After returning home to the U.S. from doing Ayahuasca, COVID-19 began to creep into the news, and all future plans got put on hold as the world shut down. I found myself briefly staying with my parents during the lockdown, before heading back to Chicago to cancel my lease and drive across the country to the Pacific Northwest. I ultimately road tripped from Northern Virginia to Chicago, then from Chicago through South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, to the western coast of Washington State. 

Intro Song:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/pursuit-of-happiness-nightmare-feat-mgmt-ratatat/1446012919?i=330341472

Closing Song 1:
http://https://music.apple.com/us/album/goin-out-west-2023-remaster/1695049294?i=1695049795

Closing Song 2: 
https://music.apple.com/us/album/pursuit-of-happiness-nightmare-feat-mgmt-ratatat/1446012919?i=330341472

Today's episode is a brief reiteration of the notion that all things are constantly changing. The unfolding of current events, the manifestations within your private life, your work life, your health, your finances, everything is consistently evolving over time, and sometimes changing rapidly. And we have the capacity to influence, and even control the manifested outcomes of our life, if we learn to control our thoughts and adjust our emotional state. 

Opening Song:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/all-in-a-days-work-feat-marsha-ambrosius/1440839174?i=1440839267

Closing Song:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/lovers-spit/1443266107?i=1443267087

This is part two of the story of dying on Ayahuasca. Enjoy.

Opening Song: “Body Song” by Patients https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWJ7ynTqw-A

Closing Song 1: https://ohfortuna.bandcamp.com/track/bodies-broken

Closing Song 2: https://music.apple.com/us/album/love-vigilantes-alternate-version-bonus-track/314988639?i=314988699

Finding myself in the back of a moto-taxi in Iquitos, Peru, I met other retreaters heading to the same place and finally arrived at the Ayahuasca center out in the jungle. This episode details the first two Ayahuasca ceremonies, meeting the spirit of Ayahuasca as an old woman, and some signs and synchronicities in between.

Opening Song: https://michael-parallax.bandcamp.com/track/ghosts-spirit-come-in

Closing Song: https://music.apple.com/us/album/help-im-alive/1440945965?i=1440945967

After taking mushrooms alone in the dark one last time in Chicago, and introducing my mom to the mushroom space back in Virginia, the road to Ayahuasca took me first to a retreat center in the Pacific Northwest. I found myself being called to more retreat centers and more work in the “healing” profession, made some very interesting connections out West, and prepared myself for solo travel to Peru to commune with the spirit of Ayahuasca and finally get some answers about why we exist and how to do it better.

Opening Song: https://music.apple.com/us/album/welcome-home/1394440333?i=1394440754

Closing Song: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-trapeze-swinger/314988639?i=314988698

Today’s episode is a continuation and conclusion of the affair story, as well as a transition into an emerging chapter of life pursuing a career in retreats and at retreat centers. One more retreat days episode after this, then I’ll get into ayahuasca. Stay tuned.

Opening Song: Monsters of Folk - “Temazcal”

Closing Song: https://music.apple.com/us/album/changes-feat-the-budos-band/1485051210?i=1485051494

Part one of a story recounting a romantic entanglement that cost me just about everything I had at the time. Major changes began to occur in my life and my personal growth after this. And a brief story of taking mushrooms in a State Park with a “friend” and finding myself having to start my life over, in many ways.

Opening Song: https://music.apple.com/us/album/put-a-date-on-it-feat-lil-baby/1450317766?i=1450317767

Closing Song: https://music.apple.com/us/album/when-the-night-is-over/1440909604?i=1440909751

More DMT stories that transpired in Chicago between 2017 and 2019, including watching a friend almost lose his mind, getting fired from my sales job, manifesting the best living situation I had ever experienced at the time, and passing the DMT torch over to a hungry soul that seemed fit for the job. Enjoy. Stay tuned.

Opening Song: https://music.apple.com/us/album/usa-boys/1577221958?i=1577221959

Closing Song: https://music.apple.com/us/album/cannons/1185722235?i=1185722402

Today’s episode is a lengthy recounting of several Psilocybin mushroom trips that culminated in an overwhelming experience of ego death at the apex of 5 grams of dried mushrooms. I go a bit into of the science of Psilocybin, the predictable and unpredictable aspects of the Psilocybin experience, and some rather insane synchronicities and entanglements that happened as a part of the journey of psychedelic exploration while living in Chicago.

Opening Song: http://https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-river-of-dreams/158815463?i=158816717

Closing Song 1: https://1cloudboys.bandcamp.com/track/aahyeahh

Closing Song 2: https://michael-parallax.bandcamp.com/track/head-haunted

Today's episode is a recounting of the process of extracting Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) from the roots of an acacia tree, and a description of the experiences under the influence of the molecule. Not too scientific, nothing fancy, just a few crazy stories that took place in Chicago in 2015. The next couple episodes will cover the DMT experience more extensively, as well as the bizarre synchronicities surrounding its usage.

Opening Song:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/4th-dimension-feat-louis-prima/1396710872?i=1396711208

Closing Song:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/freeee-ghost-town-pt-2-feat-ty-dolla-%24ign/1396710872?i=1396711558