Experience

States of consciousness

A taxonomy of the inner experiences reported across psychoactive plant traditions, organized by the dimension of awareness they most directly affect.

Emotional

Perceptual

Cognitive

Somatic

Emotional

Shifts in feeling, mood, and emotional processing that arise during altered states. These can range from profound peace to intense catharsis.

8/10

Catharsis

The release of suppressed emotions, sometimes through tears, laughter, or physical trembling. Often arrives uninvited and leaves behind a surprising lightness.

6/10

Empathic opening

A heightened capacity for compassion and emotional attunement, both toward oneself and others. Boundaries between self-concern and concern for others soften.

7/10

Euphoria

A sustained feeling of deep wellbeing and joy, often described as feeling connected to everything. Not the sharp hit of pleasure, but a warm, expansive sense that the world is fundamentally okay.

9/10

Existential awe

A feeling of reverence or wonder in the face of something vast and incomprehensible. The ordinary frame of reference dissolves, replaced by a sense of contact with something immeasurably larger.

7/10

Grief surfacing

Buried losses and unprocessed sadness may rise to awareness with unusual clarity and tenderness. The grief arrives not as re-traumatization but as something finally ready to be felt.

Perceptual

Alterations in sensory experience, including vision, hearing, touch, and the perception of time and space.

9/10

Entity contact

The perception of encountering autonomous beings or presences during deep psychedelic states. These presences may communicate, teach, or simply observe.

7/10

Synesthesia

The blending of senses, such as hearing colors or seeing sounds. Boundaries between sensory channels become fluid, revealing unexpected correspondences.

5/10

Time dilation

The subjective experience of time slowing down, speeding up, or losing meaning entirely. Minutes may feel like hours, or an hour may compress into what feels like moments.

6/10

Visual geometry

Intricate, often symmetrical patterns that appear with closed or open eyes. Fractals, lattices, and spirals are commonly reported, sometimes evolving into more complex forms.

Cognitive

Changes in thought patterns, self-awareness, and the structure of conscious experience itself.

9/10

Ego dissolution

A temporary loss of the boundary between self and world. The sense of being a separate individual fades or disappears, often described as merging with everything.

6/10

Meta-awareness

The ability to observe one's own thoughts and mental processes with unusual clarity and detachment. A witness perspective emerges that can notice patterns normally invisible.

8/10

Narrative visions

Complex, story-like sequences that unfold with coherence and symbolic meaning, often felt as personally significant. These may feel received rather than imagined.

8/10

Noetic quality

A strong sense that what is being experienced is deeply true or meaningful, even if difficult to articulate. Insights feel self-evident in the moment.

5/10

Thought loops

Recurring patterns of thought that cycle repeatedly, sometimes with insight, sometimes with discomfort. The same idea returns with variations, each pass revealing a new facet.

Somatic

Physical sensations and bodily experiences that accompany altered states, from subtle warmth to intense energetic movement.

8/10

Body dissolution

The feeling that the physical body is dissolving, expanding, or merging with the surrounding environment. The usual sense of where the body ends and the world begins becomes uncertain.

4/10

Deep relaxation

A profound softening of muscular tension and nervous system activation, sometimes lasting well beyond the experience. The body enters a state of deep rest.

6/10

Energetic flow

Sensations of energy moving through the body, often described as waves, currents, or pulses along the spine. May feel electric, warm, or tingling.

7/10

Purging

Physical release through vomiting, crying, or sweating. Considered cleansing in many ceremonial traditions. Often accompanied by a sense of lightness or relief afterward.