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In This Issue
- From Afghanistan to Ayahuasca By Bobby Wade
- As a child, the author witnessed the devastation of his uncle’s suicide, a Vietnam veteran broken by war. Years later, he followed a similar path, serving in Afghanistan and burying trauma under the military’s “don’t be weak” mindset. A chance encounter with ayahuasca in Colombia lifted the veil, opening him to healing and transformation. Co-founding the Eagle Condor Alliance, he worked alongside Indigenous elders to protect land and traditions while supporting veterans. Today, through Heroic Hearts Project, he honors his uncle and fellow soldiers, helping others find hope, integration, and a path forward.
- Veteran Finds Spiritual Healing - Interview with Jonathan Lopez
- Army veteran Jonathan Lopez nearly lost everything — his arm, his direction, and his will to live — before psychedelics offered him a lifeline. Addicted to painkillers and consumed by despair, he found hope through community and an ayahuasca ceremony that helped him confront trauma and rediscover self-forgiveness. His journey is about reclaiming purpose and proving that healing is possible, even from the deepest wounds of war and addiction.
- Working with Veterans (book excerpt) By Jeanette Small
- About half of the author's clients are veterans who feel an unexpected kinship with the founder. Though she never served, her immigrant journey, survivalist drive, and family legacy of trauma mirror qualities common among veterans: discipline, resilience, and a deep struggle with belonging. She relates to their identity challenges and loss, shaped in part by her grandfather’s suicide. In psychedelic journeys, her veteran clients rarely revisit combat but instead uncover childhood wounds or confront existential questions, often encountering unity with creation and emerging with greater spiritual strength and wholeness.
- My DMT Journey - Interview with Ariel Ramos
- After years of military service and deep emotional wounds, Ariel Ramos hit rock bottom—hospitalized, isolated, and losing their sense of self. Everything shifted after discovering the Church of Ambrosia, where DMT and microdosing reawakened a long-silent inner voice. Through visionary experiences, art, and self-love, Ariel reclaimed their identity and purpose. Now studying psychology to research psychedelics, they remind others: healing begins when we choose love over fear—and rediscover the soul we thought was lost.
- My Baptismal Rebirth - Interview with Nathan Ostrowski
- Navy veteran Nathan Ostrowski spent 35 years lost in addiction until psychedelics and music gave him a second chance. After surviving two suicide attempts and losing his sister to fentanyl, he found healing through a powerful ceremony in Mexico and the rhythm of reggae. Now sober and purposeful, Nathan leads *Music With A Purpose*, a nonprofit helping veterans heal through music and plant medicine—proving that even the deepest pain can be transformed into service, song, and hope.
- I Speak on Behalf of the Medicine - Interview with Dr. Andrea Lucie
- The Founder of The Red Path Retreats brings her Chilean curandero lineage and decades of work with the military community to healing retreats for veterans, first responders, and their families. She emphasizes honoring sacred medicines through proper preparation, dieta, and integration, resisting the commercialization that strips away spirit and tradition. Her programs partner with trained healers, maintain long-term support networks, and focus on building spiritual resilience—an often-missing element in trauma recovery. Andrea frames psychedelics as catalysts that help people retrieve lost parts of themselves and reconnect to truth, courage, and purpose.
- I Was Ready to Check Out - Interview with Gringo
- Haunted by invisible wounds after 20 years in the Navy, “Gringo” spiraled into addiction and despair—until psychedelics helped him face the darkness head-on. Introduced through his motorcycle club, the medicine became a mirror and a guide, revealing buried pain and the path to healing. With brotherhood and courage, he found sobriety and purpose. Now seven years into his journey, Gringo reminds others: no one heals alone, and even in darkness, light is always waiting.
- Marine Vet Becomes a Healer - Interview with Susannah Rose Stokes
- Former Marine officer Susannah Rose Stokes transformed her own trauma into a mission of collective healing. After two Afghanistan deployments and years of pain from military sexual trauma and fear, psychedelics opened a path beyond numbness toward deep renewal. Witnessing her sister’s recovery through ceremony inspired Susannah to co-found Metamorphosis Ventures, blending psychedelics, ceremony, and community. Her work now proves that personal transformation can ripple outward—healing families, communities, and the collective itself.
