Reciprocity
The Seventh Step in Safe and Responsible Use is Reciprocity.
The concept of reciprocity is a part of a long history of spiritual traditions and is widely encouraged within psychedelic communities. Reciprocity is the act of reaffirming the decision to live intentionally, compassionately, and healthily through service to one’s larger community.
Enthoegens often awaken individuals to a deeper care for themselves, one another, and our living planet. We have also witnessed that as people heal deep-seated trauma and wounds through work with entheogens, they often reach a place of wanting to be of service and give back to their communities.
Reciprocity could look like some of the following:
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Helping out friends and neighbors
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Volunteering for a local organization
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Supporting others who want to learn about plant medicine
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Offering your knowledge or skills free or by donation to your community
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Investing in land restoration and ecological conservation projects
Double check: What does safe and responsible practice with entheogens look like?
This varies with each person’s needs and experience. For an experienced person, it might be finding a safe and supportive place in nature, setting up a place to rest as well as clear boundaries for exploration of the area, having a supportive and trusted sitter, and all your basic needs met. For a person new to this work or working with a new entheogen, it might look like partaking in a ceremony with an experienced facilitator who has been recommended by a trusted community member and with whom you’ve had conversations and feel like it would be a supportive environment for you. It also might include working with the support of a trusted mental health professional or an experienced guide and/or having community support around the preparation and integration process. Recognizing that for entheogenic plants and fungi to provide the healing experiences so needed by humanity, one cannot separate the plant from the approach taken. We encourage approaching all entheogenic experiences with care, reverence, and intention.
Here are a few guidelines to start with:
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Choose the right medicine for you. Do your research, ask people you trust about their experiences, and understand the potential risks.
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Choose the right dosage. If you are uncertain how much you should take or it is your first time, start small!
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Choose the right environment. Find a setting that is comfortable for you, one that will help enable you to go deeper into your journey with focus and clarity.
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Find a trusted sitter. This is strongly recommended if you are inexperienced with these substances. There are mental health professionals who can help assist with preparation, journeying, and integration. Lay out pre-established agreements between the two of you.
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Be open to lifestyle changes. These experiences may shift your perception regarding thought-habits, behavioral patterns, or relationship dynamics. It is recommended you approach these experiences with an open mind toward making any necessary changes the medicine asks of you (diet, exercise, styles of communication, memory patterns, narrative transformations, etc). We also recommend waiting to make any major decisions until a few weeks after an entheogenic experience so that you have time to thoroughly think and feel them through.
