Comments on the discussion. See link below*
Jung was clear that he did not consider 'tripping' an adequate avenue to individuation, and I must agree. Though drug experiences can wake a person to the existence of other kinds of reality and the reality of their own unconscious, it is fragmentary, partial, and can trigger inflation - the psychological experience that one is somehow superior or more enlightened to others.
Overall, the rituals used in ancient times were not seen as a way that anyone can acheive unlimited knowing, but as valuable experiences from which one learned that reality is far deeper, richer and mysterious than the one we ordinarily live in, and that those who are committed and strictly trained to work with those realms can engage with them.
Let me say that I am not against the use of psychedelics per se, and would experiment with psilocybin if I could do it safely, but not as the magic road to wisdom, as perhaps a window into the greater unknown reality of my soul. Our world bristles now with people who have "discovered", "been awakened to" the greater reality through psychedelics, and consider themselves enlightened beings, transcended masters, gurus or whatever, but so much that is simply inflation, the ego's profoundly mistaken overestimation of itself .
Jung did not want to be anyone's guru. What he learned and shared with us, he gained through persistent, compassionate, hard work with patients and analysands, enormous commitment to understanding the psyche the depths, and courageous exploration of his own psyche. And he encouraged others to along that path.
I see an enormous difference between knowledge that has been earned, that is based on a deep ethic and sense of responsibility and repeated experience with the human psyche, as exhibited by Jung, ML von Franz, Edward Edinger, James Hollis and others. If one is faced with an easy path to 'enlightenment' and the difficult path to authenticity and experience of one's own multidimensionality , I believe that the true seeker chooses the hard road.
Perhaps our western preference for short cuts will mature over time, and we will learn to use drugs - if we choose to use them - wisely, humbly, with discipline, as aids to the lifelong work of self-knowing and individuation. I am optimistic. And of course, psychedelics can help alleviate distress or support people through transitions - from life to death, for instance - though there again, I advise caution.
Image from https://daily.jstor.org/the-colonization-of-the-ayahuasca-experience/
*Discussion on This Jungian Life at: