Tag Archives: Ralph Metzner

Ralph Metzner Tribute Event

“The introduction of LSD and psychedelics into the culture produced a transformation of the entire culture, the consciousness of the culture.

“Due to a complex variety of social and historical reasons, a core feature of the Euro-American psyche is a dissociative split between spirit and nature.

“We are living in a very interesting time. Civilization that we call Western- techno-western civilization- is simultaneously becoming global and collapsing.”
– Ralph Metzner

As I’ve written about in the past, Ralph Metzner was a friend and teacher for over 50 years. I am honored to be speaking at a tribute event organized by his wife, Cathy Coleman. The event will be live and streamed for folks in and outside the Bay Area. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ralph-metzners-life-and-legacy-of-consciousness-exploration-tickets-1545615259849.

Ralph Metzner:
Intrepid Explorer

An afternoon of reflections on the life and work of pioneering visionary, psychologist, writer, and psychedelics researcher

Saturday, September 20, 2025, 1-5 p.m.

The Alembic – 2820 Seventh St, Berkeley, CA

Sponsored by City Lights Book Store, The Alembic, CIIS’ Center for Psychedelic-assisted Therapy, and the Green Earth Foundation.

1:00 pm: Opening

Cathy Coleman, author of Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness: The Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer
Introduction by Peter Maravelis (City Lights)

1:15 pm: Session One:

Ralph Metzner: A Man to Remember: Ralph as scholar, author, teacher, alchemist, healer, artist, friend

Alan Levin: 50 Years with Ralph as Teacher, Guide, and Friend
Gail Colombo: Ralph as Reverend, Therapist, and Mentor
Uwe Doerken: A Man to Remember
Charles Grob: Travels with Ralph
Cathy Coleman: The Sacred Hoop of Partnership

2:30 pm: Session Two: Ralph’s Cosmology

Roger Marsden: East-West Psychology
Alan Levin: Ralph’s ideas on Agni Yoga, Shamanism, and Alchemy
Michael Ziegler: Ralph’s Bardo: The Skillful Means of Sacralizing Psychedelics in Sessions
Mark Kasprow: Ralph’s Wisdom about When to not Say Anything: The Skillful Non-use of Cosmology
Silvia Nakkach: The Ideas at the Core

3:45 pm: Session Three: Ralph’s Legacy and Impact on the Future

Robin Carhart-Harris: Tribute to Ralph’s Legacy
Janis Phelps: Potentials for Psychedelic-Assisted Connections to the Nature, Death, and One Another: The Profound Legacies of Ralph Metzner
Valeria McCarroll, PhD: Ralph’s Legacy of Psychedelic Mysticism
Gary Bravo: Birth of a Psychedelic Culture: Conversations about Leary, the Harvard Experiments, Millbrook and the Sixties
Jamy Faust: The Cave of the Heart
__________________

Gary Bravo, MD, is a psychiatrist in Sonoma County with a long-standing interest in psychedelics, meditation, and altered states. He is co-author, along with Ralph Metzner and Ram Dass, of Birth of a Psychedelic Culture.

Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD, is a British-born psychopharmacologist who is Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Previously, he founded and was Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College, London. Noted for brain imaging studies of psychedelic and psychoactive drugs and their therapeutic use, in 2020 The Times named him one of the world’s top 31 medical scientists.

Cathy Coleman, PhD, was Ralph Metzner’s wife of 31 years. She is a certified consulting astrologer, and works for the CIIS psychedelic certificate program. She served as a senior administrator and former dean of students at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), president of Kepler College, and director IONS’ EarthRise Retreat Center.

Gail Colombo is a practitioner of Metzner Alchemical Divination, produces Flower Essences, and works with frequencies.

Uwe Doerken is a business executive, management consultant, and entrepreneur, who lives part-time mostly in Germany and Greece. He served as chairman and CEO of DHL Worldwide Express and on the board of Green Earth Foundation.

Jamy Faust, MA, is a practitioner and teacher of Metzner Alchemical Divination methods, psychotherapist, family constellation facilitator, energy healer, and author located in Boston. She is currently completing Becoming Shamanka: Walking the Path of Psychedelic Medicine, a book co-authored with her husband, Peter Faust, on Ralph’s alchemical divination methods and processes.

Charles Grob, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. He has conducted clinical research over the last three decades with psilocybin, ayahuasca and MDMA and has published widely in the professional literature on psychedelics and edited three books, Hallucinogens: A Reader (2002, Tarcher/Putnam), Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics (2005, with Roger Walsh Suny Press), and Medical Hallucinogens (2021, with Jim Grigsby, Guilford Press).

