Jørgen Lumbye – Danish pioneer in psychedelic therapy

This Monday, 6 April, Jørgen Lumbye passed away – presumably from the coronavirus. Jørgen was the last branch of his family tree; neither he nor his sister had children. It is a strange thing to witness a family coming to an end in this way.

For several decades I was Jørgen's closest and dearest friend, and it is both on my heart and feels like my great task to see him off properly – through rituals and spiritual presence. At the same time, I want to show him attention and gratitude for the great role he played in the lives of so many people. So here is a small piece about Jørgen's life path.

Since Jørgen's body gave out and his soul was set free again, the sun has shone from a cloudless sky. Considering Jørgen's deeply spiritual nature and his work through life, I find it beautiful and meaningful that he chose to depart in the middle of the Easter Mysteries.

So let me begin my story, and bear with me if it becomes long. If anyone deserves a grand farewell salute, it is Jørgen.

Synchronicities between two Jørgens: my father and my spiritual guide

Jørgen was born in 1944, the same year as my father. They even had the same name – Jørgen. My father died last autumn, five days after his birthday, exactly at the full moon. Jørgen also died five days after his birthday, one day before the exact full moon. Coincidence? I hardly think so. I truly feel that synchronicities like these are the Universe's way of showing us that there is a higher meaning, guidance and direction in our life paths. That parts of our lives are planned before we incarnate.

My father gave me everything a father should give his son – except one thing: insight and initiation into the spiritual dimension of life. What my own father could not give me, Jørgen Lumbye gave me. Jørgen was a father to me, and a brother, a travelling companion and a teacher. My father was an atheist. Jørgen was deeply spiritual.

A true flower child and a spiritual pioneer

Jørgen was a true flower child. He was very much part of the political youth rebellion of the sixties, he was at the Thy Camp (Thylejren) in 1970, and he loved everything a true hippie loved, from the music (Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane and so on) to psychedelic clothes and art. He was interested in philosophy, spirituality, world history and psychotherapy.

He travelled to India several times and stayed in ashrams, where he visited and studied with several gurus.

Jørgen's awakening: Stanislav Grof comes to Copenhagen

Jørgen studied psychology at the University of Copenhagen, and in the early seventies (I believe it was 1972) one of his teachers invited Stanislav Grof (Stan) to give a lecture.

It became a turning point for Jørgen and several other students. Stan's systematic work with LSD psychotherapy, and his empirical mapping of consciousness based on his clinical work, made a deep and life-changing impression on Jørgen. Stan became Jørgen's most important teacher and source of inspiration.

Jørgen was an Aries, and astrologically that is the sign of the pioneer. And a pioneer he truly was. He started the first psychotherapeutic self-development groups and, through his work and his fire, inspired many, many people to walk the spiritual and psychotherapeutic path.

The birth of Mutual Therapy: Jørgen and Klaus Gormsen

Jørgen's most important partner over many years was Klaus Gormsen, who studied at the same university and had also been at Stan's first lecture. Together Jørgen and Klaus studied and practised a long list of modern psychotherapeutic techniques and methods, from primal therapy and dreamwork to gestalt therapy and much more.

Building on all their practical experience, and grounded in Stan Grof's techniques and methods, Klaus developed his unique therapeutic system, which he called Gensidig Terapi (Mutual Therapy). In the eighties and nineties, Mutual Therapy was a thriving community with many passionate people, and Jørgen often gave talks there.

Jørgen and Klaus translated the first of Stan's books into Danish. Jørgen was so eager and so full of fire that Stan Grof had his world premiere in Denmark. Stan has said more than once that Denmark was one of his favourite countries to teach in – and Jørgen deserves the credit for that.

Jørgen travelled to Big Sur several times to take part in Stan's month-long seminars at the Esalen Institute, where he was trained in Stan's unique and groundbreaking techniques and methods. There he met other pioneers such as Joseph Campbell, Rick Tarnas, Fritjof Capra, Ralph Metzner and many more.

