I have heard many folks -- including experienced psychonauts -- speak of ketamine as spiritually barren compared to mushrooms or ayahuasca (for example).
Folks also distinguish the vibes of LSD and mushrooms, two beautiful psychedelics with a similar effect on the brain -- Acid is described as cosmic, futuristic, technological, while the magic fungus is earthy, mystical, ancient. But both descriptions -- whether they're due to a psychological bias or something deeper -- are super positive. Whereas people more often describe ketamine in terms that are anti-mystical, clinical, sterile -- negative.
Of course, I never bought it for a minute. My first full-blown experience with ketamine produced a life-changing mystical revelation -- I have never been the same, and I am grateful for the positive transformations that have permeated my life since. And when I studied up on ketamine following this First Journey, and found it simulated a near-death experience more than any other substance, I realized just how profoundly mystical it was.
But how could I help my friend see these aspects of ketamine -- sacredness, mystical nature, noetic quality, ineffability, unity...? She is a soulful, creative person -- She's in her last year of training to become a therapist, and also has extensive experience with psychedelics. Her mind is very open! Yet she went to a ketamine retreat and felt on a gut level that it was strange to treat ketamine with such ceremony -- She confessed to visions of a lab, pharmacies, doctors, an IV.
Here are some ideas for drawing out the mystical powers of ketamine! Will they actually improve results? Almost certainly, at least for some folks. The placebo effect is quite powerful, after all. And ketamine, simulator of NDEs, is no placebo!
Admire the Majesty of the Universe
Mushrooms deserve to be given rituals celebrating the Earth, the forest, the animals and the cycle of life. To contemplate a fungus growing in the damp soil, in the dark, bursting out its spores -- is beautiful. What can inspire similar awe when contemplating ketamine?
The atoms! The constituent parts of the substance of ketamine, every one of them, was either:
-- Forged in the first moments after the Big Bang, or
-- Cooked in the interiors of stars, or
-- Made in the flash of a supernova explosion
Can anyone claim the Big Bang does not inspire awe? Can anyone call "sterile, uninteresting" the products of stellar nuclear reactions?
The ayahuasca cup we hold with ceremonial air. The mushroom we touch to our forehead and thank. When we prepare to put the ketamine lozenges under our tongue -- or accept the needle, or the squirt in the nostril -- we can feel such gratitude for the laws of the universe, and the peculiar distribution of matter, the mysterious origin...
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." Einstein
Reflect on Consciousness and Death
When you experience the ketamine state, you are experiencing a state that many describe in similar terms as near-death experiences -- That's what the famous 2019 scientific paper reveals.
What an incredible privilege! What an incredible opportunity!
The Tibetan dream yogis believed that their Dream Yoga practices prepared them for the bardo, the transitional state following death. They also believed -- based on experience -- that practices performed within the dream state were more effective -- for learning, healing, etc.
With ketamine, we have the chance to practice within the dying state. Nothing could be more sacred! This is the territory traveled by many of our relatives and friends who have passed. We can connect with them and unite with them in Love, as we practice pranayama near the ketamine peak.
Reflect on the Sacredness of Everything
You can hold the lozenges in your hand, then taste the strong metallic flavor. You can notice the dust on your floor, the water damage on the ceiling. You can reflect on the people and places of your life, all the awkwardness, imperfection, brokenness ...
You don't need to see everything descending from the Big Bang or dramatic explosions of stars. You can take in every detail, every feature, every object and person and quirk of existence -- and draw out the deep, mystical unknown. All you have to do is notice!
Don't worry if it feels silly doing this before your take your lozenge or squirt or needle -- When the ketamine state has arrived (or you have arrived in it), you will be able to see the bizarreness of everything -- every single thing! Preparing yourself by lovingly reflecting on the sacredness of everything will set a supportive, positive tone when you actually experience the sacredness of everything.
There is no need to just borrow the ritual vibes of Aya or shrooms -- Ketamine calls for its own beautiful rituals! I have given some ideas -- What are yours? How do you cultivate the ceremonial/spiritual aspects of your ketamine journeys?
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