James Fadiman came to the MAPS conference “on the science track,”
to give a talk about the value of the guided entheogenic journey. He
wondered if there were many underground guides in the audience, so at
the end of his talk he announced that there would be a meeting of guides
at 8:00 the following morning.
“I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 expecting to see maybe five
people, but a hundred showed up! It was staggering.”
It would probably be too strong to describe this far-flung and disparate
group as a community, much less an organization, yet my interviews with
more than a dozen of them suggest they are professionals who share an
outlook, a set of practices, and even a code of conduct. Soon after the
meeting in San Jose, a “wiki” appeared on the Internet—a collaborative
website where individuals can share documents and together create new
content. (Fadiman included the URL in his 2011 book, The Psychedelic
Explorer’s Guide.) Here, I found two items of particular interest, as well
as several sub-wikis—documents under development—that hadn’t had a
new entry for several years; it could be that public disclosure of the site in
Fadiman’s book had led the creators to abandon it or move elsewhere
online.
The first item was a draft charter: “to support a category of profound,
prized experiences becoming more available to more people.” These
experiences are described as “unitive consciousness” and “non-dual
consciousness,” among other terms, and several non-pharmacological
modalities for achieving these states are mentioned, including
meditation, breathwork, and fasting. “A principal tool of the Guides is the
judicious use of a class of psychoactive substances” known to be “potent
spiritual catalysts.”
The website offers would-be guides links to printable forms for legal
releases, ethical agreements, and medical questionnaires. (“We don’t
have very good insurance,” one guide told me, with a sardonic smile. “So
we’re very careful.”) There’s also a link to a thoughtful “Code of Ethics for
Spiritual Guides,” which acknowledges the psychological and physical
risks of journeying and emphasizes the guide’s ultimate responsibility for
the well-being of the client. Recognizing that during “primary religious
practices” “participants may be especially open to suggestion,
manipulation, and exploitation,” the code states that it is incumbent upon
the guide to disclose all risks, obtain consent, guarantee confidentiality,
frankie
(Frankie)
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