Mark Kasprow, MD is a psychiatrist practicing in Santa Cruz. His work is anchored in the understanding that for each of us, our true guide in life is our consciousness. He is presently working on a book about his journey with psychedelics and the role they played in recovering from a brain injury.

Alan Levin, LMFT, is a psychotherapist, meditation teacher, and author in the Lower Hudson Valley, New York. Alan joined Ralph in the study and practice of Agni Yoga with the School of Actualism, and assisted in many of Ralph’s ceremonial retreats.

Peter Maravelis is the Event Director at City Lights Booksellers and Publishers. For over two decades he has curated events bringing about the intersection of the literary world with that of the arts, philosophy, and the sciences. He has produced special programming that explores the cutting edge of ideas, opening discussion between leaders in different fields and the public. He is editor of both San Francisco Noir and San Francisco Noir 2: The Classics.

Roger Marsden, PHD, earned his doctorate at CIIS, with Ralph being a major professor and mentor. He is a retired mental health clinician.

Valeria McCarroll, PhD, LMFT, is a psychedelic educator, writer, and speaker. Formally trained as a guide in expanded states of consciousness, she teaches critical courses on psychedelic humanities to students at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Valeria’s background includes licensure as a marriage and family therapist, a doctorate in psychology, a certificate in psychedelic therapies and research, as well as thousands of hours of study and practice in a variety of therapeutic and spiritual traditions. She has a forthcoming book on the seat of the psychedelic guide. Her interests lie at the intersection of nondual wisdom traditions, somatics, psychedelics, and social and transformative justice. She lives in Northern California.

Silvia Nakkach Knapp, MA, MMT, is a Grammy-nominated composer, interdisciplinary vocal artist, educator, and founding director of the International Vox Mundi School of Sound and originator of the Yoga of the Voice training certificate. With a background as a clinical psychologist, she integrates her expertise as an author, Hindustani raga musician, and immersive soundscape designer. She serves on the faculty of CIIS, contributing to East West Psychology, Asian Contemplative and Transcultural Studies (ACTS), and mentors trainees at the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research. For many years, Silvia worked at Claudio Naranjo’s Sat Institute and collaborated with Ralph, combining teaching and innovative musical projects. www.voxmundiproject.com.

Janis Phelps, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and a leader in the field of psychedelic therapy training as the Director of the Center for Psychedelic Therapies and Research at the California Institute of Integral Studies Center. In the role of the Center’s founder and with influences from Dr. Ralph Metzner as friend, colleague, and teacher, Janis developed and launched the first university accredited training program for psychedelic therapy and research. As a board member of the Heffter Research Institute and the Holos Institute, Janis is passionate about supporting humans in the need for rapid growth of their capacity for embodied compassion and altruism for each other and all species on our planet. Climate change and the imperative of sustainability and biodiversity keep her life goals aligned and alert.

Michael Ziegler was ordained in the Jewish Neo-Chasidic lineage by Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi. He has been a pioneer in the development of spiritual and somatic programs. Michael has worked with the Green Earth Foundation in support of Ralph Metzner’s legacy. He created a master class for psychedelic guides at theguidingpresence.com, which includes many recordings of Ralph in sessions discussing psychedelic use.
___________________

Ralph Metzner, PhD was a recognized pioneer in psychological, philosophical and cross-cultural studies of consciousness and its transformations. He attended The Queen’s College, Oxford, where he obtained a BA in philosophy and psychology. Subsequently, he obtained his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Harvard University and held a post-doctoral NIMH fellowship in pharmacology at the Harvard Medical School. While at Harvard he collaborated with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert in classic studies of psychedelics in the 1960s, co-authored The Psychedelic Experience and was editor of The Psychedelic Review. He was a psychotherapist in private practice in the SF Bay Area and Professor Emeritus at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he taught for 30 years. Author of over 100 scientific papers and scholarly essays, he was the editor of and contributor to two collections of essays on the pharmacology, anthropology and phenomenology of ayahuasca (The Ayahuasca Experience, 2006) and of psilocybin mushrooms (Sacred Mushroom of Visions, 2004). His conversational memoir of the Harvard projects in the early 1960s, Birth of a Psychedelic Culture with Ram Dass and Gary Bravo, was published in 2010. He compiled and edited a collection of essays and experiences with the empathogen MDMA, entitled Through the Gateway of the Heart (1985, 2012).

