The Psychedelic Issue

ZIN EΦM A G A

THE PSYCHEDELIC ISSUE

vol.9

Φ

MAGAZINE

THE PSYCHEDELIC ISSUE

VOLUME 9

Another term, another issue! And this time around, Phi's editorial
team has grown even more. We are very excited for what we have in
store for all our readers this year, starting with this issue on all things
psychedelic. The word itself comes from the the Ancient Greek words
ψυχή (psychē) meaning "soul", and δηλοῦν (dēloun) meaning "to
make visible, to reveal". For this issue, our creators took this concept
to heart, they’ve manifested, in its pages, their minds and their souls in
a myriad of words, brush strokes and even pixels.

CHIARA ZUCCHELLI
EDITOR IN CHIEF

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 2

CONTENTS

Private Hell 4 Art 28
by Teresa Satterthwaite 5 by Vanessa Brassey
6
In the Mirror 8 Castlederg 29
by Mary Crawshaw 10 by Gerry McSorley
11
Guest Host 14 30The New Philosophy Of Psychedelics
by Jane Dabate, art by Radu-Andrei Ghita 15
16 by Ariel De La Garza Davidoff, art by Renée Bertini
Little Green Men 22
by Mathilde Nielsen, art by Katarina Galic 24 Bad Vegan 34
26 by Zoe Mei, photography by Mercedes Lavin
Amnesia II
by Filippo Cortese 36Static

Abundance by Gabriel Caruana, photography by Mercedes Lavin
by Nicholas Jung
Parasite 40
Materia Grigia by Laura Empson, art by Maja Bernaciak
by Filippo Cortese
42The Infinite Other in the Psychedelic Experience
The Extended Mind
by Mirko Prokop by Bram Medelli, photography by Yagiz Alp Tekin

Interview with the Naked Ra Pond No.1 46
by Maria Payro by Vanessa Brassey

Art Photography 48
by A.K by Carlota Salvador Megias

In It Came 50Interview with Frankie and the Witch Fingers
by Ashley Falter, art by Vanessa Brassey
by Ariel De La Garza Davidoff
Synesthesia
by Thomas Sinden, art by Sara Blanco Steered by the Night 56
by Jane Debate, photography by Yagiz Alp Tekin

Carnations 58
by Sofia Shah, art by Sara Blanco

The front and back covers for this issue were created by Taudalpoi, you can check out
more of their work over on Instagram at @taudalpoi.

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The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 4 PRIVATE HELL by Teresa Satterthwaite

IN THE MIRROR

by Mary Crawshaw

In the Mirror
The days roll around me here,
This meek and fleeting hour.
They sit, I think they’re looking out;
They’ll find it in the mirror.

Who then shall I say it to,
Of this and me and we.

Claim wretched, new directions;
We’ll find it in the mirror.

Prowling disquiet seizes here,
I feel it in the doorway.
I’m near, when I realise;
I’ll find it in the mirror.

Ruthless claws reach forward here,
To pull me in -- too soon.
I whisper not to go just yet.
It’s waiting;
In the mirror.

5

GUEST HOST

by Jane Dabate

Istepped out of the car. Alone, in the quiet, I either. You’re not a fucking governor,” she spat
stood still for a moment and let myself feel at the little girl, whose name was Polly, who
the estuary salt, so sharp in the dry air I tasted was now standing. Polly laughed hard from her
brine after a sting when I swallowed. I had only belly, took her hands out of her pockets, and
foggy memories of where I came from and no flipped the record. A soft saxophone began
impression of where I was headed. My body wailing to a rhythm of a low percussion.
felt like the dry seaweed on the stone street,
withered and helplessly incidental, in that I Then, Polly turned to stare right at me. Her eyes
only was here because of something as fickle were striking. I stared back. The music became
as the English winds. After a few moments, the louder.
stillness expired; a friendly little Gust whipped
up before me, a whirring cyclone. She spun and “That’s Ethiopian jazz.” She told me. I tasted
whispered like the sea, beckoning me to follow the syrup of the saxophone.
her up the cobblestone trail to a pretty house. “Sweet.”
She turned the brass doorknob and invited me Polly smiled, then sat and turned to the Gust
inside. again. “I can never remember your name, just
that you’re somewhere between a guest and a
We were immediately confronted by a stairway, host,” she paused to lick her lips. “There’s a
steep and narrow. “It’s a long staircase.” The joint somewhere in this room. If you can find it,
Gust started, and I followed. As we carried on you can smoke it.”
up the stairs, I noticed beige paint peeling off
the surrounding walls. I looked up, and even That instant the Gust intensified. Her wind
the ceiling was painted the same drab brownish whirred its way around the room in a thorough
yellow, flaking away. inspection. Realizing there was nowhere to hide
besides the couch, her hurricane pushed into
I followed the sputter of wind up the beige the cracks of the leather and began to dig. The
tunnel. At the top of the stairs was a doorway whirlwind picked up chunks of foam from the
and through it, a small sitting room. The couch’s stuffing, and they flew in spirals around
perimeter of the room was lined with cracking the room like beige bumblebees.
brown leather couches against more beige walls,
all facing inward toward a vinyl record player in Polly’s sister introduced herself as Dorothy.
the middle. The only source of color came from Both of them wore cowboy boots and sat with
a bright painting of an Amsterdam canal leaning their toes pointing up. I wondered where these
against the record player. The red, blue, and strange twins came from.
purple brushstrokes varied in size and texture
like the work of a capricious impressionist. Two “So, Dorothy,” I began, “do you and your sister
young sisters sat on one of the couches. live in this house?”
“I don’t have any, sorry.” The little girl
“Have a seat anywhere you like,” the Gust responded sincerely.
told me gently. I decided to sit across from “I think you misheard me, Dorothy,” I said,
the painting. And so, us girls sat encircling the smiling. The music was loud, and so was the
record player, our bodies arrows against the Gust. She laughed and I did too.
hum of the spinning wind.
I looked over to observe the windstorm, who
“What are you two?” murmured one of the was still tearing through the sofa. She blew
little girls, waving her finger at us, her words her might into the leather with methodic
muzzled by a broad smile. indulgence. Each time she dug, her arms of
Suddenly, the Gust reeled. wind disappeared a little deeper into the couch
until, finally, she erupted the leather cracks and
“Pointing is rude, get your finger out of my- … foam into a blur of movement. One could no
my God, don’t put your hands in your pocket longer see the Gust. She juggled fistful on a

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 6

fistful of foam and her storm buzzed so loud I “You alright?” She asked me between soft,
could hardly breathe. paint-chipped breaths. I told her I was alright.
She explained that the joint may be behind the
This was too overwhelming to bear. Excusing beige. I conferred that it indeed may be.
myself to the restroom, I tiptoed out on the
creaky floorboard and into the kitchen. It was The sisters sat on the floor by the record player,
run down and dirty with dishes in the sink their knees close together. They made space for
and odd spills on the counter and floor. The me and I sat down too.
Ethiopian jazz was very faint in the background.
I hurried to the bathroom, which was beige too. “Is there really a joint in here?” I whispered.
“No, but this is the only way to make her
After washing up, I returned to the sitting room clean the place up,” Polly explained. I nodded.
where the Gust had settled down after emptying Behind the beige paint, the bare walls were
the sofas. Foam littered the floor. She now blurry. Something there seemed pure and stark.
hummed softly against the walls, a whimper Polly was right. The only wishes this English
above, diligently and delicately peeling away wind granted were her own, and we loved sitting
the beige paint. there while the music played. Φ

7 PHOTOGRAPHY by Radu-Andrei Ghita

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ

LITTLE GREEN MEN

by Mathilde Nielsen

Confined to tapping again: I could curse myself. Words need lingering, you fool, a
breath of air, you fool, before the paper catches and absorbs them. It is incredible,
fool, untrustworthy, that the words should leave your finger as if they left you. They don’t
leave you; they leave a pen which you happen to hold and from which they are poured
onto the paper, I am poured onto the bench dripping not of ink, but of acid. Little green
troops in crisp silver armours lined up in rows of 3x8 made me drip. On Monday they
marched into my mouth, cracking my teeth, cracking each one of them as they tampered
them down just as they wore down the pink of my throat –before they lifted me up, only
to drop me into a bowl of fatigue with streams of chest and abdominal pain. Now that
they have had their fun, they have ditched me on a bench, spinning and dripping still
on to the little stretch of pavement between the Strand reception and the Philosophy
building. Left me lingering between buildings, and I am sceptical towards whether any
paper will soon catch and absorb me. There is no paper. All is glass, all is steel and brick.
Buildings’ backsides, chimneys, and construction builders’ cranes fight each other like
young siblings or old Greek titans for a spot on the blue canvas. I am neither tall enough
nor cold enough to get to fight over the spot. Instead, I am just short and sick enough
to mind the blurred silhouettes passing through the class corridor opposite me. Like
ghosts, they come and go, unreal they come and go, but true enough they come in 15
seconds, around the corner, those very ghosts will walk straight through my lingering
and I will know that they did so, for they will do it with no ghostness whatsoever, but
with clear voices, blood, and bone, I feel like blood and bone simmering, blood and
bone struggling to keep a hold of themselves, to keep hold of myself, since no paper
will. What about the bench? The bench is filled with cracks that refuse to take me, take
me, don’t push me back up onto the bench again where I am cursed to tap, tap, tap;
tapping this while lingering between receptions that don’t receive anyone but just slip
them through, take me before I have dripped all there is onto the pavement for it will be
a waste since there are no cracks of green willing to pick it, to pick me up. Φ

