:''This entry covers '''entheogens''' in the strict sense of the word (i.e. psychoactive substances used in a religious or [[shamanism|shamanic]] context). For general information about these substances and their use outside religious contexts, see [[psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants]]. For information on the music group called ''Entheogenic'' see [[Entheogenic (band)]].''
An '''entheogen''', in the strictest sense, is a [[psychoactive]] substance (most often some [[plant]] matter with [[psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogenic]] effects) that occasions an enlightening [[spirituality|spiritual]] or [[mystical]] experience, within the parameters of a [[cult (religion)|cult]], in the original non-pejorative sense of ''cultus''. In a broader sense, the word "entheogen" refers to artificial as well as natural substances that induce [[altered state of consciousness|alterations of consciousness]] similar to those documented for [[ritual]] ingestion of traditional [[shamanism|shamanic]] inebriants, even if it is used in a secular context.
The word '''entheogen''' is a modern term derived from two Ancient Greek words, ἔνθεος (''entheos'') and γενέσθαι (''genesthai''). ''Entheos'' literally means "god (theos) within", more freely translated "inspired". The Greeks used it as a term of praise for poets and other artists. ''Genesthai'' means "to cause to be" or ''becoming''. So an entheogen is "that which causes God (or godly inspiration) to be within a person".
==Terminology and uses of the word==
The word "entheogen" was coined in [[1979]] by a group of [[ethnobotany|ethnobotanists]] and scholars of [[mythology]] ([[Carl A. P. Ruck]], Jeremy Bigwood, Danny Staples, [[Richard Evans Schultes]], [[Jonathan Ott]] and [[R. Gordon Wasson]]). The literal meaning of the word is "that which causes God to be within an individual". The translation "creating the divine within" is sometimes given, but it should be noted that ''entheogen'' implies neither that something is created (as opposed to just perceiving something that is already there) nor that that which is experienced is ''within'' the user (as opposed to having independent existence).
The term was coined as a replacement for the terms ''"hallucinogen"'' (popularized by [[Aldous Huxley]]'s experiences with [[mescaline]], published as ''[[The Doors of Perception]]'' in [[1953]]) and ''"[[psychedelic]]"'' (a Greek neologism for "soul-revealing", coined by psychiatrist [[Humphry Osmond]], who was quite surprised when the well-known author, Aldous Huxley, volunteered to be a subject in experiments Osmond was running on mescaline). Ruck et al. argued that the term "hallucinogen" was inappropriate due to its etymological relationship to words relating to delirium and [[insanity]]. The term "psychedelic" was also seen as problematic, due to the similarity in sound to words pertaining to [[psychosis]] and also due to the fact that it had become irreversibly associated with various connotations of [[The Sixties|1960s]] [[pop culture]].
The meanings of the term "entheogen" were formally defined by Ruck et al.:
:''In a strict sense, only those vision-producing drugs that can be shown to have figured in shamanic or religious rites would be designated entheogens, but in a looser sense, the term could also be applied to other drugs, both natural and artificial, that induce alterations of consciousness similar to those documented for ritual ingestion of traditional entheogens.''
Since 1979, when the term was proposed, its use has become widespread in certain circles. In particular, the word fills a vacuum for those users of entheogens who feel that the term "hallucinogen", which remains common in medical, chemical and anthropological literature, denigrates their experience and the world view in which it is integrated. Use of the strict sense of the word has therefore arisen amongst religious entheogen users, and also amongst others who wish to practice [[religious tolerance|spiritual or religious tolerance]].
The use of the word "entheogen" in its broad sense as a synonym for "hallucinogenic drug" has attracted criticism on three grounds:
* On pragmatic grounds, the objection has been raised that the meaning of the strict sense of "entheogen", which is of specific value in discussing traditional, historical and mythological uses of entheogens in religious settings, is likely to be diluted by widespread, casual use of the term in the broader sense.
* Secondly, some people object to the misuse of the root ''theos'' (''god'' in [[ancient Greek]]) in the description of the use of [[Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants|hallucinogenic drug]]s in a non-religious context, and coupled with the climate of [[religion|religious]] [[tolerance]] or [[pluralism]] that prevails in many present-day societies, the use of the root ''theos'' in a term describing non-religious drug use has also been criticised as a form of [[taboo deformation]].
