Psychedelics and the Soul: A Mythic Guide to Psychedelic Healing, Depth Psychology, and Cultural Repair

by Simon Yugler

Overview

A mythological journey through 10 archetypes of psychedelic healing: ancient stories, tangible tools, and depth psychology insights

Designed for a new generation of psychedelic facilitators and seekers, Psychedelics and the Soul invokes the traditions of Jungian depth psychology, mythology, and Indigenous cultural wisdom to meet a critical question of our times: How can the emerging field of psychedelic medicine heal the soul amid planetary crisis and collective opportunity?

Psychedelic therapist Simon Yugler invites the reader on a mythological journey, using depth psychology to explore 10 universal themes that transcend our individual experiences—and reveal how psychedelic medicine can heal the soul and our collective unconscious in a time of uncertainty and initiation:

• The Well: The Unconscious, Symbolism, & the Mythic Unknown
• The Temple: Beyond Set & Setting
• The Underworld: Initiation, Grief, & the Descent to Soul
• The Serpent: The Body, the Shadow, & Shedding Your Skin
• The Trickster: Marginality, The Crossroads, & the Guide of Souls
• The Monstrous: Trauma, Exiles, & the Archetypal Wound
• The Leader: Power, Liminality, & Inner Authority
• The Sacred Mountain: Ecstasy, Vision & Mystical Experiences
• The Tree of Life: Animism, Climate Change, & the Ensouled Earth
• The Journey Home: Integration, Community, & Feeding the Village

Each archetype acts as a prism, using myth, fable, and universal wisdom to reflect back to the reader the collective experiences and unconscious truths that shape our psyches—and that are made more profound and accessible through psychedelics. Yugler shares how entheogens and plant medicine open a gateway to our understanding of our culture, selves, and interconnected reality toward wide-scale social and planetary healing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798889840657
Publisher:	North Atlantic Books
Publication date:	10/01/2024
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352

About the Author

Simon Yugler is an internationally experienced psychedelic therapist, educator, and writer. He has a master’s degree in depth counseling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, and he has taught for five psychedelic facilitator training programs, including Naropa University and InnerTrek, a groundbreaking legal psilocybin facilitator training program based in Oregon. Weaving together Jungian psychology, mythology, and Internal Family Systems therapy, Simon maintains a private practice specializing in psychedelic integration, masculinity, and depth psychology. He began with anthropological research in an Aboriginal Australian community at the age of twenty. Today Simon draws on his diverse experience traveling across the world and learning from Indigenous cultures, including the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition and the Native American Church. For a year and a half he routinely served as a retreat leader and therapist with MycoMeditations, a leading psilocybin therapy retreat center in Jamaica. Prior to becoming a therapist, Simon served as an experiential educator and guide with National Geographic Student Expeditions and Carpe Diem Education, leading immersive study-abroad journeys for young adults across ten countries. Having worked with psychedelic medicines for over half his life, Simon is passionate about helping his clients and students navigate the liminal wilds of the soul.

Editorial Reviews

"This is not just another book about psychedelics. Psychedelics and the Soul effortlessly transitions between our most current understanding of the transformative properties of plant and fungal medicines and the perennial truths embedded in our earliest myths.... We need books like this to remind us to offer something before we take, to inspire us to shed our skin, to teach us how to pray for a vision." —Devendra Banhart, singer-songwriter and visual artist

"Using cogent myths and depth psychology, Simon Yugler acts as a soulful guide to and through the liminal terrains of plant medicines and altered states." —Michael Meade, author of Awakening the Soul and Fate and Destiny

"Holy wow, I can't wait to recommend Psychedelics and the Soul to everyone I know. It's the perfect book at the perfect time." —David Bronner, cosmic engagement officer (CEO) of Dr. Bronner's soap company

"A generous invitation to invite poetry and myth back into the world of healing and plant medicine." —Sophie Strand, author of The Flowering Wand and The Madonna Secret

"Simon deftly navigates territory that is uniquely suited for psychedelics but is often missing from our maps and models of healing and integration. What an honor to explore psychedelic depth psychology with Simon as our guide." —Tom Eckert, founder of InnerTrek and architect of Oregon's Psilocybin Service Initiative

"A pioneering work entwining new insights into Irish lore with cutting-edge protocols in psychedelic therapy." —Manchán Magan, author of Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape

"Simon Yugler shares his extensive knowledge of the astonishing world of psychedelic experience.... His wise guidance is to be highly recommended for anyone wanting to go there or desiring to know what it is all about." —Murray Stein, PhD, Jungian analyst and author of Jung's Map of the Soul

"Embark on a learning adventure that will captivate your heart, spirit, and imagination through the transformative dynamism of myth in action, psychotherapeutic ritual, and psychedelic ceremony." —Naomi Sangreal, depth psychotherapist and author of Little Hidden Doors

"Simon Yugler has taken the threads of mythopoetic stories, psychedelic journeys, depth psychology, and his personal adventures to weave a tapestry of Soul's story." —Dr. Robert Stuckey, PhD, JA, cofounder of C. G. Jung Institute of the Pacific Northwest and cofounder and president emeritus at Pacific Northwest Society of Jungian Analysts

"Newcomers and seasoned psychonauts alike will find many kernels of wisdom within." —Diana Quinn, ND, director of clinical education at Naropa University Center for Psychedelic Studies

"An essential addition to the evolving psychedelic canon.... the book moves gracefully between the individual and the collective, with a profound respect for diverse mythic and Indigenous traditions and their essential contributions to the human experience." —Harvey Schwartz, PhD, cofounder of Polaris Insight Center

"A generous gift in perilous times.... This book may well provoke a deeper relationship with the true living world around us, inside us, flowing through us." —Tom Hirons, poet, storyteller, and founder of Feral Angels Press

"An accessible resource for psychedelic facilitators old and new.... Yugler helps shine a vital light on what lies beyond personal healing." —Dr. Chris Stauffer, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University and psychedelic-assisted therapy researcher for the Department of Veterans Affairs

"With real examples of clients' psychedelic experiences interpreted through the mythopoetic lens, this book sets itself apart from others. I wholeheartedly recommend [it] as a must-have for all psychedelic practitioners." —Justin Townsend, CEO of MycoMeditations

From the Publisher