There’s no perfect story to explain every soul, to do so would reduce all the beauty of spirit to nothing but intellectual patterns, but some stories come close.

The hero’s journey is a psychic relic that dives in and out of the collective unconscious like a flying fish, leaving legends, myths and folklore in its wake.

Originally theorised by Joseph Campbell, the forefather of comparative mythology, the hero’s journey tells the tale of a soul thrust from the womb of peace into the light of the gods, where it is charged with the task of bearing the weight of destiny.

The hero’s journey, much like a psychedelic trip, is a journey of the soul as much as of the earth.

Any psychonaut worth his bud will tell you that no two trips are the same, but you’ll struggle to find a shaman who hasn’t faced a mirror of this age-old tale, and so, I find it necessary to share some wisdom with those of you who have not yet followed the trail of sacred smoke.

Slide the tab under your tongue and remember, “If it’s bitter, it’s a spitter.”

Departure

This is where the voyage begins, where comfort is built upon the fangs of the snake.

I - The Ordinary World

You’ll be familiar with this part already; it’s the world you live in. Whether your idea of ordinary is a shack halfway to the top of the Eiger or an unfurnished apartment on the rougher side of the Bronx, it matters very little.

We all have a “normal”, at least for the time being. The problem is that ‘normal’ is a fragile ecosystem, and right now, your normal is on the edge of shattering.

Don’t sweat the small stuff, when this is all over, you’ll realise you haven’t lost anything of value.

II - Call to Adventure

Maybe it’s a literal call; your best friend is on the line telling you that the mushrooms he ordered three weeks ago have finally shown up.

You’ve probably spent the last couple of weeks sure that you got scammed. And yet, they arrive, threaded with the deep blue psilocybin stains that hint towards the wild ride waiting for you.

One way or another, you’ve found yourself ready to go down the rabbit hole.

Maybe it’s already in your bloodstream and you’re still wondering whether those shrooms are duds pulled out from someone’s backyard… when, suddenly, you feel it, that strange feeling in your head, the slight shifts of scenery that tell you the story is beginning.

III - Refusal of the Call

It’s only been a short while and the ride is starting to get bumpy. You’re looking for the brakes, but they’re nowhere to be found. How the hell do I get a refund?

Your thoughts start to spiral. You did make sure to submit that assignment right? The anxiety is rising and you’re finding just about any reason to scratch away at your mind, anything to distract yourself from the patterns on the wall reorganising themselves into miniature cave paintings.

You don’t belong to the ordinary world anymore, no more of that ‘death and taxes’ BS, this world plays by different rules, rules that you have to respect.

You stay here for as long as you’d like, as long as it takes to realise that there’s no exit, as long as it takes to relax and let the waves that carried the ancients to the stars take you up there for a quick chat.

Finally, you let go. Your mind starts to unfurl. It’s not so bad out here.

IV - Meeting a Mentor

Playing amongst the stars is fun, and for many trips, it’s the last stop. But this isn’t just any trip, you’ve got something to learn, and who else do you learn from if not a mentor?

This mentor isn’t like your high school teacher, there’s no starched shirt and tie, and certainly no homework. There may be a test, but that’s a problem for a wiser, stronger you.

There’s no singular idea of a mentor. For some, it’s a legendary shaman whose village you’ve spent weeks searching for. For others, it's your stoner friend from high school who just finished reading Fingerprints of the Gods. Sometimes it's an offhand comment you overheard from a stranger.

The truth is that there’s power in both the mundane and the theatrical; all that really matters is you found the word to guide you in.

The lessons you learn here can be hard to verbalise, artists spend years trying to find the words to show just a small glimpse. It’s a secret that your own tongue is keeping.

When you're here, in the deep recesses of your mind, you can reframe how you see reality. Chaos theory reigns supreme; a beat from a butterfly’s wings can create a hurricane, and that’s just as well because things are about to get dicey.

V - Crossing the Threshold

This is it, the cliff edge, the leap of faith, the moment. Don your armour and prepare for the worst, but don’t forget to prepare for the best; everyone forgets to prepare for the best. When you’re pushing a boulder uphill, it’s easy to forget that the clearest view is from up top.

By this point, you’ve already changed. Fear might be present, but it feels different, and you’re not going to let it win. You already have the keys, you just have to make it to the door.

I’ll see you on the other side.

Initiation

This is where you find out what you’re really made of, the place where you discover the reason you were sent to earth.

It’s never easy the first time, but then again, you’d never take it seriously if it were.

