When someone asks me to guide them through psychedelic transformation, they hire me for my extensive experience in designing optimal psychedelic journeys. They hire me for my history as an artist, harvesting from the psychedelic journey many visions I then turn into reality. They hire me because I know these compounds and how to consume them skillfully. They hire me because I can shield them from distractions and help them feel safe to explore. They hire me because I give them a lot of time and attention.
When I am guiding a journey, in the depth of it, when I am holding or supporting the traveler, affirmations come to mind. I don’t know where they come from.
Do they come from the traveler’s story as I have come to understand it in the weeks leading up to the journey? Do they emerge from the psychic environment that is so wide open during the journey's depth? Do they spring from my intuition?
I don’t know. But when these affirmations arise, I repeat them in my head. Sometimes they are “You are loved,” “You don’t have to do anything for the love you need,” or “You belong here.” Maybe it is “You deserve to take up space.”
This is a powerful experience for me as I hope it is for them. I feel like I am giving them, in the most direct way, what they need. I am echoing back to them what I sense their spirit wants to hear. This is a spiritual practice.
Love is such an unusual resource. It isn’t depleted from use. It grows stronger and greater as you give it.
The client hires me for my thoughts on creativity and liberation, organizational ability, knowledge of the compounds and how they work, time and labor — but the love is free.
It only works when it is free.