Psychonauts often report having the impression that the substance is speaking to them. They see it personified sometimes as an undefined, but clear presence, sometimes as an entity that stands next to them. It really feels like there is someone with you, a teacher or a guide. It can also appear as a motherly and protective woman. Whatever the case might be, I recommend developing a relationship with that presence. I’m not encouraging you to believe the entity is real. I’m encouraging you to personify the substance so you can speak to it. It will facilitate your ritual. It’s always easier to talk to a person than to an object or to a concept.

What I mean by developing a relationship involves what regular relationship entails, but I also advise you use the preparation of the substance as a way to get to know it. Imagine you are growing a plant that will heal you. Find ways to work the substance in a way that is respectful. Think of the benefit it will bring you and be grateful for it. Bless it. As the relationship grow, that bond will get increasingly apparent to you and your ritual will become ever more potent. If you chose mushrooms, definitely grow them on your own. I know it’s a daunting task at first, but it’s a skill like any other. You can learn it and you’ll be happy you did. If you prepare a tea, do it with intent. If you work with mimosa root bark, treat it with care. Remember that in order for you to get this gift, a tree had to grow adult before being cut, all this for its root bark, all this for you. Be conscious of the sacrifice nature did for you. If you are using something synthetic and easy to take such as LSD, it’s obviously harder to develop the relationship in the preparation, but be creative. Add some unneeded element to the preparation just so that it can stimulate your imagination. Maybe prepare a tea to drink before taking the substance. 

I guarantee you that with time, as you have more and more mystical experiences, revelations and spiritual attainments with the help of your substance of choice, you will feel a connection. Signs of that bond will come in dreams or in random ideas at the oddest moments. It can reach a point where you occasionally have an entheogenic experience without having taken anything.