YouTube version:

Audio version:

Hey everybody! Episode 178 of the show is out. In this episode, I spoke with Thomas Hatsis. Thomas’ books were recommended to me a few times and he was introduced to me through a mutual friend, Peter Boghossian. Thomas wrote two very good books that I am familiar with (as well as a number of others) called The Witches Ointment and Psychedelic Mystery Traditions. We spoke about these themes including the foundation of Western mystery traditions, their potential entheogenic roots, plant medicines, magic, witches, and a lot of other really interesting topics. Thomas is doing very good work and I trust you all will gain a lot from his wisdom. As always, to support this podcast, get early access to shows, bonus material, and Q&As, check out my Patreon page below. Enjoy!

YouTube: bit.ly/YT-UW

Rumble: bit.ly/Rum-UW

Apple : bit.ly/Appl-UW

Spotify: bit.ly/Spot-UW

“Thomas Hatsis is a historian, public speaker, community organizer, host of the Psychedelic Historian YouTube channel, and author of five books in the field of psychedelic history and practice, The Witches Ointment: The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic (2015), Psychedelic Mystery Traditions: Spirit Plants, Magical Practices, Ecstatic States, (2018), Microdosing Magic: A Psychedelic Spellbook (2018), LSD: The Wonderchild: The Golden Age of Psychedelic Research in the 1950s (2021), and Psychedelic Injustice: How Identity Politics Poisons the Psychedelic Renaissance (2025). Since 2015, Hatsis has gone on several countrywide book tours, spoken at a number of conferences, and appeared on three GaiamTV shows. During that time, he also co-founded a vibrant psychedelic society, Psanctum, in Portland, Oregon. Through Psanctum, he hosts a weekly open mic, a monthly integration circle, a monthly Psychedelic Speaker Series, the bimonthly Psychedelic History series, organized two psychedelic conferences, and opened a thrift store, Psanctum Thrift—the first store to raise funds for folks who seek psychedelic-assisted therapy (now legal in Oregon) but have financial barriers. In 2023, Hatsis had the honor of receiving the last thirty-four boxes of the Timothy Leary archive to catalogue, digitize, and preserve.”