Sonia speaks with the author of Midnight Water: A Psychedelic Memoir, Katherine MacLean, Ph.D. This book is the first psychedelic memoir from a young female scientist and mother. Dr. MacLean’s story begins during her first year on the faculty at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine when her path takes a sudden and unexpected detour following the death of her younger sister from cancer. After leaving her faculty job, MacLean travels the world – bringing medical and humanitarian aid to remote Himalayan villages and creating sanctuary spaces for psychedelic support – until she finally settles on an organic farm.

While birthing and raising her two children, leading workshops and psychedelic retreats, and training to become an MDMA therapist, MacLean’s traumatic past and the loss of her sister continue to haunt her. When her father’s lung cancer finally invades his brain, MacLean realizes that she must dive straight into the heart of her own labyrinth in order to forgive her dad before he dies.

Midnight Water is not only a compelling personal story of psychedelic healing but an inspired vision for a psychedelic future that positions women and family caregivers at the center of home-based healing, from birth through death. “It is possible to survive–and even thrive–after the loss of your most important person, and it is possible to understand and forgive the most difficult person in your life,” Dr. MacLean says. https://www.katherinemaclean.org/