{"id":14111,"date":"2025-09-20T05:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T11:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=14111"},"modified":"2025-09-19T21:04:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T03:04:52","slug":"a-heathen-marine-vet-overcomes-ptsd-with-psilocybin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=14111","title":{"rendered":"A Heathen Marine Vet Overcomes PTSD with Psilocybin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Clay<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A recent episode of the Dale Stark Show, hosted by a former A-10 “Warthog” pilot turned regenerative cattle rancher and podcaster<\/a>, focuses on the work of Clay Martin in using psilocybin to combat post-traumatic stress disorder among American combat veterans. (Photo: Clay Martin podcasting.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple podcasts audio link here<\/a>. YouTube video link here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A former Marine and Green Beret, Martin is also a Heathen priest \u2014 and a guide to psilocybin-enhanced therapy for other vets suffering from severe PTSD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the podcast episode he describes how guided psilocybin therapy can “turn off the suicide switch” for vets suffering from PTSD and a like a purpose, as he once did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can almost hear the gears grinding as host Dale Stark, an outspoken Christian, struggles to reconcile his respect for Martin as a warfighter and his discomfort with his Heathen talk. To his credit, he moves through that as Martin insists that he will work with people of any religious background, or none. And there is good discussion of the last thirty years of religious-freedom legislation at the federal and state levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin’s books <\/a>include Barbarian Spirit<\/em>, which “details his journey using psilocybin mushrooms to heal a state of apathy that had plagued him for over a decade since retiring from the military.” Here he discusses “a warrior’s path to spirituality”<\/a> on YouTube. From the Barbarian Spirit <\/em>description on Amazon:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

There has been a great awakening that we are in a spiritual war, without really understanding what that means. I didn\u2019t know either, so I went to the place I could find out. Barbarian Spirit is what I found walking the spirit realm, both for me and for us. Things are far darker, and the hour far later, that I ever would have dreamed. But we are not without hope. Part personal journey, part prophetic vision, Barbarian Spirit will change the way you see the world around you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent episode of the Dale Stark Show, hosted by a former A-10 “Warthog” pilot turned regenerative cattle rancher and podcaster, focuses on the work of Clay Martin in using psilocybin to combat post-traumatic stress disorder among American combat veterans. (Photo: Clay Martin podcasting.) Apple podcasts audio link here. YouTube video link here. A former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,130,473,472,471],"class_list":["post-14111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-religion","tag-heathenry","tag-mental-health","tag-military-veterans","tag-psilocybin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-3FB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1143,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1143","url_meta":{"origin":14111,"position":0},"title":"Yahoo Group for Pagan Veterans","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Some American Pagan military veterans feel that established organizations such as the American Legion and VFW are too heavily Christianized, so they have started a Yahoo group as a first step towards forming a separate organization.It is the old dilemma -- change from within, or go outside \"the system\"?If you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":860,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=860","url_meta":{"origin":14111,"position":1},"title":"VA Approves the Wiccan Pentagram","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The first message (from a Pagan staffer at the American Academy of Religion) hit my inbox at 12:28 today, and then the Colorado Pagan email lists lit up: The Veterans Adminstration approved the pentagram for veterans' grave markers. (Pentagram, pentacle, same thing as far as the news media are concerned.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9896,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9896","url_meta":{"origin":14111,"position":2},"title":"The Pueblo Revolt and Pagan History","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Some time in the early 1980s, M. and I were traveling through northern Arizona on one of our VW Bug-and-cheap tent tours, when we stopped for lunch at the Hopi Cultural Center, a\/k\/a The Cafe at the Center of the Universe. We could not afford much at the gift shop,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"art\"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/virigil-ortiz-art.jpg?fit=605%2C605&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/virigil-ortiz-art.jpg?fit=605%2C605&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/virigil-ortiz-art.jpg?fit=605%2C605&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":724,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=724","url_meta":{"origin":14111,"position":3},"title":"Americans United threatens suit over veteran’s pentacle","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Americans United for Separation of Church and State is now threatening a lawsuit against the Veterans Administration for its foot-dragging over a Wiccan soldier's memorial plaque.Previous post here. Right: artist's rendition of what Sgt. Stewart's plaque should look like.From the news release: Americans United for Separation of Church and State\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":719,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=719","url_meta":{"origin":14111,"position":4},"title":"Wiccan soldier’s plaque to show pentagram","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The memorial plaque for Sgt. Patrick Stewart, who died in Afghanistan, will display a Wiccan pentagram.[Nevada] state officials said they had received a legal opinion from the Nevada attorney general's office that concluded federal officials have no authority over state veterans' cemeteries. They now plan to have a contractor construct\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":626,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=626","url_meta":{"origin":14111,"position":5},"title":"No marker for Wiccan veteranA\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"No marker for Wiccan veteranA Wiccan sergeant from the Nevada National Guard was killed in action in Afghanistan. Now his widow runs up against the Veterans Administration's refusal to permit a pentacle marker on the graves of Wiccan veterans, notes the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Link may expire, so I will\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14111"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14118,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14111\/revisions\/14118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}