The psychedelic experience that inspired a tiger painting

A few years ago, I decided to confront something both terrifying and utterly fascinating: the world of psychedelics.

The mystery behind psychedelics had always intrigued me. Not for the flashy, trippy visuals people often talk about, but for the deep mystery, like there’s something hidden behind the everyday world, waiting for us to notice.

Yet, I had never worked up the courage to try it myself. But I kept wondering: if these altered states could teach, open doors, or reveal something profound, shouldn’t I see it for myself?

So eventually… I did.

The painting I call ‘Emerging Goddess’ is directly inspired by the profound encounter I had with something beyond the ordinary during my psilocybin experience.

The Psilocybin Trip

Let’s rewind to a beautiful day, gifted with sunshine, somewhere in the summer of 2022.

The visuals were indeed mesmerizing, but the strange world made me mostly wait for something truly significant. Hours upon hours passed. But then, just when I thought it might slip away without giving me anything tangible, it arrived! And it came in a way I’ll never forget!

What happened is hard to put into words, but I’ll try.

The entire floor around me transformed into a massive tiger head. The presence locked eyes with me, and once it did, my ears started ringing with a high-pitched frequency, my body froze as if something had grabbed me by the neck, and tears rolled from my eyes.

We just stared at each other for minutes, like two wild animals crossing paths, each acknowledging the other’s existence. No words. No explanations. Just pure presence.

Honestly, it was intense...

It was as if the tiger itself had reached out from a hidden dimension to say: I am here. I see you. And now you see me.

From Vision To Design

Unfortunately, I will never be able to fully capture what I experienced that day… The exact shapes, colors, and textures of the psychedelic tiger are hazy, at best. All I could really hold onto was the essence of that powerful gaze.

So I turned to my own signature doodle style to shape the tiger. The result isn’t a perfect replica, but it’s alive with the spirit of the experience, and that’s what matters most.

Final Words

For a while, I asked myself why I felt compelled to turn this experience into a painting.

Then I remembered ‘Supernatural’ by Graham Hancock, a book that suggests that cave paintings (the oldest art known to mankind!) are visions from psychedelic experiences.

So what I did is exactly what our ancestors were doing tens of thousands of years ago, painting their psychedelic visions on stone walls deep underground.

My ‘Emerging Goddess’ feels like my own cave painting, my own way of saying: this happened, and it meant something.