His books on the psychology and philosophy of transformation include Maps of Consciousness (1971), The Unfolding Self (1998), The Well of Remembrance (1994) and Green Psychology (1999). He was president and co-founder of the Green Earth Foundation, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to healing and harmonizing the relations between humanity and the Earth (www.greenearthfound.org). The Green Earth Foundation has published his writings devoted to psychoactive/psychedelic drugs: The Toad and the Jaguar – A Field Report of Underground Research on a Visionary Medicine (2013), and Allies for Awakening – Guidelines for productive and safe experiences with entheogens (2015). His most recent books, published in 2017 are Ecology of Consciousness – The Alchemy of Personal, Collective and Planetary Transformation (Reveal Press, 2017), and Overtones and Undercurrents – Spirituality, Reincarnation and Ancestor Influence in Entheogenic Psychotherapy (Park Street Press, 2017). Alchemical Musings was published posthumously in 2020.

Astrologer, Author, Mother, Wife of Psychedelic Pioneer Ralph Metzner – Cathy Coleman

I’ve just recorded a delightful conversation with Cathy Coleman which you can view on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/c8hTMw8Wf_o or listen to the podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827447/episodes/16014030 .

Cathy’s very multi-faceted career and continuing activities include earning a doctorate in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). At CIIS, she worked in a variety of administrative, leadership roles for 20 years and for the past six years she has worked with the CIIS Center for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies and Research. She has served as president of Kepler College, (a state-approved college of astrological studies in Washington state) and as Director of IONS’ (Institute of Noetic Sciences) EarthRise Retreat Center. As a very respected astrologer, she works in private practice, as a coach, and lectures nationally and internationally on Western and Eastern (Jyotish) astrology.

She is a devoted mother, grandmother and author of the just released book, Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness – The Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer published by Inner Traditions. We talk about the book, which contains dozens of tributes and illuminating stories from people whose lives were touched and deeply influenced by Ralph as friends, colleagues, students and family. It reveals a good deal about his life, his wide ranging interests and contributions to the fields of psychology, shamanism, eco-psychology, mythology, Western and Eastern mysticism, and of course, psychedelics, a field in which he was a pioneer and innovator starting with his association with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) at Harvard.

In our conversation, we talk about Cathy’s early years growing up in a conservative, small town in Missouri, her opening to astrology, her move to California and the California Institute of Integral Studies, and her in thirty year marriage with Ralph Metzner. Cathy talks with openness about what it was like living with him, working alongside him, being with him through his dying, and now communing with him in the after-life.

Cathy co-founded the Green Earth Foundation with Ralph that was a vehicle for Ralph’s teachings and books and through which Cathy continues to pass on his rich legacy
(www.greenearthfound.org).

For more information on Cathy’s astrological work – https://www.cathycolemanastrology.com/
The book, Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness – The Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer is available through the publisher linked here as well as Amazon and most book sellers.

Preparation for a Sacred Psychedelic Journey

I’m sure you’re aware of the explosion of interest in what’s being called “the psychedelic renaissance.” Articles in all of the forms of media are calling attention to the many research programs for treating addictions, depression, anxiety, end-of-life issues, eating disorders, etc., Ketamine clinics are proliferating all over the country, and big-money corporations are seeking to gain control of the substances themselves. With all this, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that psychedelic substances or medicines are ancient tools for spiritual awakening, for opening perception and awareness to the true nature of Reality, aligning with one’s Soul or Spiritual essence, and for finding one’s place in serving the community of life of which we are part.

With that in mind, I’m excited to share the news that I’ve revised and republished my book, Preparation for a Sacred Psychedelic Journey. In it I’ve distilled some of the essential elements necessary to engage with plant or synthetic substances for sacred experiences. Based on my own experiences witnessing and participating with elder guides, it’s my hope it will be helpful to both experienced guides and those they work with.

It’s available on Amazon as a paperback or e-book for a low price making it easily available for teachers and students, guides and journeyers, beginners or the already very experienced. I’ve talked to many people who have used it prior to their experiential journeys and all have found it extremely helpful.

If you appreciate the book, I’d love it if you’d write a review on Amazon. That seems to be the way books get more visibility.

May those seeking a deeper connection with Spirit within themselves and in all the many dimensions of Reality find the careful and wise guidance they need on their journeys.

