"A safe fairyland is untrue to all worlds." J.R.R. Tolkien

Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings, wrote those words in a 1937 letter to a friend who had expressed the thought that Tolkien’s stories might be too scary for bedtime reading to the little ones. Pretty clearly, Tolkien was not moved.

I’ve often thought that when we approach psychedelics we are like Bilbo or Frodo, weighing the pros and cons of staying in the comforts of Hobbiton against venturing out into the wide world beyond. With the menacing forest of Mirkwood, the uncanny barrow wights of the Barrow Downs, orcs, Ring Wraiths, and of course Mordor, the epicenter of evil, this was not an easy place for a little hobbit to set out on.

And yet in that world were the beautiful places too — the Last Homely House of the Elves, Galadriel’s Well, Tom Bombadil’s house — and we somehow instinctively know that the lovely places could not be there unless this Light was balanced by a fierce and shuddering Dark. Every soul needs its Dark Night, and that’s what we must pay to reach morning.

Those who take psychedelics must recognise that their journey is a package deal of dark and light, and that there is indeed no safe passage to our own internal fairyland. Frodo did not ask to go to the catacylsm of Mount Doom by bus.

Tolkien’s view of fairyland came from its folk roots, a land of mysterious lights, dangerous enchantments, spells, curses and more than the occasional trickery. People could be spirited away, only to return centuries later, while children might be stolen from their cradles and replaced with fake versions of themselves, or changelings. It was very real to very many people, and it was no joke. You messed with fairyland at your peril.

As we approach the sacred plants, remember how little control we have over our own wild lands. What we are reaching out for may indeed include joy, wisdom, and relief from pain, but the new wisdom can come at the price of hearing the Nazguls’s cry searing through our being and rocking our world to its foundations. Out of that emotional earth tremor you may indeed bring wisdom and insight into your own personal Hobbit Hole, but psychedelics are no short cut to spirituality, or to mental health, and there is no sale season on knowledge.

So if you choose to take a psychedelic, be aware that you may be embarking on far more than hitting an inner reset button or shaking the mental snow globe. It’s about more than sprucing up the neural pathways, it is about serving what is good and true. And if we are to be true to our own inner world — or any other one — we have to recognise the astounding beauty and wisdom that is there. But if you want a safe fairyland with no monsters or dragons — stay home!