9 I & ME by Katarina Galic

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 10 AMNESIA II by Filippo Cortese

ABUNDANCE

by Nicholas Jung

Iwake up, alone, and feel “I am nothing. Nothing would impart upon her wisdom about reality
but a pale shape, silhouetted that evening (incidentally, I dropped out of my studies as I
against the café terrace, waiting for the rain to began to think that history; laid out as a series of
stop” from Modiano’s (perhaps you think it facts, epistemically dehumanized the moments
strange to start a work by quoting another author, themselves, rendering them as “events” rather
but then again haven’t we already determined than lived experiences). We disagreed on this
that originality is dead (look at the monumental point; looking back it seems probable that much
stiff rods blotting out the sky, all copy and pasted of our intellectual connection focused around
versions of each other, printed on the same gilded this single point of disagreement, perhaps an
printer (which I admit is now slowly running out unhealthy start to romance. I began drinking
of toner)) Missing Person, a novel I first read on heavily, believing that a bottle of gin with a side
a train through Austria with Anna; the side of of pontification made one resemble a modern
the bed is still imprinted with the image of her day Hemingway; full of sharp wit (although
body, although it’s been thirteen months since the wittiness of Hemingway is dubious indeed!
her body filled the space and the imprint remains How many people have opened For Whom the
fresh. I was told that I should have replaced the Bell Tolls–ages yellow and cracking from too
bed, changed the sheets, hired a cleaner to scrub much time spent in the sun, its bright blue banner
and dissolve (with a myriad of chemical cleaners, encapsulating the title in white above a painting of
preferably of high chemical content, to peel back a white shirted man (rifle strung over his shoulder)
the paint on the walls and reveal the bare, white, staring out towards (with the obligatory woman in
chalky dry wall that makes up the bones of the red kneeling by his side) a mountain connected
building (a body must be stripped to the core to to them by (what appears to be) the Golden Gate
make it anew) and the last traces of her from the Bridge–read “He lay flat on the brown, pine-
apartment. “Claude you have to move past this, needled floor of the forest, his chin on his folded
Anna wouldn’t want you to live so far in the past” arms, and high overhead the wind blew in the tops
“You’re suffocating yourself with unpleasant of the pine trees.” And rolled over with laughter,
memories” –advice unsolicited at the bar, while, their diaphragm agonizingly begging the humour
over too many bottles of beer friends got it into to cease, and insight found only in the hazily
their heads–made brave enough to broach the drawn outlines of life that make themselves
subject beyond spurious indications of sympathy, apparent under the influence, Anna, at first was
remorse and offers to “call if you need anything” accepting of this, but she quickly soured, never
and “we always have a spare room should you tiring of “You get idiotic when drunk” or “You’re
need to get away” (all pronounced with the best of never much fun when you’ve been drinking this
intentions, I’m sure, but always with the unspoken much.” I admit, looking back clearly (separated
desire that the receiver of such proffers declines from youth), that I did overindulge and that
to take up). Memories are insoluble–they remain Anna helped. But her leaving; her now complete
until the final breath, buried deeply but always absence was very predetermined–serving as much
there, in the corner of your mind like dust worms significance as a rehabilitated user hearing a
in the eye–to replace everything would have cost knock on the door and, through the small glass
a fortune anyway (prices have skyrocketed since peephole (a reminder of the communal values of
she’s been gone). Besides, even with new furniture the apartment block (both in good and bad, for do
or a new apartment (a check to my bank account these teeny tiny windows not represent paranoia
informs me that ‘new’ might have to become the and encourage Stalinist conformist techniques?
lexical equivalent ‘heavily used’ in conversations An attitude of “don’t clutter the hallways, your
with friends) I know she would persist… neighbours are watching” (remember I studied
Russian history))) to observe, standing in the
I first met Anna in the beginning of my hallway; stick thin, head hidden under the man-
doctoral studies. She was studying science made cotton cowl of a sweatshirt embroidered
and I, contemporary Russian history. She was with the logo of some or another athletics wear
convinced that the hard and rigid mathematical company, the stitches of which holding together
notations embedded in modern scientific writing its identity now (as a result, I would presume, of

11

too many late nights in war torn streets at 2 am) slowly seeping and pooling around her body.
unraveling, their dealer has come calling again)). Her parents stand in shock–their breaths slowing
I recall, as so many ex-lovers do (symbolic of down (in and out, in and out they breath)–before
God’s cruel intentions) the first time I saw Anna, running towards her screaming. I blink, the girl’s
although, perhaps in relation to my need to allay parents call out to her “Be careful”, “Watch out
the tender pain her image brings, I see her now as a the bank is slippery and you don’t want to fall
diminution; a breaking apart of her whole self into in”. The little girl throws pieces of bread to the
lesser (more manageable) parts; caucasian, born honking delight of the ducks in the river. The
September 7th 1993, Height 5 ft 4 in (163 cm), ducks fly off when the bag runs empty–the girl
Weight 123 lbs (56 kg), measurements 34-25-36. (who will surely follow her parents (please excuse
Reduction spitting in the face of irreducibility. She the indulgence in assumption here) as they click
was (and perhaps still is, this is one avenue where and clack their way down to the bowels of the beat
I must confess ignorance for our parting was down by 5th avenue (where lovers meet in the
total). Perhaps Anna no longer echoes her picture park and junkies shoot up black tar heroin instead
in the past; an anti Dorian Grey who embraces of injecting themselves with white powder found
the wrinkles, fat rolls; pendulous and saggy, of ONLY on a 100 dollar bill dontcha know darling
the aged human body (I doubt this though, for (what a creep, the way he slicks his hair back and
in the short time which we lived together my smiles all over in a smarmy suit) just walk straight
nightstand became the haven for every face cream until you hear the stiletto walk of spiders crawling
and beauty product imaginable and it feels hard out of the mahogany woodwork)) lets go and the
to imagine that an obsession so indulged would bag flutters away, dancing to the invisible rhythm
disappear easily, especially one faced with the of the wind…
inevitability of beauty’s demise). It is a mystery
why Anna fell in love with me, especially judging I look over at the picture of Anna on the bookshelf,
by the way I go on, but ruminations like these the only one I have, but it seems an action too
were less common then; back when I had love (or far, as though the perception of her is a false
at least the thin suspicion of love) to ground the equivalent of reality, the memories of false acts
ramblings of my mind… which I have misremembered. If what the voyeur
watches is in fact an ‘act’–like the actor who
The living room window, despite it being the enters stage right to deliver, with all the mundane
middle of the day, lets in mostly mottled grey light impertinence of a man on the brink of suicide (not
with sliver strings of sun penetrating through. I too emotional, for they have found peace with the
have turned the television on before making self inflicted action of tracing a thin semicircle
coffee; and the newsreader is reciting the news with the knife across the carotid arteries of neck,
of the world, a list of tragedies, comedies, fun exposing themselves in hopeful anticipation) the
facts and feel goods (stories of Shakespearean soliloquy of Hamlet (“oh that this too too sullied
proportion (who could look at politicians of the flesh would melt thaw and resolve itself into
world and not see mirrors of Iago, MacBeth, Don dew”) is not really going to seriously contemplate
John, or Moorish Aaron) in digestible chunks)). taking their lives (if their lives are indeed even
Outside the window a little girl– wearing a theirs to take)–it allays the concern that arises
predictable bright yellow rain jacket–drags her from watching the porn star’s eyes. It was only
parents all day long, out of their home, out of after I had watched a few films (following my
their beds (where they were awoken early this break up with Anna) that I began to explore these
morning to shrieks of delight as Saturday Morning thoughts in more detail. I began to notice that
Cartoons are projected with sugary cereal (a there is a moment in any pornographic film when
cursory glance through a list of high sugar cereals the eyes of the penetrated glaze over (it might
list Frosties, Lucky Charms, Coco Pops as the also be the case for the penetrator but it is difficult
most likely to have been spooned inside) into the to tell for the camera seems to always skillfully
little girl’s brain) to chaperone their daughter’s elude their gaze, optical glass mysodesopsias);
playful wonder on this cold autumn morning. I they transcend mere boredom (derived from the
smile softly–the little girl turns and beckons to automatic responses of “oohs” and “oh yes”’s
her parents–I sip coffee and make my fingers into that are expected from them in order to express
the crude shape of a gun. I point it at the little girl excitement (a mimicry of passion, so effortlessly
and depress my thumb, blinking at the imaginary elicited that you wonder how impotent they must
sound of the pop as the trigger is squeezed, the be under the circumstances of normal human
firing pin pulses forward, the gunpowder ignites relations) and what is revealed is the true nature
and the bullets ejactualtes from the barrel. Her of the individual (David Foster Wallace mentioned
brain splatters as she falls on the ground, blood something similar to this)-you witness in those

