Searching for the Philosophers' Stone: Encounters with Mystics, Scientists, and Healers

by Ralph Metzner

A deeply personal account of the scientific, shamanic, and metaphysical encounters that led to the development of Metzner’s psychological methods

• Recounts the author’s meetings and friendships with Albert Hofmann, Alexander Shulgin, the McKenna brothers, Wilson Van Dusen, Myron Stolaroff, and Leo Zeff

• Details his lucid dream encounters with G. I. Gurdjieff, profoundly healing sessions with Hawaiian healer Morrnah Simeona, experiences with plant teachers iboga and ayahuasca, and ecological and mystical lessons learned from animal teachers

• Shares his involvement in the beginnings of the therapeutic use of MDMA and how it safely and effectively supports the healing of trauma, PTSD, and interpersonal relationships

Just as the search for the philosopher’s stone is the core symbol of the alchemical tradition, Ralph Metzner, Ph.D., psychotherapist and one of the respected elders of the psychedelic research community, sees it as the central metaphor of his life-long quest to find methods of healing and insight through heightened states of consciousness.

Through captivating stories Metzner shares his encounters from the 1960s through the 1990s with genius scientists, shamanic healers, mystics, plant spirits, and animal guides that led to the development of his “alchemical divination” psychological methods, a structured intuitive process of accessing inner sources of healing and insight. He details lessons learned with psychedelic research legends Albert Hofmann, Alexander Shulgin, Terence McKenna, and Dennis McKenna. He reveals his deeply healing encounters with the Kahuna bodywork healer Morrnah Simeona, the first to introduce the Hawaiian Ho’oponopono healing method to the West, and his experiences with West African trance dancing and the psychoactive plant-drug iboga. Metzner recounts in vivid detail his unwelcome encounter with malignant sorcery during an ayahuasca experience in Ecuador and the lessons it taught him about connections with spirits, both harmful and beneficial. He tells of his involvement in the beginnings of the therapeutic use of MDMA and shows how it is an effective and safe substance to support psychotherapy for healing trauma, PTSD, and interpersonal relationships.

In sharing his remarkable encounters, Metzner shows how the most meaningful lessons in the alchemy of life come not only from the geniuses we meet but also from the spirits we encounter along the way.

Genres: Spirituality

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

Ralph Metzner Ph.D. was an American psychologist, writer and researcher, who participated in psychedelic research at Harvard University in the early 1960s with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (later named Ram Dass). Dr. Metzner was a psychotherapist, and Professor Emeritus of psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he was formerly the Academic Dean and Academic Vice-president. He received his undergraduate degree at Oxford University and his doctorate in clinical psychology at Harvard University, where he was also the recipient of an NIMH Post-doctoral Fellowship in psychopharmacology at the Harvard Medical School. He had a life-long interest in the many different realms of consciousness and its modifications.

He is the author of The Well of Remembrance, The Unfolding Self, Green Psychology, Birth of a Psychedelic Culture (with Ram Dass); editor of two collections of essays on ayahuasca and on psilocybe mushrooms; and author of a new series of seven books on The Ecology of Consciousness.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an easily read overview of Metzner's life and work, intertwined with a survey of psychedelic luminaries and his encounters with them over the 20th century. As a body worker, I was frustrated with the lack of detail in his stories of working with a famous Hawaiian kahuna, and overall, I was miffed that most of his main sources were Wikipedia. That said, it's still worth it as a good survey of Metzner's contribution to psychedelic culture and about that culture in general.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but could have used some better editing. It's really more a collection of personal notes organized into (mostly) short essays. While they hold the small details that have stayed with the author over the years, there's an overall lack of explanation that could be frustrating. (It's like he assumes you're already familiar with some of these stories). I lost interest for a while but found that reading a chapter at a time (and putting it aside for a while in between) was a good pace for me.