Altered Mates
Two mates navigating altered states
About the show
Altered Mates is a podcast where two mates, each fascinated by altered states, meet to discuss the psychedelic experience and its implications for society, culture, health, science, and philosophy.
Alejandro is novelist and a teacher of english and psychology. Tobias is an academic and a lecturer in social work and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
Our conversations are always grounded in our own direct experiences with a range of ‘altered’ states of consciousness.
Hero of the podcast, William James, suggests that, “Our normal waking consciousness… is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different… No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.”
You could say that we are trying to construct a better account of our universe, and we are taking James’ advice to heart, by seriously regarding those “other” forms of consciousness.
Through our research and our subsequent discussions, we seek to find, update, and/or create, working models of the mind, and of reality, that help us to make sense of our world.
We endeavour to integrate our own psychedelic experiences through the power of conversation. But we also seek to integrate the revelations of “the” psychedelic experience, and come to terms with the implications, from cultural, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives.
Having said all that, we’re also just two normal blokes who enjoy each other’s company. And our fancy Socratic dialogues are filtered through our own unique brand of Australian banter. After all, we’re just two mates trying to enjoy our limited time on this planet, and to create a more meaningful life for ourselves and our community while we’re here.
Altered Mates on social media
Episodes
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Episode 8: Monsters & Masculinity: delving further into the Jungian Shadow
February 28th, 2024 | 45 mins 10 secs
carl jung, the shadow
In this episode we continue our exploration of the Jungian Shadow in our lives and in literature. The two texts covered in this episode are “A Monster Calls” and “Fight Club”.
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Episode 7: Jung, The Shadow, and A Wizard of Earthsea
February 7th, 2024 | 1 hr 11 mins
carl jung, the shadow
In this episode we unpack Jung’s concept of The Shadow and consider its manifestation in the classic work of fantasy fiction “A Wizard of Earthsea”, written by Ursula Le Guin.
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Episode 6: F-ing the Ineffable: William James, Mysticism, and the Psychedelic Experience
January 17th, 2024 | 1 hr 33 mins
ayahuasca, dmt, mushrooms, mystical, william james
In this episode, we explore the slippery concept of Mysticism.
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Episode 5: Big Self Energy: Psychedelics & the IFS Model
January 3rd, 2024 | 1 hr 2 mins
ifs
This is the second episode of a two part series on our experiences with, and understanding of, the Internal Family Systems (IFS) Model of Mind.
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Episode 4: Understanding ourselves through Internal Family Systems
December 20th, 2023 | 51 mins 48 secs
ifs
Psychedelics and Internal Family Systems: a journey into the IFS Model of Mind
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Episode 3: ...but take it!
December 6th, 2023 | 39 mins 39 secs
ceremony, integration, mushrooms
The Altered Mates discuss their integration after taking five dried grams of magic mushrooms in silent darkness.
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Episode 2: Take it easy, dude...
November 22nd, 2023 | 48 mins 40 secs
mushrooms
The Altered Mates discuss their preparations for five dried grams in silent darkness
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Episode 1: Challenging psychedelic experiences
October 27th, 2023 | 1 hr 14 mins
ayahuasca, dmt, mushrooms
Madness, Sadness, and the inescapable Trap— What can we do with Challenging Psychedelic Experiences?