Psychedelics, Symbiosis, and the Sacred

A Journey Through Psychedelic Science 2025 and the Growing Movement for Cultural and Planetary Healing

The MAPS team at Closing Plenary

I am back from Psychedelic Science in Denver and wow, what a trip it’s been!

Huge love and thanks to The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) for gathering such a spectrum of global cultures and perspectives. My mind is expanded and heart is so very full.

There’s a deep comfort in knowing that so many brilliant minds are actively working toward safe, equitable access, while also nurturing a culture grounded in harm reduction, Indigenous wisdom, and scientific research. An almost electric energy pulsed through the conference center, infusing every conversation with curiosity, wonder, and a sense of infinite possibility.

The FDA’s recent rejection of MDMA-assisted therapy was a setback for this movement, but as Rick Doblin, the founder of MAPS, shared with me, maybe this is actually just a chance to “reassemble.”

Maybe it’s a good thing that we’re not rushing full steam ahead into the mainstream right away. Maybe this is the pause we needed to recalibrate, to refine, and to organize with even greater integrity. And that’s exactly what I witnessed at #PS25…..a global movement that is not slowing down, but growing stronger, clearer, and more cohesive.

The conference was about half the size as it was in 2023, with about 8,000 people in attendance, which made for a less overwhelming and way more connective, intimate, and grounding experience. The smaller scale made space for more meaningful conversations as well as spontaneity, and the energy was noticeably more spacious and alive.

There was a powerful emphasis on uplifting BIPOC voices, with intentional spaces carved out for BIPOC-only gatherings and conversations, fostering deeper connection, visibility, and and a strong sense of community, especially on Juneteenth.

The environment itself was a sensory experience, a cozy tea room with multiple stations offered a warm cup of tea in the freezing cold convention center, a dark sound immersion room with squishy mats to lay down on became a sanctuary where I took a much needed nap while listening to East Forest’s Music for Mushrooms. The visionary art gallery was filled with extraordinary pieces which tickled our retinas. The expo hall was buzzing with hundreds of mission-driven organizations, each representing a different facet of the ever evolving psychedelic ecosystem. I needed to be pinched at times, it all felt like a dream.

What moved me the most was seeing people across disciplines coming together, creating spaces not just for personal healing, but for cultural repair. Spaces where we could begin to mend our deep political and religious divisions, and remember our belonging and connection to the living web of life, as Dennis McKenna so poetically reminded us to do in his talk exploring our legal right to symbiosis. He said,

“We need a Symbiotic Renaissance as well as a Psychedelic Renaissance. A major challenge of our time is our estrangement from nature. The notion that we own nature, that it exists only for us to dominate, extract, and ultimately destroy is something we’ve got to get away from. Our species needs to go back to nature and reconnect with our symbiotic allies. We need to read, we need to form symbiotic networks with the plants and fungi that define the intelligence of nature.”

One of several Indigenous leaders who spoke at the Opening Plenary encouraged us to, “Listen, can you hear it? Listen. The spirits are watching. Open your minds to a different way of seeing things around you.”

He emphasized the spiritual dimension of the work ahead,

“The plants, the medicines you are going to be talking about have spirits. Just like you and I have a spirit. All of your actions with these medicines must be done with ceremonies and prayers. And asking the spirit of that plant to help you. Without it there could be trouble. Do not abuse these gifts from the creator, they must be respected in every way.”

It was really meaningful to hear these themes being emphasized at PS25. The conference itself went way beyond just psychedelics, it stretched into every cultural milieu and forced us to consider our relationship not only to these powerful medicines, but to each other, to the Earth, and to the systems we participate in and depend on. It thoroughly explored the dark side of psychedelics, as well as the promise and potential that they hold.

It called on us to reimagine new ways of being in the world, rooted in reciprocity, reverence, and radical interconnection. In that sense, it felt less like an academic conference and more like an ushering in of a collective awakening, a reminder that the path forward is not isolated or individual, but woven together, symbiotic, deeply alive and participatory.

To everyone who made this beautiful, dynamic gathering possible, from the bottom of my overflowing heart, Thank You. I left this conference feeling inspired, humbled, and more committed than ever to being on this path of healing and transformation.

Looking forward to continuing to unpack and integrate this journey so I can share more with you all soon. Feel free to check out my work at Inner Healing Space and Psychedelic Society of Asheville in the meantime to stay more connected.

Onwards and outwards, sweet friends…