With blessings,

Alan Levin
www.CrossingTheBoundary.org

P.S. In the near future, I’ll be interviewing for my Crossing the Boundary YouTube/podcast series two folks who’ve been very involved in this field: Cathy Coleman, who was married for 30 years with the visionary, psychedelic pioneer, Ralph Metzner, and Jim Fadiman, founder of the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology and eminent researcher of micro-dosing psychedelics. Watch for them over the next couple of months.

Here are some of the endorsements I’ve received so far from people in the field:

“Impressive that here is exactly what you need to know if you are going to take a serious journey, and nothing else. It is clear, supportive, sensible, practical and sufficient.”
–Jim Fadiman, author, The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide
founder Institute for Transpersonal Psychology

“Preparation for a Sacred Psychedelic Journey condenses a rich body of knowledge into clear and simple instruction for any potential explorer of consciousness. Alan Levin’s years of practice as a psychotherapist and healer are made available in an offering that grounds psychedelic experience into a practical yet profound framework for personal transformation.”
–Valeria McCarroll, PhD, LMFT
Faculty, California Institute of Integral Studies in the Integral and Transpersonal Department

“For those seeking a deeper engagement of their essential nature through the expanded awareness offered by psychedelic molecules, Alan Levin has captured in his small book, the essential elements to pay attention to.”
–Michael Ziegler,
Founder “Mastering The art of Psychedelic Care: The Guiding Presence”

“Alan has prepared a sacred text of simple and powerful practical guidance to prepare for and explore within expanded consciousness. Alan’s thoughtful, heartful voice comes through every page, especially in his reverence for his teacher Ralph Metzner. Walk with him, into the journey.”
–Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, Founder, Shefa, Jewish Psychedelic Support

“Alan’s book covers all the bases that need to be addressed and honored to create responsible, respectful right-relationship with the spirits of sacred psychedelic plants. Following the steps presented in this book helps open the doorway to receiving meaningful wisdom guidance and transformational healing for one’s life. It is about taking a sacred substance into a sacred container (you) to engage in a sacred dialogue cultivating the universe and letting the universe cultivate you.”
–Dr. Tom Pinkson,
author The Psychedelic Shaman: The Wisdom Warrior’s Path to Transformation
Shamanic Mentor, Ceremonial Leader, Spiritual Medicine Teacher

“Alan Levin’s concise guidelines for a sacred psychedelic journey give great aid for the rapidly increasing number of therapists training as psychedelic guides. Alan’s half-century association with my late husband Ralph Metzner as his teacher, mentor, friend, and colleague, coupled with Alan’s own training, experience, and knowledge enabled this offering of guidelines for preparation, practice, and integration of deep intentional transformative growth work. This small volume incorporates the poetic wisdom of numerous teachers along with practical suggestions for how to do the work and navigate your evolving consciousness.”
—Dr. Cathy Coleman, author, Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness: the Life and Legacy of a Psychedelic Pioneer

“Preparation for a Sacred Psychedelic Journey is an essential guide for anyone embarking on a journey of psychological and spiritual transformation through the use of entheogenic and empathogenic medicines. Levin’s extensive experience as a psychotherapist and spiritual practitioner shines through in his comprehensive approach to preparation, set and setting, intention-setting, and integration. This book is a practical resource for both novices and experienced voyagers, offering clear advice, actionable insights, and a compassionate understanding of the transformative potential of these sacred substances.

Levin delves deeply into the spiritual dimensions of psychedelic journeys, providing guidance on connecting with the divine, exploring one’s higher self, and communing with spiritual teachers and ancestors. Through detailed guidance on meditation, nature immersion, and creative expression, he skillfully equips readers to navigate their inner landscapes with wisdom and grace, facilitating spiritual awakening and growth. He also helps readers identify their connection to the natural world by enhancing the journeyer’s sense of belonging and inter-connectedness, grounding their experiences in the larger web of life.

