The Outlaw Who Became a Mycelial King: Building the Biggest Psilocybin Community in the U.S.

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🎙️ True Life Podcast – Episode: Eric Osborne (Sanctuary Psilocybin Church) – The Deep Truth About 3,000+ Journeys, Ego Traps, Community Healing & the Future of the Psychedelic Renaissance

In this raw, powerful, and deeply honest conversation, George sits down with Eric Osborne — one of the most experienced psilocybin facilitators alive (3,000+ journeys guided, 500+ personal journeys over 25 years).

This is NOT another surface-level psychedelic chat. This is the real, unfiltered view from someone who has quietly walked the medicine longer and deeper than almost anyone on the planet.

Key Topics Covered:

•  Why true “expertise” in psychedelics may not exist — even after 3,500 journeys

•  The ego trap that hits almost every facilitator (and how Eric learned the hard way)

•  Why the sudden rush of certifications and weekend trainings worries both of us

•  The moment Eric was told in ceremony: “Jamaica will be the lighthouse — and you will light the torch” (and how he fought it for a year)

•  Getting attacked, smeared, and erased by parts of the psychedelic community — and why he’s now grateful for it

•  Why community is the real medicine (and how people heal profoundly before ever taking a mushroom)

•  Eric’s personal journey with borderline personality traits, suicide attempts, and discovering he’s a massive empath

•  The unseen danger: people triggered into psychotic breaks just by being around high-dose ceremony (without ingesting anything)

•  Why Eric went to jail for mushrooms — and still believes they should never be illegal

•  Energy transmission, co-processing trauma, Qigong secrets, and purging on behalf of others

•  Will the psychedelic renaissance survive the hype cycle? (Eric’s bold prediction using the Qigong crackdown in China as a mirror)

•  The real reason psychedelics are controlled: they awaken latent human abilities that dissolve social guardrails

•  Why courageous, lifelong community is the only safe container for this work

Guest:

Eric Osborne – Co-founder of Sanctuary (sanctuary.org), the world’s first public psilocybin church

Links:

🌿 Sanctuary Church & Community → https://sanctuary.org

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If you’ve ever wondered what this path actually looks like after 25 years in the fire — this episode is it.

Drop your biggest takeaway in the comments. We read every single one.

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Creators and Guests

Host

George Monty

My name is George Monty. I am the Owner of TrueLife (Podcast/media/ Channel) I’ve spent the last three in years building from the ground up an independent social media brandy that includes communications, content creation, community engagement, online classes in NLP, Graphic Design, Video Editing, and Content creation. I feel so blessed to have reached the following milestones, over 81K hours of watch time, 5 million views, 8K subscribers, & over 60K downloads on the podcast!

What is TrueLife?

TrueLife is a story-driven documentary podcast that explores the invisible threads connecting us to each other, the world, and the mysteries of life. Every episode uncovers extraordinary journeys, human transformation, and the relationships that shape our stories.

True Life Podcast – George: Eric Osborne Interview

George (Host):
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the True Life Podcast. Today we have a very special guest — someone who doesn’t just talk about psilocybin, but has truly walked the path for over two decades at a depth almost unmatched on Earth.

Eric Osborne has personally guided more than 3,000 psilocybin journeys and taken over 500 himself. He has cultivated, harvested, facilitated, and held space through every phase of this movement — from underground circles to co-founding Sanctuary, the world’s first public psilocybin church that somehow feels both deeply sacred and warmly welcoming the moment you step inside.

Eric, thank you so much for being here. How are you doing?

Eric:
Wonderful, George. Thank you for having me. I’m really grateful to finally sit down and talk with you.

George:
We’ve been connected for years, but never really chopped it up like this. One thing I’ve always appreciated is how you approach this work — with real experience, humility, and heart. What do you appreciate about how I approach it?

Eric:
I love that you don’t pretend to be an expert. You speak from lived experience, and you’re honest about how much you still don’t know. That’s rare.
There’s this strange thing happening: a lot of people present themselves as highly experienced when they’re not. After 25 years and thousands of journeys, I’m still constantly surprised by this medicine. Just a few months ago, on a simple 3-gram group ceremony, I saw things I’d never imagined possible — after 3,500+ journeys.
If it can still shock me, then true “expertise” might not even exist. The horizon is infinite.

George:
That’s exactly how I feel — the more I do this work, the more I realize I don’t have answers, just questions. And honestly, sometimes I struggle with judgment. I see people in this space who seem more focused on money or status than service. Certification programs, weekend trainings, Zoom courses — “Now you’re a certified psychedelic guide!” after a year online?
I want everyone to thrive financially, but when the primary intention feels like profit, not healing… can those two motives really coexist equally? Am I being too harsh?

Eric:
You’re not alone. I’ve wrestled with this for years.
I’m just a Kentucky boy who started eating mushrooms like they were a university course because I knew early on: this is the future of healing.
I spent years in Jamaica sitting with elders, earning the nickname “Mushroom.” In 2011, I had a clear message during ceremony: “Jamaica must become a lighthouse for psilocybin healing — and you’re going to light the torch.”
I fought it for a year. Every journey, the same message. Eventually I surrendered.
But early on, people who are now prominent “leaders” in the psychedelic world came to me wanting to apprentice — or, I later realized, study what I was doing so they could copy and brand it. Some of them, at that time, weren’t even taking psychedelics.
I’ve been attacked for quietly pointing that out — paid hit pieces, podcasts pulled, character smears. It hurt my ability to reach people and be seen as legitimate.
But now? I’m grateful. It stripped away external validation and forced me to ask: Who am I without the praise? Without being “the mushroom guy”?
And that’s been one of the greatest teachings: this work strokes the ego like nothing else. You feed someone medicine, hold them through a breakthrough, and suddenly you’re their hero. It’s intoxicating. I’ve had to shut that voice down hard: “No, I’m not a shaman. I’m just a vessel.”

