ENTHEOGENIC PLANTS & FUNGI
UNLOCK NATURE’S WISDOM
en-ˈthē-ə-jən:
A psychoactive visionary substance or preparation, especially when derived from plants or fungi, and used in religious, spiritual, or ritualistic contexts.
An entheogen is a substance that causes one to become inspired or to experience feelings of inspiration, often in a religious or spiritual manner. The word literally means “creating the divine within”.
“In line with the spiritual connotation of entheogen, “the sacred” is invoked as an innate, ever-present quality that is neither limited to plants nor placed in some transcendental, other-worldly realm. DN’s “the sacred” much rather designates a non-modern way of seeing—a shift in/of consciousness—enabled by what could be termed entheogenic grace.”
– Claudia Schwarz-Plaschg, Author Socio-psychedelic imaginaries: envisioning and building legal psychedelic worlds in the United States
There are 4 main types of entheogenic plants and fungi, each with their own benefits and properties.
PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOMS
- Respected as a safe and natural healing sacrament in Mexico, Central America and throughout the world
- Mushrooms that contain psilocybin are found to encourage openness, creativity and spiritual growth.
- Researchers have ranked them as a top-5 most meaningful experience and found them be be beneficial in treating end-of-life anxiety, improving depression and reducing recidivism.
AYAHUASCA
- Over 75 indigenous groups in the Amazonian basin consider it a sacred “plant teacher” or “one who offers knowledge”
- Can be beneficial for depression, addiction, anxiety, and PTSD
- Benefits creativity, openness, and spiritual growth
- Ayahuasca brew is a modulation of DMT with MAOI
- Over 4,000 plant combinations similar to ayahuasca
- Ayahuasca treatment in Brazilian prison population reduces recidivism
CACTI
- Honored as sacred plants for thousands of years throughout the Americas
- Central to traditional religious and healing practices
- Considered a sacrament and a medicine
- Archaeological evidence suggests they were utilized for over 5,000 years by the Wixárika/Huichol
- Some have over 50 psychoactive alkaloids
- Around 100 cacti contain mescaline
- Can be beneficial for the treatment of alcoholism
IBOGA
- From Central Africa through Gabon, iboga is revered for initiatory rites of passage involving encounters with ancestors from the spirit realm
- A handful of other plants besides Tabernanthe iboga such as Voaconga and Star Jasmine also contain ibogaine
- Can be beneficial for treatment-resistant opiate and methamphetamine addiction
- Also sought after and eaten by boars, porcupines, and gorillas
- Two phases of experience: Visionary or oneirogenic (dreamlike) and introspective
Distinctive Perspectives…
Entheogen: What Does This Word Actually Mean?
‘Entheogen’ is rebranding psychedelics, evoking the language of divine medicine.
Article by Joanna Steinhardt for Double Blind
So what are entheogens exactly? If you ask someone familiar with the term, you’re likely to hear something like, “Entheogens are drugs/plants/medicine that give you a spiritual experience.” The word literally means “creating the divine within,” and is derived from the Greek roots en (within) theo (divine) and gen (creates).
The neologism entheogen was coined in 1979 by a group of ethnobotanists and scholars of mythology led by Carl Ruck.
The term is derived from two words of Ancient Greek, ἔνθεος (éntheos) and γενέσθαι (genésthai). The adjective entheos translates to English as “full of the god, inspired, possessed”, and is the root of the English word “enthusiasm“. The Greeks used it as praise for poets and other artists. Genesthai means “to come into being”.
Thus, an entheogen is a substance that causes one to become inspired or to experience feelings of inspiration, often in a religious or spiritual manner.
Ruck et al. argued that the term hallucinogen was inappropriate owing to its etymological relationship to words relating to delirium and insanity. The term psychedelic was also seen as problematic, owing to the similarity in sound to words about psychosis and also because it had become irreversibly associated with various connotations of the 1960s pop culture. In modern usage, entheogen may be used synonymously with these terms, or it may be chosen to contrast with recreational use of the same drugs. The meanings of the term entheogen was 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.
— Ruck et al., 1979, Journal of Psychedelic Drugs