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 12

eyes (perhaps) a drug addicted sixteen year old ago would have ended in the warm embrace of a
girl, trapezing along the painted yellow line of the loved one instead of the cold clasp of tarmac, to go
highway, the lights of passing cars spraying pale on can only be done in a brutalized style, to dance
white mist across her face (outlined in charcoal with a violent language of repression and cruelty,
far too soon by the ink that now courses though exploitation and rape—the language of sexual
her veins). She sees in the distance intermittent exploitation demands this; language colonizes and
flashes of blue and red, pulsing in the air, the our bodies (concrete expression of the feelings and
accompanying siren playing “somethin’ else”. emotions of the world) and thereby colonized; the
The car pulls up, blocking the oncoming cars who surface of the body is what is seen when I look
are now forced into taking alternate routes. Our at photographs–nothing more, and I can feel eyes
sixteen year old (let us for the sake of providing crawling over me as ants which bite the skin of
her some humanity refer to her as Lily) stops, a drug addict, reminder to relapse and once again
swaying silently, the bass guitar still reverberating sink into the void where black gaunt eyes observe
around her skull ‘boop boom boop boom’. The the convulsions of momentarily lapses of id.
police officers get out and gently escort her to the
side of the road before washing the blood from Perhaps I am addicted to the feeling of being
their hands, set off again and leave Lily to sway observed and my isolation (if not total at the very
quietly to a home where she is not wanted. I see least extreme) is a purging, I do always ‘bundle’
in their eyes that Lily will now, having been left up when going outside, despite the temperatures
out in the cold by those around her who had the not really validating so many layers of clothing;
responsibility to support the young girl (family, heavy coat (grey speckled wool (how many I
friends, society, the policemen eager to stop and cannot say my mind not being functionally able
harass but never to help (a fine example of “to to make an image of the tiny black dots that break
protect and serve those who economically are the monotony of the fabric) with a comfortably
deemed suitable (to paraphrase a well known lining of cotton sewn into down filled tubes)
slogan), will turn even more religiously to drugs and jeans, it offers some sort of protection
(the shot of heroin which embraces her at every against the glares, an ounce of opaqueness to the
opportunity she can muster, in a non-judgemental otherwise complete visibility that all heartbroken
glow-more kindness (for how undiscerning is individuals show. Anna was never like this, she
heroin) than Lily feels she could ever receive from was liberal with her body, not in the sense that
any living being) in the hope that they can stop she had many ‘partners’ or exposed her ass and
the onslaught of undeserved guilt and depression tits for the world to see (Anna was not then a
she wakes up with every morning. Upon turning character in a novel whose existence is persistent
eighteen, having spent the remainder of the two on the main character’s troubles and successes, a
years in exile from the world, we find she has slave in the Nietzchean cycle, the misery of the
gone into stripping, tearing away layers of safety man supervening on the over sexual nature of the
(although Lily had precious little safety left and woman) but in the way in which she exhibited
what was left was the only marketable commodity it; unabashed, accepting, warm and willing.
she had available) to expose the most sensitive Part of this was doubtlessly possible due to the
parts of her body to the roughness of the humanity’s fact that she was graced with good looks (her
embrace, in the hope that someone says they love body the antithetical of a mausoleum of desire:
her for more than the time twenty dollars will buy. she exuded a type of beauty which seemed to
transcended temporality; never born nor failing
A few months later a man approaches her with a away) (‘regular’ looking people do not have such
proposition and (we know the rest of her story); film attitudinal reflexes, they hide themselves away
after film, each one accompanying by the promise and express with their bodies the projections of an
of luxuries and respect until eventually desire, in all uncaring society, so obsessed with the immediacy
its forms are erased by repeated exposure, and she of the image that either the extremely attractive
is shipped from one shoot to the next by avaricious or perversely ugly are given value at all) but it
toads. At one point the eyes of the individual (she was also a reflection of her personality, the way
is not Lily anymore, for name carries the burden some stoop their shoulders in indication of the
of identity and her’s has been stripped bare by occupant’s downtrodden misfortunes, Anna’s
bachelors even, a peeled vegetable whose skin head held high, chest thrust out, her arms open
(with its identifying notches, bruises and cracks, and held to the side all in permanent show of
memories entrenched) has been discarded) will “who you are is good enough, who I am is good
blink through life’s tragedies until they rest upon enough, there is no reason for us to ever doubt
innocence lost and not regained, until they stare out that” this kind of self help mantra always makes
into the night’s sky wishing that the night 5 years me feel slightly ill; I get distracted again. Φ

13



THE EXTENDED MIND

by Mirko Prokop

And be it all for parity
Which distributes my share
Of cognitive calamity
Beyond my body's sphere
Who's to say what constitutes
What scaffolds and upholds?
The strings of broken attitudes
I dare to call my own
I'm neither here, nor there, nor there
My thoughts dispersed midair
Never mind what holds them to their shame
They are forsaken all the same.

MATERIA GRIGIA by Filippo Cortese 15

THE NAKED RA

THE SOUND OF PSYCHEDELIC PORN FUNK

by Maria Payro

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 16

The first thing to mention about The Naked out-of-tuneness that he found a charisma, a charm,
Ra is the radiating energy that surrounds in their music, something that was unlike the
the band; born, I suspect, out of hours-long jam other bands he was seeing. He describes the band
sessions in their home studio in West London, as having a unique aura and tells me “obviously, I
where I’ve come to see what makes the quartet wanted a piece of that. A piece of that Ollie May
tick. This energy seeps into their audiences in any ass.”
number of indie London venues in the form of
groovy, soulful, psychedelic rock that sounds like After a fair share of jokes about Ollie’s bottom,
it came straight out of the acid-soaked 1970s. With Oscar tells me that it was a pretty magical thing
Adam on the bass, Daniel on the drums, Oscar on to gel into the band without any kind of pressure.
the guitar, and Ollie, the band’s frontman, on the Ollie says of the first jams once Oscar joined,
guitar and vocals (and probably using a lighter “some of them are a bit loose, we’re a bit wasted
as a guitar pick), The Naked Ra is starting to in some of them, but that was the first time we all
come into its own, their first album, Phi has been fused together quite effortlessly”.
assured, is set to drop in December.
Would you call yourselves a psychedelic rock
It could be eerie strings, or blues, or funk, or band, or is that too limited to describe what
bring-you-to-your-senses old school rock (and you’re doing?
perhaps all in the same track), whatever they
play, they explore it together, as a unique singular Daniel: In my opinion, we can sometimes position
entity, swimming in their own sound. The fun ourselves in that genre, but there’s a lot of jazz
part, they tell, as I interview them from their elements that come into it as well, so not solely
hazy living room, has been seeing their tracks psychedelic rock. There’s much more to the
develop as they fuse into a single musical entity. Naked Ra than psychedelic rock.
Whether you catch them at the O2 Academy,
Camden Assembly, or at a party just playing for Adam: There’s a big funk and blues influence, and
their friends, The Naked Ra’s shows are always a lot of our jams come out as funk jams, especially
electric. when we’re playing live, and that’s a really cool
thing about the band, an angle we all really enjoy.
Surrounded by piles of instruments (I had to move
a guitar to find a seat), The Naked Ra were thrilled Ollie: We call it psychedelic porn funk. Ha-ha.
to speak to Phi about their musical journey.
Speaking of, who are the band’s biggest influences?
Why ‘The Naked Ra’? I ask. Ollie is quick to
acknowledge how it’s a name that “doesn’t really From Jimi Hendrix to Santana, to Serge
make a lot of sense”, which sort of lures curious Gainsbourg, to Jack White, to The Beatles, and
people in. The Ra part, he tells me, is a reference to Simon & Garfunkel, the band puts forth an
the Egyptian god of the sun, as well as a remnant unexhaustive list of collective influences that form
of the psychedelic rock duo, ‘Oremus Ra’, formed The Naked Ra and psychedelic porn funk. They
during Ollie’s short-lived stint at Bard Liberal tell me about one of their current inspirations,
Arts College in New York. ‘Naked’, on the other King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, who have
hand, is the current band’s forebear: originally a proven, in Ollie’s opinion, “that you can do this
three-piece composed of Ollie, Adam, and Daniel. thing, where you cannot only write loads of great
music, but you can make each album different,
The first time they ever jammed together “was and transcend genres while doing so. Pink Floyd
fucking explosive”, says Ollie, “we just clicked”. did this, The Beatles did this, and for me, the best
Daniel tells me about meeting Ollie for the first bands almost transcend genre because they create
time, describing him as “a wizard, or a shamanic their own set of sounds, and that’s kind of what
sort of entity”, who invited him to get back on the we aim to do.”
drums – he’d been focusing on electronic music at
the time – and how jamming made him feel like If the band were a substance, which substance
he was finally playing in the band he wanted to be would it be and why?
playing in. Adam agrees, recalling the energy of
their first session, but chuckles as he remembers Ollie: Honestly, we could be like eight different
how out of tune they were: “We weren’t even drugs, depending on when you see us play. We’d be
tuning the guitars back then!” like a cocktail, basically. A Jeffrey. Haha. You can
definitely cross cocaine out, maybe weed as well,
Oscar, who was the last to join the band, says that I mean sometimes we are a bit cannabisey,(sic)
it was in their looseness as a three-piece, in their but not too much…

