Psychedelics Q&A — Ask Us Anything

Guerilla Mycology

Caine Barlow is a Fungi Educator and Mycologist based in Melbourne, Australia. He gives regular talks on mycology, fungi genetics, fungi conservation, and teaches gourmet mushroom cultivation. He works closely with the Australian organisation Entheogenesis Australis, and is a co-founder of the US-based organisation The Entheome Foundation. Caine started foraging mushrooms in the early 1990’s, started cultivating gourmet fungi in the mid 2000’s. He completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Tasmania and a Master of Science at the University of Melbourne, where his research project focused on Conservation Mycology. He is the author of the 2024 book Wakeful Mushroom Cultivation Journal, and has written widely for organisations such as Entheogenesis Australis, DoubleBlind, ThirdWave, and Psychedelics Today. He has coauthored papers on Wood-lover Paralysis, the ecology and the genetics of Psilocybe. Caine posts regularly on his Instagram, @guerrillamycology. His website is www.guerrillamycology.com

The University of Sydney

James Bennett-Levy is an Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney, and a leading researcher on the training of psychotherapists. He has published 5 co-authored books on psychotherapist training and clinician skills, which have been translated into 12 languages. Over the past 6 years, James has had involvement with 4 of Australia’s first psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) clinical trials. He has contributed to the training of prospective PAT therapists on 3 of those trials; been a chief investigator on 2 trials; and been a therapist on one trial – psilocybin-assisted therapy for prolonged grief https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12004488/ . Recently, James has been one of the authors of a paper suggesting the importance of PAT therapists having some personal experience of PAT (Negrine et al., 2026).

Entheogenesis Australis

Jonathan Carmichael is the co-founder, conference director, and President of Entheogenesis Australis (EGA), a charity dedicated to critical thinking and knowledge sharing around ethnobotanical plants, fungi, nature, and sustainability. He is also a founding member of the charity Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine (PRISM). In addition, Jonathan is a freelance photographer and writer, with work featured in various exhibitions and publications. He works in the arts as an assistant curator and event manager, and is passionate about art, history, and ethnobotanical activism, with a strong focus on social justice and environmental issues. https://www.entheogenesis.org/ https://www.prism.org.au/

The Mescaline Garden

Dr Liam Engel is an ethnobotanist, chemist and science communicator specialising in psychoactive plants. Liam has recently published ‘Psychoactive Plants & Fungi’ and is an expert in mescaline-containing Trichocereus and tryptamine-containing Acacia. Liam’s work spans chemistry, pharmacology, botany and social science, and is underpinned by advocacy for drug law reform. Liam conducts natural products chemistry at the NICM Health Research Institute, WSU, is co-founder of The Mescaline Garden research nursery and contributor to the Pill Testing Australia drug checking group. http://themescalinegarden.com/

Herbalist & Rites of Passage Guide

Rachel is a herbalist and practicing health therapist in NSW working with traditional medicines, somatic therapy and body work. She has a background in growing, preparing and offering traditional herbal medicines and facilitating health retreats specialising in health issues arising from trauma & disconnection. Her passion is supporting cultural repair through working with people in times of transition utilising nature connection, group work, movement and sound. She has travelled to First Nations cultures around the world including being Bwiti initiated in the jungles of Gabon in the Mabanji way. https://entheobotanica.com/

Pagan Love Cult

Neil Pike is a musician, video-maker & life-time activist. He lives in the rainforested hippy warrens surrounding the rural Australian town of Nimbin. Raised by peace activists in the ’50s & ’60s, he has been making music and causing trouble since the early 1970s, involving himself in a range of causes from environmental protection to various social justice issues. In the last decade or two he’s also been making videos in a blatant but completely unsuccessful attempt to “brainwash the masses”. Neil is the founder and Grand Authenticated Bush Turkey of the Pagan Love Cult inc, probably the longest running contemporary psychedelic music group in Australia. Their musical style moves from old-school folk-rock through hippy pop to a more modern electronica. When the other members of the PLC can’t be convinced to travel thousands of miles for a gig, Neil puts on his “psychedelic troubadour” hat and does solo gigs. He is a multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who has performed at gigs & festivals extensively all around the world. “The best thing about being the Grand Authenticated Bush Turkey” says Neil “is that only other turkeys take you seriously”. https://neilpike.com/

Edgecentral

Graham St John, PhD, is an anthropologist and historian specialising in the study of transformational events, movements, and figures. The latest among his ten books is Strange Attractor: The Hallucinatory Life of Terence McKenna (MIT Press, 2025) sold out its initial pressing within a month from release. Regarded by Dennis McKenna as “the definitive biography” of his brother, and variously lavished with praise as “wonderful,” “captivating,” “infectious,” ”psychoactive,” “impossible to put down,” and “a monumental work of epic proportions,” Strange Attractor chronicles the life, work, and legacy of the stand-up philosopher, rogue scholar, and surreal oracle. Other titles include Mystery School in Hyperspace: A Cultural History of DMT, Global Tribe: Technology, Spirituality and Psytrance, and FreeNRG: Notes from the Edge of the Dancefloor. Graham is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Media, Humanities and the Arts at the University of Huddersfield, UK and he is Executive Editor of Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Music and Dance Culture. https://www.edgecentral.net/