April Pride, host: Hi everyone and welcome back to the. Of Like Minds podcast. I haven’t taken an official poll or anything, but I’m pretty confident that the number one reason people are deterred from trying psychedelics is fear of having a, quote, bad trip. People are super scared of being in an experience that’s out of their control that they can’t get out of. Sounds like a nightmare and a terrible proposition. Why would anyone sign up for that? Right. But we have way more control over our trips than we think. Today, we’re going to delve into the art of creating the perfect environment for safe, meaningful and profound psychedelic journey and demystify how to do it yourself by breaking things down step by step. If you Google Preparing for a psychedelic experience, you’re probably going to get a lot of hits. Talking about set and setting set being short for mindset and setting, referring to the physical space where you’re going to trip and the critical parts of setting are the people, the place and the dose that you consume. You need the people you trust and feel safe with.
April Pride, host: In Preparing for a psychedelic experience, You need to be in a place where you feel both psychologically and physically comfortable, and you need to dose according to whatever outcome you’re looking to achieve. These three things are all interrelated and flexible. For example, if you’re planning to trip alone, you may want to choose a setting you know really well. But if you’re tripping with someone you really trust, maybe you’re willing to be a little bit more adventurous with your setting or even your dose. And for the super planners out there, one more way I like to think about setting the stage for a good trip is to consider the five senses. You want to make sure that you’ve got layers to take care of your temperature. And if you could potentially have stomach upset a ginger chew or CBM or toilet paper. You want to have audio lined up ahead of time. That’s of interest to you. And of course, we have psyched audio that you can listen to while you’re under the influence and we’ll link to those in the show notes. You also want to have a headphones or speaker handy. If you want to go inward, get an eye mask in place beforehand. It’s these sort of checklist things that will help you set yourself up for success, both physically and also psychologically, because doing them makes you feel prepared and taken care of. But the baseline is to always consider those first three things people place and dose and to always consider them in relation to each other. If you’re thoughtful about these three things, you’ll create a high likelihood, no pun intended, for meaningful, transformative, stellar trip.
Maria Prieto, videographer: This whole thing with the pregnancy complications and just like the loss I’ve. This whole thing with like the pregnancy complications and just like the loss. I’ve noticed how it holds on to me. And you know, every month when you know, when it’s that time of the month, it’s it’s very personal. It’s really hard to not get sad. It’s really hard to just be like, oh my gosh, not again. It was so comfortable wearing that all the time. I could feel it like I would always have that with me.
April Pride, host: Hey, I’m April Pride. Today we’ll meet the three women, including Adelia, who you just heard at the top of the show, who were cool enough to agree to take a psychedelic journey and share the experience with you, our listeners. Have you ever wondered why women turn to psychedelics? Virgilia It’s about finding peace in her process to conceive a child. In this episode, we’ll hear why all our sister trippers turned to psilocybin mushrooms and go back to what Natasha taught us. She wants these women in all who trip to foster something she describes as cultivating the witness to approach moments in your trip and in your life with curiosity and without judgment or shame. We start every episode with our word of the week and end every episode with trip tips. Please continue listening after I sign off because we’ll close out each episode this season with a ten minute excerpt from the High Guide Spiked audio series we aired last season. Produced in partnership with Patchworks. These exclusive soundscapes are 30 to 60 minute guided psychedelic audio journeys. The sounds throughout the episode you’re about to hear are sampled from the High Guides. Journey Number three Episode 28 of this podcast. Our Word of the Week in this episode, Ancestral Communion contacting the spirits of your ancestors to use their great wisdom and bolster your own knowledge. Yep. We went there already because you already have your very own high guides. And the sooner you know that and trust them, the easier this life can be.
Maria Prieto, videographer: I think the reason I was really looking forward to our conversation was to find a way to set an intention.
April Pride, host: A videographer based in Los Angeles, Maria Prieto, is the baby of the bunch at 20 something, and she wishes to continue to cultivate a flexible mindset.
Maria Prieto, videographer: I guess something some of the process that I’ve been working through on myself is that in the past I have been that very schedule regimented person and, you know, it’s like very myopic. Just this way, this way, this way, you know, feel like.