- Beyond the Edges of Sanity and Back By Rola Hallam
- Dr. Rola Hallam shares her harrowing yet transformative journey through PTSD, rooted in childhood abuse and compounded by the traumas of war in Syria. She vividly describes living between two realities — present-day safety and past violation — while struggling to heal where Western medicine failed her. Through plants, prayer, movement, and psychedelics, she gradually learned to face her pain and rediscover awe, connection, and compassion. Her story is both an unflinching portrait of trauma and a radiant testament to healing, awakening, and returning to wholeness.
- Transformed by Bufo - Interview with Michael Manion
- After 22 years in the military, First Sergeant Michael Manion hit bottom — drowning in trauma, addiction, and despair. Everything changed when he turned to plant medicine. His first mushroom and Bufo ceremonies cracked open years of buried emotion, revealing that joy waits on the far side of pain. Now leading retreats in Mexico, Michael guides others through personalized healing journeys that unite medicine, spirit, and community—proving that true recovery begins when we stop running and face the darkness within.
- Psychedelics and Prison - Interview with Kevin D.
- A psychiatric technician with over a decade in California’s prisons and state hospitals, has witnessed a mental health system built on medication, not healing. After losing his best friend to suicide, he founded REJUVEN8 COLLECTIVE, envisioning psychedelics as tools for true prison reform — bringing empathy, purpose, and transformation to inmates and staff alike. His mission reaches beyond incarceration, advocating for community-based reentry programs that unite psychotherapy and plant medicine to break cycles of trauma and recidivism.
- From Betrayal to Breakthrough - Nancy Laforest with Crystal Romero
- Crystal Romero’s healing journey began after years of battling “betrayal trauma” from her military service, depression, and suicidal ideation. Conventional therapies provided little relief until she found new strength through ayahuasca in Peru and psilocybin retreats in Jamaica. For the first time in a decade, she felt safe and alive. Today, Crystal is a peer support specialist, activist, and future psilocybin facilitator. From testifying for New Mexico’s Psilocybin Services Act to championing the Brandon Act, she embodies resilience, showing veterans they can reclaim their identity and power through deep, often difficult healing work.
- 16 Meds to None - Interview with Chris Leisinger
- Army veteran Chris Leisinger spent years battling PTSD, emotional numbness, and the side effects of sixteen prescription drugs before psychedelics helped him reclaim his life. After a near-suicide averted by his loyal dog Repo, Chris discovered healing through ceremonies with mushrooms, ayahuasca, and Bufo. Now medication-free, he advocates for psychedelic therapy as a path to genuine recovery for veterans, reminding others in pain: getting help isn’t weakness — it’s a mark of courage, connection, and the will to live again.
- In Issue 4:
- Issue 04 summary: This collection offers an unflinching look at trauma, service, and the long road home. Through deeply personal stories from veterans, healers, clinicians, and advocates, a clear thread emerges: when conventional systems fail, healing often begins through courage, community, and sacred medicines approached with respect. These pieces explore moral injury, addiction, loss, identity, and rebirth—showing how psychedelics can open doors, but integration, community, and purpose carry people through. No miracles, no shortcuts. Just a testament to hard-won transformation, resilience, and the possibility of turning pain into service.
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About Psychedelic Pathways Magazine
Psychedelic Pathways explores the intersection of two desires that many humans share: to alter perception of the world in which they live, and to stay safe while doing so.
You've heard them: whispers about the healing power of psychedelics, how they've helped others rewrite old narratives, dissolve fear, or reconnect with hidden parts of themselves.
You've also heard words of warning: stories of psychedelic experiments gone awry, causing real harm to real people.
Add to this the very real chance that what you've been told about psychedelics over your lifetime is untrue.
We offer stories, research, and foundational knowledge to help you make informed decisions.
We give you thought-provoking, accurate, and deeply personal perspectives from courageous seekers that meet you wherever you are on your path.
Everything on our pages is crafted with care to engage your mind and spirit.
We’re not here to push one way of thinking.
Your journey is yours, and we respect that.
Because the decision to engage with any mind-altering substance is, ultimately, yours alone.
Our contributors create for people like you, who know there is more to learn in the realm of psychedelics than what they've been taught.
In the pages of Psychedelic Pathways we're reminded that change is close at hand.
If you're brave enough to dive in, we’re thrilled to have you.
Category: Wellness & Meditation
Publisher: Psychedelic Pathways Magazine
Published: Bi-monthly
Language: English
Compatibility: iOS/Android App + Web Reader
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About The Publisher
Psychedelic Pathways Magazine is published by Focused Eye Enterprises, LLC, which was founded by writer, photographer, and psychonaut Strider John Peterson.... read more
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