You’re all multi-instrumentalists, if you didn’t now, but hopefully, we’re gonna be able to just
play the instrument you do now, which would you expand into that.
like to be playing?
Daniel: I have an ongoing DJ/music-producer
Daniel: Piano, certainly. Or the synthesiser. I’d side project under the moniker of Volce Dita.
love to sing, maybe play the bass. I released an album recently which was called
“Deep Grooves From The Mariana Trench”,
Adam: I always used to be the drummer in bands, basically it’s a minimal house project which
so I’d love to do that again. Synth is the one I essentially revolves around this obsession that I
would like to be good at cause I love playing had with the electronic music concept of the deep.
around with the synth sounds, especially when The deep being – in French we say sobre – but
doing it live, but I’m not that great of a keyboard let’s say sleek music, which some people might
player so– call anxiety-inducing, but I believe that you’re
able to find comfort within this notion. So, this
Ollie: I do really, in the next year, want to find a basically led me to establish a bit of a DJ career
synth player. I mean, if we can’t do that or find mixing really odd, quirky, minimal house.
a producer that can do synth, we’ll all have to
go out of our way to do that. Me probably piano Ollie: ASMR house music. Ha-ha.
or bass, and drums if I could, but I’m such a
clumsy drummer I can’t… I’m really good with Daniel: Well yeah, pretty much, because one of
percussion though. I mean, give me one bongo, or the tracks, “Ad Spiritum”, a great track that lacked
one tambourine– vocals, and at the same time I was listening to this
ASMR video, and so I felt inspired and I was like
Daniel: Ha-ha. Just one bongo? “you know what, I’m just gonna whisper into the
microphone and layer my vocals on this track”,
Oscar: I’d love to play the triangle. Professional and it worked really nice.
triangle player. Can we start a triangle ensemble
with your bongo? Ha-ha. I’d definitely love to be Oscar: A lot of squelches, bubbles, and pops.
a drummer or a singer.
Seeing as part of your origins, and I assume part
Tell me about your side projects, both with each of your inspiration, is the South of France, are we
other and solo. to expect any music in French?

Adam: Holy Crab! That’s a fun side project. It’s Daniel: Well, we all love Serge Gainsbourg.
basically like a stoner rock kinda project that
Daniel and I have born out of this whole crab Ollie: I’m writing a song now called “La Sainte
meme that we kinda started. We came up with the Catrine”, and without a doubt, we’re gonna release
idea during a trip when we were in the pool going it in the next six to twelve months, in French.
around in circles making little crab, you know,
things, and it was based on the Plantasia thing, so What would your dream venue to play at be?
instead of music for plants, it’s music for crabs.
Literally, all it is right now is a lot of fuzz pedals, Ollie: Ooh. Probably Madison Square Garden.
very psychedelic but a lot of grungy, heavy rock.
Oscar: Yeah, but the Royal Albert?
Daniel: It’s a very existential project. A lot of
chugs. It’s me on the drums and Adam on the Ollie: Yeah, in America, Madison Square Garden.
guitar. In England, it’s probably the Royal Albert Hall.

Oscar: Ollie and I have also spoken about doing Oscar: Glastonbury would be sick as well.
some folk stuff together.
Daniel: I wanna take it a bit further and think
Ollie: We’re really quite hilarious when it comes less of the venue and more about where. I wanna
into the potentialness (sic) of our band. Haha. do what FKJ did with his cercle set and play at
We’ve got ten albums that are more or less written, the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. That would be
little studio stuff, but the demos are there, and incredible.
we go off in a bunch of different directions. I’m
gonna be recycling songs I wrote like ten years Ollie: We could go on a sand dune as well. Or,
ago, and they might not be so close to our sound like, in the fjord islands in Chile.

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 18

19

Who would you love to play alongside? that the music you play live isn’t just appealing to
a single generation. And that’s awesome.
The band agrees on King Gizzard and the Lizard
Wizard. “I would be honoured, probably to the Oscar: One of my favourite memories is when
point of fainting, if I could go and play a song we all got together and listened back to the jams
with them on stage, even just one song, like, I from that first week, like, that was, probably one
would watch the video over and over again and be of my favourite memories. Like we didn’t realise
like “that chord was me!”. Ha-ha. I’d be euphoric what we were doing, and there was something
for the next six months!” says Ollie. “It would be quite beautiful about that. It was something quite
a dream to open for them”, says Oscar. effortless and natural, and we’d all sort of gotten
to know each other.
What is your most treasured memory with the
band? Ollie: Yeah, that was an extraordinary chapter,
those days when we first started recording.
Oscar: Awww.
Adam: We just tried to like, record something
Ollie: I have three. First moment, was that Sunday properly, and it worked.
(when we all took mushrooms) and we just had
the nicest kind of fairy day, the whole day was Ollie: We were like “we can do this!”, it’s not like,
magnificent, and we just talked about life, and we “oh we have a plan to do this”, like, we actually
were staring at the flowers, and the sky, and we did it.
went swimming in the pool, and then we started
jamming to the sunset, and all the guys on the And last but not least, you have an album coming
boats on the river were listening, and then we had out. Tell me all about it.
this really amazing dinner that night. It was just
perfect. Really, it made me feel like I was in the Ollie: Okay so, some of these songs are quite old.
early 60s. That whole day was just magic. Second, Most of these songs were written in the last two,
was scaring the shit out of the band on the RHIB three years; it’s not really stuff that I’ve written
[Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat, to the uninitiated], that recently. For a long time, we had songs, but we
was awesome, taking them out on the river and really wanted to make sure that they were good
seeing The Needles (Isle of Wight), it was kind songs, so this is gonna be like the first kind of
of almost like, initiatic moment. And the third basic, not too out there Naked Ra sound, a lot of
moment was Sera Hersham-Loftus’ red party. it is the stuff we play live at the moment. So, quite
bluesy, quite rocky, less psychedelic than our jam
Daniel: I would agree with that one hundred per stuff. I mean, I guess some of it’s a bit psychedelic,
cent. Sera’s party was absolutely incredible. I really but it’s an amalgamation of songs that can be on
enjoyed playing there, and also at Sera’s other the same album together, but they definitely all
parties, like that time we played an impromptu don’t sound the same. But it’s the best way to
set with Clifford Slapper, who once played with say, like, this is us, right at the beginning – if that
David Bowie. That was truly incredible, I enjoyed makes sense.
it so much, and we actually sounded really good.
Adam: It’s like trying to finally put a close on this
Ollie: We played four original songs, and the rest chapter, which is like three years long, and the
of it was just psychedelic jamming. It was great. span of the pandemic as well. All these songs that
we spent all this time learning and playing, we
Daniel: Jamming extravaganza! can now play really well because we’ve had time
to develop. We’ve been planning this album for
Adam: That was the most psychedelic-porn-funk years, and it’s not that it’s substantially changed
we’ve ever been. from our plan, but the songs have developed, and
we’re kind of more confident to put them in vinyl,
Ollie: Absolutely. It was like half an hour of getting all of these recordings out releasing them.
The Naked Ra and then more than an hour of At some point, you just have to let it go.
psychedelic porn funk. And it’s really nice to see
adults vibing to your music as well. Ollie: It’s like releasing a heatwave and breathing
out. Metaphorically giving birth, basically. You
Daniel: Dude, you’re twenty-six. can definitely hear the sound of the band in the
album, but there is a bit of a stretch, you know, we
Ollie: I mean like proper adults, like middle-aged try to stretch our genre as much as we can, for a
people, parents, to like see them having fun and first album, and for a rock band who haven’t been
enjoying the music and dancing, it’s like, to realise playing together for that long, like seriously.Φ

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ

Be on the lookout for The Naked Ra’s second video, following My Dear, for the song
‘Vanity’, directed by Biba Thomas and styled by Rebecca Shamoon: a satirical
commentary on the vanity-obsessed culture we live in.

Listen to The Naked Ra on Spotify and SoundCloud, or go see them at their next gig in London!

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 22

23 ART by A.K

IN IT CAME

by Ashley Falter

It was a nice surprise when Alison was offered a cup of tea; not least because
the one who offered it was an intruder. An inhuman intruder at that. It was a
worm-like creature the width of a fat elephant leg, all slimy and riddled with
tiny hooks that pulsed as it breathed.

So, Alison was horrified when this creature burst through her floor, just a few
feet away from her outstretched legs, she liked to draw on her bean bag. She
would begin in a disciplined cross-legged position with a straight back, but as
time passed and she got more involved in her drawing, pencil-stroke by pencil-
stroke, she would devolve into an almost supine slump with her legs stretched
out on the floor. A pool of dribble had begun to form next to her feet, it streamed
from the creature's mouth that was consistently ajar and seemed incapable of
closing. Alison played dead, or was stunned with fear; the creature's breathing
turned violent. It coughed and gurgled. Its chunky neck-shaped body pumped;
the cusp of its head swayed from left to right. Please don't face me. Please don't
notice me. Please leave without touching me. Thoughts of this nature cycled
through Alison’s mind at a breakneck pace. But then, a tendril plunged down
into the hole and pulled out a tray laden with a tea set, unmarked by its goo
that oozed over everything else, a fat worm neck, a steaming kettle grasped by
another slimy arm-tendril. It wretched and gurgled.

Alison discovered the horrifying dexterity of the creature’s tendrils that night,
as it beat her, round after round in chess. After the tea was all drunk in the late
hours of the night, the worm thing waved its arms, tipped its head, and slunk
back from where it came, leaving splinters, ectoplasm, bewilderment and a
brand-new tea set for Alison. Φ

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 24

WHY THE ODALISQUE WAS SMILING by Vanessa Brassey

SYNESTHESIA

by Thomas Sinden

Stand close and breathe deeply. Take it all in.
You will taste the rolling wave of colour
that swells in my ramshackle head, endless
shifts of unidentifiable shades
forming harsh contrasts with one another.
This is the paint of my watercolour
world and the feeling of its brushstrokes on
my fingertips. But sometimes, when your hand
caresses my pelvis or shimmering
piano chords fill the air around me,
everything turns kaleidoscopic.
The world bears an ephemeral smile.

But it goes too soon:
before it’s observed,
long after it is strongly felt.
The hue returns to vicious noise, my senses at
war once again with the colour of life.
But just for a moment,
I fell in love with everything,
so deeply in love that it hurts to go back to this.
I wish I could show you,
but this will just have to do.

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 26

27 GILL by Sara Blanco

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 28

CASTLEDERG

by Gerry McSorley

Why I was here was unclear
For this was the north in Ireland
The root and sap of my anglicised ways

I was the first to arrive
walking straight to the front
of the ordered rows of chairs, and sat.

My legs stretched, and I looked at my hands and feet
as a means to orientate my heart and head,
my home by the gate, the cord cut.

Then he was there. I didn’t sense him
in the accepted way.
It was a knowing

My back and his front within this Ulster field.
Getting up I moved to sit at his feet
resting my jaw on my hands on his leg, nothing was unclear anymore

I thought he had been lonely, now joyful.
The scale of him so large, a bear bearing,
the touch pre-natal, my eyes compressing on his face

I listened as the son
to this man of his birth, his lilting brogue
camomile and honey

For in that dream
I lived every tear without speaking, his knowing signalled by the
stroking of my head

29 ART by Vanessa Brassey

THE MIND MANIFEST

THE NEW PHILOSOPHY OF PSYCHEDELICS

by Ariel De La Garza Davidoff

In May 1988, a year before his final death, the to the best of our knowledge, to have an agonist
great English philosopher, A.J. Ayer, carelessly action on brain serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine
tossed a slice of smoked salmon into his throat (5-HT) 2A receptors – it really rolls off the
and died. During his death he was “confronted by tongue, doesn’t it? Other substances like
a red light, exceedingly bright” and became aware MDMA, ketamine, salvinorin, and nitrous-oxide
“this light was responsible for the government of have some hallucinogenic effects but are for the
the universe.” Needless to say, Ayer was not dead most part not referred to as psychedelics in recent
when he recounted the experience of his 4 minute scientific literature, a convention I continue here.
long death – whether he was dead when he was
dead is perhaps a tricky question – but what are Once seen to be the domain of ageing hippies
we to make of that experience? For Ayer, it was and Californian dirtbag crystal salesmen,
clearly profound, it made him question – if not his psychedelics are today going mainstream.1 One
conviction towards the belief that there is no life need only note the proliferation of books and TED
after death – then his “inflexible attitude towards talks, and the wave of scientific enthusiasm about
that belief.” Which in midcentury-oxbridge- the basic research and the therapeutic potential
philosopher means “my mind was blown”. of psychedelic substances, to see that times
have changed. At least in the fields of cognitive
So this kind of experience (more on that later) is neuroscience and psychiatry, psychedelics are no
longer being spoken of in the hushed tones that
clearly powerful and seems to have philosophical decades of ham-fisted prohibition demanded. The
aura of danger and lackadaisical subversion these
implications for many of those who experience substances have been ensconced in since 1967,
when the US government banned them, and
it. But philosophy – at least the contemporary 1971, when the world followed suit, is only now
beginning to lift.
analytic kind I’m trained in – does not usually
As you may have noticed, I keep referring to
admit experiences as evidence, for that one has psychedelics as substances and not drugs: this a
conscious choice. Unlike, say, cocaine or heroin,
to look into the writings of mystics. And yet, if the classical psychedelics are non-addictive
substances whose dangers have been greatly
a paradigmatically analytic philosopher like exaggerated through decades of misinformation.
Acid flashbacks, persistent psychoses, depression,
Ay e r – naturalist, atheist, and long-term anxiety, are all things one is liable
to find on a quick gloss of the effects of, for
logical positivist, and instance, LSD on any number of drug-safety
websites. Most if not all of these effects have no
MI6 agent – can have solid empirical basis, research into LSD stopped
after the late sixties and is only just starting
his mind blown by a again: a 2021 study suggests quite the opposite,
for young healthy subjects in a monitored clinical
vision, then perhaps setting, LSD, even in large doses, is safe and in
the vast majority of cases didn’t lead to bad trips,
those altered states or to flashbacks beyond 48 hours. Your mileage
may vary, but by all accounts, in clinical settings,
of consciousness can, psychedelics seem far safer than alcohol.

at the very least, inspire

new ways of thinking.

