I was incredibly lucky to have been invited to attend the Global Psychedelic Society Summit in Portugal, which ran from the 23rd to the 27th of September. There I met with other psychedelic society leaders from all around the world, from countries such as Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, America, South Africa, Brazil and Germany. I had travelled the furthest though!

Turn Left at Venus is a novel by Inez Baranay, published in 2019 by Transit Lounge.

For the APS’s My Psychedelic Experience project, Inez has kindly given us permission to publish a section of the chapter “were we the dead?” which describes an acid trip experienced by the main character, Ada, then aged around 30, in San Francisco in the mid 1960s.

This article describes how APS Sydney designed its Psychedelic Date Night event using science rather than substances. The author explains researching the psychology of attraction via Consensus.ai, identifying three key levers: physiological arousal from exciting activities, synchronized physical experiences between pairs, and a safe, consent-driven "set and setting." It then walks through how The Lansdowne Hotel's Chippendale rooftop was chosen to meet these criteria — offering elevation, a ping pong table, and parapet rooms for a substance-free stroboscopic light display designed to induce hallucination-like visuals. The piece closes with event details: 25 July, MC'd by Jay Katz.

While traditional talk therapy remains valuable and often necessary, many people are discovering that words alone don’t always reach the depth of a psychedelic experience.

Yopo, the oldest of them all, the grandfather of the entire lineage, the medicine with the longest unbroken ceremonial record in the world, has been passed over almost entirely. There is no clinical trial. There are no documentaries. No podcasts. There is no widely read account of his ceremony, his cosmology, or what generations of unbroken relationship with him has produced in the peoples who have carried him across millennia.

The Queensland Government is dismantling its expanded drug diversion program — a decision that peak medical, nursing, and legal bodies have condemned as prioritising political messaging over healthcare evidence.

Ironically, the opportunity to fully utilise psychedelics - which appear to be effective, in part, by promoting cognitive flexibility - may well be frustrated by present scientific inflexibility.

 ·

Help Us Grow Together

The Australian Psychedelic Society (APS) is built on community connection, shared knowledge, and a strong commitment to harm reduction and safety. We want to make sure what we offer genuinely reflects the needs, interests, and voices of our community.

This short survey is an opportunity for you to tell us what you value, what you’d like more of, and how APS can continue to support community connection, education, and safe practice. Your feedback will directly inform the direction of APS and help us improve the way we share information and engage with our members.

To say thank you, everyone who completes the survey can choose to enter a raffle. We will need an email address to contact prize winners. APS has no interest in identifying individuals who wish to remain anonymous.

After a particularly difficult year where I had been using methamphetamine in addition to the other problematic drugs I had used on and off for many years, my life was in ruins. I was unemployed, excluded from my profession, facing criminal charges for drug possession, isolated and broke.

On the final night of the retreat, I posed a question that has been weighing heavily on humanity: what does the future hold for our planet?

If psychedelics are oracles, they are fallible ones. But then, aren’t all oracles fallible? Well, that might depend on who you ask …

A end of year thank-you-very-much and 2025 update with Australian Psychedelic Society, Vice President Jess Maude