We all know what an astronaut is – this is derived from the ancient Greek word Astro (stars) naútēs (sailor or navigator). So an astronaut is a person that travels the stars. A Psychonaut is a person who uses altered states of consciousness to explore the mind.
The ancient Greek word for the mind, spirit, and soul is psychē and as we saw above naútēs is for a sailor or navigator. Hence the word rather beautifully means someone who sails or navigates the mind, spirit and soul. To make life easy we don’t use the ancient Green spelling and simplify it to Psychonaut.
If we imagine ourselves on Earth, we are all actually traveling at great speed through the stars. This means that in reality, we are all astronauts on a little planet called Earth that is orbiting our Sun at about 30 kilometers a second, while our entire solar system is “slowly” moving towards the center of our galaxy at about 220 kilometers per second.
If that is not bad enough, our galaxy is moving at about 1000 kilometers per second towards some unknown thing that is pulling everything there. However, from our viewpoint on the surface of the planet, everything appears to be normal. This has a great bearing on being a psychonaut, so follow this line of thought a bit further.
On Earth, we can see that we are all astronauts, as we are traveling, very fast, through the stars. However, that is normal, and nobody thinks that way – much. If we employ a bit of chemistry and engineering we can create a rocketship, which then leaves the surface of the Earth and changes our perspective. So the people who leave the Earth’s atmosphere and cross the Kármán line become Astronauts.
In other words, chemistry, when applied in a channeled fashion allows us to change our perspective and become “astronauts”. The reality is that the distance between Earth and our furthest astronauts currently represents about 1 second of the distance we all travel on Earth towards the center of the galaxy.
But the change in perspective a rocket motor using some chemistry confers upon an “astronaut” gives them a different set of understandings about our place in the Universe.
A psychonaut uses chemistry to propel their perspective out of the “normal” conditioned realm that those who have not experimented live in. If we are to consider this analogy further, there are a number of different chemical rocket ships that we can use, and these allow different degrees of access into various “orbits” of the mind.
Lets take a quick tour of the tools a psychonaut may use to achieve these different orbits – I will continue the rocket ship analogy, because this is just a fun way to do things and explain the relative “psychonautical power” of the different agents out there.
Cannabis: The Blue Origin New Shephard for starters
If we look at the New Shephard rocket it sort of almost gets into space. It goes up a bit, then floats for a little bit then comes back down to the ground. This is really space flight for beginners. Low risk, but effective and you will see some stars and see if this whole space thing is for you.
Herb consumed through a vaporizer is an excellent equivalent to the New Shephard rocket. I always recommend that any psychonaut should try and grow their own in this regard.
There is something special about growing your own tools to explore. I would suggest following this link and choosing the OG Kush option. Good seeds. Good reliable strain with a nice terpene and cannabinoid balance that provides a gentle set of insights.
With any herb, the ratio of cannabinoids and terpenes and the types of these classes of chemicals influences the effect. This is termed the entourage effect. OG Kush has a nice balance of everything, and is very effective on its own.
I have found that if you happened to eat a few mangos prior to using your herbal vaporizer, that this can have a profound effect on the overal experience.
This actually gets you into orbit a bit! You start getting a lot of perspective. This is a very safe option for the start of your psychonautical learning and exploration process.
There is no real risk of anything going wrong – the worst that could happen is you may venture into a space in your head with a bit of panic or guilt in it, and this can become overwhelming. It will however teach you to confront these issues.
Take notes or voice notes and listen to them afterwards. A lot of your insights will seem very clear when you are at the peak of your exploration, and then these insights fade as you return to the normal place we live in.
Writing things down and taking voice notes helps you put a handle on these thoughts and bring them back to this world.
Psilocybe Mushrooms: The Rocketlab Electron for those who want to get a little into orbit
Psilocybes are an awesome tool that we can also grow. These are a bit like the Rocketlab Electron rocket. They are actually quite versatile and can get you into orbit easily to get the clear view and perspective of yourself that we all need.
If you are not carrying too much baggage and you really load up on fuel (mushrooms) you can actually probably get right to the Moon!! Again, much like any space program, it helps to take baby steps.
Rather get into orbit first and make sure you can get back safely. Then try a slightly higher trajectory and eventually aim for the Moon. Never fly to the Moon first time. That is just not good.
I would suggest following this link and exploring the choices for growing. I am a big fan of Golden Teachers – these mushrooms even have a name to suggest this!
Depending on how successful your grow is will determine the actual mass of mushrooms you will have to fly into mindspace and your specific orbital trajectory. I would suggest the old adage “Start low, go slow” and just figure out what works for you. Fresh mushrooms can be blended in lemon juice with honey as a smoothie. The stomach should be empty for such journeys.
The above is an example of one of my grows of Golden Teachers. These are beautiful little critters and if one were to accidentally ingest just one of them, you would notice it. Three and you are in orbit.
The LSD Family: The Spacex Falcon 9 of psychedelics – when you are now serious about stuff and getting properly into orbit
LSD-25 was nearly not discovered. Albert Hoffman was a bit of a funny guy and the story of his discovery of this chemical and his bicycle ride has gone down in legend. In fact today we celebrate Bicycle Day with much the same enthusiasm as the 20 April.
From a learning perspective, the LSD family of substances are in a league of their own. These provide a psychonaut with a wealth of revelations and insights.
Again, that voice recorder can be a useful thing – writing for me is just not an option as I get lost in the heirglyphics that appear on the page! But you definitely will not go wrong taking voice notes and waffling along a bit. You never know – you may be the next Terence Mckenna.
The DMT family: Future Space Technology – Star Trek grade launch into new Galazies through portals.
If we look at the pokey rockets of today they take a VERY LONG time to get anywhere. The fastest things humans have ever launched are the two Voyager probes which are only now actually, sort of, maybe, just about, leaving most of our Solar system as far as we can tell. These were launched in 1976.
By comparison, the Star Trek series and movies imagine the use of crazy powerful technologies that can bend space and time with warp and hyperdrives that allow very large space ships to move almost unfathomable distances through space at great speeds!
The DMT family of tryptamines are just in a league of their own from the psychonauts perspective. These can very quickly take you so far out into the inner spaces and outer spaces of your mind that it appears you may have travelled to different dimension.
Some of these appear to be inhabited by hyper intelligent entities sometimes referred to as DMT Elves or DMT entities.
You can, in no way, take a voice recorder or notepad along on these 15 minute to about 3 hour sojourns into the psyche. If you did have such a device in your hands, there is no way I think that anybody could actually figure out what it was or how to write. It just will not happen. Take your mind along and keep the memories and insights you gain. Very very powerful stuff.
Naturally all of the above is just an anecdotal story and any links to any websites are purely for research purposes. The consumption of mind altering substances should never be accompanied by the use of heavy machinery, such as space rockets, or chainsaws. Just in case you were so inclined.