The ITA movement and the global roots of transpersonal psychology

It was there in California that transpersonal psychology was born, around 1969, and where the ITA (International Transpersonal Association) was founded in 1978. That was where the whole movement had its base, in a bubbling, inspiring and evolutionary environment. I know from inside sources that although psychedelic substances had been banned (for highly irrational and political reasons, it should be added), many of the great pioneers exchanged psychedelic sessions as often as they could.

For readers unfamiliar with psychedelic therapy and this kind of self-exploration, I will mention just one thing about it: Stanislav Grof, whom many regard as the world's leading living researcher of consciousness, has said that the potential significance of psychedelic substances for psychiatry can be compared with what the microscope meant for biology and the telescope for astronomy.

Very early on, Jørgen was deeply worried about the course humanity was on: the exploitation of nature, ecological doom, overproduction, the whole consumer society – in short, the scenario we all know today. He lived and breathed for this whole movement, and early in his life he saw how essential it was to bring this wisdom and insight out into the world.

Jørgen was very generous by nature, and he did everything he could to share these messages – through books he translated and had published by Borgens Forlag, and through lectures and courses.

Jørgen's own inner journey

In 1977 Jørgen began to explore himself systematically with Stan's most powerful method – systematic LSD psychotherapy. For the first seven years it went well. He was riding a wave and coming closer and closer to a deep release. He was struggling with having lost his father when he was young, at a time when he also had operations on his genitals, and he found it very hard to bring home what he liked to call “the love gestalt”.

In 1984 it all capsized for him. His mother died of cancer, and at the same time he left his wife. On a beach in Thy he did an LSD session with an inexperienced sitter. When the wind picked up and the windbreaks they had put up began to flap wildly and loudly, his inner journey went wrong, and he crashed deeply and fatally.

Crisis and synchronicity: a shared spiritual turning point

I have already mentioned the thought-provoking synchronicities around my father and Jørgen. Just as thought-provoking is that Jørgen and I both crashed within a few weeks of each other – he at the end of August, and I on 7 September 1984.

With time, mine has come to look more like a shamanic initiation crisis, and his more like an outright crash. But as experiences, both set off deeply dark, challenging, almost no-way-out, hellish states of consciousness that lasted for years.

The mother of my girlfriend at the time, who was then the only person I could talk to about my state, suggested that I write to Jørgen. Here I will make a long story short and refer the interested reader to my book Land of the Nocturnal Butterfly – An Inner Journey, in which Jørgen appears as Georg.

I wrote to Jørgen, told him about my situation and asked if he could give me an LSD session. He said no – of course, since he had crashed himself. He referred me to Klaus Gormsen's Mutual Therapy. I took Klaus's courses and soaked it all up.

From seeker to assistant: my apprenticeship with Jørgen Lumbye

The eighties and nineties were a very different time from now, when many people work with and practise different forms of therapy and ceremonies with psychedelic therapy. Serious research is being done in several countries, and many argue that psychedelic substances are extremely important and beneficial – some researchers even use the word crucial – for the transformation of humanity as a whole.

Back then there was practically no one, or only very few, working seriously with psychedelic therapy.

I went to Jørgen again in 1986 and asked once more if he would give me an LSD session. He said no. Instead I asked if I could become his assistant. To my surprise and joy, he said yes.

I became his assistant on his next course, which began in 1987, and during that course a relationship grew between us. Late one evening he told me his story.

We discovered that we were in the same boat. At 19, though, I was rather surprised that the man I had thought could help me was in an equally difficult situation himself. As he put it when people asked him, he was under the influence of powerful, negative transpersonal and perinatal gestalts. And at that time you could clearly see that he was struggling. His blue eyes sparkled with genius, wisdom and knowledge, but his face bore the clear marks of a man in great, great pain.

Travelling the inner realms: 13 years with Jørgen Lumbye

On my 20th birthday he rang me. Not only to wish me a happy birthday, but above all to suggest that we start exchanging sessions. I soared. It was the best birthday present I could have wished for.