Natasha Lannerd, Psychedeli Facilitator: There’s kind of two classes of looking at intentions when you’re making an intention and it’s around a goal. It’s great to be hyper specific, right? But when you’re making an intention as an explorer, you want to make sure that you open the door for the nuance to bring messages. Right? Because if we’re so one tracked on exactly, you know, this one sentence, anything that might come up, it’s like, oh, well, that’s not what I’m looking for. Like, I’m going to set this aside. You know, one of the things that I kind of incorporate in my own personal process is, you know, when I think about what my intention is, is sometimes I’m like, I’m just open to hearing whatever messages, for instance, my body has for me today or my heart or I’m open to receiving the guidance from, you know, the beings and angels and, you know, ancestors that surround me. I’m open to I’m open to that dialogue, you know. And so I think that there’s some ways to welcome in the information. But one of the things that can be helpful is like maybe getting clear on where you’d like to hear it. And that’s kind of what I was saying is like from the body, from the heart, from your ancestors and guides, like where where would you like to, to connect or I guess put up your antenna.
April Pride, host: Maria feels that connecting with her ancestors will help her to think more expansively.
Maria Prieto, videographer: I am fascinated by the concept of guides and ancestors really channeling them through my experience. And what I found with this experience is that you kind of just open your eyes to the full picture of everything. And I think to get guidance from something that is outside of myself would be incredibly beneficial. You know, we left Mexico when I was young and I felt like I really just wanted to assimilate to the American culture instead of honoring my roots. And it was it wasn’t until my early 20s that I really felt a desire to connect again with my heritage. So I think doing that for myself will just be a tremendous experience.
April Pride, host: As a person nearly twice Maria’s age. I think of how different things would be for me if I had the right advice, the right dosage, the right mindset going into a psychedelic experience, to have known two decades ago that I too have at least one high guide, knowing that the pressure isn’t all on me and we can trust the people before us are still looking out for us.
Natasha Lannerd, Psychedeli Facilitator: Absolutely. And it really, you know, I think is also a good reminder, is it’s so many times in our life, it’s so easy to feel alone. And, you know, when you through the act of kind of reconnecting to the to the shoulders that you’re standing on, it can be a really great reminder that, like, you’re not alone. You never were alone. And that’s why you’re here. Just because it’s not necessarily a seen a seen since experience doesn’t mean you can’t have a sensory experience otherwise. One thing I also want to be clear about is like there’s an umbrella term of ancestors. I always get specific of elevated ancestors. Right. Like you want to call in the ancestors and the guides that are elevated and looking to be helpful, loving and caring. The reason that I bring this up is because when I have, you know, ancestor conversations with people, some people have relationships with their ancestors or know about relationships with their ancestors. That frankly, is not an energy that they want to welcome in. And that’s totally okay.
April Pride, host: Truthfully, when I ask these three women to take a trip after setting an intention, I was surprised that two of the three wanted to commune with their ancestors. I had for sure an oh shit moment. What do I, a person very much always in forward motion, have to offer on this. But then I remembered I had previously signed up for a workshop on the history of psychedelics in Africa. There are no coincidences. It was hosted here in Seattle by the Liberation Hub and featuring guest Speaker Darren Springer. I’ll attempt to convey nuggets of what he shared that helped me, quote, get it. I am really excited to tell you about Setset. It’s a deck of cards that I designed with some partners in Toronto to tap into your inner child and create an immersive and playful trip experience. The game Setset is all about preparing and playing with critical components that set the path of your psychedelic experience, your mindset, and your physical experience up for success. When we take psychedelics, we’re often looking for an experience with a heightened sense of playfulness. A big part of the pleasure of a trip comes from reconnecting with our childhood, when we felt more carefree and it was easier to laugh and play. The Setset cards give you the opportunity to experience the world freed from the adult ways we’ve been conditioned to receive or understand it. Each card comes with three levels of prompts. The first level requires the least amount of vulnerability and sobriety. The next two prompts get more complex or spicy, whichever level you choose.
April Pride, host: These cards are a fantastic way to break the ice and foster a sense of togetherness. You’ll get to know other players in new and profound ways. Trust me, I watch this unfold as we held several teas with cards at my home. It’s a journey of exploration, connection and shared understanding. Though the cards are super cool all on their own, we have more for you of Like Minds is getting ready to launch a series of Setset game nights in Seattle. Here’s how it will work. Sign up for our newsletter at of Like-Minded AE so that you can keep up with our Setset nights and ticket sales. You’ll need to purchase a ticket and all ticket holders will receive a gift when they arrive so that they can safely and vibrantly enjoy game night with a fantastic facilitator that will guide the group through the game. If you’re ready to embark on a journey of play and exploration, visit the of Like Minds website to get your deck today. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social [email protected] to stay updated on dates for upcoming game nights. You won’t want to miss these. Within Indigenous communities, culture is centered around ancestors. This is rooted in the fact that in various mythologies, God is dead, too far away. God doesn’t hear us. So the number one communication is with our ancestors, which is exactly what our second sister Tripper Lalin intends to do in her psychedelic journey.