Today, we would probably call

Ayer’s smoked salmon episode a

psychedelic experience and classify

it alongside the altered states of

consciousness brought on by

the classical psychedelics,

LSD, Mescaline,

Psilocybin, DMT,

and a host of other

substances

which seem,

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 30

The reason for their prohibition likely you could find your way into
lies in their prominent position in the the field by having a particularly
counterculture and anti-war movement strong experience with psychedelics,
of the 1960s. For a while it was usually in college or the fallow years that
thought, and still is in some circles, follow it, or you could have tripped on William
that the psychedelic experience makes James’ Varieties of Religious Experience in a
people more left-wing. But now, with psychology department rec room, and wondered,
psychedelics regularly discussed materialist that you are, about the neurological
on The Joe Rogan Experience, in bases for these strange yet seemingly universal
The New York Times, and Tweeted experiences.
about by tech CEOs, their inherently
communitarian spirit is in doubt. As But this year saw the publication of Chris
Nicolas Langlitz, an anthropologist who studies Letheby’s book, Philosophy of Psychedelics,
psychedelic neuroscientists, told me over Zoom out with Oxford University Press, and the first
from his office in the New School For Social interdisciplinary conference on the philosophy
Research, “it's no longer the exclusive subject of psychedelics at Exeter University hosted by
matter of these post counter-cultural folks who Christine Hauskeller and Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes,
had their differences, but had a relatively the latter of whom I interviewed for this article.
homogeneous narrative and set of reference Forthcoming is also a volume by Hauskeller and
points. They had all read their Aldous Huxley Sjöstedt-Hughes (Bloomsbury 2022), which they
and their Terence McKenna and adored Albert hope will serve as a primary text for university
Hoffman and were, for the most part, mystics. modules on the philosophy of psychedelics.
Now you also have, you know, far right people,
militia members doing LSD rituals, you have this But I waited as long as I did to introduce the state
traditionalist journal, Tyr named after a Norse of the field to give you, dear reader, a sense of
war God” he tells me, noting the absurdity of it the strange cultural history of these substances
all with a laugh. and the variety of those interested in them.
Philosophically, the field is still very much in its
Of course, this ‘mainstreaming’ is due in large infancy and texts like Huxley’s The Doors Of
part to the efforts of scientists and activists like Perception which posit a filter model for the brain
Rick Doblin, in the US, and David Nutt in the – please allow me technical vagaries and loose,
UK, who, through a series of foundations – like if hopefully still informative analogies – and the
MAPS, MIND, the Heffter Institute, and Drug unicity of mystical experience, remain highly
Science – have brought about the Psychedelic influential. The filter model broadly suggests that
Renaissance popularised by authors like Michael
Pollan. As strange as this cultural shift is, it is no
doubt a good thing: no longer being a culture-war
flashpoint can hopefully lead to decriminalisation
and greater empirically sound knowledge of
these substances’ effects. Psychedelics are
gaining traction as treatments to addiction, in the
case of DMT, LSD, and ketamine; as treatments
for PTSD, with MDMA; or as treatments
against distress in palliative care, in the case of
psilocybin, and LSD. And are proving a boon
for basic research into how our minds structure
reality. This enthusiasm, however, is only now
starting to reach the humanities, particularly this
publication’s area of interest, and probably yours
too: philosophy.

For a long time, it was texts by psychedelic
evangelists like Aldous Huxley, Terrence
McKenna, and of turn-on-tune-in-drop-out fame,
Timothy Leary, that drew people to the study of
these altered states of consciousness. Otherwise

1Of course this reporter intends no offence against ageing hippies or Californian dirtbags, some of his best friends are horoscopes.

31

our Default Mode Network, the regions of the was but a mirage, and your subsequent
brain associated with thinking about nothing in consideration of, say, Buddhism or Panpsychism
particular, and which psychedelics seem to lead to is thus grossly misguided. The correlate to this
less activity in, acts as a filter to the raw materials objection in Letheby’s naturalistic philosophy
of reality we have likely evolved to extract only of psychedelics focussed on the substances’
useful information about our environments from. therapeutic qualities is the comforting delusion
objection. If psychedelic therapy is premised on
One can start to see the philosophical implications the force of the experience and the experience
of such a thought. Perhaps, like Thomas is not veridical, then there may be something
Metzinger thinks, there is no self, it is but an seriously wrong. Then we may be, as Letheby
illusion we can see past when we experience remarks in the words of Michael Pollan: “foisting
psychedelic ego-loss, but perhaps, the self is the a comforting delusion on the sick and dying.”
transcendental precondition of perception and,
rather than evince the dissolution of the self, The objection seems rather forceful, but Letheby
psychedelic experience merely shows one of notes three possible replies: Firstly, maybe the
the manifold ways of sensing the world. What is experience is veridical, maybe we are but a
certain is that psychedelic experience animates facet of a disembodied mind, maybe reality is
discussion, there is therefore hope that this new a blooming, buzzing confusion we can access
frontier might help breathe new life into many by shutting down parts of our Default Mode
long running debates in the philosophy of mind, Network. Secondly, even if they are false –
like the Hard Problem of Consciousness, and do which is not guaranteed – maybe their truth value
so in a thriving interdisciplinary environment. is not important. Perhaps they are otherwise
existentially valuable and can be profitably
But what philosophical questions can one ask interpreted to produce clearly good effects –
specifically about the psychedelic experience? falsehood need not imply pathology. However,
Are these not merely hallucinations, real many naturalistically minded philosophers
examples of the type of generalised paranoia would still be wary of recommending anything as
that fuels discussion of scepticism in first year a therapy, much less as a philosophical aid, which
epistemology seminars? If so, could we still get can leave one with false beliefs.
philosophically valuable intuitions from them?
If these substances do have therapeutic value Letheby considers himself – like roughly half of
– and it really looks like they do – how? Is the philosophers in the latest PhilPapers survey – a
content of the experience itself therapeutic? card carrying naturalist, and as such does believe
Does psychedelic experience, or a variety of that the content of the psychedelic experience,
experiences, variously recommend ontological roughly that reality is grounded in a transcendent
points of view? If so, how should we use them? universal consciousness, is likely false. But he
These are but a few of the many questions that are thinks that there can still be significant epistemic
only now being asked by academic philosophers. benefits to the psychedelic experience and those
benefits are therapeutic. In other words, his
Obviously these are too lengthy to tackle here, project is to naturalise the spiritual experience.
but I do want to do two things to perhaps shake
some lingering or innate skepticism towards the But perhaps this is not enough, you may still be
philosophy of psychedelics. If you were to take wary. After all, as a philosopher your mind and
psilocybin, say you accidentally picked the wrong your intuitions are precious, they are the rudder
mushrooms in the forest and put them in your of any serious philosophical investigation.
vegan poke bowl because, obviously, you would Perhaps you take the tale of Humphry Davey, the
never admit to doing something illegal in print, great chemist and discoverer of elements, as a
you would feel euphoria, wonderful colours, and cautionary one.
a certain placid shifting in the leaves of the trees
above you, the grass would be mesmerising and a His experiments with nitrous oxide (NOS) began
sense of connection would waft over you as you as a curious searching, the gas was thought to be
considered if only for a minute what it would be toxic, and so he proceeded with caution, testing
like to live amongst the crickets, as a cricket, or and gradually increasing the dose. His book
as nothing in particular. Researches, Chemical and Philosophical; Chiefly
Concerning Nitrous Oxide, or Dephlogisticated
Of course, you are not a cricket, you never were Nitrous Air, and Its Respiration documents these
a cricket, it would seem then that you’ve been experiments: the dozens of rabbits, kittens,
deceived, that any ego-loss you experienced gerbils, mice, and flies that gave up their sobriety,

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 32

and in some cases their lives, to pave the way for NOS, Davey was also under the influence
Davey’s perception shattering journeys into the of German idealism, a far more dangerous
lands of dephlogisticated inhalants. drug. However, recent research suggests that
metaphysical views after psychedelic use tend
“I often thought that it produced a feeling to skew away from physicalism and towards
somewhat analogous to taste, in its application panpsychism for enduring periods of time, for at
to my lungs.” Certainly that synesthetic feeling least six months, the study suggests. But this shift
could be inspiring to an artist, but what could it in thinking also seems to come with improved
tell a philosopher? mental-health outcomes, which given the
established therapeutic effect of psychedelics is
“I slept much less than usual, and previous to an interesting development. Could it be that that
sleep, my mind was long occupied by visible shift in metaphysical views is itself therapeutic?
imagery. I had a constant desire of action, a
restlessness, and an uneasy feeling about the But the possibilities don’t end there,
precordia analogous to the fickleness of hope.” inspired by psychedelic experience
Sjösted-Hughes has explored
After noting these effects, and undaunted by Spinozism and more recently
a particularly foolhardy experiment (Davey Alfred North Whitehead’s
drank a bottle of wine in “large draughts in process ontology, and
less than eight minutes,” became so drunk that continues to find in such
“the nausea continued even after the contents experiences and the texts
of the stomach had been ejected,” slumbered associated with them,
for 2 hours, inhaled a few quarts of NOS, then a wealth of intuitions
of oxygen, but to no avail: “the headache and from which to expand
debility continued with violence.”) Davey his thinking. There is
immersed himself in NOS on boxing day 1799. perhaps a future, where,
“I lost all connection with external things; trains in a nod to Alexander
of vivid, visible images rapidly passed through Shulgin – the chemist who
my mind and were connected with words in such wrote the first authoritative
a manner, as to produce perceptions perfectly book on MDMA – curious
novel. I existed in a world of newly connected philosophers might take a different
and newly modified ideas. I theorised; I imagined substance to experience a different
that I made discoveries… I endeavoured to recall ontological intuition beyond middle-
the ideas, they were feeble and indistinct; one sized-dry-goods. And who knows,
collection of terms, however, presented itself: maybe Berkeley was right! Φ
and with the most intense belief and prophetic
manner, I exclaimed to Dr. Kinglake, “Nothing
exists but thoughts!– the universe is composed of
impressions, ideas, pleasures, and pains!”.”

