BICYCLE DAY

April 19th, 2025 – The Birth of The Church of Psychedelics

April 19th marks the anniversary of two historic events that will forever be known to have significantly advanced and elevated human consciousness: the founding of The Church of Psychedelics and the discovery of LSD.

Bicycle Day

Every year on April 19th, the global psychedelic community celebrates Bicycle Day, a sacred day commemorating a psychedelic experience that forever changed the relationship humans have with their consciousness and their understanding of the connections between seemingly unrelated things.

More than a mere historical event, Bicycle Day symbolizes a profound awakening — the moment Albert Hofmann, a chemist at Sandoz Laboratories, rode his bicycle home while having the first intentional LSD experience. Little did Hofmann know, he was pedaling humanity towards a deeper connection with the infinite expanse of consciousness.

Albert Hofmann: The Psychedelic Alchemist

Albert Hofmann’s early interest in spirituality activated his deep interest in Sigmund Freud’s work in human psychology and consciousness. This and his fascination with nature is what ultimately drew him to the field of biochemistry.

Soon after completing his doctorate, Dr. Albert Hoffman began working at Sandoz Laboratories in 1929, where he was drawn to their research on natural compounds derived from plants and fungi. In 1938, while researching anesthesia treatments to help people better regain consciousness after surgery, he synthesized LSD-25. Its psychedelic properties were unknown at the time, and research was interrupted by the start of World War II – all of Europe was in upheaval. For five years, even as Hofmann focused on other medical research and LSD-25 showed no clear pharmacological value to Sandoz, he felt an unexplainable, persistent intuition about the substance. He recounted to others that it felt as though the compound itself was attempting to “communicate” with him. In a parallel moment of spiritual reception, Doug Red Hail Pineda, founder of The Church of Psychedelics, experienced a profound communication with mycelium during a sacred Lakota vision quest in 2019.

“a peculiar presentiment—the feeling that LSD-25 could possess properties other than those established in my first investigations — induced me, five years after the first synthesis, to produce it once again so that a sample could be given to the pharmacological department for further tests.” ~ Dr. Albert Hoffman

Driven by his instinct and intuition, Hoffman resynthesized LSD-25 on April 16, 1943. During this process, he unintentionally absorbed a small amount through his skin, leading to the first documented LSD experience. Three days after his initial discovery, on April 19th, he decided to experiment on himself by intentionally taking 250 micrograms of LSD that resulted in a profound psychedelic spiritual experience. Reflecting on this, Hofmann remarked, “I did not choose LSD; LSD found and called me.”

Hoffman describes a mystical, kaleidoscopic experience on that humble bicycle ride home from work, followed by a profound spiritual experience. Hoffman’s bike ride home on April 19th sparked the modern psychedelic movement.

The Spiritual Significance of Psychedelics

At the heart of this awakening lies the spiritual truth that entheogens – nature-based psychedelic compounds – derived from Earth’s flora, fauna and fungi, are powerful and sacred allies for the expansion of awareness and elevating human consciousness. Psilocybin mushrooms, revered by indigenous cultures across the globe, remind humanity of its intrinsic oneness with nature and spirit. Just as ergot fungus inspired Hofmann’s breakthrough, DMT, cannabis and psilocybin hold immense potential to guide modern humanity towards spiritual awakening, unity consciousness and healing.

Indigenous wisdom keepers teach us that psychedelic plant medicines open sacred portals to expanded perceptions, enhanced empathy, heightened spiritual awareness, increased intelligence and understanding, and transformational healing. This wisdom is at the very essence of The Church of Psychedelics, a spiritual community devoted to teaching humanity the spiritual foundation underlying transformational psychedelic experiences.

“Indigenous people and sacred ways are not part of the past — they’re integral to our future in that primal nature and modern culture are inseparable.” ~ Doug Red Hail Pineda – Founder, The Church of Psychedelics

Microdosing: Consciousness for Everyday Life

Today, a quiet revolution is underway: the practice of microdosing psychedelics — taking small, sub-perceptual doses to effectively enhance creativity, focus, spiritual insight, and emotional balance — is transforming lives globally. Microdosing gently introduces us to the realms of expanded consciousness, allowing humanity to integrate spiritual awareness into daily life, subtly aligning our collective spirit towards peace, harmony, and compassion. In microdosing, one is fully alert, competent and functional, while strengthening their spirituality, healing neurological conditions and expanding their consciousness.

