You Are The Medicine You Seek: Why We Don’t Need Psychedelics to Remember We Are God

“Man is a marvel, O Asclepius. A being worthy of reverence and honor. For he passes into the nature of a god, as though he were himself divine.”
— Hermes Trismegistus, Asclepius

Ever heard the phrase “all paths lead to God”, or put another way, “all paths lead home”? Through a Kabbalistic lens these point to the truth that in life all of us have innate potential to reach states of our own unique expression of godliness, and that no matter what, that upon death all of us return to where we came from – our eternal Source. This is the pattern and potential set out for everyone no matter which religion, philosophy, or path of direct experience we choose. Even for those who reject existence of Spirit, God, Source, and the energetic Universe altogether. The opportunity is there in our lifetimes to awaken to metaphysical realities and become aware of our interconnectedness. And how we may choose to live life from that spiritual foundation, or not.

Craving Spiritual Contact with the Divine in Modern Times

By our very nature, humans seek love, comfort, and security because living a physical life is quite often the opposite of those things. It is our discomforts which drive us towards transformation and transcendence. Without unintegrated pain, disconnect, and loneliness, and the existential longing for meaning we would not strive to grow and become more than who we are today. Remembering is quite literally the purpose of forgetting. Throughout history religions were used by the power hungry to colonize and control; however, they were also brought to the world for comfort and solace, and a sense of moral compass and hope to those who suffered or steered away from what was righteous.

Today, in a world in which religion either no longer satisfies, resonates, or is fashionable – peak experiences with psychedelics like Ayahuasca, MDMA, DMT, or even more gradual therapeutic “remembering” through psilocybin mushrooms and other pycho-active substances hold increasing allure. And there is context for them, particularly in severe trauma integration.

I have respect and regard for all or most paths. I think just about anything can be a medicine for someone in the right moment, applied in the right dosage, in the right and reverent way. Sinners and saints alike, religion has held the masses in their scared yet sacred polarities. Even in some the darkest ways religion has been used to amass and hold power over others, it has also been a route for the light to find its way through the cracks in human doubt of Spirit/Source/God. For those it resonates with, I believe religion is a valuable way to recollect and engage a story of humanity and creation which can provide structure to remember and live by – so long as it is teaching how to live with love, kindness, and compassion – for all. With any path I would say that discernment is one of the highest values amongst others – what am I being taught, am I more empowered to heal and grow and evolve over time?

In terms of spirituality through plant medicines, I have known some incredibly clear and integrated individuals on the Ayahuasca shamanic path – and some who are not. Again, discernment. Spiritual consumerism and “quick fix” culture exists. It can be so easy to fall into if we are not yet aware of the various aspects of ourselves making our decisions, the cause and effects of our actions, and being able to critically assess whether we’re actually progressing or not.

The questions I pose of any spiritual seeker or devotee are:

1) Does a religion, mystic path, or plant medicine resonate for you and are you empowered on your path towards enlightenment?

2) Are you becoming more whole and embodied in godly ways i.e. love, compassion, truthfulness, clarity of thought and expression, integrity with your word?

3) Are you becoming more masterful of your energy, your needs, and your efficacy to have fair and balanced relationships?

4) Are you becoming more capable and in your power and taking actions to truly help others?

Either way, for me, whether spiritual plant medicines or devotion to religion, therein lies an inherent issue to become aware of – the external mediary. We all need guides, tools, and keys along our way. There is nothing wrong with spiritual teachers and strong mirrors. Those are inherent to a path. That’s not what I refer to. The point I make is if there are any ways in which we use external mediators or medicines to avoid, reject, distract, or bypass our deeper psycho-spiritual integration work and not actually alchemically change – then we have actually missed the point. What have we really awoken to or remembered?

Ultimately, there is really no medicine stronger for the human condition than remembering who you are, bit-by-bit, step-by-step, coming into ever-greater integrity with universal Hermetic principles and living that alignment each and every day of your life. I invite everyone into awareness that the path of awakening is really not about chasing visions, altered states, and peak experiences but to come into your own daily relationship and embodiment of the divine – in you and in your life – and then uplift, empower, and serve others from that strength of space.

