Hi there,

Happy eclipse! The magical phenomenon of the moon blocking the sun has long been read as a meeting of opposites: light and dark, conscious and subconscious, ego and soul. A moment when the familiar is obscured and we’re invited to turn inward, shed something, and emerge changed. We're at Medicine Festival which opened last night beneath the eclipse. It eels like a perfect beginning for a gathering devoted to ritual, healing and remembering older ways of working with consciousness.

Across cultures, those practices can look very different, but again and again they return to the same basic human tools: breath, song, rhythm, movement, prayer. Breathwork is perhaps the strangest example because breath is so ordinary we barely notice it. And yet, if you’ve ever had a profound breathwork experience, you’ll know how extraordinary it can be. My one and only out-of-body experience happened through breathwork, not psychedelics.

Simply changing how we breathe can alter how we feel, shift the nervous system, deepen introspection and, at times, open the door tly transcendent states. Slow, deliberate breathing can help support parasympathetic activity and calm the body, while more intensive forms of breathwork can take consciousness somewhere altogether different. We do some version of breathing every moment of our lives, but most of us are never taught to really work with it consciously.

It makes me wonder: what else have we forgotten? What other tools for healing, connection and altered states are sitting right under our noses, hidden by their very familiarity? And that's exactly what the work of Medicine Festival and The Psychedelic Society is for - to give a platform to those who remember the old ways and bring them to the world.

This week, we’re highlighting some of the breathwork offerings in our community. And if you’re at Medicine Festival today, we’ll be at The Hearth at 3:30pm for Psychedelic Speed Dating. Come find us in the forest!

MORE UPCOMING EVENTS

As always, you can find all our upcoming events and retreats on our events page.

creativity & empowerment

practitioner trainings

talks & courses

integration & innerwork

community partner

Longing for more meaningful connection?

Dr Rosalind Watts spent years exploring why connection to ourselves, each other, and the natural world feels so nourishing, why it is so essential to our wellbeing, and why it can be so difficult to maintain in modern life.

ACER is our way of bringing connection back. It's a year-long online container built on real community; a space to speak honestly, be witnessed, and not carry things alone. Whether you're processing a psychedelic experience or simply want more community in your life, ACER offers structure, belonging, live expert talks, Q&As, creative practices, and a rich resource library available anytime.

If you're craving that kind of connection, apply to join ACER today. We start October 1st.

APPLY NOW : 20% off discount code: PSYSOC20

IN OTHER NEWS

Join the team!

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape one of the UK’s leading platforms exploring psychedelics, consciousness, and human transformation. As an Events Producer, you’ll play a key role in bringing world-class ideas, teachers, researchers, and practitioners to our community, helping thousands of people engage with some of the most important conversations of our time.

The role combines creative event organisation with strategic event coordination, offering the opportunity to both create flagship experiences and grow a thriving ecosystem of facilitators and collaborators across the UK.

Manchester - apply here
Bristol - apply here
Brighton - apply here
Community Leads Worldwide - apply here

Join our community of members!

We fund our work in community-building and psychedelic education primarily through our membership program.

By becoming a member of The Psychedelic Society community, you get access to exclusive members-only events, a discount on events, and support the development of this alternative cultural space. Membership starts from just £5/month!

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