As I've been MIA for a lil bit I got to spend time with family out on the West Coast. Uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandparents were all present. I talked about the normal things you talk to family about: work, hobbies, relationships. But still--after years of knowing these people I love--I still felt nervous waves when I mentioned this community and my interest in psychedelics/ altered consciousness. So, if any of y'all are in this situation, here's some tips for gently bringing up the topic of psychedelics and your experiences. 𝟏. 𝐆𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 Immediately bringing up psychedelics can cause an immediate defensive reaction due to their illegal status in the US. Ask questions like: "𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠? "𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑦. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑦?" 𝟐. 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐈𝐧 𝐀 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲 Instead of focusing on the drug itself, emphasize the universal human experiences the (or your) journey touched on. Sprinkle in topics or words that people can understand. "𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛"; "𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔"; "𝑀𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠"; "𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔" 𝟑. 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 Family, especially if you're very close, has a tendency to worry for each other. Psychedelics can definitely be used in a reckless manner, so highlight the positive outcomes from the journey: "𝐼𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝐼’𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠." "𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 [𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒]." "𝐼𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑥𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦/𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛/𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚." 𝟒. 𝐔𝐬𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 Avoid terms like "tripping" or "hallucinations," which can sound recreational or scary. Try these out with your own flair: "𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒." "𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑝𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠." 𝟓. 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬 If they react negatively, understand that this can come from a place of fear. To those that have family members who have/had addiction problems "drugs" in all sense of the word will seem frightening. Make sure that purposeful use of psychedelics is what you're trying to achieve :

I've been posting a lil about general psychedelic thoughts, art, etc. But is there anyone out there that's interested in the Shroomerverse?🌠🍄 As someone who's grown in college (don't tell the dean!) I loved talking about mushroom cultivation for a while and have just been studying sterilization, cultivation, etc. For a while I just didn't have the space/privacy to grow......BUT today's a new day so I've been hoping there's some psychonauts interested in learning some shroomer wisdom haha

I just watched the first Lord of the Rings movie--Fellowship of the Ring. And wow.....I get the hype around this piece of fantasy; especially, for us Psychonauts. I was once told that "Acid feels like Star Wars, and Shrooms feel like Lord of the Rings". I never understood this until I saw the 1st movie. LOTR can be used as an allegory for so many different things...but when you think about it, Frodo's journey is just like that of a Psychedelic journey. Whenever we take a sizeable dose of any psychedelic we become our own Frodo who must go through trials and tribulations to reach his goal. Our journey on the other hand is crossing and contending with uncharted mental & emotional realms. And along the trip we'll come across our versions of shamans like Gandalf (I know he's a wizard) who will assist and sometimes guide us to where we need to go. QUESTION: what do you think? Do you think there's a better movie out there that alludes or feels like a trip?

I've been wanting to try this out for a while...then this Reddit post found me😍 Pour art is so psychedelic and you can see it embody lots of characteristics depending on how you do it Morphing patterns; bright, contrasting colors; and ripple patterns just bring me right back to the many shrooms experiences 😋🍄