Last week we spoke with Chi about his personal journey and what led him to start working as a facilitator for psilocybin truffle experiences in Amsterdam. This week, we discuss some of his other projects that aim to unify psychedelic supporters and reinvent the debaucherous bachelorette party in a much more conscious way.

Thanks again for speaking with us, Chi. It was great speaking with you about Truffles Therapy last week. I know you are also involved in some other interesting projects. Can you tell me about Trip Sitters?

In Amsterdam there is this huge base of trip sitters building, and our goal is to build codes of ethics, to create a council of the most experienced trip sitters, and to create training videos and training courses. This area is going to keep on growing and we need to protect the movement. We also hope to bring more cohesion and have less infighting. Like, guys… we’re all literally on the same side! Of course we’re imperfect, and we all still have things to learn. But let’s link hands— we’re stronger together, you know?

So those initiatives have turned into this whole online guide and listing service. It’s created a wonderful sense of community, because many sitters have been doing this for years and never interacted with other people who are doing the same work. It’s the craziest thing.

At first, we were thinking we could be this global listing service for all psychedelic guides around the world, but we quickly realized that many underground practitioners wouldn’t want to put their faces out in other countries. There are many people and groups working with psilocybin all over the world, but they have to come to the Netherlands to be legit and above ground. When Oregon or Denver get their initiatives passed, we want to help them build their network. One day the US will overtake the Netherlands as the global hub for these experiences. There will be different training systems developed all over, but maybe we can help and make a contribution with what we’re doing here.

That’s super cool. The other project I’m aware of that you’re associated with is Conscious Bachelorette. Can you speak a little bit about what that is?

Oh gosh… never in my life would I ever think I would do anything with a group of women like this. But yeah, this writer Becky Wicks did a retreat with us and she’s written an article about us which you can read here. Her idea was that groups of women will often come to Amsterdam before getting married to go wild, drink, do drugs, and it’s all so unconscious. This is what most of the world thinks partying and fun is all about. We wanted to change that paradigm and change how people view Amsterdam. What kind of experiences could they have here that were boundary-pushing, but in a more conscious way? If we can provide these groups of women with beautiful, heart-opening experiences, it’s going to spread.

It feels to me like the mushroom and the truffle spirit want to reach more people. Alcohol and tobacco are widely accepted but addictive and harmful. Let’s get psilocybin accepted in society as a way to improve our well-being, live fuller and more creative lives, and be more connected and in harmony with nature. That’s really our end goal in everything. We have to get out of this disharmony and see ourselves as just belonging to Earth.

I really like that. People are nervous about mainstreaming these things, but this is exactly the kind of shift in perspective and behavior that we need people to take.

You know, rites of passage have happened throughout history with psychedelics. And if you look at our culture, whether it’s a bachelor party or bachelorette party or turning 21, it’s basically an orgy of drinking and debauchery. That’s our sort of shitty version of a rite of passage in the West. So I think it’s a really cool idea to take that and try and give a conscious alternative. Some people like to say, well these things are super sacred and everything should be done in this ultra-sacred, conservative, indigenous-influenced container. But I think that’s sort of missing the opportunity to take that sacredness but overlay it with things that are happening in our culture already, and try and bring it into new areas. So I’d like to elevate our pre-existing rite of passage in our culture.

Clearly the old ways of thinking and the old paradigms have not worked. We have to just be creative; we have to try new things. We have to have courage as a human species to not just hold on to old ways of thinking. We’ve just gotta give it our all! We have to do this or else it’s not going to work and the species might not survive, so let’s try something. As long as we’re trying to do good and we’re not consciously harming people, let’s give it a shot. We’re trying to bring goodness, more spirituality, more togetherness, more circles, more love, more laughter, more dancing, more freedom. Let’s go out on a limb, right?

Totally. If someone wants to get involved with any of your projects, how can they reach out to you and connect?

Of course our websites are good for that, and people can reach me directly at [email protected] Beyond that, we have some Facebook groups like Amsterdam Conscious Community where locals can list their offerings and such.

Awesome. Is there anything else that you want to share that we haven’t touched on yet?

We need to come together as a human species. We need to link hands rather than point fingers. We have to accept people for their imperfections and their differences, and work on compromises rather than blaming. And I’m a big fan of talking circles. Indigenous cultures did this all the time, but a ton of people these days have never even been in one. People have this fear of talking in a group, but we have to clear our throats and open our hearts and speak our truth. The more clear our own channel is, the more that spirit can work through us. We need to wake up as a human species, so let’s all work together.

We are very grateful to Chi for speaking with us about his various projects in the Netherlands. If you’d like to get in touch with Chi, you can reach him at [email protected]