By Dara Lightle, Psychedelic Navigator
Remembering Where Psychedelics Come From
Psychedelic medicine didn’t start in a lab. It began in ceremony, community, and prayer, held by elders, guided by land, and rooted in story. As psilocybin, ayahuasca, and other plant medicines rise in popularity, it’s essential to remember where they came from and how they were traditionally used, not just to avoid harm, but to deepen our respect for the healing journey itself.
Ceremony as Community Healing, Not Solo Exploration
In many Indigenous cultures, psychedelic ceremonies were not solo quests for self-optimization. They were communal acts of healing. The intention wasn’t just to “find yourself,” but to restore balance across the tribe, the land, and the spiritual world. These traditions teach that individual healing is inseparable from the well-being of the collective. A person’s insights from the ceremony were meant to ripple outward, to nourish their relationships, community responsibilities, and connection to the Earth.
In contrast, modern psychedelic use often centers the self. People talk about their personal breakthroughs, emotional releases, or internal transformations. While these are valid and powerful, they’re only part of the picture. Without a connection to community, healing can become isolated, insightful, but ungrounded. A ceremony without accountability, reciprocity, or shared wisdom risks becoming just another form of consumption.
The Power of Communitas: What the Research Shows
Recent research backs this up. A 2024 study by Unlimited Sciences followed a group of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) immigrants and refugees through a five-day ayahuasca retreat. Participants reported major mental health improvements, including reductions in depression, anxiety, and shame. But what stood out most was the role of community. The more participants experienced communitas, a shared sense of unity and belonging during ceremony, the more their depression symptoms decreased over time. In other words, healing was most powerful when it happened together.
This reflects the Indigenous principle that healing is relational. In this 2023 historical review of Ayahuasca, connection to self, natures, and others was observed, “Canadian First Nations members and indigenous Canadians found ayahuasca retreats enhanced mindfulness and connections with nature, spirit, self, and others.” This raises important questions about how we engage with these medicines today. Are we honoring the cultures that protected these traditions, or are we extracting them for individual gain?
Respect vs. Appropriation: What’s Appropriate to Share?
Respecting Indigenous culture in psychedelic spaces means more than smudging sage or quoting wisdom out of context. It means asking: Is this medicine mine to use? Who taught me? Who benefits from this work? Some rituals, songs, and ceremonies are closed to outsiders for a reason. They carry ancestral weight and spiritual contracts that aren’t always visible to newcomers.
Appropriate engagement begins with acknowledgment. Colonization did not just take land. It targeted language, spirituality, and medicine. Peyote ceremonies were banned. Ayahuasca lineages were threatened. Families were punished for passing down their sacred knowledge. Today, as psychedelics are celebrated in TED Talks and clinical trials, many of those same communities are still fighting for sovereignty, protection, and access.
Reciprocity and Reparative Action
Reciprocity is one way forward. This might look like supporting Indigenous-led organizations, uplifting Native facilitators, or investing in land return and language preservation. It might mean learning the difference between cultural appreciation and appropriation and choosing to listen before speaking, follow before leading.
One of the most well-known examples of sacred mushroom ceremony comes from María Sabina, a Mazatec healer from Oaxaca, Mexico. Her veladas (healing vigils) were not about ego dissolution or personal breakthrough, they were healing rituals held for others, guided by prayer, chant, and deep spiritual connection. María Sabina didn’t take the medicine to seek visions for herself. She took it to receive guidance for the people who came to her in pain. Her story reminds us that psychedelic practice has long been rooted in service, humility, and community, not self-exploration alone. Her legacy also warns us of the harm that can come when sacred traditions are exposed without consent and commodified without context.
Practicing Good Stewardship in Psychedelic Spaces
While these findings are promising, they are preliminary. As a self-report study with a small sample size, further controlled research is needed to validate these observations. Additionally, ayahuasca ceremonies incorporate multiple therapeutic elements, such as group support, breathwork, and ritual. These factors may also contribute to positive outcomes.
While the authors acknowledge small sample size as a limitation, we also note a significant imbalance in gender representation in this study. Specifically, there were far more male participants than female, trans, or non-binary individuals. This may impact the generalizability of findings across gender-diverse populations.
Resources to Deepen Your Respect and Accountability
One simple but powerful practice is beginning each session or gathering with a land acknowledgment. This acknowledges that our work may take place on stolen land and that healing must come from a place of truth. You can find out who originally occupied the land you’re on using Native Land Digital, an interactive map that shows traditional Indigenous territories across the globe. To help you take it a step further, the Honor Native Land Virtual Resource Pack includes downloadable slides, social media graphics, and printable posters you can incorporate into your sessions, newsletters, or digital materials.
These small actions aren’t performative if they’re backed by intention. They are doorways into deeper responsibility. When you normalize these practices with your clients, you invite them into the larger ecosystem of reciprocity. You show that healing is not just something we do for ourselves, it’s something we do with awareness of who came before us and who still protects the medicines we now access.
Psychedelic medicine, when practiced in this way, becomes more than a tool for self-growth. It becomes a way of remembering who we are in relationship with our ancestors, our communities, and the Earth itself. As facilitators, seekers, and stewards, we can honor that memory not just in what we do, but in how we do it.
Let’s make sure our path forward is one of gratitude, not entitlement. Let’s carry our healing not just in our journals, but in how we show up for each other. The roots of psychedelic medicine run deep. If we slow down and listen, they’ll show us the way.
To learn more or support Indigenous-led efforts to protect sacred plant medicines and cultural traditions:
- Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative (IPCI)
- Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund (IMC Fund)
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF)
If you’re looking for personalized guidance and support before or after a psychedelic experience, the Unlimited Sciences Psychedelic Info Line offers free, 1:1 support for answering questions about psychedelic safety, integration, and emotional processing.