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

by Simon Yugler (Author)

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: Shadow, Grief, & the Descent to Soul
• The Serpent: Psychedelic Somatics & Shedding Your Skin
• The Monstrous: Trauma, Exiles, & the Wound That Heals

• The Trickster: Marginality, the Crossroads, & the Liminal Road
• The Guide: Power, Authenticity, & Inner Authority
• The Sacred Mountain: Vision, Ecstasy, & Becoming Nobody
• The Tree of Life: Animism, Climate Change, & the Ensouled Earth
• The Journey Home: Integration, Community, & Dancing with 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.

Author Biography

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.