Add to the mix some fresh magic truffles and you’ve thrown yourself the perfect psychedelic Halloween party. You and your buddies are scared out of your wits, and you love it. After all, spirits, aliens, and elves can only wreak havoc in books, movies, and TV shows, which is reassuring. Spooky entities don’t exist in reality…right?

What if we told you that not only are such mythical creatures real, but they choose to live on a plane much higher than ours? What if there was a way for you to meet them in this mystical realm — a real way! — armed with nothing more than sheer bravery and a heroic dose of psilocybin? And what if researchers have confirmed this as fact, in theis age of no-nonsense, “Send a pic or it didn’t happen” reality?

Are you ready to enjoy the spookiest psychedelic trip of your life? Ohh, we bet you are! This Halloween, revel in the secret powers of psilocybin… if you dare.

Psychedelics and Entity Encounters

A recent study published in the Journal of Psychedelic Studies has linked high doses of psychedelics (such as psilocybin from magic mushrooms) and a certain type of mystical experience called the “entity encounter”

People who take a high enough dose of psilocybin, LSD, or DMT often recall meeting with intelligent beings. Such entities have been described by the trippers as: guides, spirits, aliens, helpers, angels, elves, and plant spirits, among other names. And it’s not like a dream, either, that you could easily shrug off afterwards… 

The study also showed that entity encounters can have profound effects that could last for a very long time — and most of them are surprisingly positive:

“Based on the existing data…there is value in exploring the therapeutic potential of psychedelic entity encounters.”

Mystical Experiences: Inward vs. Outward

man with glowing brain mystical experience

What you know as the ‘psychedelic experience’ can express itself in different ways for trippers. Though there is the obvious variety in trips depending on the compound (e.g. uniquely flavoured trips for psilocybin vs. LSD vs. DMT, and so on) there’s also another difference. A person’s mystical experience can either be ‘introvertive’ (inward) or ‘extrovertive’ (outward). 

For starters, according to the study, these are the six things you can expect in an introvertive mystical experience:

  • A sense of unity or oneness;
  • Transcendence of time and space;
  • Deeply felt positive mood;
  • Sense of awesomeness, reverence, and wonder;
  • Meaningfulness of philosophical insight; and
  • Ineffability (or “being unable to express in words”) and paradoxicality (or “things are starting to make sense, but in ways that don’t”)

In contrast, psychedelic mystical experiences can also be extrovertive. That is, you can actually perceive the trip (or feel like you do) with your senses. This is where the entity encounter experience comes into play… 

When trippers get so deep in the rabbit hole, they begin to see — or even converse with — spirits, aliens, elves, and other beings of the higher realm. Most of the time, these entities are said to be “supremely powerful, wise, and loving”:

“Encounters are often accompanied by positive emotions such as joy, trust, surprise, love, kindness and friendship (although fear is also a common emotion associated with entity encounters).”

Shamanic rituals in the Amazon, for example, use DMT in ayahuasca to raise their consciousness. The psychoactive compound helps them reach the same plane as their ancestors — i.e. the “spirit world” — so they could ask for wisdom in times of crisis. 

The Heroic Dose

mushrooms on a spiral background

So! How much psilocybin do you actually need for you to see entities such as spirits, aliens, and elves? 

Microdosing shrooms certainly won’t get the job done. Neither would a regular dose of magic truffles. The only amount big enough to raise you to the point of entity encounters? Based on the study, it would have to be a good ol’, knock-off-your-socks, hefty heroic dose of psychedelics:

“Psychedelic entity encounters have been reported with high doses… of ayahuasca, psilocybin, and other psychedelics.”

A heroic dose of psilocybin can vary depending on the form you take it. For example: for fresh magic mushrooms, a heroic dose is 50 grams. For fresh magic truffles, it’s 45 grams. Bear in mind that these amounts are the maximum that our brains can process at a time. The type of shroom trip you’ll have won’t just be “inward” as in philosophical insight. It would also be “outward” into another reality, in which the only things that would make sense are crazy, like aliens and machine elves. So a heroic dose is only for the very dedicated and experienced psychonaut — best of all with a trusted trip sitter close by. 

Mystical Experiences May Help You Heal

woman looking through fairy lights
Photo by Rhett Wesley on Unsplash

The study also notes that trippers often feel profound and lasting after-effects in the wake of meeting a psychedelic entity. Although the tripper may feel exhausted at first, there is a “joyful impression” of having met a higher reality and finding out new truths. 

The study cited David M. Wulff, an expert on mystical experiences:

“Ordinary concerns recede in importance or appear in a new light, and new beliefs and values take the place of the old ones. 

