proper teaching, context and reclamation of God- which can only happen through a devotional life and dedication to healing. This does not mean renunciation and suffering. Your best life lives inside of your healing journey.
When we hear Mother we think love, as a deeper subconscious association drives our feelings and actions to display anything but. Our feelings of separation and codependency wounds stem from how society has identified Mother. This shadow says, “mother is something to take from, to cry out for with no answer, who is sick and depleted and it is my fault, something to fix, whose breasts are bound (my grandmother’s breasts were bound after birthing my mother). Mother is pain, her blood is impure, so my body is impure, mother must obey father, I have no mother.” Our main historical narrative, and therefore our individual deep psychological narrative, is based on the desecration of and powerlessness of mother in the name of a god created, corrupted and recreated by fear.
Mother-God, the severance of the sacred and thus the Source of vitality and belonging, is the root of all major chronic diseases of mind, body and society. When we reawaken our memory of these forces within our lives, we heal personally and collectively.
Industrialized science and our current western medical models can’t prove, retain power from, capture or make money on Life force itself, so they have had to bury and put the fear of “god” in anyone who dares speak about or engage in any practice that honors these innate and all pervasive forces. Thus, the thousands of years of suppression of Mother- God under a corrupted story about Christ and the Feminine through genocide of our indigenous practices that honored humanity’s place on the great Wheel of Life. Our natural medicines, and rights to heal ourselves through our own body’s wisdom in union with Life included.
We have a biased and imbalanced system of science and our medical system is run by drug lords handing out addictive substances like candy while putting mandates on medicines that heal. So, as science and big pharma claim psychedelics I do not expect them to up and change their model.
Thankfully there are integrous organizations and numerous concious practitioners who are bridging indigenous roots with the evolution in scientific technologies and modeling what true advancement can look like. Science in balance is an opening for those individuals who would otherwise never approach “alternative” medicines.
It’s not one way or the other as a way forward. It is understanding that everything has a place. Yet the narcissism of our current scientific models has bled way outside its boundaries and is spreading more disease than it is creating benefit.
Simply put, science in the name of God is true evolution. Science used to slander God is a crime against humanity and all beings. There is no genius in any “advancement” if it is not Life inclusive.
I want to see our addiction and mental health crisis, the increasing suicide rates, Alzheimer’s and the life debilitating fear of death in the face of terminal illness or other alleviated. And what is happening, what I was seeing in some of my clients, is that psychedelic medicine is slipping into the medicalized mindset and becoming highly monopolized- including within the “spiritual communities”. So many falling prey to pop culture without recognizing the shadow.
The epigentic imprint of pop culture has had devastating affects on the authenticity of our self expression and motivation, leaving the majority dismembered from their soul’s true purpose in fear of missing a boat that is sinking. So, we have people and institutions serving these medicines through this energetic imprint, and that has implications. We are dealing with people’s most vulernable positions in these containers. There is nothing more important than integrity and a holistic embodiment of what is in the field of potential within the psychedelic, and all transformational, realms.
Energetics are important. Perfection is an illusion. We are human. It’s all ok, and it all must be discussed- without tiptoeing around the is-ness and holding love at the center like an old Grandmother teaching by the fire.
Medicalizing entheogens means that once again “the system” gets to lay claim to being the one who saves and heals, bypassing the soul, while generating the diseases, creating a devastating feedback loop of societal codepency for its own power. I am not 100% against the current medical system. I am 90% against it and feel that it should only be 10% (maybe 20%) of our healing model, in its rightful place. Ego deaths.
When things are in their rightful place, and the release of false power identities have been {mostly} eliminated, then every element thrives. That 10% will feel like 100% because there is no hierarchy when there is balance and everything is fed properly.
Entheogenic medicines in a little pill will likely help the individual much more than a standard pharmaceutical drug. Lifting burdens can open a door for new energy to move through, and thus the possibility for a life shift which can spur the deeper healing needed. However, the hype is driving the people towards a false belief that these medicines are a panacea which will inevitably lead to their misuse and potential harm to our health.