And so began my long journey with my dear travelling companion, Jørgen Lumbye. We exchanged sessions as often as we could. With an experienced sitter like Jørgen, who could pass on Grof's techniques and methods and support me through my own journey, I was like a fish in water. I simply flowed, quite naturally, with this powerful sacred technology. Over the following 13 years, from 1987 to 2000, I made the inner journey I have described in my book Land of the Nocturnal Butterfly – An Inner Journey.

Jørgen, on the other hand, struggled. His sessions could last 10 to 12 hours, even when they were hyperventilation sessions. To put it mildly, that was exhausting and demanding for a young man like me, because of the enormously heavy, draining, negative perinatal, transpersonal and painful experiences he often had. Keeping your courage up and being supportive for 10 hours in a row takes some doing. But I stayed and was there for him as best I could. And we are talking about hundreds of sessions.

The Wounded Grail King: archetypes, astrology and collective healing

Slowly but surely our friendship grew, and quite spontaneously I took him into my family. He had no family of his own, so this loving act helped to heal him.

In many ways our life paths were woven together in the myth of the Holy Grail. Jørgen was in many ways like the Wounded Grail King (who is also wounded in the genitals), and I was like Percival, who was to redeem the wounded Grail King by showing compassion and asking the compassionate question.

Astrologically, Jørgen had Pluto in the 12th house – an aspect that some astrologers say means your destiny is woven together with the whole collective field of consciousness. In the myths, the king is one with the land, and to me that makes sense of Jørgen's life journey. It is as if, in his own therapy and journey, he lived out and took on some of the collective pain and suffering. In that way I feel that his life path and his inner journey helped to heal some collective wounds.

On deeper levels we are all woven together, and we are more connected than our “ego consciousness” knows.

Jørgen as godfather: nature walks, canoe adventures and a heart of gold

Jørgen became godfather to both my first two children. From 1988 to 1990 we lived close to each other, and almost every day we took a long walk with my daughter in her pushchair in “Syrehaven” – the Acid Garden, as we called Dyrehaven, the deer park north of Copenhagen.

Jørgen had several close friends. Friends he loved dearly, and who loved him. He was a wonderful playmate for my children and the children of his other close friends – a kind of uncle to several of them. Always generous, helpful, smiling, and with a heart of gold.

With my first daughter and my first son we went on countless canoe trips through the mythical forests and lakes of Sweden. Holidays that left a deep and lasting mark on all of us. Jørgen always told exciting and instructive myths. He loved nature and always wore a Greenpeace badge on his rucksack and his hat.

The cosmic librarian

Despite his troubled state – which did slowly improve with time and many sessions – Jørgen was an incomparable teacher. He was almost like a walking encyclopaedia.

He lived alone and often called himself a “cosmic librarian”. His flat was like a great library, and the wild thing was that he had not only read most of the books but had also made systematic notes on them and could remember an unusual amount of what was in them. He taught at Folkeuniversitetet, the Danish open university, and was well read in philosophy, mythology, the history of religion, psychology and world history.

He loved books. When everything else fell apart, books were always a huge lift for him.

When Borgens Forlag could no longer publish books, he gave his love to the small independent publisher Hovedgaden, where he carried on his tireless work as a translator until he could do no more.

Jørgen's major work: Use and Abuse – We're All on Substances

Jørgen's own major work, Brug og Misbrug – Vi er alle på stoffer (Use and Abuse – We're All on Substances), is a groundbreaking book with a detailed account of every substance and countless references. In Danish literature it is a classic, truly worth reading for anyone looking for detailed information about drugs.

A personal university of consciousness

In many ways Jørgen became my personal university teacher. He fed me one mind-blowing book after another. He often said that 90% of all books just cooked soup on the other 10%. I only had to read the 10% (which was still quite a lot), and I would be well informed.

