About the Psychedelic Society of New Orleans
Purpose of PSNOLA
We are in the midst of what is often termed a "psychedelic renaissance". After decades of prohibition, both MDMA and psilocybin-assisted therapies have been granted Breakthrough Therapy designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are expected to become medically available in just a few years. Psychedelics show great promise in treating conditions like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction and more.
As psychedelic medicine rapidly enters the mainstream, education on safety, cultural perspectives, and spiritual significance of these substances become increasingly important.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“Psychedelic experience is only a glimpse of genuine mystical insight, but a glimpse which can be matured and deepened by the various ways of meditation in which drugs are no longer necessary or useful. If you get the message, hang up the phone. For psychedelic drugs are simply instruments, like microscopes, telescopes, and telephones. The biologist does not sit with eye permanently glued to the microscope, he goes away and works on what he has seen..."
– Alan Watts, (Joyous Cosmology Prologue, 2nd ed. 1970).
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“If we recognize the power of entheogenic substances to open us to the universal truth and full dimension of human experience, and if we accept the role of the shaman as hierophant and psychopomp into this realm, as enacted for example by the Huichol mara’akame, we have to conclude that today in Western society we are deprived of two key resources for complete human growth. Young people, in their hunger for meaning, will still gravitate toward entheogens. The more experienced among us may try to ease their journey, but in the absence of qualified guides not all will benefit from their experience.”
– Rick Doblin, Founder of MAPS
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“I am convinced that the way forward for the human race is to recognize and protect the fundamental right of sovereignty over consciousness, to throw off the chains of our divisive religious heritage, to seek out forms of spirituality (or no spirituality at all if we so prefer) that are truly supportive of liberty and tolerance, to help the human spirit to grow rather than to wither, and to nurture our innate capacity for love and mutual respect. The old ways are broken and bankrupt and new ways are struggling to be born. Each one of us with our own talents, and by our own choices, has a part to play in that process.”
– Graham Hancock
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“After having personally conducted over the last fifty years more than four thousand psychedelic sessions, I have developed great awe and respect for these compounds and their enormous potential, both positive and negative. They are powerful tools and, like any tool, they can be used skillfully, ineptly, or destructively. The result will be critically dependent on the set and setting.”
– Stanislav Grof, MD
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
"It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed."
– Ram Dass
The Psychedelic Society of New Orleans exists to create a safe and informed space to discuss, investigate, educate, and celebrate the use of entheoginic experiences and explore the transformative potential of psychedelics.
We support the evolution of self-awareness, an indispensable tool for the process of liberation of the true self, overccoming conditioned responses from the past, and surrendering to the spontaneity of life.
We are joined with the global effort to offer education about these substances and their numerous applications in medicine, science, bio=cutural conservation, psychiatry, religion, the arts, and beyond. PSNOLA recognizes the importance of reciprocity, or giving back to the guardians of the sacred wisdom of plant medicines while fostering collaborations between indigenous traditions and modern science.
PSNOLA operates under the umbrella of Luna Sol, a nonprofit organization committed to advancing wellness, consciousness, and alternative healing practices. Luna Sol is also affiliated with Terramuse, a retreat center in Iowa dedicated to self-enrichment and land preservation.