* Thirdly, there are some substances that at least partially fulfil the definition of an entheogen that is given above, but are not considered hallucinogenic in the usual sense. One important example is the bread and wine of the [[Christianity|Christian]] (especially [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] and [[Episcopal Church|Episcopal]]) [[Eucharist]]. The 'bread' and 'wine' of early Christianity were discussed and treated in a way that fits the description of an entheogenic substance; ingesting the Eucharist induced the Holy Spirit, as a shared unity-experience in the mystic altered state.
Ideological objections to the broad use of the term often relate to the widespread existence of [[taboo]]s surrounding [[psychoactive drug]]s, with both religious and secular justifications. The perception that the broad sense of the term "entheogen" is used as a [[euphemism]] by hallucinogenic drug-users bothers both critics and proponents of the secular use of hallucinogenic drugs. Critics frequently see the use of the term as an attempt to obscure what they perceive as illegitimate motivations and contexts of secular drug use. Some proponents also object to the term, arguing that the trend within their own subcultures and in the scientific literature towards the use of term "entheogen" as a synonym for "hallucinogen" devalues the positive uses of drugs in contexts that are secular but nevertheless, in their view, legitimate.
Beyond the use of the term itself, the validity of drug-induced, facilitated, or enhanced religious experience has been questioned. The claim that such experiences are less valid than religious experience without the use of any chemical catalysts faces the problem that the descriptions of religious experiences by those using entheogens are indistinguishable from many reports of religious experiences without drugs. In an attempt to empirically answer the question about whether drugs can actually facilitate religious experience, the [[Marsh Chapel Experiment]] was conducted by physician and theology doctoral candidate, [[Walter Pahnke]], under the supervision of [[Timothy Leary]] and the [[Harvard Psilocybin Project]]. In the [[double-blind]] experiment, volunteer graduate school divinity students from the Boston area almost all claimed to have had profound religious experiences under the influence of [[psilocybin]]. (A brief video about the Marsh Chapel experiment can be viewed [http://www.yoism.org/?q=node/52 here.])
In 2006, a more rigorously controlled version of this experiment was conducted at [[John Hopkins University]], yielding very similar results.[http://www.yoism.org/?q=node/219]
==Use of entheogens==
Naturally occurring entheogens such as [[Psilocybin]] and [[Dimethyltryptamine]] were, for the most part, discovered and used by older cultures, as part of their spiritual and religious life, as plants and agents which were respected, or in some cases revered. By contrast, artificial and modern entheogens, such as [[MDMA]], never had a tradition of religious use.
Currently entheogens are used in three principal ways: as part of established traditions and religions, secularly for personal spiritual development, and secularly in a manner similar to recreational drugs. A lesser use of entheogens for medical and therapeutic use is rarely pursued due to legislative and cultural objections.
==Entheogen-using cultures==
The use of entheogens in human cultures is generally ubiquitous throughout recorded history. The number of entheogen-using cultures is therefore very large. Some of the instances better known to Western scholarship are discussed here.
===Africa===
The best-known entheogen-using culture of [[Africa]] is the [[Bwiti]]sts, who used a preparation of the root bark of [[Iboga]] (''Tabernanthe iboga'').[[http://ibogaine.desk.nl/fernandez.html Bwiti: An Ethnography of the Religious Imagination in Africa] by James W. Fernandez, Princeton University Press, 1982] A famous entheogen of ancient [[Egypt]] is the [[blue lotus]] (''Nymphaea caerulea''). There is evidence for the use of [[Psychedelic mushroom|entheogenic mushrooms]] in [[Côte d'Ivoire]] (Samorini 1995). Numerous other examples of the use of plants in shamanic ritual in Africa are yet to be investigated by western science.