On our walks he almost examined me on the books, as if to see whether I had understood and integrated it all. It seemed very important to him to pass on everything he had learned and integrated. If there was something I had not quite understood, he explained it, often putting it into a bigger perspective or telling me something from world history that shed more light on it.

In this way he passed the whole legacy of the ITA on to me.

We went to several ITA conferences together. The first was in Prague in 1992, shortly after the Wall came down. He suggested that I go to the rainforest with Terence McKenna in 1993, and in 1994 we were in Ireland for an ITA conference.

The ITA conferences were quite outstanding, and hearing and seeing all the great pioneers and leading researchers has meant a great deal for my path in life.

The Little House – the beginning of The Magic Garden

Jørgen and I held study groups together, and when I moved to the place where I still live in 1990, he helped turn its small annexe into a mix of a music studio and a little temple dedicated to inner journeys.

That small annexe – the Little House, or the temple, as we called it – was the beginning of The Magic Garden. It later grew into the cockpit and “brain” of Axis Mundi Studio.

So Jørgen has been part of the creation of The Magic Garden all the way through. In every respect. Everything he taught about psychotherapy, myths, philosophy and transpersonal psychology is built into the whole place.

He was a great advocate of the idea that it is the direct experience of the divine that gives true understanding of the nature of the Universe and of consciousness.

A modern Eleusis

Jørgen was thrilled that we succeeded in creating this place as a small oasis of consciousness. Together with all his enormous work – publishing books, lectures, articles, and sharing his knowledge with many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Danes – I have the impression that his soul found peace in seeing his work carried on and made real here, in a modern Eleusis.

Jørgen's life path is therefore important and meaningful to many people. More than most, he left decisive and lasting traces, and he did everything he could to contribute to the vast, global transformation we are in the middle of now.

Jørgen's last time on earth

After Jørgen retired, he often stayed with us for several days at a time. The more jobs he was given in the house and garden, the better he thought the days were.

He longed with all his heart for a loving partner and a family of his own. But he became more and more aware that it would not happen for him in this incarnation.

I believe this longing and this pain finally became almost unbearable, and that it played a large part in his illness.

He became more and more forgetful – in the end so much so that we began to feel like a care home. We gathered his close friends, and together we told him how worried we were about him.

Despite our worries and suggestions, he stubbornly refused to see a doctor. At his 70th birthday we gave speeches for him and thanked him for everything he had given us, knowing that it would probably be the last birthday at which he was fully present in mind and soul.

In the end Ecaterina and I had to throw in the towel, and fortunately one of our close, loving friends took over and became Jørgen's guardian. We were very grateful for that, as our hands were full.

Our friend Torben brought in the local council, and in the end he found a place in a care home, where Jørgen ended his days with advanced Alzheimer's and a surprisingly big smile on his face.

When a nurse wanted to test him for COVID a week before he died, he flatly refused. Deep down he knew that now it was time. On Friday 4 April he fell ill, and on 6 April his body let go.

Jørgen and Torben Gudmundsson: a deep friendship and loving care

I first met Torben at the ITA conference in Prague in 1992. Torben has walked side by side with both Jørgen and me. He is a close friend and has been part of The Magic Garden in the drumming groups, as a member of the Magical Council, and as the publisher of my book Land of the Nocturnal Butterfly at his publishing house, Hovedgaden. When Ecaterina and I were finally worn out from looking after Jørgen as his illness progressed, Torben lovingly took over. He became Jørgen's guardian, arranged home help for him and later found him a place in a care home. Torben and his family visited Jørgen regularly in his last time. Torben, thank you with all my heart for your great and wholehearted care of Jørgen in his last time. It was a huge relief to me when you stepped in.

