Woman, trip-sitting and safety in the underground psychedelic world
Thursday, 5 December, 2024.
Ayahuasca
This article is part 1 in a multi-part series exploring the question of safety for women participating in both psychedelic-assisted therapy and underground psychedelic journeys and reports of ethical violations.
Content warning: This article discusses the topic of sexual assault, rape and non-consensual drug use.
If you’ve paid close attention, you’ll know that, amid the hype, the psychedelic space has also attracted some not-so-good press lately. Accusations of shoddy science have emerged. Ketamine clinics with high-end spa facilities and luxury ayahuasca retreats across North and Central America have attracted criticism for exploiting legal loopholes, over-promising the therapeutic reach of drug treatments and prioritising the psychedelic drug aspect of psychedelic-assisted therapy. A few rogue characters have even started to exploit people under the influence of psychedelic drugs with some highly-publicised cases of financial and elder abuse in the underground (illegal) psychedelic therapy world.
Then, a few months ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the body in the US which determines which drugs go to market, rejected the most recent clinical trials for MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, forcing the psychedelic industry, in many ways, to go back to square one. Staff layoffs and bankruptcy are the theme of the day over there.
But one particular issue which contributed, in part, to the industry-shaking decision of the FDA has created heated debate: the question of safety and sexual misconduct in psychedelic research trials. Several documented cases of physical boundary violations in official trials for experimental psychedelic therapies have recently come to light.
Australia has not suffered the same level of scandal in psychedelic research or underground psychedelic circles. But sexual misconduct is a known issue here too.
It raises the question: what do those in society, most vulnerable to sexual assault, do if they want to seek out psychedelic therapy? Who we can we trust? And who is the ideal trip-sitter in underground psychedelic spaces?
Users News is here to answer these questions as best we can. In this first part of this multi-part series, we deal with the underground. It’s important to note that we’re talking about safety in a very narrow sense - that of physical boundary-crossing. Of course, there are a huge range of other factors that impact our overall safety in underground psychedelic spaces, far too much to go into in this article.
The basics of trips-sitting: set and setting
In a nutshell, you need to feel safe and supported when taking psychedelics.
We often call the importance of our mental state and environment when tripping “set and setting”.
In terms of “set”, it’s vital you’re in the right place mentally before taking any psychedelics. Remember: psychedelics are intense. Not only do they alter our vision and create mystical experiences, they can amplify what is going on inside our mind. You’re might also be in for a long trip.. A 2C-B trip will last roughly 4 hours, same for MDMA, a mushie trip is usually around 6 hours and an acid trip around 10 hours. Ayahuasca and ibogaine ceremonies are even longer and they will involve even more “integration”, which is the term people in the psychedelic world use for aftercare.
“Setting” is a little more self-explanatory. When you’re taking psychedelics, you want to be in a comfy environment surrounded by trusted people, whether they’re family members, mates or someone else. In the psychedelic world, we call those trusted people “trip-sitters”. They’re there to look out for you. It helps if they’re sober but we know this won’t always be the case, especially in a party environment.
Sex and setting in Australia’s underground psychedelic world
If you’re thinking about taking part in an ayahuasca ceremony or approaching an underground psychedelic therapist, you ought to be aware that there are limits to safety. This is especially the case for women, gender-diverse people and minority groups who bear the brunt of sexual abuse in society. You should also be aware that, if things do go wrong, reporting incidents to police is tricky due to the illegal nature of the activity.
Kayla Greenstien, an Australia-based PhD student studying psychedelics, ethics and complex trauma, says that the issue of touch and consent in psychology and psychiatry is already “under-researched and under-discussed” and we’re not even talking yet about psychedelic therapy settings which involve people in highly vulnerable and suggestible states.
“Psychedelics can be used exploitatively by people,” Kayla warns.
Of course, most underground psychedelic healers mean well and the vast majority are very respectful. But there are a large number of news reports which detail inappropriate sexual relationships and sexual abuse within the rapidly-growing ayahuasca tourism industry, as well as within religious cults which revolve around psychedelic drug use or, at the very least, spiritual beliefs, language and practices. By facing up to this reality, we can start to see this issue as a pattern in the underground psychedelic world.
This pattern is almost certainly present in Australia as much as anywhere else, as suggested in a 2022 ABC Four Corners episode, which explored allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour against an underground Australian psychedelic guide.
There is a lack of data about how common sexual misconduct is in underground psychedelic spaces. Like sexual assault more broadly, it’s an under-reported issue. So it’s hard to take much from this speculative data. But here’s what the experts estimate: one in-depth investigation into ayahuasca ceremonies has suggested that 10% of female participants experience sexual assault. Meanwhile, 8% of respondents to a recent anonymous online survey, which addressed the entire spectrum of underground psychedelic therapy, indicated that they themselves or someone they know has experienced inappropriate sexual contact by a psychedelic trip-sitter, guide or practitioner.