George:
So many people I talk to say their biggest realization on medicine is: “I should serve medicine.” I’ve felt that too — like Timothy Leary, “We should put this in the water!”
But now I think: anyone who gets that calling should immediately be moved to the back of the line. That impulse often comes from ego, not wisdom.
In traditional cultures, you apprenticed for 10+ years before ever serving. We claim to honor indigenous wisdom, but ignore the parts that inconvenience us — like long, humble apprenticeship.

Eric:
Exactly. And Sanctuary does trainings — yes, even online components — but we always circle back to: your first job is your own healing. Only if you’ve done deep work should you even consider holding space for others.
We’re infants in this. Cultures worked with these medicines for thousands of years. I’ve devoted my life to this and I’m still constantly humbled. I may have more experience than 99% of people on Earth, but I’m nowhere near an expert.

George:
Let’s talk about money and value. How do we make a sustainable living doing this sacred work without compromising the intention?
Eric:
For me, the answer became community.
Early on I was full Terrence McKenna — 5 grams, silent darkness, alone with the mushroom.
But when I started facilitating groups, I saw something profound: shared experiences, people becoming temporary clairvoyant messengers for each other, trauma moving through the collective field.
People would have life-changing journeys — then go home to isolation. The integration would fade.
That felt unsafe. So when we returned to the States and founded Sanctuary, we said: “This is not just a ceremony. This is a lifelong community.”
Some of the deepest healing I’ve seen happens before someone even takes the mushroom — just from being held in courageous, honest, loving community.
One woman was with us for nearly two years before her first journey. Just being in that energy transformed her life.

George:
There’s that beautiful line: “The difference between wellness and illness is ‘we’ vs ‘I.’” So much suffering comes from isolation.

Eric:
100%. We’ve been conditioned to see community as the place we get triggered — so we run. But that’s where the growth is: staying when it’s hard.
Full disclosure: I’d likely be diagnosed borderline personality — all nine traits. I’ve attempted suicide multiple times. The mushrooms helped — but only community truly healed me.
As a massive empath, I used to crash hard after retreats. Now I realize: many people labeled “severely mentally ill” are actually untrained shamans — hypersensitive to energy. When you help them process that with medicine and community, they become powerful healers.
The people suffering the most are often the most gifted.

George:
On certification and training — one commenter said: “It’s insane anyone thinks they can facilitate after one or two journeys.” Another said they’ll never feel ready.
What would real training look like?

Eric:
There’s no substitute for time in the fire.
In 2012, I spent a full year doing 5–10 grams in complete wilderness isolation on every new and full moon — just to understand the terrain before serving others.
Even then, it took 10–15 retreats (30+ journeys) sitting with experienced facilitators before I trusted anyone else to hold space.
You need thousands of hours — both as participant and facilitator. And even then? You’re never fully ready.
Just a few months ago, I gave everyone 3 grams — “easy day” — and within hours the whole ceremony went off the rails in ways I never saw coming.
This isn’t just a “spiritual experience.” We’re interfacing with other dimensions, intelligences, energies. I’ve seen people triggered into psychotic breaks just from being around high-dose ceremony — without taking anything.
One woman (a co-facilitator) had a full psychotic episode after three ceremonies. Another was my own son — cannabis-induced schizophrenia triggered after being near my solo session’s energy field.
We don’t talk about this enough.

George:
Do you think the psychedelic renaissance has peaked? Or are we still rising?

Eric:
I’ve thought about this deeply.
There’s a pattern with disruptive technologies: early adopters work quietly for decades. Then mainstream attention explodes — hype, money, “experts” everywhere. Then the bubble bursts. The real ones remain.
I hope that’s what happens.
There’s also the Qigong example from China: when regular people started developing real psychic and energetic power, the government banned it — twice. Because empowered people are harder to control.
Psilocybin isn’t just treating depression. That’s the low-hanging fruit.
This is about awakening latent human abilities — clairvoyance, energy healing, direct knowing. The kind of thing that, if widely accessed, would fundamentally shift power structures.
So yes — I think we’ll see cycles of expansion and contraction. But the medicine always returns when the world needs healing.

George:
You went to jail for this work. You smuggled mushrooms to Jamaica on probation. You risked — and lost — your freedom because you believed so deeply.

Eric:
Not my proudest decision, but I don’t regret the conviction in my heart.
I was inspired by María Sabina — I wanted to restore spiritual reverence to the mushroom. I wanted to support Jamaica economically and culturally.
One night, a participant microdosed (2 grams), got paranoid, found a hidden key, and drove off. I was certain someone would die and I’d go to prison for life.
Instead, I learned the deepest harm-reduction lesson: even with every precaution, things can go wrong.
But I still believe: this is central to human evolution. The oldest cave paintings depict psilocybin mushrooms. This isn’t new — it’s ancient.

Closing Thoughts

Eric:
We’re not just meat suits. We’re magical beings having a human experience.
This work is about remembering that — together.
Check out sanctuary.org if you want to be part of a conscious, courageous community exploring what it means to be fully human (and more).
We’re building pockets of real community all over the country — not to franchise, but to protect and empower people doing this work with integrity.

George:
Eric Osborne, thank you. This was one of the most beautiful, honest conversations I’ve ever had.
To everyone listening: check out sanctuary.org. Eric and this community are the real deal.
Hope you all have a beautiful day.
Aloha.