Q: What does it mean to be “prepared” for a medicine ceremony?
Questions about psychedelics and cannabis from really curious people. Every Friday.
Each Friday, I unpack questions from women exploring psychedelics+. I’m not a doctor or scientist—I’m sharing what I’ve learned from a decade supporting women’s unorthodox choices to improve their well-being.
At the monthly Psychedelic Salon I host in Seattle, my favorite takeaway is the variety of questions posed by the audience. On Fridays, I’ll choose a question that is answered by an expert I’ve spoken with on the SetSet podcast or corresponded with about the question specifically. If you’re an expert with whom I can consult from time to time, please raise your hand!
I chose to kick this series off with the following question because it allows me to also give background on the origin of SetSet, which is a nod to “set & setting.”
In the context of altered states of consciousness, "set and setting" refers to two key factors that shape the quality, safety, and outcome of the experience:
Set is your mindset — your internal state before and during the experience. It includes your mood, intentions, expectations, mental health, emotional readiness, and even unconscious beliefs that can influence how you interpret and navigate the altered state.
Setting is your external environment — the physical and social surroundings where the experience takes place. This includes factors like the safety, comfort, aesthetics, people present (guides, friends), sounds, smells, lighting, and even cultural or spiritual context.
Together, set and setting are considered critical for maximizing benefits, reducing risks, and supporting the direction of the experience, especially with psychedelics, breathwork, meditation, and other mind-altering practices.
With that briefer, let’s move on with today’s inquiry that was first posed at the April 7th Psychedelic Salon with Sand Symes…
Question: What does it mean to be “prepared” for a medicine ceremony?
Answer adapted from Sand Symes at the event:
To be prepared for a medicine ceremony means preparing both your mindset and your environment (known as set and setting), doing due diligence on your facilitator (asking how long they’ve worked with the medicine, how many people they’ve guided, and ensuring you resonate with them), and recognizing that you cannot fully prepare because the experience involves stepping into uncertainty. Sand emphasizes that preparation also includes ensuring your timing is right (especially for women, considering hormonal cycles), and being ready to sit with the unknown. She advises sitting with the medicine without ingesting it beforehand to start building a relationship through prayer or invocation, if that resonates with you.
Do you have specific ideas or practices to prepare for a psychedelic medicine journey? Or questions on the answer provided here? Join the chat!
Our monthly Salon is moving online through August. On the first Monday of each month, we’ll welcome authors who’ve written books related to psychedelics and consciousness. For more information and to RSVP, visit here .
Take care,
April
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