Fear for Sale: Narcissism, Bypassing, & the Dark Side of the Psychedelic Community
We don’t need more saviors. We need more grounded humans who can sit in the fire with you — not try to sell you fire insurance.
I’ve done DMT. I’ve met the Machine Elves. I’ve met Sprites. I’ve encountered the strange, unexplainable edges of consciousness that defy logic. So when I say this, it’s not coming from dismissal — it’s coming from experience.
And still, I saw an ad recently that stopped me in my tracks— a psychedelic facilitator offering a course on how to protect yourself from psilocybin sprites.
As in — literal beings that may “attack” you during a journey, with the solution conveniently offered behind a paywall.
This is where I draw the line.
I’ve been working with this sacred medicine for nearly three decades. And I say this with complete honesty — if there were dangerous sprites lurking in every mushroom, don’t you think I would’ve run into one by now?
And I don’t know about you, but there’s enough fear in the world without us conjuring up more. There’s enough chaos. Psychedelics offer us a healing tool — a compass — to help us navigate the fear and confusion that are already present in our daily lives. So why are we inventing things to be afraid of?
There’s a difference between honoring mystery and selling fear. There’s a difference between being a grounded guide and being a self-proclaimed savior. And what’s happening more and more in the psychedelic community isn’t medicine — it’s manipulation.
Fear is becoming a business model.
And we need to talk about it.
Narcissism Wearing a Medicine Mask
The psychedelic community was never meant to be about hierarchy — yet we’re watching it get twisted into a stage for ego. A place where some facilitators position themselves as all-knowing, spiritually superior gatekeepers to “the truth.”
Their message? They’ve been further, they know more, and you need them to stay safe.
That’s not leadership. That’s narcissism — wrapped in a poncho and accessorized with a sage bundle.
Spiritual narcissism is alive and well in the psychedelic sphere. The ability to access altered states doesn’t automatically grant wisdom — and it certainly doesn’t qualify someone to lead others. In fact, when those experiences inflate the ego rather than dissolve it, we move out of healing territory and straight into harm.
True medicine work is humbling. It doesn’t lift you above others — it strips you bare.
The deeper you go, the more you listen. The more you recognize your own blind spots, projections, and patterns.
But narcissistic facilitators and plastic shamans don’t do shadow work — they outsource it. They manipulate group dynamics, speak in spiritual riddles, and convince others that only they know how to navigate the realms.
The Rise of Spiritual Bypassing
There’s a growing wave of facilitators who skip over the hard, gritty parts of integration and rush straight into “love and light.” They avoid discomfort, deny darkness, and dismiss emotional depth as “low vibration.”
And when fear shows up — as it often does in real, deep medicine work — they pathologize it. Demonize it. Turn it into a marketing hook.
“Dark entities? Shadow attachments? Oh no! Don’t worry. I can clear that for you.”
Of course, the solution is conveniently offered in their next training, container, or course.
This is spiritual bypassing — a kind of emotional escape hatch dressed in sacred language. What we call transformation often ends up being spiritual cosplay. Instead of encouraging people to sit with what arises and move through it, many are being taught to spiritually dissociate.
But the medicine doesn’t bypass. It doesn’t let you float above your grief or anger or fear. It invites you into it. It asks you to stay with it, to feel what’s real, to come home to your body. And that’s where the healing actually happens — in the willingness to go deeper, not higher.
Fear as a Sales Funnel
Let’s be real — if someone is using fear to sell you healing, they are not a guide. They’re a marketer.
When someone tells you that there are dangerous energies lurking in the medicine space — and then positions themselves as the only one equipped to handle them — they’re not empowering you. They’re disempowering you for profit.
There is mystery in this work. There are strange, difficult, and awe-inspiring experiences. But let’s not confuse that with fear-mongering. Facilitators who push fear-based narratives — only to offer their own services as the solution — are not working with the medicine. They’re weaponizing it.
That’s not ceremony. That’s sales.
What the Medicine Actually Teaches
The medicine isn’t trying to scare you — it’s trying to show you.
Sometimes what it shows is hard. Sometimes it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s deeply beautiful. But it’s always yours. It belongs to your inner world — not someone else’s fear projections.
The medicine invites us to trust ourselves. To become more emotionally resilient. To turn toward what scares us, rather than outsourcing our safety to someone with a microphone and a moon tattoo. (No shade to moon tattoos, I have one.)
Healing doesn’t come from avoiding the unknown. It comes from walking into it with open eyes and a regulated nervous system.
Discernment is the Real Safety
If you're working with someone in the psychedelic space, ask yourself:
Are they speaking from love or from fear?
Do they empower your intuition or override it?
Are they selling certainty or holding space for mystery?
Are they charging for “protection”?
Do you feel smaller around them, or more whole?
Red flags in this space don’t always shout. Sometimes they whisper in polished language. Sometimes they wear white linen. But your body always knows.
Trust that.
A Call Back to Integrity
This isn’t about calling anyone out for having spiritual experiences. It’s about calling us all in to a deeper level of integrity.
To remember that not everyone who holds space is qualified.
To remember that not every mystical claim is medicine.
To remember that healing should never be built on fear.
We don’t need more saviors. We need more grounded humans who can sit in the fire with you — not try to sell you fire insurance.
So if you’ve been in a space where fear was used to control you, you’re not alone. And if you’ve felt something was off but couldn’t name it — this might be it.
The medicine doesn’t want your fear. It wants your truth.
And you already carry that inside of you.
Further Reading
Not All Who Trip Are Transformed: Beware The Spiritual Narcissist
Who Guides the Guides (Podcast)
Sipping the Sacred Brew: One-On-One With a Taita From The Colombian Amazon
Spiritual Arrogance (The Zen Psychedelic)
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