Watch out for these three pitfalls on the psychedelic path:

Spiritual Emergency

Humankind cannot bear very much reality. Too much, too fast can provoke a spiritual emergency which, if not properly handled, can turn your world upside down and produce serious mental health problems.

Spiritual Bypassing

Humankind cannot bear very much reality. Spirituality and psychedelics can be engaged in as an escape from psychological problems, which may then manifest in disguised forms.

Spiritual Narcissism

Humankind cannot bear very much reality. Powerful spiritual experiences can inflate the ego, deluding us into believing that we are special, superior, even in some cases beyond good and evil.

Unintegrated spiritual emergencies lead to spiritual bypassing which leads to spiritual narcissism which leads to spiritual emergencies. And so on. The negative connotations of the “hippy” moniker are in large part due to this vicious circle.

St. John understood this well:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 5-10

The psychedelic journey does not begin in earnest until you have realized the hippy mantra, “lose your mind and come to your senses”, that is, until your mind stops and your body takes over, until you stop thinking and start feeling.

Then the sevenfold path can unfold:

1. Lose your mind (Mystic = Dhyana Yoga)
2. Come to your senses (Shaman = Kundalini Yoga)
3. Come into your power (Warrior = Karma Yoga)
4. Open your heart (Monk/Nun = Bhakti Yoga)
5. Free your mind (Philosopher = Jnana Yoga)
6. Know thyself (King/Queen = Raja Yoga)
7. Love thy neighbour (Friend = Maitri Yoga)

The first six yogas correspond to the three points on the Gnosis, Pistis, Kenosis cycle:

1. Dhyana Yoga + Kundalini Yoga (Mystic Shaman) = Kenosis (“purification”)
2. Karma Yoga + Raja Yoga (Warrior King/Queen) = Gnosis (“perception”)
3. Jnana Yoga + Bhakti Yoga (Philosopher Monk/Nun) = Pistis (“dalliance”)

Although the yogas are to a certain extent a matter of personal temperament and predilection, so that an intellectually-minded, bookish person will be drawn to Jnana Yoga, whereas an active, practical person will find it off-putting, preferring the way of selfless work and Karma Yoga, none should be completely neglected, since doing so will disrupt the flow of Kenosis, Gnosis, Pistis.

However, one may prefer Dhyana Yoga over Kundalini Yoga, Karma Yoga over Raja Yoga, Jnana Yoga over Bhakti Yoga (or vice versa) without too much disruption. Problems arise when both yogas in each pair (Dhyana and Kundalini, Karma and Raja, Jnana and Bhakti) are skipped altogether. Eventually we will lose our capacity for purification, perception or dalliance and the whole process will stall and grind to a halt.

“Many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)

The only way to be spiritually called is through inspiration. In-spiration literally means the in-breathing of the Spirit. This in-breathing is the spiritual call. You know when you are inspired, when you have breathed in the Spirit, by the feeling it inspires. It feels a bit like being drunk, but not quite: “be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

What inspires you? What calls to you?

Inspiring words? Inspiring ideas? Wisdom literature? Holy scripture? Music? Drama? Myth? Poetry? Dance? Sacred spaces? Sublime natural landscapes? Magnificent places of worship? Devotional liturgies? Rituals? Indigenous tribal cultures? Spiritual exemplars like Jesus or Buddha? Miracles? Heroic acts of courage? Heroic acts of self-sacrifice? Special spiritual practices? Yoga? Martial arts? Athletic prowess? Meditation? Prayer? Psychedelic experiences?

There are many ways to be spiritually inspired, many ways to be called. However, for some mysterious reason, not everyone is inspired, not everyone is called. Many, but not all. And of those who are called, not all will convert the energy of their inspiration into the fuel of their transformation. Only a few will choose to make full use of the in-breathing of the Spirit and tread the spiritual path in earnest.

The few who choose are the few who are chosen.

People come to psychedelic ceremonies for many reasons. They want insight. They want healing. But most of all they want magic. Life without magic is unbearable for magical beings.

Some may have a genuine psychedelic breakthrough and glimpse the source of all magic and all existence. This is the beatific vision, moksha, awakening, apokalypsis.

