Psychedelics, Soul & Storytelling: Notes from an Evening with Simon Yugler
Last night I sat in a room filled with seekers, therapists, artists, and curious wanderers as Simon Yugler and Carlos Ancalmo took us deep into the realms of mythology, soul, and psychedelics. The event was centered around Simon’s new book, Psychedelics and the Soul, and what unfolded felt less like a lecture and more like a shared remembering.
Simon opened with depth psychology—a field rooted in Jung, Hillman, and the symbolic language of the unconscious. He reminded us that the word psychedelic doesn't just mean “mind manifesting.” At its root, psyche means soul. So the psychedelic experience is, at its core, a soul-revealing one.
He wove in myth, not as metaphor but as a living framework. Myths, he said, carry the medicine of our ancestors. They show up again and again in altered states—not because we’re hallucinating old stories, but because those stories live inside us. They’re part of the architecture of the psyche.
One moment that landed deeply was when Simon told the Irish myth of Fionn and the Salmon of Wisdom. In the story, a boy accidentally tastes the sacred fish meant for his teacher and is flooded with ancient knowing. It’s a story about initiation, mentorship, and the unexpected ways wisdom finds us—often not through striving, but surrender.
And that was a thread throughout the night: surrender. Simon and Carlos spoke about grief as a gateway, symptoms as underworld messengers, and integration not as “going back to normal,” but as becoming more deeply human. Soul, they reminded us, doesn’t always want to get better. Sometimes it just wants us to be with what is.
They touched on the absence of rites of passage in modern Western culture and how many turn to psychedelics in search of them. But without community, without elders or containers, the journey can leave people unheld. That’s why integration matters. That’s why story matters.
We closed with questions and reflections. People spoke of blisters and breakthroughs, beauty and confusion. One person said they felt like they were somewhere between the drop of the sacred oil and the beginning of mentorship—awake, but unsure where to go next.
I left the room feeling like the story wasn’t over. It rarely is.
If You’re Curious About Psychedelics and Soul…
If you’re someone who’s curious about psychedelics—not just as a tool for healing, but as a way of connecting more deeply to your soul, to story, and to something greater—Simon’s work is a beautiful doorway. His book Psychedelics and the Soul doesn’t give easy answers. It invites you into a deeper conversation, one that includes mythology, dreams, grief, initiation, and awe.
Whether you're just beginning your journey or have already had powerful experiences, this talk reminded me how important it is to slow down and make space for integration—through reflection, through mentorship, and sometimes, through myth.
If that resonates, I’d love to hear from you.
This is the kind of terrain I help people navigate with care.
Contact us if you’re curious to explore this work for yourself.