“Some [trippers] report feeling an intensified love and compassion for others, and many say that life as a whole has taken on new meaning.”

It’s not just the spiritual stuff, either. Psilocybin is also effective in treating a host of other conditions, such as PTSD, addiction, and burnouts. Clinical studies have proven that patients who got mystical-type experiences from psychedelic-based treatment were more likely to recover from resistant depression and end-of-life anxiety related to advanced stage cancer.

Mystical experiences while on psilocybin, in particular, have been found to work best in treating depression. According to a 2017 study by Watts, et. al, this is because psilocybin makes two changes in your psychology, namely: 

  • A change from disconnection (from self, others, and world) to connection; and
  • A change from avoidance (of emotion) to acceptance

Talking with Psychedelic Entities

Let’s consider for a moment that one can enter the spirit realm and talk to psychedelic entities. What would you even talk about? Would you even speak the same language? 

According to the study, most trippers communicate with spirits, aliens, and elves with ease — in which the entities answer your questions or offer bits of information:

“Communication with entities can involve the use of language, music, telepathy, or somehow ‘just knowing’ the intention of the entity.”

(Phew! That solves the language barrier. Our Martian has gotten a bit rusty as of late.)

The researchers also cited a 2020 study by Davis et al. on entity encounter experience. 69% of trippers said that they received a “message, task, mission, purpose, or insight” from such entities. 85% of trippers said that they felt the encounter with their senses. 22% of trippers said they found a personal insight into their “behaviours, emotions, relationships, or life’s path.” 

Sounds like a literal guardian angel…of the psychedelic variety.

Feelings of Awe and Wonder

psychedelic pattern

There are several other studies that reached the same conclusion — that non-human entities we meet during trip-induced mystical experiences are mostly full of love and concern for human welfare. In a 2006 study, Heuser found that ayahuasca entities offered guidance to those who needed it:

“Entities sometimes guided [trippers] to clarity and integration, which was often attained after contemplating difficult problems or dark themes.”

One tripper shared their experience with an entity:

“I then was given the understanding that all life, all we know, all I am, is energy, this energy is timeless and will continue on. I knew now the reality of this time and space is just something my energy has chosen to reside in for now.

In a similar 2006 study by Tramacchi, another tripper had a positive encounter while on a heroic dose of DMT:

“I return healed, I receive gnosis, healing, inspiration… A spiritual gift. Cosmic fortune to see the truth before I deserved it. Thanks Universe… The plants want to save us from misery and take us to mystery.”

The researchers also cited an upcoming study by Letcher. Here is a tripper who encountered ‘angels’ while on a heroic dose of psilocybin:

“I’m not into angels or any of that stuff. But these beings I encountered, I think they’re f****** angels [laughs]. They were so immense and awe-inspiring and terrifying and powerful… You can’t explain it… [They had] ninety thousand million facets to them, and then [at] one point they’d be grotesque with like these hundreds of tongues and mouths and eyes. 

“And then they’d just grow these god heads and I kind of experienced them as vortexes of deep power, divine vortexes of energy and… The only model that I could ascribe was an angelic being… They were quite terrifying but it was so beautiful as well and I felt deeply honoured… A touch of the gods…”

two angel statues
Photo by Gavin Allanwood on Unsplash

Ontological Shock

According to the study, such feelings of awe and wonder can have beneficial effects on wellbeing. How so? Think of it this way: when you encounter a being so terrifying yet so magnificent — like an angel of the Old Testament variation perhaps, or a machine elf — then all other things in your life seem small in comparison. And that includes your day-to-day problems. All those stresses and worries that cause you to have depression and anxiety? Not the end of the world, after all… 

Wrote the researchers:

“…the sudden ontological shock’ ..may increase psychological flexibility which, in turn, may [trigger] positive changes in attitudes, mood and behaviour.” 

Ready for a Heroic Halloween?

two jack o' lanterns
Photo by David Menidrey on Unsplash

So there you have it! The latest scientific evidence on how taking a heroic dose of psychedelics, such as psilocybin, LSD, and DMT, can definitely make your Halloween dreams come true. Just think about it: a mystical encounter with an entity who knows exactly how to fix your life? Too good to pass up, homie…

Taking a heroic dose of shrooms and magic truffles (or any other psychedelics for that matter) is not always recommended, at least not for regular recreational use. But it does provide a rare opportunity to visit a realm that lies far beyond our own… A spiritual realm full of wise spirits, aliens, machine elves, and angels with a thousand eyes each — all of whom are more than willing to guide you to the right path. Are they real, or just a trippy, spooky manifestation of your Inner Self (as Jung would say)? Beats me! 

If you’re brave enough to find out, however, you know exactly what to do…