The Beckley Foundation

11/06/2026

A fascinating preprint about traditional psilocybin use outside the Americas:

“Our study followed an anecdotal report from a Basotho healer, collected by Mamosebetsi Sethathi and published in 2024, who claimed to use the mushroom Psilocybe maluti in a divination ritual. This potentially constituted the first case of traditional psilocybin use outside the Americas, but the initial evidence was weak.”

“Unlike the large ritualized doses characteristic of Mesoamerican psilocybin use, Basotho healers primarily apply small doses of P. maluti alongside other psychoactive plants, most notably the hallucinogenic bulb Boophone disticha. Multiple lines of evidence suggest these practices predate the mid-twentieth-century popularization of psilocybin. These findings expand the known geographic scope of traditional psilocybin use and reveal a mode of psychedelic application distinct from existing ethnographic models.”

Interviewees reported uses in four categories: initiation, healing, recreation, and magical protection.

Full article and an excellent companion piece by Mycostories below:

https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/429dw_v1

https://www.mycostories.com/post/psilocybe-maluti-researchers-document-traditional-psilocybin-use-among-basotho-healers-in-southern

Study authors: Eli Stark-Elster, Mamosebetsi Sethathi, Breyten van der Merwe, Sandeep M Nayak, David Bryce Yaden, Manvir Singh

04/06/2026

Researchers at UCL and Monash University are developing a new psychometric scale to measure the lasting positive psychological changes people report following significant psychedelic experiences. This includes shifts in how people think, feel, relate to others, and live their lives – things like a greater sense of meaning and purpose, deeper connections, improved wellbeing, and more values-aligned living.

An unvalidated version of the scale is already being used in clinical trials, and this study aims to establish its psychometric robustness so it can be used with confidence in research and therapeutic settings.

This kind of validated measurement tool is important because it helps the field move beyond symptom-based clinical measures and capture the fuller picture of what psychedelics can do for people over the long term.

The survey takes 10 minutes and is fully anonymous. Anyone who has had an experience with L*D, psilocybin, DMT, Ayahuasca or 5-MeO-DMT can take part.

tinyurl.com/pfs-study

02/06/2026

27/05/2026

Psilocybe zapotecorum is primarily a Mexican and Central American species, though it has been reported as far south as Brazil. Its local Mexican name “derrumbe” refers to its association with disturbed soil from landslides.

An important mushroom among Indigenous groups in Mexico, including the Mazatec, Mixtec and Zapotec (from which its name is derived), it is also considered a top tier mushroom by Western psilonauts who have sampled it.

🌎 Habitat: It loves “mucky” soil. You will find it in humid ravines, near waterfalls, and on the banks of rivers in subtropical forests.

🗻Altitude: It thrives at high elevations, typically between 1,000 and 2,000 meters above sea level.

🪨The Landslide Effect: It is most abundant in areas where the earth has recently been moved or disturbed, acting as a “colonizer” of fresh, mineral-rich mud.

Beckley Retreats takes an in-depth look at Psilocybe zapotecorum.

📷 🙏Photo credit: Alan Rockefeller /

https://www.beckleyretreats.com/blog/the-architect-of-the-earth-a-deep-dive-into-psilocybe-zapotecorum

26/05/2026

Promising new research into psilocybin in the treatment of co***ne use disorder:

A randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 40 adults with co***ne use disorder found that a single 25mg dose of psilocybin combined with cognitive-behavioural therapy produced significantly better outcomes than placebo with the same therapy. Through 180 days following treatment, psilocybin recipients showed more co***ne-abstinent days, greater likelihood of complete abstinence (30% versus 0%), and reduced risk of relapse. Participants were predominantly Black (82.5%) and male (82.5%), with lower socioeconomic status (65% earning under $20,000 annually), representing populations underrepresented in psychedelic research. Most had been using co***ne for over two decades. While the small sample size means further trials are needed, these findings alongside recent results from psilocybin trials for smoking cessation suggest psychedelics may offer new approaches to substance use disorders that have proven difficult to address.

