newly released in September 2024:
The Soul's Red Thread
Memoirs of a Guide
The Soul's Red Thread
Memoirs of a Guide
|
excerpt from
“Anything, Anytime” chapter 11 of The Soul's Red Thread After feeding myself lunch, I decided to go for a long hike. The first steps seemed mindless enough, until I realized I was heading toward the ridgetop solo spot of my first vision fast. While I walked across a wide wash and then up toward the ridge, I considered the greater timeline of my own personal story. |
In 1958, when I was just a year old, Hoffman isolated psilocybin and psilocin. Two decades later, at twenty-one, I had the life-altering insight overlooking Long Lake. Just over two decades after that, at forty-three, I did my first vision fast here in Hanaupah Canyon. And now, two decades further on, at sixty-four, I was back here at Hanaupah.The great arc of my life has landed me right here.
When I reached the site of my old Purpose Circle, the midday sun was hanging high in the sky. I sat down facing east, looking across the salt flats of Badwater, sparkling jewels against the dark backdrop of the Funerals. The once-sublime desert morning had turned into a hot, hot day—hottest of the week—though this felt just right. Baking in the desert heat was a way to relax into all that had brought me to this moment. The Long Lake epiphany. My first solo fast in the desert. The people now fasting in the canyon. This day with Zoey and Pollan’s book.
A great A-ha then came bubbling up.
A well-held psychedelic journey . . . is like a well-guided desert fast . . . is like a well-taught meditation retreat . . . is like a well-supported death.
Each of these, I saw so clearly, is an invitation to shine a beacon down into the darkly splendid world of the unconscious. A chance to do transformational work of the deepest kind. An opportunity to live life more honestly, more fully. An invitation to make death your final offering to life.
This is the thread I’ve been following. This is the Soul’s Red Thread.
When I reached the site of my old Purpose Circle, the midday sun was hanging high in the sky. I sat down facing east, looking across the salt flats of Badwater, sparkling jewels against the dark backdrop of the Funerals. The once-sublime desert morning had turned into a hot, hot day—hottest of the week—though this felt just right. Baking in the desert heat was a way to relax into all that had brought me to this moment. The Long Lake epiphany. My first solo fast in the desert. The people now fasting in the canyon. This day with Zoey and Pollan’s book.
A great A-ha then came bubbling up.
A well-held psychedelic journey . . . is like a well-guided desert fast . . . is like a well-taught meditation retreat . . . is like a well-supported death.
Each of these, I saw so clearly, is an invitation to shine a beacon down into the darkly splendid world of the unconscious. A chance to do transformational work of the deepest kind. An opportunity to live life more honestly, more fully. An invitation to make death your final offering to life.
This is the thread I’ve been following. This is the Soul’s Red Thread.