Many religions teach or give false impression that God’s house is the church, a mosque, or other external temple outside ourselves. Something to step into on a Sunday or in the presence of a priest or other mediator. But the ancient mystic and gnostic traditions held the knowledge that to remember you are God every day is not arrogance – it is sacred responsibility. They taught the true temple is not a church or shamanic circle and psychedelic brew – it is you.

“If you do not make yourself equal to God, you cannot understand God: for like is known by like.”
— Hermes Trismegistus, Corpus Hermeticum, Libellus XI (Mind Unto Hermes)

Honoring Shamanic Paths

In the modern world of mass spiritual awakenings and truth- and growth-seeking, a significant cultural trend has emerged. That trend is spiritual experience with the aid of psychedelics. Specifically, substances such as Ayahuasca, psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, peyote, Soma, San Pedro (also known as mescaline), etc. All of these fall under an umbrella category of what are called entheogens. The term entheogen comes from the Greek roots en- (within) + theos (God) + gen (to generate or come into being) = “generating the divine within”. Entheogens are defined as psychoactive substances used in sacred, shamanic, or ceremonial context to facilitate direct experience with the spirit world. The intentional and ceremonial uses of these substances originally came through lineage tribal traditions of shamanism that were held and shared in sacred ways with trained, experienced practitioners. These trained shamanism practitioners deeply understood the entheogenic beings they worked with and their medicine’s “effects” and how best to facilitate the communion of the beings with their students, accolades, or patients. Even for those that do not feel called or resonant with the use of entheogens or mind-altering substances in general, these kinds of shamanic roots can and should be regarded with respect and reverence.

However, there is distinction to make between plant medicine use by lineage-based shamanic traditions and Western neo-shamanism driven by economics and fads. There is also the category of psychedelic and entheogen use at concerts, parties, and festivals under the guise of feeling “liberated” or seeking to feel good, alive, and blissful. These modern fads are on the rise in modern western culture. Amidst the spectrum of reasons why individuals seek divine contact through spiritual substances, lines can become easily blurred and confused between what is actually sacred and empowering and what is novel or recreational. Without correct context or the building and strengthening of a real spiritual foundation within the Self, the light offered by such elevated (but transient) experiences may not have fertile conditions to anchor in someone’s soul and daily life. Further still, the elevated highs and significant seratonin activation of psychedelics can become addictive leading to bypass and abuse. Shamanic paths and the use of powerful psycho-active substances were always about tradition, initiation, and calling. They were never intended for the casual and untrained lay-person, bored, curious, or simply seeking new experience. Being blown-open by powerful entheogens does not necessarily equate to spiritual growth or progression in life as they not guarantee internal strengthening of will, mind, and moral compass.

There is no purpose served in judging ourselves or each other for choices and routes we take in our noble attempts to heal and remember and come into contact and right relationship with our eternal sourcing. Judgements bind us and become a heavy weight for us all. The desire for the peace and bliss of quantum consciousness is inherent to our human experience. To seek is natural and good and the barriers to that re-connection or remembering can be significant.

When I was neither a person of belief, faith, dogma, nor religion, but seeking to meet the unmet love needs of my heart, I had a spontaneous spiritual awakening. No substance. No mediator. Surrendered, humble, hopeful, heart-open, and then simply and profoundly touched by the Light. In a moment of contact with divine energies, I was spontaneously awakened to knowledge of God. And this experience was synchronously followed by finding the ancient King Solomon Mystery School path (today referred to as the Modern Mystery School).

I initiated on this path and have built a strong foundation for psychic perception and living a spiritual life through study, trainings, self-healing, and personal integration with gnostic magickal practices. Practices and tools that empower me and bring me and my life into quantum alignment with the God within me every day. The tools and teachings I have received have given my experiences and what I observe in the world deep contextual understanding in ways I may not have come to on my own. As a Healer and Ritual Master on the Solomonic lineage path, I stand as a way-marker for others who are awakening and seeking also. I live as an example of a way to build slow-steady- and sustained spiritual progression. What I most want to convey with this piece is simply this – there are gentle, empowering, foundation-building, and enjoyable ways to awaken and grow spiritually that work and don’t involve psychedelics.

