STROBONAUT

Experience visionary states with ganzflicker
a luminous launchpad into liminal dreaming

To sit, with eyes closed, in front of a stroboscopic lamp is a very curious and fascinating experience.

Aldous Huxley. The Doors of Perception: And Heaven and Hell

Not believing at that time, as I do today, that the potential for a mystical experience is the natural birthright of all human beings, I attributed everything that happened to the combined effect of LSD and the stroboscopic light.

Stanislav Grof, The Way of the Psychonaut, Volume I: Encyclopedia for Inner Journeys

Strobonaut is a stroboscopic ganzfeld (ganzflicker) app for Android phones. When used in a smartphone Virtual Reality headset for meditation and music-listening reverie it has psychedelic effects promoting mental health and creativity by giving access to altered states of consciousness and vivid dream-like visual imagery released from the deep brain / unconscious.

From Trance to Transcendence

• Both ganzfeld and flickering light have hallucinogenic effects, promoting vivid visual imagery. Their synergistic combination as ganzflicker is therefore exceptionally effective for accessing visions (pseudo-hallucinations) from the deep brain and unconscious.
• The Flicker Drive page of this website gives instructions for moving from the focused attention of meditation to the immersive absorption of trance visioning.
• The instructions provide Structured Phenomenological Self-Navigation based on a universal neuropsychological architecture of altered states:

• Structured self-navigation promotes hallucinatory progression in terms of functional level, but is non-directive in terms of content, allowing brain-directed processes of autogenic neutralization to unfold spontaneously and autonomously.
• Ganzflicker-empowered processes of autogenic neutralization lead to the mystical-type bright light experience — as reported with psychedelic drugs, near-death experiences, and across mystical traditions — with transformative effects on the personality over the long term.
• Ganzflicker, a form of techno-mysticism, can now give access to the numinosum and inner light on a daily basis with revolutionary implications for spirituality and mental health.
• For links to further information on the neuroscience see the Research section at the bottom of this page.

Please read the Safety Information before downloading the app:

As a safety feature, to prevent unauthorised access by children and others who might be at risk, on most smartphones the app only opens when the phone is held precisely horizontal in relation to the gravitational field of the planet you are on.

Click the icon below to download Strobonaut for Android

If you use an iPhone consider purchasing a refurbished Android to use as a dedicated Strobonaut propulsion unit. It means that then you do not get interrupted by calls, notifications etc. during a flicker run. Your main phone can be used for the session audio. Recommended models of Android are given below.

Go to Flicker Drive for the instruction manual on how to pilot the app, including detailed information on using Flicker Jumps (alpha rebound) to progress from elementary to complex levels of visual imagery:

For a description of the hallucinatory progression from elementary to complex levels of visioning:

Installing the Strobonaut App on Android

The Strobonaut app is a direct download (APK file) for Android devices. It comes directly from the developer (Pete Carr, a psychiatrist with EMDR expertise) and is safe to install. Follow these steps to install:

Step 1: Enable Installation from Unknown Sources

Before you can install the app, you’ll need to adjust your phone’s security settings:

• Android 8.0 and newer: When you try to install the APK, Android will prompt you to allow installation from your browser or file manager. Tap “Settings” and enable “Allow from this source”
• Older Android versions: Go to Settings > Security, and enable “Unknown sources” or “Install unknown apps”

Step 2: Download the APK

• Tap the download link on this website using your Android phone’s browser
• The APK file will download to your device (usually to your Downloads folder)

Step 3: Install the App

• Once downloaded, tap the notification or open your Downloads folder
• Tap the Strobonaut APK file
• Follow the installation prompts
• Tap “Install” when prompted

Step 4: Launch Strobonaut

• Once installed, you can find the Strobonaut app in your app drawer

Smartphone VR Headsets for Ganzflicker

Basic smartphone VR headsets are inexpensive and widely available:

• These are simple holders with lenses that turn your phone into a VR display—not expensive standalone VR gaming systems
• They are lightweight, easy to use, and can be found online and in stores worldwide
• Any smartphone VR headset that fits your phone can be used for ganzflicker meditation with the Strobonaut app

For EMDR eye movement features:

• The Destek V5 headset (recommended) includes a touch button that allows you to switch between ganzflicker mode and eye movement mode during your session
• The Destek V5 is currently available on ebay for £15-£20

Using a dedicated Android phone (optional but recommended):

If you use an iPhone, or want to enhance your sessions, consider using a dedicated Android phone for the Strobonaut app. Refurbished Android phones are available online at modest prices depending on model and condition.

For best results, choose a refurbished Android phone with a 6.2–6.7 inch display, slim bezels and overall size under about 163 × 83 mm (the Destek V5 limit). Examples that work well include the Nokia 3.4, Samsung Galaxy A51, Motorola Moto G8 Power and Xiaomi Redmi Note 9. These are often available refurbished in the £50–£80 range, depending on condition.

Benefits of using two phones:

• Keep your main phone available for audio (music, guided meditation, hypnosis, etc.)
• Use the dedicated secondary phone in the VR headset for uninterrupted ganzflicker sessions
• Avoid notifications or calls disrupting your meditation

CURRENT RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Click on the green button for an account of Wolfgang Luthe’s studies of bright light experiences induced by processes of autogenic neutralization:

Click on the yellow button for a recent research study describing the induction of mystical-type bright light experiences during ganzflicker meditation by using alpha rebound to enhance autogenic neutralization:

The Flicker Drive page is an expanding exposition on the topic of stroboscopic meditation and psychotherapy. Ongoing developments include extensive transcript material from stroboscopic therapy sessions illustrating how the content of the complex visual hallucinations induced by stroboscopic meditation and psychotherapy follows the thematic patterns described by Wolfgang Luthe in his account of the brain’s innate processes of autogenic neutralization (referring to the homeostatic neutralization of brain-disturbance).

Luthe described these self-regulatory thematic patterns in the early 1970s from detailed analysis of hundreds of transcripts of autogenic abreaction. They fit precisely with the categories of the primary-process Emotional Operating Networks (EONs) of the deep brain discovered by neuroscience — SEEKING, RAGE, FEAR, CARE, LUST, PLAY, PANIC / GRIEF, POWER, DISGUST. The first seven of these were described by Jaak Panksepp in the 1980’s and neuroscientists have since added the last two, perhaps as a response to recent American politics.

The Flicker Drive page will eventually provide extensive analyses in terms of the nine EONs of the thematic content of stroboscopically-induced complex visual hallucinations during the multidimensional processes of autogenic neutralization as described by Luthe.

The Strobonaut Project unites Luthe’s clinical phenomenology with Panksepp’s affective neuroscience, arguing that stroboscopic therapy — in synergistic combination with psychedelic therapy — has a central role to play in the future of psychiatry.

For further information contact me at:

strobonautinfo@gmail.com

Dr Pete Carr
March 2026