Have You Met the DMT Jester? How Expectations Influence Entity Encounters

One of the most popular blog posts on my site is my essay on DMT jesters and tricksters (a modified version of it became one of the essays in my book, which includes a new section about my personal experiences). Several people commented on my blog post to say they have also encountered jester entities.…

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The Bad Trips of Early Psychonauts

One thing that stands out about trip reports from early Western psychonauts is that they often involve unpleasant, uncomfortable experiences. Such experiences are still more frequently reported in Western countries without a tradition of ritualistic use than they are in non-Western, Indigenous cultures that do follow this kind of tradition. Julian Shea wrote an insightful…

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How to Design Packaging for Psychedelic Products With Harm Reduction in Mind

As the push for the legalisation of psychedelics continues, questions around safety and harm reduction should continue to be raised. If psychedelics were legalised for non-medical use in certain US states and countries, they would need to be regulated. But there are differing opinions on what this model of regulation should look like. The commercial…

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Why Are So Many Psychonauts Attracted to the Simulation Hypothesis?

The simulation hypothesis – the proposal that we live in a computer-generated reality – is a philosophical idea that many psychonauts embrace. While tripping, or post-trip, this hypothesis can seem a lot more likely to be true; in fact, it can appear undeniably true. On the subreddit r/SimulationTheory, psychedelic experiences are often discussed and viewed…

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Could Non-Hallucinogenic Psychedelics Help Treat Schizophrenia?

In psychedelic clinical trials, patients with a history of psychotic experiences, a psychotic disorder like schizophrenia, or a mood disorder with psychotic symptoms are typically screened out. (Other exclusion criteria – again, typically – include a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or recent suicidality.) The reason for excluding people with psychotic symptoms from trials on psychedelic-assisted therapy…

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