“This introduction to the special issue reviews research that supports the hypothesis that psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, were central features in the development of religion. the greater response of the human serotonergic system to psychedelics than is the case for chimpanzees’ serotonergic receptors indicates that these substances were environmental factors that affected hominin evolution. these substances also contributed to the evolution of ritual capacities, shamanism, and the associated alterations of consciousness. the role of psilocybin mushrooms in the ancient evolution of human religions is attested to fungiform petroglyphs, rock artifacts, and mythologies from all major regions of the world. this prehistoric mycolatry persisted into the historic era in the major religious traditions of the world, which often left evidence of these practices in sculpture, art, and scriptures. this continuation of entheogenic practices in the historical world is addressed in the articles here. but even through new entheogenic combinations were introduced, complex societies generally removed entheogens from widespread consumption, restricted them in private and exclusive spiritual practices of the leaders, and often carried out repressive punishment of those who engaged in entheogenic practices.”

“Historical documents relating to early mormonism suggest that joseph smith (1805–1844) employed entheogen-infused sacraments to fulfill his promise that every mormon convert would experience visions of god and spiritual ecstasies. early mormon scriptures and smith’s teachings contain descriptions consistent with using entheogenic material. compiled descriptions of joseph smith’s earliest visions and early mormon convert visions reveal the internal symptomology and outward bodily manifestations consistent with using an anticholinergic entheogen. due to embarrassing symptomology associated with these manifestations, smith sought for psychoactives with fewer associated outward manifestations. the visionary period of early mormonism fueled by entheogens played a significant role in the spectacular rise of this american-born religion. the death of joseph smith marked the end of visionary mormonism and the failure or refusal of his successor to utilize entheogens as a part of religious worship. the implications of an entheogenic origin of mormonism may contribute to the broader discussion of the major world religions with evidence of entheogen use at their foundation and illustrate the value of entheogens in religious experience.”

“In 2006, the supreme court paved the way for the sacramental use of a hallucinogen, hoasca, to be imported, distributed and ingested by a religious group. this case has broad implications for religious freedom for using sacramental psychotropics and how such cases might be decided in the future. this article outlines the arguments used both by the church and by the government. it lists the facts of the cases, explains and analyzes the decision, evaluates the likelihood of expansions of religion-based exceptions for entheogen use in light of the supreme court’s decision and offers a profile for those groups most likely to receive such an exemption. © 2008 taylor and francis group, llc.”

“Santo daime, a brazilian religion organized around a potent psychoactive beverage called ayahuasca, is now being practiced across europe and north america. deeming ayahuasca a dangerous ‘hallucinogen,’ most western governments prosecute people who participate in santo daime. on the contrary, members of santo daime (called ‘daimistas’) consider ayahuasca a medicinal sacrament (or ‘entheogen’). empirical studies corroborate daimistas’ claim that entheogens are benign and can be beneficial when employed in controlled contexts. following from anthropology’s goal of rendering different cultural logics as mutually explicable, this article intercedes in a misunderstanding between policies of prohibition and an emergent subculture of entheogenic therapy.”

“Rationale: although psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes, little is known scientifically about its acute and persisting effects. objectives: this double-blind study evaluated the acute and longer-term psychological effects of a high dose of psilocybin relative to a comparison compound administered under comfortable, supportive conditions. materials and methods: the participants were hallucinogen-naïve adults reporting regular participation in religious or spiritual activities. two or three sessions were conducted at 2-month intervals. thirty volunteers received orally administered psilocybin (30 mg/70 kg) and methylphenidate hydrochloride (40 mg/70 kg) in counterbalanced order. to obscure the study design, six additional volunteers received methylphenidate in the first two sessions and unblinded psilocybin in a third session. the 8-h sessions were conducted individually. volunteers were encouraged to close their eyes and direct their attention inward. study monitors rated volunteers’ behavior during sessions. volunteers completed questionnaires assessing drug effects and mystical experience immediately after and 2 months after sessions. community observers rated changes in the volunteer’s attitudes and behavior. results: psilocybin produced a range of acute perceptual changes, subjective experiences, and labile moods including anxiety. psilocybin also increased measures of mystical experience. at 2 months, the volunteers rated the psilocybin experience as having substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance and attributed to the experience sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior consistent with changes rated by community observers. conclusions: when administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences. the ability to occasion such experiences prospectively will allow rigorous scientific investigations of their causes and consequences. © springer-verlag 2006.”

“Psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes; however, little is known scientifically about its long-term effects. we previously reported the effects of a double-blind study evaluating the psychological effects of a high psilocybin dose. this report presents the 14-month follow-up and examines the relationship of the follow-up results to data obtained at screening and on drug session days. participants were 36 hallucinogen-naïve adults reporting regular participation in religious/ spiritual activities. oral psilocybin (30 mg/70 kg) was administered on one of two or three sessions, with methylphenidate (40 mg/70 kg) administered on the other session(s). during sessions, volunteers were encouraged to close their eyes and direct their attention inward. at the 14-month follow-up, 58% and 67%, respectively, of volunteers rated the psilocybin-occasioned experience as being among the five most personally meaningful and among the five most spiritually significant experiences of their lives; 64% indicated that the experience increased well-being or life satisfaction; 58% met criteria for having had a ‘complete’ mystical experience. correlation and regression analyses indicated a central role of the mystical experience assessed on the session day in the high ratings of personal meaning and spiritual significance at follow-up. of the measures of personality, affect, quality of life and spirituality assessed across the study, only a scale measuring mystical experience showed a difference from screening. when administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences that, at 14-month follow-up, were considered by volunteers to be among the most personally meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives. © 2008 british association for psychopharmacology.”

“The word entheogen was coined to denote psychedelic chemicals and botanicals that engender the experience of god within. drawing on william james, charles tart, and ken wilber, the authors claim that a complete study of religion must include entheogens, and they propose topics leading toward an entheogen research agenda: (a) the spititual nature of the human mind, (b) the dispute over the authenticity of entheogen-assisted religious experiences, (c) pastoral counseling, (d) experimental mysticism, (e) entheogenic origins of religion, and (f) policy issues in freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. the authors conclude with seven recommendations to churches, religious orders, seminaries, and scholarly and scientific professional groups for actions they can take to promote entheogenic research.”

“Rationale: this dose-effect study extends previous observations showing that psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having persisting positive effects on attitudes, mood, and behavior. objectives: this double-blind study evaluated psilocybin (0, 5, 10, 20, 30 mg/70 kg, p.o.) administered under supportive conditions. methods: participants were 18 adults (17 hallucinogen-naïve). five 8-h sessions were conducted individually for each participant at 1-month intervals. participants were randomized to receive the four active doses in either ascending or descending order (nine participants each). placebo was scheduled quasi-randomly. during sessions, volunteers used eyeshades and were instructed to direct their attention inward. volunteers completed questionnaires assessing effects immediately after and 1 month after each session, and at 14 months follow-up. results: psilocybin produced acute perceptual and subjective effects including, at 20 and/or 30 mg/70 kg, extreme anxiety/fear (39% of volunteers) and/or mystical-type experience (72% of volunteers). one month after sessions at the two highest doses, volunteers rated the psilocybin experience as having substantial personal and spiritual significance, and attributed to the experience sustained positive changes in attitudes, mood, and behavior, with the ascending dose sequence showing greater positive effects. at 14 months, ratings were undiminished and were consistent with changes rated by community observers. both the acute and persisting effects of psilocybin were generally a monotonically increasing function of dose, with the lowest dose showing significant effects. conclusions: under supportive conditions, 20 and 30 mg/70 kg psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences having persisting positive effects on attitudes, mood, and behavior. implications for therapeutic trials are discussed. © 2011 springer-verlag.”

“The present study explored the phenomenological characteristics of anomalous experiences (aes) reported during umbanda rituals, a mediumistic brazilian religion, with the aim of comparing aes reported during rituals involving the use of ayahuasca (an entheogen frequently used in some umbanda contexts) and rituals without the use of this substance. in order to do so, we compared individuals with different levels of involvement with the mediumistic practices. the study was based on an auto-ethnographic approach. this methodological perspective allowed us to confront subjective data with the available knowledge in the scientific literature about aes, dissociative phenomena and altered states of consciousness and was of fundamental importance for a more sensitive understanding of the nuances and characteristics of these experiences. the results attest to a significant similarity between the experiences reported with and without the use of ayahuasca in mediumistic contexts. in both groups, the experiencers were able to identify certain similarities in their experiences regarding a reduction of voluntary motor control, changes in memory and perception, communicability and accessibility of experiences, anomalous information reception and increases in interpersonal sensitivity. the results support the methodological feasibility of autoethnography as a research tool and point to its relevance to a deeper understanding of aes and other subjective experiences usually of difficult investigation by other research methods.”