Preparation for a Sacred Psychedelic Journey is a must-read for those seeking to deepen their journey, expand their consciousness, and cultivate a lasting change in their mind, heart, and way of living.”
–Tina Trujillo, Ph.D.
Faculty Director, Berkeley Psychedelic Facilitation Program
University of California, Berkeley

“Alan Levin’s knowledge of the psychedelic realms is both deep and wide. The depth comes from decades of time on the mat, doing his own inner work. The breadth comes from 40+ years of studying and teaching spiritual practices. This book is a trusted guide for those entering into their own psychedelic explorations. It is both a practical and spiritual guidebook providing deep insights and prompts to help expand your psychedelic experience. Alan is a trusted resource in the psychedelic field. I highly recommend this book as a place to start your inner journey.”
–Carla Detchon, Integration Coach
Host of “Psychedelic Divas Podcast“

Psychedelic Diva – Carla Detchon

“There is a coming home. A home base. Psychedelics help you reconnect with home.”
— Ann Shulgin
“After centuries of patriarchal dominance, humanity has lost its innate balance. By invoking the divine feminine energies we restore equilibrium. That’s why we chose the word Divas — the Latin for goddesses or the feminine divine — to honor the highest aspect of the feminine.”
–from Psychedelic Divas website

“I want to unfold. Let no place in me hold itself closed, for where I am closed, I am false.“

–Rainer Maria Rilke

It’s been noted that the discovery of LSD in 1943 by the Swiss chemist, Albert Hoffman, occurred while scientists at the Manhattan Project were developing the first atom bomb, detonated in 1945. The most powerful agent of consciousness change and the most destructive weapon mankind had ever created came to us very close in time. Is it a coincidence, or synchronicity. A similar synchronicity seems apparent in the present moment, where a wide range of intersecting destructive trends, possibly crippling or fatal to humanity and other life on Earth – the mega, meta, or polycrisis – is happening at the same time as what has been called the psychedelic renaissance.

Can psychedelics help humanity develop a more eco-conscious mindset and find the motivation and wisdom to create a just and sustainable world? It seems clear that psychedelics alone do not accomplish that. But combined with appropriate intention, proper preparation, and mindful integration, there are signs that they do support and accelerate the transformation of people’s perception, thinking and activity towards more cooperation and empathy and greater appreciation and respect for nature.

One of the oldest and key features of the old paradigm is male domination, patriarchy. It’s fair to ask whether this way of being itself is a primary cause of our crises, subjugating the nurturing, holding and being qualities of the feminine and women, to the assertive, active, goal-oriented male energies, and men.

As we try to emerge from millennia of patriarchy, we can draw from the many wisdom and spiritual traditions of the world which contain teachings that can help free of us from the mindsets of male dominance. We can learn that giving attention to the Divine Feminine, the Goddess and Goddesses of old, and to Nature and Mother Earth is essential for both men and women. We can face the deeply ingrained destructive bias that places male attributes and energy, and men, above and more important than the feminine and women.

There are many ways to unlearn the conditioned patterns of male dominance and expand our consciousness to embrace the fuller realizations of the feminine. One way is the carefully guided, ceremonial use of plant medicines, entheogens, psychedelics. On such journeys, it’s possible to heal the wounded aspects of one’s inner woman (what Carl Jung called the anima) and open to the divine feminine available to both men and women. Carla Detchon has been exploring this for nearly forty years and recently launched “Psychedelic Divas”, a podcast devoted to this subject. I interviewed Carla for my Crossing the Boundary podcas t. I hope you can take the time to listen to our conversation.

Carla and I were in ceremonial spaces together many times with the masterful guide, Ralph Metzner. Metzner’s approach to psychedelic ceremonies included what he called “divinations,” purposeful inner journeys for opening to divine guidance and healing. He would take us through mythic realms and lead us through spiritual practices, some of which aimed to heal wounded parts of ourselves and explore our relationship to the physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of male and female consciousness.

Through her work as an integrative coach and through her podcast series, Carla supports people in the preparation and integration of psychedelic journeys. She is passing along the legacy of Metzner’s wisdom teachings. Her emphasis, as the podcast name makes clear, is on the feminine. While ultimately, we all need to balance the male/female within, the long suppression of the feminine in humanity calls for us to highlight that aspect of our nature. We need an affirmative action focus of our attention on HER for our personal benefit, and for the much needed transformation of the collective human consciousness.

