Mycelium and Mysticism: Awakening to Connections

Mycelium and Mysticism: Awakening to Connections

Colleen Kimseylove
3.2.25 | 4:00pm – 5:30pm | In Person and Online

The hallmark of a psychedelic experience is a sense of oneness and interconnectedness with all things. This is also one of the hallmarks of a mystic experience, and scientific research doesn’t draw a distinction between experiences and benefits from the two.

While contemporary psychedelic research focuses on  neurochemcial and -electric reactions, is it possible that the healing effects touted by therapeutic psychedelic research can be more directly attributed to the sense of awe the substances generate? Should psychedelic therapy be understood as a spiritual intervention, rather than medicinal?

We’ll explore these questions and more in this lively presentation.

Colleen Kimseylove (they/them) is a research mycologist and Quaker mystic in Seattle. After graduating from University of Washington’s masters in public health program in 2018, they were awarded a Bonderman fellowship to study peacemaking processes in eight post genocide countries. After working in clinical public health research for three years, they started working in bushcraft and mycology as a way to explore the underpinnings of health. They teach psychedelic mycology professionally, and are a published researcher in quantitative methods.