“This essay first draws upon the work of william james and others to propose a nonphysicalistic understanding of the relationship between the brain and consciousness in order to articulate a philosophical perspective that can understand entheogenic visionary/mystical experiences as something other than hallucinations. it then focuses on the santo daime tradition, a religious movement that began in brazil in the early part of the twentieth century, to provide an example of the personal and social ramifications of taking an entheogen (ayahuasca) within a disciplined religious context. the essay claims that the santo daime is one example of a contemporary mystery school; gives a brief history of the development of this religion; discusses the key theological assumptions of this movement; investigates the important role played by visionary/mystical experiences within this religion; underscores the centrality of healing and spiritual transformation for members of this tradition; and ends with an examination of the crucial significance of spiritual discipline within this entheogenically based religion. © 2014 by the joint publication board of zygon.”

“This article deals with the use of psychoactive substances in rituals. in addition to tackling the issue of defining drugs and related terms (psychedelics, hallucinogens, entheogens), the article presents maps of altered states of consciousness related to their use, as well as types of psychedelic experience and factors affecting them, concepts of religion/faith and rituals that define the conceptual framework, and shows that the phenomenon has not been treated adequately in the croatian context. the article considers the historical and contemporary context of their use in medicine, shamanism, magic, religion, as well as in spirituality, art, psychiatry, psychotherapy, counterculture and youth subculture. moreover, the discussion presents the geography, botanical and cultural scope of entheogen usage, as well as the similarities and differences in psychoactive substance use and in the responses of social institutions. some of the social problems and consequences that the regulation of their use presents to the modern society are highlighted, including restrictive legislation, the ‘war on drugs’, preventing scientific research of the phenomenon, as well as violations of human rights and religious freedoms. the article concludes by emphasizing the research potential of the topic and the challenges it presents.”

“The abuse of psychoactive substances triggered by r. gordon wasson’s revelations in his life magazine article of the may 13, 1957 about drug-induced shamanic rites among the indigenous peoples of the new world and the subsequent popularization of lysergic acid diethylamide (lsd), which albert hofmann had discovered in 1943, made it necessary to create the neologism ‘entheogen’ to discuss the religious role of such substances, divorced from the drug culture of the so-called psychedelic revolution, with its excessive examples of self- indulgence and addiction. an ‘entheogen’ is a mind-altering substance that, as its greek roots indicate, induces the experience of being entheos, of communion with deity, of sharing an identity with the deity, of hav- ing the god dwell within (ruck et al., 1979). entheogens are central to the historical record of humankind’s spiritual quest for the meaning of existence, documented in rock paintings as early as the paleolithic and continuing through all periods in rituals of secret societies and among the ecclesiastical elite of most religions until the present.”

“Presents an interview with huston smith, one of the most influential scholars of religion of our time, who wrote one of the most influential of all publications on psychedelics in which he took issue with the prevailing view that drugs produced pseudospiritual experiences with little religious value. dr. smith discusses the relationship between psychedelics and the wisdom tradition, the native american church, eleusinian mysteries, and entheogen use. he also talks about how psychedelics have affected his beliefs about death and dying, transmigration of the soul, young people and psychedelics, and the role psychedelics should have in today’s society. (psycinfo database record (c) 2016 apa, all rights reserved)”

“I take the apa publication a spiritual strategy for counseling and psychotherapy (richards and bergin 2005), along with a devoted issue of journal of psychology and theology (nelson and slife 2006), as a paradigmatic example of a trend. other instances include the uncritical use of ‘ eastern’ philosophy in humanistic and transpersonal psychology, almost normative appeal to the ‘ sacred’ within the psychology of spirituality, talk of ‘ god in the brain’ within neurological research, the neologism entheogen referring to psychedelic drugs, and calls for new specializations such as neurotheology and theobiology. in response to the legitimate ethical requirements of respect and openness regarding clients’ religious worldviews, the trend is to make god an essential component in psychological theory. the argument is that god is active in the universe and especially in human affairs to such an extent that any accurate account of strictly psychological matters, not just a comprehensive, interdisciplinary purview that could include a distinct theological dimension, must include god as an explanatory factor. less nuanced than standard theological thought about divine intervention-including a range of opinions from supernaturalism, to occasionalism, to providential and deistic naturalism-this trend would blur the epistemological differences between religion and science by appeal to claimed knowledge sources such as inspiration and revelation and thus undermine the achievements of evidence-based science and establish particularistic religious beliefs as standard explanatory accounts. the concern to include a spiritual, in contrast to a religious or theist, dimension in psychological theory is welcome; but elaborated approaches, such as my own and those of roberto assagioli, viktor frankl, and ken wilber, open to varied theological applications, already exist. © 2010 by the joint publication board of zygon.”