As it says on the Psychedelic Divas website:

“We are calling on people of all genders to lean into their natural divine feminine traits—intuition, receptivity, creativity, compassion, healing, communal connection, softness, nurturing, and flow—in order to help bring balance back to our individual selves as well as the world.“

I invite you to listen or watch my conversation with Carla and check out her podcast series: https://psychedelicdivas.com/podcast/

At a very practical level, Carla offers a free guide on her website and podcast site called:
“PSYCHEDELIC SAFETY TIPS INCLUDING WHAT TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG”

You can learn more about Carla at Psychedelic Divas
Or learn about her integration coaching practice

And be sure to check out more Crossing the Boundary conversations at:
Youtube: tinyurl.com/msmmh6sn
Podcast: https://crossingboundarieswithalanlevin.buzzsprout.com

Communing With the Realms of Life on Earth

This message comes with a link to a prayer/meditation that I recorded for my podcast series. The practice is one that I learned from my good friend and teacher of many years, Ralph Metzner, who joined the ancestor spirits in March of 2019. It’s a very helpful way to focus your attention before going on a journey of any kind, whether inward for healing, growth or exploring and expanding consciousness, or outward through the world. Similarly, it can be used at the end of a journey for opening to and expressing gratitude.

painting by Sam Brown, https://www.flickr.com/photos/samandkosmo/with/51538411474/

“Communing with the Realms of Life on Earth” begins with a short meditation to center, balance and open to a fuller integration of body, mind and spirit. We then invoke (or call attention to) the spirits of the different realms: place, time, the four directions, the animals, plants and fungi, minerals, ancestors and humans. We do this for the good of ourselves and all life on Earth.

Here is a link to the podcast which I hope you enjoy and find helpful: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827447/9799490.

Much has been said about the need for a major paradigm shift in human consciousness in order to avert or mitigate the impending catastrophic consequences of human activity over the past centuries. Some of the elements of that include shifting from an individualistic, competitive orientation towards greater cooperation, collaboration and mutual respect. Going deeper, the transformation we are opening to calls for a different quality of awareness of who we are, what our place is in this world, and how we pay attention to what is all around us.

I think I am safe in saying that anyone reading this has, like myself, been strongly conditioned with the attitude that humans are the only truly intelligent life on Earth. While a few alternative scientific studies have revealed some kinds of intelligence in animals and even plants, there is still the tendency, for most of us, to keep our attention focused primarily on humans. This may be true even if we have begun to adopt beliefs that humans are not the pinnacle of evolution or that consciousness is not a product of the human brain. Beliefs do not become our reality until we essentially embody them in the substance of our body, until we know in our heart and gut. This cultivation of a change in consciousness takes openness, intention and practice.

In the meditation/prayer “Communing With the Realms of Life on Earth” there are several suggestions that stretch the boundary of the mainstream consensus of what is real. One example is opening to the non-physical, spiritual, intelligent aspects of animals, plants and minerals. This was (is) the way indigenous people related as they sought prayerful connection with the spirit of a particular animal they were hunting or sought the benefit of a plant for medicine or spiritual awareness.

Other elements of the Communing practice is a focus on place and time as having sacred energy with which we can attune; the calling of attention to the spiritual energy of the four directions of the planet; the opening to experience the presence of ancestors who are no longer “alive” in physical bodies. Rather than believe, you are asked to simply be open to the possibility that when you direct your attention with thought, heart and senses, without prejudgment, you may experience these realities for the first time or more deeply.

I think this non-dogmatic, empirical approach and attitude is what can help us shift our consciousness and contribute to the collective transformation of humanity. We have been counseled to “be the peace we want to see in the world.” Likewise, may we be the mutually respectful, multi-dimensional beings that are vehicles of compassion and bring the harmonizing power of Spirit throughout the web-of-all-beings within which we live. I invite you to listen to this practice and I hope it is helpful to you in that realization.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827447/9799490

Tribute to Ralph Metzner

(Painting by Susan Wright)

“The introduction of LSD and psychedelics into the culture
produced a transformation of the entire culture,
the consciousness of the culture.”
–Ralph Metzner

“For years I’ve followed a principle:
Read anything Ralph Metzner writes.”
–Larry Dossey

“You have pulled the whole thing together
in a truly illuminated and illuminating way.”

–Joseph Campbell (about The Unfolding Self)

“…….When I asked him how to experience this teaching, he closed his eyes and his body seemed to de-materialize. Part of him went up and up in stages and then slowly came back down. …When he came back down, he told me to follow him to his cabin and he led me through an experience in which I felt all the negativity, doubt, fear, shame and pain that I’d been carrying for my whole life cleansed from my body, cell by cell, cleansed by a stream of white light. I felt clearer than I’d ever felt, confident and certain that this was the path for me to follow. Ralph (Metzner) had initiated me into the spiritual lineage of Agni Yoga and what would be a 45 year relationship with him as well as a meditation practice I use to this day.”

