Kat Draconis grew up in a religious household as one of five children. She did well in school and lived her faith, as expected by her parents. Kat and I met after she finished her sophomore year of college, just as I returned home from my church mission. We fell in love and married quickly. Several days after graduating college, Kat gave birth to our oldest child and we settled into family life. 

Kat describes her experience stepping away from her religion and shares the details of several psychedelic experiences in which she witnessed the awakening of an inner sexual dragon, encountered her father in a dark setting, and relived the death of our toddler son. She also shares an experience in which she died and was reborn as a phoenix.

Clint Kyles was born and raised in southwest Arkansas, where he lives to this day. Clint comes from a hard-working, blue-collar Christian family. Growing up, he attended a small congregational Baptist church every week, whether he wanted to or not.

As a teenager, Clint began experimenting with alcohol and then cannabis. When Clint and his friends became interested in trying mushrooms, one of his friends ordered a mushroom identification book through an interlibrary loan to help them find some mushrooms in the area. In Clint’s first mushroom experience, he was able to step outside his ego and observe his shy and introverted nature. The experience served as a turning point in his life and Clint began working to improve his social skills.

Clint’s mushroom experience also showed him the universe was far larger than he could have imagined. He found himself thirsting for a knowledge of God and he began studying the Bible with sincerity. Clint began dating his now wife the day he graduated high school and he set aside psychedelics for many years as he focused on his career and raising his family.

Clint’s interest in psychedelics was renewed in recent years after beginning to listen to podcasts on the subject. Clint describes a more recent psilocybin experience in which he was transported to a void and received an important personal message from God through angels.

Clint is the host of The Psychedelic Christian Podcast, where he interviews guests about their personal experiences with psychedelics, many of which have been positive and spiritual in nature, while others highlight the risks associated with the use of psychedelics.

Links:

The Psychedelic Christian Podcast

Avi Wijaya was born into a conservative Muslim family in Indonesia. Avi's father worked as a government official, providing economic security for their family. Avi began attending a Catholic university at the age of 16. His school had a culture of open debate about topics like the economy, social issues, and even religion. Avi became agnostic and eventually atheist.

Avi and his wife married just before the lockdowns in 2020 and experienced a devastating miscarriage in 2021. Around the same time, Avi had a number of paranormal experiences that caused him concern. His Muslim friends advised him to read the Qur'an and pray. A Buddhist friend also suggested he begin a meditation practice. Avi tried both and he had a number of interesting experiences while meditating. Avi began reading about things like near-death experiences and eventually came across the ayahuasca subreddit. He then arranged to participate in an ayahuasca ceremony while visiting family in The Netherlands, despite his family's concerns.

During his ayahuasca experience, Avi was transported to other realms where he embarked on a cosmic journey, interacting with entities and deceased loved ones, learning valuable lessons he took back with him to Indonesia.