“A ayahuasca é uma bebida enteógena feita por meio da união de duas plantas: um cipó chamado mariri (banisteriopsis caapi) e as folhas de uma árvore chamada chacrona (psychotria viridis). o chá ayahuasca vem sendo usado há milhares de anos em rituais religiosos indígenas, e há algumas décadas em religiões urbanas como o santo daime e a união do vegetal. a ayahuasca é considerada uma bebida sagrada por todos que a utilizam regularmente em contexto religioso. roger bastide foi um teórico francês, que veio para o brasil em 1938 e estudou durante muitos anos as religiões afro-brasileiras, dando enfoque a fenômenos como: a administração do sagrado, o sentimento de vergonha, e o processo de ‘domesticação’ e persistência do ‘sagrado selvagem’. o presente artigo analisou também o conceito bastidiano de transe como ‘um jogo litúrgico’, que segundo ele, aproxima-se de uma ‘representação teatral’. as conclusões desse artigo sugerem que o transe provocado pela ayahuasca transcende algumas das premissas bastidianas. os resultados demonstraram ainda que as considerações que bastide faz a respeito do processo de ‘domesticação do sagrado selvagem’ podem ser observadas em religiões ayahuasqueiras como a união do vegetal, ainda que em alguns pontos, a realidade da instituição não esteja em total consonância com as previsões feitas por bastide.palavras-chave: ayahuasca. bastide. sagrado selvagem. transe religioso. enteógeno ayahuasca: a wild sacred which bastide did not knowabstractayahuasca is an entheogenic drink made by the union of two plants: a vine called mariri (banisteriopsis caapi) and the leaves of a tree called chacrona (psychotria viridis). ayahuasca tea has been used for thousands of years in indigenous religious rituals, and for decades in urban religions such as santo daime and união do vegetal. ayahuasca is considered a sacred drink by all who use it regularly in a religious context. roger bastide was a french theorist, who came to brazil in 1938 and studied for many years the afro-brazilian religions, focusing on phenomena such as: the administration of the sacred, the feeling of shame, and the process of ‘domestication’ and persistence of the ‘wild sacred’. the present article also analyzed the bastidian concept of trance as ‘a liturgical game’, which he said, approaches a ‘theatrical representation’. the conclusions of this article suggest that the trance provoked by ayahuasca transcends some of the bastidian premises. the results also demonstrated that …”

“Several brazilian religious groups make controlled ritual use of the indian entheogen ayahuasca, which is legal in the country. but a parallel use of cannabis, by one of these groups faces serious legal obstacles that inhibit the development of ritual controls. the contrast between the licit and ilict use of these substances presents a paradigmatic model of the counterproductive effects of repressive drug leglislation. © 1998 elsevier science b.v. all rights reserved.”

“A large body of historical evidence describes the use of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psilocybin mushrooms, for religious purposes. but few scientific studies have attempted to measure or characterize hallucinogen-occasioned spiritual experiences. the present study examined the factor structure of the mystical experience questionnaire (meq), a self-report measure that has been used to assess the effects of hallucinogens in laboratory studies. participants (n = 1,602) completed the 43-item meq in reference to a mystical or profound experience they had had after ingesting psilocybin. exploratory factor analysis of the meq retained 30 items and revealed a four-factor structure covering the dimensions of classic mystical experience: unity, noetic quality, sacredness (f1); positive mood (f2); transcendence of time/space (f3); and ineffability (f4). meq factor scores showed good internal reliability and correlated with the hood mysticism scale, indicating convergent validity. participants who endorsed having had a mystical experience on psilocybin, compared to those who did not, had significantly higher factor scores, indicating construct validity. the four-factor structure was confirmed in a second sample (n = 440) and demonstrated superior fit compared to alternative models. the results provide initial evidence of the validity, reliability, and factor structure of a 30-item scale for measuring single, hallucinogen-occasioned mystical experiences, which may be a useful tool in the scientific study of mysticism. © 2012 the society for the scientific study of religion.”