Ralph Metzner died two years ago and his birthday was last week, May 18th. The experience I recount above is part of an article for a Festschrift (tribute book) for Ralph that is being lovingly edited by his wife, Cathy Coleman. The piece above is about my first encounter with him in 1969 where he led a retreat on “Maps of Consciousness” and introduced me to the Western esoteric practices of Agni Yoga. I can honestly say that two years after his death I think of him every day. No one has been as important in my spiritual journey.

Ralph was a scholar, a prolific writer of books and articles, lecturer, teacher and ceremonial leader of inner experiences which were participated in by perhaps thousands. His influence in the fields of transpersonal and eco-psychology was profound. But to many of those of us who worked with him, nothing compared to his unique and innovative approach to guiding altered-state experiences with sacred medicines. Ralph was the teacher of teachers, the guide for guides, the shaman for shamans in the underground movement of entheogenic (psychedelic) experiences.

Ralph was the third, much lesser known of the three men from Harvard renowned for blowing the lid off the secret study of psychedelics. Tim Leary went on to be an icon of the wild side of the counter-culture while Richard Alpert became Ram Dass and brought Eastern spirituality to millions. Ralph took a quieter road and became deeply involved in disciplines of esoteric practices and finally integrated those with psychedelics bringing about his unique form of teachings and guidance. His legacy includes books which are filled with both scientific information and instructions for the use of: MDMA (Through the Gateway of the Heart), Ayahuasca (Ayuhasca-Sacred Vine of Spirit), Mushrooms (Teonanacatl-Sacred Mushroom of Visions), DMT and 5-Meo-DMT (The Toad and the Jaguar) as well as an all-inclusive manual (Allies for Awakening – Guidelines for productive and safe experiences with entheogen).

A master of shape-shifting and consciousness, he could also maintain his work as a psychologist, a teacher and dean at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and beloved husband and father. His books and articles took in-depth looks at consciousness studies, the roots of war and violence and the meanings of many of the world’s mythologies, metaphors and symbols.

The depth of his insights makes for more dense reading than most popular spiritual books. But my guess is that many of them will become classics for those seeking to penetrate beyond the superficial understandings of consciousness and spirit. For Ralph, the alchemical work was not an intellectual exercise. He practiced what he preached and transformed himself decade by decade. I miss him and yet know and feel he is still here.

For more information about Ralph and for many of his books, visit the website he developed for Green Earth Foundation: https://www.greenearthfound.org/.

As celebration of his birthday, Green Earth Foundation announced that what I think is his most comprehensive work, The Unfolding Self, has been made into an audio book. You can see more and order it here: https://www.pipewellstudios.uk/.

Crossing the Blood/Brain Barrier – Psychedelics and Spirituality

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THIS IS A REQUEST FOR HELP: If you already know the value of my book, Crossing the Boundary: Stories of Jewish Leaders of Other Spiritual Paths, please help me spread the message to more people. If you have already read it, you know that it offers, through the lens of Jewish boundary-crossers, universal wisdom teachings that move us towards a more compassionate sense of who we are and what we are doing here. At this time of intensifying fear-based tribalism, I am hopeful this book is good medicine.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would please forward this message to two or three friends with a word about the value of the book. If you’d like to buy a copy for yourself or a gift for a friend, that would be wonderful. Please note the discount rate through the end of the year. Signed copies of the book can be purchased at www.CrossingTheBoundary.org. Great gift for Christmas, Chanukah, Solstice or just for a plain gift of love.

I continue to expand on the theme of crossing boundaries through this blog and I hope you enjoy and find value in the post below.

Special offer through the end of the year –
$20 plus shipping.
Purchase Book here: www.CrossingTheBoundary.org

Peace and blessings,

Alan Levin

www.CrossingTheBoundary.org

It came as a surprise to some, (but certainly not all) readers of Crossing the Boundary to find that most of the fourteen spiritual teachers in the book (plus myself) had significant experiences with psychedelics that began or enhanced their spiritual journey. Several speak of their ongoing use of such substances in sacramental ways as part of their spiritual practice.

Nothing in this message is meant to encourage anyone to take psychedelics. They are, after all, illegal. I write this only to open the discussion to what stands out so strongly to many readers of Crossing the Boundary and yet is something I chose not to emphasize in previous publicity descriptions of the book. I confess this may have been due to my own shyness with the controversial nature of the subject. But, it seems the cat is coming out of the bag, or a better way to say it is: the mushroom is popping up out of its hidden underground mycelial web.