How safe are underground psychedelic therapies for women?
“One of the big things in in an underground context to be aware of is the boundaries between people are quite a bit more flexible. There’s quite a bit of what we call ‘dual relationships’, which is where somebody leading a ceremony has a close relationship, such as a friendship, with people participating.”
While this may seem reassuring, on the surface, it’s also a tricky issue because people we know sexual assault is more often perpetrated by someone known to the victim-survivor. It also doesn’t mean that working with a stranger is inherently safer.
Take, for example, the reports from Central and South America of undesired physical contact by some shamans during ayahuasca ceremonies. (An ayahuasca ceremony involves consuming a powerful plant-based psychedelic drink.)
Daniela Peluso, an academic who has undertaken decades of field research with communities in the Amazon Jungle, believes this suspect behaviour is linked to the intense romanticisation of Indigenous shamanic cultures in the western world and the universal tendency of men to abuse positions of privilege.
On the one hand, embedded within Indigenous shamanic cultures in this region and ayahuasca is a process of purifying the body, known locally as “la dieta”. This involves cutting out sex, certain foods and drugs, such as alcohol and caffeine, in the build-up to a ceremony.
On the other hand, as Peluso explains in a 2014 essay exploring ayahuasca traditions in Peru, First Nations women have long found themselves targets for predatory shamans. As a result, they tend to avoid paying too much attention to male shamans. They will avoid smiling directly at them, avoid being in their presence without family members and avoid travelling alone.
However, not all female tourists are aware of this. They may travel alone, smile, laugh freely and converse openly with shamans who may interpret this as sexual interest. But this cannot explain away all dodgy behaviour, Peluso argues.
The world of spiritual guides is highly globalised these days with many non-Indigenous shamans appropriating Indigenous cultures or playing up their links to Indigenous communities to profit from the practice or lever themselves more legitimacy. Indigenous shamans increasingly jet around the planet, providing services abroad and speaking at events. This is why it’s not hard to find people leading ayahuasca circles in Australia.
In short: some men just cannot be trusted.
You should also watch out for psychedelic healers, guides and shamans who lord over you that they know best. There is no universal trip and anybody claiming to understand your feelings better than you is likely problematic. It’s a red flag if a healer laps up praise, boasts about their ancestry and/or tells you that your experience while tripping is the truest form of reality.
“I sometimes fear the person who believes they know what the psychedelic experience is like for someone else,” say Kayla Greenstien.
“I think that can happen with people who are really experienced, who have done hundreds of sessions. Their experiences can fuel a kind of psychedelic narcissism.”
What are underground psychedelic sessions like? An Australian healer gives her two cents
Fortunately, there are people who have had safe and successful psychedelic sessions.
“Psychedelic plant medicines have really saved my life,” Bailey says. “That’s partly why I serve this medicine. Because I know what it can do.”
Bailey teaches yoga and meditation and works as a medicine woman in the underground psychedelic therapy world. She also moonlights as a DJ and rave organiser, trading the yoga classroom for the neon lights of the club and doof circuits where possible. While some people use those spaces to blow off steam, indulging in hedonistic drug-fuelled revelry, Bailey remains grounded, telling me that she sees more of a future in medicine work and yoga. Coming from someone who has spent stints in rehab and five years in an Alcoholics Anonymous program, it’s an emphatic statement.
Bailey offers one on one therapy and guidance to those wishing to overcome trauma or simply “connect with the divine” with the aid of magic mushrooms. But there’s a strict vetting process.
She doesn’t work with anyone who has bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, for example, and she wouldn’t throw anyone in the deep end who isn’t mentally ready. Plant medicines are “not for everybody”, she emphasises.
Without the mountains of paperwork you’ll find in legal psychedelic therapy settings, rejecting an applicant does sometimes come down to “gut feeling”.
Put another way: being completely honest with an underground healer is really important, otherwise you could be in for a really bad time.
“Now that we’re in this time of science and psychologists are working in this space, people ask: ‘are you certified?’ It’s like no but my soul is bloody certified, I tell ya,” Bailey shrieks, breaking out into laughter.
For those who pass the screening process and visit Bailey’s home for a solo session – she mostly facilitates shroom journeys – they’ll find a nurturing environment with catered music, sprays, cool cloths, blankets and soft bedding, designed to soothe bodies that run hot and cold while tripping, both temperature-wise and energy-wise. Bailey also cleanses the space with prayer, drums and rattles. While the psychedelic world has its bad apples, safety is a big part of what Bailey does.
