Frequently Asked Questions

Everyone completes a detailed intake form followed by a screening call.

We’ll explore:

• physical health

• mental health history

• medications

• past psychedelic experience

• intentions and readiness

• support systems

Screening ensures that the medicine is approached safely, respectfully, and in alignment with your wellbeing. Here's the full picture of how screening works.

Contraindications include MAOIs (including ayahuasca and Syrian rue), lithium, certain antidepressants, serious heart or respiratory conditions, uncontrolled high blood pressure, seizure disorders, pregnancy or breastfeeding, and a personal history of psychosis or bipolar disorder. The full list is on my Safety & Screening page, and we'll go through everything during intake.

I never advise anyone to stop or reduce a medication. If a medication contraindicates with 5-MeO-DMT, that decision belongs with your prescriber, including whether to taper and a plan to resume if needed. Coming off medications abruptly can itself be destabilizing. If you're on a contraindicating medication, mention it in your intake and we'll factor your prescriber's timeline into when (and whether) we schedule your experience. There's no rush. Stability comes first. More on medications and screening.

When vaporized, onset is nearly instant. You'll notice effects within seconds. The peak typically lasts 10 to 20 minutes, followed by a gradual tail as the effects fade. Most people are back to baseline within an hour, though inside the experience time can feel suspended entirely.

Insufflation, which I offer in some containers such as my Inward sound bath, has a gentler arc. Onset is closer to 10 minutes, with a peak of around 20 minutes and a slower 20 to 30 minute return.

Inward is a small group sound bath with a gentle, low dose of snuffed 5-MeO-DMT, co-facilitated with sound healer Amy Indigo in a yurt just outside Victoria. You choose your depth as you go, with optional extra rounds, and most people are back to baseline within an hour. It's a lovely first meeting with the medicine, or a refresh if you've journeyed before.

A 1:1 ceremony is private and fully tailored to you. We take more time with screening and preparation, work at whatever depth is right for you, and I'm by your side the whole time. Many people start with Inward and later move to a 1:1. More about Inward · Explore 1:1 ceremonies

Yes. Some facilitators and clinics call it a session, and I call it a ceremony, but it's the same thing: a private, guided 5-MeO-DMT experience with one person, one facilitator, and the whole day set aside.

I use the word ceremony because of the care around it: the intention we set, the space, the music, and the weeks of preparation and integration that hold it. It isn't religious, and there's no tradition you need to follow. What a private ceremony includes

Private 1:1 ceremonies are $700 to $1,400 on a sliding scale, in CAD for Canadians and USD for Americans. That includes screening, a preparation call, the ceremony itself and two integration calls. Inward sound baths are $121 to $155 CAD, and the first consultation is always free. What it costs and what's included

Most people say it can't really be put into words, but there is a shape to it. At a low dose it's usually gentle: warmth or tingling, a release of muscle tension, calm, and a feeling of connection. At a high dose everything can dissolve, including the sense of being a separate self, leaving what many describe as pure awareness, white light, or oneness.

It's rarely visual, it's often very physical (heat, shaking, tears or spontaneous movement as tension lets go), and it's short. When vaporized, the peak lasts 10 to 20 minutes and most people are back to baseline within an hour. Read more: What Does 5-MeO-DMT Feel Like?

Yes. People travel to Victoria from Vancouver, elsewhere in BC, across Canada and the US. Our free consultation, screening and integration calls happen by video, and ceremonies take place in person here in Victoria. It's an easy trip from Vancouver by ferry or floatplane, or from Seattle on the Victoria Clipper, and I'm happy to suggest places to stay. Travelling to Victoria

Integration is part of every ceremony. We take time to land and talk before you leave, I check in with you in the days afterward, and you can reach out anytime if something comes up later, whether that's reactivations, vivid dreams, hard feelings, or questions you can't shake. If you've had a 5-MeO-DMT experience elsewhere and are struggling to make sense of it, I can help with that too. What to expect after a ceremony

5-MeO-DMT isn't listed under Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, so personal possession isn't a criminal offence. Synthetic 5-MeO-DMT does fall under the Food and Drugs Act, which restricts unauthorized sale and distribution, and it's a controlled substance in many other countries, including the United States. I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice. Read the full explanation.

If it appears that 5-MeO-DMT is not the right fit at this time, I’ll share that clearly and compassionately. Suitability isn’t a judgment, it’s a commitment to your safety.

When appropriate, I may offer recommendations for other practitioners or modalities, as well as guidance on what may need to stabilize before revisiting this work. You are always welcome to reconnect in the future.

5-MeO-DMT is often nicknamed the God molecule, which sets an expectation worth loosening. You don't need to be spiritual for this work. Some people describe what happens as meeting God; others call it Brahman, Nature, universal consciousness, or simply the deepest peace they've ever known. What it means is yours to decide. The experience doesn't require a belief system going in, and I won't hand you one coming out. My job is to hold the space safely, whatever language you bring to it.

No! People commonly mistake NN-DMT and 5-MeO-DMT. They are very different. The full comparison, side by side.

Unlike its close chemical relative N,N-DMT which typically induces vivid visual breakthroughs, entity encounters, and otherworldly realms, 5-MeO-DMT is off in its own category often producing a non-visual "whiteout" of ego dissolution, boundless unity, and somatic intensity. It is described as feeling uniquely primal, visceral, and transcendent.

5-MeO-DMT is unlike any other psychedelic in both intensity and phenomenology:

• Short duration (most people are back to baseline within an hour)

• Non-visual (often a “whiteout” rather than imagery)

• Profound ego dissolution

• Strong somatic release potential

• Deep sense of unity or pure awareness

Mushrooms, LSD, and DMT tend to expand experience outward.

5-MeO dissolves the one who is experiencing.

Its depth is why preparation, support, and integration matter.

Synthetic only. I work with pure, lab-tested 5-MeO-DMT and never toad secretion. Synthetic lets me weigh every dose precisely, avoids the extra heart-active compounds found in toad secretion, and takes nothing from a wild animal already under pressure. I go into more detail on my Synthetic vs Toad Medicine page.