Psychedelic Feminism: A Radical Interpretation of Psychedelic Consciousness?

Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye. . . . It also includes the inner pictures of the soul.

—Edvard Munch

The reality of magic exists somewhere between the ontology of structure and the inscription of meaning.¹

—Bonnie Glass-Coffin

Introduction

Psychedelic feminism is a recent idea developed by cultural activist Zoe Helene to describe the ways psychedelic psychospiritual practices can empower women. This article seeks to explicate the ways psychedelic feminism is grounded in ecofeminism, third-wave feminism, and the French feminist idea of écriture féminine (writing the feminine). The historical context of Western psychedelic-assisted therapy reveals the ways psychedelic experiences can facilitate psychospiritual transformation and shed light on contemporary psychospiritual practices as ways to cultivate subjectivity, imagination, and participatory consciousness as elements of psychedelic feminism.

Psychedelic experiences are theorized as innately feminist, which expands the concept of psychedelic feminism and interprets it as a feminist practice that is not based in biological gender. This is an introductory exploration, with the hopes that I'll be able to present more concrete evidence and broader analysis in a future study. The ideas and descriptions are based on participant observation and interviews with sixteen women who work with psychedelics for personal and spiritual growth² and all direct interview quotes originate in that primary source data. Although there are many ideas to flesh out, two main points are discussed. Psychedelic feminism empowers women by encouraging participatory consciousness, in which individuals engage in a meaning-making process. Agency is encouraged via intuitive ways of knowing, intentionally valuing subjectivity, and engaging the imagination to create meaning and re-engineer the self. In the process of delving into the subjective psychedelic experience, psychedelic feminism also promotes experiential knowledge of interconnectivity, a feeling of being connected to realms beyond oneself. These elements of participatory consciousness and connectedness are foundations of psychedelic psychospiritual work, revealing that psychedelic feminism is the core of psychedelic psychospiritual work.³ Although especially important for women, this feminist core functions regardless of the gender of participants.

Psychedelic Feminism

Psychedelic feminism is a term coined in the last decade by Helene, an advocate for psychedelic journeys for personal and spiritual growth. Helene describes psychedelic feminism as "a sub-genre of feminism that embraces the transformational and inspirational power of psychedelic healing, transformation, self-liberation, and mind/body/spirit exploration in altered states of consciousness—[and] encourages women to explore the wilderness within, where they can learn more deeply about themselves, in part to face core feminist issues in fresh and exciting ways."⁴ In 2007, Helene founded a company called Cosmic Sister specifically to empower women in the psychedelic community. It originated in an ecofeminist organization which she had formed to address various ecological issues. Her goals for Cosmic Sister are twofold. First, she seeks to support the voices of women in the psychedelic community, which she sees as a male-dominated arena. Second, her organization provides grants for women to participate in reputable ayahuasca retreats with indigenous Shipibo people in a specific part of the Peruvian Amazon where ayahuasca is legal.⁵ Some of the retreats are women-only and aim to create a physically and emotionally safe environment for women to (as Helene claims) "get our power back by purging the accumulated harm of abuse in our culture."

Medicine retreats offer ritualized, ceremonial work with psychedelic substances. The retreats include events called "medicine ceremonies," or "medicine work," because the consciousness-altering, plant-derived substances are called "plant medicines." Although Western women may travel to Peru to legally participate in ayahuasca retreats, some women also participate in underground ceremonies in the United States with a variety of psychedelic substances. The beginning point to define psychedelic feminism is a practice by which women consume psychedelic substances, and "work with" the psychedelic experiences to recreate and empower themselves. Although the retreats sponsored by Cosmic Sister are ayahuasca retreats within the Shipibo tradition, many variations of psychedelic medicine retreats exist. Women may work with other psychedelic substances, some of which are plant medicines, while others are synthetic. The medicine ceremonies are configured in many...