Psychedelic Stories

Rae Specter grew up in a home where she was physically, sexually, and emotionally abused. Despite her challenging childhood, Rae has a successful career as a nurse. At the height of the COVID pandemic, Rae was working with a patient who coded. Unexpectedly, many of her own traumas surfaced when her patient died, leaving her emotionally raw, depressed, and unable to work. Rae recently began ketamine treatments and describes how in one of her sessions, the universe communicated to her that we all belong and are of value.

The purpose of the podcast is to entertain and educate. Please consult a physician and your local laws before trying anything mentioned in this episode. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links:

Adverse Childhood Experiences Quiz

Courtney McClure spent her childhood and adolescence as a dedicated athlete in the sport of figure skating. In university, she studied public health education and became employed as manager at a health food store after graduating. She often heard customers talking about the incredible health benefits they were experiencing from different mushrooms and supplements sold at the store. Around that time, Courtney began using cannabis and found that it help her let go of control and work through an eating disorder she developed during her time as a figure skater.

At one point, Courtney agreed to buy some "funky stuff" as her cannabis dealer described it, only to find that he was referring to fungi, not funky stuff. This eventually led to her first psilocybin experience with her roommate and another girl. That experience was great until one of the other girls got stuck in a loop. Courtney describes another psilocybin experience that didn't go so well, where she urinated on the floor and furniture at her then-boyfriend and now husband's house. The next day he was upset and she was embarrassed. Lastly, Courtney describes a women's psilocybin session she participated in where she was transported to a different era of time with people that felt familiar to her. It was in this realm that she had a very traumatic experience that taught her valuable lessons.

Courtney and her husband Eric founded a psilocybin church called Psanctuary and co-host a podcast called Psilocybin Says. I highly recommend checking out both and links to each have been included in the show notes. Courtney and Eric were kind enough to recently invite me on their podcast to share some of my own experiences with psychedelics. That should air about a week after this episode is posted.

The purpose of the podcast is to entertain and educate. Please consult a physician and your local laws before trying anything mentioned in this podcast. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links:

Psanctuary
Psanctuary is a non-denominational faith-based community that centers around the sacrament of sacred psilocybin-containing mushrooms for personal, communal, and global healing.

Psilocybin Says
A podcast co-hosted by Courtney McClure and Eric Osborne discussing the use of psilocybin for self-development.

Sam Hale returns to the podcast to discuss altered states of consciousness, the writer's journey, and mental health. In episode #002, Sam described some of his experiences with psychedelic substances and living with bipolar type II. After a difficult LSD experience, he decided it was best for him to stay away from psychedelic substances. I got to wondering what it's like for Sam to enter other realms as a writer in the story he's working on and asked him to share what that experience is like. Sam describes how when he's writing, it feels like he ceases to exist, and his fingers transcribe the thoughts, emotions, and lives of the characters in his book via his keyboard.

The purpose of the podcast is to entertain and educate. Please consult a physician and your local laws before trying anything mentioned in this podcast. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links:

Twitter: @SamHaleYeah

Patreon: patreon.com/samhaleyeah (Receive updates on Sam's novel)

Link Tree: linktr.ee/samhaleyeah

Email: [email protected]

The War of Art by Stevem Pressfield

The Artist's Journey by Steven Pressfield

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamotte

Marcus Hype had his first experience in an altered state of consciousness in high school when he smoked weed with friends. He had a great experience and eventually tried substances like LSD and psilocybin in high school and university. Marcus discusses some of those experiences and how they impacted him. He took a several-year break from most psychedelics and only recently used LSD and DMT again. Marcus describes how on a breakthrough DMT trip, he met a female spirit guide who knew everything about him and showed him his life through music and patterns. He also discusses how that experience has impacted his everyday life.

The purpose of the podcast is for entertainment and harm reduction. Please consult a physician and your local laws before trying anything mentioned in this podcast. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links:

Rick Strassman Interview
Rick Strassman discusses his DMT research on the Joe Rogan podcast.

Christopher Solomon is an experienced salvia user and offers one-on-one guided salvia sessions through his website, SalviaHealings.com, in which he incorporates somatic therapy techniques and lessons he has learned from over a decade of salvia use. Christopher shares some of his personal salvia experiences, including one in which an energetic being appeared in his room, and telepathically communicated a message of love to him. Christopher also talks about the benefits of low-dose salvia use and shares how he developed a salvia pipe that allows salvia users to make the most of their low-dose, therapeutic salvia sessions.

