Ralph Metzner, Explorer of Consciousness (Book Review)

Best known as an author of The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Ralph Metzner wrote that seminal book along with Timothy Leary & Richard Alpert (Ram Das), published in 1964. All three were the original members of the Harvard Psilocybin Project, and Ralph was also the editor of The Psychedelic Review.

Because he had less notoriety than his Harvard colleagues, he was able to continue the scholarly and therapeutic work they began together. Renowned as a pioneering psychologist, psychedelic elder, alchemical explorer, and shamanic teacher, the late Ralph Metzner (1936–2019) contributed profoundly to consciousness research, transpersonal psychology, and contemporary psychedelic studies across his more than 50-year career. He graduated from Oxford and then Harvard. He continued in private practice as long as he lived. Later, he became Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where he was also the Academic Dean and Academic Vice-president.

This new book, lovingly compiled and edited by his wife Cathy Coleman, reveals the vast impact of Ralph Metzner’s healing therapies and wisdom on colleagues, students, clients, and the fields in which he worked. It explores Ralph’s entire life from childhood in war torn Berlin, his time at Harvard, his work with Agni Yoga and transpersonal psychology, his development of ecopsychology, and his in-depth psychedelic research.

In full disclosure of this book review, Ralph was my therapist and my beloved teacher for the last decade of his life. “Laura Clein was his final client and had a scheduled appointment the week he passed away. He sent her a care package of books, CDs, and DVDs earlier that week at the time the appointment was canceled, and it got lost in the mail and arrived the day after he died. To her, keeping with the themes he loved so much surrounding universal mysteries, symbolic that this was not the end of the relationship.” Continued in an excerpt from the essay recounting my thoughts at that time, “My life is no less difficult now, but I can confidently say that thanks to our work together, I have more tools and coping skills that are an integral part of my present existence. Most often our sessions happened in my home and consisted of talk therapy, each one ending with a mediation where Ralph expertly helped me tie it all together. He always found a way to implant the healing needed with deeper meaning. There were also several intensive sessions, including an overnight couple’s therapy and a group experience in which my husband and I participated. During the deeper encounters were explorations via entheogens for psychedelic psychotherapy and consciousness expansion.”

Ralph was part of the core group that coined the term “Set & Setting,” which means being intentional with your mindset and with your surroundings when embarking on a psychedelic trip. These are still the basic rules of the road.

Setting includes creating a safe and comfortable location with something for all the senses. Whether in nature or inside, examples of what makes safe space, like an extra blanket, plenty of water, a candle and sage or incense to burn, a pre-determined set list of music, a simple meal ready to go for afterward, a sitter or guide, privacy and no room for interruptions, are all key components. Our extended sessions were tape-recorded, and I have since transcribed them.

His clients and students knew well he expected them to do the work, not just space out on the substance. To be in the best possible set, I would spend at least as much time preparing for and processing afterward as the time spent during the experience itself. In our therapeutic relationship, I would write up the issues and intentions that I wished to focus on for the session. He would lead me through a guided visualization into a deep inner space where I connected with the elements, the directions, my ancestors, and more. Then he would read back my words to me, and we would dialogue about it while I was under the influence. Often, answers to questions long sought would rise to the surface and be integrated during and for long after. Some of the wisdom I found created immediate shifts in perception; some will take me a lifetime to unpack, and some have become part of my daily practice.

A festschrift is a German word for a collection of essays and tributes to a scholar. Celebrating the life and legacy of Ralph Metzner, this book explores how Ralph touched the lives of those around him in extraordinary and remarkable ways, recasting people’s worldviews and inspiring the flowering of creativity, personal growth, and spiritual transformation. Academic colleagues and a who’s who of fellow psychedelic researchers share stories from their work with Ralph, illuminating his depth of knowledge and broad impact. The book includes contributions from Rick Doblin, Charles S. Grob, Stan Grof, Stanley Krippner, and Dennis McKenna, to name just a few of the luminaries who expressed their personal & professional encounters. Ralph’s brother, wife, and children are also included in the pages, as well as many others he influenced.

There are recollections from the pivotal years of the Sixties when Ralph conducted research at Harvard, in Mexico, at Millbrook, in Mendocino, and beyond. Other contributors describe Ralph’s involvement in the School of Actualism in the 1970s and the profound impact that Agni Yoga had on Ralph’s explorations of consciousness and his healing therapies. We also learn about Ralph’s development of Green Psychology or ecopsychology, his mystical work exploring prenatal realms of consciousness and channeling, and his healing and transformative “Vision Circles.”

