So, You want to Serve Medicine..

Hey Otto, How do I get into the psychedelic space? I feel called to serve the medicine.”

Oh, the youthful, optimistic visions of enthusiasm I feel from folks filling my inbox.

As the year begins to wind down, and I am wrapping up my first full year leading retreats professionally with Tandava Retreats — serving the world’s most powerful and, frankly, wild psychedelic compound — I’ve been reflecting on this deeply humbling experience and responsibility.

I’ve been in the psychedelic ecosystem for almost a decade now, and not once did I ever feel the kind of youthful enthusiasm I see in so many who are eager to serve medicine. Everyone wants to be a psychedelic facilitator these days.

It is a bit shocking to me, how? Why? I often wonder.. "Do you all know what this work entails?" I promise it is not the mind bloom commercial with the client lying blind folded on a macrame couch holding your hand as they have revelation, shedding single tears of gratitude. It is much, much, much more complicated, dynamic, and intense.

I’ve spent years apprenticing taitas, shamans, therapists, practitioners, healers. I’ve been trained by the best, shadowed highly respected people in the space. And yet, when given the opportunity to serve this medicine professionally, I felt the immensity of that responsibility shiver through my spine — a dry throat swallowing the responsibility of guiding someone into a taste of the ineffable.

Every box had been checked. I’ve suffered some of the most intense psychedelic malpractice. I’ve been in the most unhinged ceremonies and the most profoundly professional, wise containers. Ive trained, learned, and earned my stripes - And still — still — the inner voice was:

“You better make sure you’ve got every single box checked before you say yes, Otto.”

Spiritually, emotionally, relationally, logistically.

Why? Because I am convinced, deeply, that this work is not a profession, it is not a job, it is a contract - with the soul. I want to offer the deepest bow, gratitude, and appreciation to everyone at Tandava Retreats who has not only supported me in stepping into this level of leadership, but has offered me the Mentorship, resources, community, co-visibility, training, education, belief, and proper context to actually meet the depth of this responsibility with confidence.

After a single year of serving medicine in one of the most highly regarded and respected retreat centers in the world, I can honestly say this:

This work is the farthest thing from a profession. It is a contract with the soul. And you can’t convince me otherwise.