VI - Road of Trials

Back in the ‘real’ world, the streets on your way to work are punctuated by coffee shops, petrol stations and gridlocked drivers barely keeping their road rage to themselves. But here, your journey is punctuated by trials: memories and thought experiments raging against each other in an eternal grudge match.

Situations from your past flow into the present and project out into the future. Each time they loop around, you can see your mistakes burning brightly, but you’re so far removed from your original state of mind that you can finally see clearly.

You’re given the chance to rewrite the story, to craft a new reality that respects your hard-won wisdom.

Your past is the same, but you are not; you won’t make the same mistakes twice.

VII - Approach to the Abyss

When you get into the flow, time isn’t part of the equation, you’re speedrunning your life with new techniques, and it’s a perfect run. You feel clean and light, ready to embrace your new life.

You know exactly what it’s like to be truly in your element, and you can’t wait to see how things will change for you.

But wait… what’s that up ahead? Where’s this foreboding feeling coming from? I thought I made it through the trials?

Well, yeah, and you did great… but there’s still one more thing you have to do.

You’ve gotta step into the underworld.

VIII - Nemesis

Alright, so you’re feeling like I tricked you, but remember when I said there’d be a test?

Well, here it is.

I won’t sugarcoat it, the abyss is scary, I mean real scary. Every shadow on the wall is painted by your own fears. Every foreign noise was crafted by your insecurities. We all have psychic wounds, and right now you’re in a salt mine.

It’s all too easy to get lost down here.

Fear watched as you conquered every trial on the journey. Fear saw how much you grew, and Fear wasn’t just going to let you waltz back into the mundane world without a fight.

My nemesis was always a fear of being delusional, fear that all the lessons I’d learned on my journey were only trivial games that I played out in space with no bearing on reality.

When we’re in a true state of fear, our nemesis is ourselves. We turn our weapons upon our mind so that the pain is our own doing, our own failure.

Right now, you’re there in the furthest recesses of your mind, the root of it all, and you get a chance to set the tone for the rest of your life.

Are you going to hold on to the thorns?

I didn’t think you would.

IX - Seizing the Sword

The only thing that hurts about letting go of the thorns, is summoning the courage to do it. When your hands are finally open, they’re bloodless and ready for something new, ready to seize the sword.

Seizing the sword extends far back through history, it’s Arthur conquering the stone, it’s Neo ‘beginning to believe’, it’s you, wielding your mind against the world.

It’s the moment you realise that this power has always been inside you, your birthright, just waiting for the moment you were strong enough to pick it up.

Trips are so complex and beautiful that you can never remember every detail, but you won’t forget this, that’s for sure.

Everything points to this moment, it feels as if the universe has singled you out for this knowledge, you feel totally known, totally in control, totally loved. And you know what?

You are.

Return

You’re past the crest now. The waves of energy are still pulsing cleanly, but they’re starting to taper out now.

X - The Road Back

This spells the beginning of my favourite part of any trip; the sheer intensity of the peak of the trip is magical, but the road back is mystical.

There is an unshakeable peace, built on the back of your efforts. Electricity graces your skin in the most subtle way; you can feel it coursing across your skin, but it never overwhelms. Nothing can, after what you’ve just experienced.

XI - Resurrection

Resurrection is no light claim, but that’s exactly what it is. There’s no hiding the fact that you’re not completely ‘yourself’ when you’re peaking on any psychedelic. And this point is where your regular self starts to come back, but not completely.

The cliches are true, you feel a million times lighter. Sometimes, it’s hard to place exactly what you lost, but it’s like I said ‘you haven’t lost anything of value.’

In this state of budding consciousness, you start to see your wisdom beyond the symbolic realm. Things start to click in place, and you understand your ‘real’ life in high definition.

One lesson I had to learn is that we’re here to be incarnated in the mundane physical world, and that we don’t always need to chase the mystic state. We’re meant to use its wisdom to enchant the world. We’re creatures of both blood and spirit, to deny that is to deny ourselves.

So, what’s your truth? What do you want to speak into the world?

Whatever it is, I’m all ears.

XII - Home

You know what they say, ‘Home always looks different after a long trip’, and that goes for any kind of ‘trip.’

The world may physically be the same, but the way you relate to it is forever altered. Once you’ve conquered something so intense, it’s hard to imagine worrying about unread texts. When you let go of all of that, things just seem to work as they should; your harmony is reflected in the world. What you perceive becomes true.

There’s little for me to say, your world is your own now, and the beauty you chose back in your subconscious mind will flow out effortlessly.

Enjoy the ride.