Psychedelics give us access to an awareness beyond linear, rational consciousness. It is often challenging to find words to describe a mystical experience. Language is limited.
Stanislov Grof had participants create artwork in his workshops to describe their transcendent experiences. Imagery offers a mode of communication to bypass the rational mind. Something vital is lost when we attempt to communicate the mystical through language alone.
Imagery is more suited to representing spiritual experiences, the realm of the divine feminine. Before the patriarchal world, as we know it today, this right-brain way of thinking was more trusted. When the Goddess was worshipped, we valued imagery. The supernatural side of life was honored. We knew the importance of periodically stepping outside waking consciousness to access the divine realm. We knew it held a healing power for our bodies, minds, and souls. When God was a woman, we knew the value of spiritual practice to access altered states.
The devaluing of the mystical coincided with the loss of the feminine. In The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image the author describes how this shift occurred in the world. When language replaced imagery as the primary mode of communication, we lost touch with an essential aspect of existence. And along with it, we lost a sense of awe and wonder about being alive.
And to what cost? What toll has this taken on us today?
It is not a stretch to consider that the mental health crisis today is one such result.
The loss of the feminine is the loss of the mystical. The loss of the supernatural is the loss of joy, of meaning in life.
In secular society today, the spiritual side of life is seen as irrelevant, leaving a deep soul hunger - an unidentified sense of despair. Our mental well-being suffers. Is this all there is to life?
At one time, we knew the answer. When society honored the divine feminine, we knew there was much more to life than we could access during our waking state. We knew the mystical was real. That knowing gave us resilience. It fed our souls. It gave us hope and supported our mental well-being.
Today the psychedelic renaissance reminds us of the importance of the spiritual side of life. Research on psychedelics for mental health shows us that it is not the drug, per se, that provides the therapeutic benefit. Rather, it is the mystical experience that can arise from taking the drug that heals people. We now have scientific validation that mystical experiences produce therapeutic outcomes.
This renaissance is more of a re-remembering than an awakening. We knew this at one time when society honored the divine feminine. When God was a woman, we knew life was not mundane but magical. That what we could imagine we could create. Goddess cultures didn't just rely on plants as the gateway to the divine. They knew that the true power to access the divine realm exists within us. And as science reveals today, the most potent psychedelics on the planet are innate to human beings. The ultimate spiritual awakening is to activate this sacred power within - without drugs.