Substance-Free Ways Back to God

“You see, my child, the god within you; you see him who never sleeps, and you hear his voice. It is in you that the god lives, and that is why he is hidden – because he is within.” – Hermes Trismegistus, Corpus Hermeticum, Book I: Poimandres, the Shepherd of Men.

Not every soul is meant for or resonant with the entheogenic path. One person’s medicine can be another’s poison, and vice versa. Some do hear a call to seek spiritually through specific shamanic plant medicine traditions. A spiritual calling to Ayahuasca, for example, if resonance and in alignment for someone - well that is one thing. But not everyone is neurologically wired or built psychologically the exact same. Not everyone has the same contracts or the same ancestral-plant medicine relationships. And not everyone is aware of the impacts and potential repercussions of working with plant spirits or engaging the Spirit realm in immediate, intensive ways. Ayahuasca and DMT can be like going from 0 to 100 in one single leap. A single psychedelic spiritual experience – let alone many – can blow-open a person’s psychic perception in such a manner that if their system is unprepared, unhealthy, or sensitive they risk damage to their neurology, chemistry, physiology, and energy bodies resulting in an array of neural dysregulation, even psychological breakdown.

The phrase that “there are many paths home to God” has been illustrated over time through the many religious, mystic, monastic, meditative, and yogic esoteric paths that have been available to humanity. Metaphysical paths, based in tools like sacred geometry and Kabbalah, are especially important today for those who know for themselves that substances aren’t their thing. Ultimately, to discover which growth direction is right for yourself is one of the main reasons we are here on earth walking our own individuated paths – discernment of what personal truth, power, free-will, alignment, and wisdom is really about.

In my experience Spirit is always calling us towards awakening and remembering. The deeper point to realize is that Spirit is not calling you to revelations and worship through external substances or to the idolization of physical constructs at all. Spirit is calling you inward – to seek and listen to the knowledge and awareness that lies inherent within you – in your very DNA.

In theory one could literally take a seat, relax, breathe, go into meditation and receive their enlightenment right then and there. In reality, this is not likely to work for the vast majority of us. Even the Buddha took many years in solitude from society using ascetic, yogic practice before he found his middle path. The point is the journey is inward and that awakening can occur through gentle means, through trauma integration, inner-remembering and working with subtle-energies as much as it may be acquired along “fast tracks”.

Entheogens have opened doors for people certainly. But as indigenous shamanic spiritual traditions cross continents and merge into modern cultures creating potential for divergence into neo-shamanism, incompatible genetic relationships, and potential for neurological dysregulation and blow-out, again remember this: there are many paths to God and the awakening of illuminated consciousness. Not all of them require or even recommend ingesting powerful substances or journeying into the jungles of South America. This article is not a rejection of shamanic plant medicine traditions. On the contrary, it’s a rebalancing of the conversation and a sharing that there are powerful yet gentle, steady paths for seeking union with the divine. So, which path is right for you?

“God is invisible, yet most manifest; He is comprehensible to Himself alone. He is voiceless yet speaks through all things.” – Hermes Trismegistus, Corpus Hermeticum, Book II (To Asclepius)

Initiation Rather Than Mind-Alteration

Rights-of-passage also known as initiatory traditions are older than recorded history. The word initiation comes from the Latin root initiare, meaning “to begin” or “to enter into”. Nearly all early civilizations had initiatory tradition that served the individuals of their communities or tribes to pass sacredly from one state of being to another. The most common of these would have been a reverent marking or ritualized rite from childhood or youth into adulthood or from Adept to Teacher/Guide, etc. Initiations served as spiritual, psychological, and communal technology for awakening, personal empowerment, and alchemical transformation. Initiatory tradition is well rooted in the ancient mystery schools of Egypt and Greece, in the yogic and tantric lineages of India, the ancient Celtic-Druid Orders, and countless indigenous tribal traditions.

