Spirit
Members of Sacred Garden Church follow a “faith of least dogma,” but must be open to the possibility that psychedelics provide access to the divine.
Religious studies scholar William Barnard describes the Brazilian ayahuasca church, Santo Daime, as a modern mystery school in his book, Liquid Light.
The church, called The Flower of the Divine Mother, offers a glimpse of what religious use of psychedelics could look like in the future.
The saga of the Oregon-based medicine church’s legal case set a precedent for the state’s current implementation of Measure 109 as psychedelics gain mainstream acceptance.
David Yaden, whose new book continues the legacy of William James’s work on spiritual experiences, talks about James’s mystical encounter with nitrous oxide and what he would think of today’s psychedelic revival.
A robust conversation has begun about preparing trained chaplains to support people on their journeys.
Some religious leaders are finding psychedelics a valuable way to have mystical experiences within the traditions of their faiths.
A recent survey about life-changing psychedelic experiences put out by Johns Hopkins confirmed something that many psychonauts have come to believe – that plants and the rest of the natural word are trying to tell us something.
The “QAnon Shaman,” who offered to testify against Trump at this week’s impeachment hearings, fancies himself a shamanic trickster. But shamanic authorities and practitioners like Dennis McKenna see him as a huckster and a clown.
Ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin hosts Colombian shaman Don Fernando for a discussion at UC Berkeley on the explosion of traditional plant medicines into Western society, and concerns around the inclusion of indigenous voices.