Jørgen with his dear friends Jane and Bashire

In Jane's own words: “Jørgen was a faithful and loyal friend you could always rely on. He was a pure heart and a spiritual person, a passionate soul and a great teacher who burned for a better and fairer world. He gave many lectures and gladly wrote countless opinion pieces in the newspaper Information and several books – not for the money, but to get the good message out. He was a walking library, an encyclopaedia of wisdom, and always ready to help and to share his wisdom and knowledge generously. Jørgen made life easier and more meaningful for many people, and even saved some (me among them) from psychosis. Jørgen was my best friend and the best friend of many others. He is deeply missed and loved – a great human being in many ways, who made the world a better place.”

Let me end this tribute with two dreams.

The first dream: the Bardo plane

I had the first dream the same night Jørgen breathed his last:

I am out on the Bardo plane (the world we come to after our earthly existence). I am there with some other souls. I have no particular names or faces for them. But I know them. Not as earthly people, but as souls who travel through many lives, through thousands of years, in different dimensions of time and space.

The essence of the dream is that from that plane we look down on the life we have just lived. We exchange experiences of how the “game”, the “play”, has gone. What we have learned, and how our “dharma” unfolded.

I woke up with a deep feeling that I had to sit and meditate in silence, undisturbed. Then I began to write a blog post about how much Stan and Jørgen have meant to my life path. When I had typed the last full stop, I got a text message saying that Jørgen had gone. Then I understood the dream better.

The second dream: the starship

The night after:

I dream of something like a war. The atmosphere is both mythical and global. It could be something like a world war, but it is also as if it is happening on a galactic level. Some others and I are in a cave-like shelter. Enormous starship-like aircraft carriers are flying low over the earth. They are in battle. One of the very big ones is shot down.

Half awake, half dreaming, I know that the starship is Jørgen. A great soul's time in this incarnation is now over. But it is okay. Jørgen often spoke of the eternal battle of the gods against the forces of chaos. We are in the middle of an enormous birth (the cave), and we are part of a transformation of gigantic, mysterious proportions. A new humanity is being born, and a birth like that stretches over many decades. Jørgen has played his part and been like a great “mother starship” for many.

Passing the torch

The great paths of souls and of time are being drawn up, and an era is coming to an end. Many of the old ones have left, and the torch is being passed on to me, to my generation and ours, and to our children. The experiences that Jørgen and his generation of pioneers gathered are so important to integrate and pass on. For the birth of the Earth and of the new humanity is well under way.

In the beyond

I now picture the two Jørgens sitting up on the Bardo plane, looking down. Each has fulfilled his dharma and his contribution to the whole of evolution. They will remain the elders and wise ones on the Bardo plane, and at the same time be here as strong guides and messengers.

The farewell ceremony: a Full Moon Concert for Jørgen

On 8 April we held a Full Moon Concert, and we dedicated it to Jørgen as part of our journey and farewell ceremony for him. True to the sign of Aries, I had expanded my set-up with some new musical possibilities. After the concert, though, it turned out that one of my guitar tracks had not been recorded at all. That was quite a blow.

I had spent a long time on the concert, among other things filming and preparing a lot of visuals. And the pictures were spot on, I thought.

I felt there could only be one meaning in it: that I had to play the guitar track again, and put even more fire under it by holding another ritual for Jørgen with the help of the sacred technologies and plant medicine.

11 April – in the parallel reality

On the night of 11 April I held the ritual. I got everything ready and set out on the journey. During the journey I re-recorded the whole soundtrack, trusting that what I played would fit Ecaterina's vocals, which had been recorded on 8 April. It was an extremely powerful journey for me. I truly felt the energy of Aries and of Jørgen flowing through me and the music, and that I “said” everything to him through that piece of music.

Straight after the recording it became very intense for me, and I lay down on my back, closed my eyes and came at once into a parallel reality, where I met Jørgen and had an unusually clear communication with him. I heard his voice completely clearly. Not as physical words, but as quite distinct telepathic contact. The experience was so powerful that at its peak I was a little concerned whether I would come back to the same reality I had set out from.