Initiation has always offered an important death and rebirth gateway for the soul as well as access to sacred knowledge handed-down from teacher to student. True initiatory paths have also been associated with tradition from ancestral, mystic, or cosmic lineage. Their aim was to empower the initiated to come into communion with the God within, rather than become reliant or out-sourced in their power. They’ve never been about escaping or avoiding reality or responsibility but coming into full embodied integrity with God, in one’s own life, and being in active service to others. From this perspective, there can be a chasm of difference between life-long devotional initiatory traditions and novel or rapid-awakening substance-based experiences.

One of the biggest differences between these two routes is that one guarantees a person’s inner foundation is prepared and ready to receive illumination and contact with spiritual realms and beings; the other does not necessarily. Throughout history, foundational work through energy training, ego-integration, inner strengthening, and personal development has also been a tenet of lineage mystery school paths. Trauma, ego-inflation, bypassing – these are all pit-falls of awakening to the expansive powers of Spirit without a sturdy and strong foundation to stand upon, integrate with, and grow in discernment.

The phrase “sober-culture” has arisen largely in response to healthy lifestyle people graduating from drugs, alcohol, and party-culture. It’s not specific to sober-culture that a substance-free path may offer its benefits but they do offer paths of learning, training, and growing that build resilience, inner alignment, sovereignty, and embodiment – real foundation for Spirit and God to be present and sustained in a physical human life.

Sober Paths to Spiritual Awakening

“The Kingdom of Spirit is embodied in the flesh.” – paraphrased excerpt from the Pattern on the Trestleboard, A Kabbalistic ritual and prayer

The world’s major mystic and religious paths were by and large sober spiritual paths. These included Christian Mysticism, Tibetan Buddhism, Sufism (Islamic Mysticism), Jewish Mysticism (Kabbalah), Eastern yogic paths, Daoism, as well as the ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Druidic mystery schools and other gnostic traditions. There have also always been indigenous and shamanic cultures that did not use psycho-active substances. These indigenous tracts trained their shamans, priests, priestesses, and various accolades with practices that activated Spirit from within through drumming, chanting, dance, fasting, sweat lodges, vision quests, and prayer. In modern times, sober spiritual growth can also be accessed through numerous paths like Reiki Mastery, anthroposophy, and mystery schools or spiritual organizations based in New Age, science of mind, and the like. Not all of the will have “tried and true” paths that hold the type of structure needed for real alchemical change and accelerated progression.

The archetypes of the priestess, monk, and mystic have always existed in the everyday miraculous, not just the peak ecstatic experience. Structured spiritual paths that included foundation-building along some type of “path of progression” have served humanity to grow steadily and sustainably and achieve higher states of potential by guiding their adepts along tried and true routes. These day-to-day paths of progression served initiated individuals to embody the purest elements and gifts of an individual’s soul and spirit – and to be empowered to express and share them beautifully and powerfully in life.

Across lineages, sober esoteric paths tend to have purity of consumption in common. They focus instead on practices and tools based in empowerment, discipline, devotion, self-inquiry, inner-strengthening of mind and will, and personal alignment. Sober spiritual paths also generally emphasize subtle energy awareness with slow and steady development in the skills to wield, mediate, and bring about transformation (alchemy) as well as the powers to manifest desired outcomes (magick). Even traditional martial arts, qi gong, or tai chi training is based in energy mastery and vitality – through mind-body-energy purification and inner-strengthening, rather than through use of a psycho-active substance.

However approached, the spiritual awakening process was always meant to be a life-long engagement. A lifetime’s experience of the miraculous – great and small. A succession of many realizations, rather than a singular jaw-dropping one. Realizations and rememberings that build upon themselves and not only while at church, temple, or in ceremonial experience.

The temple of Spirit lives within the Soul and moves within the Body and there are inherent physiological reasons humans can have direct experiences of the metaphysical realms through various paths and practices. Not simply one alone. We are innately wired to experience the energetic universe. That is our blueprint potential. The nervous system is a tuning fork – a receiver and transmitter of frequencies and energies far beyond most are aware of or can perceive, yet.

The Divine-Human Design: You Are Already Wired for God

Because of the nature of who and what we are, all of us are born and built for the development of consciousness, psychic awareness, and spiritual connection. Our human blueprint is quintessentially designed for contact with the energetic universe and spirit realms. This potential is not reserved only for the few. But if this is true, why aren’t we all awake, in bliss, and thriving equally?