Surely nothing strikes fear in the heart
of contemporary philosophers like the
prospect of entering a room only to
emerge an idealist! According to a
former student, this, albeit with less
pomp, is John Searle’s worry: that
somehow one’s most fundamental
intuitions could change on a dime and
all because of an epistemically dubious
experience.

But this, to me, seems misguided, it’s not as if the
rest of our conscious experience changes forever,
the sense of self returns, the crickets quiet, and
the colours return to their normal vibrance. You
do know, however, what things were like when
they weren’t normal, when they were brighter,
stranger. One ought best remember that besides

33 ART by Renée Bertini

BAD VEGAN

by Zoe Mei

I squish spiders scrunched in tissues
who stood statue-fast on walls
crush black gnats with bare fingers
who hopped like popcorn atop pilly sheets

and I could slit the throat of any
living thing I think:
imagine my fingers round the neck
of a chicken I couldn’t stomach
arch both our heads back
and with a slice of a knife
spill a headless life:
blood stuck-ing between fingers
feather-stained blade
and I look
up at white clouds in a bright blue sky

hearts always pumping
always filled bleeding

believing we
should not kill anything

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 34 PHOTOGRAPHY by Mercedes Lavin

35

STATIC

by Gabriel Caruana

Things go, I remain.

The What?

The old
Same old
Sane The Shame
Shame. old

Same same. By the sea-shore.
old Same?
SAME?!
Sane SHAME!?
sane.

Always the With the sane faces
same face With the sane
same scene self
same act
same play With the same sameness
same set Of Shame with the Same smiling Sanies
same program

I’m always there. Always here.

What’s that sound? I promise I can’t stop it.

BZZZZZZ ZZZZZZB
ZZZZZZB BZZZZZZ

Lower the volume
Please

Mute me.
END me
Let me go!

Stop.

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 36

SILENCE????!!!!!

Hush, hush. Lullaby my baby lala my boo

They’ll go sweety, they’ll go. Inside of me
They’ll vanish.
I promise.
Mommy promises.
Kisses, sweet dreams. Screamsssssss!
Mommy loves you! Schchchschhhhh
Mwa! Mwa!
Things go
Remain I
They remain
What?
Shame The.
Who?

The Same Voices Lol
Of Loser
The Same Shame Failure
Of Junky
The Bum
Sane
Ghosts Slut
Whore

Who’s there?!

Have nowhere left to The
Ghost
Those Ghosts
We Ghost

37

Go.
Where to go
?
Vertigo?
Vertohide?
Werther Goethe?!

From: your dearest Shamefulness xxxx
(Love you Lottes)

Now. Here.
Where? To Sing!
There?

Gun End No
In Sameness You
The In the same Pull
Eye Way It!

? Unless
No The Static

There
4

U
Directs it.
Nothing can direct Nothing.

Bang Bang!

Ghosts spooling streams of static
Like Men belching up cisterns of shame.

But anyways, Too much light can blur your senses
If you insist…. You don’t really want to be here...
Pick your Spot
into your shadow Seep

And tune yourself, become their amplifier,
As they smother the world in a thundering cloud of ceaseless static.

What a shameful spectacle.

Truly.
Always yours.

Yours Truly.

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 38 PHOTOGRAPHY by Mercedes Lavin



The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 40 ART by Maja Bernaciak

PARASITE

by Laura Empson

Twinkles in all your eyes
A model of all otherlies
I taste your silk
In my mouth

Spiderly being
You taste amber and gold
I taste red and navy blue
You tell me

You sucked me up
Inhaled me
I fought my way inside you
Tackled your antibodies

Broke your bones
Scarred your lungs
Made you mine
As I was yours

A voice calls you
Away from my flesh
Left with blandness
On my tongue

41

THE INFINITE OTHER IN THE
PSYCHEDELIC EXPERIENCE

A LEVINASIAN CRITIQUE OF PLOTINIAN AND MODERN MYSTICISM

by Bram Medelli

It is not uncommon for philosophers to unified (or ‘One’) rather than situationally.
partake in psychedelic drug use to view their Without unity, the world would be unintelligible
theories from a new perspective (Pollan, 2019, because every part could not be apprehended as
pp. 151; 162-163). New research suggests part of a whole. Yet, parts are only One so to
that psilocybin triggers mystical experiences, speak. No predicate can be attributed to the One
giving participants “feelings of unity and itself, but it can be obliquely described (Grondin
transcendence of time and space” (Griffith et al, 2012, pp. 120-127).
2006, p 271). An early description of mystical
experiences can be found in philosopher Modern mysticism is occasionally associated
Plotinus’ theory on metaphysics, specifically with drug-use, specifically psychedelics.
in his principle of ‘the One’ (Grondin, 2012, p. Qualitative research indicates that ingesting
122). Philosopher Emmanuel Levinas (1906- psilocybin prompts mystical experiences, giving
1995) critiqued Plotinus for reducing the Other participants “a sense of unity without content
to the Same, thereby excluding the possibility (pure consciousness)” (Griffiths et al., 2006, p.
of responsibility. The psychedelic experience 277). This is comparable to Plotinus’ description
raises questions for many philosophers who of the One in the sense that all dualities of one’s
seek to understand consciousness, and applying world collapse into unity. After two months,
Levinas’ critique on Plotinus to the modern participants rated the influence of a psychedelic
understanding of the psychedelic experience experience as extremely meaningful (Griffiths et
may offer some answers. al, 2006, p. 279). Psychedelics often cause their
users to experience a ‘beyond’. This profoundly
Plotinus’ Idea of ‘the One’ and impacts users, creates feelings of ascension and
Psychedelic Experience melts “opposites of the world (…) into unity”
(Pollan, 2019, p. 76-77). Writer Aldous Huxley
Writing in the 3rd century, Plotinus strongly (2009) describes going into Heaven and taking
influenced the mystical tradition, specifically up “a vantage point from which the divine
within Christianity and what is now called Ground can be more clearly seen than on the
Neoplatonic thought. His metaphysical system level of ordinary individualized experience” (p.
centres around his principle of the One, the Good 94). Here, his experience is not fully mystical as
or God. Plotinus applied negative theology to unity is not achieved since Heaven and Ground
describe this principle from which everything remain separate; he got close to the One but did
proceeds. In the Enneads, Plotinus revises and not return to it. His description does resemble
radicalises Plato’s first principle in the world the mystical point of view because it relaxes
of forms. He believed that the world of forms the individual or egoistic perspective. Mystical
was derived from a domain beyond Being. For experiences bring one towards the One, as
example, the concept of a table exists in our mind Plotinus argues that the One brings us back to
as a form, allowing us to recognize the images the unity from which we all sprung (Grondin,
of a table in the physical world. These forms 2012, p. 125). This brings us to Levinas, who
originate from a transcendent place beyond critiques such experiences for being totalizing
Being in which everything is one, suggesting and reducing the Other to Sameness.
that the One acts as the unitary principle. The
more unity an object has, the closer it remains Levinas’ Critique of ‘the One’
to the One. A dog, for instance, is closer to the
One than a football team. Both are a unity, yet In his work, Totality and Infinity, Levinas (2012)
the dog is more unitary because it is naturally describes the Same and the Other as radically

