🫠 Ask a Guide Anything

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Welcome to Tricycle Day. We're the psychedelics newsletter that isn’t here to guide you one direction or another. Actually, scratch that. Allow us to guide you to the bottom of this email, where you can find your unique referral link, which should be shared liberally. This concludes our tour. 🫰

Does this thought process sound familiar?

I like psychedelics → I dislike my job → Wait, people are serving psychedelic medicine for a living? → I should do that!

Seems logical, right? But there’s a massive gap between a) having a profoundly transformative personal experience and b) having what it takes to hold space for others.

So we asked our network of practitioners: How do I distinguish between a genuine calling to work with psychedelics professionally versus just being excited about my own healing?

Here's what they had to say.

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Time will tell

Nearly every practitioner stressed that the decision to step into medicine work shouldn’t be made hastily or urgently. Angela Balboa says: "When we have a huge shift or healing with medicines, it's the natural instinct for many to want to share with others that are suffering. But as with any major changes, allow for some time to pass."

Louis Belleau offers his perspective: "In general, the more excited and new you are to psychedelics, the less you should be guiding others. I say that with love." A self-described "reluctant guide," he notes that "a true calling often begins not with excitement, but in calmness and groundedness, or when you realize you don't want to guide, but the work keeps calling you anyway."

Mary Decker reinforces this theme: "The distinction often becomes clearer with time, integration, and support. Let your purpose unfold through clarity, not urgency." If you let it, time will act as a filter that separates fleeting enthusiasm from something real that lasts.

From service, not ego

Many of our guides pointed out that a genuine calling is based on service to others, as opposed to personal validation. Denise Rue is willing to speak in absolutes: "If one is truly called to do this work, it is never in service to ego, but always in service to others. It's not a kind of spiritual acquisitiveness, a hoarding of experiences like ego death or mystical union."

Ben Askins offers a provocative test: "A genuine calling doesn't inflate you, it empties you. It doesn't say, 'Look what I can do.' It whispers, 'Now that you've died, will you still serve?' One path wants to keep feeling good. The other asks if you're ready to stop being the main character."

Jodie NewDelman warns about problematic motivations: "If we're primarily excited about healing others because it validates or replicates our journey, it feels good, or we habitually over-accommodate, those are red flags." She asks would-be facilitators to explore whether they can "hold space without needing to be needed."

Excited ≠ qualified

The practitioners all agreed that professional psychedelic work demands extensive preparation, above and beyond personal experience. John Moos makes the case for structure: "Professionals work from a framework, language, and set of principles or practices that guide the experience. Enthusiasm and emotional affinity are not enough when holding people in their most vulnerable states."

Wallace Murray adds a cultural perspective: "Healing and vocation are often intertwined, but they are not the same. Western psychological frameworks might encourage self-reflection, supervision, and clarity around transference, while Indigenous-informed ways remind us that calling is not self-proclaimed. It is witnessed, tested, and confirmed in community."

Clara Mackinlay implies that this preparation is ongoing: "A true calling comes with a desire to learn from experiences beyond your own, and to become deeply trauma-informed." Oxana Kirsanova agrees that one of the most important signals is “a willingness to study, learn, and become properly equipped for this demanding and sacred work.”

Our take

So you had a great experience, and now you want other people to have a similarly great experience. That's fair. Admirable even.

But remember, everyone is different, and there will surely be tough times ahead. Before you start researching training programs, a good litmus test is to take mental inventory of all the worst aspects of the job.

Picture yourself cleaning up puke purge at 3am. Imagine holding space for someone who's lashing out at you while processing decades of repressed rage. Consider the weight of sitting with your own guilt and shame when, despite your best intentions, you couldn't "save" someone from their suffering.

Think about the years of your own shadow work that lie ahead, the financial investment in proper training, and the ongoing supervision and education required. Most of all, understand that much of this work happens in unglamorous circumstances with no fanfare or recognition.

If you still feel called to move forward after all that, then by all means. Get after it. Otherwise, we can always use more advocates.

Got a question for our guides?

Reply to this email to shoot your shot. If it’s a juicy one, we may select it for a future issue.

Seeking more personalized guidance?

Our directory of vetted psychedelic professionals is a great place to start your search. Find a facilitator on Maria’s List.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

That’s all for today, Cyclists! Whenever you’re ready, here’s how we can help.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. The use, possession, and distribution of psychedelic drugs are illegal in most countries and may result in criminal prosecution.