Psychedelics and Aphantasia

  I am truly aphantasic and have been this way throughout my life. I became aware of this when studying meditation and discovered I could not “visualize” prompts that were part of the process. I remembered though that when doing psychedelics recreationally, I was able to visualize or see mental images. Maybe this is why I was drawn to them. I then began pursuing psychedelics for Shamanic or Consciousness Exploration and attended Ayahuasca Ceremonies (100+) and partook in “Heroic Doses” of Magic Mushrooms (100++). Registering and experiencing the energetic and geometric overlays of Reality would occur  whether my eyes were open or closed. This access to visual information completely fascinated me and the context that was beyond my imagination allowed me to understand the importance of accessing non-local information. The first time that I was able to “see” the energetic waves of music and how it travelled through people created a deeper appreciation for this process.

  I am curious to hear about other people with Aphantasia and their experiences with psychedelics. I am more interested in organic natural forms rather than synthetic or chemical compounds. LSD for example, does open synapses and altered states of consciousness-but there is not a guiding “presence” felt as there is with Ayahuasca or Mushrooms or Cacti.  

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I also have aphantasia and I have noticed that when use weed I’m able to see images not very clearly and not such complex ones but usually I can’t see any it is quite interesting  

Hey David,  

That makes sense, marijuana is classified as a “mild” psychedelic. Personally, I don’t get the effect you are describing from weed, but then again you may have a different sensitivity. Smoking does make my dreaming better and sometimes very vivid and occasionally lucid. I have to journal my dreams before I move out of the bed-sometimes at night in the dark (keep a notebook next to the bed for this). If I do not do this, they are “lost” almost instantly because I cannot recall them visually.

If you get a chance, a nice Mushroom Journey will allow you to “see” with your Mind’s Eye for a few hours. This experience is awe inspiring to me and full of wonder and amazement.

Have a Great Day!

Darius

In all my trips on any drug, I’ve never had and hallucination!

Hi Bob,

  We all “hallucinate” all the time-that is how Consciousness operates from a personal perspective. Everything we “perceive” is imagined-even in typing this response to you, I NEVER actually “touch” the individual keys. If I did, there would be small nuclear reactions with the atoms/electrons from my finger interfering with the molecular structure of the keyboard. What I “imagine” or “hallucinate” in regards to touch is really the sensation of the electro-magnetic (EM) fields of my finger responding to the EM field of the keyboard and the repellant force is distorted into the delusion of touching. 

  Where hallucination gets a negative rap is from the collective vs the individual perspective. If a group “agrees” to the same narrative the experience is considered “real”. If someone deviates from the collective narrative, that perspective is deemed “hallucinatory” with a negative connotation.

  I agree wholeheartedly with your statement in that I have never had a hallucination on a trip or journey. What I experience is just information from another bandwidth. With a Journey this week, we all shared our experience afterwards. Even though they were all different, we did not consider the differences as delusional hallucinations. We considered the varying experiences as a result of individual intentions and attentions.

  Have a Great Day Brother! Journey On!

Hi Darius.  I’m so glad I came across your post.  I just realized at the age of 46 that I have an issue with visualization.  I was recently talking to a friend about her experience with guided meditations.  Her experience sounded amazing and I realized that I can’t conjure an image in my mind’s eye.  I’ve tried hypnosis and wasn’t successful because it involves lots of visualization.  

I’m curious if you have memory issues as well.  I think that my Aphantasia was caused by childhood trauma.  I struggle with disassociation.  I recently started researching psilocybin after watching “How To Change Your Mind” on Netflix.  I came across this community when I searched for Aphantasia and psilocybin.