So many books and articles have been written about psychedelics that it amazes me that most Americans are still unaware of them as serious tools for consciousness expansion and spiritual development. Recent articles in the New York Times and Scientific American are reporting on the very promising research being done with psychedelic substances for treatments of PTSD, depression, addiction, and quality of life for people with cancer. Often overlooked, though hiding in plain sight, is the fact that accompanying the positive therapeutic results of any of these treatments, there is the frequent, (if not close to universal) report of spiritual, religious or mystical experiences in the treatment sessions. Many report that it is that experience that provided the force of the therapy.

Indeed, while many people continue to take psychedelics for recreational purposes, enjoying the many sensory and emotional pleasures of the experience, a strong subset have continued the deeper, psychologically mind-expanding and spiritual explorations that psychedelics can enhance. Folks involved in this work now generally refer to the substances themselves as “medicines” and use the term entheogen (bringing forth the divine from within) rather than the often demonized or trivialized term, psychedelic (suggesting for many people that you see groovy patterns of color moving around). It’s quite clear from some of the accounts of those I interviewed for Crossing the Boundary, that entheogens often provide, in the right setting, the deepest of openings to whatever it is we call higher consciousness, Oneness, Spirit, the Divine, or God.

Some will still argue that the experience people have with psychedelics/entheogens is not a “valid” spiritual experience because it is induced by a drug. This notion runs counter to the statements of the many spiritual teachers and students who have had experiences of transcendant and mystical states with both entheogens and long periods of meditation or prayer and testify to their being essentially equivalent.

There is also the very interesting study that followed up on what is known as the Harvard “Good Friday Experiment” of 1962. For his PhD in Religion, Walter Pahnke led a controlled experiment to determine whether psilocybin generated genuine mystical experiences. Briefly, Pahnke administered both psilocybin and a placebo to a group of 20 divinity students and recorded their reports. The findings were that most of those who took the psilocybin reported religious or mystical experiences whereas there were none in the control group. The follow-up study, headed by Rick Doblin of MAPS, (The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) was done 40 years later. Doblin was able to find many of the original “Good Friday” participants (many having become religious leaders) who all reported the 1962 experience was their first true religious experience and was as “valid” as any later experience. For a fascinating detailed account of this study, see: here.

An even more significant validation of the link between spirituality and entheogenic plants and substances is the testimony of the many spiritual teachers who acknowledge with deep respect the positive effects such experiences had on their journey. Among these are Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, Huston Smith, Ram Dass, Stanislav Grof, Ralph Metzner, Jack Kornfield, Bill Wilson (founder of A.A.), and a very long list could follow. See Zig Zag Zen for some excellent discussion about this from a wide range of teachers as well as art by Alex and Allyson Grey (Allyson is featured in Crossing the Boundary). As mentioned above, almost every one of the well respected teachers in Crossing the Boundary attribute entheogenic experiences as a primary key to their opening to deep spiritual practice.

The depiction in the alchemical drawing used as a basis for the cover of my book can easily be seen as the dissolving or peaking through the boundary of one’s cultural conditioning to a larger universe, the expansion of consciousness. (The original is above and the one adapted by artist, Michael Green, for the “Jewish” version is below.) We all may ask, what lies beyond the current boundaries of our belief systems and mind-habits and how can we open our hearts and minds to a larger sense of ourselves.

It certainly seems clear that we are at a critical time in the evolution of human consciousness. If, as so much evidence indicates, people are moved to greater states of compassion, unity, joy and transcendence through ingestion of these substances in carefully prepared settings, then shouldn’t getting them out of the locked vaults of government prohibition be a primary goal for us. It behooves us to support research into the appropriate uses and potential dangers and learn from the indigenous societies that have incorporated their use into their sacred ceremonies.

I offer the links below to offer just a few of the many significant books and resources for understanding the subject of psycho-spiritual growth, healing and entheogens:

Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals by Huston Smith .

10 minute video of Stan Grof describing his first LSD experience Dr. Grof, it is safe to say, is the most respected researcher of psychedelics and consciousness studies.

Green Earth Foundation: Here you can find Ralph Metzner’s many books on the subject which are a treasure trove of information about the different substances used for psycho-spiritual growth and include his razor sharp insights into these experiences and their meaning.

Psychedelic Gospels (research on the use of psychedelics in early Christianity).
The Ketamine Papers (accounts of the use of ketamine for healing and transformation).