Also, to mistake the pill or the person as the healer dismembers the most crucial element in healing: the truth that nothing heals but God, Mother, Love= You. You are the healer when you open yourself to the Universal wisdom that gives life, only to discover that you are not separate from that Source. When your consciousness reawakens to these sacred and reciprocal laws of belonging then we have a global shift, one by one.
Yet, if the mind is only looking at these medicines through a linear, reductionist model, void of the interedependent holistic elements that create wholeness, that shift in consciousness is futile. This exiles, once again, the grandness of our Universal belonging, the connection to other realms of ancestry and wisdom, which can come as great visions in psychedelic landscapes, to the world of make believe where you are insane if you believe in “aliens” and that there is other life beyond this limited reality. This keeps fear at the center of your life.
Every original medicine tradition held Life, and its thousand and one names, at the center of their ceremonial rites. They were living traditions. Meaning the medicine revealed itself through the expression of Life through the human. This was observed by the health of the entire ecology supporting and existing with that human. This was known by the senses, through the many bodies. No need for desecrating dissections to understand what the ceremonies and medicines brought to life, and why, when the Gods of Mother Nature were the allies and teachers.
The return to belonging and Universal citizenship can only happen through an expanded God consciousness, and this little uncapturable mystery molecule within our plant medicines allies that expansion rapidly. We must move at the pace of Love, and Love is driving a rapid shift in consciousness, so that is what we are seeing by this necessary emergence in the popularity of our plant medicines, regardless of the shadows. What I am witnessing underneath this movement is a great reclamation and recentering of God and Mother in society, while we messily heal our addictions along the way.
We came here to Earth school, to the Doctor Herself, the Universal pharmacy- to heal and grow our souls. And that does not happen without a shift in mindset which entheogens, when used in right relationship with the senses, are masters at facilitating. The Doctor has a special place for the mystery molecule (I dare you try to find it) so it can never be captured in any test tube and why Mother-God has to be diminished in our current medical models.
This is why legalization, although inevitable, is not a great outcome for our plant medicines. Whereas decriminalization can help preserve innate wisdom and place healing in the hands of the people whose birthright is to have a direct link to the Earth, Her gifts and to God.
What can you do?
Have awareness. Speak out for right use and availability of these medicines at your local psychedelic community meetings, which are popping up everywhere, and your local city government. Take pause when our governing bodies begin licensing people for thousands of dollars that you don’t equate that to experience and discredit other pathways of learning and wisdom initiation. Remember balance is key. When taking these medicines pray in a way that says you know what you are dealing with. Commit to your healing and stay the course of integration. Keep love at the center as much as your mind allows. And, be gentle with yourself. It will all be ok.
Thank you for the space for that to ramble out of me. I feel a sense of closure. I took an oath to stand up for Love and that comes out spicy at times. I LOVE God, Mother, Gaia, this Life. I am fully committed to helping re-awaken our human potential and that begins with me and my many faces showing up for the greatest show on Earth- our collective rebirth.
Hail the plants and our wise and well Universal family. No matter what happens with the psychedelic movement, the truth is that “the system” has put its hands where it really don’t belong and I am at peace that Mother God will handle it as the shadows rise and Love is revealed. And, thank you to all of the practitioners, scientists and doctors who are bringing great awareness to the need for balance in our competing systems as we grow and evolve together.
Blessings,
Shira
Yes. This is the truth I felt, but didn’t know how to put words to. I have felt the corruption of plant medicines and had started to put psychedelics aside without fully understanding the why behind it, but knowing it had been corrupted somehow. And yet I also felt the conflict of how to put light on that shadow, knowing the plant medicines hold so much value for a large swath of people disenchanted with the world of pills and cutting and burning involved in western medicine modality. Thank you for putting this shadow to light. Amen
Here's to getting "spicy," Shira! This is all spot on, we've known it, we know it. Everything and anything can be hijacked by ego, by Wetiko, by fixation. From puppies and rainbows to spirituality and plant medicine - here we are. There are true practitioners of all the arts, and those who are willing to see, name, and face shadow are among them. Goddess bless you and keep on writing!