One question that keeps coming up for me personally—and that I feel directly affected by—is the following, and I’d really appreciate hearing other people’s experiences or opinions on it.
What do you think are the effects of drugs or medications—such as opiates, antidepressants, or ADHD medications (like amphetamines or methylphenidate)—on things like magical practice, intuitive or psychic abilities, and one’s overall energetic state? For example, many of these substances are known to cause a certain degree of emotional flattening.
I’m also very interested in the neuroscience behind this and often wonder which areas of the brain are active during meditation, altered states of consciousness, or in people who engage in intuitive or psychic work.
I’d be grateful for any thoughts on these topics, as well as recommendations for further reading or sources.
To answer the last part of your post first, meditation has been proven to enhance activity in those parts of the brain that deal with emotional regulation and processing as well as sensory perception; to enhance neuroplasticity and reprogram metabolic pathways; and to open up the memory center of the brain ([
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on "EEG microstates" that might be worth looking into?
My personal experiences with medication and their effect on magical practice / energy has been mixed. You specifically mention ADHD medications, which I take daily, and they have been immensely helpful. Keeping up with consistent magical practice is difficult when you struggle to stick to any sort of focus or schedule. I have had much more success remembering my rituals, important magical dates, and even general information recall thanks to being on ADHD medication. Perhaps not due to the medication itself rather than the way it has helped me build better habits and routines, I find myself thinking more clearly and deeply. I've been getting better sleep and staying on top of the dreary day-to-day realities of adulthood. This makes it easier to access the esoteric and imaginative parts of my brain that make magic happen.
While I don't take antidepressants anymore I did for several years, and I can definitely attest to the "emotional flattening" that comes with them. It's difficult to feel an emotional connection to magic when all of your emotions are dampened. It can feel like trying to watch television through bad static. But I also know that sometimes that "flattening" can bring people into harmony with themselves, less torn between emotional extremes that can invite mistakes and unwanted presences into rituals and spells, so who knows?
The only medication that I ever felt to noticeably
increase my energetic state and magical connections was when I was doing a daily microdose ketamine treatment. Not near enough to k-hole, but enough that I was absolutely in a minor altered state. Ketamine has also been proven to repair neural pathways and increase neuroplasticity (though I don't have those sources on hand), so combining it with meditation was
very effective for me and I assume would be similarly effective for others. Honestly I wish I still had the finances to keep up with it, because I was making really great strides in magical practice as well as personal healing and introspection.