Speaker5: I’m Lalin Saint, just a singer, performer, producer based in the Bay Area and also more recently in New York. I am fascinated by the world, by new experiences and also led by my ancestors. Awesome.
Natasha Lannerd, Psychedeli Facilitator: I was reading your bio and I was immediately drawn in to the whole magic of it. I found the bio mesmerizing as the way they describe your voice.
Speaker5: I know I got my voice from my maternal grandmother to express myself in that way, but I also have it from my uncle that has passed. And right now I’m really examining my dreams and looking to see what’s coming up in my dreams that can help deepen my connection. In terms of my spiritual path as a Haitian woman, and this is all a part of me reclaiming my identity and reclaiming my culture because I’m a Haitian born in America. I’m Haitian American and grew up in a very religious Christian household. And, um, so everything that I’m doing in this part of my life is reclamation. I’m fascinated by all the bits, all the sides of what we experience as humans. And, you know, for me, I think especially the past few years, I’ve learned to go there even more. You know, this is what it means to be alive, is to feel these feelings, you know, and this is how we heal. You know, I’ve been through a divorce. Like I just healed like some sexual trauma stuff or not. You know, that’s always a work in progress. But, you know, just, you know, there’s there’s always an undercurrent there that can be dived into. And I welcome that experience for this. You know, my my doors are open for this to say, hey, like if I need to ball, then this is the perfect time to do it. You know? I mean, I’m into crying in general, but I really want to, like, ugly cry wail.
April Pride, host: We’ll get to the Ugly crying later in the series in a future episode. But first, let’s meet our final sister Tripper for the season. Adelia Carillo.
Maria Prieto, videographer: I recently moved to Arizona. We’ve lived here now for about a year. I’m from California. I lived my whole life in California, so I was really focused on building this amazing career in the consumer electronic industry. I ended up having an ectopic pregnancy, which led to an emergency surgery. And after that, like, it just it brought up a lot of other things that happened in my childhood. But then it also like it was just it transformed me. Like I completely lost myself for for a good year. I didn’t want to leave the house. I was just anxious and going through a lot all the time. But that’s when my fiance actually, you know, reintroduced me to cannabis like I smoked when I was in high school. I didn’t know anything medical about it. And so that was kind of the journey of what led into, you know, two years ago when I started doing psychedelics, there was more to life that I wanted. I, you know, I want I wanted a good career, but I also wanted to be happy and I wanted to be able to build my own voice, build my own role. And then Covid happened. After about six months, I started researching psychedelics, and it was because my anxiety was starting to come back. I also knew that I do work. I’m an overachiever. I work a lot, so I’m like, I need to kind of hone in to that because at the end of the day, I’m just going to push myself too hard. You know? I can’t do that for the rest of my life. I work too much and there’s obviously a reason why I do that.
Natasha Lannerd, Psychedeli Facilitator: Thank you for sharing so much. I appreciate it. It seems like you’ve had a lot of grief. Just from the experiences that you’ve been through. And I’m. I’m really glad that you’re okay. I can only imagine that that pregnancy was really hard.
April Pride, host: Thank you to Maria Lalin and Adelia for opening up to us as they prepare for their psychedelic experience. And thank you to each of you, our listeners, for continuing on this journey with me and the High guide. Before we wrap up today’s episode, I want to share three trip tips that will help you get your mindset straight in the weeks and days leading up to your next psychedelic journey. Number one cleanse. Go into this feeling fresh. You will not regret it. Number two, Fast. The least extreme fast that produces optimal results is a schedule similar to this. Keep in mind that three days is plenty to get your system prepped, but you can start with one week leading up to your psychedelic experience Fruits and vegetables, little to no alcohol caffeine you should cut out if you’re really serious three days before your journey. Stick to mostly fruits and vegetables, maybe a little bit of protein and no alcohol in the day of. Only have fruits and liquids and nothing within four hours of taking your medication. Number three, journaling. This reinforces what you’re looking forward to in this experience specifically, and what you want from life in general. Write with a stream of consciousness. If you take one thing away from this episode, I hope it’s the realization that the kind of trip you have isn’t such a wild card. There’s a lot you can do to set yourself up for a positive experience, both in prep to take care of your future, tripping self and as the experience is unfolding. Think of it like taking a backpacking trip in your mind. If you packed well, you’ll be able to handle unexpected situations a lot better than if you just marched into the wilderness with no supplies. We’ve got a few other great episodes on preparing to trip and our archives, which we’ll link to in the show notes. Take a listen and get out there in the wild and wonderful world of expanded consciousness. Thank you, as always, for listening to the High Guide podcast, and we’ll see you next time. A quick final thanks to our show sponsor of Like Minds, Seattle’s trusted source for psilocybin.