Then the veil descends once more and the cloud of forgetting obscures the light once again. But a trace remains, a distant memory of seeing and believing.

Now the spiritual work is no longer about seeking, but about remembering. Now it’s all about unforgetting, anamnesis.

Kenosis is anamnesis. We remember to be here now. We remember to be more zen.

Gnosis is anamnesis. We remember the beatific vision. We remember what is behind the veil.

Pistis is anamnesis. We remember the timeless teachings that flow from kenosis and gnosis.

Lord, help us to remember. Grant us anamnesis. Give us this day our daily bread. Grant us pistis; grant us kenosis; grant us gnosis.

Pistis is our daily bread. We read the scriptures every morning on arising and every night before bed. We read a chapter from a book on the reading list every day.

Kenosis is our daily bread. We live a life of meditation, a life of mindfulness and self-emptying. Every-day zen. Every-minute zen.

But gnosis, as the gnostic psychedelic apocalypse, is our monthly bread. Humankind cannot bear very much reality.

The Holy Spirit is none other than the love of God.

God is … ZEN.

If you don’t get it, God is … PARASHIVA SHIVA SHAKTI.

If you still don’t get it, God is … AMUN RA ATUM KA BA GAIA JAH.

If you still don’t get it, God is … KETER HOKHMAH BINAH DA’AT CHESED GEVURAH YESOD.

If you still don’t get it, God is … PEACE LOVE GOODNESS BEAUTY TRUTH CONSCIOUSNESS BLISS.

If you still don’t get it, read my book.

If you still don’t get it, read the books on the reading list.

If you still don’t get it, meditate and pray.

If you still don’t get it, meditate, pray, and take magic mushrooms.

If you still don’t get it, don’t worry about it. Great is the mystery of faith.

Neither a journey to the East, nor a journey to the West, South or North.

Neither a journey to the stars, nor a journey to the centre of the Earth.

Neither a journey to the Pure Land, nor a journey to the Promised Land.

The Way of the Holy Mushroom is neither a royal road, nor a Roman road.

It is an endless cycle of gnosis, pistis, kenosis.

It is a washing machine of the soul.

O God, make clean our hearts within us.

And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

Kenosis occurs when you realize that you are full of yourself and need to empty yourself. It is the precondition and preparation for Gnosis and Pistis.

The following actions and expressions point to the process of kenotic self-emptying and ego dissolution:

Dieta, purga,

Neti, neti,

Nada, nada,

Amun, mu.

Relax

In the Great Way of Absolute Non-Resistance.

Give up everything;

cut all ties.

Let go and let God.

Turn on with gnosis; tune in to pistis; drop out of Babylon.

Turn on with gnosis; tune in to pistis; drop out of Babylon.

Turn on with gnosis; tune in to pistis; drop out of Babylon.

What do psychedelics do? Good question. There is a neurological answer, a phenomenological answer and a metaphysical answer. The neurological answer has to do with the 2A receptors in the brain. The phenomenological answer has to do with altered mentation, visuals and visions. Here I will give a metaphysical answer.

Psychedelics open the channels between transcendent Parashiva, beyond all horizons, and immediately given conscious awareness, Shiva. Shiva comes from Parashiva (the Son is from the Father), but under the influence of psychedelics, it comes trailing clouds of glory.

The influx of spiritual energy (for want of a better term) from the infinite wellspring of life and light that is the Godhead (Parashiva) charges the consciousness of the shaman (Shiva) to such a pitch of intensity that every object of awareness (Shakti) is charged with the grandeur of God.

Thus Shakti is received by Shiva in wonder, awe and beauty, and with a sense of inexhaustible sacredness. All things disclose the Holy Spirit, and are revealed as profoundly numinous and holy.

Alternatively, the influx of spiritual energy fails to find its way from Parashiva to Shiva and Shakti, but is diverted and hijacked by the ego, the psychological mental construct we call our “self”. In which case, the super-charged, hyper-active ego produces a plethora of confused thoughts and feelings, sometimes resulting in hallucinations, fantasies, delusions, anxieties and paranoia.

If you can put your ego to one side, and get out of your own way, then, and only then, will psychedelics do what they were sent to do – sanctify you and the world.