How to have a safe psychedelic trip
A psychedelic experience can be deeply rewarding, but also carries real risks. Here’s how to avoid a bad trip
by Christian Jarrett
Rituals and celebrations
How to set yourself free with ritual
For a life of harmonious ease, find the rhythm in the everyday: make your world your temple and submit to its sacred ritual
by Alan Jay Levinovitz
One photo per day for more than a year, exploring how rituals affect memory
Directed by Scott Thrift
How to write a love poem
Flirtatious texts are soon forgotten. Learn to express your feelings in a beautiful way that will make a lasting impression
by Dan Simpson
On the pleasures of hand-writing letters you’ll never send
Hand-writing letters you’ll never send takes the heat off feelings and lets you look back on drafts of a previous self
by Anandi Mishra
For players of fafi, dream interpretation is a vital skill
The fafi lottery game in South Africa requires the careful interpretation of dreams and the waking world around you
by Brittany Birberick
How to express your grief
The initial shock might be over. But you need time and space to ‘ride the wave’ of grief if you are to find a sense of peace
by Sue Morris
For Plato, rationalists and mystics can walk the same path
Why did such a keen proponent of reason turn to the Eleusinian Mysteries to explain his ideas about knowledge?
by Sam Woodward
Rituals create community by translating our love into action
For the Confucian Xunzi, love and gratitude are not just feelings in response to events but possibilities for social action
by Curie Virág
Solitude can be profoundly restorative. Here’s how to savour it
Time alone offers unique psychological benefits, once you learn to embrace these quiet moments rather than escape them
by Thuy-vy Nguyen
Why won’t the sin wash away? When thinking ethically goes awry
Is scrupulously thinking about morality in everyday life as pathological as the meticulous, repetitive behaviours of OCD?
by Jesse Summers
How Chinese philosophy can help you parent
Confucianism and Daoism suggest ways to guide your children toward meaning and fulfilment rather than wealth and prestige
by Erin Cline
Reflections on mortality can help you live well now – here’s how
For me and many others, contemplating death has clarified what matters. These curiosity-based exercises will get you started
by Joanna Ebenstein
Mourning is a leap to freedom, inviting new dreams of living
Mourning is a leap in the dark, but not into darkness. It’s a leap to freedom that invites us to dream of living once more
by Alexander Hirsch
Magic helped us in pandemics before, and it can again
Magic always booms during pandemics, whether past or present – but that response might not be as irrational as it seems
by Matthew Melvin-Koushki
Exquisite fiend, ephemeral friend
Remember when smoking was the excuse for a sweet pause?
by Caroline Eden