It is a very complex answer. Some contributing factors explaining differentiation in human experience and perception is that each one of us has a somewhat differently wired nervous system and not all of them are well-regulated and highly functioning. Build up of trauma, toxins, and negative or limiting thoughts and beliefs also have detrimental effect on neural function, epigenetic expression of the DNA, and perception of reality. Neurotoxins alone significantly numb the sensory system and calcify the psychic centers. Each one of us also embodies a physical avatar at differing degrees of mastery, health/vitality, and functionality.

But at our basic, blueprint level, the human nervous system is the key electro-chemical pathway within that serves us to have direct, cognitive, and embodied experience of divine frequencies. Breaking this down, the nervous system consists of 1) a central nervous system (CNS) made of the brain, the control system, and spinal cord which is the primary communication highway between the brain and body, and 2) the peripheral nervous system (PNS) consisting of the somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous systems. The somatic nervous system controls voluntary actions like intentional muscle movement that relays sensory information from external or internal stimuli such as sensation, pressure, pain, pleasure, temperature, etc. The autonomic nervous system controls involuntary functions such as heart rate, breathing, and digestion, and is responsible for the sympathetic survival and mobilization vs. parasympathetic rest and recovery states.

Human neural wiring could also be looked at in three essential categories:

1) Primal (rooted wiring) – our most basic systems that support our animal self (Freud’s id or instinct) – the part of us that seeks safety, shelter, food, and rest.

2) Connection (relational wiring) – our richest human system for feeling and healing in relationships. This is the tuning fork for love in the heart-body. It consists of the polyvagal system linked to the activation and production of certain hormones like serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine that support bonding and empathy response in connection with others. This wiring is based in ego and supports its development (both positive and negative and primarily conscious aspects). The vagus nerve is a large part of this functioning and a crucial bridge between gut, heart, and brain – a conduit for empathic, intuitive, and psychic capacity within and around others as well as dysfunction and disease when dysregulated.

3) Transcendent (mystical wiring) – our divine Self innately wired for clarity of insight, peace, and direct communion with Source. This could be very loosely translated as Freud’s superego (or seat of morality) and Carl Jung’s Self (personal and collective unconscious and archetypal wholeness). These are the parts of our brain responsible for mystical experiences. The mystical wiring consists of the prefrontal cortex (left and right sides of the front of the brain) as well as the pineal gland (centrally located deep within the brain) and pituitary gland (base of brain). Together these are responsible for heart-brain or spirit-matter coherence. This axis of mystical wiring leads us to the “remembering” of divine truths as well as awakened states of wholeness and interconnectedness. Their function is what allows us to reach beyond ego and contact the divine.

Breaking this down further, the prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for imagination, moral reasoning, and the ability to “witness” ourselves, our world, and our experiences with perspective and a semblance of objectivity – a crucial function for higher-level human relating and relationship skill development. In esoteric traditions, the pineal gland has been linked with the Crown chakra. Greek philosopher Descartes called the pineal the “seat of the soul”. The pineal is seen as the transmitter of Light, spiritual vision, mystical illumination, and cosmic consciousness. It’s activation and de-calcification from heavy metals and other neurotoxins plays a central role in being able to have mystical experience as well as balanced circadian rhythms. The pituitary gland is considered the master gland of the endocrine system, was thought of as the “seat of the personality” and is responsible for deep meditative gamma and theta brainwaves linked with experiences of awe, intuition, and unity consciousness.

You Are A Living Instrument of God

I lay all this out because as a person whose lived a devoted spiritual path for some years and gained perspective from where I started, I would stress – to all seekers of spiritual or mystical experience – it is you that are the divine and holy instrument of consciousness, not the effigy or deity in the temple, not the priest in the church, nor the psychoactive plant or entheogen. To the atheists, agnostics, and doubters – I pose to you the possibility there is a disconnect in neuro-chemical function within. Also possible parts of you may be psychologically walled, stalled, or stuck in reverence to reason and science or the mechanics and material world alone.

