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Paper short abstract

In recent years, the phenomenon of microdosing psychedelics has gained momentum beyond psychedelic cultures. Drawing on my ethnographic fieldwork, I will examine the cases of Gianmarco and Laura, two young psychedelic facilitators who run microdosing groups and identify themselves as spiritual.

Paper long abstract

In recent years, the phenomenon of microdosing psychedelics has gained momentum beyond psychedelic cultures. While existing literature highlights aspects of cognitive enhancement linked to the practice, microdosing is also embedded in a range of practices and beliefs encompassed by the umbrella of spirituality. Psychedelic spiritualities are diverse, ranging from esoteric knowledge linked to popular occulture, to New Age and entheogenic frameworks. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with psychedelic integration circles in Italy and Spain, this article examines two case studies: Gianmarco and Laura, psychedelic facilitators in their thirties who run microdosing groups and identify themselves as spiritual. As young, middle-class psychedelic users, they exemplify a trend of converting subcultural capital—gained from direct psychedelic experience—into economic capital, spurring a new wave of global psychedelic expertise. However, their focus on individual well-being and personal development aligns with a neoliberal spirituality that inculcates an ethic of self-care and self-monitoring. Young people today face a confluence of crises: economic, ecological, and post-pandemic. While the resulting malaise has deep social roots, the responsibility for navigating it is often placed on the individual. Building on Weber’s analysis of the Calvinist ethic’s role in the capitalist pursuit of productivity, I argue that psychedelic spirituality in neoliberal times may similarly serve corporate culture and enhance efficiency through working on resilience. As seen with the co-optation of yoga and mindfulness, the risk is that psychedelic spiritualities become another technique of the self, promoting self-reflexivity while obscuring the social and power dimensions of structural relations.