What is the difference between psychedelics and energy practices such as Qigong, meditation, and real shamanic journeying? Is one better than the other? Is one way rooted in delusion and the other in real, authentic, spiritual practice? The answer is yes.
Why did human beings, at least in some cultures, stop using psychedelics? Some might even say that most, if not all cultures when you go back far enough in time, had spiritual practitioners like shamans that always used hallucinogens of different kinds to achieve altered states of of consciousness in order to communicate with the other beings in our universe. This is partially false. In fact, you do not need to use any sort of illicit substance in order to communicate with the beings in our universe, and attempting to do so with the use of any substances can at times lead to delusion for the reasons which will be revealed. Our ancestors in Europe were aware of this and had methods of obtaining information from the divine without having to take any illicit substances.
Two of the spiritual traditions that have some of the most respect in the world are the Taoists, the ancient “shamanism” of China, and the Vedic masters known as the rishis in India. In both of these traditions, thousands of years ago, entheogens were sometimes used. The Vedas have hymns like the Triambakam mantra of Shiva which has specific meters to it. At one point, both of these traditional practitioners stopped using hallucinogens for the most part. The reason for this is that they had found much more effective methods of communicating with the divine, one of which is known as kundalini yoga. This practice is where they were learning how to make the internal kundalini within the human nervous system rise up the spinal column and open up the chakras to channel the gods and ancestors. They no longer needed substances, for they had found an authentic spiritual tool whereby the gods would have protected them and the priests would have known what mantras to chant to protect them during this practice.
I have personally never taken any illicit substances in my life but I have been trained and initiated in various spiritual traditions and therefore I say that it is important to understand why I mention protection for a reason. Those who are are mistakenly led into believing that they will have some kind of authentic spiritual experience when they take ayahuasca, or when they take mushrooms, or any powerful entheogen, do not understand that they need to be protected. One that does not have that protection and assumes that they are protected by the way of their “good intentions” is not enough. There needs to be somebody who is not taking the substance who knows whatever it is they need to do to watch the person’s spirit to spiritually protect them. If one does not do that then they are playing with fire and will get burned, both physically and spiritually, for reasons which will be discussed.
Anytime you ingest a chemical into your body that gives you a supposed “spiritual experience” you are forcibly tearing what some will call your “aura” open. This is why in most pre-Christian spiritual traditions across the world, there was drumming, chanting, and songs sung by a shaman to protect the person entering the spirit realm. By forcibly tearing open your aura, the body and soul’s natural ability to enter the spirit realm by itself diminishes. The body and soul then becomes dependent on outside chemicals to forcibly induce an altered state of consciousness which can cause various problems. This is why the Vedic practitioners in history understood that they could awaken kundalini and use the kachari mudra in addition to breathing exercises to naturally release the right spiritual amount of energy from the body with no side effects or delusion.
Practical Ancestors
Our ancestors were practical people. The original “shamanic” practices that were discovered by Europeans in Europe were not seeking to become “enlightened” with the universe. The very first “shamans” were hunter-gatherers that needed to, for a practical purpose, travel outside of their body to seek out the herds of animals or communicate with the spirit of an animal in order to hunt it, kill it, and eat it to survive. Or to obtain wisdom from an ancestor or a god, or to change the weather for crop growth or to ward off bad entities encroaching upon the clan.
To go into “shamanic” meditation according to one’s Pagan path for mere entertainment is asking for trouble. When you don't respect these powers you're asking for problems and this is why a lot of people can have negative experiences whereby they can have bad “trips” and they meet “demons”. It may not necessarily be that you’re intending to have an experience for the wrong reasons, just that the lack of respect for these powers itself can cause problems.
Self-induced experiences with substance abuse opens you up to your own self delusions. What one person may think is an authentic vision whereby they talk to a god when using illicit substances is more often than not projecting one’s own unconscious narcissistic fears or fantasies. When you do not engage in spiritual practices with accuracy and with the right protection as previously discussed, you don't know whether or not you're just having an experience of your own narcissism or a genuine spiritual experience from the divine.
The body is the vehicle through which we experience this physical world. The last thing you want to do is damage it whilst simultaneously damaging your natural ability to connect with the divine through natural, timeless, perfected spiritual practices. In effect, meditation in whatever form your spiritual tradition teaches is somewhat like watching the thoughts you have. When you watch those thoughts without emotionally reacting to them, you don't attach to them and you therefore clear out your lower self. When your lower self is clean, it has the ability to travel to other realms and has the ability to channel beings and entities. On the other hand, when one smokes marijuana, takes LSD or ingests mushrooms, they are piling on deep-rooted unconscious baggage and indulging in psychological gymnastics which deprives them of authentic spiritual experience.