Heavy metals and other toxic contaminants, in addition to limiting beliefs, bog down our neural wiring from sensing and awakening to the mysteries and having direct experience of our energetic universe. Like the strings of a harp, if we are full of toxins, our nervous systems do not play the correct cords and keys. When detoxified, properly mineralized and regulated, emotionally healed and psychologically whole, and then trained and attuned to subtle frequencies, the human body becomes the altar. The nervous system becomes open gateways of perception. Our whole being becomes a vessel of divine intelligence and manifestation.

Unravelling the Wires to Remembering

Your body was designed to be a quantum transmitter of Spirit and energy. But a toxic body-mind disrupted by heavy metals, pesticides, micro-plastics, and forever chemicals becomes a very real barrier to the awakening process. It is paths of purification, slow alchemy, and embodied mysticism that help us sustainably unwind the larger picture to why we’ve become disconnected from divine insight, from multi-sensory metaphysical perception, feelings of deep peace, love, bliss, wholeness, and universal connectedness. Rite-of-passage, initiatory paths with structured discipline and devotion have always guided us with the most likelihood for success for spiritual awakening and self-mastery.

As an initiated Kabbalist, Alchemist, Ritual Master, and Healer of the Solomonic tradition my greatest slow-alchemy tools include daily ritual, prayer, and meditation. I have also found qi gong, martial arts, energy healing, and holistic health care essential to both detox and building energetic resilience for alchemical transformation. Even the simple acts of relaxation and doing something joyful for myself can have profound impact on my vibration, perceptions, and mood. I also regularly work with elemental magick to commune with nature. I have in more recent years devoted myself to building the relationship awareness and skills I need to embody greater harmony and integrity in life. Having clear and strong energetic boundaries in this world is also imperative to living in alignment with yourself and God because there is so much chaos, noise, and ways to distract, detract, and forget who you are.

Building Strong Foundations for Spiritual Awakening

It is not the whole picture, but cleansing and purifying the body of neurotoxins is an important foundational piece to awakening the mysteries of the Self and Universe. Without a rich and balanced mineralized body, a regulated and high-functioning nervous system, and strong flow of life force energy we get nowhere fast no matter which direction we choose. Illness often emerges to slow us down or stop us altogether.

King Solomon trained his knighted adepts to become both master healers and spiritual warriors. This slow-and-steady alchemy tradition is alive and available within the teaching and training temples of the Modern Mystery School today. This particular path is not one based in substances as aids and is generally a substance-free culture compatible for those interested in healthy living and sober lifestyles. Detoxification isn’t part of the formal training within this mystery school’s path but it is a path that causes alchemical purification of Ego and energy. Every session, step of initiation, every personal ritual, class, and international training program brings in Light that results in alchemical change. I have also discovered that in order to anchor and wield Light and high frequencies within the human aura and in within life – with any real sustainable power – healthy lifestyle habits must be acquired and working with cleansing, detoxification, and mineralization protocols are essential.

Remember – You Are Already the Medicine, the Magick, and the Temple

The aim of this article is to serve as a reminder that contact with the divine is not “out there”. It is not in a pill, a potion, or a brew. Nor is it a peak experience and you’re fixed – it’s you coming to realize and wield the magick of who you are. The divine is everywhere and isn’t necessarily just found in a weekend’s retreat with a substance. Your soul’s awakening is a unique path that lasts a lifetime. The divine and holy is inherent to your very DNA. The awakening process is meant to be you realizing each day in your thoughts, words, choices, and actions – with greater efficacy over time – that you are divine. And for you to gain clarity in how you would choose to live from that foundation.

If you could hold the vibration of a divine - even royal - life each moment of each day, in every cell and deep within the DNA, what would you choose to do with your time? What path or route would you take? How would you choose to open the gateways of perception? How would you treat your temple and seek your sovereignty?

If you feel drawn to the ancient mysteries, to the initiatory path, to alchemy and Kabbalah, and are seeking to know who and what you and God truly are do not hesitate to reach out to me info@rosemarybaker.live - happy to connect and consult and offer Light on your journey.

“God is not revealed to the eyes, for He is without form; nor to the ears, for He is without sound. He is known only by mind and heart, and by the light of His own.” -Corpus Hermeticum