===Americas===
Entheogens have played a pivotal role in the spiritual practices of most American cultures for millennia. The first American entheogen to be subject to scientific analysis was the [[peyote]] cactus (''Lophophora williamsii''). For his part, one of the founders of modern ethno-botany, the late [[Richard Evans Schultes]] of [[Harvard University]] documented the ritual use of peyote cactus among the [[Kiowa]] of Oklahoma. Used traditionally by many cultures of what is now [[Mexico]], its use spread to throughout [[North America]] in the 19th century, replacing the [[toxic]] entheogen ''Sophora secundiflora'' ([[Mescalbean|mescal bean]]). Other well-known entheogens used by Mexican cultures include [[magic mushrooms|psilocybin mushroom]]s (known to the [[Aztec]]s under the [[Nahuatl]] name ''teonanacatl''), the seeds of several [[morning glory|morning glories]] (Nahuatl: [[tlitliltzin]] and [[ololiuhqui]]) and ''[[Salvia divinorum]]'' ([[Mazateco]]: Ska Pastora; Nahuatl: pipiltzintzintli).
[[Image:Urarina_shaman_B_Dean.jpg|thumb|right|Urarina [[shaman]], 1988]]
Indigenous peoples of [[South America]] employ a wide variety of entheogens. Better-known examples include [[ayahuasca]] (''Banisteriopsis caapi'' plus admixtures) among indigenous peoples (such as the [[Urarina]]) of Peruvian [[Amazonia]]. Other well-known entheogens include: borrachero (''[[Brugmansia]]'' spp); [[San Pedro (cactus)|San Pedro]] ''Trichocereus'' spp); and various [[tryptamine]]-bearing snuffs, for example [[Virola|Epená]] (''Virola'' spp), [[Vilca]] and [[Yopo]] (''Anadananthera'' spp). The familiar [[tobacco]] plant, when used uncured in large doses in [[shamanic]] contexts, also serves as an entheogen in South America. Also, a tobacco that contains higher nicotine content, and therefore smaller doses required, called ''[[Nicotiana rustica]]'' was commonly used.{{fact}}
In addition to [[indigenous]] use of entheogens in the Americas, one should also note their important role in contemporary religions movements, such as the [[Rastafari movement]] and the [[Church of the Universe]].
===Asia===
The indigenous peoples of [[Siberia]] (from whom the term ''shaman'' was appropriated) have used the [[fly agaric]] mushroom (''Amanita muscaria'') as an entheogen. The ancient inebriant [[Soma]], mentioned often in the [[Vedas]], may have been an entheogen. (In his 1967 book, Wasson argues that Soma was fly agaric. The active ingredient of Soma is presumed by some to be [[ephedrine]], an alkaloid with stimulant and (somewhat debatable) entheogenic properties derived from the soma plant, identified as ''Ephedra pachyclada''.) However, there are also arguements to suggest that Soma could have also been Syrian Rue, Cannabis, or some combination of any of the above plants. Owing to a lack of clear chemical or even anecdotal information regarding the active ingredient(s) or effects of Soma, this debate is one which is unlikely to be completely and undisputably resolved
===Europe===
The use of entheogens in [[Europe]] was all but eliminated with the rise of post-Roman Christianity and especially during the great [[witch hunt]]s of Early Modernity. European [[witchcraft|witches]] used various entheogens, including [[deadly nightshade]] (''Atropa belladonna''), [[Mandrake (plant)|mandrake]] (''Mandragora officinarum'') and [[henbane]] (''Hyoscyamus niger''). These plants were used, among other things, for the manufacture of "flying ointments". In Christian society, witches were commonly believed to fly through the air on broomsticks after coating them with the ointment and applying them to the skin. Consequently, any association with these plants could have proven extremely dangerous and lead to one's execution as a practitioner of witchcraft. The imposition of Roman Christianity also saw the end of the two-thousand-year-old tradition of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]], the initiation ceremony for the cult of [[Demeter]] and [[Persephone]] involving the use of a possibly entheogenic substance known as [[kykeon]]. Similarly, there is evidence that [[nitrous oxide]] or [[ethylene]] may have been in part responsible for the visions of the equally long-lived [[Delphic oracle]] (Hale et al., 2003).