📑 Psilocybin in the Treatment of Co***ne Use Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial – Hendricks et al., 2026 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.11029

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2848757

13/05/2026

Have you encountered a praying mantis entity in an altered state of consciousness?

An anonymous survey seeks feedback on encounters with praying mantis entities in altered states of consciousness (including but not limited to psychedelic experiences). The study seeks to shed light on elements of the encounter experiences and their interpretation and impact. This will allow for a more nuanced understanding of this phenomenon which has not being scientifically studied in detail before.

Study Background

This is a research collaboration led by Dr Sam Gandy () with Prof. David Luke () (University of Greenwich) and Samantha Treasure () (an OBE book author, anthropologist and independent researcher). The study was partly inspired by the Reddit group, a 14,000+ strong community centred on encounters of this nature.

Completing the survey should take around 20 minutes, depending on the level of feedback provided in the open text response segments of the survey. The study has been reviewed and given ethical approval through the University of Greenwich Research Ethics Board.

Eligibility Criteria

You are invited to participate in this survey if you fulfil all of the criteria listed below:

1). You are at least 18 years old.

2). You read, write, and speak English fluently.

3). You have had an encounter with a mantis entity.

https://greenwichuniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dcBnqTIzLTTQz7E

11/05/2026

A new article from Beckley Retreats looks at a recent study into psilocybin and smoking cessation:

“Data published in the March 2026 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that psilocybin therapy has more than “6 times greater odds” of helping you abstain from smoking than ni****ne patches.”

The article looks at what the study authors did, the mechanisms at play, and what this might mean for those seeking alternatives to traditional treatments.

https://www.beckleyretreats.com/blog/psilocybin-6-times-more-helpful-than-ni****ne-patches-for-smoking-says-new-study

08/05/2026

Exciting findings coming out of the Carhart-Harris lab: a new study tracked the brain changes of 28 psychedelic-naive participants and found structural changes were evident in scans 1 month on after a single 25mg dose of psilocybin.

fMRI scans and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)) brain imaging revealed changes in prefrontal-subcortical pathways that correlated with decreased network modularity (i.e. decreased compartmentalisation between different brain regions in brain functionality) and increased wellbeing at one month. Increased cortical entropy (a measure of the complexity, unpredictability, and variability of spontaneous neural activity across the brain’s cerebral cortex) in the hours following dosing predicted improved psychological wellbeing weeks later, with next-day psychological insight mediating the relationship.

The research provides the first evidence of enduring anatomical changes in brain structure following a person’s first psychedelic experience, and demonstrates that acute brain entropy can predict lasting psychological benefits. We look forward to further research to validate and expand on these findings.

📑 – Human brain changes after first psilocybin use - Lyons et al., 2026

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71962-3

24/04/2026

As awareness of the environmental crisis deepens, so too does eco-anxiety, which has been described as a “chronic fear of environmental doom”. Arguably a healthy and rational response to the genuine severity of the ecological crisis we face, it reminds us of our fundamental interconnection with the wider biosphere, and that our wellbeing depends on the health of the planetary systems we’re part of.

Eco-anxiety could act as a catalyst for widespread positive transformation and psychedelics may have a role to play. Research suggests they can help people process difficult emotions, foster inner resilience, reduce death anxiety, deepen connection with nature, shift perspective, and build social support when used in collective contexts and through group-based integration work.

When paired with therapeutic frameworks, positive environmental action, and creative problem-solving, psychedelics could help us better adapt to the psychological burden of eco-anxiety while channelling it toward meaningful change on nature’s behalf.

For Dr. Sam Gandy’s in-depth exploration of psychedelics and eco-anxiety: https://chemical-collective.com/blog/2026/04/16/psychedelics-in-the-age-of-eco-anxiety/