“We do a check-in before [the trip] to see where they’re at. We set an intention and then I continually help them come back to their intention. I’m there the whole time guiding and helping to support them,” she explains.
Even Bailey, without any official licensing for the psychedelic therapy she offers, emphasises that there is “no rush” with these medicines. She urges caution.
“Look, I did my experimenting. But you are playing with fire. You have to be careful, just like with any drug,” she says.
“It’s really important to do the research and chat to someone in person who can guide you, and not just jump in and eat a whole bunch of mushies because you can hurt yourself mentally.”
Bailey also co-facilitates an ongoing women-only event series designed to help women feel more comfortable and sensual in their bodies. Participants consume a low dosage of shrooms as part of the journey, so news of the event largely travels via word-of-mouth.
While some groups – women, for example – may feel more comfortable seeking psychedelic experiences in the spaces Bailey creates, Bailey also sees benefit in the range of choices now available to Australians.
“I believe people will go where they feel safest. Some, who have only known doctors and pills and that way of healing, may feel safer in a clinical environment. They may not feel safe coming to someone who is not officially certified, who works out of her home and shakes rattles and beats drums. That might feel really scary to someone. I think everything has its place, right?”
Our practical tips for staying safe
Kayla Greenstien advises that you talk to people familiar with the underground practitioner you’re considering. They will let you know if there are any concerns or scepticism about this guide. This is achievable if you want to work with someone based in Australia. If you’re travelling though, it’s a lot trickier.
Referrals can help secure an appropriate guide with a good track record overseas. But, even then, you can still end up with a suspect character. This is exactly what happened to Lily Kay Ross, an American student who visited Ecuador in 2012. She has since told her story in great details to journalists.
Staying with an Indigenous shaman as part of a research project, deep in the Amazonian jungle, Lily claims she was repeatedly drugged and subjected to non-consensual sex. The shaman who initiated a relationship with her also added brugmansia or toé to his ayahuasca brews, a plant and dangerous sedative that reportedly makes people more vulnerable to suggestion. It can cause paralysis or semi-paralysis, which is where you struggle to move your limbs. Scarily, although not a widespread addition, it’s an increasingly common addition to the ayahuasca drink tourists consume.
An American friend, who had worked with this particular shaman for 2 years, recommended him to Lily which is proof that you can’t be too careful!
If you’re a tourist and you want to partake in an ayahuasca ceremony, you should first make sure you’re familiar with local customs. Jetting into a country for the singular purpose of tripping on ayahuasca without spending time immersing yourself in the region’s culture can be a dangerous plan. Naivety can increase the risk of exploitation.
If you’re doing ayahuasca, whether in Australia or overseas, you should also pay particular attention to the brew. Brugmansia or toé is in no way a vital ingredient in the tea the shaman will make so if you can, avoid it.
Remember: it never hurts to ask questions if you’re unsure.
The other way to sidestep this issue of ethical boundary-crossing is to avoid working with any male guides.
If you are worried that an underground psychedelic healer may be overstepping boundaries, the website survivingtherapistabuse.com has a really great checklist of signs of an unethical therapist. The list is centred around legal therapy but, as Kayla Greenstien emphasises to Users News, “in underground spaces some of the concerns are very similar to concerns relating to the legal setting for psychedelic-assisted therapy”.
In summary
1. Research, research, research. Ask around about to see if there are substantiated rumours, public allegations or court cases involving underground psychedelic healers. Try to use a referral system to find the right person. This will help you avoid working with someone completely unknown.
2. Be honest about your mental health story and any diagnoses with an underground psychedelic healer. While there is good science supporting the benefit of certain psychedelics for some mental health conditions, psychedelics can also make some mental health disorders worse. Although the jury is still out, researchers generally believe that psychedelics can make psychotic episodes and signs worse for people with a personal or family history of bipolar disorder, for instance.
3. Find female practitioners if that makes you more comfortable. Approach female healers or attend women-only group sessions, especially if you have a past history of sexual or physical trauma.
4. Understand the cultural divide if you are visiting Central or South American countries for an ayahuasca ceremony.
5. Pay attention to the ayahuasca brew or other psychedelic you’re given. You need to know what you’re working with and you want to avoid an ayahuasca drink containing brugmansia or toé.
6. A calm, comfortable setting with weighted blankets, soft chairs or bedding and sprays, heaters or fireplaces for regulating body temperature, which may fluctuate during a trip, are green flags.
If this article causes any distress and you need support, please consider contacting:
NUAA Peerline: 1800 644 41
beyondblue: 1300 224 636
1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732
MensLine Australia: 1300 789 978
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
In an emergency, please call 000.