56 Spirituality Studies 10-1 Spring 2024 tion. The possibility of this happening should have been discussed during the preparation period. The first step is to find out exactly what type of experience is involved… It is also important to encourage the subject to scan his or her body for signs of physical pain, tension, or other forms of distress indicating energy blockage. There is, in general, no emotional distress or disturbing and incomplete psychological gestalt that does not show specific somatic manifestations. These concomitant psychosomatic symptoms then become the entry points for… intervention. Given that we observe a high incidence of entheogens not only decreasing symptoms but, in many cases, removing them altogether, some important questions remain. When healing has been successful, what happens to a person’s identification with a trauma that they have hitherto long lived with – sometimes for an entire lifetime? What happens if this trauma, following its cure, exposes a deep vulnerability that was previously suppressed? These queries have not been adequately tackled. A person may well be “healed,” but they might continue to be troubled by the perennial quandary of Who am I?: “The self disappears, but no other self appears to occupy the empty space it has left” (Paz 1990, 84). So much of a patient’s time and energy can be expended on an all-consuming trauma that, once it subsides with any functional impairments having been restored, they are essentially lost without an abiding sense of self. In traditional healing, this was never a problem, as identity was embedded in the sacred use of entheogens which lent the experience a transcendent purpose. In a desacralized cosmos, however, this is not possible in that our grasp of who we are is largely forged in a profane ambiance that rejects the possibility of an enduring self not confined by the ego. 11 The Therapeutic Posture What is most urgently required right now are fully integrated models informed by sacred psychology that facilitate epistemological pluralism and multidimensional perspectives. In this regard, it has been asserted that: “Unless you have an experienced guide… it would be extremely reckless” (Leary 1966, 96) to experiment with entheogens. Given the dominance of secular approaches to mental health, we need to be aware of the great obstacles faced by traditional healers who seek to facilitate entheogenic therapy, which radically differs from the “Western medical model.” Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff (1912–1994) provides us with the following account of the tremendous demands of this calling (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1974a, 127): In order to become a payé [note: shaman] an individual must have demonstrated since childhood a profound interest in the religious traditions of his culture besides having a good knowledge of myths, genealogies, and invocations. He must know how “to sit on his bench” and reflect; he must practice sexual abstinence, and he must also be a good drinker of chicha, a good dancer and singer, and he must be able to give sound advice to others. He should not be too fond of women, and he must channel his sexual energy toward other goals; however, he should be a family man. The most necessary quality is that he have the capacity to achieve well-defined hallucinations when he takes a concoction, and to be able to interpret them. Also, in the learning of myths and traditions what is involved is not so much a good memory but a capacity for interpreting their symbolism, and of ‘hearing the echo’ of the tales told by tradition. The above description of a traditional healer’s role suggests a discipline that lies well beyond anything that secular mental health practitioners are trained in. From the perspective of modern medical and therapeutic models, the path taken by a traditional shaman in becoming an effective healer must seem altogether unintelligible. The shortcomings of modern Western education as a suitable PAT have already been identified within the psychedelic movement (Leary 1990b, 85–86): A medical degree doesn’t equip one to pilot a jet plane or to understand the incredible complexities of consciousness. The LSD experience is so novel and so powerful that the more you think you know about the mind, the more astounded and even frightened you’ll be when your consciousness starts to flip you out of your mind. A new profession of psychedelic guides will inevitably develop to supervise these experiences. The training for this new profession will aim at producing the patience of a firstgrade teacher, the humility and wisdom of a Hindu guru, the loving dedication of a minister-priest, the sensitivity of a poet, and the imagination of a science fiction writer. To start with, there can be no confidence in a therapist who has not attained a certain level of experience and understanding of the sacred medicines, such as to be thoroughly familiar with the various realms of consciousness, and to know how to help others navigate their perilous waters: “It scarcely needs to be stated that no one can be a proper guide
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