In the Christian era the Eucharist plays a symbolic role in religious tradition that has occasionally attracted the label of "entheogen" or "[[placebo]] entheogen", even though it does not conform to the original definition involving the use of vision-inducing substances.
===Middle East===
The entheogenic use of substances, particularly [[hashish]], by ancient [[Sufi]]s is well-documented. Its use by the "''[[Hashshashin]]''" to stupefy and recruit new initiates was widely reported during the [[Crusades]]. However, the drug used by the Hashshashin was likely [[wine]], [[opium]], [[henbane]], or some combination of these, and, in any event, the use of this drug was for stupefaction rather than for entheogenic use. It has been suggested that the ritual use of small amounts of [[Syrian Rue]] is an artifact of its ancient use in higher doses as an entheogen. [[John Marco Allegro]] has argued in his book ''The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross'' that early Jewish and Christian sects and cults were based on the use of ''[[Amanita muscaria]]'',[
{{cite book
| last = Allegro
| first = John Marco
| year = 1970
| title = The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East
| publisher = Hodder and Stoughton
| id = ISBN 0-340-12875-5
}}] though this hypothesis has not achieved widespread currency.
===Oceania===
[[Indigenous Australians]] are generally supposed not to have used entheogens, although there is a strong barrier of secrecy surrounding Aboriginal shamanism, which has likely limited what has been told to outsiders. Natives of [[Papua New Guinea]] are known to use several species of entheogenic mushrooms (''Psilocybe'' spp, ''Boletus manicus'').[[http://www.shaman-australis.com/~benjamin-thomas/ Benjamin Thomas Ethnobotany & Anthropology Research Page]] It has been suggested that the [[Māori]] of [[New Zealand]] used Māori [[Kava]] (''Macropiper excelsum'') as an entheogen (Bock 2000).
=="Entheogen" in the Archaeological Record==
There have been several examples of the use of Entheogens in the Archaeological Record, but many reports and studies are largley viewed as Psuedoscience. Many of these researchers, like R.G. Wasson or Giorgio Samorini, have produced a plethora of research but are not widley accepted by academia, largley being cited by fringe groups. The first direct evidence of entheogen use comes from Tassili, Algeria, with a cave painting of a mushroom-man, dating to 8000 BP.
=="Entheogen" in Classical mythology and cult==
Although entheogens are taboo in Christian and Islamic societies, their ubiquity and prominence in the spiritual traditions of other cultures is unquestioned. The entheogen, "the spirit, for example, need not be chemical, as is the case with the ivy and the olive: and yet the god was felt to be within them; nor need its possession be considered something detrimental, like drugged, hallucinatory, or delusionary: but possibly instead an invitation to knowledge or whatever good the god's spirit had to offer." (Ruck and Staples)
Most of the well-known modern examples, such as peyote, [[psilocybe]] and other psychoactive mushrooms and ''ololiuhqui,'' are from the native cultures of the Americas. However, it has also been suggested that entheogens played an important role in ancient Indo-European culture, for example by inclusion in the ritual preparations of the Soma, the "pressed juice" that is the subject of Book 9 of the [[Rig Veda]]. Soma was ritually prepared and drunk by priests and initiates and elicited a paean in the ''Rig Veda'' that embodies the nature of an entheogen:
:"Splendid by Law! declaring Law, truth speaking, truthful in thy works, Enouncing faith, King Soma!... O [Soma] Pavāmana, place me in that deathless, undecaying world wherein the light of heaven is set, and everlasting lustre shines.... Make me immortal in that realm where happiness and transports, where joy and felicities combine..."
The [[Kykeon]] that preceded initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries is another entheogen, which was investigated (before the word was coined) by Carl Kerenyí, in ''Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter.'' Other entheogens in the Ancient Near East and the Aegean include the poppy, Datura, the unidentified "lotus" eaten by the Lotus-Eaters in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' and ''[[Narcissus|Narkissos]].''