The purpose of the podcast is for entertainment and harm reduction. Please consult a physician and your local laws before trying anything mentioned in this podcast. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links:

Salvia Healings
Learn about Salvia Divinorum for healing, finding your inner strength, and exploring your consciousness.

Salvia Pipe
A salvia pipe Christopher designed for safe, insightful salvia journeys.

Kyle Raw used to read the heroin and meth subreddits in order to scare himself sufficiently to never try those substances. When a friend told him about MDMA therapy, he went to Reddit to disprove his friend and confirm that MDMA was in fact a dangerous drug. Instead, he found himself learning about the potential benefits of MDMA and a number of other psychedelic substances. Kyle had been having suicidal thoughts and decided as a last-ditch effort to try LSD to see if it could help. Kyle has had a number of psychedelic experiences, both profound and challenging, that have helped him find meaning in life, develop empathy for others, and forgive himself.

The purpose of the podcast is for entertainment and harm reduction. Please consult a physician and your local laws before trying anything mentioned in this podcast. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

In the first half of this episode, Shen Leidigh discusses some of his life experiences and relates them to the psychedelic nature of life in general. In the second half, he describes a solo 61-day vision quest in the wilderness that took a turn for the worse when he ran out of food with a few days left. This led to a life-changing psychedelic experience that had a profound effect in his life. The experience didn't eliminate his depression, but Shen has found that since his vision quest, his mental health has improved and he's seen an increase in his creativity and artistic abilities.

The purpose of the podcast is for entertainment and harm reduction. Please consult a physician and your local laws before trying anything mentioned in this podcast. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links:

They Psychedelic Singularity
A 168-page, full-color graphic novel about artificial intelligence, mushroom magic, and adventure, authored and illustrated by Shen Leidigh.

Eric Osborne has over 20 years of experience with psychedelics. In 2013, he started a psilocybin retreat center in Jamaica called MycoMeditations and hosted a podcast called Psilocybin Chronicles where he interviewed guests about their experiences with psilocybin. More recently, Eric and his wife Courtney moved back to the United States and founded Psanctuary, a non-denominational faith-based community that centers around the sacrament of sacred psilocybin-containing mushrooms for personal, communal, and global healing. They also co-host their podcast, Psilocybin Says, where they discuss the use of psilocybin for self-development. In this episode, Eric shares some fascinating personal experiences that don't fit into a strictly materialistic worldview. He's interacted with interdimensional entities and deceased loved ones and made clairvoyant psychic connections with other people in group psilocybin settings.

The purpose of the podcast is for entertainment and harm reduction. Please consult a physician and your local laws before considering the use of psychoactive substances. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links:

Psanctuary
Psanctuary is a non-denominational faith-based community that centers around the sacrament of sacred psilocybin-containing mushrooms for personal, communal, and global healing.

Psilocybin Says
A podcast co-hosted by Courtney McClure and Eric Osborne discussing the use of psilocybin for self-development.

Steve Hupp grew up in a home with good parents but found himself on the wrong side of the law at a young age. At one point, while serving time in federal prison, Steve met a Peruvian shaman named Guadalupe who suggested he may benefit from drinking ayahuasca. After getting out of prison, Steve corresponded with Guadalupe's family and they sent him a bottle of ayahuasca in the mail. Over time ayahuasca deeply transformed Steve and he felt led to serve it to others. Steve and his wife Teri now operate Aya Quest Native Americas Church, where they hold ayahuasca retreats in Kentucky. In our discussion, Steve shares his journey from atheist to modern-day ayahuasca shaman.

The purpose of the podcast is for entertainment and harm reduction. Please consult a physician and your local laws before considering the use of psychoactive substances. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links from this episode:

Aya Quest Native Americas Church

Kentucky Ayahuasca

Teri Hupp was working in the restaurant industry when she interviewed a man who she didn't have a good feeling about. She didn't want to give him a job but her general manager overrode her and hired him. Teri and Steve eventually fell in love and married. Steve was a devout atheist and struggled with anger but things changed when he found ayahuasca. Teri saw the changes Steve underwent as he began drinking ayahuasca and eventually decided to try herself. Ayahuasca helped her heal from a turbulent childhood and she and Steve started Aya Quest Native Americas Church in Kentucky, where they hold ayahuasca retreats. Teri shares some of her own experiences with ayahuasca and reflects on the changes she's seen in people who have attended their ayahuasca retreats.

The purpose of the podcast is for entertainment and harm reduction. Please consult a physician and your local laws before considering the use of psychoactive substances. Please also understand that you may not hold us liable for relying on any information contained in the podcast or on our website.

Links from this episode:

Aya Quest Native Americas Church

Kentucky Ayahuasca