The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide (Kindle highlights)

For most people, the predominant feeling during a session is not of discovering something new, alien, or foreign, but of recalling and reuniting with an unassailable clarity that had been latent in one’s own mind. (p. 17)
If possible, approach a voyage as a three-day process.4 Ideally, on the first day, stay quiet and unhurried. Reserve time for self-reflection, spending a portion of the preparation day in nature. Set aside the second day, all day, for the session. Try to take as much as possible of the day after the session to begin to integrate the experience and to record your discoveries and insights. (p. 19)
To maximize the usefulness of realizations that may occur during your psychedelic voyage, it is invaluable to write out beforehand what you hope to learn, experience, understand, or resolve. (p. 20)
You may hope to have what is called a “unity experience,” in which there is no separation between your identity and all else. (p. 20)
Your goals may be social: to improve relationships with your spouse, children, siblings, parents, colleagues, friends, and spiritual and secular institutions. (p. 20)
Your goals may be psychological: to find insight into neurotic patterns, phobias, or unresolved anger or grief. (p. 20)
All that is necessary for a safe journey with infinite possibilities is an uncluttered, comfortable room with a couch or bed on which the voyager can rest, a comfortable chair for the guide, and easy access to a bathroom. (p. 25)
The room should also have some kind of a music system. It is better if the room can be insulated from outside sights and sounds, including people’s voices, pets, and phones. (p. 25)
Music proves to be invaluable in helping people travel beyond their usual thought patterns. Music supports and suggests, so choose wisely. (p. 26)
Classical music tends to feel appropriate to most people, even if they have not chosen it. Hovhaness’s Mysterious Mountain, Fauré’s Requiem, Gregorian chants, solo piano, piano with one or two other instruments, unaccompanied flute, ragas, and indigenous drum recordings can all be used effectively. (p. 26)
Music that could be considered emotionally leading or manipulative is potentially problematic. (p. 26)
Simple finger food (e.g., fresh or dried fruits, nuts, crackers, juice) should be offered. Water should be available all day. (p. 33)
After the peak of your experience, as you are reentering your world, is often an excellent time to do personal work. You will be aware of your usual identity, but not be as attached to your usual habits, templates, or distortions. If you wish—and your guide agrees—this is also a good time to go outside. If there is no outdoor setting that is safe and inviting, you may enjoy observing a flower or plant in the room or even looking through large-format photography books about nature. (p. 33)
Another way to deepen the connections made during the session is to invite the voyager to gaze into a full-size handheld mirror. (p. 34)
Eyes usually remain constant through the changes and are reassuring. (p. 34)
You will probably want to spend time starting to integrate what you’ve experienced. You may still see the world as flowing or sparkling. Enjoy these visual gifts from your own mind. Eat lightly, and be sure you drink enough liquids to replenish yourself. (p. 35)
In the first few weeks after your journey, take time to distill out what matters the most to you from your experience. Don’t rush. (p. 36)
The rule of thumb is the more profound the experience, the longer you should wait before doing it again. The Guild of Guides suggests a minimum of six months between entheogenic journeys because it takes at least that long for the learning and insights to be absorbed and integrated into your life. (p. 37)
The first characteristic is a slowing down of time, a concentration in the present. One’s normally compulsive concern for the future decreases, and one becomes aware of the enormous importance and interest of what is happening at the moment. (p. 40)
Only those who have cultivated the art of living completely in the present have any use for making plans for the future, for when the plans mature they will be able to enjoy the results. (p. 41)
The second characteristic I will call “awareness of polarity.” This is the vivid realization that states, things, and events that we ordinarily call opposite are interdependent, like back and front or the poles of a magnet. (p. 41)
The third characteristic, arising from the second, is an awareness of relativity. I see that I am a link in an infinite hierarchy of processes and beings, ranging from molecules through bacteria and insects to human beings and, maybe, to angels and gods—a hierarchy in which every level is in effect the same situation. (p. 42)
The fourth characteristic is awareness of eternal energy, often in the form of intense white light. (p. 43)
In higher doses taken in safe and sacred settings, they facilitate recognition of one’s intimate relationship with all living things. In moderate doses, they facilitate awareness of the intricate psychodynamic structures of one’s individual consciousness. In low doses, they facilitate awareness of solutions to technical and artistic problems. (p. 76)
The most comforting thing that some people reported as having helped them the most during acute experiences is having a blanket wrapped around them. (p. 88)
Someone who is depressed or anxious and takes LSD may experience an exacerbation of depression or anxiety. (p. 97)
At the time of our original research, it was not difficult to find many scientists with careers of ten to thirty years behind them who had never been in an altered state more challenging than one brought on by fatigue, coffee, or alcohol. Today, scientists and other professionals are more likely to have had prior experiences with psychedelics, if little or no experience with guidance. (p. 137)