Nothing was too far-out or an off-limits topic for him. As I reflect on my essay, “Ralph championed our work with sacred plants. He and I would, once in a while, trade our sessions for our homegrown medicine. I still have the Shaman’s Toffee recipe he and his peers used. As certified caregivers, we held his medical cannabis paperwork. And in his final days, I was able to make infused edibles for him to help ease his discomfort. Cannabis is what convinced us to make California our home in order to find another way to treat my own dis-ease, when it was still the only state in the US that even had laws for medical use. It is a blessing to have access to it and to be able to share it with others. It is a miracle to see how much cannabis and psychedelics have moved toward mainstream acceptance recently. I am sure he & his pioneering cohort would be thrilled!”

An overwhelming response of tributes poured in when Cathy first put out the idea, and the publisher imposed a limited amount of space. My essay did not make it into the book, but it is available on the Green Earth Foundation website, alongside many other wonderful connections Ralph made throughout his life. He left a vast library of information for us to continue to gain access to wisdom, 20+ of his books from The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead to Ecology of Consciousness: The Alchemy of Personal, Collective, and Planetary Transformation, also, many contributions to others publications and much, much, much more. There are a plethora of audio and video recordings available online, filled with valuable insights, interviews, and research.

This new book paints a complete portrait of Ralph Metzner in his well-known roles as a therapist and psychedelic pioneer and as an intrepid explorer of consciousness until the very end of his life. But you don’t have to just take my word for it. It’s a collaboration of so many people so positively influenced by this humble master and kind soul. “This book will take you through the labyrinth to the origins of what it means to explore one’s consciousness in its purest forms. This is a beautiful testament to one of the great psychedelic pioneers of our times. Today’s psychedelic renaissance could have never existed if it weren’t for the gift of life that was Ralph Metzner.” (Zack Leary) A truly exquisite testament to a life well lived. His work is worth your time.

Some of the above are reprinted from the Green Earth Foundation website with permission.

Available for purchase from:Inner Traditions: https://www.innertraditions.com/ralph-metzner-explorer-of-consciousness
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0CSBVQ5CF

A More Complete Book List:
The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, and Richard Alpert (1992) [1963]. Citadel Press
The Ecstatic Adventure. Ralph Metzner, (1968) Macmillan
Maps of Consciousness: I Ching, Tantra, Tarot, Alchemy, Astrology, Actualism Ralph Metzner, (1971) Collier Books
Know Your Type: Maps of Identity Ralph Metzner, (1979). Anchor Press
Opening to Inner Light: The Transformation of Human Nature and Consciousness Ralph Metzner, (1986) J.P. Tarcher
Through the Gateway of the Heart, Second Edition – Accounts and Experiences with MDMA and other Empathogenic Substances Sophia Adamson aka. Ralph Metzner (1986) Four Trees Publications
The Well of Remembrance: Rediscovering the Earth Wisdom Myths of Northern Europe Ralph Metzner, (1994) Shambhala
The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience Ralph Metzner (1998).Origin Press
Green Psychology – Transforming our Relationship to the Earth Ralph Metzner (1999) Park Street Press.
Sacred Mushroom of Visions: Teonanacatl Ralph Metzner (2005). Park Street Press
Sacred Vine of Spirits: Ayahuasca Ralph Metzner (2006) Park Street Press
The Roots of War and Domination Ralph Metzner (2008) Green Earth Foundation & Regent Press
The Expansion of Consciousness Ralph Metzner (2008) Green Earth Foundation & Regent Press
Mind Space Time Stream Ralph Metzner (2009) Green Earth Foundation & Regent Press
Alchemical Divination Ralph Metzner (2009). Green Earth Foundation & Regent Press
Birth of a Psychedelic Culture: Conversations about Leary, the Harvard Experiments, Millbrook and the Sixties Gary Bravo, Ram Das, Ralph Metzner (2010) Synergetic Press
The Toad and the Jaguar: A Field Report of Underground Research on a Visionary Medicine: Bufo Alvarius And 5-Methoxy-dimethyltryptamine Ralph Metzner (2013) Green Earth Foundation & Regent Press
Allies for Awakening: Guidelines for productive and safe experiences with entheogens Ralph Metzner (2015).Green Earth Foundation & Regent Press
Ecology of Consciousness: The Alchemy of Personal, Collective, and Planetary Transformation Ralph Metzner (2017) New Harbinger Publications
Overtones and Undercurrents: Spirituality, Reincarnation, and Ancestor Influence in Entheogenic Psychotherapy (2017) Ralph Metzner Park Street Press.
Searching for the Philosophers’ Stone Ralph Metzner (2019) Park Street Press
Alchemical Musings Ralph Metzner (2020) Regent Press