By Mark Hrastar and Ari Kellner
What does it mean to truly know yourself? It is a question that lives in the background of so many moments, in our aching, our searching, our numbing, our healing. Carl Jung called this quest individuation, the lifelong unfolding of the Self, and it may be the most important journey we ever take. Not toward perfection or happiness, but toward wholeness.
In our modern world, where disconnection often masks itself as productivity, many people are waking up to a deeper hunger. Not just for symptom relief, but for meaning, for integration, for something that feels real and rooted. Psychedelic medicine, long buried by stigma and silence, is re-emerging as a powerful ally in that search. And what it offers is not a shortcut, but a mirror. It shows us what is there, sometimes beautifully, sometimes painfully, and invites us to begin again, more whole.
For many people, this work begins in midlife. Not because things are falling apart, but because something inside is no longer willing to stay hidden. The roles that once fit, parent, professional, partner, start to feel too small. Questions that were once easy to ignore begin to press forward. Who am I now? Who was I before? What is asking to emerge?
Jung never worked with psychedelics, and in many ways he was cautious about induced states of consciousness. But his maps of the human psyche, the Shadow, the Self, the archetypes, the collective unconscious, feel strangely at home in these inner landscapes. And for those of us doing this work today, depth psychology and psychedelic integration can be powerful companions.
The Shadow: What We Bury
Most people come to therapy not because they are lost, but because something inside them is trying to come into the light. Often, it is the parts they have buried: the grief that never had words, the rage that had no permission, the need that was once shamed. Jung called this the Shadow, everything we repress, disown, or exile in order to stay safe, liked, in control.
Psychedelics have a way of dissolving the usual walls that keep the Shadow at bay. In a single session, someone may find themselves face-to-face with childhood pain, with ancestral trauma, with some truth they have long avoided. It can feel like too much. But it can also be the beginning of something real.
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” — Carl Jung
This is not just a poetic line. It is a clinical roadmap. If the Shadow stays hidden, it does not disappear. It becomes projection, sabotage, or shame. When we meet it directly, with compassion, not judgment, it becomes part of the whole. It becomes power, clarity, integration.
The goal is not to eliminate the Shadow, but to be in relationship with it. To listen to what it carries. To welcome it back into the Self.
Meeting the Archetypes Within
In both Jungian psychology and psychedelic therapy, symbols are not just strange images. They are meaningful messengers from the unconscious. When people enter expanded states of consciousness, they often report encounters that feel archetypal in nature, the Wise Old Man, the Great Mother, tricksters, serpents, cosmic beings, or inner children frozen in time.
These figures are not necessarily hallucinations. Jung would say they are expressions of something deeper, something shared. He called this the collective unconscious, a symbolic layer of the psyche that belongs to all of us. And within it live the archetypes, recurring patterns and energies that shape our inner and outer worlds.
In psychedelic states, people might meet these energies vividly. They might have visions of being cradled by a maternal force, challenged by a shadowy presence, or shown images of cycles, destruction, and rebirth. These experiences may not always make sense in linear terms, but they often hold deep emotional clarity.
“It is not about interpreting every image. It is about listening for what it stirs.”
Psychedelic work and Jungian integration invite us to pay attention to how these symbols move us, challenge us, and ultimately guide us toward becoming more whole.
Integration: The Work That Follows the Journey
Psychedelics can be beautiful. They can be brutal. They can break things open, let light in, and show us parts of ourselves we never knew were there. But they do not do the work for us. They are not healing. They are the invitation to heal.
This is where integration matters most. Without it, even the most profound experience may drift into confusion or be forgotten. With care and intention, the images, insights, and emotions stirred up in psychedelic states become threads we can weave into daily life.
Jungian integration might look like interpreting a dream that arrived the night after a journey. It might mean noticing what symbol keeps returning in art, music, or conversation. It might mean asking, again and again, What part of me was trying to speak?
“This is the heart of individuation. It is not a single realization. It is a daily practice of reclaiming what was exiled, holding what was hidden, softening what was armored.”
It is less about solving and more about listening. Less about fixing and more about allowing.
In this way, psychedelic work is not an escape from reality. It is an invitation to meet reality more fully. To live more from the center of who we are.
The Dark Night and the Nervous System
Not all openings feel like insight. Sometimes, they feel like collapse. Psychedelic journeys can stir old trauma, deep fear, or emotional pain that has been locked away for years. The nervous system, no longer protected by its usual defenses, may move into states of dysregulation. Tears come without warning. Sleep is hard. Familiar comforts feel distant.
This is not a failure. It is part of the process. Jung wrote of the “night sea journey” and others have called it the dark night of the soul. These moments can feel disorienting, lonely, and raw. But they can also be profound invitations to rebuild something more stable, more integrated, more true.
“We are not meant to do this work alone.”
This is why skilled support matters. Integration work is not just about meaning-making. It is also about co-regulation, nervous system repair, and learning how to be with what arises.
The Return to the Self
This journey is not fast. It is not always graceful. It can feel like unraveling before it feels like healing. But it is real. And that realness is what so many people are seeking now.
To individuate is to return to the Self. Not the self we perform, but the one we remember in glimpses, in stillness, in dreams. It is the Self that waits for us beneath the roles, the defenses, the masks. It is the part of us that has never been broken.
Psychedelic work does not create the Self. It helps us see where it has always been. And with the right support, we can begin to live from that place, with more integrity, more presence, and more compassion. Not just for others, but for ourselves.
“We do not heal by becoming someone else. We heal by becoming more fully who we are.”
The AK Psychology Group Approach
At AK Psychology Group, we use a three-phase model that includes structured preparation, supported medicine sessions, and integration therapy to help turn insight into lasting change. All clinicians are trained in psychedelic-assisted therapy through Fluence and MAPS-informed programs. Our work is trauma-informed, relational, and grounded in research.
Clients are never rushed. We take time to build trust and clarity before considering any medicine session. The process includes detailed preparation and continued integration. We also offer our Psychedelic Workbook, a resource designed to support reflection and long-term growth.
Medicine sessions are held in private, calming spaces at our Union Square and Westchester offices. Preparation and integration therapy can also happen virtually.
To learn more, visit arikellner.com/psychedelic-assisted or email info@arikellner.com.
About the Author
Mark Hrastar is a licensed psychotherapist whose approach is grounded in Jungian theory and depth psychology. He also draws from Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and is a certified practitioner in Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Integration.
With over 20 years of experience, Mark helps individuals transcend the limitations they face by guiding them toward meaningful change through increased self-awareness, compassion, and acceptance. He works transparently, honestly, and with deep respect for each client’s process. Mark holds a Master of Arts and a Master of Education in Clinical and Counseling Psychology from Columbia University.