What we found out was that the love is there, the forgiveness is there, and the understanding and compassion are there. But like water to a fish or air to a bird, it is there, all around us, and exists without any effort on our part. There is no need for the Father, the Son, the Buddha, the Saints, the Torah, the books, the bells, the candles, the priests, the rituals, or even the wisdom. It is just there—so pervasive and so unending that it is impossible to see as long as you are in the smaller world of people separated from one another. (p. 192)
Although no formal research exists on sub-perceptual doses, a growing number of people have been using psychedelics this way. When people take a sub-perceptual amount—for LSD, about 10 micrograms (also known as a micro-dose, sub-dose, or “tener”)—the common sensory effects associated with higher doses of LSD or psilocybin—a glow or a sparkle around the edges of living things, sensory interweaving such as hearing in color or tasting music, and a loosening of ego boundaries—do not appear. (p. 198)
Indigenous cultures have known about and used sub-perceptual doses of different psychedelics for centuries. (p. 198)
The protocol I followed had me take a micro-dose one day, then carefully observe any ongoing or lingering effects the second day, and then give myself the third day completely off. (p. 200)
Within an hour after I swallow my little glass of water or sugar cube, I start feeling more energy. (p. 200)
What I find is that it’s easy for me to appreciate everyone and everything in my life, to very easily and naturally step into a space of gratitude and sustain it. (p. 201)
I’ve found that I’ve had some brilliant outbursts (at least they seemed brilliant to me) with respect to both work product and personal creative projects. (p. 201)
The goal isn’t the McKenna-size heroic dose or even the standard 80- to 120-microgram “effective” dose, but something one-tenth the size of that, that is, 10 micrograms, or somewhere between 6 and 12 micrograms. (p. 199)
I find that 10 to 20 micrograms of LSD is both a stimulant and a calming agent at the same time. (p. 205)
Although we didn’t weigh them, previous experience suggests we’re talking about less than a gram of dried weight. (p. 208)
But instead of taking it all at once, I took a pinch of it each day. I found that I was much more emotionally even and more able to see the world as interrelated rather than disjointed. It was a fully pleasurable experience. (p. 210)
“Charles” suggested that there was a gradual buildup of openness and awareness, eventually spilling over into non-sub-perceptual days. Madeline and Stephen both indicated they did better at what they do well—not excessively, but enough to notice. (p. 211)
As several reports stated, someone taking a dose this low functions, as far as the world is concerned, a little better than normal. To date, I received no reports that sub-perceptual doses have caused any social disruption, personal upset, or any form of work-related difficulty. (p. 211)
You need to look at the use of psychedelic material in two contexts. One is entheogenic, and the other is psychotherapeutic. (p. 238)
The other context is the use of psychedelics to help people live better lives by having less neurosis, less psychosis, fewer fixations, fewer perversions, and so forth. This is a very different realm, which should be in the hands of the people who historically administer therapeutic interventions. (p. 238)
Many people beginning to use psychedelics today may be a little too young. What I learned from my own research is that psychedelics take your life experience and compost it, so that something new can grow. (p. 238)
I always looked at psychedelics as learning tools. (p. 239)
Americans than still smoke cigarettesa)—does not kill anyone. (p. 243)
Psychedelics are not addictive. They never were. (p. 242)
It would be unduly optimistic to expect evidence-based legislation to become widespread anytime soon, but more countries can be expected to relax some of their restrictions as the benefits of doing so become more widely apparent. (p. 245)
One is about the validity of experiences induced by plants or chemicals versus experiences achieved by meditation, prayer, movement, or fasting. (p. 247)
Vona spent two weeks in darkness at the Sierra Obscura Darkness Retreat Center. At its blog (go to www.sierraobscura.wordpress.com and click on “overview”), the center is described as “an optimal environment in which individuals enter into perpetual darkness, with all of their basic needs provided for, in support of self-realization.” The stated optimal time period for these retreats is fourteen days, with two days post-retreat at the center for integration. (p. 276)
A 1964 study by Savage and others reported decreased anxiety for 68 percent of the forty-nine patients at six to twelve months after psychedelic therapy. (p. 289)
It can be seen, from this lengthy and somewhat exhaustive presentation of results, that changes in this group of sixty-seven people were numerous, extensive, positive, and lasting. It can be concluded that this therapeutic protocol of short duration, at least with this moderately healthy population, was beneficial. (p. 295)
The claimed improvement rate rises from 76 percent at one to three months after the single LSD session to 85 percent after twelve months or more have elapsed since the session. The most commonly reported benefits include an increase in the ability to love (78 percent), to handle hostility (69 percent), to communicate (69 percent), and to understand self and others (88 percent); other changes included improved interpersonal relations (72 percent), decreased anxiety (66 percent), increased self-esteem (71 percent), and a new way of looking at the world (83 percent). (p. 297)
We were interested if the effects of the LSD session tended to “wear off” and whether the answers would differ depending on the length of time since the session. Percentages are presented from participants who fit into four time frames: A (less than three months since the LSD session; n = 21), B (3–6 months; n = 26), C (6–12 months; n = 19), and D (over 12 months; n = 27). (p. 301)