It seemed as if Jørgen had become clear in his mind again, and I could talk to him just as before he fell ill. It struck me how special it must be for consciousness, after five years in a complete fog, suddenly to wake up and discover that you are on the other side. He expressed great gratitude and relief that I had taken this journey, so that we could meet one last time. We talked about our whole life path together.

He said that in many ways it had been a hard incarnation, but that all in all he was grateful for his life path, knowing that it had been his karma, and that the dharma of his life path was fulfilled.

We expressed our gratitude and love for each other and thanked each other for the journey together. He asked if he could stay here for a while. I answered that it is a cosmic space station, after all, so you stay as long as you like.

Another thing he said was that from where he is now, he can see that many spiritual beings on different planes protect and watch over The Magic Garden, and that our role as a physical, concrete modern Eleusis is an important one. He could see that it was something we had prepared for through many incarnations.

We talked about many things, and Jørgen also said that he wished to be buried here in The Magic Garden. I will do what I can to fulfil that wish.

The lesson

The only thing he said he was a little sad about was that I had not visited him more towards the end. That was in fact a lesson for me, because I realised that even though there was not much of him “at home”, so to speak, a part of him still took great joy and nourishment from our meetings. I told him I was sorry, and explained that I had become much less mobile after we lost the car. He understood – but still. I asked him to forgive me, and he did.

It was truly wonderful to round off our whole life path together by meeting in a completely clear “space” and talking with him quite normally again. After a long while – I don't know exactly how long, but the day had begun to grow light.

When I could stand on my feet again, I went out into the cockpit to put the music I had recorded into the concert. It felt so important to round it all off completely. I was excited about the recordings, as I had been sent off quite far on the journey.

I put it into the recording with my narration and Ecaterina's vocals, and simply placed my last recorded stroke on my last word of the concert.

Synchronicities and magic

Oh, it turned into a truly magical round for me. Everything simply fitted perfectly.

The film was finished at exactly 11:11 and lasted 56 minutes (the digits add up to 11). And on 11 April, too.

I went out into the garden and played ball with Buddha. At once some fighter jets came flying over, which I have not seen here for years. Just today, when Jørgen was sent off, with his whole “war theme”.

Buddha's teaching

Buddha and I have great fun playing Pokémon Go. Just today, my ultra-rare, completely black and “shiny” dragon, which I had named “King”, reached its full potential. Wild, I thought.

After that, Buddha told me very firmly that he wanted to talk to me. He said it was very important to him that when we did something together, we should be fully focused on it, without distractions. Whatever it was. If we watched a film, we watched the film, and the phones had to be put away, and nobody and nothing should disturb us. If we played ball, we played ball; if we read, we read.

It was such a strong experience for me – I really was sitting in front of a true master. What a deep, deep teaching. What a synchronicity! My old teacher says goodbye, and I find myself a new master.

Buddha sends Jørgen off

Then I asked Buddha if he would send Jørgen off with his bell. He asked: “What should I do?” “Just ring your bell, like you did for Farfar when he left.” On the day my father left, Buddha had quite spontaneously run around with his Tibetan Buddhist bell.

I fetched his bell. He took it and walked with firm steps to the altar in the Roundhall. Then he stood with his eyes closed and, in full concentration, rang the bell 11 times. Then he took a match and made a little smoke with it. “That's done, Dad.”

The Universe's last card – for now

Now it could hardly have been more complete. But my relationship with Jørgen was quite unique, and the Universe still had one more card up its sleeve.

In Pokémon Go we hold tournaments. It is great fun and the ultimate brain workout. The best player in what is called the Great League is a Pokémon called Azumarill. I had one at 93%, but I wanted a better one. And what is out in my garden at 11 pm? The ultimate Azumarill – in the ultra-rare “shiny” version, no less. It was male, of course, and so carried the symbol of Mars, the planet of Aries.

Dear beloved friend and travelling companion, Jørgen

Thank you with all my heart for a truly unique journey together through life.

We will meet in the beyond, and we keep all channels open.

Blessings, gratitude and loveYour friend in time and space, Jacob