According to Ruck, Eyan, and Staples, the familiar shamanic entheogen that the Indo-Europeans brought with them was knowledge of the wild [[Amanita]] mushroom. It could not be cultivated; thus it had to be found, which suited it to a nomadic lifestyle. When they reached the world of the Caucasus and the Aegean, the Indo-Europeans encountered [[wine]], the entheogen of [[Dionysus]], who brought it with him from his birthplace in the mythical [[Nysa (mythology)|Nysa]], when he returned to claim his Olympian birthright. The Indo-European proto-Greeks "recognized it as the entheogen of Zeus, and their own traditions of shamanism, the Amanita and the 'pressed juice' of Soma — but better since no longer unpredictable and wild, the way it was found among the [[Hyperborea]]ns: as befit their own assimilation of agrarian modes of life, the entheogen was now cultivable" (Ruck and Staples). [[Robert Graves]], in his foreword to ''The Greek Myths,'' argues that the ambrosia of various pre-Hellenic tribes were amanita and possibly panaeolus mushrooms.
Amanita was divine food, according to Ruck and Staples, not something to be indulged in or sampled lightly, not something to be profaned. It was the food of the gods, their [[ambrosia]], and it mediated between the two realms. It is said that [[Tantalus]]'s crime was inviting commoners to share his ambrosia.
==Christianity==
Even in cultures where they are acceptable, improper use of an entheogen, by the unauthorized or uninitiated, has led to disgrace, exile, and even death. The expulsion of [[Adam and Eve]] from the [[Garden of Eden]] can be understood as such a parable of an entheogen misused, for the fruit of the [[Tree of Knowledge]] by its very nature is part of what is denoted by "entheogen":
:"And the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:'
:Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
:So he drove out the man; and he placed at the East of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
:::''[[Genesis]]'' 3:23-25. (Such an interpretation would suggest that Christians are not to rehabilitate or help drug-users, a view not supported by many Christians.)
Indeed the entheogen offers godlike powers in many Traditional tales, including immortality. The failure of [[Gilgamesh]] in retrieving the plant of immortality from beneath the waters teaches that the blissful state cannot be taken by force or guile: when Gilgamesh lay on the bank, exhausted from his heroic effort, the [[Serpent (symbolism)|serpent]] came and ate the plant.
Another attempt at subverting the natural order is told in a (according to some) strangely metamorphosed myth, in which natural roles have been reversed to suit the Hellenic world-view. The Alexandrian Apollodorus relates how [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]] (spelled "Ge" in the following passage), Mother Earth herself, has supported the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]] in their battle with the Olympian intruders. The Giants have been defeated:
:"When Ge learned of this, she sought a drug that would prevent their destruction even by mortal hands. But Zeus barred the appearance of Eos (the Dawn), Selene (the Moon), and Helios (the Sun), and chopped up the drug himself before Ge could find it."
But what is essential in Christianity is the concept of "The Anointed" or Christ or Messiah, for the priests at first, Levites first of all, instated by Moses himself, and then later for Kings, particularly Saul, David and Solomon, and of course Prophets. This anointing with the "holy chrism" is a practice that must not be open to laymen. The recipe of this "chrism" is given in Exodus 30:22-33 and it contains one element known has "Kanah bosm", that is to say the blooms of a plant that is today identified as cannabis. One reference is essential in that field, even if there are a few mistakes or fuzzy elements in it: Chris Bennett and Neil McQueen, "Cannabis and the Christ: Jesus used Marijuana" on http://www.cannabisculture.com/backissues/cc11/christ.html.
We are then no longer dealing with a metaphor like the apple in the Garden of Eden but with a real phenomenon that can be studied in details.
::::—Apollodorus 1.34-38.
[[User:193.249.86.190|193.249.86.190]] 16:20, 12 November 2006 (UTC) Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Université Paris Dauphine & Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne
==Entheogens in literature==
Consumption of the imaginary [[mushroom]] ''anochi'' as the entheogen underlying the creation of Christianity is the premise of [[Philip K. Dick]]'s last novel, "[[The Transmigration of Timothy Archer]]".
Aldous Huxley's final novel, ''[[Island (novel)|Island]]'' ([[1962]]), depicted a fictional [[psychedelic mushroom|entheogenic mushroom]] — termed "moksha medicine" — used by the people of Pala in rites of passage, such as the transition to adulthood and at the end of life.
In his book "The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East",