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 42

separated. The way that the world appears in supermarket and someone asks me why I did so,
one’s consciousness is what Levinas calls the I must answer for my actions if I truly respect
Same; it constitutes the totality of one’s being the Other. Still, contrary to Plotinus’ claim, the
(Levinas, 2012, p. 339). The identity of the Same and the Other do not exist in a totalizing
Same is egoism, not in the sense of arrogance system but remain separate because the Other
or vanity but as a condition for metaphysics opposes all such reduction (Levinas, 2012, pp.
(Levinas, 2012, pp. 30-31). Outside of the 33-34).
interiority of our being, we find the Other, an
infinite exteriority to the Same. We can never Levinas (2012) argues that enjoyment
reduce the Other to the Same because the Other individuates the egoism rather than that the
never adequately appears to consciousness. The individual emanates from the One (pp. 117-
Other is never only who or what we think they 118). The self, or ipseity, is only realized when
are. The totality can be breached by its exterior; one lives a life rather than merely lives. Ipseity
what may seem to be objective reality can be is separated from the radically Other, absolving
transcended by the infinite (Levinas, 2012, pp. itself into the egoism (Levinas, 2012, p. 112).
12-13). Unlike two opposing forces, the Same For example, the fact that my favourite colour
and the Other do not supplement one another, is red individualizes me from others. I enjoy
but are two separate universes. Opposing the red objects, so they are more likely to draw my
two or incorporating the one into the other attention. Levinas’ starting point is the Other,
entails the negation of the Other’s radical whereas for Plotinus we proceed from the One
alterity. Moreover, it is impossible to take up and desire to go back to it. Conversely, Levinas
a perspective that incorporates both without claims that enjoyment, the non-representational
reducing the radical separation, like many consumption of the contents of one’s life, is what
philosophical theories attempt to do (Levinas, the soul is directed towards. What we enjoy is
2012, p. 28). For example, if I describe my always already other than what we are. When
family as ‘generous people’, that does not one enjoys “good soup” by eating it, one does
necessarily correspond to the way they actually not enjoy the represented idea of ‘soup’ but the
are because I generalize them into the Same, singular contents of one’s life (Levinas, 1979, p.
thereby reducing their alterity. 110). Enjoyment takes place on the unreflective
level of consciousness; it fills our life and we
Levinas describes a metaphysical relation live from it. It has no utilitarian dimension
between the Same and the Other. His (Levinas, 2012, pp. 112-113). According to
understanding of metaphysics differs from Levinas, we do not desire to go back to the One
Plotinus’ idea of the One. As described above, to eliminate our needs. Instead, enjoyment is a
Levinas’ concepts do not exist in a formal or surplus of our being because enjoyment occurs
dialectical relation, but in a relation over a when our needs are satisfied. Unlike beings that
distance when the ego “as a particular existence are what they are, like tables or rocks, we are not
unique and autochthonous, leaves itself” our bodies and can thus depend on other things
(Levinas, 1979, p. 39). While facing the Other, to sustain us, creating needs. Our mind or soul
the ego partakes in a “conversation” towards the inhabits our body, living from the contents of its
Other (Levinas, 1979, p. 39). Departing from the life and enjoying, not despite having needs but
totality of the Same, the ego attempts to cross the because it has needs (Levinas, 2012, pp. 117-
distance to the Other through language but can 118). Those needs are what makes a self a self,
never fully subsume the Other. The conversation “the happiness of enjoyment” particularizes the
is only possible because of the separation and individual and separates one from the Other
departing from a self, one opens their ego to the (Levinas, 1979, p. 115). However, the needy
Other and answers for their self (Levinas, 2012, self is not a given, as we can learn from the
p. 33). Notably, the breach of totality by the psychedelic experience. Applying Levinas’
infinite Other cannot be captured in thought like theory to psychedelic mysticism elucidates his
Plotinus attempts with his negative theology. critique on Plotinus’ metaphysics.
Levinas does argue that speech is required to
give the Other the access to the ego, which Levinas’ Theory of Metaphysics and the
happens when I recognize that the Other has “a Psychedelic Experience
right over this egoism” (Levinas, 1979, p. 40).
One literally becomes responsible for the Other In a mystical experience, as Plotinus describes
by responding to their demand (Levinas, 2012, it, everything becomes One and exists as, what
pp. 33-34). For instance, if I cut in line at the

43

Levinas may call, a totality. According to 2-3). Consequently, what Huxley describes
Plotinus, we want to return to the metaphysical seems to be in line with Plotinus’ principle of
One, of which we were always already part. the One.
The total unity found in the principle of the
One can be understood by following Plotinus Levinas’ critique on the psychedelic experience
imperative, “take away everything!” (Grondin, and Plotinus’ One is twofold. Firstly, by
2012, p. 125). Applying negative theology, reducing the world to the One or the Mind at
reducing everything from one’s ego and Large, mystical experiences reduce the Other
consciousness until pure unity is left, is how to the Same by including them in the totality
one can experience the One. Such an experience and negating the infinite. Secondly, lacking
can be occasioned by ingesting psychedelics, enjoyment entails that one’s soul is not separated
creating a feeling of unity with the universe into ipseity, which is the condition for the
by dissolving the ego (Griffith, 2006, p. 277). appearance of the “absolutely other” (Levinas,
Levinas argues for the opposite. One must 1979, p. 118). If there is no self, to whom can
depart from one’s ego toward the Other, without the Other appear? These two critiques seem to
bridging the separation between the Same and be in tension with one another. Levinas argues
the Other into a new totality (Levinas 2012, p. that mysticism includes the Other in the Same.
31). Even though Plotinus approaches the One However, if we apply his theory to the psychedelic
through negativity, he continues to systematize experience, the disappearance of enjoyment
and explain the Other rather than acknowledge signifies a lack of ipseity, which is the condition
the infinite alterity of the Other and thereby the for receiving the Other. To clarify, we must
impossibility of reducing them to the Same. clearly distinguish the Same from ipseity. The
To assess how exactly Levinas’ theory of Same is the totality of the world as manifested in
metaphysics problematizes Plotinus, I examine consciousness. Ipseity is constituted on its own
the psychedelic experience as described by “outside the distinction between the individual
Huxley (2009). and the general” (Levinas, 1979, p. 118). All
things considered, Levinas’ critique is coherent.
During a psychedelic experience, everything If mystical psychedelic experiences neutralize
becomes unitary and singular. As Huxley (2009) enjoyment, dissolving the self, then the totality
describes, the “reducing valve” of our brain of the Same is only confirmed.
is opened and the “Mind at Large” appears
to us (p. 20). He argues that during ordinary Exploring the Other within the Same
consciousness, reality is reduced through a
valve because we cannot practically live and Levinas’ critique of mysticism seems affirmed
survive while perceiving so much of the world. by the above examination of the psychedelic
The Mind at Large is a concept Huxley proposes experience. However, one objection remains.
to understand the universe, which is not unlike Considering that psychedelics confirm the
the One. In psychedelic consciousness, one totality of the Same, one would expect such
can perceive “everything that is happening an experience to confirm previously held
everywhere in the universe” (Huxley, 2009, beliefs. Strangely, multiple studies signify a
p. 20). In this unity, Huxley maintains that correlation between psychedelic use and an
he could see flowers for what they are, rather increase in openness as a personality trait and
than their Platonic idea. The flowers signified in participants’ political views, even one year
“nothing more, and nothing less, than what they after the session (MacLean, Johnson & Griffiths,
were” (Huxley, 2009, p. 16). Such perception 2011, pp. 1457-1458; Nour, Evans & Carhart-
seems to occupy life and consist out of Harris, 2017, p. 187).
enjoyment since the flowers emanated “beauty
to heightened beauty”, signifying “grace” One potential explanation is that a mystical
(Huxley, 2009, p. 17). However, Huxley (2009) experience highlights the Other within the
describes the flowers as “[n]either agreeable nor Same. Universal thinking occurs through the
disagreeable” (p. 16). In other words, he seems first person. “Universal thought is an “I think.””
not to particularly enjoy the flowers in the way (Levinas, 1979, p. 36). Fully psychedelic
that Levinas describes. Without enjoyment, consciousness cannot posit an ‘I think’. The I,
his ipseity is lost, which is in line with the or ego, ceases to identify and merely is. Every
ego dissolution commonly experienced during object in the world is perceived singularly.
psychedelic consciousness (Milliere, 2017 pp.

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 44

The Other outside of the Same can no longer
be encountered because there is no “point of
departure of relationship” without the ego that
identifies (Levinas, 1979, p. 36). However,
the distance to the Other within becomes
apparent upon the descent, or ‘come down’, of
the psychedelic experience. After a complete
ego dissolution and the nothingness that is
experienced during a mystical experience, one
must regain one’s point of departure to engage,
once again, in the metaphysical relation once
again. During this descent, one’s enjoyment
reappears. Yet, the content of enjoyment need
not be identical to the content present to the
ipseity that entered into the trip. For example,
after a mystical experience, I might no longer see
the point of having ‘red’ as my favourite colour
and realize that all colours are my favourites.
The lack of universal thinking during a mystical
experience may abolish the distance between
the Same and the Other, but one can discover
Otherness within the Same. However, a closer
examination of Levinas’ other works might
provide a clearer answer to this objection.

Conclusion

Levinas critiques the unity of the Same and
the Other because they are separate universes
in his metaphysics. The infinite Other breaches
the totality of the Same, allowing for the ego
to be responsible. He argues that enjoyment
is the individuating factor for the self, against
Plotinus’ idea that we all proceed from the One.
Levinas is critical of our ‘return to the One’ in
psychedelic experiences because it reduces the
Other to the Same; the ipseity disappears, and
with it the possibility of responsibility. The
objection that mystical experiences occasioned
by psychedelics are associated with an increase
in openness may be countered if we assume that
mystical experiences highlight the Other within
the Same.

Further investigation into Levinas’ work is
needed to flesh out what it means for the infinite
Other to appear from inside the Same. Applying
his critique to this form of modern mysticism
is a worthwhile exercise in getting a better
understanding of his theory and of the world he
based it on. Φ

PHOTOGRAPHY by Yagiz Alp Tekin 45

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 46 ART by Wayan Chan

47 Pond No.1 by Vanessa Brassey

The Psychedelic Issue | Φ 48