Psilocybin, in particular, has shown incredible promise in making people smarter, enhancing brain function, improving memory, recall, cognitive speed, and treating and curing neurological diseases and syndromes. Historically, this transformative information has been suppressed by politicians, bureaucrats and pharmaceutical companies. Yet today, entheogenic plant medicines have broken free from prohibition, and are now stewarded by spiritual leaders and communities ensuring these sacred medicines reach those who most need them.

Microdosing’s promise extends beyond individual transformation. It has the potential to shift the consciousness of entire societies, teaching future generations how to live more harmoniously, compassionately, and sustainably. As human consciousness expands, solutions to global challenges like war, hunger, mental health crises, and environmental degradation naturally emerge from a deeper spiritual wisdom rooted in love and interconnectedness.

Visionaries of Psychedelic Consciousness

Today’s visionaries –– scientists, spiritual leaders, and advocates courageously working to make psychedelics legal, normalized, respected, and spiritually grounded — are guides leading humanity towards its highest potential. Organizations like The Church of Psychedelics, play an indispensable role, teaching humanity to honor psychedelics as sacred spiritual allies. These people deserve our deepest gratitude, as future generations will thrive from the seeds of consciousness they plant today.

Indeed, psychedelic advocates and spiritual educators form the front line of humanity’s evolution, inviting us to transcend limitations and unlock the higher aspects of our collective consciousness. Their tireless efforts ensure that future generations inherit not just a more awakened society, but a world profoundly healed by sacred medicines and universal spirituality.

Global Unity through Planetary Consciousness

Exploring and expanding our consciousness is not merely a personal journey — it is the essential key to happiness, a harmonious society, and the transformative vision of global unity through planetary consciousness. When humanity collectively embraces expanded consciousness, we naturally embody compassion, unity, and peace, healing our world and ushering in an era of unprecedented harmony and spiritual alignment.

“There will come a time when we need to communicate with others without words and plant medicine will play a big part in learning how to do that.” ~ Doug Red Hail Pineda – Founder, The Church of Psychedelics

The Church of Psychedelics: A Sacred Extension of Hofmann’s Vision

The Church of Psychedelics embodies the evolution of Albert Hofmann’s initial scientific discovery into a spiritual movement rooted in sacred ceremony, consciousness expansion, and healing. Just as Hofmann’s bicycle ride symbolized a shift towards enlightenment, The Church of Psychedelics continues its visionary legacy, offering humanity spiritual ways to expand awareness and navigate consciousness for generations to come.

The tireless work of the founder, the Seven Generations Council and spiritual community of the church stands as a beacon of hope, illustrating how embracing natural entheogenic medicines like DMT, cannabis and psilocybin can catalyze the spiritual evolution humanity desperately needs. They are carrying the original vision of indigenous medicine people forward with love, truth, and deep spiritual dedication.

Inspiring Humanity Towards Our Greatest Potential

As we celebrate Bicycle Day and the founding of The Church of Psychedelics, let us honor their gifts to humanity by embracing psychedelics as spiritual teachers, healers, and evolutionary catalysts. Let us be inspired by organizations like The Church of Psychedelics, recognizing their critical role in guiding humanity towards a future of profound spiritual awareness and global unity.

May we ride forward together, inspired and grateful, toward a world awakened by the divine gift of psychedelic consciousness. Through their sacred lessons, humanity will indeed rise to become its greatest possible incarnation — profoundly connected, spiritually evolved, and sincerely compassionate. May we all one day understand that fear is the ultimate illusion.

The sacred journey of human consciousness has just begun, and together, with reverence for these natural medicines, we will heal ourselves, our communities, and our beloved Earth.

May Love Guide The Heart of All Beings.

May Love Guide The Heart of All Beings.Doug Red Hail Pineda · Founder, The Church of Psychedelics